5 Key Takeaways: Fixing the Advisory Disconnect
- The Professional Services Problem: High-net-worth clients report higher satisfaction with personal trainers, therapists, and even pool service professionals than with wealth managers, signaling a failure in personalized service and communication.
- The Cost/Value Misalignment: Traditional Assets Under Management (AUM) fees create a perceived "wealth tax," where clients pay more as their portfolio grows, regardless of proactive service or complexity managed.
- The Proactivity Gap: Clients are frustrated because traditional advisors and CPAs are often slow to respond and fail to be proactive or strategic enough, treating complex financial issues transactionally.
- The Complexity Failure: Advisors with high client-to-advisor ratios (often over 100) cannot devote the personalized attention required to navigate complex issues like executive compensation and business tax issues, leading to crucial errors.
- The Solution is Integration: Firms must offer integrated CFP® and CPA expertise combined with a low client-to-advisor ratio (like Purpose Built’s 50-client maximum) to deliver the strategic, proactive, and personalized service sophisticated clients demand.
A recent benchmark survey by Long Angle HWN Professional Services found that high-net-worth individuals rated their satisfaction with their personal trainer, therapist/counselor, and several other services all above their satisfaction with their wealth advisor. Here is the complete chart:
Sadly, not much here surprises me. The very first thing I tell potential clients during a discovery meeting is that the most important factor when selecting an advisor (assuming they are all CFPs) is that they need to be comfortable talking with the person.
Our ability to help you is severely limited without open communication.
However, I was genuinely shocked by one of the professions that also had a higher satisfaction rate than their financial advisor: Their Pool Service Person!?!? I'm seriously starting to worry there might be some truth to those 'pool boy' stories from the movies!
The truth behind this anecdote is not about pools; it’s about a profound failure of the financial industry to deliver personalized, proactive, and relationship-driven service, especially to high-net-worth (HNW) clients. CNBC dug into the data and revealed that while only a third of millionaires use a wealth advisor for financial planning, a startling 1 in 5 plan to fire their advisor due to high costs and poor service.
Client satisfaction surveys consistently place financial, home, and property services at the bottom. This trend is understandable given the typical client engagement model among many financial advisors. The process often mirrors sales in other industries: initial client engagement, relationship building, in-depth financial analysis, solution recommendation, and finally, implementation—usually by placing client assets into a standardized portfolio. Advisors then use software for monthly or quarterly rebalancing to demonstrate activity. Once a client is integrated, engagement often becomes minimal, limited to annual check-ins or client-initiated contact. This approach allows advisors to manage a large number of clients, sometimes exceeding 100 or even 160, making it challenging to deliver truly personalized advice and optimal results.
The New Anxiety of Affluence: Service, Not Just Solutions
That brings us to what makes millionaires highly satisfied. They are most satisfied with services that deliver emotional value and tangible, personalized results, such as their personal trainer (scoring 9.3 out of 10) and therapist (scoring 8.3). As one expert noted in the CNBC article, "Improving your balance sheet or bank account doesn’t deliver the same emotional value as improving your health and family life.” His sentiment is certainly correct but it’s because the advisor is not communicating and educating the client about the link between his financial health and the goals they want to achieve.
This disconnect reveals two core complaints about traditional financial and tax advisors:
1. The Cost Conflict: The Problem with AUM Fees
The chief complaint for millionaires is cost, with the median spending on financial advisors being $10,000 a year. Many clients view the traditional Assets Under Management (AUM) fee structure as inherently lopsided or a "wealth tax," where the advisor is paid more simply because asset values increase, not because performance or service quality improves.
- The Conflict: High-net-worth clients often make decisions that reduce AUM (like paying off debt, making large charitable gifts, or funding a business), yet AUM compensation can create friction when these financially sound decisions reduce the advisor’s fee.
