The Virtual Planner

Sarah Holland has been a virtual planner serving advisors in Canada and the U.S. since 2002. She is founder and principal of Holland Advisory Services in Prince George, B.C.

A virtual planner assists financial advisors in preparing financial plans. This may involve as little as entering a new client's raw data into financial planning software. Or She can be in touch with the client to make planning recommendations.

As an independent contractor, Holland understands the entrepreneurial mindset. From her Prince George office, she communicates with advisors via e-mail, fax, phone and various Internet services.

Holland, who has the CFP and CLU designations, wanted to build a business in which she could focus on being a virtual planner. From 1996 to 2002, she was a regional marketing specialist and a mutual fund branch manager for Manulife Financial Corp.

Today, the main thrust of her business is virtual financial planning; she also does fee-for-service planning with her own clients. An advisor first requests an estimate of the time required to complete the plan. From there, the process is flexible and depends on the advisor's preferences.

The advisor completes the fact-finder module in consultation with his or her client, and forwards it to Holland. Or Holland can input the material. Holland then enters the data into the software, creates a data verification report and returns it to the advisor. The advisor confirms the data or replies with changes.

Then Holland creates a preliminary report and sends it to the advisor, who again replies with changes and recommendations. The advisor and Holland work on the recommendations together. The final plan can be sent to advisors in Word format, and they can personalize the plan by adding to or modifying the wording.

Holland says advisors can work with their own software, or use NaviPlan Extended or Financial Planning Solutions (business edition), and her spreadsheets. Depending on the plan's complexity, the information provided and the revisions, it can take a week to a month to complete. Holland works with both fee- and commission-based advisors.