Weekend Reading For Financial Planners (December 6–7)

Financial Advisors Emphasizing Tax Planning As Clients Feeling Cautious Entering 2026: Survey

(Leo Almazora | InvestmentNews)

The pace of news developments in 2025 has been brisk, from the change in presidential administration and subsequent policy changes (including the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act [OBBBA]) to the ups and downs of the stock market (with the broad stock market experiencing a sharp drawdown earlier in the year but on pace to record healthy gains for the full-year period). These changes have brought both challenges and opportunities for financial advisors and their clients and could color planning conversations heading into 2026.

According to a survey of 541 CFP professionals by CFP Board, the top three words respondents used to describe their clients' feelings about their 2026 financial outlook include "cautious" (cited by 53%) and "uncertain" (43%), though 49% of respondents said their clients have either a "positive" or "very positive" financial outlook for 2026. This possible divergence could potentially be explained by clients being on track to meet their financial goals (with 80% of respondents saying that their clients are confident in their ability to achieve their long-term goals and, similarly, 72% for achieving short-term goals), but also expressing concern about the whirlwind of issues in the news (with advisors reporting that the most common issue discussed with clients related to achieving financial goals is the political environment, followed by inflation).

In this environment, advisors appear to be helping clients focus on actions that are within their control. For example, 69% of respondents said they are recommending that clients focus on tax planning and optimization heading into the new year (particularly given end-of-year planning opportunities created by OBBBA), with other actions including developing or revising their financial plan (62%), and assessing contributions to retirement savings (44%).

Ultimately, the key point is that in a constantly evolving world, financial advisors can play a valuable role for clients not only in representing a steady hand (and potential sounding board for clients' concerns about the political or economic situation), but also fostering a sense of empowerment by showing them how different planning actions can help them achieve their short- and long-term goals across a range of potential contingencies in the broader world (that are out of their [or their advisor's!] control).

Advisory Firms Are Offering More Services, But Do Clients Know About Them?

(Lilly Riddle | The Daily Upside)

While in the past, financial advisors might have been predominantly focused on investment management, comprehensive financial advice has become increasingly popular, with many advisors offering a range of planning services to address clients' financial lives in a more holistic manner. Notably, though, offering these services can cost advisors in terms of additional time and staffing, which means that they'll want to receive a return (whether in terms of more new clients, greater client retention, or the ability to charge a premium fee) for the additional resources they allocate.

According to survey data from Cerulli Associates, there may be a disconnect between the number of services advisors are offering and the number that clients report using. The firm found that while advisors across all channels offer an average of 6.1 of the 11 financial planning services Cerulli presented to respondents, retail investors reported using an average of just under three services with their current financial provider (e.g., while 47% of advisors reported offering tax planning services, only 14% of investors said they use this service through their primary provider). Which suggests that some advisors might not be getting the 'payoff' they seek from providing comprehensive services.

One way to address this issue is to ensure that clients are aware of the "shadow work" advisors are performing behind the scenes between in-person meetings. For instance, while a client might receive a portfolio review during their annual meeting, they might not realize that their advisor is reviewing and rebalancing their portfolio multiple times a year. With this in mind, firms could consider using client service calendars to show clients the work they are performing on their behalf during the year.

Also the possible disconnect in service usage could mean that some advisors are offering a number of services that are not valued or needed by a significant portion of their clients. For instance, Kitces Research on Advisor Productivity found that advisors who offer the largest number of planning services on average have lower per-advisor revenue, likely based on the amount of time and staffing needed to offer these services. Amidst this backdrop, some firms might decide that offering certain services or investing in developing particular areas of expertise aren't crucial for meeting the needs of their ideal target clients.

In sum, while the growth of comprehensive financial planning services has been a benefit to clients and has let advisors offering them differentiate themselves from other types of advisors (though this gap appears to be shrinking), advisors can potentially support the health of their business by ensuring clients are aware of the level of service they receive (which could boost client retention over time) and that their offerings are tailored to the needs of their target clients (and to seek out more of these ideal clients in the first place rather than taking on clients with a wider range of service needs!).

