The Helmsted blog

News from us. Ideas for you.
All in one place.

At the Helm is our weekly Monday note: one real advisor workflow, walked through start to finish. Around it live the sample interactions you can download and reuse, and news on what we are shipping. Drill into any of them below.

Helmsted news
Suggested next: Helmsted brings the next step to you

When something a household's plan calls for hasn't happened yet, Helmsted raises it under Suggested next with the reason and the steps. Press Start and it opens a session, gathers the context and drafts the plan and the emails, and it learns with the firm over time.

October 18, 2026Read it  ↗
At the Helm · No. 13
Helmsted suggested the next step. And it learns with the firm over time.

A plan called for two HSAs, and none were on record. Helmsted raised it under Suggested next, and one click opened a session that gathered the context, checked eligibility, split the $10,750 between the spouses, picked the funding, wrote the client a plan and drafted the emails. Every suggestion handled teaches Helmsted more about how the firm works.

October 18, 2026
Sample interaction
The Prescott HSA Action Plan

A couple's plan called for two HSAs this year, and neither account existed. Helmsted raised it under Suggested next; one click opened a session that checked eligibility, put $9,750 in his account and $1,000 in hers, chose the funding and wrote this plan for the couple.

October 18, 2026
The RIA's Chartbook · No. 03
Faster Check-ins, or Better Health?

Why the real promise of AI for independent RIAs is proactive care for the household, and the harness that makes it trustworthy.

October 15, 2026
Helmsted news
Open questions: Helmsted asks before it guesses

When two of your documents disagree, Helmsted raises an open question instead of picking one. Answer it, add context, or dismiss it, and every plan, report and presentation uses the right fact.

October 10, 2026
At the Helm · No. 12
Clients tired of reports? Ask for a presentation instead.

A client weighing a $3M or a $6M gift to his children's trusts after selling his company had stopped reading reports. His advisor asked Helmsted for a presentation: seven slides, one decision on each, with live sliders for spending, return and life expectancy, and where everything ends up under each gift.

October 10, 2026
Sample interaction
The Hartwell Gift Comparison

A business owner weighing a $3M or a $6M gift after selling his company had stopped reading reports. The presentation shows the larger gift sends his children $1.5M more and removes about $0.8M of estate tax, but cuts what he and his wife can spend from $600,000 to $455,000 a year.

October 10, 2026
The RIA's Chartbook · No. 02
Every Vendor Is Part of Your Safeguards

How independent RIAs can evaluate the technology that holds client information, from no-training promises to SOC 2 reports and the auditors who sign them.

October 8, 2026
Video
Built in a conversation, published in one click

An advisor asks Helmsted to put his 401(k) recommendation next to the SIMPLE IRA, adds a profit sharing toggle, asks where the break-even is if the company keeps hiring, and publishes the report straight to the client portal.

October 6, 2026
At the Helm · No. 11
He wanted a retirement plan for his crew. Helmsted showed where the math turns.

The owner of a seven-person commercial services company wanted to add a retirement plan. His advisor worked through the options with Helmsted, narrowed them to a SIMPLE IRA and a safe harbor 401(k) with profit sharing, then asked for a side-by-side breakdown, what happens as the team grows, and the headcount where the math changes.

October 3, 2026
Sample interaction
The Bennett Retirement Plan Options

The owner of a seven-person company wanted a retirement plan. A safe harbor 401(k) with profit sharing puts $72,000 a year in his account against $23,500 in a SIMPLE, $38,196 a year ahead after the cost of staff contributions, and profit sharing pays for itself up to about 21 employees.

October 3, 2026
Helmsted news
Helmsted is now a Schwab third-party data recipient

Firms that custody at Schwab can now send daily account data to Helmsted with one request in Schwab Advisor Center.

October 2, 2026
The RIA's Chartbook · No. 01
Client Data and the Law

What Regulation S-P expects of independent RIAs as AI moves into their workflows, and how to be ready before an incident. A free chartbook from Helmsted.

October 1, 2026
Video
Your advice, in your clients' hands

Build a custom report in plain language, in your firm's brand, and publish it to the client portal. Clients ask Helmsted about it in any language, and when a question turns to advice, they book time with you and you get the summary.

September 29, 2026
At the Helm · No. 10
They wanted room for her mother. Helmsted helped show them what the rate costs.

