From budgeting tools to alternative lending and investment options, payments processing, and philanthropic platforms, we have a lot to gain from the advent of financial technology startups. Learn below about just a few ways in which you can leverage these hot new platforms before they inevitably become common applications for the entire public.

Payments Made Easy

The advent of payments technology has made consumer spending, and all other forms of payment easier, faster, and more secure. Payments technology startups, such as Square, help small businesses get off the ground by adopting easy to use and cheaper credit card payments processing. Instant, reliable transactions are important for day-to-day sales, along with employee payroll processing.

Venmo, a payments app, has provided a “free digital wallet” to the mobile devices of thousands, by allowing friends to connect quickly and securely via Facebook to request and send money to each other in a few taps.

Furthermore, on the consumer side, platforms such as Apple Pay and Bitcoin continue to disrupt the traditional method of pay. When sending money abroad, individuals should consider using money transfer services such as TransferWise to save on international transfer fees.

Lend a Helping Hand

Peer-To-Peer (P2P) business models have fueled a new sharing economy revolution, with many products and services such as home rentals, cleaning services, and anything else under the sun being “uberized.” New FinTech startups have uberized the online lending space, allowing you to access funds through unconventional ways, without the help of big-name banks or a network of established lenders.

Platforms such as U.S.-based LendingClub and Prosper, and U.K-based Zopa have individually issued millions of dollars in loans, joining the rising number of tech unicorns in today’s entrepreneurial space.

Crowdfunding: The New Venture Capital

Investment in crowdfunding platforms may surpass venture capital funding in 2016. Popular sites Indiegogo and Kickstarter have helped thousands of ideas get off the ground – from bizarre video games to social projects and multi-purpose jackets, small businesses and entrepreneurs can now look to the general public for support. Countless other sites such as GoFundMe, which took off by bootstrapping, allow individuals to raise money for any project they like.

Democratizing Investment Products and Services

Robo-advisors continue to gain traction as a provider of investment services once solely accessible to wealthier individuals who could afford their own financial advisor. An online advisor is now available through multiple platforms such as Wealthfront and Betterment. Wealthfront manages your first $10,000 free for a small fee of .25% after that, while Betterment charges .35% to .25% annually or $3 per month. A series of questions, including an individual’s age, determines a user’s risk tolerance, which then determines the portfolio allocation for each specific individual.

If you are unwilling or unable to invest your money yourself, or through a trusted financial advisor, an online platform is a much better way to direct your savings to their most effective use.

FinTech startups aren’t stopping at stock investment, however. For the growing number of Americans who seek involvement in alternative investing and philanthropic projects, the FinTech industry continues to deliver. Take Neighborly, a social venture helping you get involved in the municipal bond market. Neighborly’s Community Investment Marketplace allows you to make an impact directly in your community through safe and lucrative investing.

Budgeting: A Virtual Piggy Bank

As many tech startups target millennials, there’s a significant opportunity for business to facilitate the process of a new generation beginning to save, lend, and invest their money. Millennials don’t simply want to watch the purchasing power of their money wither away in a bank account; instead, they’re using budgeting and educational platforms to help them with a financial strategy. Alongside their robo-advisors, individuals can use budgeting platforms such as LevelMoney and Acorns that automatically track spending and income to give users a daily allowance for the day. This helps people grasp exactly how they are spending their hard earned dollars. Other platforms find creative ways to save you a dime. For example, Paribus scans users emails for receipts following a purchase to get money back in the case of a price drop.

The Bottom Line

FinTech is on the fast track to growth, and it’s not just investors who can benefit from the success. Be sure to stay up to date on the rapidly evolving FinTech sector, which will help drive a democratization of financial tools and services, from payments to wealth management and philanthropy. Ultimately, whether FinTech will take the place of traditional banking entirely is up for debate. However, the plethora of cost efficient and accessible financial tools and services will undoubtedly force the entire financial sector to transform.

