What is the job of a Financial Advisor?
You may instantly think: ‘to help clients make investment decisions’ or ‘to develop comprehensive financial plans for their clients.”
And although this is absolutely true, what if I told you that a Financial Advisor’s job is to sit and listen to their clients.
This idea was at the heart of my conversation with Santiago Burridge. Santiago is a 25-year industry leader who founded four businesses – Treysta Wealth Management, Implemented Portfolios, Premier Superannuation Services and Lumiant – with the aim to improve people’s lives for the better.
Starting in the industry as a Financial Adviser in 1998, Santiago quickly became disillusioned with the product-centricity of the profession. Instead, he wanted to personalise the experience and create a model that placed clients at the heart of their financial decisions.
In 2010, Santiago co-founded Implemented Portfolios, a technology platform that creates scalable, individually managed accounts, which enable advisers to deliver highly individualised investment experiences.
In 2021 he launched Lumiant, an advice engagement and client experience platform, with the simple aim of making advice more accessible, visual and engaging to non-financial clients, who had typically been ignored by the profession. Santiago wanted to help advisors by creating a platform that placed the client at the heart of the experience.
Placing the client at the heart of the experience. That’s what Santi says is the Financial Advisor’s job. To sit and listen. Prompting the client to talk more about what they value. Uncovering and understanding the truth and the story of each individual client.
“This is Financial Planning 3.0. This is us being on the front foot. Noone can come near us… Noone knows our client even remotely as close as we do.”
For the full conversation, listen to episode 49 of It’s Never About Money.
