Weekend Reading For Financial Planners (September 12–13)

Author: Adam Van Deusen, CFP®

Team Kitces

Adam Van Deusen, CFP®, is a Financial Planning Nerd at Kitces.com, where he hosts the Financial Advisor Technician podcast, writes articles for the Nerd’s Eye View blog (including the popular Weekend Reading for Financial Advisors), and regularly speaks at industry events on a range of technical and practice management topics. He previously worked at a financial planning firm in the Washington, D.C. area and as a journalist covering the banking and insurance industries. Outside of work, he serves as a volunteer financial planner and class instructor for local and national non-profits.

Read more of Adam’s articles here.

Vanguard Survey Investigates Women's Financial Confidence, Relationships With Advisors

(Jennifer Lea Reed | Financial Advisor)

While women have long made up a significant portion of financial advisors' client bases, the growing wealth of this cohort has brought increased attention to how to attract and serve these clients well. With this in mind, Vanguard's Women & Wealth Study surveyed 1,602 U.S. investors to explore whether and how men and women differed in their approaches to investing and working with a financial advisor.

Overall, men and women were close in terms of their self-reported confidence in making financial decisions, with 76% of women and 83% of men reporting being confident. Notably, this confidence increased across every major decision category when working with a financial advisor (e.g., 45% felt "very confident" planning for retirement with an advisor, while only 20% felt very confident without one).

When asked what they hoped to achieve with their investments (with the ability to select up to two options), women respondents were most likely to seek peace of mind (46%), security (38%), autonomy (34%), and wealth maximization (30%). Notably, the goals chosen shifted depending on the wealth of the respondent. For instance, while respondents with between $100,000 and $999,000 of assets were most likely to cite peace of mind as their top goal, those with more than $5 million of wealth selected wealth maximization over other goals (indicating that goals can change over time alongside a client's circumstances).

In terms of communication styles from a financial professional, women investors surveyed were most likely to cite "educational" and "collaborative", while men preferred "data-driven and analytical" and "collaborative and discussion-based", though the gaps between the groups weren't particularly wide (e.g., while 39% of men preferred a "data-driven and analytical" approach, 33% of women chose this option as well). In addition (perhaps bucking stereotypes), men were actually more likely than women to seek an "empathetic and attentive" approach from their financial professional (17% to 14%).

Amongst women respondents who reported stopping working with an advisor, the most common reasons cited for doing so included that they felt the advisor wasn't acting in their best interest (cited by 40%), investment performance didn't meet their expectations (33%), a lack of communication (32%), and that they weren't receiving enough value for the fees charged (32%).

Ultimately, the key point is that while there were differences between men and women respondents to Vanguard's survey, the gaps between the two weren't as far as some might assume (and in some cases the results might have been in the opposite direction!). Which provides further evidence of the importance of discovering each client's unique preferences when it comes to preferred communication styles, goals, and/or expectations of their advisor!

AI-Adopting RIAs See Headcount, AUM Boosts: Study

(Davis Janowski | Wealth Management)

A major theme in the world of financial advice during the past few years has been the growth of Artificial Intelligence (AI)-powered AdvisorTech products, from client meeting notetaking tools to "vibe coding" tools that can allow advisors to build their own custom technology. While advisory firms might seek to use these tools to boost productivity, they can come with both a hard-dollar cost and potential compliance risks. The use of AI also raises questions about advisory firms' hiring practices (e.g., if AI tools can take on many of the responsibilities that entry-level staff can perform, then firms might be able to cut back on hiring…but then they will have to source new advisors from elsewhere if they're not developing staff internally).

Amidst this backdrop, AI infrastructure provider Astraeus and industry analyst Alois Pirker recently published the inaugural 2026 RIA Market Monitor report, which analyzed more than 6,000 Form ADV filings from independent RIAs, pairing narrative evidence from Part 2A brochures with structured business metrics from Part 1A to link firms that are adopting AI with how they say they are using it and their business data. The report found that 6% of independent RIAs disclosed AI use in their March 2026 ADV filings (though this could be an undercount of overall use given separate surveys indicating greater AI use, at least informally). These firms represented 11% of industry AUM, suggesting that larger firms were more likely to disclose their AI use.

