mfs heritage planning - partners.hdvest.com · out checklists as a final call to action at ... •...

Business-Building Programs

MFS HERITAGE PLANNING®

Action plans and resources to help your clients in every life stage

FOR INVESTMENT PROFESSIONAL AND INSTITUTIONAL USE ONLY. Should not be shown, quoted, or distributed to the public.


EVERYTHING YOU NEED WITH JUST ONE CLICK

MFS Heritage Planning is the easy-to-use, industry-renowned resource library at mfs.com/hp. Designed specifically for investment professionals like you, Heritage PlanningSM provides the tools you need to build your brand and your business as a multigenerational family financial advisor.

The program has high-impact client education and consultation ideas, customizable infosheets and detailed action plans to help you address your clients’ key family financial issues:

• Retirement

• Education Planning

• Life Events

• Eldercare

• Estate Planning

• Financial Basics

In just a few pages, this brochure highlights the proven, time-tested ways you can use Heritage Planning to profoundly enhance your relationship and business-building efforts with clients, their families, prospects and centers of influence.

IN YOUR OFFICE

To identify client needs

• Provide customized checklists on a clipboard in your waiting area.

• Ask clients to identify current or antici-pated concerns they or their families are facing.

• Equipped with this understanding, provide ideas and solutions to meet clients’ needs.

During reviews

• Explain that as a family advisor you can help address clients’ or family members’ pressing concerns.

• At the close of an annual review, pro-vide key clients with extra customized checklists and return envelopes that they can share with a family member or friend.

PROSPECTING

To set yourself apart

• Use the checklist as an annual, branch-initiated marketing mailer to valued clients, prospects (including clients’ adult children) and centers of influence.

• Include a cover letter, as well as a return envelope, explaining that these are the types of issues you address with your clients, as well as their family or friends.

• June and July are ideal months for making contact, when the volume of mail people receive is usually light and clients and their families often visit with one another.

• If you conduct outside visits in the community, use customized checklists as a “leave-behind,” and a compelling example of all you do for clients.

At seminars and workshops — as a conversation expander

• Any time you speak to a group, hand out checklists as a final call to action at the close of the event.

• Sample “close”:

BUILDING REFERRALS

Centers of influence (COI)

• When you meet with centers of influence, provide a customized checklist and explain that, as a family financial advisor, you address these planning issues.

• Offer to provide a pad or supply of checklists to place in their waiting area or to use in their own annual mailings or client meetings.

• Customize the checklists with their contact information (or yours).

• Share the checklist with all tax and legal professionals for your top 20 clients.

CLIENT CHECKLISTUncover consulting opportunities

The “What Keeps You Up at Night?” checklist is the most popular piece of literature in the Heritage Planning advisor arsenal. Its sensible language and straightforward format make the checklist both easy to use and incredibly powerful. The questions listed cover your clients’ and prospects’ most common financial concerns at every stage and change of life. For each question, you can provide answers — using the Heritage Planning infosheets you download from mfs.com/hp. You can even customize the materials with your contact information, or ask your MFS team to do that for you.

MFS Heritage Planning®

Helping Yourself. Helping Your Parents. Helping Your Children.®

NOT FDIC INSURED • MAY LOSE VALUE • NO BANK GUARANTEE

This material should be used

as helpful hints only. Each

person’s situation is different.

You should consult your

investment professional or

other relevant professional

before making any decisions.

REQUEST INFORMATION

Will my money last th

rough retirement?

Do I need long-term care insurance?

What are my retirement investment options?

How do I manage all my retirement plans?

What should I do with my employer retirement plan?

Since I am retiring soon, what do I need to do now?

Should I retire to a different state?

How much should I save for college? When should I start

planning?

Will I qualify f

or financial aid? Where do I start?

What are my college savings options?

How do we manage our finances after getting married?

What happens to my 401(k) when I change jobs?

What are my options if I am laid off?

I am getting divorced. What happens to my assets?

How do I help my recent college grad transition into

the workforce?

What do I do when a loved one dies?

How does Medicare work?

What should I look for in a nursing home?

How do I cope with Alzheimer’s disease?

What happens if I have to care for my parents?

What should I know about estate planning?

How do I protect my estate from taxes?

Will my family be secure if so

mething happens to me?

How do I create a legacy fo

r my children?

Can I provide for my favorite charity when I am gone?

What will my survivo

rs need to know?

How do I keep my records safe and organized?

How do I do a better job budgeting? How do I reduce

my debt?

