Weather | Sports | Forums | Comics | Classifieds | Calendar | Movies
A St. Petersburg man and his wife launch a referral service connecting consumers with financial planners.
By HELEN HUNTLEY
© St. Petersburg Times, published August 24, 2001
Consumers hungry for financial advice often struggle to find someone qualified to help them. Should they poll their friends, thumb through the telephone book or just walk into a brokerage firm office and take pot luck?
Andrew Orr thinks he has the answer. The 33-year-old life insurance agent is launching a modest advertising campaign Sept. 2 for what he hopes eventually will be a big business -- Financial Planner Referral, run from his St. Petersburg home.
So far Orr has gotten just 32 of the Tampa Bay area's 450 Certified Financial Planners to give his idea a whirl. But he says that will be enough to launch a Web site (www.needplanner.com) and buy a series of 60-second spots on Time Warner Cable and some newspaper ads. The small response means that at least initially, he and his wife, Angie, will answer the phone line themselves as volunteers.
"When I get an idea, I don't forget about it; I pursue it," he said.
Local financial planners can attest to that.
"I got three postcards in the mail from him and then he called like eight times," said planner Kimberly Overman of the Financial Well in Tampa. She says she likes the idea for a network, except for the price tag. Orr asked participating planners to pay $500 a month for three months, scaled back from an initial request for $1,000 a month for six months.
"My marketing budget wouldn't cover it," she said. "I already have a Web site, Yellow Pages ad and everything else."
But that's not stopping Orr. He has become a tireless promoter of his vision for a referral network and the benefits of financial planning. He says he learned the value of planning first-hand growing up in Mississippi when his father became disabled and the family business failed. The family had no savings, disability insurance or retirement plan. The resulting financial collapse and its emotional toll left an indelible impression.
"Financial planning is essential for keeping your family together," Orr said.
He said he became disillusioned with what he calls the "sales culture" in the life insurance business and wanted to try something different. Although many agents and stockbrokers call themselves financial planners, Orr says most do not take clients through the full financial planning process, which includes setting goals, analyzing assets and debts and coming up with a written plan.
Membership in Orr's referral network is limited to planners who have the Certified Financial Planner designation and who agree to abide by the CFP Board's ethics and practice standards.
Consumers already can get referrals through the Financial Planning Association's Web site (www.fpanet.org) or toll-free telephone line (800) 322-4237. The problem, Orr said, is that most consumers don't know about the organization or the benefits of working with a CFP. That's where the advertising campaign comes in.
"I want to get people to pick up the phone and call a real professional, not another salesman," he said. Orr said the network will try to match consumer needs with the qualifications of planners who join the network. Some planners specialize in particular types of clients.
Clearwater planner Ray Ferrara, who heads ProVise Management Group, signed on for the referral network and said he thinks it will help more people realize they could benefit from financial planning.
"Most people feel that financial planners only work with the wealthy," Ferrara said. "No matter how much money they have, they never think of themselves as wealthy, so there is a reluctance to approach a financial planner."
Orr's campaign carries the theme "Need a Plan? Get a planner."
Ferrara said he sees the local network as an extension of a $6-million national campaign by the CFP Board to increase awareness of the CFP designation. By pooling their money, planners can afford advertising they never could do on their own, he said.
"It's no different from doctor's referrals you see advertised," said Tampa financial planner Laura Waller of Laura Waller Advisors. She said the service could be useful if it provides information about planners' credentials and if consumers go beyond them, seeking their own information about the planners' reputations and backgrounds.
But Waller said she did not sign up for the network because her practice is well-established and she has her own marketing program.
Eventually Orr would like to create planning networks in other metropolitan areas, answering all the calls in St. Petersburg. He thinks it could become a profitable business but acknowledges it would be easy for others to copy his idea if it succeeds.
In the meantime, Orr is plunging ahead. His business telephone lines were installed Thursday: (727) 898-8800 for callers in Pinellas County or toll-free (866) 633-NEED PLAN.
-- Helen Huntley can be reached at huntley@sptimes.com or (727) 893-8230.