Wealthy Investors Say Virtual FaceTime is Fine

Technology is rapidly changing the way clients prefer to do business.
By MainStreet Team ,

By Hal M. Bundrick

NEW YORK (

MainStreet

)--House calls may be making a comeback. Forget the cup of tea and cookies in the conference room, or packing up a briefcase full of docs and hitting the road. A growing number of wealthy investors who prefer face-to-face meetings are saying FaceTime is fine. According to a Spectrem Group study, about-one in-five clients now say they are happy to take a meeting via computer webcam.

Video conferences via computer programs such as Skype, GoogleChat or FaceTime allow real-time "face-to-face" meetings, and is of interest to about 20% of all wealthy investors according to the study - even more so among younger clients.

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Of millionaire investors with a net worth between $1 million and $5 million excluding their primary residence, 22% said they would be willing to use webcam technology to communicate with their financial advisor. That number jumped to 58% of millionaires 35 years of age and under. For the group of wealthy investors between 36 and 44 years of age, 44% said they were agreeable to video chats.

Even ultra high net worth investors, with investable assets of $5 million to $25 million, were fine with virtual meetings, with 20% of respondents saying they would take a webcam conference. One-third of these very wealthy investors between the ages of 48 and 54 said they would use computer video to communicate with advisors.

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As investors become more comfortable with technology, the methods of conducting business are being transformed. And that includes how clients prefer to handle their own transactions.

While checking market prices on a smartphone is fine, when it comes to actually placing a trade wealthy Americans still prefer their PC, according to the study.

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Millionaire investors love their tablets (61%) and mobile devices (54%) for gathering financial data and communicating with advisors but prefer to trigger transactions on the big box: their PC or Mac. Just a fraction, 5% or less, use a smartphone or tablet for trades.

More than one-third (38%) of survey respondents avoid all technology for conducting financial transactions.

--Written by Hal M. Bundrick

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