How do I teach little kids about money?

How do I help a young adult establish a financial strategy?

How do I have financial discussions with family?

RETIREMENT

EDUCATION PLANNING

ELDERCARE

ESTATE PLANNING

FINANCIAL BASICS

LIFE EVENTS

NAME

ADDRESS

CITY

STATE

ZIP CODE

BUSINESS PHONE

HOME PHONE

E-MAIL

BEST TIME TO CALL

WHAT KEEPS YOU UP AT NIGHT?

Please take a minute to review the topics and related questions below.

Check off any concerns you have right now. Chances are I have information

that will help us address many of the issu

es that may worry you.

HP-CKLST-FLY-6/14

22544.7

MFS Fund Distributors, Inc.,

Boston, MA

MFS® does not provide legal, tax,

or accounting advice. Clients of MFS

should obtain their own independent

tax and legal advice based on their

particular circ

umstances.




BUSINESS BUILDERS

RETIREMENT

Will my money last through retirement?

• Financial issues as retirement draws near

• Retirement planning worksheet


• Choosing long-term care insurance


• Roth IRA: A retirement investment choice


• Consolidating retirement plan assets

• Weighing your 401(k) options at retirement


• An IRA dilemma: To roll or not to roll



• 10 rules for the retirement road


• Understanding required minimum

distributions (RMDs)


• Retiring to a different state

EDUCATION PLANNING

How much should I save for college? When should I

start planning?

• 529 college planning

Will I qualify for financial aid? Where do I sta

rt?

• Winning at the college financial aid game


• Understanding your college savings options

LIFE EVENTS


• Merging finances after marriage

• Creating a household budget

• Contact and financial information worksheet


• 401(k) plan choices for job changers


• Managing a job layoff


• Divorce: Dealing with property issues during

an emotional time

• Divorce worksheets


the workforce?

• Job-search tips for recent graduates


• What to do when a relative dies

ELDERCARE


• Facing the complexities of Medicare


• Finding the right care facility for an older relative

• Nursing home checklist


• How to help a loved one with Alzheimer’s disease


• Caring for aging parents

• Being a caregiver

ESTATE PLANNING


• Nine important estate planning steps

• Effectively managing your estate


• Understanding estate and inheritance taxes

• Dealing with your home as part of your estate

Will my family be secure if something happens to me?

• Stretch your IRA across generations

• Using trusts as part of your estate planning

How do I create a legacy for my children?

• Choosing beneficiaries for your IRA



• Minimize taxes with estate planning and gifting

What will my survivors need to know?

• What you need your survivors to know

FINANCIAL BASICS


• Organizing your financial records


How do I do a better job budgeting? How do I

reduce my debt?

• Reducing debt takes commitment and patience



• Nine steps to raising money-smart kids


• Building a financial foundation for the next generation




• Family financial map

• Family wealth management: Tips for a successful

transition between generations

Step 1: Connect

Use our popular “What keeps you

up at night?” checklist (see back)

to spark planning conversations

with your clients.

Step 2: Engage

Leave copies in your reception

area. Mail or e-mail it. Hand

it out at your client review

meetings and events.

Step 3: Address

Meet with clients to review and

prioritize their top concerns.

Introduce strategies for their

specific needs using the

applicable infosheets listed

under each question at right.

Access all infosheets at

mfs.com > Sales Tools

> MFS Heritage Planning.

Step 4: Reconnect

Schedule follow-ups to review

progress and uncover any new

concerns or opportunities.

UNCOVER OPPORTUNITIES

Using the “What keeps you up at night?” checklist

continued on page 2

FOR INVESTMENT PROFESSIONAL AND INSTITUTIONAL USE ONLY. Should not be shown, quoted,

or distributed to the public.

“Before you go, please take a look at the sheet I’ve given you that says ‘What Keeps You Up at Night?’ Mark the top 2 – 3 life issues that you or someone in your family may face in the next 18 – 24 months. As a family financial advisor, I can review your completed checklist with you and discuss potential solutions or appropriate next steps you should consider.”

CLIENT INFOSHEETSEducate yourself, your clients and prospects

The MFS Heritage Planning advisor program includes over 45 infosheets (articles) that address many life issues, including retirement, eldercare, financial basics and more. You can find each infosheet online at mfs.com/hp. Use the information to enrich consultations, or share the infosheets directly with clients. Here are some time-tested tips for using infosheets most effectively.