- The Preference: This frustration is why more clients say they prefer transparent, flat-fee structures, which decouple compensation from portfolio size and tie the cost directly to the complexity and scope of the work delivered. I highlight "say" because, as a flat-rate advisor, I can tell you that many potential clients are deterred by a quoted dollar figure. Hearing "$8,400 per year" sounds more expensive to many clients than "1% AUM with an $840,000 minimum AUM," even though both represent the same cost. One is a deferred cost drawn directly from various accounts, so clients don't need to write a check. This is the same reason why the IRS withholds taxes from each paycheck instead of issuing monthly or quarterly bills; they are harder to collect because they seem like more "tangible" costs.
2. The Service Failure: Slow, Transactional, and Reactive
Beyond cost, wealthy investors are frustrated with the quality of service. Complaints include advisors who are slow to respond and whose advice is not personalized. Accountants and tax advisors fare little better, with 42% considering switching because their CPAs were slow to respond and weren't proactive or strategic enough.
- The Key Gap: Personal trainers, coaches, and therapists are seen as providing highly customized, goals-driven help. By contrast, wealth managers, estate lawyers, and CPAs often feel "transactional" and provide cookie-cutter solutions.
- The Complexity Misalignment: High-net-worth individuals have complex financial lives, encompassing estate planning, executive compensation, and business tax issues. This complexity underscores my earlier point about the number of clients per advisor. With over 100 clients, it's simply impossible for an advisor to truly grasp each client's intricate issues or respond to questions promptly. Many advisors attempt to bridge this gap by utilizing paraplanners to handle the majority of the work, with the advisor only conducting a final review before meeting preparation. While this model functions well for clients with straightforward, "standard" financial situations, it becomes problematic with more complex cases. In such instances, crucial areas can be overlooked because the paraplanner may not fully understand the issue to effectively flag it for the advisor's review.
The Purpose Built Solution: Integrated Expertise and Proactive Service
The dissatisfaction with the traditional model is an opportunity for firms built on an integrated, planning-first foundation. At Purpose Built, our value proposition is designed specifically to solve the service problem and address the complaints of high-net-worth clients:
1. Integrated Expertise (Proactive Strategy)
Our firm is built around the crucial combination of the Certified Financial Planner™ (CFP®) certification and the Certified Public Accountant (CPA) designation.
- Eliminating Slow Response: Combined with keeping our client per advisor ratio low, Our seamless approach eliminates the "slow to respond" problem that arises when clients must coordinate between an external CPA and a separate advisor. We coordinate and often execute your tax preparation and tax forecasting in-house.
- Proactive Tax Strategy: We move beyond reactive tax preparation. As a CPA and CFP®, we provide the proactive, strategic tax guidance that 42% of millionaires feel their current CPAs are missing.
2. Planning-First Relationship (Personalization)
The most important factor in a client relationship is communication and comfort. Our model is designed to deliver the highly customized, goals-driven help that HNW individuals are looking for—the kind of service they currently find with their personal trainer.
- Managing Complexity: We help you graduate to customized advice, navigating the complexities of your executive compensation, stock options, and business ownership, which increases the perceived value of our advice.
- Client Comfort: The core of our firm is built on establishing trust and open communication, which experts cite as a critical, high-value asset in the advisory relationship. To ensure we can meet that commitment, we will never have more than 50 clients per advisor. By committing to keep that ratio low, we are able to build strong relationships and truly understand our clients' needs, leading to more personalized and effective advice.
The new reality is that transparency, personalization, and integrated expertise are no longer optional, they are prerequisites for serving sophisticated clients.
Don't settle for a transactional relationship that leaves you frustrated and constantly questioning value. Your financial life deserves the same high standard of customized, proactive service you expect from your personal trainer or gosh forbid, your pool boy!
Contact Purpose Built today to discover the difference that truly integrated financial and tax planning can make for your confidence and your bottom line.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Q: Why are millionaires dissatisfied with traditional wealth management services?
