Now, think about this in practical terms. If you have five clients pass away, there’s a good chance three of their widows might leave too. That’s potentially $15,000 (or more) in lost revenue. And when you combine that with rising costs, slow organic growth, and an ageing client base, it’s easy for your business to be going backwards.
So, why does this happen, especially when many of us have worked with these couples for years?
It’s not just about the numbers
A common thread I’ve noticed is that many women don’t feel understood by their adviser. Now, it’s not that anyone’s delivering bad service on purpose, but let’s be honest, a lot of traditional financial advice focuses on metrics like net worth, returns, and asset allocation.
We’re trained to prioritise those numbers. But for many women, money is about more than that. It’s tied to their sense of security, confidence, and the ability to live comfortably in the future. If we’re not connecting with those deeper, more emotional aspects, it’s easy to see why widows might look for someone who does.
The kids are playing a bigger role
When a husband passes, it’s often the adult children who step in to help mum find a new adviser. And let me tell you, this can change the whole dynamic. These adult kids are savvy – they’re looking for a modern, user-friendly experience. If your website looks dated or you don’t offer things like virtual meetings or online booking, you could easily be passed over.
This isn’t just about keeping mum as a client, either. The next generation is evaluating you too, deciding if they want to work with you when their time comes. So, it’s not just losing one client – it could be an entire family’s business.
It’s personal – not just financial
Here’s the thing: money is personal, especially in times of grief. When a client loses their partner, it’s not just about managing finances anymore. It’s about navigating fear, uncertainty, and the emotional weight of being solely responsible for their financial future.
If we don’t acknowledge those feelings – if we only focus on the numbers – we’re missing an opportunity to truly support our clients when they need us most.
What can we do about it?
So, how do we address this and retain our clients through life’s toughest transitions? Here are a few steps that can make all the difference:
- Shift the conversation: move away from purely financial metrics and engage in deeper discussions about what financial security means for their life and wellbeing.
- Modernise your practice: a polished, user-friendly website, online booking options, and virtual meetings aren’t just nice-to-haves anymore – they’re essential if you want to stay relevant.
- Start building relationships with the next generation early: if the kids are likely to be executors of the estate, make it a priority to connect with them before the passing. Consider offering an “executors responsibility meeting” to discuss what their role will involve. This can provide huge value to the family while allowing you to start a relationship with the future decision makers long before they need to make those tough calls.
Ultimately, if we want to keep these clients – and future generations – it’s time to step up. Our role goes beyond managing portfolios, it’s about managing relationships. By adapting our approach, we can ensure that our clients feel valued and supported, no matter what life throws their way.
Adele Martin, founder of My Money Buddy and The Savings Squad
Yes made some valid insights. Women tend to really need to feel trust in their adviser emotionally compared to their dead husbands, you need to earn that trust very quickly because they often have little investing experience. The upside is, they then tend to be better clients than their dead husbands because they don’t try to second guess you all the time, or make emotional sudden switches like men are prone to do. Probably the hardest part is educating them to remember spend some of the windfall gains as the portfolio grows over the years. My experience with adult children (daughters) has been great. With adult children (successful men) they always know of someone better. Sometimes they come back with half what they had but normal it’s grossly underinvested instead.
You raise some interesting points..I suspect some of that may have to be caused by the fact that the deceased client was the person in charge of financial decisions and the widow was probably not really involved, and as you say, when they were interested all they heard, was returns on investment and the latest in super rules
But I suspect that some of it’s also down to the fact that technically minded financial planners, as a general comment (please don’t take offence), tend not to have the same deep personal relationship with clients as risk advisers often do.
I’ve only ever been to one funeral where a widow went out of her way to give a hug to her husband’s Adviser.Both the deceased and the adviser were known to me. I often asked myself why that was the case.
70% of widows leave their financial adviser within 12 months of their spouse passing away and 48.6% of widows buy a new Mercedes Benz within 10 days of their spouse passing away (68.4% select a silver one). (Shouldn’t the source of statistics be referenced)
If that’s the main thing you’ve taken out of this article, this article isn’t for you (or it probably is, but you don’t know it yet).
As a general rule we don’t find this happening – particularly with our SMSF widows/widowers. Unless the death of the husband was so tragic that it is simply the client desiring to move on with life event, and few advisers can deal with that.
Wow! That’s certainly not our experience. In fact, the opposite is true. A significant number of our new clients are widows or divorcees who have been referred to us by existing clients.
Isn’t that Adele’s point though, you are on the receiving end of the 70% of widows who are leaving their current adviser to go t new adviser (you).