CUSTOMIZE FOR CLIENTS

Address individual client issues

• When a client or prospect identifies a family issue, whether in conversation or via the “What Keeps You Up at Night?” checklist, visit mfs.com/hp to search for relevant infosheets.

• Customize the infosheets with your contact information.

• Save the sheet as a PDF so you can e-mail or print to mail or hand-deliver.

Create a customized booklet

• Use the tool on mfs.com/hp to create customized “booklets” of infosheets that address an individual client’s needs.

• Customize the cover page of your booklet with the investor’s name and your name and contact information.

AUTOMATE ONGOING CONTACT

Build a disciplined client or prospect drip contact plan

• With information your clients and prospects really need, infosheets can be a valuable addition to your ongoing mailing program.

• Visit the Monthly Touchpoints calendar at mfs.com/hp for client contact ideas.

• Targeted communications that are particularly relevant at different times of the year are perfect for staying in touch with clients, their families, prospects and centers of influence.

EDUCATE CLIENTS

Access content for educational workshops — to explain issues that are of interest or concern to targeted clients or prospects

• Identify client needs with the “What Keeps You Up at Night?” checklist and host educational workshops periodically for clients who share a common planning interest or concern.

• Hold seminars at your office or with affinity groups that reach your key clients.

• Use infosheets or an approved MFS seminar as your presentation content.

3 WAYS TO ACCESS INFOSHEETS

1 Just click on the drop-down menu “View Client Infosheets” to access articles organized under the same sections as the checklist.

2 Click on the visual under “Using the Checklist” for direction on choosing infosheets that correspond to the checklist questions.

3 Click on the individual life stage to access the articles on that topic.




This material should be used

as helpful hints only. Each

person’s situation is different.

You should consult your

investment professional or

other relevant professional

before making any decisions.

REQUEST INFORMATION

Will my money last th

rough retirement?







How much should I save for college? When should I start

planning?

Will I qualify f

or financial aid? Where do I start?







the workforce?








Will my family be secure if so

mething happens to me?

How do I create a legacy fo

r my children?


What will my survivo

rs need to know?


How do I do a better job budgeting? How do I reduce

my debt?




RETIREMENT

EDUCATION PLANNING

ELDERCARE

ESTATE PLANNING

FINANCIAL BASICS

LIFE EVENTS

NAME

ADDRESS

CITY

STATE

ZIP CODE

BUSINESS PHONE

HOME PHONE

E-MAIL

BEST TIME TO CALL

WHAT KEEPS YOU UP AT NIGHT?

Please take a minute to review the topics and related questions below.

Check off any concerns you have right now. Chances are I have information

that will help us address many of the issu

es that may worry you.

HP-CKLST-FLY-6/14

22544.7

MFS Fund Distributors, Inc.,

Boston, MA

MFS® does not provide legal, tax,

or accounting advice. Clients of MFS

should obtain their own independent

tax and legal advice based on their

particular circ

umstances.




BUSINESS BUILDERS

RETIREMENT

Will my money last through retirement?


• Retirement planning worksheet


• Choosing long-term care insurance


• Roth IRA: A retirement investment choice


• Consolidating retirement plan assets



• An IRA dilemma: To roll or not to roll



• 10 rules for the retirement road


• Understanding required minimum

distributions (RMDs)


• Retiring to a different state

EDUCATION PLANNING

How much should I save for college? When should I

start planning?

• 529 college planning

Will I qualify for financial aid? Where do I sta

rt?

• Winning at the college financial aid game


• Understanding your college savings options

LIFE EVENTS


• Merging finances after marriage




• 401(k) plan choices for job changers


• Managing a job layoff


• Divorce: Dealing with property issues during

an emotional time

• Divorce worksheets


the workforce?

• Job-search tips for recent graduates


• What to do when a relative dies

ELDERCARE


• Facing the complexities of Medicare


• Finding the right care facility for an older relative

• Nursing home checklist


• How to help a loved one with Alzheimer’s disease


• Caring for aging parents

• Being a caregiver

ESTATE PLANNING


• Nine important estate planning steps

• Effectively managing your estate



• Dealing with your home as part of your estate

Will my family be secure if something happens to me?

• Stretch your IRA across generations

• Using trusts as part of your estate planning

How do I create a legacy for my children?

• Choosing beneficiaries for your IRA



• Minimize taxes with estate planning and gifting

What will my survivors need to know?

• What you need your survivors to know

FINANCIAL BASICS




How do I do a better job budgeting? How do I

reduce my debt?

