The 5 ways FAs leave money on the table are:
1. Not charging a fee, or charging too small of a fee, for up-front planning and advice work.
2. Not consolidating your client’s assets.
3. Unimplemented advice.
4. Referrals.
5. Wasting time.

1. Not charging a fee, or charging too small of a fee, for up-front planning and advice work.

If I had a nickel for every time I’ve heard an FA say, “I do the planning for free in the hopes of getting some of their assets” I’d have a lot of nickels. This is an amateurish approach. Instead, charge a fee for quality planning work that stands on its own merits, whether the client implements with you or not. And if they do choose to act on your advice with you then you deserve to be paid for that as well. How is this better for the client? Because when a person pays for advice they tend to be more inclined to act on it. And it’s acting on advice that produces results. No action. No results.

How much should you charge? A good starting place is $5,000 - $10,000. If your spine is still under construction or the idea of charging an up-front fee for planning and developing your advice freaks you out then at least start with $2,000. Just make sure that your fee doesn’t make you look like a weenie. E.g.: quoting a $2,000 fee to someone who has over $1,000,000 will make you look like a weenie. And don’t charge by the hour either. Charge for the value of your advice, not the hours it takes to create it.

The bottom line is that you must have confidence that the work you do is valuable in order to expect other people to value you and your work. It’s business. Value is measured by money. Stop leaving this money on the table and under-serving your clients. Charge a fee for up-front planning and developing advice.

2. Not consolidating all of your client’s assets in as few accounts with as few institutions as possible.