Guardian Life Insurance Company of America is providing its customers with a personalized home page the carrier has dubbed the Living Balance Sheet, which enables Guardian customers to track their net worth on an ongoing basis. Guardian launched the first phase in September 2005. "The purpose of the first phase was to create that deliverable for the client," says Bob Ball, a special consultant to the carrier's individual markets profit center. "What we're doing in subsequent phases is to add to the platform–planning, strategy, calculators, reports–allowing us to move past what is and start to look at what could be."
Ball conceived the Living Balance Sheet one year ago to address objectives that both the public and Guardian's representatives have. "It's well documented the public would prefer to work with one trusted adviser as the primary financial guide as opposed to working with multiple advisers all coming from different perspectives," he says.
The carrier believes by having Guardian's representatives assume that role, the agents get the opportunity to supply recommendations and product advice and will be seen as the answer people for strategies and other financial considerations. "We were looking for a platform to allow that to happen," says Ball. "We think we've been able to accomplish that with the Living Balance Sheet."
Clients receive their own financial home page, according to Ball. This permits them to go online and check their financial status. One of the services that sits on the Web site, Ball adds, is what Guardian calls an electronic vault. Customers can store everything from tax returns to wills, trusts, insurance policies, and declaration pages. They also can store personal mementos, he continues, such as audio and digital files and last wishes for families. "It becomes a real contact point," he says.
The technology behind the Living Balance Sheet came to Guardian from eMoney Advisor. "[eMoney Advisor] essentially organized much of this technology, and what we were able to do was reformat it and reposition it so it is consistent with our methodology of doing business at Guardian," indicates Ball. "[The Living Balance Sheet] operates with Guardian branding, but much of the engine behind it was done by eMoney Advisor."
The Living Balance Sheet allows customers to bring their financial data accumulated from a variety of financial institutions into a single Web site, Ball explains. "Without something such as the Living Balance Sheet, [customers] must go to each of those institutions and check in on their status," he says. To bring it to one source, customers go to their financial institution and enter user ID and password information to direct their personal data automatically to the Living Balance Sheet. "Once [the information] is in there, it stays current through the technology that drives the Living Balance Sheet," he says.
The site also has the ability to aggregate data from more than 3,100 different financial institutions to report daily fluctuations in assets or liabilities and bring those fluctuations back to the Living Balance Sheet, Ball notes. This results in a daily net worth recalculation for the customer. "As mutual funds, 529 [college savings] plans, or 401(k) balances go up or down and your mortgage balances, car loans, or credit card balances fluctuate, all those are captured each day and brought back to the Living Balance Sheet platform, calculated, positioned, and reflected on a new net worth statement," says Ball. "Customers always can know where their money is and what is going on in their financial world."
An additional nuance, remarks Ball, allows the Web site to track rewards programs–such as Delta Sky Miles. If customers qualify for, say, a first-class upgrade or a weekend stay with Marriott, they get an e-mail sent to their financial home page alerting them to that fact.
Another feature is what Guardian calls alerts and alarms, says Ball, adding certain criteria can be set up to track fluctuations that occur beyond specified parameters. If such an event occurs, Guardian representatives would get an alert on their agency dashboard. Ball cites a client who had a downturn of about $400,000 in a stock portfolio that was being positioned on the Living Balance Sheet. That drop sent an automatic alert to the representative, who in turn contacted the client and asked whether the client had moved some money. In this case, Ball reports, a stockbroker committed some inappropriate activities. "It probably would have been discovered anyway, but the Living Balance Sheet and the Guardian representative were the catalysts for that information, and the appreciation factor from the client was very positive," he says.
On a more proactive side, Ball points out alerts are sent when clients receive large amounts of money, such as from a year-end bonus. "When successful executives get those bonus checks, the first thing they do is put the money in their money market or even their savings account before deciding what next to do," he says. "That also triggers an alert so we can be proactive to help the client figure out the best use of that money."
Security was the number-one consideration Guardian looked into as it developed this product, asserts Ball. But all the information acquired for the Living Balance Sheet already exists on the Web. "We're only able to aggregate information that already sits online," he says. Ball believes the financial information actually is being placed in a safer position in some cases than where it sat previously. "This is not a transaction-based platform," he says. "We really are just a reporting mechanism. Since we don't write checks, and we can't charge things on credit cards or liquidate stock portfolios, there are fewer security issues [for Guardian] than for those Web sites that allow those types of transactions." The information is passed to Guardian, but there's nothing on the carrier's platform that houses client user ID or password information. "That buffer has been created intentionally for security reasons," he says.
Agents have their own dashboard, which gives them a view of their clients' Living Balance Sheet. This holistic view allows the Guardian representative to see what opportunities exist for the client, notes Ball. The agent also gets automated reports daily. "The real value of the Living Balance Sheet is once a client relationship has been established, we can deliver on the servicing promises the customer deserves," he says.
Dennis Manning, Guardian CEO, believes the Living Balance Sheet gives financial representatives a tremendous tool in the marketplace as well as the opportunity to attract a better quality client. "We're a life insurance company, but it's not just about selling life insurance," he maintains. "It's about the entire financial package. This allows our reps to act as the quarterback with the rest of the financial advisers and become the trusted adviser to the client. We think this is going to raise the profile of a career Guardian financial representative."
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