GWG Holdings Survey Finds Advisors Gain Clients While Investors Seek Counsel Beyond Investment Returns During COVID-19 Pandem...
July 16 2020 - 4:30PM
In the midst of an unprecedented environment of business lockdowns
and financial pressures, a survey of financial advisors conducted
by GWG Holdings, Inc. (GWGH) in June 2020 showed investors are
increasingly turning to their financial advisors for help that goes
beyond investment returns.
More than one-fifth of the surveyed advisors reported gaining
new clients during the pandemic, with one-third of those
respondents reporting more than 10 percent client growth as clients
sought reassurance while markets grew increasingly volatile.
“The results of our survey show the critical function advisors
perform for our society. All people need financial advice in
attaining personal security, particularly in times of stress,” said
GWGH Chief Executive Officer Murray Holland.
GWGH, a Dallas-based financial services company, has been
providing investments through advisors since 2009. The company
announced on July 1, 2020, that it had introduced a new $2 billion
offering of its proprietary L Bonds.
GWGH surveyed 128 advisors across the U.S. who sell the
company’s investments about how they and their clients were coping
with the COVID-19 pandemic. More than one-fifth of respondents –
22.8 percent – reported adding clients with the average growth of
seven percent since the pandemic began to affect the U.S. economy
in March.
The surveyed advisors described having to deal with the daunting
needs of clients who were concerned about their investments, their
health, and the possibility of job and income loss. More than 40
percent said they had to manage their own personal health and
business concerns while serving concerned clients.
Close to 60 percent of respondents said, their biggest challenge
was balancing the need to reassure clients while providing
investing strategies like rebalancing to them. Right behind that
challenge was the need to communicate relevant information in the
rapidly changing environment.
Top client concerns included the markets in general and their
current investments, but almost four in ten reported client worries
about heath, jobs, and income.
“Advisors are acting as personal counselors for those clients
who were frightened by the initial deep declines in the market,”
said Matthew Paine, a GWGH Senior Vice President. “Calming clients
through tough times has always been an important part of the job,
but this has taken on proportions that are far beyond that.
Advisors have really stepped up at a critical time.”
The survey found that technology has become a growing element of
communication with clients. About 13 percent of advisors reported
conducting video chats with clients and 81.2 percent of those used
Zoom as their method of communicating. Three-quarters of advisors
who responded said they found it as easy or easier to connect with
clients during the pandemic.
Of course, traditional means have held their own: 73 percent
said they successfully interacted with clients by telephone.
Technology has become standard practice for many advisors. Only
10 percent of respondents said technology was too complex or
inconvenient for them or their staffs.
One long-term impact of the pandemic may be the ability to work
from home. Almost 20 percent of respondents said they expect to
continue working remotely or from a home office after the pandemic
has ended.
About GWG Holdings
GWG Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq: GWGH) is an
innovative financial services firm based in Dallas, Texas that is a
leader in providing investments that are non-correlated to the
traded markets, and unique liquidity solutions and services for the
owners of illiquid investments. Through its
subsidiaries, The Beneficient Company Group,
L.P. and GWG Life,
LLC, GWGH owns and manages a diverse
portfolio of alternative assets that, as of March 31, 2020,
included $2 billion in life insurance policy benefits, and exposure
to a diversified and growing loan portfolio secured by 118
professionally managed alternative investment funds.
For more information about GWG Holdings,
email info@gwgh.com or
visit www.gwgh.com.
Media Contact: Dan Callahan Director of
Communication GWG Holdings, Inc. (612) 787-5744
dcallahan@gwgh.com
A photo accompanying this announcement is available at
https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/3233cd7b-7751-414c-bba1-60cf56bed4a0
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