Justin Nichols, CFP®

Hi, this is Justin Nichols and I’m the main contact person for the Garrett Utility System, more commonly known as GUS.

GUS is a custom software application that all Garrett advisors have access to as part of their membership in the Garrett Network. GUS has three primary functions: summary reporting, time tracking and billing, and contact management.

First, summary reporting… GUS was originally built to provide a quick and easy way to create financial planning summary reports. For example, after an advisor has crunched the numbers using financial planning software to come up with a retirement planning projection, an investment allocation, a life insurance needs analysis, etc., GUS allows the advisor to bring all these pieces together and provide a summary report for the client. The summary report is built by clicking on the standard template paragraphs that are already built into the program, so the creation of the summary report is quick and easy. These template paragraphs can also be customized to make the program more specific to how each advisor works.

Second, GUS is a great time tracking and billing tool. Since the Garrett model is built on hourly or project based engagements, closely tracking billable and non-billable time is crucial. GUS provides an easy way to track time and produce client invoices.

Third, GUS can be used as a program to capture client contact information. All client contact information can be entered into GUS and there is even an “Export to Outlook” function that allows you to export this contact information to Outlook.

GUS also provides the ability for advisors to create fee estimates, client action plans, internal client reports and even mailing labels for client communications.

GUS is another great tool that helps advisors efficiently implement the Garrett business model.