NextGen Advisor? How Are You Positioning Yourself in a Changing Industry Landscape

Note: This article is courtesy of Iris.xyz

Written by: Kyle Hiatt | Orion Advisor Services

Whenever an industry starts to transition, it can be difficult to describe the changes occurring or to create a lexicon of easily understood terms. The advisory industry has reached a maturation and evolution point where the “nextgen” advisor is beginning to receive widespread attention.

Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be as widespread an understanding of just what makes an advisory firm “nextgen” and, as a result, confusion can be found throughout the industry.

However, it’s important for an advisory firm to know how to be a “nextgen” firm, because as investors themselves fall into a common definition of “nextgen” (under forty years old), advisory firms need to position themselves to serve those investors well, and grow with purpose.

So, let’s first clean up definitions, and understand how to become a nextgen advisory firm.

Here are four things we think make an advisory firm nextgen, and four things that don’t.

WHAT IT IS

TECHNOLOGY-CENTRIC ADVISORY FIRM

To be a nextgen advisor is to embrace modern technology and the efficiency it can give your firm. Running portfolio accounting software that looks like it came from Windows 95 is no longer an option for firms that want to attract top-of-the-line, upcoming advisors, and it won’t help when you’re trying to land up-and-coming investors either.