LOS ANGELES, October 3, 2023 – An advisory practice without a clear pathway to growth may be missing opportunities. Capital Group, one of the world’s largest and most experienced investment management firms, is helping financial professionals grow their business and deliver more value to clients with the launch of Your Growth Plan, a new advisor benchmark service.

The service leverages insights from Capital Group’s multiyear national advisor Pathways to Growth study to establish a benchmark and assess the relationship between practice management behaviors and practice growth. Presented to financial professionals in the form of a survey, upon completion they are immediately provided a downloadable 20-page personalized report based on their responses with strategies to help leverage key growth drivers, along with strengths and areas of opportunity.

Your Growth Plan offers financial professionals:

• A personalized business assessment based on data compiled from nearly 3,000 financial professionals in the U.S.
• Comparative analysis enabling them to benchmark their performance against industry peers while providing valuable data-driven insights
• A tailored development plan, identifying opportunities for growth, enhancing strategies and optimizing their business practices

"This service represents a significant leap forward for financial professionals seeking to thrive in an increasingly competitive environment. Regardless of whether you are a small-, medium- or large-sized firm, the tool harnesses multiple years of data to benchmark your practice against your peer group," said Mike Van Wyk, Director, Customer Research & Insights at Capital Group. "We're providing advisors personalized insight about choices that when intentionally applied can lead to greater growth"

Pathways to Growth study – Key findings

In its third iteration, the comprehensive Pathways to Growth study collected responses from approximately 1,500 financial professionals to study the range of behaviors and attitudes that advisors deemed to be most important. The participants were carefully chosen to represent the range of factors and business models that exist in the U.S. The study revealed that select “high-growth” advisors have been achieving remarkable growth rates – more than double the industry average – in key areas such as number of households, revenue and assets under management.

To best support a practice’s growth, the report provides a curated guide to strategies supported by Capital Group’s practice management content on PracticeLab.com aligned to the three pathways.

Client acquisition

• Highest growth practices saw 40% more growth from new clients and were more likely than the average financial professional to have a distinct brand identity and claim expertise in branding.
• Practices had 64% greater confidence in their marketing skills and used select marketing-based strategies at a 59% higher rate.
• High-growth practices were almost twice as likely to have standard procedures in place for prospecting and 17% more likely to have clearly defined acquisition goals.
• As best practice, advisors should consider building a lead-generating digital pathway through online search, website, social and content.

Relationship alpha

• High-growth advisors who maintained a steady growth mindset saw over 60% of the growth in assets under management come from new clients.
• The highest growth practices are more likely to offer value-added services beyond investment management, including educational planning, charitable planning and family wealth transfer.
• High-growth advisors were more likely to have 25% or more AUM in defined contribution assets.
• As a best practice, advisors can attempt to deepen client relationships through a breadth of personalized planning services including estate and generational wealth strategies.

Strategic scale

• These practices are more likely to define and measure productivity, efficiency and return on marketing and technology investments. They are also 24% more likely to use model portfolios.

• High-growth advisors spent 35% more time and are 75% more likely to claim expertise in team management.
• High-growth practices are nearly 20% more likely to have standard operating procedures in place for a range of activities.
• As a best practice, team performance can be enhanced by fueling individual employee engagement.

“Recently we have observed advisors becoming more comprehensive in their wealth planning and client services. This evolution calls for us to partner on enhanced value-added capabilities that transcend product alone,” Van Wyk continued.

The enhancements are part of a range of services, tools, investment insights and portfolio construction readily available, equipping practices with a well-rounded skill set to address clients' comprehensive financial needs and establish more meaningful advisor-client relationships. This new practice management service, including webinars, articles and additional findings of the Pathways to Growth, can be accessed via PracticeLab on Capital Group.com.

About Capital Group

Capital Group, home of American Funds, has been singularly focused on delivering superior results for long-term investors using high-conviction portfolios, rigorous research and individual accountability since 1931.

As of June 30, 2023, Capital Group manages more than $2.3 trillion in equity and fixed-income assets for millions of individuals and institutional investors around the world. Capital Group manages equity assets through three investment groups. These groups make investment and proxy voting decisions independently. Fixed income investment professionals provide fixed income research and investment management across the Capital organization; however, for securities with equity characteristics, they act solely on behalf of one of the three equity investment groups.

For more information, visit capitalgroup.com.

The experiences described may not be representative of the experience of others and is no guarantee of future performance or success.