Keep It Simple, Score Everything, and Other Lessons From LifeYield with Mark Hoffman

2021-04-13

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In this episode, Jack Sharry talks with Chairman and CEO of LifeYield Mark Hoffman. In addition to leading the company, Mark is responsible for pulling resources and customers together to construct Unified Managed Households. Early in Mark’s career, a colleague’s father broached the idea of combining household assets to achieve client goals, particularly as advisors help clients prepare for retirement. Fast forward more than 30 years later, and that concept has taken shape at LifeYield.In the years that led Mark to LifeYield and his success building money-saving tech...

Early in Mark’s career, a colleague’s father broached the idea of combining household assets to achieve client goals, particularly as advisors help clients prepare for retirement. Fast forward more than 30 years later, and that concept has taken shape at LifeYield.

In the years that led Mark to LifeYield and his success building money-saving technology, he’s learned a few things about helping large firms achieve complex goals, the importance of quantifying benefit, and developing a software system that sticks.

Jack and Mark discuss where the financial industry is headed next, how to provide optimal client value, and the three biggest lessons Mark has learned building LifeYield from the ground up.

“The most important feature that you need to ensure advisor adoption is the ability to quantify the benefit of the advice being given to the customer. What is in it for them and why? ” ~ Mark Hoffman

Main takeaways

To ensure advisors actually adopt the technology, it must be easily integrated into an advisor’s workflow.
When executing complex projects across complex organizations, follow a few simple rules. 1. It’s just as important to know what you’re not doing as it is to know what you are doing. 2. Don’t keep starting and stopping big projects – it decreases the probability for success, increases costs, and hurts morale. 3. Accept that big projects are a multi-year commitment, so budget and staff accordingly. 4. Communicate clear milestones and celebrate wins along the way.
Offer scalable solutions, ensure the tech is highly secure, and allow for the flexibility that enterprise clients will require.
Scoring is the future of wealthtech because it allows advisors to communicate benefits to clients in a digestible way. And it’s more than just taxes, clients should have a holistic understanding of their household’s financial wellbeing.

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