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This issue focuses on the following topics:
• Bad News/Good News - Turmoil and Uncertainty in Financial Services/Never a BETTER time for college planning
• CFS launches Latest Data Integration Partnership with Money Tree Software!
• CFS News and Information - CFS enters strategic partnerships with Garrett Planning Network, PSCU Financial Services and Circle of Neighbors
• Special Promotional offer
• CFS and the Relentless Pursuit of Excellence: Latest enhancements
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The BAD NEWS: What else - turmoil in the financial services industry and the economy and the uncertanty about what the future holds in store!
The GOOD NEWS: In every adversity is the seed of an equivalent or greater benefit. The good news is that NEVER was effective college planning MORE of an imperative for parents and NEVER a better opportunity for financial services professionals. Here are a few vitally important factors to consider:
- Irrespective of the state of the economy and the financial markets, children will still go to college and parents will still want to help pay for it. In fact the worse the economy and the markets, the more supply and demand will result in an even greater desire for parents/students to obtain a higher education to compete in the marketplace.
- Endowment funds at colleges/universities have taken a huge hit. Simple economics would suggest that one result will be a "tightening" of the purse strings when it comes to endowment-based funding for financial aid and for attracting students based on merit. Since most grants/scholarships come from the school's endowment funds, the result will be parents/students shouldering a greater percentage of the cost of the school.
- College savings investments (mutual funds, 529's etc.) have also taken a huge hit and will take a while - maybe a long while - to rebound. So, school costs will continue to climb and most parents' college savings accounts have lost value - a little or a lot.
Where is the opportunity in all of this for the financial services professional that licenses with CFS?
This is a GOLDEN opportunity for the CFS licensee! It all stems from the CFS value proposition - Helping parents SAVE ON the cost of college, NOT just FOR the cost of college.
If EVER there was a time that helping reduce the high cost of college will resonate with parents, it is NOW. If ever there was an opportunity to meet an urgent and emotional need in the marketplace it is NOW. If EVER there was an imperative to offer clients actionable strategies for leveraging their situation in ways to reduce the costs of college it is NOW.
Don't take our word for it, register for an upcoming live demo and decide for yourself!
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CFS and Money Tree Software are Data Integration Partners!
In our last newsletter, we announced our first data integration partnership with MoneyGuidePro. With
the launch of this latest data integration partnership, users of Money Tree Software can now import their clients directly into
the CFS web-based software, thereby eliminating redundant data entry! According to the 2007 Software Survey published in the December 2007 issue of Financial Planning magazine, these two platforms account for about 20% of the "financial planning software" market.
Users of Money Tree or MoneyGuidePro can now easily, immediately and dramatically enhance their college planning capability by licensing with CFS and benefiting from the data integration capabilities between CFS and these platforms
"The unique capabilities CFS have make them the most comprehensive provider of college financial planning solutions and a great addition for Money Tree's community of professional advisors. The detailed college planning results CFS offers fills a void in most advisors's capability so their system is a logical complement to ours."
Mark Snodgrass, President of Money Tree Software.
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Indicative of CFS's rapid growth in the industry are the strategic partnerships entered into over the last six months. Here are three of the latest:
- CFS and The Garrett Planning Network (GPN). The Garrett Planning Network Inc. is a network of independent financial advisors and planners offering hourly as-needed financial planning and advice to anyone regardless of income. With this strategic partnership, GPN advisors are able to integrate CFS's college planning expert sytstem into their practices at significantly discounted fees. In addition, CFS has created a co-branded "college planning module" for the GPN website that provides customized college planning and funding information to visitors to the site and QUALIFIED LEADS for GPN advisors that license the CFS service!
- CFS and PSCU Financial Services. PSCU Financial Services is the leading Credit Union Service Organization in the country. CFS provides a unique and user-friendly web-based college planning service (think TurboTax) that helps credit unions deliver significant value to their members, while driving new member accounts and growth; as well as adoption of new products targeted for the Gen Y market. College planning is a natural bridge from baby boomer members to their children, representing Gen Y and the next generation of credit union members. Most parents are concerned about paying for college and saving for retirement. CFS helps parents do both better. The CFS relationship complements PSCU Financial Services’ Gen Y initiative, ProjectNewAge.com, and offers their member credit unions access to the service through a special pricing program.
- CFS and Circle of Neighbors. Circle of Neighbors is a community based service organization working through consultants to provide information for families about how to acquire endowment-based funding for the students to attend the college of their choice. Circle of Neighbors provides an unmatched lead program - providing a steady stream of qualified prospects who are eager to investigate ways to help them better prepare and pay for college. CFS and Circle of Neighbors are perfect complements, with Circle of Neigbors providing qualified leads for the professional advisor and CFS providing the advisor with unsurpassed college planning expertise, reports that provide the context and rationale for appropriate back-end products, AND the ability to project that expertise through consultant branded websites!
These latest strategic partnership showcase and strengthen CFS's standing as the leading provider of integrated, web-based college
planning technology solutions for the financial services industry!
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Till the end of December, CFS is offering a SPECIAL PROMOTION on branded and standard licenses! click on the license type and examples below for details.
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Here are some of the highlights of the updates/enhancements to CFS since our last Newsletter:
- Data Updates: Comprehensive college cost and financial aid information for over 2500 schools across the country. Updated as of October 15, 2008
- Release of version 1.67 of the CFS college planning expert system. This release was the result of a rigorous and thorough review over a period of three months of over 300 strategies and dynamic examples in our knowledge base. We
also scoured over 250 pages of documentation compiled from a variety of college-planning resources in order to separate the "wheat from the chaff" and identify the "gold nuggets."
This newest release has over 30 updates and enhancements that impact each of the client types:
- Early Starters. These are parents with college-bound children that have more than four years to prepare for college.
- Late Starters that are NOT financial aid candidates. These are parents with college-bound children in high school who likely will not qualifyfor any financial aid.
- Financial Aid Candidates. Parents with college-bound children in high school that likely qualify for financial aid.
Bottom line: CFS is continually reviewing, updating and enhancing our college-planning expert system to ensure that you have access to the
"leading edge" of college-planning expertise. We are "on top of it" so that you don't have to be!
As a member of the CFS community, you have access to the most practical, comprehensive and useful college-planning expertise in the marketplace, which will help you create maximum value for your clients! This is peace of mind, knowing that we're keeping you current with the ever-changing college financial planning landscape.
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John Sestina CFP®, ChFC
Father of Fee-Only Financial Planning
www.sestina.com
"After using CFS for a number of our clients, I wanted to inform you that we are very pleased with CFS.
The CFS generated college planning reports validate and complement the college planning and funding strategies that we recommend to our clients.
CFS helps our firm offer excellent college planning value for our clients and saves us considerable time and effort in the process.
As a fee-only advisory firm, CFS helps us achieve the peace of mind that comes from knowing that we are fulfilling our fiduciary responsibility to our clients with respect to their college planning and funding needs. Collaborating with CFS, we deliver to our clients the very best in college planning.
We look forward to a long-term relationship with CFS."
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This live demo will take you on a 40 minute test drive of CFS's unique web-based college planning expert system and highlight the benefits to your practice and your clients.
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If you don't have a license with CFS yet view our 4 minute multimedia overview of CFS or visit our website:
click here
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