We found that financial planning holds a high degree of appeal among American consumers—they prefer to work with advisors who take a planning-based approach, feel more confident about their financial futures once they have a plan in place, and reward the firm that provided the plan with the opportunity to manage a larger share of their assets. We call this the win-win-win of financial planning.

Firms seeking to maximize the opportunity in financial planning have a choice of delivery models. They need to understand how clients want to access, digest, and engage with the financial planning process.