Paraplanning Services has really helped us with our capacity.

- Brian Scott, Elevánt Wealth

Putting your clients’ goals first in financial planning

After starting, operating, and ultimately selling several business ventures in college, financial advisor Brian Scott was in a unique position to choose his own path.      

As he considered how he wanted to give back to the world, the road he chose led him to a firm where he previously held an internship, and he quickly gravitated toward comprehensive financial planning. However, Scott says, “I wanted to do it the way I felt it should be done, which meant I couldn't work for the company — I had to work for the client.” With an entrepreneurial mindset and a “people-first” philosophy, Scott established Elevánt Wealth in 2018.      

“Financial planning allows me to focus on the things my clients care about the most — their dreams and goals,” says Scott. “They ask, ‘Can I still retire? Can I still leave a legacy?’ What I love about financial planning is I can take the complexities out of the process and explain how we’re going to accomplish what’s most important to them, which gives them peace of mind.”

In this video, Scott shares how outsourcing financial planning to LPL’s Paraplanning Services team of experts not only helps him grow his practice, but allows him to keep his clients’ dreams and goals as the focal point of his business.  

Brian Scott:

The biggest goal that I have in business, essentially, is to impact the lives of our clients in a way that will help them live the life they truly want to live.

My name is Brian Scott. I'm the owner and founder of Elevánt Wealth in Twin Falls, Idaho.

Financial planning is extremely important to the work we do at Elevánt Wealth, mostly because it allows us the ability to bridge the gap between what our clients really care about and the things that we do.

The biggest benefit I get from Paraplanning Services is unlimited scaleability with the highest of outputs.

When we first started using Paraplanning Services, we noticed a huge increase in the quality of our outputs. And not because we weren't great at plans before. I think it was more a function of the lack of time that we had, not just to produce a great deliverable, but also to research the things that were needed to create a great deliverable. In other words, we were kind of limited to our own experience where turning these things over to Paraplanning Services, they have all the time to put together a great deliverable, as well as this is all they do every single day. So they have experiences that are beyond the experiences of our own practice that brought a higher level of planning outputs to the table.

We had a company that asked us to do comprehensive financial planning for every employee over 50 years old. And all the sudden, we had 15 or more comprehensive financial plans for retirement transition clients overnight, and all of them entered our pipeline at exactly the same time. There's no way that we could have handled that type of complexity and that type of volume without Paraplanning Services.

I feel like the need for financial planning has increased in our industry. We believe very strongly that there's only two things you're ever going to do with your money. You're either going to spend it or you're going to give it away. And so this process is an opportunity for them to get clear with us about how they want to spend, and how they want to give.

Paraplanning Services has helped me establish better client relationships, mostly because it's allowed me to spend a little more time on those client relationships. Knowing that I have a great output allows me to really focus on the things that they care about, and how those outputs speak to the things that they care about.

In using Paraplanning Services, I don't feel like I've ever lost control of the planning process. I feel like the process really is driven by me.

I would tell a peer who's considering financial planning services through Paraplanning Services at LPL to give it a try. You know, it's very easy to try their services. You can buy one financial plan, run through the process, see how it goes, and gives you the ability to really decide if it's something that you want to use to scale your practice.

LPL is a great strategic partner for me because I feel like I have a whole back office to my front office, if you will. I have a CFO, I have a paraplanner, I have marketing services. I have the ability to really expand my team and make it much stronger and better than it would be if it was just us here in our front office.

I really do feel like LPL does a great job of just providing all the products and services to us so that we can do what's best for our clients and run the practice that we want to run.

How Paraplanning Services can benefit your practice and clients

The number of people seeking financial planning has reached an all-time high. Just a decade ago, 35% of clients said it was important to have a financial plan; now that number is 60%. However, only 40% of clients have a plan in place with their advisors1. That’s a big gap.

LPL’s planning services can bridge that gap by building, enhancing, or scaling your financial planning offerings. The end-to-end business solution offers access to Paraplanning Services, Tax Planning Services, and High-Net-Worth Services through a single subscription, and provides back-office support so you can offer personalized financial guidance — without taking on more work or increasing your payroll. Leveraging LPL’s team of expert planners allows you to expand your business and maximize your productivity.

“When we first started using LPL’s Paraplanning Services, we noticed a huge increase in the quality of our plans,” says Scott. “Their team has experience beyond our own practice. The biggest benefits I get are unlimited scalability and the highest of outputs.”

Through Paraplanning Services, your clients receive customized financial plans created by seasoned LPL planning professionals, working in tandem with you. And by increasing capacity in your day-to-day business operations, you’ll have more time to engage new prospects and deepen existing client relationships.

Scott explains using Paraplanning Services provides him more time to focus on client-oriented activities to create and maintain relationships, such as making phone calls, sending thank you cards, and hosting client events. He says it’s also helped his team focus on the growth of their business.

The Paraplanning Services process

Scott appreciates how the LPL team guides him on customizing financial plans on the front-end for his clients. He and his team then gather the necessary information in what he calls “goals and priorities” client meetings, and they upload those findings into the paraplanning software system. “From there,” Scott says, “the LPL team has everything they need.”

Partnering with LPL includes ongoing consultation and the sharing of best practices to ensure you’re leveraging the latest features in your financial planning software. And by delegating plan production and analysis to Paraplanning Services, you can focus on plan presentation, implementation, and continuing client service.

“I hold a meeting every week with my LPL Paraplanning Services team, and this keeps us on track to review the plans we have in the pipeline,” Scott adds. Communication also occurs regularly via email. And once a plan is finalized, the paraplanning team helps him prepare the client presentation. “With Paraplanning Services, I don't feel like I've ever lost control of the planning process. I feel like the process really is driven by me.”

88% of clients say they’ve benefitted from financial planning when offered2. Whether you’re looking to scale your business or are new to offering financial planning, the benefits of Paraplanning Services can help you in several ways:

  • Up to an 80% time reduction generating financial plans
  • Engage more clients in financial planning
  • No increase in payroll or time spent on employee management
  • Strengthen client relationships and drive more referrals
  • Reliable handoff of your clients’ plans and quality control of deliverables

Featured in the video

Brian Scott, CRPC®

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1 Planning & Advice Services Segment: Advisor Financial Plan stat: Cerulli 2021 US Retail Investor Advice Relationship Report, Exhibit 9.05

2 PowerPoint Presentation (cfp.net), CFP Board Retirement Presentation

Securities and advisory services offered through LPL Financial (LPL), a registered investment advisor and broker-dealer (member FINRA/SIPC).

The views and opinions expressed by the financial advisor(s) may not be representative of the views of other financial advisors and are not indicative of future performance or success. Neither LPL Financial nor the financial advisor can be held responsible for any direct or incidental loss incurred by applying any of the information offered.

Elevánt Wealth is a separate entity from LPL Financial.

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