About United Planners United Planners (UP) is a Registered Investment Advisor and full-service Independent Broker-Dealer uniquely structured as a Limited Partnership. Representatives enjoy association with a stellar organization and rave about the culture, flexibility and true independence they experience beginning day one. High payouts, profit sharing, technology, service, marketing support and RIA flexibility (including the support of Independent RIA’s) are among some of the most favored features. statements, making copies and crunching numbers to provide the client with an accurate snapshot of his five accounts. This time Tausz didn’t even have to pick up the phone. He simply logged into his office system remotely and, with a few keystrokes, called up the exact information the client needed. “If I had to do that back in 1970, it would have taken two full days,” he says.

“This time, I got it done in 10 or 15 minutes.” The client was thrilled—not only because his account was in much better shape than he imagined, but also because Tausz was able to manage his request so quickly. “It made him feel good that I had all of his information right there,” says Tausz. UP has established strategic relationships with open architecture service providers within the ERISA market giving our Advisors the capabilities and tools to manage and grow their practice while adhering to our high Fiduciary Standards. In 2011, Scott Pletcher, client service manager at Stewardship Advisory Group in Ocoee, Fla., got some troubling news. The firm’s broker-dealer had just declared bankruptcy, meaning that Pletcher and his colleagues faced the unenviable task of not only choosing a new broker-dealer, but also transitioning nearly 400 clients—and roughly 600 accounts. “We had already changed broker-dealers a few years before, and it was no small thing,” says Pletcher. “It was very stressful—everything needed to be transitioned, and paperwork needed to be done for every client.” During the search for a new broker-dealer, Stewardship Advisory Group became intrigued by United Planners’ technology platform and, in particular, by the tools it offered Gather UP info by calling Partner Development at: 800-966-8737 Empowered by Technology that would help simplify the migration of Stewardship’s clients.

One hope was that less downtime dealing with the transition to a new broker-dealer would help minimize the dip in revenue that Jeff Rogers, Stewardship president, anticipated as a result of the change. Pletcher and his colleagues knew they would have to contact clients individually to have them sign paperwork for the transition. When the firm changed broker-dealers back in 2006, the firm had to fax, mail, or scan and email these client documents to their new broker-dealer. Making sure every file actually made it to its destination was time consuming.

This time, United Planners helped devise a strategy to simplify the recordkeeping process once Stewardship had the signed documents in hand. United Planners’ solution allowed Pletcher and his colleagues to use the Advisor Front Office (AFO) system to generate forms that would be sent out to clients. The forms could then be uploaded directly to the AFO and disseminated to different parts of Stewardship’s recordkeeping system. “It was a very efficient process,” says Pletcher.

“We could task one person with it, and they didn’t have to spend their days getting out of a chair and staring at a fax machine, so it let the rest of us stay on task.” The result: The smooth transition to United Planners resulted in virtually no drop in revenue for Stewardship, despite a decidedly busy period. “Jeff didn’t have to stop being an advisor,” says Pletcher. “He could continue to meet with existing clients and new clients and keep bringing in new business.” n Case Study 2: Stewardship Advisory Group 6 .