Survey Finds Gap Between Aging Parents, Children When It Comes To Long-Term Care, Inheritances

(Financial Advisor)

Advisor-client relationships can last multiple decades, with an advisor potentially working with a client from their working years through their retirements and potentially until they pass away. Given the life transitions that can occur during this relationship, the topics of estate planning and long-term care are certain to come up. Notably, though, these plans are not necessarily just the purview of clients themselves, but typically also involve their children as well.

Nonetheless, a recent survey sponsored by Fidelity finds that there may be significant gaps in communication and expectations between aging parents and their children when it comes to these key topics. For instance, while 97% of parents surveyed (who were 55 or older, with at least $500,000 in investible assets) think having conversations about estate planning is important, only 70% said they've created a will and estate plan and feel comfortable about it, with 68% of parents not telling their children whether they'll receive an inheritance at all (perhaps because 34% of parents said talking about inheritance makes them uncomfortable). In addition, while 43% of adult children expect to become caregivers, only 12% of parents expected this to be the case (perhaps representing an underestimation on behalf of the parents or possibly a lack of communication about the parents' plans if a long-term care need arises). Also, 25% of adult children reported that they are unsure if they will be named their parents' executor, potentially leaving them unprepared to step into this role when the time arises if they have, in reality, been named the executor.

These findings suggests a potentially helpful role for financial advisors not only in ensuring that their clients have an updated estate and long-term care plan that meets their preferences, but also that relevant stakeholders (potentially including the clients' children) are brought into these conversations to increase the chances that when a transition does occur (whether a long-term care need or the parents' deaths), key actions can be taken seamlessly and possible conflicts (e.g., amongst siblings) are avoided.

What The Scheduled End Of Enhanced ACA Premium Tax Credits Means For Clients

(Christine Simone | Journal of Financial Planning)

While the vast majority of Americans get their health insurance through employer-provided coverage or through government-provided coverage (e.g., Medicare or Medicaid), the marketplace exchanges created by the Affordable Care Act (ACA) are a common source of insurance for those who are self-employed, between jobs, or who retired before reaching Medicare eligibility at age 65. While a Premium Tax Credit (PTC) has been available to reduce the cost of coverage to a certain percentage of household income since the introduction of the marketplaces, this benefit was 'enhanced' starting in 2021 by reducing the maximum out-of-pocket limits on insurance premiums and making the credit available to households with income higher than 400% of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL), who had previously been ineligible to receive the PTC.

However, the 'enhanced' PTC is scheduled to expire at the end of 2025, meaning that absent Congressional action, clients who get their health insurance through the marketplace could pay more for their coverage in 2026. While some clients will see a moderate increase in their out-of-pocket premiums due to a reduction in the amount of the credit, perhaps the most impacted group will be clients whose income (defined as Modified Adjusted Gross Income) is above 400% of the FPL (which is $84,600 in 2025 for a married couple with no dependent children), as they will be disqualified from receiving the PTC at all, leading to a sharper cost increase for marketplace coverage.

Clients facing potentially large cost increases for their marketplace health insurance coverage in 2026 have a few avenues to explore to reduce their expenses. First, those with income just over the 400% FPL line could explore ways to bring their income below it (e.g., deductible retirement account contributions, Health Savings Account or Flexible Savings Account contributions, or strategic income timing) and restore their eligibility for the PTC. Some clients, though, might explore alternate avenues for obtaining coverage. For example, those who have recently lost their employer coverage could choose Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) coverage (though this can be pricey given that the former employer will no longer share the cost of the coverage). Another potential option is a healthcare sharing program, which can potentially provide lower-cost coverage but can be more restrictive with benefits.

In sum, clients renewing their marketplace coverage might be surprised to see the increase in the premiums they will pay for 2026 and might be wondering how they might be able to lower them. Which offers advisors the opportunity to lay out the potential options, from exploring different types of coverage to engaging in strategic income planning to keep them eligible for the PTC (and perhaps keeping an eye on potential legislative action that would extend the 'enhanced' PTC).

