26
The optimistic message expanded on The
Hartford’s “Investor Survival Guide,” a brochure 
PLANCO used throughout the year to help ﬁnancial pro-
fessionals advise their clients amid market volatility.
PLANCO sent out more than 500,000 guides in the sec-
ond half of 2001 alone. And that was just a small part of
the company’s massive educational efforts during the
year. Those efforts included 5,000 instructional semi-
nars—1,200 more than in 2000—and constant advice
and selling strategies for The Hartford’s products.
“Our value is in providing education to ﬁnancial
professionals,” says Tim Seifert, PLANCO senior vice
president and managing director. “One of their major
concerns in 2001 was how to show their clients that
we’ve been through downturns and crises before.” 
PLANCO wholesalers did that and much more.
They provided reliable counsel only a trusted partner
can offer. They helped ﬁnancial professionals success-
fully show clients the beneﬁts of using short-term buy-
ing opportunities to enhance their long-term
investment positions. Consequently, despite the 
prolonged market correction, many of the ﬁnancial pro-
fessionals PLANCO works with—and their clients—
earned above-market returns in 2001. 
PLANCO’s extraordinary service and steady sup-
port during 2001 reveal how well the company’s whole-
salers always think ahead and anticipate ﬁnancial
professionals’ needs. That does more than sell ﬁnancial
products; it builds trust. Trust is the bedrock on which
PLANCO was founded 25 years ago. Trust—along with
a constant ﬂow of reliable information and advice—is
what has helped PLANCO’s clients weather changes in
the ﬁnancial markets over those 25 years. And trust is
what makes PLANCO the ﬁnancial advisor’s “partner of
choice” today.  
“We want to be a trusted advisor to our clients so
they in turn can be trusted advisors to theirs,” says
Seifert. “Our role doesn’t always revolve around prod-
ucts. Sometimes it just means being the go-to person,
the one who can solve difﬁcult problems. Financial pro-
fessionals need an inner circle of people they can
always turn to.”
PLANCO is at the center of that circle.