Leverage the financial services evolution to maximize your firm's value The Essential Advisor presents an insightful handbook for advisors looking to navigate the changing face of financial services. The industry is evolving, consumers are evolving, and many advisors are being left behind as old methods become less and less relevant. This book shows you how to turn this shift into a positive, by positioning your firm to maximize these new opportunities, and deliver the results and experience increasingly expected of financial advisors. You'll learn how to provide the transparency, hands-on interaction, and around-the-clock access today's clients demand, and how to consistently deliver service that robo-advisors cannot duplicate. Emerging technologies do not have to be a threat to your practice they are tools that represent opportunities to provide greater service to your clients, and smart technology integration will be a hallmark of firms that survive the shift. This guide provides a clear vision of the future of financial services, and an indispensable management framework for maximizing your firm's future value. Advisors are increasingly confused about what clients are seeking, and clients are equally confused about what advisory firms offer that alternatives cannot. This book helps clear the air on both sides by examining the client's perspective of financial services, and helping advisors better communicate their strengths. * Articulate the value of your services * Leverage new technology to complement your practice * Capitalize on opportunities and maximize your firm's value * Position your firm to benefit from the changing consumer population Financial advisors can only grow their businesses if clients know what they do, know how to hire them, and can access them affordably. The Essential Advisor shows you to bring your firm into the future successfully.

"This book is an incredibly fun read. The style is a lot of People magazine, with a little Smart Money magazine thrown in for good measure."—Detroit Free Press

"Americans have ample role models for how to spend money, but too few on how to save and invest it. Jean Chatzky's new book may change that, however. By showing us how celebrities have incorporated financial decision-making into their lives, this book sends a powerful and valuable message that investing is something that all of us can, and indeed should, do."—Don Phillips President, Morningstar, Inc.

"Jean has revealed the true innermost secrets of the '90s—how accomplished people make, spend, and invest their money. A good read and great advice all in one."—Donna Hanover broadcast journalist and First Lady of the City of New York

"A book that shows the rich and famous have money problems, too, and how we can avoid them. Jean Chatzky makes learning how to save like the rich and famous lots of fun!"—Al Roker NBC Today