Your planning software knows a client's balances, beneficiaries and risk score. It doesn't know that her daughter just picked a college three states away, that he's thinking about selling the shop in two years, or that the annual review last spring ran long because they were planning a trip to see their first grandchild.
Those are the details clients mention once, in passing, and notice when you remember. They are also the details that tell you what the next conversation should be about.
What's worth remembering
Think of the person behind the account. The things that come up again:
- Life plans in their own words. "I want to stop working at 62, not 65." "We'd like to help with the down payment for our son."
- Changes on the horizon. A new job, a move, a business sale, a child starting college, a wedding to pay for.
- Family and who matters. The spouse's name, the kids and what they're up to, the adult child they'd like you to meet one day.
- What worries them. Market drops, running out of money, leaving enough for the kids. What they say when they're anxious tells you how to explain the next decision.
- Small personal things: the golf trip, the garden, the grandchild's name.
- Who referred them, and who they might refer.
Note it right after the meeting
The ten minutes after a meeting are when you still remember the tone, not just the facts. Before the next call, capture:
- What changed since last time.
- What they're thinking about, even if nothing is decided.
- What you promised: the rollover paperwork, a projection with the earlier retirement date, an intro to an estate attorney.
- Anything personal they mentioned.
Two or three sentences is enough. The goal isn't a transcript. It's being able to open the next meeting with "How did the campus visit go?"
Prepare in five minutes
Before each review, read what you noted last time and pick one personal thing to ask about and one thing they were worried about to address. Five minutes of this changes the first minute of the meeting, and the first minute sets the tone for the rest.
Between meetings, a short note when something comes up in an email or a call keeps the picture current. A client who mentions a job change in March shouldn't have to tell you again in September.
Check your firm's rules first
Many firms have rules about client information on personal phones and about which notes count as records the firm has to keep. Your firm's CRM and recordkeeping come first. A personal memory app is for the human side you'd otherwise lose, and only where your firm's policy allows it.
Where Requaint fits
Requaint™ is an app for iPhone that keeps your own memory of people. It isn't the client file or a record your firm has to keep, and it doesn't replace your CRM. It keeps the person behind the account.
After a meeting, tap the mic and talk for ten seconds: "Review with Ellen and Mark. Their daughter Ana starts at Michigan in the fall. Mark wants to stop at 62. Promised a projection with the earlier date." Or type a line. Requaint drafts a card for each person, Ana included, with how they're related and what you talked about. You check it and save.
- Before the meeting. When a meeting on your calendar has people you've noted on the invite, Home shows it under Coming up, with how to recognize each of them, the last time you met and what's still open.
- Family stays connected. Search "Ana" and her parents come back with her. Open Ellen and Mark is one tap away.
- Ages move forward. Say "their grandson is two" in March and the card still shows the right age a year later.
- Promises become a list. "Projection with the earlier date" turns into a follow-up you can tick off.
Your notes are stored on your iPhone, not on our servers. To make a card, your words go to ElevenLabs (speech to text) and Anthropic (Claude): while you record, the audio streams straight from your iPhone to ElevenLabs; a second pass of the recording and everything for Anthropic go through our relay, which stores none of it. The details are in the privacy policy.