Happy Financial Literacy Month everybody!
For those that may have forgotten to mark their calendars, April is the month where wealth managers promote and highlight the benefits of financial education. The idea behind the financial literacy push is to empower individuals to make informed decisions about their money, ultimately promoting financial well-being and security.
To celebrate the month-long festivities, InvestmentNews asked some of our favorite financial advisors to explain how they approach the idea of financial education and why it’s so important – and not just in April!
Joe McLean, managing partner at MAI Capital Management:
“For MAI, financial literacy is the core of every plan to sustain financial independence. For Entrepreneurs, for example, your ability to build wealth is only as strong as your ability to protect and grow it. Understanding financial principles helps ensure that your success isn’t just in business, but in building generational wealth.”
“As for retirees, retirement isn’t just about saving - it’s about knowing how to sustain and enjoy the wealth you’ve built. Financial literacy can empower you to make informed decisions about longevity, legacy, and security.”
“When it comes to athletes, your career may be shorter than most, but your financial future doesn’t have to be. Learning how to manage money wisely can help ensure that your peak earning years set you up for a lifetime of financial independence."
“For executives, you’ve spent your career making high-stakes decisions in business - your personal finances deserve the same level of strategic thinking. Whether it’s optimizing equity compensation, managing tax efficiency, or ensuring your wealth is structured for long-term success, financial literacy enables you to have control over your financial future. The best leaders don’t just build businesses, they build lasting wealth for themselves, their families, and their communities.”
Gerald Schreck, senior vice president of advisor education and training at Osaic:
“In today’s dynamic marketplace, continuous learning is essential for both personal and professional success. According to the Association for Talent Development’s study ‘The Value of Training,’ comprehensive training programs can lead to a 24 percent increase in productivity. The key takeaway here is the importance of ‘comprehensive’ training, which aligns with our perspective on financial professional development.”
“Effective development relies on three essential components: knowledge, skills, and application experience—each playing a critical role in maximizing impact. Building confidence starts with developing competence in new products, services, technologies, and processes. Strong interpersonal and communication skills are key to turning every client or prospect interaction into an opportunity to strengthen relationships. Ultimately, success comes from the ability to seamlessly apply both skills and knowledge, blending the right solutions to meet client needs through an efficient and technology-supported approach.”
“Recognizing that development is a journey, it is essential to design programs with multiple touchpoints, allowing advisors to learn through experience and from one another. Osaic’s Wealth Advisor Academy exemplifies this approach by helping financial professionals grow their practices through the identification and application of solutions to unmet client needs.
This program is designed to strengthen advisors' expertise through a comprehensive approach that includes confidence-based assessments, a focus on communication styles, and real-world application. By identifying technical knowledge gaps and assessing confidence levels, we tailor support to individual needs. Advisors also refine their ability to engage in deeper, more meaningful client conversations, reinforced by oral exams. Throughout a multi-month development process, participants put their newfound knowledge, skills, and tools into practice during client interactions, with after-action debriefs providing ongoing support and refinement.”
Abby Salameh, chief growth officer at RFG Advisory:
“There is nothing more important than education. We believe strongly that in order for a financial advisor to establish themselves as trusted guides for their clients, they need to be educated on many topics with some of those having nothing to do with the markets. As an example, at our recent RFG Growth Retreat, we had 13 CE Credits available to our advisors ranging in topics from ‘The Female Investor- the Next Frontier’ to ‘The Power of PR’ and ‘The Future of Estate Planning.’”
“We also regularly coach our advisors on behavioral finance topics to help our advisors understand the emotional side of money. We do one-on-one coaching with them on topics like ‘The Emotional Side of Wealth Transfer’ and ‘Beyond the Spreadsheet’. Furthering the peer-to-peer sharing, where our advisors can learn from one another, we host monthly Study Groups.”
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