How 14 Advisors Found the Right Client Niche: Advisors' Advice

12. University Faculty

In 2010, we had three private clients that were also faculty at the local university when that university decided to change custodians from TIAA to Fidelity. We were already on Fidelity with their private accounts, so helping them with their work-related accounts was a simple task. In 2012, we began to get calls from other faculty asking for our help, and that is when we decided to test the waters and see if other faculty were in need of assistance.

A decade later, over 50% of our client base are faculty or staff at a university, domestically or abroad. We took a sample survey recently asking why they chose to work with us and found out that the style of our updates, use of Excel spreadsheets, educational and proactive communication style, fiduciary manner of service and support we offer and use of Zoom is very attractive to faculty.

They are educated, updated and kept apprised of how they are doing each semester, and when we feel they are in danger, we are proactive in our response to making changes to keep them on track, reduce their risk and help to preserve their wealth.

We also conduct open enrollment webinars with them about their HR benefits and are constantly available to answer any questions they may have as a result of their conditions changing. We now support faculty in over 10 universities domestically and others worldwide.

— Jon McCardle, president, Summit Financial Group of Indiana