Is your client cheating on you?

You know the signs: she won’t return your phone calls and keeps cancelling meetings. Is she looking elsewhere for advice?

While many advisors offer free portfolio reviews in an effort to attract prospects, one Toronto-based online advisor, Justwealth Financial, is now letting people upload investment statements from the comfort of their homes.

Read: SEC approves Wealthsimple for U.S. launch

Justwealth has made that service available to anyone, not just its own investors, at no charge. After uploading her statement, your client receives “a full analysis” within 24 to 48 hours. That analysis includes a performance review, as well as a review of fees, diversification and account structuring and the identification of potential conflicts of interest.

“Quite often, the most significant cost to an investor is the cost of bad advice, whether due to conflicts of interest or lack of experience of their investment representative,” says James Gauthier, CIO at Justwealth, in a release.

Read: CE Course: 34 ways to be a better advisor

Most likely to break up with you for a robo-advisor

You may think robo-competition is mainly about your millennial clients, but that’s not necessarily so. Despite the common wisdom that millennials are early adopters of technology, Justwealth says two-thirds of its clients are older than 35. Gen-Xers (36-55) account for about 46% of its clients; boomers (56 and older), about 20%. Millennials (35 and under) account for about 33%.

While a 2016 Justwealth survey revealed that 80% of respondents weren’t aware of robo-advisory services and that almost two-thirds didn’t know how much they paid in annual fees, the implementation of CRM2 — and comparison tools like Justwealth’s — could soon change that.

Today’s news follows a report from FinancialPlanning.com that Canadian robo Wealthsimple will soon be expanding to the U.S.

Also read:

Investors to feel ’empowered’ by CRM2, survey indicates

Artificial intelligence, overseen by humans, key to new robo

Op-ed: Robos offer more support than you think

Staff

The staff of Advisor.ca have been covering news for financial advisors since 1998.