Firms that disclosed AI adoption showed growth in Assets Under Management (AUM) per advisor of 22% between April 2025 and April 2026, compared with 12% amongst comparable firms without AI disclosures (though it's unclear whether AI was the driver of this relatively higher growth). Perhaps more interestingly, AI adopters increased their total staff headcount by 15% during this period, compared with 8% for firms without AI disclosures, suggesting that AI adopters weren't necessarily looking to AI to help them limit headcount growth.

In sum, while this report might not have been able to reach the full range of firms using AI, there appears to be a correlation between AI adoption (or at least disclosure of it) and AUM and staff headcount growth (though firms that were already growing quickly might be those with the resources to invest in AI and hire more in the first place!). Which suggests that, at least for the time being, firms aren't necessarily selecting between AI adoption and human hiring, but rather are choosing to invest in both (perhaps leaning into the unique skills that AI tools and humans each bring to the table?).

Attorney Warns That Off-Channel Communications Enforcement Hasn't Gone Away

(Tracey Longo | Financial Advisor)

While texting has become a ubiquitous communication medium in modern life, one potential hangup for advisors in adopting it for client communication is that it – like other digital communications channels – falls under the umbrella of "written communication" (or advertising in the case of communicating with prospects), and the regulations that oblige advisors to retain and archive such communications. Which can be a challenge, because unlike email and social media communications that are generally stored on decentralized servers and cloud networks that compliance can access and oversee directly, text messages typically go directly to an advisor's personal device, are there stored locally, and can be easily deleted – a potential nightmare for compliance departments needing to oversee the communications activities of their advisors.

Given the apparent increasing use of texting between financial advisors and their clients and prospects (and a lack of proper recording of these conversations in many cases), the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) under previous chair Gary Gensler cracked down on firms (particularly broker-dealers and dually registered broker-dealer/RIAs) for failure to keep proper records regarding electronic communications, including texting (with total fines reaching into the hundreds of millions of dollars).

Following the change in presidential administration, though, the SEC under new chair Paul Atkins appears to be taking a risk-based, investor-protection-focused approach to electronic communications (as compared to broader sweeps where standards were violated but no clear consumer harm occurred), according to attorney and former SEC Enforcement Division branch chief Kevin Harnisch. However, while the SEC's appetite for large-scale enforcement actions related to off-channel communications might have cooled, FINRA could still be interested in bringing cases directly on communication failures (rather than investor harm) for the broker-dealers and registered representatives under its purview. For instance, a firm with clients or counterparties overseas who frequently use text platforms such as WhatsApp to communicate might find their advisors receiving (and responding to) messages on their personal (unsupervised) that could escalate into substantial matters (and put the firm in hot water with FINRA).

In the end, while the Atkins-era SEC might be taking fewer broad enforcement actions regarding off-channel communications, it remains an issue that examiners (as well as FINRA) could be exploring when evaluating firms (given the potential for technical violations to lead to actual client harm). Which suggests that adopting effective recordkeeping practices (or, for firms that do not want to use texting at all, ensuring staff are aware of and follow this prohibition) could help them avoid regulatory scrutiny in future examinations. At the same time, with a growing number of communications archiving tools available to advisors (though the subset that can archive texts in addition to emails and social media posts is smaller), firms do not necessarily have to start from scratch when it comes to engaging in text conversations in a compliant way!

How Health Influences Social Security Claiming

(David Blanchett | ThinkAdvisor)

The decision of when to claim Social Security benefits can incorporate a variety of factors, from an individual's planned departure from the workforce to their risk tolerance to coordination between members of a couple. Another factor that can play a role in this decision is an individual's life expectancy, as a relatively shorter life expectancy might call for claiming at a younger age (to extend the period benefits will be received) while those with a longer life expectancy might delay claiming (potentially to age 70, when they can receive their maximum monthly benefit amount).

