Estate Planning is always Step One when meeting a new client

Wednesday May 4th 2022

Justin Ayres, Director and Senior Financial Planner - Swinbourne Wealth and Protection

When I lived in Sydney, I was working with an Estate Planning specialist while I provided the financial planning advice, what I learnt then about Estate Planning helped cement the direction I would take in my own financial planning business. In 2012 I set up Swinbourne Wealth and Protection on the Gold Coast continuing the practice of leading my financial advice with Estate Planning. In fact, I have turned clients away who don’t want to think Estate Planning first which demonstrates the level of priority I place on this.

Estate Planning is simply a win-win for my clients, and for my business. For my clients it means by firstly setting their affairs in order, and by me understanding their needs everything we do for them after that in terms of financial planning supports their estate plan.

I truly can say that my best clients are those that I went through the estate planning process first. Our relationship is stronger which means the financial work moving forward is more robust which is good for them, and good for the business. I also get to better understand my client’s family situation which can lead to me assisting other members of the family, often encouraging them to consider their estate planning needs sooner rather than later.

Everyone these days is time poor, and I was finding that relying on estate planning specialists was becoming more difficult. I also never really found the same level of connection that I did with the estate planning specialist I worked with in Sydney. Which is why finding the online estate planning platform Yodal was the perfect solution for me as it meant I could work through the entire estate planning steps with my clients.

Yodal is a terrific resource because it covers across all aspects of estate planning, is flexible and easy to use. The team and I have a thorough understanding of Yodal and how it can benefit my clients, and I have comfort that the team can assist the clients if data needs to be updated or checked. By using Yodal we can take the client along their estate planning journey, they are fully involved right from the start and have confidence in what we are doing for them.

My belief in the importance of starting with an estate plan has become something that sets me apart from my competitors - it is my ‘point of difference’. These days, with the help of Yodal I am writing 1-2 estate plans a week which is business that was previously walking out the door. More importantly, I have grown other areas of my business because my client relations are more robust having been built on a back-bone of care and trust.

I am aware that there is a new update for Yodal coming, and I am looking forward to this, as I am confident that this will enhance what I am doing now, providing another win-win for my clients and for my business.