A couple wanted to bring her mother to live with them, but worried about moving off a 3.25% mortgage into a 7% market. Their advisor asked Helmsted for an interactive that shows what the move does in today's rate environment: four ways to finance it, each priced against staying put, and how much of the higher cost is the house and how much is the rate.

September 26, 2026
Sample interaction
The Pryor Home Move Planner

A couple wanted to bring her mother to live with them but worried about leaving a 3.25% mortgage for a 7.03% market. At a $1.1M purchase, after-tax housing goes from $2,937 to $5,390 a month: $1,468 of the increase is the bigger home and $985 is the rate, about $535K of net worth over 20 years.

September 26, 2026
Helmsted news
Accounts that live with the household, no client email lost, and cleaner meeting records

This week's release: custodial accounts attach to their household with one book per accounts page, every fetched email is kept with automated mail flagged instead of dropped, and meeting transcripts and documents are filed once.

September 26, 2026
Helmsted news
Helmsted receives a clean SOC 2 Type I report

Sensiba LLP issued Helmsted's SOC 2 Type I report covering Security and Confidentiality, with a clean opinion.

September 24, 2026
At the Helm · No. 09
The client asked what the Fed just cost him. Helmsted helped his advisor show him what it pays.

A client watched the Fed raise rates and asked what it does to his portfolio. From a dropped-in statement, Helmsted helped his advisor split every holding's rate risk between the rate the Fed sets and the rate the market sets, and show that the hikes cost him $620 in price and add $629 a year of forward income, close to a wash, while the duration in his bond sleeves answers to the 10 year.

September 19, 2026
Sample interaction
The Ashby Interest Rate Review

A client asked what the Fed's hike does to his portfolio. Two rate sliders split every holding's effect between the front end and the 10 year: three more hikes cost $620 in price against $629 of new income, while +300 bp on the 10 year costs $35,583, $12,796 of it bond duration alone, with the equity response on a slider.

September 19, 2026
Helmsted news
Sources you can click, a notetaker for Meet and Teams, and Word documents

This week's release: every response ends with a Sources link that highlights the response passage by passage, a Helmsted notetaker replaces native recording on Meet and Teams, and Helmsted now builds Word documents on the firm's letterhead.

September 19, 2026
At the Helm · No. 08
Retirement was a dozen decisions at once. Helmsted put them on one map.

A couple nine months from retirement with a pension election, three stock windows, a Medicare gap, and nine in ten retirement dollars still untaxed. One ask to Helmsted turned it into an interactive map: a timeline of what happens when, live controls for each choice, and four charts that move together.

September 13, 2026
Sample interaction
The Marsh Retirement Decisions Map

Nine months from retirement with a pension election, three company stock windows, a 50-month health coverage gap, and nine in ten retirement dollars still untaxed: lifetime taxes of $1.79M, $4.89M still tax deferred in 2039, $7.51M to the children, and live controls to change any of it.

September 13, 2026
Helmsted news
Meetings that write themselves up, calendar control from a session, and passkey sign-in

This week's release: Google Meet transcripts land on the calendar event and feed the next prep, sessions start on arrival at a meeting, Helmsted manages your calendar from a session, clients book faster from the portal, and sign-in now asks for a passkey or authenticator app.

September 13, 2026
At the Helm · No. 07
Six figures in, and it still felt tight. Helmsted showed them why.

A household with strong income, a rental, and a side business, and a checking account that never matched. One ask to Helmsted turned it into a four-step interactive: where the money goes, a normal month, the choices, and what those choices add up to.

September 5, 2026
Sample interaction
The Whitaker Family Money and Choices Review

Strong salary, a rental, a side business, and a checking account that always felt tight: history averaging $18,607 a month, a forward need of $16,906, $2,844 unassigned with rental cash and $1,156 short without it, and a larger trim worth $42,976 over five years.

September 5, 2026
At the Helm · No. 06
Every new parent is asking about Trump Accounts. One advisor answered it clearly, in one report.

Since contributions opened in July, the same question in every young-parent meeting. The answer is one condition: a Trump Account only wins if it is converted to a Roth and held past 60.

August 29, 2026
Sample interaction
The Trump Account Comparison Brief

New parents asking whether the Trump Account beats the custodial account they were about to open: three wrappers on identical terms, and the answer that it wins only when it is converted to a Roth in the twenties and held past 60, $5,104,853 against $3,976,163 at 65, and loses at every earlier age.

