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Being a young Financial Advisor is not easy. Building your client base takes a lot of time, effort and patience but the payoff can be a lifetime of relationships cultivated. We sat down with several Vanderbilt Advisors and asked them “What advice would you give to a young Financial Advisor trying to make it in Financial Services?” As you read on, you’ll notice most Advisors aren’t giving advice on products or services. There’s a thorough line of advice around communication, listening and relationship building.

Summary:

• The Financial Services industry is not all about greed. Many Advisors’ intrinsic drive is helping others with planning their goals or driving capital towards impactful ventures.
• Financial Planners providing thoughtful and customized roadmaps that cater to exceptional circumstances in wealth management is an advantage over Passive Investing.
• Financial Advisors do want to bridge the Financial Literacy gap and teach clients the fact-based financial concepts relevant to their situations.

Editor's Note: This is the second post in a series for International Fraud Awareness Week, November 17-23. Fraud is one of the most serious issues clients deal with today. We hope that through this series, Financial Advisors gain a deeper awareness of the types of fraud their clients face and an understanding of how to help spot it before any damage is done.

TL;DR Summary:

• More than 10,000 Americans reach 65 years of age per day. Medicare is becoming the single most important healthcare security for senior citizens.
• A few common types of Medicare Fraud are eating away money from your clients and taxpayers: Upcoding and Unbundling, Phantom Billing, Kickbacks, and Waiving Unqualified Medicare co-pays and deductibles
• Equipping clients with knowledge of these frauds and the laws to protect them could save countless hours and dollars.
  

If you’re the type that cozies up to a good business book, below we outline an essential Fall reading list – put together by Financial Advisors for Financial Advisors. Our recurring series the “Advisor Spotlight” asks Vanderbilt Advisors to share books that have helped shape or influence their practice over the years. Below are just a few of our favorites:

Automation has given rise to Robo-Advising, a new technology that uses algorithms to aid in investment decisions, including those related to impact investing. What is an algorithm, and what does it offer to the Financial Advice Industry? An algorithm is a process or set of rules to be followed in calculations or other problem-solving operations, usually done by a computer. In Financial Services, a Robo-Advising algorithm is mainly used for non-complicated portfolio management. Clients can choose from a wide range of companies and services with a lower minimum initial investment than most traditional Financial Advisors. The account fee is low-cost to zero, which attracts a large group of clients who typically find an advisor’s fee as a cost-prohibitive barrier. As this technology becomes increasingly popular, there have been talks about the replacement of the human Financial Advisor.