BCG Blog

By this point in January, most people have stepped aside from the aspirational goals they set for the New Year. For many advisors, increasing their marketing efforts made it into their goals for 2025. It can be difficult to carry through on this goal. The key may be to find ways to maximize efficiency when it comes to marketing.

When it comes to financial wellness, plan participants and sponsors might not be seeing eye to eye. That divide may not be insurmountable; a little planning may smooth any tensions.

Bernie Madoff may have faded from memory but that doesn't mean prospective clients aren't worried about what they hear on the news. Advisors may want to consider how to respond to these hits to the industry's reputation when planning marketing strategies.

Income variability, market volatility, and continuing international conflict have led clients to increasingly think of including several generations in one financial plan. Here’s what to know about creating family financial plans.

As Quarter Four draws near for many investors, clients may be thinking of preparing for their year-end discussions on tax preparations. But advisors may want to take time to talk with them about the potential for tax changes that 2025 could bring.

The gap between new, more lenient regulations on who can qualify as an employer under ERISA and providing those plans might be filled by financial advisors if advisors can understand how to market their services to those groups. To understand how to cross this gap, advisors may want to understand the history of the rule change, how associations make decisions, and how to market to them.

Over the years, we’ve weighed the pros and cons of various social media platforms on financial literacy. Sometimes, preference for social media runs along generational lines. Lately, two trends may have combined to create an important issue for financial advisors: a reduction in attention span and the rise in so called “Finfluencer” may mean clients are relying on TikTok for financial education.

A recent article highlighted on NASDAQ’s news page noted that demographic changes among retirees may create opportunities for more diversity among advisors. Yet, that report seems to not align with other, more recent studies. That may beg the question, what is the state of gender diversity in asset management and financial advising?

Many Plan Sponsors balance their administrative concerns by approaching their various fiduciary and administrative responsibilities via checklists and project plans. Yet even these planning tools may fall short. Most of those approaches fail to address both administrative and analytical issues. A quarter by quarter approach may help create the right balance.

The public is having a very heated conversation on aging and capacity, especially when it comes to holding political office. Some may even want a break from the coverage of older politicians and their foibles. But one arena that may need more discussion of longevity and aging is retirement planning.

Into the brave new world of post Secure Act 2.0 benefit administration comes new and challenging accommodation requests for things such as mental health and long COVID-related illnesses, which may create confusion over balancing and discrimination testing a plan. So, we can only imagine the dismay some benefits advisors may have over news noting an increased favorability of pensions.

Financial advisors may feel like they are finding themselves between a rock and a hard place lately and both rock and hard place may be the doing of the Department of Labor. If you thought the proposed fiduciary rule was the only problem popping up, beware the independent contractor definition changes.

Can you, or can’t you? The state of the regulations on ESG for ERISA-related and public fund fiduciaries is anything but clear. Here’s a roundup of the current activity.

New alternative investments are always worth watching. They show changes in technology, how people feel about asset classes, or their level of insecurity about volatility in the stock market. A new move on micro-equity, or crowdsourced fundraising highlights all of those themes. This time with cake.

Looking for a way to lighten up your stress? The experts all suggest delegating more of your to do list. We know it’s easy. But one task you can delegate to others is building your prospect database.