Reviewing Tax Returns Can Help Financial Advisors Reassure Clients and Find Planning Opportunities

Providing insights on tax strategies could be especially helpful for financial planners and their clients right now. No matter what happens with the pandemic and the markets, taxes will be due this year, next year, every year. Reviewing tax returns and providing advice on related planning opportunities can set you apart from the competition. And the good news is that you, as a professional financial advisor, don’t have to become an expert in every little bit of the new and ever-evolving tax code. Nor do you have to maintain a spreadsheet of your own. Now, with the advent of Holistiplan, you can focus more on advising your clients and reassuring them that you are watching out for them, not inputting data and crunching numbers the old fashioned way.

“When I look at competitors of Holistiplan,” said Roger Pine, CFA®, CFP®, who along with Kevin Lozer, CFP® co-founded of Holistiplan, “the number one competitor of Holistiplan is that janky spreadsheet that advisors have that isn't fully updated that they copy the field down. A lot of advisors, that's how they are doing a lot of their tax planning. It's totally true.”
 
“But just in the CARES Act alone, there were a couple of things that really immediately impacted your tactical planning for next year,” continued Pine. “But, did advisors factor in the new three hundred above the line deduction? Did they work that into the spreadsheet? The 100% AGI cap on charity? I mean these are things as a software company our obligation is to make sure those are pushed out on time, and they were pushed out on time so advisors won't have to fiddle with that spreadsheet in the corner. They can focus on delivering the advice, instead of building solutions in house.”
 
“This is the year to stop and let someone else do it,” Lozer said.
 
HOW TO SYSTEMATIZE AND AUTOMATE THE PROCESS
 
Holistiplan is a new kind of tax planning software for advisors built to systematize and automate the process of reviewing a client’s tax return to find the potential planning opportunities.
 
Michael Kitces has even described Holistiplan as “magical tax planning software” – and for good reason.
 
Holistiplan won XY Planning Network's fourth annual Advisor FinTech Competition in September 2019. The award-winning tax planning software solution for financial advisors was recognized for its automated review of 2018 tax returns, providing client-ready reports that identify financial planning opportunities.
 
When Kitces first saw Holistiplan in action, he said to himself: “Oh, holy crap, this is just cool. I’m now excited about the future of advisor technology because this is cool stuff.” 
 
On April 8, 2020, I spoke with Kevin Lozer and Roger Pine, co-founders of Holistiplan (www.Holistiplan.com) about their award-winning tax planning software and how it helps holistic financial advisors uncover planning opportunities for their clients.

Read the Video Transcript

LIVE WEBINAR TO REVEAL PLANNING OPPORTUNITIES
 
On April 28, 2020 at 3pm ET, Holistiplan co-founders Roger Pine, CFA, CFP, and Kevin Lozer, CFP, will walk attendees through a tax return and point out all the planning opportunities you can uncover with a little bit of elbow grease and the Holistiplan software.
 
This will be the first in a series of quarterly webinars where Pine and Lozer will share the collective wisdom gleaned from the Holistiplan community of tax-focused financial advisors.
 
Given all the complexities that tax-focused financial advisors are seeing now, this could be one of the most important webinars you will attend in 2020. Plus having a conversation with clients about something other than investments shows you are adding value and taking a comprehensive approach.
 
Both Pine and Lozer were financial advisors in independent advisory firms prior to starting Holistiplan. Roger even taught himself computer programming on the side, implementing custom technology improvements for his own firm, before deciding to shift into becoming a full-time FinTech entrepreneur himself. Kevin still works with clients as a financial advisor but Holistiplan is taking up more of his time and energy these days so he has limited the number of clients he serves.
 
These two tech entrepreneurs have walked in the financial advisor moccasins. They understand what keeps you up at night.
 
The webinar on April 28, 2020 will be an illuminating 60 minutes with Pine and Lozer (facilitation by Marie Swift, CEO and founder of Impact Communications).

Register for the Webinar

2019 XYPN FinTech Award presented by Michael Kitces and Allan Moore to Holistiplan