30 Days 30 Ways To Protect Your Clients, Practice & Reputation

How many frustrated family members are going to take aging clients' assets away from your management because you don't know how to protect a vulnerable client?

The SEC has moved ahead with rules mandating that many advisors implement policies and procedures to help shield their clients' information from scammers.

You need professional liability insurance even if you don't make any mistakes.

Strong details and carefully executed plans make for a positive transition.

Fending off cyber intrusions is becoming a cost of doing business, but when advisors find that their practice has been breached, they need to follow a plan for assessing the damage.

Financial institutions need to take preventive steps to avoid financial losses and the exploitation of their elderly clients. Are you prepared?

Advisors must take precautions to guard their business brands and personal reputations online. Here are some simple but important steps advisors should take now.

There’s no one-size-fits all insurance policy against cybercrime, so you’ll need to look carefully at individual policies and how they fit your needs.

Cybersecurity policy may still be very much a work in progress at the SEC, but officials increasingly are expecting advisors to have a baseline set of policies and procedures in place to safeguard clients' data, compliance experts caution.

Cyberattacks pose a serious threat to investors, as well as advisors and broker-dealers, and the SEC is paying attention. Here's the most recent guidance from the regulator and what it means for advisors.

Planners are often required to use encryption, which can be a powerful tool to protect private information. But advisors have to understand the basics and how to get their clients - and staff - on the same page.

Strike a balance between remaining friendly with clients' family members and effectively stopping persistent and inquisitive ones from sussing out details that should remain confidential.

Understanding regulatory and compliance responsibilities about cybercrime can go a long way in preparing planners to face the threats.

A continuity plan should be simple and spell out how unexpected interruptions could affect the business and how to safeguard the firm, employees and clients.

Fidelity Investments is telling investors and advisors that clients' data appears not to have been captured by the hackers who infiltrated the systems of JPMorgan Chase earlier this year. And while clients aren't yet worried, advisors say, such threats are unlikely to go away.

The SEC has yet to produce or even propose any binding rules regarding cybersecurity, but officials have been sending strong signals that they expect firms of all sizes to put in place policies and procedures to protect sensitive information.

Clarity and even-handedness go a long way during a time when clients may especially need advice, say advisors who have grappled with warring spouses and matrimonial lawyers.

Clients don’t think of themselves as average, and human advisors are best equipped to customize and personalize their solutions, advisors and industry experts say.

A positive online presence is crucial to the success of an advisor’s reputation.

Professionals or any high-net-worth clients who might face lawsuits can often benefit from setting up overseas trusts, a meaningful deterrent when overzealous plaintiffs come knocking at the door.

Data backup may not be the most interesting part of an advisor’s role, but they must make the necessary measures a top priority, compliance and security officers say.

When it comes to compliance, do-it-yourselfers must build policies and procedures that can protect the firm. But as practices grow, seeking outside assistance may be necessary.

Everyone on staff should know how to handle sensitive client information, making it possible for them to be responsive, but not nosy.

As hackers and scam artists become more sophisticated, screening for scams can be difficult. Advisors must understand the top threats to client data and what might happen in the event of a breach.

Lawyers who regularly represent disgruntled clients who make allegations against financial advisors offer reassurance to the vast majority in the industry. Keep the big picture in mind and recognize that only a tiny fraction of financial advisors get sued, they say.

Here are five tips to help advisory firms comply with and go beyond SEC email requirements.

Security experts recommend advisors use not only passwords, but a more stringent form of verification, known as “two-factor authentication,” for logging into every device and into every data collection system they control.

Advisors should keep abreast of what their employees post on social media, but also recognize that notions of appropriate online commentary vary among generations.

Without a security plan in place, financial affairs can become a mess if a client dies or becomes incapacitated.

With cybertheft rampant and regulators keeping watch, financial advisors must help secure their clients' data.