The Services Clients Want but Aren't Getting, in 6 Charts

Are financial advisory firms giving consumers the services they truly want?

That was the key question Herbers & Co. sought to answer with two recent surveys: one of consumers with at least $250,000 in assets and another of financial advisory firms that together formed the basis of the 2023 Herbers & Company Service Market Growth Study. 

“What we learned as the big overarching theme is that consumers do know what they want, and oftentimes they may know what they need,” Angie Herbers, the firm’s CEO and senior consultant, told ThinkAdvisor during a recent interview.

But she said: “Advisory firms are often misaligned with what the consumers are saying they want and need.” 

And while the bulk of those advisory firms boast comprehensive planning services, the research found some 250 different takes on what that meant.

“The reality here is that the majority of financial advisors are calling themselves comprehensive planners and we don’t have a standardized definition of comprehensive planning,” she said. “Now, we have guidelines from the CFP Board, but not all financial advisory firms follow guidelines from the CFP Board.”

Here are some of the consulting firm’s key findings on the services clients are asking for versus what firms are actually providing.