WPS Advisory, the independent financial advice firm, has partnered with data & payments platform provider Moneyhub to develop and launch LifeStage, an app designed to empower employees to make informed financial decisions, based on their unique circumstances and goals.
As employee financial wellbeing rapidly moves up HR agendas, LifeStage helps employees visualise their money today, tomorrow and into the future with ease. Drawing on a range of Moneyhub’s Open Finance features, the app enables users to understand their assets and liabilities like income, expenditure, savings, debts, pensions and properties at a glance.
Moneyhub and WPS Advisory have also integrated the platform with three separate partners. Guiide, Legado and SmartSearch.
Guiide is a pension modelling tool that enables LifeStage users to create and maintain a personalised retirement plan.
Legado’s secure Digital Vault has been added to LifeStage to allow users and WPS Advisory to upload, store and manage important documents within the app, and notify the other party.
SmartSearch enables individual anti-money laundering checks to be completed in seconds, and helps WPS Advisory comply with the latest Customer Due Diligence and Know Your Customer (KYC) obligations.
LifeStage users are able to share their data with WPS Advisory via Moneyhub’s Sharing Centre feature, so it can ensure IFAs are always advising based on an accurate picture of a users’ financial situation.
From within the Sharing Centre, advisors can see the accounts their assigned users have chosen to share with them, a summary of net worth, assets and account types, income and spending analysis, broken down annually. This empowers the advisors with unprecedented capability to access detailed account, transaction, and income/spending data for their end users.
Employers can choose a level of access to LifeStage that suits their employees, from the stand-alone app with bitesize financial guidance videos, to fully-advised solutions with annual discussions around employees’ financial goals.
Natalie Oliver, Head of Strategy at WPS Advisory comments: “Partnering with Moneyhub has given us an exceptional opportunity to continue delivering a high-quality service to our customers while maintaining value for money. Our aim is to make financial advice, typically provided through the workplace, as accessible and cost-effective as possible. Technology integrations play a vital role in achieving this goal. Through our LifeStage proposition, we are committed to building financial confidence in our customers, empowering them to manage their money today, tomorrow, and in the future. This partnership with Moneyhub, along with our broader integrations, is crucial to reaching these objectives.”
Dan Scholey, Chief Commercial Officer at Moneyhub comments: “Our partnership with WPS Advisory represents a significant step in revolutionising how financial advice is delivered, making it more accessible, efficient and relevant for all and taking full advantage of the benefits of Open Finance. In light of the FCA’s Advice Guidance Boundary Review, this step comes at an ideal time. The research is clear - poor employee financial health impacts mental health, productivity and retention, and employees want employers to be taking a more active role in supporting them with their finances.
By combining the expertise of advisors with cutting edge Open Finance technology, WPS Advisory has developed a truly exceptional proposition.
We’re proud to be working with them to build financial confidence for people at every stage of life, and excited for future plans and iterations of the LifeStage product.”