Do I need to become a full-time college planner to participate?
No, absolutely not. You only concentrate on what you do best – solve financial problems with your financial products and services.
Effective college planning is made up of three components:
- Educational
- Social
- Financial
We partner exclusively with the nation-wide leader in the college planning industry – College Funding Solutions, Inc (“CFS”).
CFS has extensive hands-on experience in working with tens of thousands of families since 1993.
Isn't college planning just selling 529 plans?
No, effective college planning is directed towards high-school aged students and their parents. These are not families with younger children who are looking to save for college, but rather families who have accumulated money and are focused on getting the best college education for the best price.
Do families really need late-stage college planning?
Absolutely! College is essential, expensive, but most of all, college is a business and it is run like a business. Colleges incorporate sophisticated formulas and spend a great deal of time and money each year in determining the tipping point (what they can get parents to pay and still get the student to attend).
Most families who don’t understand the true inner-workings of the college planning process, naturally assume that the college is on their side. Most confuse being accepted for admission with being taken care of … they will be taken care of by the college alright – just not like they think.
The business of college is the best kept secret in America! The entire college planning process can be very stressful and even overwhelming for the family. Families need an advocate that can provide answers, guidance, and assistance from their point of view.
What are some key advantages in using the college planning relationship-builder?
- Families have an immediate need
- Families are looking for answers from their perspective
- College planning is always a positive conversation
- Addressing the family’s immediate concerns first makes it much easier to build trust
- Effective college planning can have a major impact on the student’s future and parents’ retirement
- Families are eager to discuss their current financial situation and long-term financial goals
- College planning offers both immediate results and long-term benefits to the family
- College planning sets the foundation for the long-term relationship between you and the family
- College planning clients have all the same needs and goals of other families – they just want to talk about them
How will college planning add value to my practice?
Not only is college planning the ultimate door-opener and relationship-builder, it’s also the most effective way of implementing a value-added benefit to your current client base, which will help you increase long-term retention.
Because your client families with high-school aged children are going to do college planning one way or another, just imagine how powerful it can be for you to go back to those clients and talk with them about their biggest concerns – their children, their education, and their future.
What are the revenue streams college planning adds to my practice?
With college planning you actually enjoy 3 revenue streams:
- A portion of the enrollment fee families pay for the college planning assistance (from $500 – $1,000 per case; in essence, you are being paid to prospect)
- Immediate revenue from the repositioning of assets to help families increase their funding eligibility (many Advisors are averaging $7,000 – $11,000 in commissions per case)
- Long-term revenue from your back-end financial products and services (what is your long-term client worth today?)
How does the exclusive referral program work?
We are the exclusive referral distribution partner for one of the nation’s largest for-profit charities focusing on preparing and paying for college.
Each year there are literally thousands of families who are eager, in fact request, to speak with someone … an Advisor who can answer their questions, ease their minds, and offer solutions.
All referrals are delivered to participating Advisors in real-time and are protected by an exclusive zip code-driven marketing territory.
What are the demographics of the average college planning client?
With clients in all 50 states, these are our overall average stats for a college planning client with high-school aged students:
- Parents in their 40’s and early 50’s
- Adjusted Gross Income: $197,405
- Non-qualified accounts: $229,315
- Qualified accounts: $519,706
What is my part in the late-stage college planning process?
College planning is a highly-sequential process and relies on the team concept in order to be most effective.
You, as a financial professional, concentrate on your products and services and how those can positively impact both the family’s immediate college planning needs and long-term retirement goals. Your role:
- Present the workings of the college planning process to the family (30 minute, one-call close, presentation)
- Qualify and enroll the family into the college planning program
- Review through your web portal all-inclusive financial data gathered by the college planning service center
- Devise both immediate and long-term strategies to help family lower college costs and lighten the impact on their retirement accounts
- Meet with the parents to discuss and implement financial strategies
- Follow up with an annual financial review with each client family
How does the back-office college planning guidance and support work?
The eCollegePro Family Suite, offered exclusively through our college planning partner College Funding Solutions, Inc (“CFS”), is today’s most economically managed college planning program and is packed with essential guidance and procedures; all delivered in a direct, no-nonsense, easy-to-follow format.
Read more about the services included …
CFS uses a proprietary, cutting-edge Email Notification System, which delivers seamless communication between the college planning service center, the family, and the financial professional. With each client interaction, an email notification is ‘auto-magically’ sent to both the family and Advisor. You, as an Advisor, are able to login through your portal and check every note from every transaction for each client family – all at your convenience from any connected device.
How is the client financial information gathered and reported to me?
Not only does College Funding Solutions, Inc (“CFS”) guide your client families systematically through the entire process, they also incorporate web-based applications which allow them to gather your clients’ financial data, evaluate their current status, and effectively track progress. This information is shared with you, in real-time, through their proprietary DASO College Planning Software.
You are then able to devise both immediate and long-term financial strategies and follow up with the parents to discuss and implement.
What financial products are used for asset repositioning?
Typically, the following are exempt assets in the college funding eligibility formulas:
- Annuity savings
- Life insurance cash values
- Retirement accounts
- Family’s primary residence
Many financial professionals we work with use IUL and Annuity products for asset repositioning.
Do I have to contract with you for product?
No, you are under no obligation whatsoever to contract with us for financial products. We do not split cases and we are not looking for part of your product commissions and/or planning fees.
Do I need a securities license to participate?
Although licensed and authorized to sell life and annuities is required, you are not obligated to be securities licensed to participate. Approximately 50% of the financial professionals we work with are securities licensed and 50% are not.
What if I need help with case design and product placement?
As you can imagine with the amount of business generated through our programs and services, we do have relationships with FMOs and Broker Dealers. They are obviously very familiar with the overall college planning process, including both immediate and long-term financial solutions. This resource is available to you exclusively should you need assistance with case design and/or product placement
How may financial professionals have you trained?
Starting in the Fall of 2005, we have conducted over seventy (70) two-day training events and to date we have trained over 1,900 financial professionals on how to most efficiently incorporate college planning into their practice.
What are your qualifications / experience?
Unique to our organization is that our parent company, College Funding Solutions, Inc (“CFS”), has been in the college planning industry since 1993. CFS has assisted tens of thousands of families with the often-times overwhelming task of preparing and paying for college. There is simply no substitute for hands-on experience.
In 2005, our programs for financial professionals were developed out of demand and directly from hands-on college planning experience.
Why is this important to you? A couple of reasons! First, with their experience and expertise, CFS delivers real college planning to the student and family, which is vital to the integrity of your practice. And, secondly, our revenue stream is ultimately college planning, not you, which is vital to your bottom line.
For the financial services professional, our processes and programs provide turn-key solutions, including everything from the initial training, setup, and implementation to ongoing Advisor support to a highly-trained back-office support staff that handles all of the ‘heavy-lifting’ college planning work along the way.
How do I get started adding clients to my practice with late-stage college planning?
Truly successful people will tell you that preparation is a primary key to their success! We believe that to be 100% true.
To most efficiently help you be prepared, our programs and services are taught during our two-day live training event.
What will you learn at the training event? Everything! Everything you need to know to hit the ground running. Everything you need to know to start adding new clients to your practice with the industry’s hottest marketing niche’ – college planning.
This isn’t us talking. This is the over 1,900 attendees who have told us time and again that ours was the best conference, of any kind, they have ever attended in financial services.