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The “Aha Moment” That’s Creating New Advisory Clients
Plus, the latest in market news.
Happy Sunday, and welcome to Benzinga’s financial advisor newsletter.
Today we’re talking about taxes and the opportunities that it provides advisors. Read on to see how trading apps and easy access have lowered the barrier to entry for investments, and how tax season is creating timely openings for advisors to engage.
Plus, a look at all the top stories and market activity from this past week.
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INDUSTRY CHATTER
This tax season is revealing a consistent pattern among newer investors: confidence on the way in, confusion on the way out. That “aha moment” for clients is becoming one of the most effective ways for advisors to start a relationship.
Last month, we talked about how single clients are becoming one of the most compelling growth opportunities for advisory firms. More individuals are managing their finances and are living on their own longer — making investment, tax, and planning decisions without a built-in second opinion.
This trend connects directly to what is going on during tax season. A growing number of younger, often single investors are entering the market with ease. Trading apps and easy access have lowered the barrier to entry, but understanding the tax consequences hasn’t kept up.
That gap tends to show up all at once. After a few trades, a year of equity compensation, or a strong market run, the realization hits — gains are taxable, withholding isn’t always sufficient, and April brings a bill that wasn’t planned for. What felt like progress suddenly feels more complicated.
This “wake-up call” becomes a moment of uncertainty and a moment where advisors can step in. Many advisors are shifting how they engage. Instead of leading with long-term plans, they’re meeting prospects at the point of friction: reviewing a pay stub, explaining a tax bill, or identifying a withholding gap. These are simple conversations, but are highly relevant and provide value quickly.
Rather than treating taxes as a once-a-year conversation, some advisors are using them as an entry point — even collaborating earlier with CPAs to provide clearer, more immediate guidance.
With more people making financial decisions on their own, advisors who show up in that moment aren’t just solving a tax issue. They’re filling a gap. And for a growing segment of clients, that gap is exactly what they’ve been missing.
It was the week the war in Iran almost ended — and then almost didn’t.
With one hour to spare before an 8 p.m. Tuesday deadline, during which President Donald Trump had threatened that “a whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again,” he announced a two-week ceasefire with Iran.
Oil fell 17% on Wednesday — its biggest single-day drop since April 2020. Crude – as tracked by the United States Oil Fund (USO) – traded at $96 per barrel by Friday, down 13.7% on the week, its worst weekly decline in six years.
For a brief moment, the pump price nightmare that had defined the past six weeks looked like it might finally be over. It wasn’t.
Israeli strikes in Lebanon followed the ceasefire announcement and Iran responded by closing the Strait of Hormuz again, and oil flows halted once more.
The week’s hard data captured the war’s damage.
On Friday morning, the government reported that consumer prices rose 0.9% in March — the steepest monthly jump since June 2022 — driven almost entirely by a 21.2% surge in gasoline, the largest single-month increase since federal records began in 1967.
The national average for regular gasoline stood at $4.153 on Friday, up 39% from $2.98 the day before the war started.
Shortly after the inflation report, the University of Michigan reported that consumer confidence had collapsed to 47.6 in April — an all-time record low, and a sharp miss against Wall Street’s forecast of 52.
Chart: US Consumer Confidence Plunges to Lowest Level Since Survey Began in 1953
Joanne Hsu, director of the university’s Surveys of Consumers, said consumers are “very, very frustrated by the persistence of high prices” and are “feeling very weighed down with the cost of living.”
Year-ahead inflation expectations jumped from 3.8% to 4.8% in a single month, the largest one-month surge since April 2025.
Despite the grim economic backdrop, markets rallied as the ceasefire announcement ignited a broad risk-on move.
The S&P 500 – as tracked by the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY) – gained 3.9% on the week, its best weekly performance since May 2025.
The Nasdaq 100 – tracked by the Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ) – rose past 25,000
Michigan-based carmakers also rebounded. General Motors (GM) rallied over 6% on the week, marking its best week since late 2025. Ford Motor (F) rose 5% on the week.
Not every sector shared in the optimism.
Software stocks – tracked by the iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF (IGV) – had their worst week in years as artificial intelligence continued to pressure legacy enterprise valuations.
ServiceNow (NOW) plunged 18% — its worst week since 2016 and the worst performance in the entire S&P 500.
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THE WEEK AHEAD
Economic Data
Monday: Existing home sales, Fed speech (Stephen Miran)
Tuesday: NFIB index, PPI, Fed speech (Michael Barr)
Wednesday: Import price index, Fed Beige Book, Crude oil inventories
Thursday: Initial jobless claims, Industrial production, Capacity utilization
Friday: Fed speakers (Daly, Barkin, Waller), Rig count
Earnings
Tuesday: JPMorgan (JPM), Wells Fargo (WFC), Citigroup (C), J&J (JNJ)
Wednesday: ASML (ASML), Bank of America (BAC), Morgan Stanley (MS)
Thursday: Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM), Netflix (NFLX), Pepsico (PEP), Travelers (TRV), Charles Schwab (SCHW)
Friday: Truist (TFC), Ally (ALLY), State Street (STT), Fifth Third Bancorp (FITB)
Click here for the full calendar of economic data and earnings reports.
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