You may have noticed that Moneytree has begun using a new tagline in our marketing materials – Fulfilling Legacies.
The change reflects our deep respect and admiration for financial planners and advisers and the very personal work you do. You are out there on the front lines changing lives. Because of you, hardworking Americans have the resources they need to achieve financial freedom, to realize their dreams, and to create a life of meaning and purpose.
You chose this heartfelt career because you care about others. We are incredibly grateful for the opportunity to work alongside you, and it is our promise to give you the tools you need to help your clients fulfill their legacies.
We consider it an honor that you are out there, in the real world, every day, helping people with Moneytree software.
COVID fueled change
Another reason we chose that tagline is because the planning and advising industry is evolving.
Two generations ago, Americans worked for the same company their whole lives and retired comfortably with an employer-provided pension. Few needed to worry about planning for the future. One generation ago, all that changed as the economy moved toward personal responsibility and defined contribution plans. This shift was difficult for a society not accustomed to saving and investing, and the industry’s mission was to spread financial literacy so that people could arrive safely at retirement and survive their golden years.
With time has come progress, and now the industry is focused on more than just helping people survive retirement. It’s focused on helping them to live their best lives right now and to create positive change for their loved ones and their communities.
This paradigm shift was already in place pre-pandemic, but like many other facets of our lives, COVID-19 accelerated the change.
Out of this period of fear and uncertainty came the realization that life is short, that you only live once, and that relationships matter more than anything else. COVID caused many of us to re-evaluate our timelines, move forward our bucket-list items, change careers, dedicate ourselves to volunteer work, and chase new goals.
Whereas previously, conversations between clients and their advisers focused on dollars and cents, now they’re about the distribution of time, talent, and treasure. Planners and advisers must know more than what’s in their clients’ nest eggs, you must know what’s in their hearts.
Because while not every client can establish a charitable foundation, everyone can make a difference.
New questions that demand answers
“Will I have enough to retire,” is a question you’ll always have to answer. But now you’ll also have to answer questions such as:
- “How can I buy a house closer to my grandkids so I can be more present in their lives?”
- “How can I move to a developing country so I can devote my life to the most underserved people in this world?”
- “How can I start a business that lifts up my hometown?”
- “How can I endow a scholarship at my alma mater while I’m young enough to see the long-term difference it will make?”
- “How can I help my adult daughter and her husband adopt?”
The planning and advising picture, in other words, has gotten a lot bigger.
Lives are more complicated. The road to retirement is no longer a linear line. It’s now chock full of curves and detours and stop-and-go traffic. Gone are the days of cookie-cutter portfolios. Robo-advising is no longer the threat it once appeared to be. Advising and planning is an increasingly collaborative, engaging, heart-to-heart, human-to-human experience.
Let’s change the world, together
We are all here to leave the world a little bit better than we found it.
You have an obligation to have meaningful conversations with your clients about what their dreams are and how they want to be remembered, and to have that conversation much earlier in your relationship.
We have an obligation to you to give you the sophisticated resources you need to empower your clients in their increasingly complicated lives. And we are doing that with undeniable accuracy, features that make the complex simple, and customizable cash-flow based planning tools. With Moneytree, your clients won’t only retire comfortably, they’ll also live a fulfilling life along the way, and leave a legacy behind.
We know that time will judge us based on how effective we are in helping you change lives.
Perhaps more than any other financial planning platform, though, Moneytree is positioned to help you make great things happen for your clients. This is a company with heart. We are driven by a culture that puts people first, that knows that profit is meaningless without purpose, and that the opportunity to move forward comes with an obligation to give back.
That’s why we hope you will join us today in Fulfilling Legacies.
