By providing answers to common investor questions, Snap Projections helps advisors get the ball rolling
Making the planning process easier
By providing answers to common investor questions, Snap Projections helps advisors get the ball rolling
As Canadians approach retirement, they are faced with a number of questions about their finances that are often difficult for advisors to answer. That’s what Pawel Brzeminski, founder and CEO of Snap Projections, observed when he began having conversations with advisors.
“There was too much complexity and not enough logic in helping address these questions from clients,” Brzeminski says. “Financial planning software would generate 50- to 70-page reports that didn’t help investors make better decisions.”
Brzeminski, a software engineer, wanted to create something that would allow advisors to have practical conversations with their clients. So he built Snap Projections, which uses projection plans that answer investors’ core questions based on variables like income, personal and corporate assets, cash, benefits, debts, and insurance.
“We designed [the software] so that investors can see their life on one page … It’s easy to show what areas an investor and advisor need to focus on” Pawel Brzeminski, Snap Projections
“We can take the information and create a projection that the client can see on one page,” Brzeminski says. “If we enter it in to address the question ‘How long will my money last?’ and the answer comes out to 85 years old, then an advisor can now easily have that conversation with the client and ask them, ‘Is that enough?’”
Snap focuses specifically on retirement planning and asset decumulation, which Brzeminski believes is a key issue in financial planning today. However, he says it’s the practicality of the software that sets Snap apart from other options on the market.
“It combines what advisors want and what they need,” he says. “The software answers questions quickly. We designed it so that investors can see their life on one page and advisors don’t have to jump to different screens. It’s easy to show what areas an investor and advisor need to focus on.”
That simplicity, he says, can help advisors differentiate themselves. “Financial planning is not about long reports – it’s about the impact of service,” Brzeminski says. “Snap is quick; it helps educate the investor, and its reports are easily understood.”
Brzeminski says that while Snap can help different investor groups, its target audience is advisors who serve clients in the $100,000 to $1 million range. So far, Brzeminski has received positive feedback from the industry. “Many have told me that if Snap didn’t exist, they wouldn’t use anything else because there is nothing like it,” he says.
Brzeminski believes Snap offers a solution for an area of financial planning that hasn’t received as much attention as others. He sees education as a critical aspect of planning and Snap as a shortcut to provide that education.
“Snap is the shortest path to value,” he says. “If you are an advisor who only oversees investments, this is a way to start looking at financial planning and answer the biggest questions for your clients.”
