As the year is coming to a close, you may be starting to think about your target markets for 2021. Maybe you’ve tried some financial advisor target markets in the past year that didn’t pan out into a solid client base. No worries, we’ve researched some of the very best niches for financial advisors heading into 2021.
With the right niche or niches selected for 2021, you’ll be able to consider your marketing strategies and strategically think about all aspects of your target marketing.
You may have heard the phrase, “The riches are in the niches,” and that’s true! Here are some of the best niches to help differentiate yourself in 2021.
Why Is Having a Niche Important?
Selecting a niche is the first step towards marketing yourself as a financial advisor. It separates you from the mass amounts of financial advisors trying to be a cure-all for all of their clients. It also grounds you in one sector of financial advisement, making you an expert.
While everyone else tries to be the jack of all trades, you can be the king of one.
The advantage of having a niche is that you don’t have to reinvent the wheel with each new client or go hunting down information for an industry you’ve never worked with before. Instead, you’ll know the latest trends and strategies for your niche and be a certified expert on your particular expertise.
This puts you above other financial advisors trying to grab clients from multiple industries. Not only that, it will save you loads of time to focus deeply on your select group of clients. Additionally, being an expert in the field allows you to raise your rates, making it easy to make more money with fewer clients.
Who wouldn’t more time for less money? It’s simple mathematics!
1. Occupation Niche
Becoming an expert in financial advising for one particular occupation can be a very lucrative choice. It is one of our personal favorites and why it tops our list. This is a great choice for anyone that may have become a financial advisor as a second career choice.
If this is you, you’re in a great position to utilize your in-depth knowledge of your first career as your occupation niche to target. Your years of experience within the occupation will give you a leg up on the competition, and you’ll most likely have some home-grown clients from your old connections and ties to that industry.
Even if financial advisement isn’t your second career, choosing an occupation for your niche can be a great choice, with many benefits. For instance, you could consider some of these ideas when choosing an occupation for a niche:
- What does your spouse, sibling, or friend do for a living
- What are some occupations that interest you?
- Does one industry sector dominate your area?
These are all ways that can help you pick an occupation niche. One example of someone who is absolutely crushing it in the occupation niche is Larson Financial. They serve as a great model for people looking to become a financial planner for one distinct occupation.
The occupation they chose to work with is doctors. A smart choice, as many doctors have extra money to put away for different types of financial planning. Not only that, doctors would mostly be looking for wealth management as well.
Now, doctors are not the only profession you could create an occupation niche in. You could choose to work with lawyers, school teachers, professors, professional athletes. The list is virtually endless.
By choosing an occupation, you’ll be able to receive references quicker, as one client can lead to another.
2. Specific Companies Niche
If you live in an area heavily dependent on the technology sector or medical sector, you could choose to work with top companies in your area and become a financial advisor for their top executives and employees. For instance, if you live in the Boston area, you might choose to work with industries as established universities like MIT and Harvard.
Becoming a leading expert in the higher education industry would put you way ahead of any financial advisor that is a generalist in the area. Here’s how niching for a specific company or industry in your town would help you crush the competition:
- You could become an expert in the university’s health care, retirement plans, benefits packages, etc., while making yourself known on campus.
- You could create a free report for employees retiring from those campuses in the next 5 years and book appointments for those employees.
- You could interview employees about the pros and cons of their 401K plans and packages. Then use that information in marketing materials, so people know I am not posing as an expert.
A generalist would have a hard time keeping up in that kind of competition, as their knowledge would be very generalized and sound more like a sales pitch. On the other hand, all your clients feel they are just in a conversation as you know their unique situations.
If you’re aren’t in Boston but in Atlanta, you could go after companies like Coca-Cola. If you’re in Orlando, you could niche to employees at Disney.
The idea here is that with a company with so many employees, even if you got a small percentage of them, you would build up a good client base.
3. Financial Product Niche
Another strong way to brand yourself as a financial advisor is becoming an expert on a particular financial product or service. As a financial planner, you can create a niche from any financial or insurance product. Think annuities, life insurance, mutual funds, etc.
The pros of this kind of niche are:
- You’ll be looked at as an expert in one particular product and become known for it.
- Your clients will come to you for your knowledge and expertise, which costs money.
- You’ll be able to work with people from all industries, companies, and sectors.
The cons of this kind of niche are:
- You’ll only specialize in one product.
- You’ll have to refer out services that don’t meet your product type.
Now, while it may seem a bit scary to only focus on one type of financial or insurance product, there are many financial advisors out there making a killing doing business exactly this way.
One example is Stan the Annuity Man. While others diversify their wealth management packages, Stan focuses on being great at one thing, and it’s paying off.
He closes tens of millions of dollars of annuity premium every year, if not every quarter. While he may leave a lot of business on the table when it comes to long-term care or life insurance, he doesn’t mind because his niche provides him all he needs.
Becoming an expert in one product makes you an authority, and people with money want to work with people who have the most authority. This will position you to rake in top-tier clients who are looking to sock away a fair chunk of money.
If you follow Stan, you’ll notice that new doors open up for him as an authority on all things annuity. He’s been featured on CBS Money, Wall Street Journal Market Watch, and other national media outlets. Do you think that doesn’t draw some heavy talent his way?
It all stems from his authority in the market. If he’s done it, you can do it too! Pick a product and become an expert and build u an authority in the space.
4. Life Transitions
Oftentimes, people need financial advice when in the midst of a life transition. This could be a life transition like marriage, divorce, widowed, having a child, etc.
The one that comes to mind most is during a divorce. Divorce can be a messy financial hurdle, and most people are more than happy to find a way to manage their wealth during times of divorce.
If you can be the person that helps make the process smoother, you’ll become a precious commodity to anyone going through that same dilemma. As you build up a client list, referrals will come your way from word of mouth through other people you’ve helped through the process.
Divorce is a time when many people need answers. The whole process can be very draining, and being a source of light for those trying to get through the darkness of their divorce can make you very lucrative when it comes to being a financial advisor.
Your goal if you’re choosing the divorce route is to secure a healthy financial outcome for your client. Therefore, the most natural choice for your client to their assets under your management after the divorce.
The Best Niches of 2021
There you have it! The best niches for financial advisors in 2021. Which one will you choose?
If you’re looking to move into a new niche, the help of Advisor Wealth Mastery, a coaching and consulting firm focused on helping financial planners grow their practice, can prove invaluable.
Click here to sign up for two free books from Stephen Oliver, founder and CEO of Advisor Wealth Mastery.
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