• Accumulate a financial cushion so that you can avoid difficulty in making on-time loan payments.

Medium priority recommendations can range from estate planning, credit/debt issues, saving and investing, retirement planning, income tax planning and much more.

"Other matters for consideration" might include budgeting and safe deposit box instructions.

"Matters to check up on" might cover issues such as disability insurance coverage, in order to ensure that sufficient coverage is provided.

The main report has an interesting feature called Quick Guides. An example of one of these follows:

There are many of these quick guides available in the main report section. Guides vary from "How to prepare and maintain a home inventory" to "How to budget your spending without a budget," These quick guides are accessible for free via hyperlinks on the page. Typically, these may be one- or two-page PDF documents that can be downloaded, saved or printed. These quick guides are a definite value-add for the client. Many of them are written to educate people on various subjects related to their financial goals and/or needs.

Pond also mentioned that Schwab, Fidelity and Vanguard will soon be offering investment platforms that compete with robo-advisors. Rather than fight this trend, Pond suggested that financial advisors find ways to work around them. Offering front-end financial planning tools may be an effective way to attract clients who otherwise might use a robo-Advisor. SmartPlanner may just be the answer.


David L. Lawrence is founder and president of EfficientPractice.com, a consulting firm that provides financial practices, broker dealers and independent firms with comprehensive, profit-driven efficiency consulting and resources. He is also the author of The Efficient Practice: Transform and Optimize Your Financial Practice for Greater Profits and Success, available at EfficientPractice.com.

 

First « 1 2 » Next