With this in mind, Blanchett dug into data from the Employee Benefit Research Institute and Greenwald Research's 2025 Retirement Confidence Survey as well as data from the Social Security Administration to analyze whether an individual's perceived health (which has been found to be a useful marker for predicting life expectancy) affects their Social Security claiming decision. He found that the most common claiming ages were 62 (when most individuals can first do so) and ages 65 and 66 (the Full Retirement Age for many in the sample). Notably, only 9% of retirees delayed claiming until age 70.

Looking at health, there was a positive relationship between an individual's subjective health and their Social Security claiming age. For example, 44% of those who claimed at 62 reported being in very good or excellent health, while 75% of those who claimed at age 70 reported the same. Notably, some of the lowest levels of subjective health were reported by those who claimed at 63 and 64 (perhaps because they were forced out of their jobs due to health reasons). Leveraging this data alongside a mortality model developed in previous research, Blanchett finds that respondents who claim at age 70 would be expected to live at least two years more than those claiming at 62 (though the causality is almost certainly not in the claiming decision itself, but rather in the underlying factors, such as subjective health, that go into it!).

In sum, while the benefits of delaying Social Security can be attractive, those with a shorter life expectancy could maximize their lifetime benefits by claiming earlier (with these findings suggesting that many of those in this group do so). More broadly, this demonstrates the benefits for individuals (and their advisors) of considering a broad range of factors when it comes to claiming Social Security, both quantitative (e.g., maximizing lifetime benefits received) and qualitative (e.g., having additional income available earlier on in retirement to enjoy more intense activities).

A Contrarian Social Security Strategy For The Ultrawealthy

(Zoe Sagalow | Financial Planning)

For many retired Americans, Social Security benefits make up a significant part of the income needed to fund their lifestyle expenses. However, many wealthy individuals could reasonably fund their expenses using portfolio or other assets, with any Social Security benefits representing a supplementary source of income. And for particularly wealthy individuals who expect to have an estate tax liability, being able to cover this tax could be of greater concern than maximizing their monthly Social Security checks.

While individuals who don't need their Social Security benefits to meet their lifestyle expenses in their 60s might delay claiming benefits until age 70 (when they can receive their maximum monthly benefit), an alternative approach could be to claim before age 70 and use the monthly benefits to fund a life insurance policy whose (tax free) death benefits could be used to help pay for estate taxes owed (or otherwise provide a source of liquid funds to one or more beneficiaries). The value of such a strategy could depend on several individual-specific factors, though, including their employment status (as individuals might prefer to wait until they retire [or reach their Full Retirement Age] to avoid a benefit reduction based on Social Security's earnings test), insurability (as the cost of the premiums relative to benefits received could determine the strategy's attractiveness), and, more broadly, the individual's goals (as some individuals might prefer to increase their lifetime spending rather than position themselves to leave a larger financial legacy).

Ultimately, the key point is that there can be an interaction between the age of claiming and the potential use of monthly benefits when it comes to Social Security conversations. Which suggests that Social Security conversations are not just a matter of retirement planning but can be a useful input to estate planning strategies as well.

The Six-Month Social Security Retroactivity Trap

(Ray Harris | Wealth Management)

Individuals who wait to claim Social Security benefits until they reach their Full Retirement Age (or beyond) receive additional flexibility in the ability to apply for up to six months of retroactive benefits, allowing them to receive a lump sum of accumulated payments while also activating their monthly benefits going forward.

