Category: Vanilla Updates

Vanilla

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Jun 13, 2025

Setting the standard in estate planning: From experience to innovation When Steve Lockshin—ranked the #1 financial advisor in the country by Barron’s—founded Vanilla, he didn’t set out to build just another software platform. He set out to solve a problem he lived every day: the complexity of managing ultra-high-net-worth (UHNW) estates. With over 35 years of experience advising the wealthiest families in America, Steve knew the stakes. From generation-skipping transfer tax planning and state estate taxes to derivative strategies and complex fiduciary structures—these aren’t theoretical problems. They’re daily realities. That’s why he built Vanilla: the platform that transforms real-life expertise...

Vanilla

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May 08, 2025

AI-powered tools accelerate meaningful conversations, eliminate manual processes, and deliver holistic insights at scale BELLEVUE, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Vanilla, the most trusted platform in modern estate planning, today announced significant enhancements to its AI suite, delivering a new level of intelligence and scale to the estate planning workflow. Designed to go far beyond basic summarization, the updated toolkit empowers advisors to analyze estate documents as a cohesive whole, uncover planning opportunities, and deliver personalized guidance with greater speed and accuracy. “At Vanilla, AI isn’t a bolt-on; it’s a belief system,” said Amjad Hussain, Chief Technology Officer at Vanilla. “Our vision was always...

Vanilla

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Apr 17, 2025

Vanilla Delivers Modern Estate Planning Capabilities to More Than 700 Advisors at Mariner Salt Lake City, UT – April 17, 2025 – Vanilla, the leading platform in modern estate planning, announced a partnership with Mariner, a national financial services firm, to deliver estate planning and advisory capabilities to the more than 700 advisors managing $560B in assets at the firm. Since the partnership began, Mariner has seen a 200% increase in revenue growth rates among the advisors who have adopted Vanilla for holistic planning. “We’re thrilled to have expanded our relationship with an iconic firm like Mariner, which is leading...

Vanilla

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Apr 09, 2025

Vanilla Recognized in Product Innovation and Outstanding Contribution categories; Chairman Steve Lockshin a Finalist for Outstanding Individual Contribution Salt Lake City, UT – April 7, 2025 – Vanilla, the leading platform in modern estate planning, has been selected as a finalist for the Twelfth Annual Family Wealth Report Awards 2025 program in the following categories: Product Innovation (B2B) Outstanding Contribution to Wealth Management Thought Leadership (Company) Outstanding Contribution to Wealth Management Thought Leadership (Individual) – Steve Lockshin Through a rigorous and independent judging process, the annual Family Wealth Report Awards program honors the most innovative and exceptional firms, teams and...

Vanilla

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Apr 08, 2025

Vanilla recently announced our integration with eMoney, empowering financial advisors to streamline their estate planning workflows like never before. Matter Family Office, a nationally recognized advisory firm managing approximately $3.5 billion in assets, is already leveraging this integration to enhance efficiency, improve client engagement, and scale the impact of estate planning across their client base. The Power of Integration A truly comprehensive approach to estate planning is not complete without visibility into the client’s balance sheet. For many advisory teams, this data already exists in eMoney. Until now, this gap has led to inefficient workarounds to get eMoney data into...

Vanilla

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Apr 07, 2025

The 2024 Financial Financial Planner Productivity Study from Kitces, How Financial Planners Actually Do Financial Planning, collects data on the key drivers of team productivity for advisory firms.  This data is crucial for firm success as clients continuously expect more from their relationships with their advisors, and advisors are faced with finding ways to meet these evolving needs without adding hours to their day or increasing overhead costs.  Importantly, this survey reflects how real advisors operate in their practices day to day—shedding light on the tools they use, how they approach certain processes, their client interactions, and more. This sets...

Vanilla

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Feb 26, 2025

Joe Abbott joins as Chief Marketing Officer and Hanna Grokenberger Byers named Chief of Staff and VP of Operations as the Vanilla platform surpasses 15,000 client estates Vanilla, the leading platform in modern estate planning, today announced the appointment of Joe Abbott as Chief Marketing Officer and Hanna Grokenberger Byers as Chief of Staff and Vice President of Operations. This comes just weeks after the company ended its fiscal year with 293% year-over-year platform growth and the release of V/AI Copilot, the first AI agent for estate advisory. In the last year, Vanilla has cemented its position as category leader...

Vanilla

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Dec 05, 2024

The best advisors (and, truthfully, our favorite people) are the curious ones—they dig in, ask questions, and are always learning. They want to bring clients great advice that’s backed by education, experience, and perspective.  For all the lifelong learners out there, Vanilla is your partner for refreshing, broadening, honing, brushing up, mastering, reviewing, or just dipping your toes into estate planning topics and skills.  Vanilla Academy launched earlier this year as an estate planning learning hub for advisors who want to up-level their offering and show clients a breadth of expertise, and we’ve just added three additional courses to the...

John Costello

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Nov 19, 2024

New findings highlight increasing expectations for comprehensive estate planning services and technology including AI Vanilla, the award-winning estate planning software company, today announced the release of its second annual State of Estate Planning report, which surveyed 1,000 U.S. consumers on their estate planning priorities, challenges, and expectations.  Vanilla’s 2025 State of Estate Planning report reveals that consumers are seeking comprehensive services and strategies from advisors to preserve both their wealth and their personal values across generations. It also highlights the need for advisors to harness technology to efficiently manage complex estate plans and provide comprehensive wealth advisory with the personal...