Fiduciary Standards

Building Client Confidence Through Education and Expertise

Armed with a Doctor of Jurisprudence degree from the Pace University School of Law, Daley started her career as an attorney working in the financial services industry.

Her first stop was a mutual fund company where she wrote prospectuses. Next were positions with a transfer agent, and then a large law firm. Her last stop before becoming a financial advisor in 2003 was as an attorney for LPL Financial, a broker dealer.

Today, Daley leads her own financial management firm, Daley Financial Partners, and a cornerstone of their approach is an emphasis on educating clients, whether it’s the basics of investing, industry vocabulary, or more intricate financial concepts.

“We have always placed a value on education and to make sure that the clients know what they’re investing in and why,” said Daley. “It’s essential that they understand the products that they are purchasing, and because of my varied background in the industry, I’ve been able to provide them with background information they might not understand.”

Daley’s approach to education is not only customized for each client, it is molded around generational preferences. Recently, the firm held a financial education seminar for millennials, and the Daley Financial Partners team said that they learned that this tech-savvy generation felt stymied by information overload.

“One of the biggest complaints that the millennials in our audience had was that they felt inundated with information which was paralyzing them,” Daley said.

While there are benefits to having information accessible through 24-hour financial news channels, websites, and apps that provide content and do-it-yourself tools, Daley says that an over-abundance of information can become counterproductive in its intent to inform and, instead, succeed at causing confusion and indecision.

ursula300x450“These younger folks tell me, ‘I really want to get involved and I’m reading all this stuff online, but I don’t know where to start and I’m afraid I’m going to make a mistake,’” Daley said, adding that she is seeing a larger influx of younger clients at her practice at the urging of their parents, who are clients of the firm.

This attention to generational trends, preferences, and mindsets, balanced with understanding each client as an individual has helped Daley Financial Partners manage its own growth over the years as they have acquired four separate books of business.

“We do not use a cookie-cutter approach – every client is different, and it is our philosophy that they need to be treated as an individual. Each person comes to the table with their own set of risk tolerances, educational background, and experience. We tailor the relationship to the clients that we’re working with,” said Daley.

“I’ve always treated my clients in the same capacity no matter what type of account that they’ve had. We’ve always explained investments to our clients, we’ve always talked about fees, and I’ve always tried to be as transparent as I can possibly be,” she said, circling back to the prominence of education within the firm’s process and touching on her role as an investment fiduciary.

As a previous attorney, Daley said the word fiduciary has been engrained in her since law school, and while she said her clients may not fully understand what a fiduciary is or does, she believes they do understand that it comes with a higher legal obligation on the part of the advisor.

“A fiduciary is easily defined as an ethical and legal obligation of trust imposed on another person. As a prior attorney, I’ve always taken that a step further, even prior to the DOL, because a client has to have a level of understanding of where they are going,” Daley said, referencing the partially implemented U. S. Department of Labor (DOL) fiduciary rule calling for all financial professionals – including advisors, brokers, and insurance agents – to act as a fiduciary when dealing with retirement accounts. Complete implementation of the rule is currently in limbo as government and regulatory agencies duke it out.

“I will often say to my clients, ‘You’re not going to know everything that I know, but it’s important that you know that I know.’” Daley said, adding that as financial advisors go, her background as an attorney who worked in the financial sector coupled with her experience as an advisor is unique and allows her to better serve her clients.

Daley Financial Partners, currently an all women firm, went through a major rebranding initiative during 2016. Referring to her team as highly motivated in the future of the firm and in their own futures, Daley says that members of the staff are currently working towards additional industry credentials.

“My goal,“ she said, “is to help them get there.” Realizing goals, whether for her employees or her clients, is clearly her priority.

For more information on DALEY Financial Partners, LLC visit: daleyfinancial.com

Ursula Daley is a registered representative with, and securities and advisory services offered through LPL Financial, a registered investment advisor. Member FINRA/SIPC.

 

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