While the ability to receive retroactive benefits could be a way to encourage individuals to delay their benefits (as they can claim and tap into the lump-sum benefits if a large cash flow need arises), it could be a temptation that leads individuals to receive lower lifetime benefits. An issue with taking retroactive benefits is that the individual's Social Security start date moves backward (e.g., from age 69 to age 68 1/2) and their monthly benefit is recalculated as if the client had started earlier (leading to a lower monthly benefit). While this could still make sense for some individuals (e.g., a single individual who receives a severe medical diagnosis), others could benefit from declining the retroactive benefits and claiming at their current age. Those in the latter group could include those with high confidence in having an extended life expectancy and individuals in a married couple who have a larger benefit (particularly if the other spouse is much younger and could receive the higher benefit for longer after the claimant passes away).

In the end, while the ability to apply for retroactive benefits can give individuals more confidence in delaying claiming Social Security, the decision to do so can be weighed against the larger monthly benefit they (and a potential survivor) would be giving up. Which makes financial advisors well positioned to explain the nuances with this opportunity and help their clients make the claiming choice that fits their unique circumstances and preferences.

How To Follow The Emotion In A Client Meeting

(Scott Frank | Listening Deeply)

Financial planning conversations necessarily involve the dollars-and-cents of investment planning, retirement planning, and other key domains. That said, conversations about money aren't just about financial tradeoffs, but also can raise emotions in clients (and, sometimes, advisors alike), both positive and negative. Notably, these emotional moments can present an opportunity for advisors to allow clients to reveal a part of themselves that might not have come out before (while also allowing the advisor to learn something new about the client).

Some of these emotional moments are positive, such as reaching a major financial milestone (e.g., achieving a retirement goal). Rather than acknowledging the achievement and moving on to future goals, letting the moment linger (giving the client a chance to explain what it means to them) could both allow the accomplishment to settle in for the client and reveal underlying motivations that could be helpful when approaching future goals (as these might be different than what the advisor might have assumed).

At other times, negative emotions might emerge for a client (e.g., they might express a feeling of financial insecurity based on their upbringing). In this case, an advisor might first describe what they're observing (e.g., "I can see that this is painful for you") rather than jumping in with their own interpretation of how the client might act. After offering this empathetic statement, the advisor might take a pause to let the emotional moment sink in before offering a "turnaround" statement such as "Knowing how important this is to you…what can you do?" or "How would you like it to be instead?" This puts the ball back in the client's court and asks what they want to do with it (rather than immediately filling in the blanks with the advisor's recommendation) and can provide valuable information the advisor can apply during the course of both the current conversation and the broader planning relationship.

Altogether, because money can be an emotional topic, advisors can expect certain planning conversations to depart from cold calculations and enter more emotional territory. And while most financial advisors aren't therapists themselves, using techniques to capture the strength of emotional moments (both positive and negative) can create a more meaningful experience (and better planning outcomes) for clients.

What To Say When A Client Loses A Spouse

(Kerry Johnson | Advisor Perspectives)

Given that client relationships can last for many years, or even decades, it's inevitable that occasions of grief will occur at some point. One of the most painful scenarios for a client is the death of a spouse, which can come with strong emotional reactions (in addition to raising financial planning-related questions).

Grief can be an extended, multi-step process, often taking about two years when dealing with the death of a spouse. A survivor's grief can go through five stages: shock (initial numbness), denial (a protective refusal to accept the loss), acceptance (when reality lands, which can be particularly painful), adaptation (rebuilding a life around the absence), and finally continuation (where life resumes in forward motion). Knowing where a client sits in these stages can be instructive for an advisor (e.g., a client who, early after their spouse's death, says that they're fine might need a particularly patient, steadying hand).

When an advisor does have a chance to sit down with the client, letting the client talk without interruption can be particularly valuable, as many grieving individuals crave someone who will listen to them. When it feels appropriate, offering an empathetic statement (e.g., sharing a relevant story from another client's experience) can help build connection. Next, asking the client directly "What are you concerned about financially right now?" can give the client permission to express their money fears out loud. Sometimes, the client might draw a blank to this question in the moment; in these cases, the advisor could prompt them by offering examples (e.g., "Some people worry about the loss of income in this situation.") which could give the client language for what they might not be able to put into words. Finally, summarizing the client's concerns and offering a direction (e.g., "If we could sit down when you're ready, would that be a good direction to go?") could hand control back to the client and demonstrate that the advisor will be there when the client needs them.

