Human touch and considerate pricing important for accessible advice

With a growing advice gap, creating practices that are outwardly accessible to potential clients is important to draw them in and give them the advice they need, according to Mazi Wealth financial adviser Deline Jacovides, who has tried to shape her business to be accessible to a broader range of clients.

One useful tool she uses in this regard is social media. While some advisers are cautious about social media, driven by concerns around the “finfluencer” label, Jacovides believes embracing this channel is an effective method of creating accessibility through education.

“I like people that have come to me from a finfluencer because it means they’ve come to me with a base level of education and financial literacy,” she told the ifa podcast.

“Because the reality is, these days we can’t be teaching people from the start of their financial journey.”

Adoption of technology beyond digital social media, including AI and digital advice, are also effective tools in creating accessible advice, allowing practices to streamline advice processes, allowing them to reach a wider client base that might find traditional advice inaccessible.

However, advice still remains a profession built on face-to-face interactions and relationships, with Jacovides reminding that the human touch should not be lost in the application of technology.

“When I first started my business about three and a half years ago, I had this vision in my mind where I thought I was going to be a really tech-savvy business and be a solo adviser and use all this tech to be able to provide efficient advice,” she said.

“But I did learn pretty early on that I still need humans behind the scenes to help drive that in terms of accessibility.”

Tying in social media, part of Jacovides’ efforts to help humanise herself as an adviser has been creating awareness around the cost of advice to potential clients, documenting some of the pressures the profession is facing.

“I just like making people aware of what not financial advisers are. We are not money hungry or greedy or anything like that. It’s just that we legitimately have high expenses,” she said.

Another aspect of creating accessible advice for Jacovides is creating fee models that do not isolate clients who cannot afford an ongoing advice relationship.

“I don’t have a compulsory ongoing advice program, it is seen as a bit more accessible for accumulator clients,” she said.

This kind of fee model can help draw younger Millennial and Gen Z clients to a practice, allowing them to receive advice when needed, without being locked into a potentially unaffordable program.

Jacovides also highlighted that this model does not cheapen the advice on offer: “I don’t classify myself as low cost [because I don’t charge ongoing fees].”

To hear more from Deline Jacovides, tune in here.