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Technology > Investment Platforms

Wells Fargo's New LifeSync Platform to Push Clients Toward Big Goals, Step by Step

By John Manganaro

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What You Need to Know

  • Wells Fargo leaders describe LifeSync as a digital platform that helps clients align financial goals with saving, investing and spending decisions.
  • The new app will first be rolled out to select client groups in late March before being distributed to all of Wells Fargo’s consumer clients.
  • The firm expects both clients and advisors will derive tangible benefits.

Wells Fargo has announced the forthcoming launch of a new digital planning platform within its existing mobile application, called LifeSync, designed to help advisors and their clients set and pursue a wide variety of financial goals, from retirement planning to saving for emergencies.

Michael Liersch, head of advice and planning within Wells Fargo’s wealth and investment management division, tells ThinkAdvisor that the new platform will be available at the end of March. It will first be rolled out to clients in the wealth and investment management channel, and to clients in the firm’s private client group and wealth brokerage services division.

The independent advisor channel, Wells Fargo Advisors Financial Network, will also gain access, as will their clients.

Liersch says the new planning platform is the culmination of many months of collaboration between his team and the group within Wells Fargo led by Michelle Moore, head of digital for the firm’s consumer and wealth and investment management groups.

According to Moore and Liersch, LifeSync highlights Wells Fargo’s commitment to prioritizing intuitive digital experiences and offering customers and clients simple, intuitive ways of planning for what they want to accomplish with their money.

“This solution is the product of our response to the demand we are hearing from both the client and the advisor side,” Liersch says. “Both advisors and their clients want to be able to see their goals and see how they are making progress. They want to understand what factors are influencing their goals, including both market events and their own actions.”

The new offering is built around three main modules, Moore explains, named “goals,” “vitals” and “news.”

To start, the goals section allows clients to set the main financial priorities with which they expect Wells Fargo to provide support. There are 18 specific goals from which to choose, based on feedback from the firm’s sizable client base, ranging from preparing for retirement and saving for emergencies to making a major purchase or leaving a legacy. Clients can track their wealth directly against these goals, Liersch notes, giving them a clear view of how much further they need to go.

According to Liersch and Moore, the real magic in the new app is found in the vitals section, which allows clients to dig deeper into the ways their goals are being influenced by dynamic factors such as their personal savings rate or the volatility of market returns.

“This section is really where our powerful analytical capabilities are brought to bear in order to help our advisors and their clients understand the dynamics that are helping them make progress in achieving their goals — or holding them back,” Liersch says.

Moore and Liersch expect the vitals section to be very useful for advisors, as well, because it will help them show their clients how and why their day-to-day decisions matter when it comes to long-term goals.

Depending on the client, different pieces of information will automatically be fed into the vitals section, giving advisors a personalized understanding of all the levers they can pull to help a given client make progress toward their selected goals. For many clients in the initial rollout, portfolio holdings and return information will be centered in the vitals section, as will information about their credit score and consumer debt.

Eventually, Moore explains, the vitals section will also be tailored for and delivered to retail banking customers and other consumers working with Wells Fargo in a more limited capacity. That should happen toward the end of 2023, Moore says, and the hope is to eventually reach millions of consumers.

The final piece of the puzzle is a tailored news feed that will automatically select and deliver relevant content for each user, depending on their goals.

“With LifeSync, we have sought to create a truly innovative user experience in the Wells Fargo Mobile app, offering one cohesive approach to goal tracking for clients regardless of their level of wealth or stage in life,” Moore adds. “Accessing LifeSync conveniently within our mobile app helps us meet our customers where they are, and on their timeline.”

(Photo: Diego M. Radzinschi/ALM)

John Manganaro

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