How Your Firm Can Get Exponential Growth through Tax and Estate Planning (w/ Jason Barber of Holistic Planning and Uptick Partners)

Watch the Webinar Recording

The Future of Financial Advisory is Holistic

The traditional perception of family offices serving only the ultra-wealthy is outdated. Mass affluent clients can greatly benefit from structured estate and tax planning.

Financial advisors can and should provide high-value estate and tax planning strategies under one roof in order to build and strengthen long-term client loyalty.

Advisors who integrate tax and estate planning into their practice will be the ones who thrive. Clients increasingly want an all-in-one solution and the advisors who integrate tax, estate, and investment planning will lead the industry.  

According to Jason:

" He's like, 'Man, that's more than more than my $500 tax bill for my normal CPA.' And so he's kind of going back and forth in his mind about how he feels about this. And what he said was really crazy. He said to us, 'I want to do it. And this is how I'm going to show my wife that I love her.' Isn't that wild?"

That's what this webinar and guide is about.

In our latest advisor spotlight webinar, Matt Morris (CEO of EncorEstate Plans) asked Jason to share his experiences scaling his firm's growth exponentially over the last two years through tax planning and estate planning.

Here are the takeaways:

Clients Will Pay More for a One-Stop Shop (Charge for Value, Not Just AUM)

People are willing to pay a premium for an advisor who handles everything, reducing stress and ensuring their financial house is in order.

And, helping clients think beyond their lifetime strengthens relationships and referrals. 

Jasons shares that "Whoa..." moment from one of his clients who expressed these exact sentiments:

" He's like, 'Man, that's more than more than my $500 tax bill for my normal CPA.' And so he's kind of going back and forth in his mind about how he feels about this. And what he said was really crazy. He said to us, 'I want to do it. And this is how I'm going to show my wife that I love her.' Isn't that wild?

That's what he said is he was literally like, 'That's why I'm doing this.' Because in his mind, he was thinking, this is going to make it easy. Assuming that I pre-deceased my wife, it's going to make it easier for her to have one place to go, get her taxes done, investments, estate plan, you know, it's all there.

You start to think of it as like, like, 'Whoa!' like I, like I hadn't even really considered it kind of like from that angle. It really is like, it's a very powerful thing."

Related: fpPathfinder's Improving Estate Planning Conversations Hub

Stop Forcing Clients to Be the Middleman (Turnkey Service Wins)

Clients don’t want to be the go-between for their CPA, attorney, and advisor. Offering an integrated service removes that friction, builds loyalty, and increases the value you're offering to clients (not to mention, makes you more sticky):

" And even if you're like, 'Well, I can pick up the phone and call the attorney's office or I can pick up the phone and call the CPA, it's still just not holistic, as they would say, right? It's not. There's this, there's this job that you're telling the client, 'Hey, make sure you tell the attorney this.' 'Hey, make sure that when the attorney drafts this document that you make sure that I know because I need to know how the beneficiaries need to be done.'

So now it's like the client has this burden, where they're now responsible for doing something. And if they don't do it, even though they're paying a lot of money, but if they don't get it done, well, then their outcome isn't good.

And who's responsible? Is it the client's responsibility to make sure that that's done appropriately when it's like you've got a team of professionals that you're paying a lot of money to have a good outcome?

It just seems like at the end of the day, that's most clients don't want that, in my opinion, you know, most clients, they want to basically be like, 'Hey, you know me, you understand what's going on, like, give me the easy button, right?'"

The results of offering everything under one roof?

" Brought in about 3X the level of assets last year than we would have previously at our previous firm. Brought about a hundred million dollars of gross new assets in the door last year."

The Best Advisors are in the Driver’s Seat

DIY estate planning software has been around for 30+ years now.

And there are many excellent estate attorneys out there who have helped millions of clients.

But, you can't lead a horse to water as the saying goes.

So why not you, the trusted advisors, take the reins and facilitate estate plans end-to-end for your clients? Guide them through the process and ensure implementation.

Since most clients procrastinate on estate planning, making it part of your core services removes barriers and increases client retention.

Here's Jason's take on why advisors ought to drive estate planning (like they do with everything else in their clients' lives):

Tax Preparation is a Gateway to More Assets

Offering tax planning and preparation creates deeper relationships, leading to increased wallet share and referrals.

The CPAs at Jason's firm (Holistic Planning) don't just complete tax returns for clients – they tag team with advisors to provide both the tax return AND advice giving:

" The whole point here is that it's not a money making thing. It's a sticky and asset gathering thing."