Elements launches new one-page plan app under NYT 'Sketch Guy' Carl Richards

September 23, 2022 5:16 PM

Author, CFP and Elements Chief Evangelist Carl Richards

A month after veteran financial planner, author and New York Times "Sketch Guy" columnist Carl Richards joined Elements, the Utah-based financial monitoring platform is launching a new tool inspired by one of his books.

Called the "One-Page Plan," or "OPP" for short, the new Elements offering shares a name with Richards' 2015 book that has become a mainstay on lists of must-reads for advisors over the years.

By using a web-based app, advisors can create a fluid, flexible plan of action that clients can easily digest.

The app contains three standard sections: statement of financial purpose, goals and next steps. The sections are presented as simple text fields that can be modified from either the client detail page, or within the Elements report builder.

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OPP also contains the three optional sections of net worth history; basic income and spending; and the "Elements Scorecard." Once entered, all of the plan data is housed within the app for quick access. Plans can also be exported as PDF files to be shared with any prospect or client.

"When people envision a 'financial plan,' they are conjuring an image of a three-inch-thick binder, which they were perhaps guided through once, prior to it being shelved to collect dust," Reese Harper, Elements CEO, said in a statement. "A financial plan like this is old-think and loses value the minute it is completed because it represents a singular point in time as opposed to reflecting the constantly evolving reality that is every person's financial life."

For Richards, who joined Elements in late August as the company's "chief evangelist," the One-Page Plan represents the industry's need to adapt in order to meet the needs of the modern client.

He considers meaningful conversations between advisors and clients "the art of financial planning," and believes tools like the Elements OPP will allow advisors to have more impactful discussions at scale.

"Financial planning should be a verb, not a noun, and in today's world it should be an ongoing process meant to solve the needs of clients as they arise rather than visited once a year," Richards said in a statement. "A financial plan should be written in pencil, not carved in stone; an acknowledgement of the dynamic nature of clients' financial lives."

Richards' weekly column appeared in The New York Times for more than a decade and he has written two books: "The One-Page Financial Plan: A Simple Way to Be Smart About Your Money," and "The Behavior Gap: Simple Ways to Stop Doing Dumb Things with Money."

Scroll down to get caught up on other recent fintech news you might have missed in our Wealthtech Weekly recap. And check out last week's recap here.

New 'diversity-tech platform' aims to connect financial services organizations with fresh voices

Envestnet Head of Strategic Development Dani Fava

Choir, a California-based fintech billed as the financial industry's first diversity-tech platform, is working to put underrepresented voices front and center.

It's newest effort, called "Voices: Search," is now in beta for financial organizations and media companies to connect with people of color, women and nonbinary professionals who are qualified sources and speakers across financial services.

The launch of "Voices: Search," also comes with the announcement that Envestnet Head of Strategic Development Dani Fava has joined the Choir's board of advisors.

"An industry's ability to innovate is directly correlated to how effectively it listens to and addresses the needs of all of its consumers. This can only happen when diverse leaders are at the table," said Fava. "I'm inspired by the platform Choir has created and am excited to help scale it so that we can all reap the benefits."

The Voices search platform connects conference planners, reporters and other industry content producers with sources and speakers with diverse expertise. Users search by broad topic areas of interest like asset management or cryptocurrency, or by specific topics like fixed income or behavioral economics.

Individuals, or "Voices," listed on the platform each have their own digital media kit containing links to media appearances and videos of them speaking; the types and size of speaking roles, fee requirements if applicable; contact information and more.

From early-career professionals to C Suite executives, anyone who works in finance or financial services can join Voices at no cost by submitting a profile at hellochoir.com/voices. More than 200 Voices have already signed up and are on the platform in beta.

"News publications, financial institutions, and conference organizers largely have good intentions and have told us they want to include the expertise of women and people of color in the spotlight. Until now, they haven't had an efficient and scalable way to do so," Sonya Dreizler, co-founder of Choir, said in a statement. "We want to turn intention into action. Voices removes many of the barriers that have been in the way for too long."

Skience launches customized product bundles for firms

Marc Butler, Skience president and chief operating officer

Virginia-based financial services software and consulting provider Skience is rolling out a new tiered pricing system to better accommodate firms of all sizes.

Skience leaders said the three new technology platform bundles — Edge, Elite and Elite Plus — allow firms to get the tools they need without paying for what they don't.

All three tiers include client relationship management functionality; multi-point digital new account opening and maintenance; client risk profiling and compliance audit functionality; enterprise-level data management and bidirectional integrations with custodians, clearing firms, financial planning and advisory technology solutions.

The Elite tier adds custom forms mapping and data consolidation and reconciliation feeds, while Elite Plus includes new advisor transitions and digital document storage tools.

Marc Butler, Skience president and chief operating officer, said he has seen smaller firms struggle to get access to the sophisticated technology they need to best serve their clients and scale their businesses.

"We created these three bundle tiers so that firms, regardless of where they are on their growth journey, can select the best toolset for their unique needs, giving them a greater breadth of options to achieve better outcomes for clients," Butler said.

Skience Chief Product Officer Chris Zuczek said a recent study found that half of wealth managers think their firm is having a hard time providing a sophisticated digital experience, and that the industry has long struggled in areas like digital account opening.

"We can now provide any firm with the technological boost needed to improve the client experience and conquer this challenge," Zuczek said.

More information about the bundles, including pricing, can be found by contacting Skience at this link.