LPL Financial is empowering its advisors to retain tax planning business in-house rather than referring clients to external services – and to leverage an outsourced CFO in their business.
The firm’s newest Tax Planning Service links advisors with LPL’s tax planning specialists to enable them to identify clients who would benefit from the service, provide deep analysis of those clients’ tax situations, and help them to maximize investments and improve tax outcomes.
It means that advisors can expand their service offering to include sophisticated tax planning without hiring in-house specialists.
“LPL’s Tax Planning Services can serve as an extension of the advisor’s team,” said Kraleigh Woodford, LPL, senior vice president, planning and advice services. “We believe that there is an opportunity for financial advisors to differentiate themselves by offering in-depth strategies that can proactively preserve and enhance client portfolios. With Tax Planning [Services], advisors can now confidently deliver customized tax analysis and planning services to clients directly, instead of referring tax-related issues to accountants or other tax specialists.”
The services offered scale from answering technical tax questions through to detailed, customized tax planning scenarios and one-to-three year illustrations.
“We believe advisors who can increase their value proposition and offer a one-stop-shop solution can ultimately strengthen client outcomes and enhance overall satisfaction,” added Woodford. “Tax Planning Services can also be combined with other Business Solutions to strategically build a compelling business case that can attract new clients for advisors and improve their existing client relationships.”
CFO SOLUTION
The second announcement from the firm this week is an outsourced CFO solution.
CFO Essentials gives growing advisors and firms access to executive-level strategic counsel including individualized financial benchmarking, budgeting, and forecasting strategies provided by experienced financial professionals.
LPL already offers a premium service designed for complex practices, but the new offering is a lower cost option for advisor businesses at all stages.
“The success of the CFO Premium solution led to the introduction of CFO Essentials as an alternative for those financial professionals who want access to an accountability partner to help them grow and scale their business, but don’t require the full scope of services CFO Premium provides,” said executive vice president, LPL Business Solutions, Joe Lanser. “By streamlining the services into the CFO Essentials package, we can offer greater accessibility to a wider range of businesses that affiliate with LPL.”