The financial services industry has fought for market share in a relatively small and undiverse market segment. (See the section on our website – The Wealth Pyramid Myth for more information on this). The production of comprehensive financial plans, due to the sheer nature of the work associated with them, was reserved for the “rich”. However, often times these plans were never completed because the clients did not provide all the necessary information, the advisors did not ask all the right questions or one or both parties just got tired of the process.

When is a SWAG Good Enough?
Remarkably a lot of the time. Why, because so much changes, as we have seen in this recent economic crisis. Only when you can answer critical questions like the following with surety can any plan have “shelf life”.

• What will inflation be?
• What is the tax structure going to be?
  
• Will Social Security benefits change?
• Will rates of return be consistent?
• Will my income requirements and lifestyle expectations change?

We think you get the idea. So while it is possible to create comprehensive plans that are precise, without knowing the long term answers to these questions any plan will not be accurate. For example drilling down to examine each holding – perhaps at the subaccount level – to determine the rate of return is a lot of effort – and is very precise, but how accurate does it really make the plan in the long run?

We believe by making tools meaningful and usable, they will be exactly that – to the advisor and the consumer, meaningful and usable!

Don’t Go Too Far Though, Financial Calculators = Financial Malpractice
There are an abundance of financial calculators out there. We believe with the experts that call them financial malpractice. Why? They miss the mark when it comes to asking meaningful questions. Try it – Google “Financial Calculators” or “Retirement Planning”. How can six or eight data fields possibly ask enough information to provide meaningful guidance? Would you send your mother, uncle, brother or anyone you cared about to one of these sites?

Passion with a Proven Track Record
Our team has decades of experience in the financial services community. We all have our PhD’s in the school of hard knocks – we have seen a lot in the last 40 years in the world of financial services. However we are also visionaries. We look to the future as bright, where more people can be served, and be served better through the use of technology (specifically web delivered tools), call centers and simplification.

Case Studies
To gain a better understanding of what we are talking about – see the case studies below. Are these the kind of clients you would like to have? How well does your current model work to effectively engage with these types of clients?