There are roughly 50 million Americans who could benefit from professional financial advice but do not have access to an advisor according to Robert Shiller of Yale University as cited in the Wall Street Journal.

Many of these underserved may very well be in the mass-market segment, with the majority of their assets in a retirement plan but other monies scattered among different institutions.  Many times, these folks believe that they don’t have enough for a financial advisor to be interested in them.  Nevertheless, they have retirement worries and need help.

On top of that, advisor ranks are shrinking.  Bank Investment Consultant points to a study by Cerulli Associates in Boston and reports that, “The total universe of advisors keeps slowly shrinking over time, down about 1.4% from 2004 to 2008, from 313,705 to 309,693.”

So who can help bridge this gap between fewer financial advisors and a large underserved market?  For starters, insurance companies and banks.

Insurance companies have the opportunity to help advisors more efficiently reach out to this large audience with education and planning tools surrounding their annuity products.  Then support the effort with marketing programs that drive business to the advisor by addressing a major worry for many – the fear of running out of money in retirement.  This can go a long way to helping the advisor  serve this unmet need in the market in a way that makes sense for his or her business.

Banks also have an opportunity to serve this market.  They already have customers that are part of those 50 million Americans that Mr. Shiller has estimated.  They just haven’t identified them as such.  Banks have a unique advantage because they have already overcome the biggest hurdle – establishing trust. Now it becomes a matter of digging into customer data, reaching out to customers, and offering them engaging planning and education tools.

50 million represents a huge opportunity.  With some smart tools and the right marketing, insurance companies and banks can help bridge that gap and capture their share of underserved millions.

For more financial marketing insight like this and the latest relevant headlines, check out my posts at our financial marketing blog.