We are living in a world where “complicated” sounds great than “simplicity”. As “complicated” contains big data, fancy graphs, unheard terms & jargons, multiple pages and finally a confused look on our face. What do I do now? On the other hand, when we have “simplicity”, usual remark… I can do it myself. 😉
I am referring to a customer’s “Financial Planning Report” or a “Wealth Management Report”.
Whether you have seen one or someone trying to show you one (sell)… believe me, it’s like reading a multi-page research report and finally you asking this question again, what do I do now?
Idea of any report is to make you take decision, and when it comes to financial report, that too on your hard-earned money, it should be able to answer same in simple language, like whether they will have enough money, and if not what should they do about it, or on what next?
I guess, our dear friends, the financial planners,have been hoodwinked into believing that “complicated” is good.Part their fault, & part customer mind-set, as “simplicity” means, I’ll do it myself. It’s also ridiculous to think that they can accurately forecast each item of income and expenditure for the next 10, 20 or even 30 years.
My understanding; what one sees or gathers from these complicated reports, can be easily delivered thru a couple of simple excel spreadsheets and a hand-held calculator, which can create lifetime cash-flow models with numbers pretty close to those churned out by these complicated reports.
My logic of a report; to convey the meaning in the most simplest way, such that one can take an informed decision. I as a customer doesn’t want to see tables & data, one can keep same as annexures (as its required), but show me analysis & graphs, which I can relate & act upon.
When we started moneyforg.in, our only challenge was to bring simplicity to the world of complicated investing, financial planning or even wealth management.
To know how a customer thinks, read my blog: “client priorities – client first”
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