All About eFinPLAN

Yesterday on my eFinPLAN giveaway (still time to put your name in for the free giveaway, BTW), I had a reader ask:

Are you going to have an article up in the near future w/more details about the service?

So I dropped the people at eFinPLAN a note and asked them to summarize their service. Here's what they sent me:

Have you ever wanted to go to a financial planner to have a personal financial plan written for you? Many people hesitate doing so, because they can’t afford to pay up to several thousands of dollars for one, while other people prefer to do their own financial planning.

What is eFinPLAN?

eFinPLAN is all about affordability and accessibility. First it is only $98, costing thousands less than going to a financial planner. Secondly it is a web-based designed specifically for consumer ease of use in the convenience of their home. Most other financial planning software has been designed only for professional financial advisors to use. All you have to do is answer online questions, and then a 60+ page personalized financial report (pdf) is generated.

What does the Financial Planning Report Cover?

The report covers all of the main financial planning areas in an educational format: Net Worth, Spending, Retirement, College Education, Future Purchases, Investments, Insurance, and Estate Planning. In addition it also addresses the following areas that are not covered by most other financial planning software: Money Habits, Debt Analysis, Money Tools, Relationships and Values, Charitable Giving and Utilizing Trusted Professional Advisors. It covers over 50 topics in all.

The report is complete with an action step implementation checklist so that you can begin making progress on your financial plan.

Financial planning is an ongoing process

eFinPLAN has been designed so that if you are missing any information, you can skip it and come back to it later.  Financial situations may change with job losses, babies, etc.  Having an online tool is great so that you can update your plan when changes occur. In addition, the software has the ability to run multiple “what-if scenarios” that permit changes to assumptions, interest rates, savings, etc. to see how the plan might change when variables are changed.

Why was eFinPLAN created?

Kent and Laura Irwin founded the company with the motto to “Take the Mystery Out of Financial Planning,” to  help people because help is needed now more than ever when you consider the financial trends of middle America today such as low savings rates, high home foreclosures and debt, not saving enough for retirement and raiding their 401k balances. Most financial services companies are pursuing the top 5% wealthiest people.  However only 1 - 2% of 108 million middle-class households are currently being served by professionally accredited financial planners according to the Journal of Financial Planning. eFinPLAN is designed to help the underserved middle.

For more info, visit eFinPlan.

Comments

[Laura]

Are there any other online services like this out there? I mean a 60 page report... how customized is it?

[MonkeyMonk]

I'd be interested to know if they recommend specific mutual funds (I would imagine they must) and if they're being compensated in any manner beyond the initial $98 fee. I'd be pretty ticked to pay $98 and then get a list of recommended funds . . . all of them being load funds.

[Kent Irwin eFinPLAN]

eFinPLAN reports are very unique for each user, derived from many specialized questions. Quicken online and Mint are good cash flow management tools, but eFinPLAN provides a comprehensive financial planning report. The only other online company that I am aware of is My Own Financial Plan. Voyant advertises financial planning, but the last time I examined it, it didn’t have reports and it markets financial products and services.

[Kent Irwin eFinPLAN]

The eFinPLAN report and website markets no insurance or financial products at all, and never receives compensation from any financial company. The investment section is generic: no reference to specific mutual funds.

[Jeff on PDX]

They offer a 30 day review.....try it out and if you dont like/need it then just get your money back.

[Chaitn Doshi]

This is great. I can definately use this. I hope to win. Thanks