Closing the Gap: Understanding the Disconnect Between Wealth Managers and Their Clients

If there are two lessons I’ve learned after more than thirty years of advising large-scale companies and scores of individuals on wealth management and investing, it’s that, first, knowledge is power. Second, and even more crucially, there is a significant disconnect between wealth managers and their clients. I’m not just speaking from personal experience and observation. In a survey conducted this year, only 64% of investment clients reported understanding what their advisors shared with them.

The gap between investing professionals and their clients is due to a need for more education. Clients don’t know how global markets work, and, in many cases, they are so far removed from this understanding that they cannot decipher what the experts they’ve hired are telling them.

If clients can’t understand the information their advisors are sharing, then they can’t enjoy financial clarity. And without financial clarity, clients lose trust in their advisors.

In fact, according to the same survey, 75% of advisory clients reported they were considering leaving their advisor in 2023. And by 2024, over half actually did.

A strong wealth management relationship relies not just on managing assets but on fostering trust and understanding through clear communication—and presenting data in a way that doesn’t require clients to have an extensive background in finance.

To close the gap, it’s essential to recognize the intricacies of the financial world and its impact on the client-advisor relationship.

The Global Markets

Navigating the global markets isn’t easy, even for veteran wealth managers and investors like myself. The financial realm is a complex network intricately linked to geopolitical occurrences, shifting economic indicators, and the continuous evolution of investment approaches. For example, a recent report forecasts a global growth reduction of 0.2% if conflicts in regions critical to global food and energy supply, like Eastern Europe and the Middle East, continue to escalate.

As significant as this information is, it represents only one of the myriad factors influencing the global economy. Spiking financial stress due to high interest rates, ongoing challenges with global supply chains, China’s debt-to-GDP ratio, and more all play important roles. It’s a complicated system, so despite my deep understanding of global markets, I still found tracking all of its movements and identifying important trends challenging.

If a veteran investor like myself can admit it’s a lot to take in and keep track of, is it any wonder why new investors and clients find the global markets convoluted and inaccessible?

Visualizing Success

Bridging the educational divide in wealth management is about presenting complex concepts in ways that resonate with a diverse clientele. By leveraging the power of data visualization—the process of converting data into graphical or pictorial forms—wealth managers and clients can better understand market trends at a glance. This practice opens up new possibilities for advisor engagement and client comprehension. In fact, by 2027, the data visualization market is expected to reach $19.20 billion at a compound annual growth rate of 10.2%, indicating a widespread, increasing adoption and reliance on data visualization tools.

I’m passionate about this because I’m a “numbers guy” and a visual learner. I believe the global markets should be accessible to anyone who wants to build and grow wealth. And the best way to make confident, successful investment decisions is to have access to straightforward, democratized data. I spent the last few years creating my own visualizations. With insytz, we created visual dashboards that show the global markets with color-coding to make it easy to track the trends and identify opportunities.

Investors of all levels need to be able to see beyond the numbers and graphs to achieve financial clarity.

Building Confidence and Trust

The disconnect between advisors and clients represents a critical area for improvement in the industry. At its core, education in wealth management is about building a foundation of confidence and trust between investment professionals and their clients. Of course, most investors will never fully understand the global markets at the level their wealth managers do—and that is ok. The complexity of investment strategies is precisely why advisors should find creative ways to illustrate the markets and their decision-making process.

When clients understand the rationale behind investment strategies, they are more likely to trust their advisors—especially during times of market volatility. By leveraging data visualization tools for market analysis, wealth managers can take a significant step towards demystifying the complex world of investing, enhancing communication, building trust, and retaining clients.

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