Helping Clients Save (Potentially Thousands Of Dollars) On Marketplace Insurance Costs By Avoiding The Premium Tax Credit 'Cliff'

(Dinah Wisenberg Brin | ThinkAdvisor)

When it comes to income tax planning, sometimes the next dollar earned isn't particularly impactful even if it puts a client in the next higher tax bracket (as only that dollar, and not all of their income, is taxed at the higher rate). However, certain other areas have 'cliffs', where going a single dollar over a particular limit can lead to dramatically higher costs (with one of the most common for financial advisors and their clients being Income-Related Monthly Adjustment Amount [IRMAA] surcharges for Medicare coverage).

Another income 'cliff' arises for clients who obtain health insurance coverage through the marketplaces created by the Affordable Care Act (ACA), as, historically, those with income (based on Modified Adjusted Gross Income [MAGI]) above 400% of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL) were not eligible for the Premium Tax Credit (PTC) that can significantly reduce the cost of coverage (while 2021 legislation 'enhanced' the premium subsidies and made this group eligible, these measures are set to expire at the end of 2025). Which can create a dramatic increase in health insurance premiums for those who exceed this limit (as while the amount of the PTC gradually falls as income increases up to the 'cliff' it will totally disappear above it). For instance, a Kaiser Family Foundation estimate finds that a 60-year-old couple making $85,000 (or 402% of the FPL) would see their yearly premium payments rise by over $22,600 in 2026 (when accounting for exceeding the income 'cliff', the end of the 'enhanced' premium subsidies, and higher marketplace premiums for 2026).

Amidst this backdrop, income planning for clients with marketplace health insurance plans (particularly those whose income might approach or exceed the 400% of the FPL 'cliff') could be a particularly valuable service for advisors to provide. For instance, for clients who have retired but have not yet reached Medicare age, the 'cliff' could inform the types of income sources used to fund their lifestyle, in addition to conversations around claiming Social Security and (partial) Roth conversions (which could be less valuable if it puts the clients over the income 'cliff'). For working-age clients, advisors could look for opportunities to reduce their MAGI, including retirement account, Health Savings Account (HSA), and/or Flexible Savings Account (FSA) contributions, and (particularly for business-owner clients), strategic income timing to keep them below the relevant income level for PTC purposes.

Ultimately, the key point is that while clients with marketplace health insurance coverage might pay more in premium costs in 2026 due to the end of the 'enhanced' PTC, advisors are well-positioned to help them mitigate these cost increases through strategic income planning (and, more broadly, awareness of the exact income amount [which varies based on household size] that would put them over the PTC 'cliff'!

The Impact Of Higher Health Insurance Costs On Early Retirement

(Vanessa Wong | MarketWatch)

While health insurance (and health care) expenditures are a major budget line item for many Americans, these expenses (and future cost increases) can be particularly important for individuals who are no longer working (and therefore have to dip into their assets to cover rising costs).

While those who retire at a 'traditional' age typically are eligible for health insurance coverage under Medicare (which does experience annual premium adjustments), those who retire earlier will often obtain coverage through the marketplaces established by the Affordable Care Act. This coverage can cost much more than Medicare (or employer-subsidized coverage) in terms of premiums, deductibles, out-of-pocket maximums, and annual premium increases (with marketplace plans seeing a median 18% premium increase for 2026). At the same time, many early retirees can access Premium Tax Credits (PTC) associated with marketplace coverage, the value of which varies based on income (and, upon the scheduled expiration of 'enhanced' subsidies at the end of 2025, completely disappears when income exceeds 400% of the Federal Poverty Level).

Given the volatility of health insurance-related expenses (and the importance of income levels for determining PTC amounts), financial advisors can play a valuable role in helping clients plan for and execute an early retirement. To start, 'stress testing' by modeling different trajectories for health care costs (including insurance expenses and potential out-of-pocket costs) could show whether their plan is sustainable across different contingencies (and could be particularly important for those who retire well before Medicare age, as they could experience severe cost compounding over time). In addition, once the clients have left work, income planning (i.e., determining the sources of income to support their lifestyle) can help them remain below the key PTC 'cliff' and maintain eligibility for this subsidy. Also, this exercise might encourage some clients to take an alternate approach to retirement where they can maintain employer-subsidized health insurance coverage (e.g., 'Coast FIRE', where an individual has saved a sufficient amount for retirement that they can afford to reduce their work hours or moves to a lower-paying but more satisfying).

