JPMorgan launches financial planning tool that ‘makes the long-term more real’

J.P. Morgan Wealth Management Head of Digital Wealth Planning and Advice Sam Palmer joins Yahoo Finance Live to discuss launching the free digital money coach/tool 'Wealth Plan', how J.P, Morgan is aiming to help investors and clients, retirement, and the outlook for the economy.

Video transcript

- JPMorgan Morgan Wealth Management is launching a free digital money coach to give clients a full picture of their portfolios and create financial goals as well. For more on the JPMorgan wealth plan, we welcome in Sam Palmer, JPMorgan Wealth Management, head of digital wealth planning and advice. Great to have you here with us on set.

SAM PALMER: Hey, good morning.

- Absolutely. All right, so when we think about what this was really created to kind of quell some of the outstanding concerns that your customers were expressing, what is the experience that you hope that they take away from this?

SAM PALMER: Yeah, look. As you said, wealth plan is a digital money coach, and the logic and the philosophy that we wanted to help our clients with is to help focus on the long term, especially in volatile markets that we see right now. It's very easy to either not invest at all or to get swayed and get emotional. Money's emotional. In volatile markets, we might take some actions that we might regret later on. So what we wanted to do with Wealth Plan is to help our clients focus on the long term, focus on creating long term goals, and have everything right at their hands to be able to think about the long term and invest.

- So basically, this is a tool within their Chase app that has all of their accounts, including external accounts. I have to tell you, Sam. I'm kind of surprised this didn't exist already.

And from what I've heard from you and your folks, it's a pretty unique product as well to Chase, which is also surprising to me. Like, I mean, what took so long to do something like this?

SAM PALMER: Right, so I think overall in Wealth Management and in financial services, we are becoming more digital day by day. And as you said, Julie, what we're very excited about is that right in the Chase Mobile app, you can see all of the accounts not just from within Chase but also from outside. And that's what gives you that full 360 view of your finances.

But it's not only that, but that is what connects automatically to this long term robust financial planning component as well. What took so long? We are-- it's something that takes a little bit of time to put together and to integrate. So whereas you might see some of these solutions from the fintechs more in a very point in time or isolated environment, what we've done is we've integrated that with all of our other services that the bank provides. So now, whether it's planning, investing, saving, borrowing, all of that is integrated directly in the Chase app, and you can do it right from your phone.

- You know, it's interesting also because in conversations that we have with financial advisors, for example, or other money managers who are talking to clients, there's still this sense, even with all the information out there, that people are not necessarily doing a great job planning for the future from a financial perspective. So what are you hearing from your clients as to the need for a tool like this, and do they still feel like they need a lot of help?

SAM PALMER: Yeah, so when we were researching and talking to our clients and to advisors prior to even starting the build of the tool, one of the topics that came up very, very clearly is this focus on the present as opposed to the future. There is this concept in behavioral finance called present bias, which means that you are more likely to focus on things that are close in time to you and that you're emotionally connected to.

And guess what? Retirement and long term investing is far away in the future, and you're not emotionally connected to it. So what we wanted to do with Wealth Plan is to help bridge that gap between what is today and what is in the long term right there in your fund, both for the clients and for advisors. And that is what we hear from the clients as they get the tool right now-- that it just makes that long term more real.

- And so in making that long term more real, it's also about what type of technology is being infused within this app and this experience to make sure that whatever type of advice they're receiving, they have the opportunity to be actionable on but also have the opportunity to say, you know what? This is not necessarily something that I want to act on right now.

SAM PALMER: Yeah.

- So where do you infuse that artificial intelligence or even some of just the recommendations that are being provided along the way too?

SAM PALMER: That's exactly right. So what we call wealth planning is your digital money coach. So it's not just about being able to articulate your goals and have a full robust planning engine that allows you to understand how your current asset allocation is helping you to reach those goals.

But also, as you engage with the tool, we are going to give you nudges, insights. So day to day, as you come into the experience, we're going to guide you in terms of, hey, here's where you are today. Here's where you want to go, and here are some of the suggestions and actions that you can take in order to be able to get there.

- Interesting. All right, big banks trying to innovate. Thanks so much, Sam. Appreciate it. Sam Palmer, JPMorgan Wealth Management, head of digital wealth planning and advice.