Case Study

Plan First Wealth Moved $39M to Betterment in Just 30 Days

Building a well-crafted plan was key to the successful transition. “We spent a lot of time upfront coming up with the plan, timeline, and communication,” said Martha. “I was convinced we were going to have to meet with every client, but it was way easier than I thought." 

One of the biggest challenges in any transition is gathering and organizing client data, but together, the Betterment Advisor Solutions and Plan First Wealth Teams put together a plan to ensure that data wouldn’t be a stumbling block. Martha pulled what she could from  internal spreadsheets and  their previous custodian, while the Betterment team facilitated the process  through shared spreadsheets and a hands-on, iterative approach. 

Certain edge cases were also discussed during the planning phase in order to anticipate any challenges before they became too disruptive. "I don't think it could have been better,” said Martha. “The Betterment team proposed and implemented the best solutions for the weirdness that we were dealing with." What started as a daunting project quickly felt doable with a collaborative, well-thought-out plan. “It wasn't overwhelming,” she continued. “And if there was any confusion, you cleared it up." 

Martha was worried about getting pushback from her clients, whether they’d question the decision, or feel uneasy about what this change could mean for their money. Betterment Advisor Solutions brought expertise to the table on how to communicate the transition to clients to build trust and minimize disruption.

The Betterment team put together a communications plan to inform clients about the switch that was direct and easy-to-understand. They started with Betterment’s existing, tested client announcement template and worked together to adjust the language to meet Plan First Wealth’s individual needs.
“The emails said, this is what we're doing. This is what your fee is. This is what's changing. This is what’s not changing,” said Martha.

Plan First Wealth wanted to ensure that clients wouldn’t feel the burden of the firm’s transition. With Betterment, the process was “fairly seamless,” she said.

Using the  data gathered from the implementation plan, the team kicked off  120+ account invitations and transfer requests. Each invitation was pre-filled with all client information, allowing clients to open accounts and authorize asset transfers entirely online through a paperless ACAT -enabled process. 

All along the way, Martha was kept up to date on her clients’ activities using a mutual project tracker, and Betterment sent nudges to any clients who stalled in the process to keep them on track. Once moved, Plan First Wealth advisors began managing their clients’ accounts utilizing Betterment’s tax-smart transition functionality.

“The idea of tax transitioning accounts was really attractive because we didn't have a good system on our old custodian,” said Martha. “We even brought over clients that still had unrealized gains from when they ACAT-ed to us five years ago because we didn't have a good way to systematically get them moved over.”

Martha’s team gained a structured, repeatable process that made tax-sensitive transitions significantly more manageable. “With Betterment Advisor Solutions,” she continued, “I can start the workflow and get the tax quote. I click rebalance now. I can get long-term and short-term gains and say, alright, if we turned it on, these are the long-term gains that would be realized instantly.”