In the end, planning for an early retirement is not just a matter of taking today's expenses and extrapolating them out into the future but also considering the possibility of sharp cost increases in different expense categories (with health insurance and medical costs being a prime area). Which can give clients a more realistic picture of how much they might need to save to execute such a plan and, hopefully, thrive financially during what could be a several-decade retirement.

Wearing Many Hats: 6 Roles Of A Financial Advisor

(Blair duQuesnay | The Belle Curve)

While being proficient in the dollars-and-cents aspects of financial planning (e.g., tax and investment planning) is important, given that clients are human (and bring emotions, biases, and more to the table) successful advisors tend to also be experts in handling the communication and psychology involved in planning as well. Which can put advisors in many different types of roles when it comes to interacting with their clients.

For example, an advisor might act as a "mirror", helping to reflect the client's words back to them in a more digestible format (which can elicit further comments from the client and ensure the advisor understands key aspects of the client's situation). Sometimes, an advisor might act as a "sponge", and absorb what clients need to unload emotionally (e.g., their opinions on how markets or politics might impact their financial plan) without necessarily responding directly (letting the client blow off steam so they can take a more level-headed approach to the rest of the conversation). At other times, an advisor might act as an "intellectual sparring partner" with a client, perhaps debating the pros and cons of a particular plan of action or considering a worst-case scenario to stress-test an idea the client wants to pursue.

Perhaps one of the most uncomfortable roles for an advisor is serving as a "punching bag" when things go wrong, whether a market downturn or an error on the part of the advisor or their team (though by apologizing when necessary, serving in this role could ultimately strengthen the relationship with the client). On the opposite end of the spectrum, an advisor can be a "cheerleader" for their client, celebrating when their financial and lifestyle goals are achieved. Finally, advisors play important roles as "confidants", often hearing about personal news (retirements, marriage proposals, and more) before even some family members find out (giving the advisor the chance to show their skills in discretion).

Altogether, while an advisor might first think of themselves as an expert in financial issues, in reality they will wear many different 'hats' over time, serving not just as a source of financial advice, but also as a trusted member of a client's 'inner circle, through both good times and bad.

Managing Client Fear: A Key Cognitive Skill For Financial Advisors

(Raluca Filip | Enterprising Investor)

Over the course of an advisor-client relationship, there are bound to be several challenging and/or emotional moments. During these times, clients might be tempted to make a rash decision (that might not be in their best interests in the long run) and an advisor can potentially offer significant value by helping them 'walk back from the ledge'.

One potential way to move clients from emotional reactivity to goal-aligned reasoning is to employ a concept called "chunking", which can allow a client to reconnect with long-term reasoning, reduce emotional stress, and make decisions based on the big picture rather than the immediate concern. When clients face a stressor (e.g., a market downturn) they can sometimes end up "chunking down", focusing on the specifics of what is happening today without considering the bigger picture. In this situation, an advisor can support the client by getting them to "chunk up" and redirect their attention to broader intentions, values, or goals.

For instance, an advisor might ask their client "What long-term goal does this relate to?" or "What were we trying to achieve originally?" to pivot the conversation away from the original stressor (e.g., how the market moved this week) towards a broader perspective (where the recent market move might be a blip in the grand scheme of things). An advisor could then link the conversation back to the client's values, objectives, and bigger-picture goals (e.g., retirement security) to help show how their plan is designed to support them in the long run and better frame the choice at hand (which could help the client see that, for example, selling out of stocks today could have a sharp impact on the longer-term growth of their portfolio).

