- How to Communicate a Fee Increase or Fee Model Change to Advisory Clients
Raising your fees or changing how you charge clients can be a delicate conversation, particularly when you’ve spent years building those relationships. Communicating a financial advisor fee increase generally involves giving clients advance notice, explaining why you’re making the change and showing how it will affect their costs. Whether you’re increasing an AUM-based fee, introducing… read more…
- Where to Find a Series 65 Practice Exam
Taking one or more Series 65 practice exams can help you prepare for the real thing by testing your securities knowledge. There are two general ways to find a Series 65 practice exam: search for free options online, or purchase a study prep package that includes full mock exams. If you’re preparing to sit for… read more…
- Financial Advisor Reviews: SEC and State Rules Explained
Client reviews and testimonials can underscore your credibility as an advisor and help attract new prospects to your firm. The SEC’s marketing rule permits the use of financial advisor reviews in marketing materials, with some stipulations. However, individual states may restrict or prohibit the use of reviews for promotional purposes. Reviewing the latest guidelines for… read more…
- How Financial Advisors Can Use Behavioral Finance to Better Serve Clients
Financial advisors use behavioral finance in client planning to better understand how emotions, cognitive biases and personal habits influence financial decisions. By recognizing behavioral tendencies such as loss aversion, overconfidence and recency bias, advisors can better understand why clients make certain financial decisions and tailor their recommendations accordingly. Financial advisors use behavioral finance in client… read more…
- How Often Should Financial Advisors Review Performance With Clients?
While there’s no set standard for how often advisors review performance with clients, a common review schedule is one in-depth annual meeting with shorter check-ins each quarter. The right cadence depends on the client’s wealth, life stage and preferences. Age matters too: 83% of Gen Z clients communicate with their advisor at least monthly, compared… read more…
- Common Marketing Mistakes Financial Advisors Should Avoid
Referrals can bring in new clients but most advisors need a diverse marketing approach to help their businesses grow. Some of the most common marketing mistakes financial advisors should avoid include generic messaging, content that isn’t tailored to a specific audience and working without a defined plan or strategy. An understanding of what works and… read more…
- What Financial Advisors Spend to Acquire Clients Across Marketing Channels
Attracting new clients comes with costs that aren’t always visible in a marketing budget. According to the 2026 Kitces Advisor Marketing Study, the typical financial advisory practice spent $0.70 to generate $1 in new annual client revenue when both direct expenses and the value of advisor and staff time were considered.1 However, acquisition costs vary… read more…
- What You Need to Know About CFP® Practice Exams
Taking CFP® practice exams gives candidates a chance to assess their readiness for exam day, test their understanding of financial planning concepts and identify knowledge gaps. Practice tests are designed to simulate the exam experience, with questions covering each core subject area. You may complete one or more practice exams, along with shorter quizzes or… read more…
- How to Write Effective Cold Outreach Emails as a Financial Advisor
A good cold outreach email for a financial advisor is short, specific, and low pressure: about 125 words or fewer, built around who you are, why the prospect should care, and how to keep talking. It also has to follow the rules. Cold emails count as marketing communications under the CAN-SPAM Act, FINRA Rule 2210,… read more…
- How to Transition or Sell Your Book of Business When You Retire
Transition planning for financial advisors involves deciding how clients, staff and the value of a practice will be handled when an advisor retires. Depending on the advisor’s goals, that may mean selling the book of business to another advisor or firm, transitioning clients to an internal successor or using a combination of both approaches. The… read more…
- How Financial Advisors Handle Multi-State Clients
Financial advisors can generally work with clients in other states without registering there, provided they have no place of business in the state and serve no more than five clients there in a 12-month period. This is known as the de minimis exemption. Once that threshold is exceeded, serving out-of-state clients effectively may require strong… read more…
- Series 65 Exam Questions: Sample Problems to Test Your Knowledge
The Series 65 exam qualifies financial services professionals to work as Investment Advisor Representatives (IARs). The exam consists of 130 scored questions and 10 unscored questions. To pass, you must correctly answer at least 92 of the scored questions within the 180-minute test window. Completing Series 65 sample questions as part of your study plan… read more…
- How Financial Advisors Can Build a Better Client Communication Cadence
Financial advisors sometimes think of client communication like flossing: they know they should do more of it, but nobody tells them how much is actually enough. Recent research suggests that communication can shape how clients perceive the relationship, while advisors and clients do not always agree on how often that contact should occur. A defined… read more…