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BBVA Compass, the Alabama subsidiary of a Spanish banking giant, recently launched its robo-advisor platform. FutureAdvisor itself is a major robo-advisor which was acquired in 2015 by giant money manager BlackRock (BLK).

Over the past year or so there has been a lot written in the financial press about different financial advisory distribution channels—brokerage firms, for example—and their efforts to kick start some type of online, automated portfolio management service. Are banks next to join the robo-fray?

BlackRock Plus BBVA Compass

When BlackRock acquired FutureAdvisor last year, the firm said it wanted to offer financial advisors across various channels access to a robo-advisor platform. The BBVA Compass deal is its first major arrangement of this type since the acquisition.

Quoted in a Forbes story about the deal, BBVA Compass Chairman and CEO Manolo Sánchez said, “FutureAdvisor gives us a way to connect more of our clients with convenient, affordable and trusted advice.” He added, “The ultimate goal here is to help our clients take greater control of their finances so they can build bright futures.”

For the bank, this is an opportunity to offer clients who are digitally savvy and technologically inclined the opportunity to invest via a low-cost ETF-driven platform. BBVA offers traditional human advisors as well who are available to serve as a backup for folks who want additional—or traditional—advisory help.

The banks’ robo-advisor option is likely to be a huge advantage for customers. Many traditional brokerage firms slot clients into their own proprietary products, which too often is costly and offers poor to middling performance. JP Morgan Chase was recently fined more than $300 million by the SEC over failing to disclose its preference of its own products for client investment.

FutureAdvisor has an advisory fee of 50 basis points and implements investment recommendations via low-cost ETFs. It also offers a more holistic approach to investing that differs from most other robos.

Other Bank Robo-Models

According to Investment News, many experts think that business-to-business robo-advisor models are the wave of the future vs. more traditional business-to-consumer models made popular by the likes of Betterment and Wealthfront. Reportedly, Bank of America (BAC) is building a robo-advisor platform for its Merrill Lynch subsidiary; Capital One recently introduced a hybrid robo-advisor model that allows clients to build a portfolio from six available ETFs. U.S. Bank has indicated that it will launch a robo-advisor service for clients with at least $100,000 in assets sometime this year.

Banks offering such automated services makes sense—many banks already offer an investment advisory service, mostly via a broker-dealer. Offering the services of a robo-advisor gives bank customers one less reason to go elsewhere; the automated investing advisory solution will help banks compete with financial services firms like Fidelity and Charles Schwab (SCHW), which offer a wider array of services. Schwab recently kicked off its Schwab’s Intelligent Portfolios, which according to reports saw growth of roughly 37% in the third quarter of 2015. (Some of that growth, of course, is due to existing Schwab clients moving on over to the automated platform.)

Giving Banks a Leg Up

Banks have one huge advantage vs. financial services firms: they have a large customer base already in place. A robo-advisor is another avenue in which to provide investment services to this demographic, especially among those with assets at a level that wouldn’t qualify for high-end, high-touch wealth management services. A bank-branded robo would be a good way to cultivate a relationship with young, emerging investors—those in the Millennial and Gen-X space—and court them as their investing and banking needs evolve and increase as they move through life.

Moreover, robo-advisors are a natural extension of the technological prowess that banks aiming to be relevant among today’s increasingly tech-savvy customers must possess.

The Bottom Line

As the lines between providers of financial services continues to blur, it is only logical that banks develop some type of robo-advisor platform as a way to keep existing customers happy and as a way to fish for new prospects. Whether banks build such a service from scratch or choose to partner with an established brand doesn’t really matter; it’s all about offering solid, unbiased advice about portfolio management and investing strategies in a way that people can feel comfortable with.

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In our digital age, billions of people will join the online community for years to come. Therefore, we’ll continue to see a quick response from FinTech entrepreneurs offering innovative solutions to both consumers and businesses. Looking at how recent successes in technology have paved a new landscape for finance, we see that the future may bring services such as enhanced financial education, investment advice, better payments processing, and smarter compliance to the public.

