Here at Stonewood, our passion is helping growth-minded advisors have their best year ever.
So as we wind down 2023, we’re sharing the top 3 Stonewood tools advisors like you used to drive practice growth. This is one case where following the crowd will pay off.
Stonewood’s Top 3 for 2023
#1 | Building a New Market for FIAs | Annuity Alpha
“The Annuity Alpha report sells itself. After designing a case with the Stonewood team, I was able to close a $575,000 annuity.” – Phil, Texas
Annuities were a hot product in 2023. But, Stonewood members were able to leverage them into new markets and new assets. How? By showing their ability to drive ALPHA for clients.
Yes, Alpha. Stonewood’s Annuity Alpha report answers the age-old question: “What would capital markets need to deliver to match what this annuity contract can guarantee for my client?” It helps advisors enhance the value an FIA delivers as part of a complete retirement approach.
What’s more, in today’s regulatory environment, advisors leveraged Annuity Alpha to ensure FIAs met their clients’ needs and goals.
#2 | Generating Leads from Tax Risk | Retirement Tax Bill
“We are doing great with the Retirement Tax Bill lead generation tool. We get one to two leads a day. The cases are anywhere from 200,000 to 1.5 million. It really works!” – Bobby, Florida
Stonewood’s Retirement Tax Bill lead gen program was introduced in 2022, but exploded in popularity and results in 2023. Advisors used this combination of custom landing pages, tax analysis software, and lead funnels to attract high-net-worth prospects – and convert them to clients.
RTB (as we like to call it) shows prospects the true size of their tax bill in retirement – and then shows them how much money they can save by handling the IRS now. If you’re looking to generate high-quality, high-net-worth leads, this is the program for you.
#3 | Learning New Sales Ideas and Messages | The Innovate Conference
“I’ve been in the business for a while now, but Stonewood’s Innovate Training Conference allowed me to put everything into practice more effectively, and successfully navigate questions and objections from the client. What I learned immediately led to a 10-Pay IUL with $50,000 target premium.” – Kevin, Florida
In 2023, advisors once again ranked Innovate as the most effective training conference of the year.
In 2024, we’re making it bigger and better than ever. February 29-March 1 is Innovate | Summit, a holistic conference for advisors looking to boost annuity, life, and AUM production.We’re enhancing the agenda to bring you industry-leading content on emerging retirement risks, like legislative changes in Washington, today’s tax and economic environment, lifespan concerns, and more.
And there you have it. The top 3 growth drivers for 2023.
We’re excited to see what 2024 brings. One area of success taking off in the final weeks of the year is our Automated Webinar program… so watch this space for more details on growing your practice with automated leads in 2024. There will be others, too, we’re sure. Because if there’s one guarantee at Stonewood, it’s that we’re always innovating to drive your practice’s success.
Thanks to the nearly 600 advisor offices, dozens of IMOs, scores of carriers, and marketing partners who trusted Stonewood tools to deliver results this year. And cheers to the new year!
Free Study Group Replay
How Stonewood Advisors Stay Ahead of the Next Planning Conversation.
Watch a recent Stonewood Study Group focused on the legacy planning conversation. You’ll see how Stonewood helps advisors break down timely planning topics, client conversation angles, and practical strategies you can put to use immediately.
Expert insights. Real strategies.
Study Group Replay
Timely planning topics
Real client conversation angles
Practical strategies you can use
Real Advisors. Real Results.
See how advisors are using Stonewood software to win larger cases and deliver better
outcomes for their clients.
An advisor was working with a prospect who was a real "do-it-yourselfer" when it came to Roth conversions.
The client was converting assets up their existing tax bracket – and hadn't considered any impact to
IRMAA.
With Roth Done Right, the advisor was able to show an alternate pattern that sped up the conversion to
6 years. The new structure offered $30,000 savings in conversion taxes – a 20% reduction on the
prospect's conversion tax bill. The report also showed hundreds of thousands of dollars in long-term
tax and IRMAA savings from the converted assets – an amount the prospect hadn't been able to quantify
on his own.
Outcome
A new client with $1M in new AUM, and a $1M FIA sale to fund the conversion process.
An advisor was working with a prospect who already had assets with Ken Fisher. Fisher's team presented a
5% systematic withdrawal projection, so the advisor needed a stronger way to frame the income
conversation.
Using the Annuity Alpha report, the advisor showed how an annuity could deliver over 8% in annual cash
flow with lifetime income, plus a long-term care doubler. The contrast was clear enough that the prospect
moved forward.
Outcome
$1.5M placed and a $100K in new business revenue.
An advisor was working with a 58-year-old couple with an established, well-funded retirement income plan,
leaving an additional $3M IRA to build out a legacy for the kids. The couple's existing advisor had no
real additional plan for this money, other than to keep it in their managed account and grow that money as
much as possible for the kids.
Using the Legacy Done Right report, the advisor showed the need for tax planning on this $3M IRA.
According to the advisor, the simple analysis "opened up the wallet" to the Roth conversion story. The
advisor then used the blended Roth/Life feature in the report to show a blend of Roth Conversion assets
with some Life Insurance to help maximize the client’s legacy.
Outcome
$3M in motion. The advisor picked up a $1.5M FIA sale that will be converted to Roth. And the advisor
also sold a 5-Pay Protection focused IUL policy at $225,000 of premium per year.
An advisor group incorporated the Total Tax Burden report into the strategy presentation for all new
prospects. They ran the tax snapshot for every new client as part of their first meeting conversation,
quantifying the growing tax burden of IRA money – and illustrating the kinds of tax savings possible
when working with their firm.
Starting in January of 2023, this simple analysis was presented to every single prospect who walked in
the door. The goal was to differentiate their practice and drive overall revenue growth through various
Roth conversion strategies.
Outcome
From 2022 to 2025, new annual AUM rose from $5M to $50M. Annual FIA sales rose from $3M to $35M.
And annual life premium rose from $50K to $1M.
