What Clients Expect From Financial Advisors in 2026

What do clients want from their financial advisor? Sound financial advice and excellent service are a given, but that only scratches the surface of what advisors are expected to deliver. Providing a superior experience that’s tailored to the needs of your target market or niche is fundamental to both client acquisition and retention.

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What Clients Want From Financial Advisors

Among investors who work with a financial advisor, 62% report higher levels of satisfaction with the financial advice they receive compared to individuals who turn to friends and family for advice, according to a 2025 joint report from TIAA Institute and MIT AgeLab. ¹ Advised clients are half as likely as self-directed investors to report feeling financially stressed, according to Vanguard’s 2025 Emotional & Time Value of Advice survey. ²

These findings underscore the value of working with a financial professional, but what do clients want from their financial advisor day to day, year to year? Here are some insights worth considering as you approach your firm’s growth.

Clients Want Advisors Who Know What They’re Doing

In the TIAA/MIT AgeLab report, respondents were asked to share which characteristics or features they found to be most valuable when seeking professional financial advice. The five most valued qualities included an advisor’s:

• Ability to explain financial concepts clearly
• Expertise
• Ethics
• Reputation
• Years of experience

In other words, clients want to work with advisors who can break down complex concepts in a digestible manner. They expect their advisor to be an expert with a solid reputation and a high ethical standard.

Only time can add to your years of experience, but you can enhance your reputation and expertise by earning professional designations or credentials. For instance, the Certified Financial Planner™ (CFP®) designation signals that you’ve completed rigorous education, experience, exam and ethics standards that qualify you to provide financial advice to clients.

As a CFP® professional, you’re held to the CFP Board’s Code of Ethics and you’re also considered a fiduciary, which means you’re required to act in the best interests of your clients at all times. Pursuing a CFP® mark or a similar credential can add to your credibility, potentially making you more attractive in the eyes of prospective clients.

Clients Want Advisors Who Are Emotionally Connected

Offering financial advice to clients goes beyond numbers on a page; you may also be expected to act as an emotional regulator when the markets become uncertain. Vanguard’s research found that 86% of advised clients reported having more peace of mind about their financial situation compared to investors who handle their finances solo.

Applying a behavioral finance approach to your client service model could help you make deeper connections, building trust and loyalty in the process. Behavioral finance considers the psychology behind financial decision-making and what motivates client actions. It also encompasses emotional intelligence, which is the ability to recognize emotions in yourself and others, and manage them in a given situation.

Becoming more emotionally attuned to your clients doesn’t require a financial psychology certification, though you may choose to earn one if you’d like to add to your credentials. You can begin with something as simple as actively listening to what your clients have to say and repeating it back to them to demonstrate your understanding. Using an AI note-taking tool during client meetings can help you stay focused and engaged, without missing any revelations your client shares.

Clients Want Advisors Who Communicate Regularly

How you talk to clients matters. Poor communication can send clients searching for a different advisor to work with if they feel that their calls, texts or emails are being ignored. Infrequent communication can also be a problem if your clients expect you to reach out more often.

Consider these findings from a 2024 YCharts Advisor Client Communication Survey: ³

• 85% of high-value clients believe that more frequent, personalized communication could significantly enhance their confidence in their advisor
• 88% of those clients said that advisor communication would influence their decision to maintain their services
• 89% said it would impact their decision to refer their advisor to friends and family

Though the survey is a couple of years old, the fact remains that good communication is critical for client satisfaction and retention. It’s also a key driver of clients’ willingness to refer others to you. Improving client communication within your firm begins with understanding how often your clients want to hear from you and which methods they prefer. Those are things you can flesh out by asking clients to complete a short survey.

Once you have some client feedback to work with, consider your current communication policy and whether it needs updating. For example, if your clients are overwhelmingly telling you that they expect a response to an email or call within 48 hours and your average response time is one week, that’s an obvious area for improvement.

Also, consider how tech tools could improve client communication. For example, you might use agentic AI services on your website to handle client requests for information or provide answers to basic questions. AI is not a replacement for human advisors, but it may be useful when a client needs help with a non-urgent issue. The agent can field the initial request, and you can follow up later to ensure the client has gotten what they needed.

Automating communications can also work in your favor for prospecting and lead generation. SmartAsset’s Advisor Marketing Platform (AMP) provides advisors with referrals and gives them email and text messaging tools to nurture relationships continuously. Schedule a free demo to learn how SmartAsset AMP can help you grow your business. 

Clients Want Advisors Who Are Tech Adopters

Technology can make running your advisory business easier on multiple levels, and many clients recognize its usefulness. For example, a 2025 Million-Dollar Roundtable Survey found that 71% of consumers expect their advisor to use artificial intelligence for at least one professional purpose. ⁴ Americans are most comfortable with advisors using AI for automated tasks, such as research and analysis or generating meeting summaries.

Whether you use AI in your firm or not, it’s clear that clients value advisors who are knowledgeable about tech and take advantage of it to smooth operations. Examples of ways you might do that include:

• Shifting to an automated onboarding process that allows clients to sign key documents digitally
• Providing clients with a secure portal they can use to view their accounts
• Using a robust customer relationship management (CRM) tool to manage client data

If you haven’t reviewed your tech stack lately, consider auditing the tools you use currently. Evaluate each tool’s purpose, usefulness and functionality, then consider whether you might benefit from upgrading to a different tool, switching providers or incorporating new tools to fill technology gaps.

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Bottom Line

Deciphering what clients want from their advisors can be challenging, since every client is different. A deeper understanding of who your clients are can better prepare you to meet their expectations and refine the working relationship. Developing ideal client profiles and buyer personas can help you glean valuable insights as you refine your service model.

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Tips for Scaling Your Advisory Business

• You may find more time to spend with your clients by gaining help with your marketing efforts. SmartAsset AMP (Advisor Marketing Platform) is a holistic marketing service financial advisors can use for client lead generation and automated marketing. Sign up for a free demo to explore how SmartAsset AMP can help you expand your practice’s marketing operation. Get started today.
• Going independent and starting an RIA can be a daunting challenge and for some advisors, a different approach may feel more comfortable. Partnering with an RIA aggregator can offer the freedom and flexibility often associated with independence, without requiring you to shoulder the burden of running an advisory firm alone. You may choose the aggregator experience as a natural stepping stone in your career progress toward full independence.

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