How to Talk to HENRYs

What The Next Wave of Investors Wants From Their of Financial Advisor

Money. Youth. Room for growth.

HENRYs (High Earners, Not Rich Yet) have all the traits financial advisors drool over except one: A willingness to have their investments managed by a professional.

How do we know? Research shows that while 25% of US households are HENRYs, only 30% of this group has a financial advisor.

Why?

  • Because they shun the “old-fashioned” way of investing.
  • Because their earnings go towards living expenses instead of going into building wealth.
  • Because they lack financial literacy, even though they’re highly educated.

HENRY’s skepticism can be difficult to overcome, but their wealth building potential is more than worth it.

At Stealth, we’ve helped financial advisors all over the country make headway with this type of highly-coveted client.

This is what we’ve learned about making HENRYs more receptive to your services.

They Want Validation

What do pensions, 7%+ APY savings accounts and CDs with ROI better than inflation have in common?

They’re financial tools older generations enjoyed that are no longer available to HENRYs. For them, their reservations about so-called “traditional” investments are well deserved when they think about retiring or their big picture financial future.

Here’s how to climb their mountain of misgivings: Embrace it.

Make empathy part of your mission statement or value proposition. State definitively you are on their side, ready to help them overcome runaway inflation and the rising cost of just about everything so they can live their best life.

Your validation can go a long way in getting on their side.

They Want To Do Good

For some investors, ROI trumps everything—even if it means investing in… less than wholesome companies.

That’s not the case with HENRYs. In fact, all things being equal, they’d prefer to put their money toward societal good.

0%

of millennials are interested in socially responsible investing

0%

of Gen X-ers believe investment funds should consider sustainability factors

0%

of Gen-Zers believe companies should address social and environmental issues

Announcing your support of investing in companies with high ESG scores or authentic brands committed to doing good globally can add some soul to your professional persona.

They Want Real Time Connections

When there’s a real market happening (e.g. circuit breakers in March 2020) or an event that might happen (e.g. news of a potential rate hike), people storm the internet in droves to communicate.

You should be there, joining the conversation.

% OF PEOPLE WHO VISIT SOCIAL MEDIA FOR INVESTING INFORMATION

Youtube
0%
TikTok
0%
Instagram
0%
Twitter
0%
Facebook
Groups
0%
Reddit
0%

Now, we know your content might need to be approved and that posting unfiltered, heat-of-the-moment commentary might be taken the wrong way.

What you should do is have pre-approved comments, statements or facts to use in reply to ongoing threads or conversations to help build your online persona.

You can also film something in advance and invite viewers or followers to call your office to schedule a 1:1 investing session.

The key here is to make interactions as two-sided, conversational and immediate as often as you can. Case in point: more than 50% of respondents to a recent Financial Planning survey said they would prefer to be texted reminders, as opposed to 35% who prefer to be emailed!

What should you be saying to HENRYs as part of your overall content strategy? Contact us and we can help.