ThinkAdvisor Cites Everplans As “A Tech Tool That Could Be An Estate Planning Game-Changer"
A strong voice in the investment advisory community touts our user-friendly site as a tool for financial advisors looking to improve service and get new clients.
The February 2017 issue of Investment Advisor had some really nice things to say about us. You can read the full article on ThinkAdvisor but we couldn’t help but share some of the juicy bits.
Editor-at-Large Bob Clarke details our company history and how our founders Abby and Adam came up with the concept to help people with an underrepresented (and inevitable) aspect of life: Estate planning. After years of creating tons of content about Wills, Advance Directives, Funerals, and everything else that goes into getting a plan in place, a platform emerged to help any and everybody create a solid legacy plan. From the article:
A comprehensive legacy plan includes a staggering amount of information that most of us wouldn't think of: where to find bank accounts and insurance policies (e.g., in the bottom left drawer of my home office desk), how your home security alarm works, how to inform your children of your passing, what and when to feed your dog.
The article also points out the value of an Everplan for elderly users’ families and our “deputy” system, which strongly encourages each user to share specific sections of their plan with family members, friends, and professionals (attorneys, financial advisors, etc.)
Everplans Professional Emerges
Once the platform was available to consumers, ThinkAdvisor explains how Abby and Adam came to the realization that an enterprise platform was the next logical step:
As most advisors know, planning for one's demise is not something that many people are eager to undertake. Schneiderman and Seifer had a brainstorm: What about marketing Everplans through professionals who are already having estate planning conversations with their clients?
About 18 months ago, they started marketing Everplans to financial advisors on a professional platform. Firms license Everplans for between $2,500 and $3,500 a year, and can give an unlimited number of clients access to the site. Advisors are free to charge their clients for the service, and each Everplans advisor account is co-branded with the firm's title and logo. Every deputy listed on the plan is also notified that the plan was provided courtesy of the advisory firm.
“Everplans gives advisors a reason to talk with people about a different set of issues. It's not all about investments, or even financial planning,” said Schneiderman. “Many advisors find this to be an easier way of converting prospects into clients.”
The story ends with an extremely positive endorsement that really made us feel proud that others see how having a plan in place benefits everyone:
Everplans started out as a way to simplify end-of-life issues for one's survivors, but it's emerging as much more than that. The platform's low cost, combined with its virtually universal application, makes it a powerful tool for financial advisors to deepen relationships with their existing clients, while gaining access to a much larger number of prospective clients with a built-in basis for starting a conversation with them. I suspect that Everplans will prove to be a game changer for many independent advisory firms.