Here are five big changes we forecast in 2016. Make sure to stay up to date and be prepared to take advantage of the constant shifts in the world of personal finance.

1. The Democratization of Finance

In 2016 and forward, entrepreneurs provide platforms by which consumers can track their spending and optimize their investment strategies. Jonathan Stein, founder and CEO of robo-advisor firm Betterment tweeted, “We’ll see the beginning of the end of the Retirement Crisis with greater access to advice via low-cost services and better 401ks.” Another startup, LearnVest, offers comprehensive financial planning—from retirement to emergency planning and asset allocation at a relatively low, $19 a month and $299 one-time fee.

2. Facilitating Easy and Safe Spending

Now, this point may not always be positive for the consumer. Easier payments sometimes mean frivolous spending, but it can also translate into a convenience that saves time (and, therefore, money). As consumers, we want our shopping experience to be quick, painless and safe.

With identity theft on the rise, online shoppers are more skeptical of their virtual transactions.

Startups such as payment company Stripe have helped Apple, Twitter, and Facebook launch e-commerce by dealing with the multitude of issues that arise with online payment processing. Stripe congregates and simplifies billing, fraud prevention, currency conversions, and other services on a single platform.

3. Make Sure You Comply

Along with the technology boom of the 21^st century comes a widespread increase in regulation. Compliance is costly for both businesses and individuals. Furthermore, transaction processing technology and software pose threats to security standards. New FinTech startups are trying to integrate the two so that companies can continue to grow online while without breaking the law. For example, the online identity verification leader, Trulioo announced raised $15 million in the largest FinTech equity financing round of 2015. The startup aims to “improve trust and safety online, focusing on compliance and fraud risk mitigation in the fast growing cross-border payment industry.”

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Advisors that are less productive and those that offer fewer features than the competition tend to lose out on business. Here’s why keeping up with technology is imperative for financial advisors.

What Tech Will Do

Robo-advisors have raised the bar for financial advisors. In addition to cannibalizing potential clients, the technology is rapidly changing client expectations. A recent survey found that 80% of high net worth individuals under 40 years old would leave a firm that did not integrate new technology like the automated wealth management services provided by robos. Online portals and mobile access to financial accounts and services are quickly moving from a novelty to a necessity for clients, which means advisors ignoring them could be on the chopping block.

Many financial advisors feel that they have a lot of time to implement these solutions, but in reality, technology accelerates at exponential levels. In just three years, robo-advisor pioneer Wealthfront grew from $7.6 million to more than $2 billion in assets under management (AUM). Riskalyze, a risk alignment platform, has seen a very similar growth trajectory as an increasing number of advisors embrace tech designed to automate and improve upon tasks like assessing a client’s risk tolerance.

Technology may be costly to implement and time consuming to learn—and that discourages many financial advisors from deploying much-needed solutions. But headline costs aren’t a complete picture when factoring in things like cost savings and opportunity costs.

Most financial advisors charge around 1% of a client’s invested assets as a fee, which means that someone with $1 million in assets would pay $10,000 per year. With the vast majority of clients willing to leave a firm that’s lagging in technology, advisors risk losing tens of thousands of dollars per year in revenue by avoiding these investments. The technologies themselves often cost much less than opportunity costs and potential lost business without it.

Cost savings is another key area where technology shines. With the average financial advisor earning more than $80,000 per year according to U.S. News & World Report, is his or her time really best spent doing things that could be automated with a $10,000 software application? It’s time that could instead be spent on more impactful tasks that truly set an advisor apart from the competition.

Researching Tech in Advance

Planning in advance is the best way to mitigate the costs and learning curves uncertainties associated with technology. By comparing various technologies well ahead of implementation, advisors can ensure that they’re selecting the right tools for their needs at a reasonable price. Another benefit is being able to take the time to implement these solutions and properly train staff on how to use them rather than haphazardly throwing the systems into a live environment.