Ultimately, the key point is that while financial advisors are positioned to support (both financially and emotionally) clients who have experienced the death of a spouse, the sensitive nature of this time in the surviving client's life can call for a nuanced approach from the advisor. Nevertheless, giving the client room to speak, allowing them to express their concerns, and creating a plan to address these issues when they're ready can allow the client to process their grief while also setting the stage for better financial planning decisions and outcomes.

Ambiguous Loss: Helping Clients To Grieve Even Before A Loved One Passes Away

(Meghaan Lurtz | Nerd's Eye View)

Loss is an experience that all humans share at one point or another, and when a loved one dies, the grief is undeniably and devastatingly certain. But what about the grief that we might feel for a loved one who is still alive, only physically separated from us? Or for one who is mentally incapacitated, but who no longer has the capacity to recognize us? These feelings of grief for someone who is still alive, but no longer present (either physically or psychologically), are referred to as 'ambiguous loss'. For example, some clients might have relatives who are no longer mentally lucid (psychological ambiguous loss), and some may have loved ones who need full-time care provided by an assisted living facility (physical ambiguous loss). And as would be expected with extended human lifespans and increasing cases of mental incapacity that comes with a growing, older population, feelings of ambiguous loss are on the rise.

Because the average human lifespan has increased over the last several decades, we are now at a point where family members are commonly expected to take on the responsibility of caring for elderly parents or spouses, many of whom are afflicted with neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's and dementia. Accordingly, advisors may find themselves dealing with clients suffering from ambiguous loss, especially when conversations are raised around incapacity planning and estate planning.

While most financial advisors don't have formal training in grief management, there are some basic guidelines that can be effective in working with clients suffering from ambiguous loss. As a starting point, mentally preparing for client conversations, for example, can include a series of questions that advisors ask themselves about their own personal attitudes around grief and loss in general, and also around understanding the situational causes of their clients' ambiguous loss. Understanding the daily routines and relationships that the client may be struggling with can also help the advisor relate more empathetically with the client. And starting any incapacity discussion as early as possible to give clients ample time to process their feelings of ambiguous loss while adjusting to their new responsibilities can prove helpful for the client to transition through change.

Additionally, the advisor can support clients by acknowledging their feelings of ambiguous loss, and helping them adjust to the ambiguity they face by planning for a broad range of financial scenarios. This can help clients attain a level of certainty over what they have control over versus what variables in their situation will inevitably remain unknown, and that may eventually need to be addressed. And last, the advisor can play an important role in their client's life by helping them through the difficult process of understanding and accepting what is happening to them, by simply giving them time and space to share their stories when they are ready to do so.

Ultimately, the key point is that ambiguous loss is commonly experienced by many people, and advisors should be prepared to work with clients and their issues in a sensitive yet productive manner. The conversations will be difficult and may be highly charged with emotion, but offering compassion and providing support can have a huge impact on the client's ability to make sound financial decisions, as well as establish trusting relationships not only between the advisor and the client, but with the client's support system as well.

Don't Let The (Tax) Tail Wag The Dog (Of Living Richly)

(Nick Maggiulli | Of Dollars And Data)

There are several tax planning strategies that can potentially help an individual lower their tax bill (whether during their own lifetimes or those of their heirs). An issue with some of these, though, is that they can create an incentive not to sell certain investments (e.g., because doing so would result in the realization of a large capital gain), which could lead an individual to have less spendable wealth during their lifetimes (as they might decide to hold these investments until death so that they receive a step-up in basis).

