Last week I read an article in an industry publication suggesting that the recently announced Tax Free Savings Account program would be a non event for advisors - the $5000 limit means that the opportunity here is too small for most advisors to put much thought or effort against.That may be absolutely right - if we're looking at this strictly from our point of view.

Examining this from our clients' perspective, however, leads to an entirely different conclusion.

One of the things many clients seek in their financial advisor is a financial quarterback - as part of that, they look to their advisor to make them aware of anything meaningful affecting their financial situation without having to ask. In our research, advisors get a small fraction of the credit and goodwill for providing information in response to a clients' query compared to what is received if you are proactive and provide that same information without being prompted. If your communication comes after clients have read an explanation in the newspaper or heard about it elsewhere, the impact is markedly lower as well.

A couple of years back, I talked to an investor with a portfolio in the millions of dollars who had grown somewhat disenchanted with his advisor - in large measure because all their interactions seemed to revolve around recommendations from which the advisor would generate revenue. Even though this client had doubts, he was prepared to hang in - until a friend mentioned the government tax credit for RESP contributions, something which his advisor had never brought up. When asked about this, the advisor responded that he thought that the client's accountant would have brought this to his attention. This feeble response was the breaking point - a month later a new advisor was in place.

I've heard advisors say that opening RESPs is a lot of work and effort for limited return. That may be true if we are framing decisions strictly from our point of view. If instead we see ourselves as stewards of our clients' financial futures, then short term inconvenience is a small price to pay to do the right thing for our clients. I talked to one successful advisor who makes a point of contacting clients about opening a RESP whenever they have a grandchild - even though the revenue doesn't come close to justifying his time, the response he gets makes this worthwhile. He also makes a note in his contact system to call clients on the anniversary of grandchilds' birthdays to make an additional $2000 contribution in order to qualify for the government credit.

You could see the Tax Free Savings Account as an irritant and distraction, or look at it as a way to accomplish three important things.

First, it can get you in front of clients via a letter, email or phone call at a time when we may not have many opportunities for positive conversations.

A second benefit of the program - for advisors looking to establish relationships with the children of key clients, this may be just the tool to start getting those children invested and to open the door to ongoing relationships. Tax free accounts are the exact opposite of RRSPs, which are designed to defer taxes during high tax years to low tax periods later in life. With tax free accounts it will make sense to contribute when income and tax levels are low and withdraw in later years when they are high; once this program is up and running next year, even university students and young adults in the early stages of their careers could benefit from this.

Third and most important, we should communicate to clients around this or any other significant new initiative simply because it is the right thing to do.

Recently, I talked with Dodee Frost Crockett, an advisor with Merrill Lynch in Dallas who manages $1 billion in assets and who is the keynote speaker at the Top Advisor Summit which I am co hosting in June. Late last year she became concerned about markets and suggested to clients that they eliminate any outstanding debts on things such as second homes; as a result, she lost several million dollars in assets.

Given recent developments, many clients have thanked Dodee for her advice and have told her how much better they feel about being debt free. In Dodee's view, the effort to make those calls and the lost assets were a small price to pay for having done the right thing. What made this especially powerful as a relationship builder was that her clients knew that there was nothing in it for her by doing this.

The bottom line: Most advisors strive to build trust with their clients. One way to build trust with clients is by always framing your advice from the client's perspective and by seeking out opportunities to do the right thing for clients even when there's little or nothing in it for you.