Some major areas to consider investing in include:

• Portfolio management and rebalancing
• Customer relationship management (CRM)
• Document management and compliance
• Online portals and mobile access
• Client risk assessments and onboarding

The Bottom Line

The financial advisor industry is becoming much more competitive thanks to the rise in technology. Enabling the ability to streamline operations and improve client services, these technologies have raised the bar for advisors in a number of ways. Advisors who aren’t investing in tech risk falling behind the curve and losing out on business.

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Following a solid year of significant investment in the industry, fintech could finally make its way into an even stronger growth pattern in 2016. Along with increased attention, the industry could see a large number of launches.

Over the past several months, a number of new platforms using algorithms for determining investment allocations have been launched. Big banks have also begun to experiment with blockchain technology for securing payments as well as releasing mobile-payment apps designed to make services easier.

Fintech Funding Booms

In recent years, funding for the fintech industry has boomed. In 2014, investors funneled more than $12 billion into fintech companies, an increase from less than $3 billion in 2012. During the first quarter of last year alone, this sector saw almost $3 billion in investments.

Over the course of the last 12 months, nearly $14 billion in funding has made its way into the coffers of fintech startups, representing an almost 46 percent year-over-year growth rate.

The fintech industry has experienced a steady increase in funding since 2010. Among the top categories receiving funding are cryptocurrency, payments, online lending, and personal financial management. In total, private equity firms and venture capital companies have invested approximately $50 billion in fintech companies over the past five years.

To be certain, the fintech sector has experienced a tremendous amount of growth since the first companies made their debut into this sector. Most of these companies began with the idea of taking a revolutionary approach to retail financial services. Once the financial crisis hit, the concept that regulated institutions, including banks, were vulnerable began to take hold. This naturally presented a tremendous opportunity within the financial sector. Entrepreneurs entered the scene with the idea of transforming everything from lending to payments to finance. Venture capitalists quickly took notice and started to fund new generations of fintech entrepreneurs and startups looking to change how finance was handled.

VC to Crowdfunding

In 2016, funding for the fintech sector is not expected to decrease, but funding could come from different sources in the future. An emerging trend shows that crowdfunding​ could actually outpace venture capital funding in the coming months. This is quite interesting considering that crowdfunding itself is considered a sector within the fintech market.

Fintech adoption could actually double in 2016, according to some reports. Urban consumers tend to use fintech services at a greater rate than any other population. On a global scale, consumers in Hong Kong represent the highest rate of fintech adoption and use. While the fintech industry as a whole is clearly on a path toward greater growth, the potential for the industry does vary based on product category. Research shows that payment services hold the highest rate of adoption at 17.6 percent. This category includes money transfers and the use of non-bank providers for paying for goods and services. The second-largest category is savings and investment, with a usage rate of 16.7 percent.

The Bottom Line

The significant amount of funding being invested in fintech startups serves to underscore precisely how much technology, particularly online technology, has dramatically changed financial services. From the way in which people decide how they will spend their money to the tools they use for making payments and investments, finance is experiencing an unprecedented level of change.

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As a regular investor trying to cobble together enough for a comfortable retirement, what can you learn from the wealthiest investors? Read on to find out.

