Informa Insights
Taylor & Francis is thrilled to share a newly curated fintech article collection in line with Informa’s Finovate Europe conference. These articles have been made free-to-view until 31st May 2025 and have been written by our trusted experts on and around the topic of fintech. Articles include:
How do fintech start-ups affect financial institutions’ performance and default risk? By Christian Haddad & Lars Hornuf
Fundamental Analysis via Machine Learning by Kai Cao & Haifeng You, CFA
A feminist approach to fintech: exploring ‘buy now, pay later’ technologies and consumer fintech by Jessa Loomis & Daniel Cockayne
The effects of trading apps on investment behavior over time by Jonas Freibauer, Silja Grawert & Marc Oliver Rieger
Application of blockchain in dealing with sustainability issues and challenges of financial sector by Lokanath Mishra & Vaibhav Kaushik
Explore the full range of articles here and for any questions on how you can get access to this content for yourself and/or your business, please email us at corporate.team@tandf.co.uk.
Further reading
Stay ahead of the competition with more cutting-edge financial research, ranging from market analysis and risk management insights to generative AI and cyber security. Simply click here to browse further.
Interested in reaching a dedicated audience of industry leaders, professionals and policymakers? Explore more about how you could advertise in our journals and on our journal website here including in our Financial Analysts Journal, published on behalf of CFA Institute.
Browse the entire Finovate Europe 2025 collection here.
By D. Vance Barse
A financial advisor can employ a process to solidify the role of the most trusted advisor and financial quarterback by focusing on four main categories: estate planning, tax planning, risk management and financial planning. The financial advisor-as-quarterback model can bring maximum value to clients as the planning team navigates from the client’s starting point toward the ultimate goal of living a life of fulfillment and purpose.
Estate Planning
All prudent planning should begin with a thorough understanding of the estate-planning documents. When a client is onboarding with a wealth management firm, it’s essential that the firm obtain and review these documents and then discuss them with the client during a deep-dive discovery meeting regarding the client’s intentions with their estate. It may be most effective to start “tabula rasa” so that the client’s intentions are clear and from the heart. Importantly, drawing a family tree next to a map of the estate’s assets can help visualize which assets should go to whom. This way, any inconsistencies between the client’s desires and the existing estate-planning documents can be identified.
Not all clients have estate-planning documents when they onboard with a firm, though. Far too often, clients arrive without any estate-planning documents in place, are missing key documents or haven’t updated the existing documents in years. Whether the plan needs updating or original documents need to be drafted, this is an opportunity for the advisor to cultivate a working relationship with the estate planner to outline key findings from the discovery meeting.
Tax Planning
One of the most frequent problems I observed in the thousands of hours I spent consulting financial advisors is the gap among the tax, investment and estate-planning worlds. You may be scratching your head but indulge me: Tax returns are a treasure trove of information that offer a window into multiple ways in which a financial quarterback can bring tax alpha to clients. At no slight to any tax advisor or CPA, many tax professionals are reactive tax filers versus proactive tax planners. Clients routinely profess high admiration for their tax advisor’s expertise and the many years they’ve worked with their tax professional, only to later realize that they’ve been served by a reactive tax filer. A financial quarterback should spend ample time to obtain a metaphorical Ph.D. in the client’s tax return profile, understand what tax-related items may be on the horizon and introduce strategies that can help keep as much money in the estate as possible, then work alongside the tax advisor to present strategies for consideration. It’s not that the advisor should be giving tax-specific advice or file the return; rather, cultivating a deep working relationship with the CPA is paramount to facilitate proactive planning and cross collaboration to fill in these gaps.
Risk Management
One of the most frequent comments shared during annual review meetings is the huge jump in insurance premiums over the last year. It’s not uncommon for clients to mention a 20%+ increase in premiums on the same property and casualty policies they’ve had in place for years. For most clients, though, self-insuring can be a huge risk and very costly.
A true financial quarterback maintains the expertise and insight to identify gaps in coverage that may not be evident to clients or even their insurance agents. One common example is with home and auto policies. If a client is found liable for a home or auto insurance claim, it’s important to know how much of their estate may be at risk if the damages are above the coverage amounts.
Financial Planning
One of the biggest myths in the wealth management industry is that all financial advisors offer financial planning. It’s a common misconception among the public. There’s a significant difference between a colorful widget that projects the likelihood of success in retirement and a tangible financial plan that outlines all aspects of a client’s estate.
Many clients believe that a financial plan is idiosyncratic to the investments; however, developing a thorough financial plan that coalesces the aforementioned categories produces a concrete roadmap with multiple backup options to account for the ever-changing tides of life. Financial plans are fluid, and they change, but having a document that covers the main planning categories of an estate gives clients the peace of mind they deserve. A great financial plan outlines key planning decisions, such as when to take Social Security, how to satisfy charitable giving, the timing of various tax-related strategies, morphing an expensive and tax-inefficient portfolio into a lower cost and more tax-efficient version and regularly scheduled meetings with all members of the allied planning team.
More from Trusts&Estates
Read the full article here.
June 10 - 12, 2025 | The Boca Raton Resort, Boca Raton, FL
The Premier Event for Advisor Growth
Join the largest gathering of RIAs, featuring the highest AUM and the most senior advisors. Gain actionable insights, forge elite connections, and achieve tangible outcomes at the only wealth management conference that covers investment, productivity, and growth strategies.
At Wealth Management EDGE, discover practical solutions to drive your firm's growth and gain a competitive edge. Engage with hundreds of experts, advisors, and issuers to explore and debate the latest ideas in investment strategy, product and portfolio construction, and ETFs. Connect with a new generation of advisors leveraging technology to expand their businesses and meet the wealthtech innovators leading the way. Enhance your processes and strategies in areas such as M&A, succession planning, compensation, human capital, and leadership. Register now! Watch Wealth Management EDGE preview video on the right.
