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In the increasingly competitive wealth management landscape, delivering measurable, personalized value to clients — especially high-net-worth (HNW) clients — requires significantly more than traditional portfolio construction.
More than half (59%) of advisors are focused on providing value beyond asset allocation — a priority aligned with clients' growing demand for financial planning services. And, while advisors spend 43% of their time meeting or managing clients, managing investments still consumes 16% of their time, leaving little time (9%) for prospecting ("2024 Natixis Global Survey of Financial Professionals: Future Shock," Natixis Investment Managers).
This time constraint emphasizes the need for more efficient tools and strategies to support portfolio management and client service. In addition, HNW clients are looking beyond the traditional 60/40 portfolio. They want more personalization, sophistication and customization than traditional asset allocation models.
Navigating these increasingly complex client demands makes robust case design crucial to delivering value.
Understanding the HNW Personalization Paradigm
Client expectations have shifted dramatically in recent years. Traditional portfolios (while still sound from an investment perspective) don't always meet HNW client expectations, preferences and goals. Instead, clients are seeking competitive, refined planning that aligns with their financial objectives, tax circumstances, risk tolerance and investment philosophy. They're looking for custom solutions that go beyond exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and mutual funds to include direct investing, tax alpha solutions, alternatives and more — all backed by robust case design to put everything together.
This is the HNW Personalization Paradigm — a model for serving and supporting the sophisticated investment needs of the HNW, all centered on case design.
Based on the investor's goals, risk profile and other investment considerations, an experienced investment and research team customizes a personalized financial strategy with components typically including:
- Direct Indexing: customizing a curated individual stock portfolio utilizing a reference index and creating a meaningful sampling as a starting point.
- Tax-Aware Solutions: seeking to minimize potential capital gain realization, diversifying concentrated portfolios or proactively tax-loss harvesting to generate losses in advance of a liquidity event.
- Alternative Investments: diversifying a portfolio's potential risk and return relationship via access to private credit, private equity, real estate and other non-traditional asset classes.
While not every portfolio will follow this paradigm, together these elements can solve complicated investment challenges with a bespoke solution.
In-House Versus Outsourced Case Design
Delivering high-level case design internally can be challenging for many Registered Investment Advisors (RIAs.) Even experienced advisors may not have the time or technical expertise to consistently model complex tax strategies, risk models or alternative investment allocations. Nor do most RIAs have the time or expertise to do due diligence on the array of solutions and providers that may be required.
As clients' investment needs become more sophisticated, planning scenarios usually become more complex. For example, navigating qualified opportunity zones, deferred compensation plans or private investment structures requires a level of specialization many advisory firms cannot maintain in-house — which is why outsourced consultation can be a beneficial strategy.
Outsourcing case design can enable advisory firms to extend their capabilities in a cost-effective and scalable way. Firms experienced in case design offer multidisciplinary expertise in tax, estate, insurance and investment planning — and they apply that knowledge across real-world scenarios.
The result is a faster turnaround, deeper analysis and a consistent process for delivering high-quality, personalized strategies to clients. Some case design providers will even help present recommendations to the end investor with the advisor. Importantly, outsourcing enables advisors to remain focused on what they do best: building relationships, communicating strategy and growing their business.
By acting as an extension of an advisory firm, outsourced teams provide added value without disrupting existing client relationships. Outsourcing can elevate an advisor's recommendations, helping ensure client-facing proposals are technically sound, aligned with client objectives and designed to identify opportunities that might be apparent.
Looking Ahead
The future of wealth management — especially in the HNW segments — depends on advisors' ability to provide tailored, cross-disciplinary solutions. Case design is central to delivering that value.
Firms that understand and adapt to this reality, either by building internal capacity or leveraging specialized partners, may be better positioned for success. Those that continue to rely solely on standard model portfolios may struggle to retain HNW clients seeking a more customized, consultative experience.
Ryan Kaeser is an Investment Analyst at Symmetry Partners, where he uses his investment research and portfolio analysis skills to deliver client-focused financial solutions. He can be reached at [email protected].
Frantz Innocent Jr., an Investment Analyst at Symmetry Partners, supports investment strategy design and management through research, performance analysis, and due diligence. Frantz is available at [email protected].
Brendan Kruh, Symmetry Partners' Associate Director Investments, designs portfolio solutions for the Panoramic funds complex and SMA strategies. He helped develop Symmetry's Direct Indexing program and consults on outsourced investment solutions. Contact him at [email protected].
Symmetry Partners, LLC (Symmetry) provides this communication on this site as a matter of general information. Information contained herein, including data or statistics quoted, are from sources believed to be reliable but cannot be guaranteed or warranted. Due to various factors, including changing market conditions and/or applicable laws, the content may not be reflective of current opinions or positions. All content on this site is for educational purposes and should not be considered investment advice, recommendation or offer of any security for sale. Symmetry does not approve or endorse any third-party communications on this site and will not be liable for any such posts.
Symmetry is an investment advisory firm registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm only transacts business in states where it is properly registered or excluded or exempt from registration requirements. Registration of an investment adviser does not imply any specific level of skill or training and does not constitute an endorsement of the firm by the SEC.
A copy of Symmetry's current written disclosure brochure filed with the SEC, which discusses among other things, Symmetry's business practices, services and fees, is available through the SEC's website at: www.adviserinfo.sec.gov.
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Read more articles by Frantz Innocent, Brendan Kruh, Ryan Kaeser
Advisor Perspectives welcomes guest contributions. The views presented here do not necessarily represent those of Advisor Perspectives.
