Frictionless financial planning is more than just a catchy phrase. It describes a new way of thinking about how licensees and advisers can leverage technology to make their advice process easier for their business, and more importantly their clients, whilst also helping to better demonstrate the value of their advice.
Accelerating your advice process towards one that’s digital, not only simplifies client data capture, but brings new capability of the way data flows into modelling tools and SoA production across the advice process.
For licensees and financial planners, this presents significant change, and requires a different strategic mindset at a grassroots level.
Accelerating your advice process towards one that’s digital, not only simplifies client data capture, but brings new capability of the way data flows into modelling tools and SoA production across the advice process.
For licensees and financial planners, this presents significant change, and requires a different strategic mindset at a grassroots level.
What are financial planning tools?
Financial planning tools are vital for advisers in helping clients to meet their financial goals and model their current and future financial circumstances to produce a sound financial plan.
Quality financial advice requires robust numbers - today’s technology needs to be able to combine a client's current and future goals, net wealth, cash flows, strategies, and economic factors on a multi-dimensional level.
Generally, financial planning tools should help clients to:
(i) Grow their wealth and;
(ii) Protect their wealth
Quality financial advice requires robust numbers - today’s technology needs to be able to combine a client's current and future goals, net wealth, cash flows, strategies, and economic factors on a multi-dimensional level.
Generally, financial planning tools should help clients to:
(i) Grow their wealth and;
(ii) Protect their wealth
Grow Wealth
Advisers require diligent planning tools that can demonstrate how their advice helps their clients to meet their changing life goals, cash flows and lump sums over time, especially when planning for items such as; buying a home, an investment property or preparing for their retirement.
Technology tools that can deliver live modelling simulations, which also combine economic assumptions, goal achievability, client financial data, risk, and advice strategies - can provide clients with the answers they are seeking.
Protect Wealth
Advisers need to be able to stress test various events such as an economic crisis or a life event should a death, illness or an accident occur. These events impact everyone and they are largely unpredictable, however a tool that can simulate them in a scenario helps advisers demonstrate to their clients how these events can impact their financial plan, and how robust their plan needs to be.
Advisers require diligent planning tools that can demonstrate how their advice helps their clients to meet their changing life goals, cash flows and lump sums over time, especially when planning for items such as; buying a home, an investment property or preparing for their retirement.
Technology tools that can deliver live modelling simulations, which also combine economic assumptions, goal achievability, client financial data, risk, and advice strategies - can provide clients with the answers they are seeking.
Protect Wealth
Advisers need to be able to stress test various events such as an economic crisis or a life event should a death, illness or an accident occur. These events impact everyone and they are largely unpredictable, however a tool that can simulate them in a scenario helps advisers demonstrate to their clients how these events can impact their financial plan, and how robust their plan needs to be.
The friction advisers are facing
Every stage of the advice process is plagued with friction, it’s manual, paper-based, and complex. From engaging potential clients, to onboarding and delivering them an SoA - it is a tedious process for everyone.
Let’s breakdown the three main areas:
Fact finding
Client meetings
SoA production
Fact Finding
The fact-finding stage is an unpleasant start to the advice journey, the amount of upfront paperwork prospects have to undertake acts as a barrier, with a lot falling out of the process. There’s a lack of options available to advisers to automatically capture client data and push it through to their CRM and advice tools.
Client Meetings
The use of whiteboards is a complicated method in articulating financial advice, often leaving clients feeling overwhelmed. There’s a lack of scenario modelling tools available to advisers to use in client meetings so they can visually demonstrate how their advice helps put their client in a better position, especially in relation to the problem the client wants to solve or the particular goal outcomes they want to achieve.
SoA Production
SoA production is highly inefficient, timely, and costly to advice businesses. There is a lot of manual data entry and double handling of client data, which does not flow automatically into advice tools like scenario modelling and product comparators. SoAs can take weeks, even months to produce and by that stage clients have become disengaged from pursuing the next phase of their advice journey.
Let’s breakdown the three main areas:
Fact finding
Client meetings
SoA production
Fact Finding
The fact-finding stage is an unpleasant start to the advice journey, the amount of upfront paperwork prospects have to undertake acts as a barrier, with a lot falling out of the process. There’s a lack of options available to advisers to automatically capture client data and push it through to their CRM and advice tools.
Client Meetings
The use of whiteboards is a complicated method in articulating financial advice, often leaving clients feeling overwhelmed. There’s a lack of scenario modelling tools available to advisers to use in client meetings so they can visually demonstrate how their advice helps put their client in a better position, especially in relation to the problem the client wants to solve or the particular goal outcomes they want to achieve.
SoA Production
SoA production is highly inefficient, timely, and costly to advice businesses. There is a lot of manual data entry and double handling of client data, which does not flow automatically into advice tools like scenario modelling and product comparators. SoAs can take weeks, even months to produce and by that stage clients have become disengaged from pursuing the next phase of their advice journey.
The benefit of going digital to reduce the friction
Licensees and advisers that are embracing digital are not only creating efficient and more profitable advice businesses, but they are able to spend time away from admin and more time working on their business and with their clients.
They have more visibility and control, having all advice & client interactions central and digital. Everything is tracked, auditable and accessible anytime.
Digital advice is a more engaging and effective process for both advisers and clients.
They have more visibility and control, having all advice & client interactions central and digital. Everything is tracked, auditable and accessible anytime.
Digital advice is a more engaging and effective process for both advisers and clients.
Financial planning tools to improve your advice process
There are tools like Advice Intelligence’s WealthMap, which has transformed the advice process into one that is more engaging for clients and efficient for advisers.
Clients can now have a better understanding of their adviser's advice and how it improves their financial circumstances, as well as the outcomes they are seeking to achieve.
If you want to see the WealthMap tool in action, simply book a free live demo of our Financial Planning Tool.
Or, contact us directly to speak with our expert team and discuss how the Advice Intelligence software can transform the efficiency of your advisory practice. Reduce the cost to serve and increase the value of financial advice today.
Clients can now have a better understanding of their adviser's advice and how it improves their financial circumstances, as well as the outcomes they are seeking to achieve.
If you want to see the WealthMap tool in action, simply book a free live demo of our Financial Planning Tool.
Or, contact us directly to speak with our expert team and discuss how the Advice Intelligence software can transform the efficiency of your advisory practice. Reduce the cost to serve and increase the value of financial advice today.