• They save more than average: Instead of spending more, the wealthy tend to save most of their money. According to researchers from UC Berkeley, those in the top 1% save almost 40% of their salary while those in the top 1% to 10% save 12% of their salary. A general recommendation is that you should save between 10% to 15% of your income to maintain your current lifestyle in retirement.
• They live frugally: Many millionaires drive around in used cars and spend money carefully. Warren Buffett famously lives in the same house he bought more than 50 years ago. Instead of upgrading your car or house every time you get a raise, keep your living standards modest.
• They diversify their portfolio: While many CEOs own stock in their own companies, the rich also tend to keep a mix of funds. Proper allocation allows you to better withstand the ups and downs of the market. A mix of growth and income securities is usually recommended.
• They have several sources of income: Don’t solely rely on your day job for income. Wealthy folks often have different ways of earning money, whether it’s from rental properties or side businesses. Earning more money allows you to sock more away in your nest egg. (For related reading, see: 5 Resources to Learn to Retire Rich and 6 Planning Tips for Your Final Working Years.)
• They hold stocks for a long time: The ultra-rich understand that investing in the stock market is a long-term strategy instead of a short-term solution. They also keep their cool when the market dips.
• They make saving automatic: The rich like to take the set-it-and-forget-it approach to investing. They create automatic transfers to their retirement accounts so they don’t have to remember to put money away in their 401(k) plans.
• They start early: Time is the most important factor when it comes to growing a significant retirement portfolio. The rich know that they need to start saving as soon as possible to build wealth.
• They max out their retirement accounts: If you’re younger than age 50, you can contribute up to $23,500 a year in your IRA and 401(k) combined. The top 1% know they need to take advantage of these limits.
• They don’t carry debt: Since the rich live frugally, they also pay off their debt. That means buying cars in cash, paying off a mortgage early and not carrying credit card debt. In general, they don’t make a habit of relying on credit for personal expenses.

The Bottom Line

Most of these tips are easier to follow when you’ve already acquired significant wealth. It’s much easier to live without debt when you have access to a booming bank account, and stashing away 40% of your income may not be feasible for those making just enough to scrape by. But that doesn’t mean the principles listed here are useless for a person who isn’t rich; most can be directly applied to your life. Chances are, most wealthy investors were applying these ideas to their financial approach long before they earned their first million—it’s probably how they got there in the first place.

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New technologies such as Uber and Airbnb leave many buyers and sellers in the unknown without much precedence regarding insurance coverage. Users of these services are often left in dangerous territory when it comes to possible coverage gaps. Further, alongside the sharing economy platforms comes a new wave of technologies that need to be integrated into insurance policy (i.e. who’s to blame for an accident involving self-driving cars?).

Furthermore, with the rising costs of insurance, average consumers are increasingly demanding change or an alternative to the current system. Shortly, we will see new players come in to fill insurance coverage gaps, help consumers gain power, and provide innovative insurance products driven by technology.

An Industry Ripe For Disruption

The role of the entrepreneur is to find inefficient industries, capitalize on latent resources, solve problems and create something of value. When we look at the current insurance industry, we see inefficiency and a lack of comprehensive service within an overall outdated system.

The emergence of the sharing economy has disrupted almost every industry, from hotels to maid services to education. The insurance industry, which usually protects all other commercial exchanges; however, has been slow to adjust to such massive and widespread change.

The static nature of the insurance industry has left many sharing economy workers in the dark concerning coverage. Thus, an opportunity presents itself for newcomers to take the place of traditional insurance companies, or for the traditional insurance companies to adjust.

A prime example of an industry that has been under rapid transformation without the support of its insurance market is the auto-industry. Uber drivers used to be covered by their auto insurance when off the clock, switching over to Uber insurance while with a passenger, and left with no coverage in between. However, a new startup, Metromile, has created an innovative auto-insurance product based on a pay per mile policy.

Big names such as GEICO, USAA and MetLife are also now beginning to provide alternatives such as rideshare insurance. These types of deals also appeal to segments of the population who drive less than 10,000 miles a year. As we see a general trend towards less millennial car ownership and a push towards public or shared transportation, we’ll see platforms like these become even more relevant.

The Bottom Line

Apart from the highly controversial Affordable Care Act, close to nothing has changed in the insurance industry in decades. It’s an industry ripe for disruption with a lot of room for change in light of new technology such as sharing economy platforms, self-driving cars and the advent of big data. As traditional insurance leaves many consumers frustrated and desperately seeking new options, there’s no better time for insurance industry entrepreneurs to disrupt. Moving forward, we can expect a growing number of newcomers with platforms built on eliminating newly occurring coverage gaps, bolstering the power of the consumer, and offering alternative insurance products supported by cutting-edge tech.

