Time management is a challenge advisors face today. Running an office, working with clients and prospects — is it any wonder many advisors don’t take the time to provide financial plans?

And of those that do, Investment Executive’s and www.AdvisorTechSolutions.com’s 2004 research into technology use shows 73% of advisors who do provide plans input client data themselves.

The question is: do you prefer to spend time with clients or at your computer?

According to virtual financial planner Sarah Holland, many advisors don’t have the time to work on plans. They also may not have the expertise or don’t want to face the learning curve to work with financial planning software.

Founder and principal of Holland Advisory Services in Prince George, B.C., Holland has been a virtual planner serving advisors in Canada and the U.S. since 2002.

A virtual planner assists financial advisors in preparing financial plans. This may involve as little as entering a new client’s raw data into financial planning software. Or the virtual planner may be in touch with the client and make planning recommendations.

As an independent contractor, Holland understands the entrepreneurial mindset.
From her Prince George office, she communicates with advisors via e-mail, fax, phone and various Internet services.

Holland, who has the CFP and CLU designations, wanted to build a business in which she could focus on virtual planning.
From 1996 to 2002, she was a regional marketing specialist and a mutual fund branch manager for Manulife Financial Corp.
Today, the main thrust of her business is virtual financial planning; she also does fee-for-service planning with her own clients.

An advisor first requests an estimate of the time required to complete the plan. From there, the process is flexible and depends on the advisor’s preferences. The advisor completes the fact-finder module in consultation with his or her client, and forwards it to Holland. Or Holland can input the material.

Holland then enters the data into the software, creates a data verification report and returns it to the advisor. The advisor confirms the data or replies with changes.
Then Holland creates a preliminary report and sends it to the advisor, who again replies with changes and
recommendations. The advisor and Holland work on the recommendations together.

The final plan can be sent to advisors in Word format, and they can personalize the plan by adding to or modifying the wording.

Holland says advisors can work with their own software, or use NaviPlan Extended or Financial Planning Solutions (business edition), and her spreadsheets.

Depending on the plan’s complexity, the information provided and the revisions, it can take a week to a month to complete.

Holland works with both fee- and commission-based advisors.

The cost of Holland’s virtual planning is $80 an hour plus GST, with a discount for a retainer of 10 hours per month. IE