In sum, while it can be easy for clients to become focused on a particular stressor, financial advisors can provide support by helping the client "chunk up" and step back to consider how the current issue fits within the bigger picture of their financial life. Which could ultimately lead to more productive conversations and client decision making!

When Too Much Empathy Can Lead To Advisor Burnout, And The Compassion-Based Alternative

(Meghaan Lurtz | Nerd's Eye View)

Many financial advisors find that expressing empathy can help them to bond with and strengthen their relationships with clients. Yet, while becoming emotionally invested in clients' personal experiences can be an effective (and often enjoyable!) way for advisors to establish close relationships and friendships with them, when clients experience difficult and even traumatic experiences (e.g., panicking in response to extreme market volatility, or suffering from the loss or plight of a loved one), advisors may find themselves sharing the same emotions as their clients…such that they, too, suffer emotional distress, to the point that their own emotional well-being becomes jeopardized.

Notably, though, there are different forms of empathy, some of which don't require experiencing the other person's emotions. As while emotional empathy does involve personally experiencing the same emotions as someone else, cognitive empathy involves simply understanding the level and significance of someone else's emotional experience, but on an intellectual level (sometimes referred to as 'emotional intelligence'), without necessarily experiencing those emotions. And when coupled with compassion (which is a "concern to enhance the welfare of another who suffers or is in need" and which motivates us to take action to help someone), cognitive empathy can become a valuable tool for financial advisors to understand and help clients without experiencing the same emotional highs and lows their clients may be experiencing.

Another important caveat of emotional empathy is that it is often limited to individuals with whom we consider similar to ourselves; accordingly, if someone isn't similar enough to us, we just might have less emotional empathy for that person. Which is important, as advisors who lead with empathy can unintentionally narrow their client base to only others who are similar to themselves, and actually make it more difficult to connect with other types of clients.

Advisors who want to connect with their clients, but reduce the emotional toll of an emotional empathy approach, and instead seek to implement more cognitive empathy and compassion into their client meetings, might consider exploring practices adopted from Compassion-Focused Therapy (CFT). What's unique about the CFT approach is that it focuses on helping clients not just trace the past to how they arrived where they are, but instead to identify their strengths, current abilities, and their present opportunities, in order to identify ways to comfortably move forward through specific challenges they may be facing. Compassion-Focused Therapy can be especially helpful when working with clients in distress and is designed to support clients and accomplish change.

Ultimately, the key point is that advisors can employ cognitive empathy to connect with their clients by understanding what they feel, yet without necessarily experiencing the same emotions as their clients that can take a real emotional toll. And by practicing compassion, advisors can take the insights gleaned from cognitive empathy to take action to help and support their clients productively, with confidence that the help they are providing to their clients is not clouded by the emotional burdens they may have taken from their clients!

Why Can't AI Manage My Emails?

(Cal Newport | The New Yorker)

For many white-collar workers, reading, sorting, and replying to email is a common (often time-intensive) chore that many would prefer to outsource if possible. Amidst this backdrop, a number of AI-powered software tools (e.g., Cora, Superhuman, Microsoft Copilot for Outlook and SaneBox) have emerged that promise quicker inbox management. A key question, though, is the extent of the work that they can perform competently.

After reviewing a variety of these tools, Newport found that they tend to do an effective job at learning what kinds of email are important to the user and sorting messages into different categories, for example by collecting low-priority emails into a twice-daily digest while leaving higher-priority emails in the inbox available to be read (these tools can also propose draft responses to relatively simple emails as well). On its own, this could be a time-saving use case for professionals who receive a significant amount of email during the day.

However, Newport found that these tools were unable to propose high-quality responses to more complex emails. This is because such responses require 'tacit knowledge', or background information specific to the user (e.g., a user would have the background knowledge [and social intelligence] to know how to respond to lunch invitations from different senders), whereas one method AI tools use to sort email and suggest responses is to consult commercial Large Language Models (LLMs) for guidance on how to respond to a particular email. In sum, while AI tools can learn about a user by 'reading' their emails (which could provide information about their occupation and interests), they lack the deeper personal understanding that would be needed to respond to more complex or sensitive situations.

