Survey of Financial Advisors Shows Many Are Missing Major Growth Opportunity: Billing on Held-Away Assets

BOSTON, Feb. 16 /PRNewswire/ -- ByAllAccounts, Inc., the leader in financial account aggregation for professional use, today released the results of the company's Q1 Advisor Survey.  The study found that financial advisors agree on the importance of providing advice on all their clients' assets: those under management, under supervision or monitored and held-away.  Nearly half (46 percent) of respondents are billing for this service by including held-away assets in their service fees.  The advisors who do include held-away assets in their billing are increasing their annual revenues, in some instances very significantly.

"Our research shows that many advisors already bill on held-away assets to grow their businesses quickly and efficiently," said Cynthia Stephens, director of marketing at ByAllAccounts.  "There is an untapped opportunity for other advisors to leap-frog the competition by making more effective client recommendations and billing for that service."

Many advisors' clients have 401K and other retirement accounts that are captive inside an employer plan; and often, they are not including these assets under management when they bill.  Account aggregation enables advisors to monitor and advise on these held-away assets, create a comprehensive financial plan and bill for that value-added service.

Key findings from the ByAllAccounts Q1 Advisor Survey include:

• Marketing:  35 percent of advisors cite attracting new clients as their biggest concern in 2010
• Wealth Management:  48 percent of survey respondents said it is extremely important to provide advice on all financial assets (those under management, under supervision or monitored and held away)
• Practice management: 46 percent of survey respondents bill on clients' held-away assets

Webinar to deliver survey results

On Wednesday, February 24, ByAllAccounts will host a webinar to release findings from the Q1 Advisor Survey.  The event - "Do you charge enough for held-away assets?" - will give financial advisors insight into how they compare to their peers in terms of billing practices.  The webinar will address the following questions:

• How confident are advisors in increasing revenues in 2010?
• What percentage of advisors report, advise and bill on held-away assets?
• How much are advisors charging for this advice and reporting?
• What is the revenue potential for billing on held-away assets?

To register, visit: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/517328579

About the survey

For the Q1 Revenue Survey, ByAllAccounts surveyed financial advisors in January and February 2010 about increasing revenues in 2010.  The survey findings are based on aggregated responses from more than 500 advisors, 88 percent of whom have been in business more than five years.  More than half of respondents are independent investment advisors (fee only or fee-based).

For more information regarding ByAllAccounts, please visit:

• Web: www.ByAllAccounts.com
• Twitter: http://twitter.com/ByAllAccounts
• LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=2433634&trk=hb_side_g

About ByAllAccounts, Inc.

ByAllAccounts has been gathering and delivering professional use, reconciliation-ready data to investment management and advisory firms since 1999. Using innovative technology, we provide unparalleled access to reliable, accurate financial account data from thousands of custodians and enable efficient and timely account reconciliation, performance analysis and consolidated reporting. We help our customers build stronger, more profitable relationships by providing timely, personalized levels of service and better advice based on a more complete understanding of their clients' assets. For more information about ByAllAccounts, Inc. solutions, please call 781.376.0801, email [email protected], or visit www.byallaccounts.com.

SOURCE ByAllAccounts, Inc.