For example, a strategy that has gained popularity in recent years is tax-aware long-short investing, which goes beyond traditional tax-loss harvesting by adding leverage to create additional tax losses (which can be used to offset current-year income), but which, over time, can result in positions with large embedded capital gains. While an investor can benefit today from the losses realized, these dollars could pale in comparison to the overall size of the investment. And if the investor decides not to sell the larger investment position (to avoid realizing capital gains), they might ultimately have less spendable wealth than they would if they had sold the securities they originally held (even if it meant paying more in taxes). Further, even if the investor has a goal of leaving a significant bequest to heirs (who would benefit from the step-up in basis), they might question whether they would be better off receiving funds today (e.g., by selling shares of their investment and being taxed on any gains) instead of potentially decades down the line (when they might have accumulated sizeable wealth themselves).

In the end, while certain investment strategies can offer attractive tax savings opportunities, investors might consider whether it's more important for them to optimize for their lives rather than optimizing for tax savings. Which could be a helpful talking point for advisors working with a client who might be seeking tax savings without considering how a particular strategy might impact their overall lifestyle.

The Danger Of The Last 20%

(Jordan Grumet | The Purpose Code)

Living a long, healthy life and being financially successful are two common goals. While there is no shortage of commentary and advice on how to reach these goals, Grumet suggests that going to the extreme to reach them might not just be unnecessary but also could be counterproductive.

For example, Grumet (a physician) estimates that 80% of an individual's health comes from simple actions such as eating reasonably healthy foods, moving one's body regularly, limiting alcohol intake, wearing a seatbelt, and connecting with others. Nonetheless, it can be tempting to chase the last 20%, whether through extreme dietary restrictions, extensive physical training, and/or tracking dozens of biometric markers. While there might be some gains to doing so, they pale in comparison to getting the 'basics' right (and these measures could impede health if they result in physical injury or increased stress).

Similarly, he suggests that individuals with the means to do so can get 80% of the way to financial success by following basic principles such as earning more than one spends, investing in broad-based equities and remaining invested over time, and leveraging tax-advantaged accounts when available. While there are plenty of advanced financial planning strategies that could add to one's wealth, they could be a distraction from the basics for some individuals and possibly lead to damaging consequences (e.g., purchasing opaque investments that promise greater upside/less downside but could have hidden risks).

In sum, while the latest 'hacks' might garner attention, focusing on core principles that contribute to physical, mental, and financial wellness could ultimately be more productive. For financial advisors, this could mean recommending advanced strategies to clients when appropriate but ensuring that any moves are aligned with the client's goals (which might not be optimizing for total wealth).

Jumping Off The Hedonic Treadmill

(Derek Hagen | Meaningful Money)

From the perspective of where an individual was 10 or 20 years ago, it's often not hard to recognize the progress they've made over time, whether in terms of their career, financial situation, or other areas. Nevertheless, it can be tempting to focus on what one doesn't have and be dissatisfied with their current situation in the process.

The idea of 'hedonic adaptation' describes the tendency of individuals to have a 'baseline' of happiness that they return to relatively soon after a positive or negative event occurs. For instance, receiving a promotion at work could lead to a short-term boost to happiness, but soon could become the 'new normal' (with an additional promotion needed to provide another [temporary] lift). Further, comparisons with other individuals can make it difficult to experience contentment with one's current circumstances as well. For example, while an individual might objectively be in a good financial position today (especially compared to where they were a decade earlier) it can be hard to avoid comparing themselves with neighbors or even strangers on social media (which can lead to the ultimately financially damaging practice of engaging in conspicuous consumption in order to 'keep up with the Joneses').

While setting goals for the future can lead to self-improvement, it can be challenging to avoid looking ahead. Which suggests that practicing gratitude could help build appreciation for what one has today while also working to build for the future. Further, while it's hard to avoid comparisons with others altogether, practicing mindfulness can at least help an individual recognize when they are doing so (and possibly adjust their decision making accordingly). Which perhaps suggests a helpful role for financial advisors in helping clients step back to recognize the progress they've already made and ensure the goals they have truly are their own!

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.