A: Dissatisfaction stems from perceived high costs (AUM fees), poor service (slow responses), lack of personalization, and an advisor's inability to integrate complex tax and legal planning strategically.
Q: What is the main complaint about the Assets Under Management (AUM) fee structure?
A: The main complaint is that the AUM fee is viewed as inherently "lopsided" or a "wealth tax" because the fee increases automatically as the market value of assets rises, without necessarily correlating to increased service quality or strategic work.
Q: How does Purpose Built solve the problem of "slow and transactional" service?
A: Purpose Built solves this by operating with an integrated CFP® and CPA model and committing to a low client-to-advisor ratio (never more than 50 clients). This structure allows the advisor to understand complex issues deeply, respond promptly, and execute tax strategies in-house, eliminating external coordination delays.
Q: What is the significance of the high satisfaction scores for personal trainers and therapists?
A: These high scores signify that high-net-worth individuals highly value services that are highly customized, proactive, and deliver emotional value and tangible, goals-driven help. Clients want the same level of personalized attention and trust from their financial partner.
Q: Why is a low client-to-advisor ratio necessary for complex financial planning?
A: With complex financial lives involving executive compensation and business issues, a high ratio (over 100 clients) makes it impossible for an advisor to grasp intricate details, leading to missed opportunities and potential errors. A low ratio ensures personalized, proactive oversight.
Final Thoughts: Beyond the Rules—Crafting Your Retirement Strategy
The data is clear: the traditional wealth management model is failing the affluent client, resulting in dissatisfaction and confusion. Your financial life deserves the same high standard of customized, proactive service you expect from your personal trainer, or gosh forbid, your pool boy.
Don't accept a transactional relationship where your complex tax and estate issues are managed by an overworked system. Your wealth requires a strategic partner who is proactive, transparent, and structurally committed to your success.
At Purpose Built, we provide the integrated expertise, planning, wealth management, and tax strategy, necessary to lift that burden. Our low client-to-advisor commitment ensures you receive the hyper-personalized attention your sophisticated financial life demands.
Don't settle for less than you deserve. Contact Purpose Built today to discover the difference that truly integrated financial and tax planning can make for your confidence and your bottom line.
About the Author
Sean Lovison, CPA, CFP®, is a fee-only financial planner serving clients virtually nationwide but based in Moorestown, New Jersey. After spending 14 years as a corporate chief financial officer (CFO), receiving and designing compensation plans, he decided to help others navigate their plans.
All written content on this site is for information purposes only. Opinions expressed herein are solely those of Sean Lovison and Purpose Built Financial Services (PBFS), unless otherwise specifically cited. The material presented is believed to be from reliable sources, and no representations are made by our firm regarding other parties' informational accuracy or completeness. All information or ideas provided should be discussed in detail with an advisor, accountant, or legal counsel prior to implementation.
The information on this site is provided "AS IS" and without warranties of any kind, either express or implied. To the fullest extent permissible pursuant to applicable laws, PBFS disclaims all warranties, express or implied, including, but not limited to, implied warranties of merchantability, non-infringement, and suitability for a particular purpose. PBFS does not warrant that the information will be free from error. None of the information provided on this website is intended as investment, tax, accounting, or legal advice, as an offer or solicitation of an offer to buy or sell, or as an endorsement of any company, security, fund, or other securities or non-securities offering. The information should not be relied upon for purposes of transacting securities or other investments. Your use of the information is at your sole risk. Under no circumstances shall PB be liable for any direct, indirect, special, or consequential damages that result from the use of, or the inability to use, the materials on this site, even if PB or a PB-authorized representative has been advised of the possibility of such damages. In no event shall Purpose Built have any liability to you for damages, losses, and causes of action for accessing this site. Information on this website should not be considered a solicitation to buy, an offer to sell, or a recommendation of any security in any jurisdiction where such offer, solicitation, or recommendation would be unlawful or unauthorized.
.jpg)
