Financial advocate for the family

Technology can be your not-so-silent partner in the quest to lead the advisory team. What you need to look for is web-based technology with collaboration features, robust account aggregation capabilities, concierge level service and secure documentation storage capacity.

• Web-based technology enables you to give all trusted advisors access to view the overall plan, collaborate on it and assign tasks and reminders. Remember, others may view sections, but only you have the total picture.
• Account aggregation capabilities allow you to continuously monitor the plan. By aggregating all of your client’s accounts, you will be able to advise your client on how current market conditions are affecting his or her overall plan, and combat the knee-jerk reactions to market fluctuations.
• Concierge level services provide programs such as identity theft monitoring, specialized medical services and access to private banking services.
• Secure documentation storage capacity allows you to store all of your client’s important documents (legal papers, wills, trusts, birth certificates, family photos, medical records, etc.).

With the right technology in place, and a collaborative approach, you will rapidly be the “Go-To Advisor” – the advisor that the client seeks out for nearly everything. For example, Raleigh Lang of Twin Financial Inc. in Kansas City, Mo. recently received an urgent call from her client’s son. Her client had been in a severe accident. The family wanted to know if Raleigh was aware of any medical instructions, or whether he had a power of attorney. Raleigh instructed the family on how to access all of the pertinent legal documents on a secured website, which they did right from the hospital.

The second part of the formula in becoming the financial advocate for the family is a natural offshoot of the first. If you have been the advisor who has organized mom and dad’s financial relationships and financial matters, who is the family going to call in the event of a crisis? As we saw in the above example, the family is going to call the person who has assembled the mosaic. By controlling access to information, as well as securely monitoring, reporting and retaining information, clients and their family know that with one phone call to you, they will be able to make informed decisions.

Edmond Walters is the founder and CEO of eMoney Advisor, www.emoneyadvisor.com, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Commerce Bancorp based in Conshohocken, Penn. He can be reached at [email protected].