- How to Communicate With Clients Across Generations and Demographics
Communication is central to a solid advisor-client relationship. In a 2024 YCharts survey, nearly nine in 10 investors said the quality of an advisor’s communication would influence their decision to stay with them or look elsewhere for advice.1 Research on demographic trends can help advisors understand how different clients may prefer to communicate, but those… read more…
- CFA Exam Questions: Sample Problems to Test Your Knowledge
Completing the CFA exam is one of the final hurdles to earning a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation. The exam, which consists of three parts, is designed to test your knowledge of financial analysis and it’s generally recommended that advisors dedicate a minimum of 300 hours to exam prep. Completing CFA sample questions can offer… read more…
- Marketing Financial Services to Women: What Advisors Need to Know
Financial advisor marketing has traditionally centered on investing, performance and wealth accumulation, but that approach may not always align with what women are looking for from financial advice. Women are already primary decision-makers on investment choices in 69% of households surveyed by CFP Board, and their financial influence is expected to grow as wealth changes… read more…
- CPA Exam Questions: Sample Problems to Test Your Knowledge
Passing the Uniform CPA exam is a requirement to become a certified public accountant. This rigorous exam, developed by the Association of International Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), is a four-section, 16-hour assessment that’s designed to test your knowledge of accounting practices. Reviewing CPA sample questions can help you prepare for exam day. Add new clients… read more…
- Financial Services Thought Leadership: How Advisors Build the Credibility That Wins Clients
Attracting clients in a competitive landscape means advisors must do more than offer services; they must also establish themselves as credible, authoritative experts. Applying thought leadership strategies can create opportunities to share knowledge and unique insights that speak to the needs, goals and interests of ideal clients. Financial services thought leadership is a form of… read more…
- Series 7 Exam Questions: Sample Problems to Test Your Knowledge
Financial advisors who recommend specific securities to clients must pass the FINRA Series 7 exam. This multiple-choice exam features 125 scored questions and 10 unscored pre-test questions covering core securities concepts. Completing Series 7 sample questions as part of your study prep can offer insight into what to expect when it’s time to sit for… read more…
- Lead Generation for Financial Services: Strategies to Fill Your Pipeline Without Cold-Calling
Leads can come from different sources, but the quality of those leads and their potential to convert isn’t always equal. If you have limited time or resources to invest in lead gen, it makes sense to focus on the highest ROI channels. Should you need some inspiration for your marketing strategy, the following lead generation… read more…
- What Should a Financial Advisor’s Website Include to Generate Leads?
A financial advisor website can support lead generation by quickly explaining who the firm serves, giving visitors a reason to engage and providing a clear path to a consultation. Many advisor websites function primarily as digital brochures, describing the firm without helping prospects determine whether its services fit their needs. Clear positioning, relevant content, credible… read more…
- Event Marketing Automation Tools for Financial Advisors
Hosting events offers an opportunity to market your business to prospective clients or deepen relationships with existing clients in an informal, low-pressure environment. You can tailor events to your target audience and use the time to share some of your expertise and knowledge. Just over a quarter of advisors use these types of events to… read more…
- 12 AI Productivity Solutions for Financial Advisors
Artificial intelligence is increasingly making inroads in the financial services space. Among advisors, 70% say they use at least one AI tool in their practice, according to an April 2026 Pulse Survey conducted by InspereX.1 Technology can help you run your business more efficiently, and there are a variety of options to choose from. Some… read more…
- Content Marketing for Financial Services: Strategies and ROI
Content marketing for financial services spans a broad range of activities. Whether you’re a financial planner, an insurance agent, CPA or a wealth manager, you may be using blog and social media content, videos, podcasts, newsletters and other content creation channels to promote your business. Developing a content marketing strategy that produces the results you… read more…
- How to Use AI Lead Scoring as a Financial Advisor
AI lead scoring for financial advisors uses artificial intelligence to help identify which prospective clients are most likely to become clients. Rather than treating every inquiry the same, AI analyzes data from marketing campaigns, websites, email engagement and customer relationship management (CRM) systems to estimate which leads deserve the highest priority. For advisory firms looking… read more…