Press Release

New York, Mar. 26, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Flourish, a platform that provides innovative access to financial products that help registered investment advisors (“RIAs”) improve their clients’ financial fututres, and Wealth Management IQ (WMIQ), a leader in research services for wealth and asset management communities, today released “Client Cash: Mapping an Unexplored Opportunity,” a survey on advisor perceptions around their clients’ held-away cash and attitudes around cash management needs.

Key findings and insights include:

• Clients’ cash holdings are vastly underestimated: Surveyed advisors believe their average client holds 7% of their net worth in cash, while high net worth individuals actually hold more than 30% of their net worth in cash.
• Advisors are ignoring the cash conversation despite knowing its importance: The critical cash conversation is frequently overlooked, highlighting a significant gap between awareness and action in the advisory field with 95% of advisors acknowledging the importance of addressing clients' cash needs as a professional responsibility but only 5% of advisors consistently inquiring about their clients' cash holdings.
• Clients want high yield on their cash: 92% of advisors report that their clients have expressed interest in high-yield savings accounts (HYSAs).
• Cash management solutions can help advisors be more competitive: A large majority of advisors (71%) believe that offering an in-house cash management solution for their clients would make them more competitive with other advisory firms as well as more competitive with wirehouses (68%) and robo advisors (62%)

“The crucial insight of this survey lies in the significant disparity between the number of advisors recognizing the responsibility to advise on cash and those actually providing solutions or engaging in discussions with clients,” said Max Lane, CEO of Flourish. “70% of surveyed advisors believe their clients would be interested in earning 4% to 5% in an FDIC-insured account. While it may seem irrational for clients to hold substantial sums in cash, the emotional need for liquidity and safety cannot be dismissed. Advisors have the opportunity to improve relationships while helping clients earn more by offering a cash management solution to every client."

Flourish Cash, Flourish’s cash management solution, built explicitly for RIAs, offers clients competitive interest rates and elevated FDIC insurance through its Program Banks. Last year, Flourish Cash’s clientbase grew 161% and clients earned more than $130 million in interest. Currently, Flourish Cash offers 5.00% APY on the first $1 million and 4.5% on the remaining balance as well as FDIC insurance up to $20 million for two-person households through a joint account and two individual accounts. Current interest rates and FDIC coverage can be found at https://www.flourish.com/rates.

“Thanks to higher interest rates, for the first time in a long time, cash management has become an important consideration for fiduciary-minded advisors," said David Armstrong, Director of Editorial Strategy and Operations for the Wealth Management Group, WealthManagement.com. "Providing smart advice on cash can bring more assets under the tent, differentiate the service model, and help optimize the client’s financial outcome.”

The nationwide survey of hundreds of advisors reflects responses from mostly independent RIAs and was conducted from August 20-September 5, 2023. Over 750 RIAs managing over $1.5 trillion in combined assets trust Flourish to bring more assets into their orbit. The Flourish platform allows advisors to feature their firm’s branding, obtain visibility into balances, statements, and tax documents—as well as access client-friendly materials, robust and customizable compliance resources, white-glove support, and more. RIAs can also incorporate their clients’ cash holdings into their core technology systems through integrations with major billing, reporting, and CRM providers.

To read the full survey results download “Client Cash: Mapping an Unexplored Opportunity” by visiting: [FULL URL].