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30 November 2021
BY JANICE ROBERTS Editor: MoneyMarketing
A
s South Africa journeys into a post-pandemic world, the nature of financial advice is changing, with the greatest shift involving technology and how it is enhancing the practices of financial planners – radically changing the way they connect and communicate. That’s just one of the messages that two advisers brought to this year’s Morningstar Investment Conference. Quinton Ralph,
First for the professional personal financial adviser
MD of Resolute Wealth Management, and Robert Adshade, Founder of Alchemy Financial Solutions, were in conversation with Debra Slabber, portfolio specialist at Morningstar Investment Management South Africa, to outline how they’re adapting their practices as the ‘new normal’ takes hold. Prior to the pandemic, Ralph, who describes himself as “very old school”, was used to regular face-to-face client meetings. “During COVID-19, I was forced to use Zoom and Microsoft Teams, and it’s changed our business considerably,” he told the conference. “It’s nice to see that clients have opted for Zoom meetings, but I’d still like to have at least one physical meeting a year with a client, and possibly one Zoom meeting.”
“A big part of our work involves creative thinking, and while robo-advice has its place, it’s certainly not in creative thinking”
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The changing nature of financial advice
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Quinton Ralph, MD, Resolute Wealth Management
Adshade has been working from his home office for at least three days of the week for the last 15 years, so the pandemic has had less of an impact on his advice practice, although his Zoom meetings have grown in number, “and face-to-face meetings have become more informal, and more of a relationship-building
process as opposed to business as such”, he stated. Both Adshade and Ralph are using the DocuSign digital transaction platform that allows them to send, sign and manage legally binding documents securely in the cloud. Ralph’s practice has been communicating through monthly newsletters, which include general financial planning information and market updates. In the past, he’d held client-facing presentations featuring guest presenters but has now opted for webinars. “We’ve even brought in a political analyst, and we’ve found that our clients love the webinars – and it’s not always just the content, as clients like the fact that you’re engaging with them. Webinars have definitely worked well for us.” Robo-advice vs traditional financial planning Neither of the two advisers see robo-advice as a threat to their business. Adshade, who entered the financial planning industry in 1993, co-founding Alchemy Financial Solutions in 1997, explained that the practice’s financial planning solutions are specific for each client. “It’s very difficult to put any clients in boxes. There’s no software that we can plug them into; we work with a blank canvas, structuring a unique financial plan for each client. A big part of our work involves creative thinking, and while roboadvice has its place, it’s certainly not in creative thinking.”
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