Financial Wellness Program Provides $5.2 Million Boost to United Real Estate Agents
United Real Estate says its agents participating in Dave Ramsey’s SmartDollar financial wellness program have achieved a financial turnaround representing $3.2 million in new savings and $2 million in debt eliminated since the program launch in April 2024.
The platform teaches essential financial literacy skills and guides participants step-by-step to help them take control of their finances and plan for a secure retirement and a financially stable future. The program, which United Real Estate says is unique among all national brokerages, is making “life-changing impacts and building generational wealth for agents and their families,” according to an Oct. 21 press release.
“Our motivation for organizing the Financial Wellness Program goes far beyond simply supplying our agents with yet one more ‘glittery object’ tool that experiences low adoption rates and eventually dies. Our goal is to permanently impact the generational wealth of our people,” said Phillip Cantrell, United EVP of Strategy and CEO of Benchmark Realty, a United company. “Instead of focusing on how much we can siphon from each agent, our focus is on how much we can add to each agent’s life, over the long term. It is the proverbial story: give a person a fish and they eat for a day. Teach a person how to fish—and their life is changed forever. That is our intent, and we are succeeding.”
SmartDollar is the cornerstone of United’s Financial Wellness Program, which addresses the holistic financial needs of its agents. Other Financial Wellness Program components include healthcare plans designed for independent contractors; retirement and wealth management services; estate and trust planning; tax preparation; investment vehicles; and 100% agent compensation.
“It’s been profoundly inspiring to witness the transformative impact that our financial wellness initiatives, delivered nationally and amplified through VPR’s educational programming, are having on our agents.”
Steve Wagner, United Real Estate
“It’s been profoundly inspiring to witness the transformative impact that our financial wellness initiatives, delivered nationally and amplified through VPR’s educational programming, are having on our agents,” said Steve Wagner, United Real Estate EVP of Training, Education and Development and CEO of VPR, a United Company. “Through this powerful partnership, we’re not just supporting financial stability, we’re providing pathways to generational wealth-building and new opportunities they may never have had otherwise.”
Eric Pearson, United EVP of Leads and CEO of Pearson Smith Realty, a United company, said the program is a must-have for entrepreneurs.
“Any business owner or independent contractor is going to need to properly budget to have a successful P&L. Add estimated taxes, personal expenses, etc., and it becomes nearly impossible not to have a tool like SmartDollar,” Pearson said. “Having that option available for our agents has been huge, and more importantly, it is extremely rewarding to see the positive results they are having after adopting the program.”
United’s financial wellness program was created to fill a gap for independent contractors and is part of United’s multi-prong approach to achieve its mission of “improving the financial trajectory of its agents’ and brokers’ careers and lives.”
Dallas-based United Real Estate operates in 35 states with 170 offices and more than 22,000 agents. The company produced over 73,000 transactions and $26.3 billion in sales volume in 2024.
SEE ALSO:
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Veteran financial services industry journalist Brian Anderson joined 401(k) Specialist as Managing Editor in January 2019. He has led editorial content for a variety of well-known properties including Insurance Forums, Life Insurance Selling, National Underwriter Life & Health, and Senior Market Advisor. He has always maintained a focus on providing readers with timely, useful information intended to help them build their business.