August 29, 2026
Helmsted news
Helmsted engages Vanta and Sensiba to advance SOC 2 compliance

Helmsted has engaged Vanta for continuous security and compliance monitoring and Sensiba, an independent audit firm, to perform our SOC 2 examination.

August 28, 2026
At the Helm · No. 05
The lender showed them $1.5 million. With their advisor, Helmsted showed them the reality.

A young couple pre-qualified for $1.5 million, a family plan that runs on one income, and a model that opens on the reality instead of the letter.

August 24, 2026
Sample interaction
The Mercer Home Purchase and Cash Flow Model

A young couple planning a family, with one income set to pause when kids come: a model that opens on the $335,000 to $360,000 the family plan comfortably carries, keeps the two-income $555,000 to $580,000 as a ghost band, and flags the bank's $1.5 million pre-qualification as deliberately off the dial.

August 24, 2026
Video
Is your software AI-native?

There is a difference between software with AI added on and software built AI-native: one system where the intelligence is the foundation, so planning, communications, and materials all draw from the same living context of the household.

August 18, 2026
At the Helm · No. 04
They wanted to claim at 62. Helmsted helped show them what that meant.

A couple set on claiming Social Security the moment they could, afraid the trust fund would not hold, and a claiming explorer built to start at their answer instead of the advisor's, with the fear modeled as a dial rather than dismissed.

August 17, 2026
Sample interaction
The Foster Social Security Claiming Explorer

A couple set on claiming at 62 and worried about the trust fund: an explorer that starts at their answer, tests an across-the-board reduction from 2033 against every claiming age, and shows the survivor check the decision leaves behind, $2,765 against $4,898 a month.

August 17, 2026
Video
Social Security Planning, Built in Minutes with Helmsted

Advisors can create and continuously refine interactive, on-brand Social Security planning experiences in plain language: adjust the logic, visuals, and assumptions, then publish to the client portal.

August 14, 2026
At the Helm · No. 03
Worried they hadn't saved for college. They already had.

A young couple who saved well but never opened a college fund. College gets covered by earmarking what they already hold, and the 529 does one job: tuition passes through, in and out the same year, capturing the state deduction without ever holding a balance.

August 10, 2026
Sample interaction
The Calloway Education Funding Plan

A young couple who saved well but never opened a college fund: a twenty-year education bill of $950,000 on one page, college covered by earmarking investments they already held, and a 529 kept purely for state tax savings, roughly $12,000 captured by passing tuition through.

August 10, 2026
Helmsted news
Sessions move across workspaces, portal invites fixed, and PDF materials

This week's release: files and sessions move between workspaces, portal invite emails are deterministic and editable with a preview link, Helmsted learns across sessions, and materials can now be built as well-formatted PDFs.

August 10, 2026
Video
Creating Households in Helmsted

Adding a household to Helmsted is as simple as sharing what you already have: drop in files and context, publish an on-brand checklist to the client portal, and let Helmsted walk the client through the rest.

August 6, 2026
At the Helm · No. 02
New client in July. Major prior-year deduction uncovered.

A new client, a stack of operating agreements, and $46,786 back from a tax year that had already ended: a cash balance plan design with a September 15 window.

August 3, 2026
Sample interaction
The Caldwell Plan Design Review

A 40-year-old eye surgeon, brand new to the firm, whose operating agreements were hiding a retroactive cash balance window: $46,786 of tax back on a closed year, a two-year design worth $91,064, and a CPA-verified timeline to a September 15 deadline.

August 3, 2026
Helmsted news
Helmsted v2 is rolling out

Drive with search and Ask Helmsted, memory enhancements, per-user audit logs, an account management portal, a richer client portal, and a new workspace UX.

August 3, 2026
At the Helm · No. 01
Retired this year. Priced at sixty-three. Billed at sixty-five.

A newly retired couple, a subsidy cliff, legislation still moving, and a new HSA window: the gap years to Medicare on a single report.

July 27, 2026
Sample interaction
The Sutton Retirement Roadmap

A newly retired couple in their early sixties, three years from Medicare, navigating a subsidy cliff, moving legislation, a new HSA window, and a spending rule they agreed to in advance.

July 27, 2026
At the Helm · Weekly

Get the Monday note.
One workflow. Start to finish.

One real advisor workflow every Monday, walked through start to finish, with the sample interaction to go with it. No noise, unsubscribe anytime.