Are you ready to hear a new, positive slant on the ongoing chatter of news headlines, predictions, opinions, and dire warnings about the future of the financial services industry?

In The Good That Financial Advisors Do, Dan Sullivan, one of the truest and most reliable guiding voices in the industry, acknowledges that, yes, this is an industry in flux, with unprecedented challenges to be faced. But he also counters that little has been said or written about the vital, positive role advisors play in the advancement of whole societies and the happiness of those who live in them.

Provocative questions at the end of each chapter and four immediate action steps provide a starting point for transforming an advisor’s career into one of greater and greater productivity, profitability, and enjoyment.

The book also includes access to a confidential, interactive online tool designed to provide an ongoing thinking process for transforming an advisor’s practice and career in the years ahead. This workbook can be filled out on line, saved as a PDF for reviewing and editing, and is printable. It also provides a great forum for discussion groups.

If you’re an advisor looking to clearly see where the opportunities lie to make a significant contribution and to secure your future success in a rapidly changing world, this little book packs a huge punch.

FROM THE INTRODUCTION
For almost 40 years, I have been a coach to thousands of financial advisors who come from a variety of mostly English-speaking countries. Not coincidentally, these countries—the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, South Africa, Singapore, and now India—are among the most prosperous and fastest-growing in the world. In a number of Asian economies, including those of China, Taiwan, Korea, Malaysia, and Vietnam, there has been rapid growth in the number of financial advisors over the past ten years. And numerous other countries in the world will be taking this same path in the coming years of the 21st century.

Prosperity and financial advisors grow together.

There is no question that growing economic prosperity tends to increase the number of financial advisors in a society. And at the same time, there is good evidence to suggest that having many financial advisors in a society also tends to increase the individual prosperity of its citizenry, as well as the prosperity of the whole society. As more individuals use personal financial advisors to plan their financial futures, they achieve higher incomes and savings. They also gain more control over a growing number of long-term practical factors in their personal and professional lives.

These ongoing achievements on the part of hundreds of thousands—and, in some cases, millions—of individuals have a positive collective impact on entire economies. With a rising level of personal financial success for a growing number of people, there are increasing benefits for everyone. A prospering society, in turn, increases the number of individuals who seek out the knowledge and skills of financial advisors.

So it’s a chicken-and-egg situation: Which comes first, the prosperity or the advisors? No one can say conclusively, but it is clear that neither development lasts for very long without the other. Those countries with increasing numbers of financial advisors are more likely to grow economically, while those with a declining number of advisors will gradually lose their economic vitality. Financial advisors benefit not only their own clientele, but society as a whole, in many different ways.

My simple thesis in this little book is that financial advisors are not only good for their individual clientele, but for society as a whole.

To make my case, I have laid out ten reasons why both individuals and societies are better off by having increased numbers of advisors. My hope in writing this is that it will reinforce the financial advisor profession in places where it is already well established, and in many new places as well.

Here is my list of reasons, presented in ten short chapters, followed by four suggested action steps to help advisors move forward into what I believe will be a time of significant new opportunity for those who are tuned in and focused in the right direction.

FROM THE INTRODUCTION
For almost 40 years, I have been a coach to thousands of financial advisors who come from a variety of mostly English-speaking countries. Not coincidentally, these countries—the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, South Africa, Singapore, and now India—are among the most prosperous and fastest-growing in the world. In a number of Asian economies, including those of China, Taiwan, Korea, Malaysia, and Vietnam, there has been rapid growth in the number of financial advisors over the past ten years. And numerous other countries in the world will be taking this same path in the coming years of the 21st century.

Prosperity and financial advisors grow together.

There is no question that growing economic prosperity tends to increase the number of financial advisors in a society. And at the same time, there is good evidence to suggest that having many financial advisors in a society also tends to increase the individual prosperity of its citizenry, as well as the prosperity of the whole society. As more individuals use personal financial advisors to plan their financial futures, they achieve higher incomes and savings. They also gain more control over a growing number of long-term practical factors in their personal and professional lives.

These ongoing achievements on the part of hundreds of thousands—and, in some cases, millions—of individuals have a positive collective impact on entire economies. With a rising level of personal financial success for a growing number of people, there are increasing benefits for everyone. A prospering society, in turn, increases the number of individuals who seek out the knowledge and skills of financial advisors.

So it’s a chicken-and-egg situation: Which comes first, the prosperity or the advisors? No one can say conclusively, but it is clear that neither development lasts for very long without the other. Those countries with increasing numbers of financial advisors are more likely to grow economically, while those with a declining number of advisors will gradually lose their economic vitality. Financial advisors benefit not only their own clientele, but society as a whole, in many different ways.

My simple thesis in this little book is that financial advisors are not only good for their individual clientele, but for society as a whole.

To make my case, I have laid out ten reasons why both individuals and societies are better off by having increased numbers of advisors. My hope in writing this is that it will reinforce the financial advisor profession in places where it is already well established, and in many new places as well.

Here is my list of reasons, presented in ten short chapters, followed by four suggested action steps to help advisors move forward into what I believe will be a time of significant new opportunity for those who are tuned in and focused in the right direction.