Dow Jones wealth-advisory council takes a piercing glimpse into the obvious. Ignorance, sloth and an overall inability to make a point apparently aren't the building blocks of success in the financial-advisory arena. That's the latest bold insight from Dow Jones' Wealth Management Advisory Council (WMAC).

Rather, says WMAC, "solid communication skills, dedication, a strong work ethic and an intense focus on client service" are what's important to an advisor's success.

An advisor should also be "prepared to put a client's needs before his or her own," according to WMAC, a New York-based industry group that came into being late in 2005.

Product push

Last month a U.S. district appeals court overturned a controversial Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) rule that allowed brokers to offer investment advice without registering as fiduciaries under the 1940 Investment Advisers Act.

Advisors bound by the 1940 Act are constrained to put their clients' interests ahead of their own. Brokers aren't -- though many would argue that custom, personal scruples and company policy make fee-based brokers de facto fiduciaries.

"Clients' needs must always come first," reiterates Merrill Lynch broker and WMAC member Patricia Bell. "A true professional knows that it is expected that you will make yourself available when needed by a client, as well as be in regular contact."

If that seems more in accord with sound practice management than fiduciary rigor, it's worth noting that Dow Jones markets a client-communication tool for private-client consultants. In effect it's a clipping service for practitioners who want to provide clients with consumer-oriented news and information from news sources in the Dow Jones universe.

Dow Jones came out with its Wealth Manager Web Services tool a few months after it launched WMAC.

The WMAC's latest "snap poll" of its members -- all eight of them -- suggests that the proof of effective client service is in the ability to respond to client needs and to explain complicated wealth-management concepts in an easy-to-grasp manner.

In sum, says WMAC member and UBS advisor Anthony DiValerio, "The most successful wealth managers distinguish themselves with a rare blend of talent, knowledge and caring." -FWR

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