Frequently Asked Questions: Support
We support our Advisors in many ways. First, we have the Financial Planning Support department. They’re able to help with technical questions related to financial planning, business-building ideas, case analysis and product recommendations. We also have specialists in the areas of retirement, estate, fee-based and insurance planning to help with your more advanced cases. Our General Support department is available to assist you with account setup and servicing questions. Finally we have our Software Support department that can assist you with questions related to H.D. Vest technology. By partnering with H.D. Vest, you’ll have access to this support and more, which will increase the likelihood that you’ll be successful at integrating financial services into your tax practice.
Financial planning builds on the knowledge of taxation, which you already possess. In fact, you’ll find that you’ll be a better tax professional once you know more about investments and insurance.
If you know people who have failed at integrating financial planning into their practices, it’s probably because they didn’t have an adequate support team. One person cannot know everything, which is why the H.D. Vest support system begins with your Financial Planning Support consultant and includes in-house experts in virtually every area of financial planning. This system ensures that you can compete successfully with even the largest of firms and their national network of experts.
Of course we do. Because you’re already a busy tax professional, you can’t be expected to be an expert in all the areas of financial planning. For that reason we offer our Financial Planning Support team to help you not just with the technical questions, but also case analysis and product recommendations. We also have specialists available in the areas of retirement, estate, fee-based and insurance planning to assist you with the more advanced cases you may encounter. By utilizing this support, you’ll enable yourself to spend more time developing your client relationships and growing your business.
We offer two forms of local support. The first is our Chapter Program. Our Chapter Program consists of 100 chapters nationwide, led by successful H.D. Vest Advisors. These Chapters meet six times a year outside of tax season. They give you the opportunity to not only learn more about financial planning, but also network and share experiences with other H.D. Vest Advisors. If you’re looking for the opportunity to work more closely with a successful H.D. Vest Advisor, we offer our Mentor Program, which pairs you up with a successful H.D. Vest Advisor to help you learn the business. If you are truly committed to growing the financial side of your business, it is strongly recommended that you look at joining the Mentor Program. Both of these programs are offered at no additional cost to you; however, the Mentor Program does require that you hit certain production goals along the way. By pairing the local support with the home office support available at H.D. Vest, there’s no reason you can’t build a successful financial services practice.
The home office is open Monday through Friday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. CST. Because our Advisors value the support teams, General Support and Financial Planning Support are available 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. CST Monday through Friday, and 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturdays. During the final month of tax season we offer extended hours, until 9 p.m. Monday through Friday and 5 p.m. on Saturdays.
That’s a great question. Because it’s difficult to be an expert in all the areas of financial planning, there will be times when you want some help presenting a case. For these situations we offer our OnVEST program. This program utilizes video conferencing technology and enables us to bring an expert into your office to help present your cases or participate in client meetings. This service is free to our Advisors. It’s just another reason why we’re the partner of choice for tax and accounting professionals.
We have support available to help you from beginning to end on the insurance side. Our Financial Planning Support team can assist you in determining the client’s insurance need, identifying the right product and running the appropriate illustrations. Our Tele-underwriting department will help get the paperwork filled out for you. Our Insurance Operations group will handle getting the medicals ordered and the processing of the business. With this support you’ll have everything you need to properly and efficiently handle your clients’ insurance needs.