In 2006 Kent and Laura were talking about an interesting encounter that Laura had with friends that day. Kent had gone to work for a fee-only financial planning firm the prior year, doing planning for wealthy people. Laura had just attended an evening conference with parents at their children’s school. As the parents mingled, someone asked her what Kent did for a living. All of the parents wanted a financial plan because they were struggling or just didn’t have an organized plan to help them meet their goals. They were downhearted when Laura told them that the planning firm charged $5,000 for the plan and another 1.5% of the clients’ investments each year. Laura asked Kent, “Is there anything for people who really need a financial plan but can’t afford it? The answer was no; there isn’t really anyplace where someone can get a full unbiased financial plan for low cost, or a plan that doesn’t come without a product pitch.” Therefore, Laura asked Kent if he could create a way?
That was the beginning of eFinPLAN. The product was launched in 2007, and for the first time, something that was inaccessible to the general public before was now available to virtually everyone. eFinPLAN doesn’t want to replace the financial planning profession, but it does want to help more people build wealth. It’s our hope that more people will be able to afford planners and will have funds to buy their products.
We are not competing with the financial world, but we are equipping more people for it. That is why some accountants, financial planners and coaches use eFinPLAN with some of their clients or sometimes refer people to eFinPLAN.