• Reducing debt takes commitment and patience



• Nine steps to raising money-smart kids


• Building a financial foundation for the next generation




• Family financial map

• Family wealth management: Tips for a successful

transition between generations

Step 1: Connect

Use our popular “What keeps you

up at night?” checklist (see back)

to spark planning conversations

with your clients.

Step 2: Engage

Leave copies in your reception

area. Mail or e-mail it. Hand

it out at your client review

meetings and events.

Step 3: Address

Meet with clients to review and

prioritize their top concerns.

Introduce strategies for their

specific needs using the

applicable infosheets listed

under each question at right.

Access all infosheets at

mfs.com > Sales Tools

> MFS Heritage Planning.

Step 4: Reconnect

Schedule follow-ups to review

progress and uncover any new

concerns or opportunities.

UNCOVER OPPORTUNITIES

Using the “What keeps you up at night?” checklist

continued on page 2

FOR INVESTMENT PROFESSIONAL AND INSTITUTIONAL USE ONLY. Should not be shown, quoted,

or distributed to the public.

1

23

mfs.com/hp

CLIENT CONVERSATIONSDemonstrate your value with these conversation starters

Each time you speak with a prospect, client or referral source, you have the opportunity to “build your brand” as a multigen-erational family financial advisor. The words you choose can make a real difference in how these critical decision makers view you. Here are some suggestions that can keep your message consistent and strong, while reinforcing your value as a trusted financial partner.

MEET WITH CLIENTS

To uncover their most pressing concerns

At each review, uncover consulting opportunities by profiling to identify issues that have arisen or may soon come up. For example, ask,

“Have you had any recent changes or do you anticipate any changes in employment or income? How about your family? How are they? Any changes in education plans/employment/family situations? Tell me about your parents: Any changes in their circumstances or caregiving issues since we last met?”

Offer ongoing consulting services based on the concerns identified on the “What Keeps You Up at Night?” checklist. Say,

“If you are dealing with one or more of these issues, or anticipate that you will be, please know that as your family financial advisor I have information to help you.”

To inspire introductions to family

At the close of each client review, say,

“If you have a family member or a friend who is dealing with one or more of these issues, please know that I am happy to consult with them. Please share this “What Keeps You Up at Night?” checklist with them and let them know that I am available to answer any questions and provide helpful information.”

CONNECT WITH CLIENTS’ HEIRS

To begin to build a relationship with a client’s adult children

Set yourself apart from advisors the children may already be working with by marketing the breadth of what you do. Say,

“As your family’s financial advisor, I help with issues at every stage of planning. I would like to periodically share with you information or ideas that I usually share with clients who are in a similar stage of life.”

To convey your capabilities

Never assume that a prospect under-stands the full breadth of your capabilities or capacity to help. Say,

“As my clients’ family financial advisor, these [need to give a few examples or point to “What Keeps You Up at Night?” checklist to enumerate] are the kinds of issues I address. If you or a loved one are ever dealing with one or more of these concerns or situations, please know that I can help by providing information and resources.”

PARTNER WITH CENTERS OF INFLUENCE

To expand your reach

Differentiate yourself from other advisors. Share the “What Keeps You Up at Night?” checklist and say,

“If you have clients who are dealing with any of these issues, please know that I have a full complement of tools and resources to assist them. I can provide those to you, or, if you prefer, directly to your clients.”

MFS Fund Distributors, Inc., Boston, MA HP-PROGRAM-GDE-8/14 31225.1

You should recommend products based on your client’s financial needs, goals, and risk tolerance.

MFS® does not provide legal, tax, or accounting advice. Clients of MFS should obtain their own independent tax and legal advice based on their particular circumstances.


BUILDING BETTER INSIGHTS®

Information alone isn’t enough to help investors be successful. They need to know what’s important. What they need is insight. At MFS®, we are an active, global asset manager with a uniquely collaborative approach designed to build better insights through:

Integrated ResearchWe analyze opportunities across geographies, across fundamental and quantitative disciplines and across an organization’s entire capital structure to develop a fuller perspective on securities we select for our clients.

Global CollaborationOur people, teams and compensation structure ensure collaboration so that our clients benefi t from a shared, worldwide view of investing opportunities.

Active Risk ManagementEvery member of our investment team is responsible for managing risk and delivering to our clients the greatest possible return within each portfolio’s risk guidelines.

Investors need insight more than information. MFS – Building Better Insights for our clients.

mfs heritage planning - partners.hdvest.com · out checklists as a final call to action at ... •...

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