Altogether, while the current crop of AI-powered inbox management tools could be quite valuable for professionals looking to save time handling email, personal intervention remains necessary when it comes to higher-impact replies. For financial advisors, this could mean better organization of one's inbox as well as a demonstration of the continued value of working with a human advisor for handling complex queries and situations that require intimate knowledge of their circumstances.

Could Waymo Upend The Ride-Hailing Business?

(Ben Cohen | The Wall Street Journal)

Well before the introduction of ChatGPT and other AI-powered software tools, technologists and others have imagined the possibility of driverless cars. While such technology has taken a while to get off the ground, the introduction of Waymo as a driverless ride-hailing service (and the potential for competitors to get onto the road as well) has raised the possibility of roads filled with driverless vehicles.

Waymo has become popular in its first locations of San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Phoenix (with more than 250,000 trips per week and the potential for more than 20 million total trips by the end of the year) and has expanded or is planning to do so in many other cities, including Austin, Atlanta, and Miami. Riders can hail a Waymo as they might another ride-sharing service (such as Uber or Lyft) and, so far, Waymo rides cost about as much as these other services (while the technology involved in putting Waymo vehicles on the road adds to its cost, the lack of tipping can make its price approximately equal, depending on the ride). In addition to adding competition to the ride-hailing market, some data suggest that Waymo's driverless fleet (which are often seen to drive conservatively) results in fewer passenger injuries than human drivers.

Despite the potential upsides, there are several potential obstacles to market dominance for Waymo. First, in the terms of competition, while certain companies (including Uber and Lyft) have ditched their efforts to develop self-driving cars, Tesla and other companies are looking to enter the market. Also, Waymo could face public perception problems for inevitable safety incidents that do occur. In addition, those supporting (human) taxi and ride-hailing drivers might oppose Waymo's potential to reduce the number of available job opportunities for this group. Finally, Waymo (which is owned by Google's parent company Alphabet) has yet to turn a profit and it's unclear when it might reach that point.

In sum, while Waymo represents a new innovation in the world of ride-hailing services, it remains to be seen whether it will successfully achieve a national rollout and be embraced by riders and the broader public, or whether skepticism about driverless cars will hold it back until the company can convince a critical mass that its benefits outweigh potential consequences.

Want To Shop With AI? Here's How To Start

(Natasha Khan | The Wall Street Journal)

Many companies are integrating AI into their consumer-facing experience to help their customers make buying decisions (hopefully with that retailer itself). And with the holiday season underway, shoppers have a range of AI-powered options to choose from to evaluate and purchase products for themselves or gifts for others.

To start, several retailers, including Amazon and Walmart, have created their own AI chatbots, which can help users compare items, personalize recommendations, and track prices over time (the latter being particularly helpful at a time when some retailers mark up prices only to put them 'on sale' for the original price). Alternatively, users might turn to a broader (and perhaps more independent) Large Language Model (LLM) such as ChatGPT or Google's Gemini for information or advice. Either way, results tend to be better when users are more specific when prompting AI tools (e.g., rather than saying "show me dog toys", a user could note their dog's preferences for color, toy style, or even upload pictures of some of their current favorite toys).

AI tools can also be used to compare two products, for example by identifying key differences that might explain different price points. At the same time, the same precautions that an individual might take when using AI tools in their professional life (e.g., reading over a draft email response created by an AI tool) apply here as well, as an AI tool might recommend an item that doesn't meet an individual's specifications or might not have the most up-to-date information (particularly when it comes to style trends, which can change quickly!).

Ultimately, the key point is that while AI tools have become popular in the workplace, they can also help individuals make better-informed (and possibly quicker) decisions when it comes to finding the item they're looking for (or perhaps help identify the 'perfect' gift for a friend or family member!).

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We hope you enjoyed the reading! Please leave a comment below to share your thoughts, or send an email to [email protected] to suggest any articles you think would be a good fit for a future column!

In the meantime, if you're interested in more news and information regarding advisor technology, we'd highly recommend checking out Craig Iskowitz's "WealthTech Today" blog.