For Paraplanners ·
What you'll accomplish
An advisor asks, "Which form moves a rollover from the old employer plan, and what else has to go with it?" You could page through three custodian PDFs. Instead you will build a Gemini Notebook (formerly NotebookLM) that holds the custodian's public form instructions and guides plus the firm's own forms checklist. Then you ask it which form fits a request, which supporting documents the instructions list, and which signatures they call for. Every answer comes with citations you can click.
What you'll need
Keep this notebook free of client documents. It holds public, blank instructions and the firm's own checklist. No statements, no completed forms, no household names. That keeps the notebook shareable with colleagues without a data question. Ask your CCO whether the firm allows Gemini Notebook for firm reference material, and if you use a work account, check the data and sharing settings your Google administrator has set.
What you should see: a folder of PDFs plus a short list of version dates. Troubleshooting: If a file is behind a login, skip it. Use public documents only.
What you should see: an empty notebook with a place to add sources and a chat panel. Troubleshooting: The interface changes often. Look for an add-sources option when the notebook opens, and for the chat panel in the main view.
Add the custodian files and the firm's forms checklist as sources. Google's help page lists "Add or discover new sources for your notebook" as its own topic, so use that article if you want other source types such as links. For this notebook, stick to the files you downloaded.
What you should see: every file listed as a source, with Gemini Notebook assigning an emoji to the notebook once sources load. Troubleshooting: If a source will not load, convert it to a PDF or paste its text into a document and add that.
Ask a question you already know the answer to and check that the citations lead to the right passage.
Create a short document in the notebook sources called "Version dates" that lists each form and its printed version date. Tell the notebook about it in your prompts so answers can mention it.
Gemini Notebook offers private sharing with Viewer or Editor access, per Google's help page. If you share, give colleagues Viewer access unless they need to add sources, and share only with people inside the firm.
Forms change. Put a recurring reminder on your calendar to compare each version date with the custodian's site and replace any source that has a newer one.
Which form fits
A client wants to change the beneficiary on an individual retirement account. Which form fits, according to the sources? List alternatives if the sources mention any. Cite each.
Supporting documents list
For the distribution request form, list every supporting document the instructions mention. Cite the page or section for each.
Signature check
Which signatures does the transfer form require for a joint account? If the sources are silent, say "not in the sources".
Checklist from the sources
Build a pre-submission checklist for an account opening, using the sources only. Mark each item with its source.