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The Economy

It’s difficult to see a scenario where the U.S. delivers sustainable growth

There is a lot of talk about an economic recovery, but do you think the U.S. economy can grow as the rest of the world is slowing down? Multinationals will have a difficult time regardless of U.S. dollar conditions. Domestically, while the unemployment rate is low, the majority of jobs being added are low paying. When you combine that with higher credit card debt levels than 2008, it’s difficult to see a scenario where the U.S. delivers sustainable growth. Additionally, some economists are now doubting Bureau of Labor Statistics numbers. (For more, see: Latest Labor Numbers: Good News for the Market?)

You might be wondering how this relates to high-multiple tech stocks. It’s more related than you might think. The Federal Reserve and other central banks are doing everything in their power to keep the facade glowing. To the credit of these central banks, they have been underestimated to a large degree for many years. Despite weakening global economic conditions, as well as warnings from the IMF and the Bank for International Settlements, you can’t rule out the possibility of the central banks keeping the show running. This is what is creating incredible confusion on Wall Street. Investors and traders simply don’t know when the show stops. When it does stop, high-multiple tech stocks will drop faster than rocks being kicked off the side of a mountain.

Fortunately, there is good news. While the majority of high-multiple tech stocks are not profitable, there are exceptions. Of those exceptions, there are two stocks that stand out in a positive manner. It’s possible, if not likely, that these stocks would take a hit in a bear market. But based on the underlying fundamentals, they would also have strong potential for being the first to rebound, allowing patient and dollar-cost averaging investors opportunities to maximize their long-term gains. Below is the full list of high-multiple tech stocks followed by the positive standouts.

High-Multiple Tech Stocks

Of the 22 high-multiple tech stocks listed below, only eight have delivered profits in their last four quarters, and only six of those have delivered consistent revenue and net income growth over the past three fiscal years. Of those six, only two have shown stock appreciation over the past year. This indicates strength in a volatile market. Based on these metrics, it’s those two stocks that should be on your radar.

The Bottom Line

High-multiple stocks present a high risk, especially in an uncertain economic and stock market environment that is largely being driven by accommodative monetary policies. You might want to consider looking into companies that offer underlying strength in a volatile market.

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This is not to mention the competition in the field. The United States Department of Labor reports there were 249,000 financial advisors in 2014 and that they are expected to occupy one of the fastest growing sectors of the labor force over the next decade. While the pay can be good, getting those clients and building a solid book of business can be a challenge. If you’re a new financial advisor, consider some of the following methods to secure your first clients.

Cultivate Your Influence

As a new financial advisor, you need to get outside your inner circle. This allows you to build a growing network that can provide ongoing referrals to the services you provide.

You can either do this through social media marketing or through personal relationships though the latter tends to be the most effective.

Don’t limit yourself in growing your network. “My advice to any new financial advisor just starting out is to try to employ ‘leverage’ through the use of centers of influence such as accountants, attorneys, HR directors, business roundtables, as well as through social media. Such relationships with various accounts and attorneys take a lot of time, and, therefore, should be cultivated early in one’s career,” says Donald Reichert, Partner at Capital Design Associates Group, LLC. Reichert’s advice to cultivate that network early in your career is important because you never know who you will meet through networking and making connections earlier spurs career growth sooner.

Serve the Underserved

Retirees, or those near retirement, can be a great source of clientele for many financial advisors. That will only increase as the number of those over 65 is set to double over the next few decades. While that number provides a lot of opportunity for financial advisors, it also provides a challenge – increased competition.

Instead of focusing on the clientele that is over served, consider focusing on demographics that are underserved. “Most advisors work with individuals in or nearing retirement with lush portfolios, but I’m focusing on serving the underserved young professional space. I’ve spent some time focusing on getting in front of advisors to tell our story and how we can help clients,” says Matt Cosgriff, CFP, founder of Lifewise Advisors.

By networking with other advisors, he’s able to not only target those who might be underserved but also breed awareness among the advisor community of how he can help those in need.

Become Involved in the Community

One of the best ways to get your first clients as an advisor is to become involved in your community. Whereas traditional marketing methods require money, community involvement largely requires only time. You may not realize it, but community involvement provides a natural avenue to network with those around you.

