Financial professionals often find the concept of "downtime” unfamiliar due to the industry’s demanding nature. When the summer months approach and work volume slows, it’s natural to struggle with navigating the best ways to maximize available free time.
With tax season in the rearview, summer months are precious—the days are longer, and many clients, prospects and colleagues prioritize spending time outside the office walls. This time should be used wisely before the rush of end-of-year planning and reporting. No matter where an advisor is in their career, those who capitalize on the summer slowdown to strategically recharge, absorb and plan for the remainder of the year position themselves to improve their practices significantly.
Here are three suggestions for financial professionals to consider when mapping the rest of their summer plans.
- Embrace Collaboration in Strategic Planning
Be intentional with the time you spend connecting with colleagues and encourage conversation focusing on immediate and long-term goals. One-on-one sessions are productive in fostering open and honest discussions about lessons learned during the first half of the year. Small group sessions inspire collaboration for mapping how to measure success in the months ahead. Schedule mid-year reflections with your teams to debrief on the first half of the year, prepare for future opportunities and align on areas for improvement.
When strategizing for the second half of the year, the summer months are ideal for engaging an outside consultant to conduct a practice analysis review. Just as the objectivity you provide your clients can be a difference maker in their long-term outcomes, third-party practice reviews can help you think impartially about how to grow strategically, create efficiencies and seamlessly transition your business one day.
- Design Your Summer Reading List
Carve out time to read, listen to and absorb innovative ideas outside the office. This can take many forms—strategize your newest beach read, morning coffee programming or road trip podcast to hear the latest insights from successful leaders within and outside the financial industry to help diversify your perspective.
Intentionally setting aside time to understand new business practices and leadership philosophies will enable you to think differently about traditional structures in a way that may be transformative to your practice.
For a more immersive experience, consider attending executive leadership retreats tailored to your interests, offering new environments and professional connections to stimulate critical thinking about the future. There is tremendous value in hearing from other professionals about how they’ve navigated the year—challenge yourself to ask about lessons learned, where peers have found success, times they’ve been challenged and discuss their thoughts on potential obstacles and opportunities for the remainder of the year.
- Get Smarter about New Tools and Technology
As new technologies and artificial intelligence tools continue to advance rapidly, prioritize developing an understanding of what your clients rely on and those that may create new efficiencies in your work.
Start by evaluating the tools and processes you currently utilize, and ask: Are there better ways to do this? Consider setting aside time to meet with a financial wholesaler for tailored educational programming and an outside perspective on factors that may hinder your success.
While it is difficult to predict the full impact AI will have on the wealth management industry, the technology has already shown benefits that can free up advisor capacity. By acting as a virtual assistant, new AI tools can synthesize and summarize phone conversations, long-form documents and other proprietary information to save time and help you to “get to the heart” of a question quicker.
We think some of AI’s benefits to advisors are reducing time spent on administrative tasks and cite research, which can create the capacity to spend more time on the more human elements of the practice, like having meaningful conversations with clients about life goals and financial priorities, making thoughtful recommendations on allocations and being the voice of reason during times of volatility.
Utilizing the summer slowdown to research and practice new technologies may make your life and your clients’ lives easier. Enter the second half of the year well-prepared, equipped with the latest financial tools and confident in your ability to operate them effectively.
To 'Summerize'
By strategically using the summer months to collaborate with colleagues, learn from professionals inside and outside the financial industry, and embrace new technologies, financial professionals can enrich their practices and position themselves for success in the second half of the year.
Above all, financial professionals need to initiate their mid-year reflections and check in with themselves on what is required to set up for a successful second half of the year. The importance of proper rest and relaxation must not be overlooked. Make time for family, friends and fun, and embrace a balance between professional and personal development.
Mary Mock is Senior Vice President and Head of Distribution for Touchstone Investments