Real experiences from the advice community

The world is changing, fast. Technology, and particularly AI, is shifting the balance of where advisers spend their time, away from the more technical processes of planning to where human judgement and empathy make the greatest difference.

At the same time, socio-economic and demographic shifts are reshaping what clients need from financial advisers. Nowhere is this more evident than at the point of retirement, as we will explore in this guide, supported by Standard Life.

Financial advisers who truly understand the whole client – their fears, motivations, life experiences, preferences and emotional relationship with money – and who help clients uncover and understand these aspects of themselves, consistently tell us they see significant benefits:

• Deeper and longer client relationships

• Competitive differentiation

• Enhanced trust

• Compliant processes; better suitability

• Better long term client outcomes

• Satisfied staff

This guide is not about replacing traditional planning practices, but enhancing them by considering human behaviour more deeply. You understand this intuitively but are you creating the conditions for it to happen consistently? This isn’t necessarily about rigid processes or scripted conversations. Some financial advice firms do this by simply slowing down and listening more deeply. Others build it into their processes with specific tools and frameworks that work at scale, or that ensure every client gets this experience, not just the ones you connect with naturally.

What this report covers

In this guide you’ll find examples and ideas from fellow practitioners who are:

• Opening client meetings with a simple question that sets the tone for a relationship based on understanding, guiding and supporting, rather than telling
• Purposely building in time for meetings that are strictly “not about the money”
• “Earning” the right to have a deeper conversation with clients by understanding more about their lives about their lives
• Recognising when challenges in clients’ lives need more support and, when appropriate, referring them to another specialist, with professional partnerships in place to serve the whole client
• Adopting AI tools and technology to free up time and capacity for the client relationship work
• Exploring the expanding range of behavioural profiling tools
• Creating opportunities for clients to connect with on another, for example through monthly walks for retiring clients, enabling them to build a social network and share the experience of major life transitions such as retirement
• Designing communication strategies targeted to specific client needs and segments
• Prioritising soft skills training and development around empathy and better equipping advisers to have difficult conversations
• Adapting financial plans to reflect clients’ values, priorities, and behavioural preferences, ensuring the plan works with their natural tendencies rather than against them

Methodology

The findings in this guide are based on:

• 9 in-depth interviews with financial planners, conducted between 14 May and 17 July 2025
• 3 in-depth interviews with behavioural finance specialists and a financial psychotherapist
• Quantitative data analysis is based on an online survey of 200 financial advice professionals, conducted between 2 and 10 June 2025.

Interested in reading the full report? Complete the form to the right. 

Fancy getting involved in NextWealth research? Get in touch at enquiries@nextwealth.co.uk.

Suggest citation: NextWealth & Standard Life. July 2025. Beyond the numbers: What your clients really need you to know. https://nextwealth.co.uk/research/beyond-the-numbers-what-your-clients-really-need-you-to-know/.