Find an organization you support, or an event you enjoy and become involved. This will connect you with like-minded individuals that can potentially turn into clients for your practice. Like the networking mentioned prior, you never know who someone may know, and community involvement is a great way to grow and develop that sphere of influence.

What Provides Little Return

Getting clients as a new financial advisor is a numbers game. You’ve likely heard of, or done some of the following things to get new clients:

• Cold calling
• Providing free meals to encourage attendance at a presentation
• Knocking on doors
• Fish bowls with business cards at trade shows

Those practices, and many others, will provide numbers. However, they can be difficult to build a solid network of clients. “For the first ten years as an advisor, I struggled with the client acquisition process. Cold calling, door knocking, seminars and hoping for referrals were my only solutions. While these methods worked, they were painfully slow, says Devin Carroll, founder of Social Security Intelligence.

This isn’t to say the above-mentioned tactics won’t work. They will work, to a certain extent, but advisors who focus on relationship building and becoming involved in the community can build an organic book of business that spurs the growth your business over the long haul.

The Bottom Line

When people hire a financial advisor they often look to those they see as credible and that can be done best through forming relationships. Through getting out into the community and networking, you can build a firm that will grow with you for years.

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The waters of philanthropic giving are murkier than they may appear, and not every organization calling itself charitable truly is. Clients can make a smarter, more fulfilling choice if they work with a savvy advisor.

Taking all this into account, it’s clear that advisors should be involved in this aspect of their clients’ financial lives. But how do you approach that sometimes awkward and difficult conversation?

Why Advisors Should Care about Philanthropy

If advisors are responsible for guiding their clients’ finances, then steering them toward legitimate charitable organizations is part of the job.

Almost 100% of high net-worth-families donate to charity and 75% volunteer their time, according to a study by U.S. Trust. Advisors can help clients find a charity that will use their funds thoughtfully.

Many organizations spend more on marketing than programs and services, and it’s part of an advisor’s job to show clients how to make an informed decision.

By mentioning charity in client discussions, advisors can build a more trusting and holistic relationship. Philanthropy is about more than just money, and involving yourself in this part of your client’s life will lead to a deeper understanding of their needs and goals.

The more you participate in your clients’ charitable giving, the more informed you’ll become of the world of philanthropy. You’ll know which organizations to avoid, which to support and how to make the process as smooth as possible.

How to Approach the Topic

Some advisors get the ball rolling by asking about any past donations, organizations they support or current gifts. Certified financial planner (CFP) Brent D. Dickerson of Trinity Wealth Management said he usually brings up charitable giving when discussing estate planning. Although some clients avoid talking about their mortality, Dickerson said others want to leave a legacy behind.

According to research done by Dr. Russell James of Texas Tech University, people are more receptive to the idea of charitable giving when remembering past times they helped someone else.

Starting from that place could be a productive way to engage clients. While he cares about philanthropy, Dickerson doesn’t discuss it with every client. “I mostly stay away from the subject if I can gather that a client is not charitable nor geared towards being philanthropic,” he said.

This is where some of the awkwardness of the philanthropy discussion comes from. Advisors don’t want to make their clients uncomfortable, and bringing up the topic of charitable giving can come across as an unwanted suggestion to the less charitably inclined. Tread carefully, and get to know your clients before breaching the topic.

Advisors should also let their clients know about the financial benefits of philanthropy, which can be quite substantial. Dickerson said there are multiple ways clients can donate to charity while lowering their tax burden. “Taxes seems to be the number one reason most people choose to leave a charitable estate,” he said. “With this, there are ways of donating appreciated stock, establishing trusts like charitable remainder or charitable lead trusts.”

The Bottom Line

Giving makes people happier, and they are starting to embrace this notion more than ever. With the ubiquity of information on the internet, people are also starting to become more aware and interested in the tax benefits of charitable giving. Embrace your clients’ generous inclinations and make it clear you want to help them achieve their philanthropic goals.

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