Interface Financial Planning – More than just a website!
If you go to our website at Interface Financial Planning I hope that you will agree that it is certainly different! My intention is that is more than different to the vast majority of IFA websites, I want you to get the impression that is unique.
The website is our virtual office in the cloud where clients and visitors can get everything that they want at any time of day or night. They no longer need to arrange an appointment and battle through traffic to visit our office, or even try to catch us on the phone, they can get everything that they need by visiting our website. Please don’t misunderstand, I love meeting clients and I love talking to them on the phone, but our client service is greatly enhanced by using the power of our website.
We have just released Our Guides where you will find comprehensive information on a range of financial topics in a friendly and easy to read format. Currently there are guides on Income Drawdown, Investing for Income, Longevity, Cash Flow, and Wealth Protection. A new guide is being added every month so if you don’t see what you want keep checking back. We have a program of about 30 guides to add and if you want a guide on a specific topic get in touch and we’ll see what we can do. We are currently developing a download link where you will be able to download a guide and read it off line.
One client looked at our Estate Planning page where there are over 60 information documents which provide advice on Wills, Trusts, Lasting Powers of Attorney and so on and she said: “your site is like the Wikipedia of Financial Advice”. While I was pleased with the compliment I do not have the resource to be anything more than ‘Interpedia’ (please excuse the made up word, blame my client).
By now I hope that your opinion is moving towards my chosen description of ‘unique’ because while there are some great IFA websites out there I don’t think that anyone is doing it quite like us. I received a comment from another adviser who said: “your site is too busy”, and I replied: “that is the point, it is meant to be busy, it is a one stop shop where my clients can get everything that they need”. Whether you want to see my Certificates, information about my Team, view our company policies or client engagement documents, everything is simply one click away. Our Life Goals log in is absolutely unique to us because it was commissioned by me and written to my specification, if you haven’t logged in for a while please take a look.
For most clients the most frequently visited page is Client Services and Login which I refer to as ‘mission control’ because there clients can link with us for online meetings, and log in to a range of other services. They can log in to their Personal Finance Portal where they can view their file and exchange documents and messages in a secure environment. They can log in to PaperCloud, our live document management system where they can view, download, (and upload) any of the paperwork that we hold in their file.
I had a vision a couple of years back that we could build a website which gave access and information to clients and visitors in an efficient and cost effective manner. I passionately believe that everyone should have access to excellent independent financial advice and I saw the internet as a way of making it available to all at low cost and regardless of income or assets. It’s a great feeling seeing it all fall into place however none of this would be possible without the wonderful expertise of Lark Ismail of Jolly Good Media. Lark is my web designer and social media manager and I asked her to say a few words about herself:
“I’ve worked with Alan since March 2016 on managing his social media presence and content. Since then we’ve expanded our work to include maintaining the website and monthly newsletter. I love working with Alan not only because he is a lovely and honest person, but his motivation for constant improvement is wonderful and refreshing. I believe Alan wants Interface Financial to be the very best and he clearly has a genuine care for his clients.
In 2015 my husband Matthew and I combined our past work experience to start our business Jolly Good Media. Jolly Good Media offers web design, media production, and PPC marketing as a Google Partner agency.
Matthew is originally from Birmingham but we currently live in California with our two Yorkshire Terriers. Traveling has always played a big part in our lives and I originally met Matthew when I was traveling while in University. We reconnected 4 years later when he was traveling through California as part of a larger cycling trip. A few months after re-connecting I joined him on his trip and we spent several months traveling together in Honduras. We’ve been together ever since with plenty more trips under our belt.”
The multitude of new regulations being implemented in 2018 combined with rising costs has made business efficiency more important than ever and the website is enabling us to help more clients much more efficiently and cost effectively. Further planned developments over the next 12 months are going to be just as exciting. Have I am earned the description of “unique”? – perhaps you would let me know.