PIEtech Inc., the creators of MoneyGuidePro, on Thursday announced the release of myMoneyGuide, the industry's first technology solution capable of delivering scalable, quality financial planning guidance.
The product combines a new, modern technology that helps advisors, firms and employers offer financial plans on an unprecedented scale. The new product guides investors through the online creation of their own financial plan in a safe, objective and unbiased environment via a private invitation only available from an advisor, firm, employer or association, according to PIEtech. Upon completion of the myMoneyGuide Lab, investors can request professional advice from the advisor or firm who invited them. All labs are delivered by certified financial planners employed by myMoneyGuide.
"We've never seem as much excitement around a product release as we have with myMoneyGuide,” said Bob Curtis, founder and CEO of PIEtech.
Here's how it works for independent advisors: Individuals are invited to participate in a session by an advisor, either in person or digitally. In either case, they receive a link that takes them to a myMoneyGuide landing page customized with the advisors branding, picture and contact info. On the page, the invitee can select the type of session they want (small business owner, those more than 10 years from retirement, etc.), and then select a time to take the lab from the list of available sessions.
They then participate in a 90-minute, guided online interactive session powered by patent-pending technology and live support. During the session, individuals build a basic financial plan in real time and ask questions of software experts who can help them input their information. After receiving an invitation, invitees may select from among hundreds of labs available at times convenient to them, including nights and weekends.
Examples of offerings include labs for those approaching retirement, those already retired, small business owners and even sessions for those with a "really good sense of humor." Setting itself apart from existing solutions, myMoneyGuide guides attendees through the process, educates them on relevant topics, with information specific to their situation. Attendees are given a plan that they are encouraged to have reviewed, optimized and implemented by a professional financial advisor. The product offers 60 labs per week with live support, 14 hours per day. By early next year, the plan is to provide over 300 labs per day on a 24/7 basis.
Once attendees have completed the lab, the system identifies areas they should discuss with an advisor, such as their specific concerns, expectations, goals, health-care costs, retirement income, Social Security strategy selection, risk tolerance, asset allocation, retirement age optimization and insurance and estate planning issues. The individual is then invited to share their information and the plan that they have created with their advisor. (In the case of a financial firm implementation, the firm would direct the individual to one of their advisors.)
According to PIEtech President Kevin Knull, the invitation to share the information with an advisor is key because until the plan is reviewed and optimized by an advisor, the user cannot reap the maximum benefit from the planning process.
Assuming the individual agrees to share the information with the advisor—and beta testing indicates an overwhelming majority of myMoneyGuide participants do—the data can then be fed directly into MoneyGuidePro professional financial planning software for further analysis by the advisor. Furthermore, in light of the recent integration deal between MoneyGuidePro and eMoney, advisors can leverage the power of eMoney Select to provide the client with a client portal and other features provided by the combination of MoneyGuidePro and eMoney Select.
Advisors pay $75 per lab attendee; not per invitee. The payment system is similar to Google Ad words. Advisors can budget a certain amount to prospecting through myMoneyGuide, and prospects can register for labs until the budget is exhausted. For example, if an advisor budgeted $1,500 in a month to myMoneyGuide, they could invite 20 people to register for labs. “The beauty of the system is that advisors can immediately gauge their ROI”, said Curtis. “They control exactly what they want to spend, and they know how many attendees shared information and engaged with an advisor”.