Now that the 8 year GOT saga is in our rearview mirror, it got me thinking about how financial services are similar to GOT. You have fighting ideologies: passive vs. active, index vs. manager plus the plagues of fee compression, compliance (sorry, but it’s true), increasing customer demands and the cherry on top, when the market is going up “who needs you?”.
Well winter is coming and the market (especially the fixed income side) is overdue for a correction. Fee compression has only begun and wait until you see what AI can do to replace us. We are a few years away from Siri or Alexa to say “the market is down today, shall I increase your equity position per your risk profile?”
So where is our GOT King or Queen (not going to spoil it, if you are not caught up)? Well, if you know me, I think you can take a guess at my answer. It’s in competing on something that AI and the warring factions can’t really take away. It’s competing with your experience, advice and ability to create a long term beneficial relationship with your client. My other “secret sauce” since we mostly deal with accredited investors is to use alternative investments as my “dragon”. It’s something that adds value to the client by giving them additional choices for their allocation.
#winteriscoming
