Hans Egger
Financial planners can now provide clients with a tangible estate plan in the time it takes to deliver a client review, according to Hans Egger, co-creator of the AstuteWheel Estate Planning suite of tools.
“Planners need to be dealing with estate planning within their practices in order to make sure their client is fully protected – life is short and this process is integral to complete the advice process,” he said. “But in the past, the process of preparing estate plans has not been efficient and some planners have either outsourced the task to their referral partners or put it in the too-hard basket.”
The comprehensive AstuteWheel Estate Planning solution enables all parties involved in the process – the client, financial planner, solicitor and accountant – to understand the client’s situation, without the client having to repeat and recall their details to each professional.
The tools helps financial planners walk their clients through the estate planning process, ultimately producing an estate plan briefing document which they can take to a solicitor. The document details assets and liabilities; contains a family tree and entity diagram which together explain who owns, owes and controls all the major assets and liabilities; what special relationships, or specific risks, need to be catered for; and what asset protection and tax consequences need to be considered.
“Most Statements of Advice have a cut and paste description of what a Will, Power of Attorney and perhaps a Testamentary Trust are, and a motherhood statement that the client should see a solicitor to get everything implemented,” Mr Egger said. “The AstuteWheel Estate Planning tools will take the estate planning discussion to the next level, ensuring that the client is best looked after within the planner’s practice; a trusted environment.”
Mr Egger said that as well as adding to the planner’s suite of services, the AstuteWheel Estate Planning tools will provide peace of mind for dealer groups, as their practices will be better able to fulfil their Best Interests Duty. It will also help advisers offer a more complete service to their clients and as a consequence increase revenue.
“Financial planners are well-positioned to do the estate planning groundwork because they have already collated all the financial information about their clients,” he said. “The AstuteWheel Estate Planning tools will help expedite the process and make it less expensive for clients.”
Mr Egger said having an estate plan entirely prepared by a solicitor is an expensive option.
“The other problem with this approach is the solicitor may simply take instructions from the client which may result in an estate plan that does not take into consideration the client’s overall financial position, tax consequences, superannuation assets or insurance. The AstuteWheel Estate Planning solution helps remove these risks.”
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