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How to find alternatives to popular apps and programs

Posted on October 4, 2012 by in Efficiency, Software

Last month Tungle announced they’re shutting down their popular public calendar and scheduling service (see: Tungle, my go-to calendar service, is shutting down. Here are public calendar alternatives financial advisers should consider).

I used Tungle to book well over 200 meetings, so I’m going to need to identify a suitable substitute for a public calendar.

What’s an easy way to do that?

One way to quickly identify alternatives to popular apps and programs is a website I covered in my latest Morningstar Advisor Quickview post.

Find out what it is by reading Quickview: Quickly Identify Alternate Software Solutions

FPPad Bits and Bytes for September 28

Posted on September 28, 2012 by in Bits & Bytes

I’ve been on the road the entire week, but still stopped to build a list of best tech-related stories in the financial planning industry for you.

And don’t forget; if you’re attending FPA Experience this weekend, I’m presenting Transformative Technology You Can Implement Today on Sunday 9/30 at 11:15am in room 217 B-C on the Concourse Level of the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center. See you there!

Here are this week’s stories of interest:

Putnam Launches Financial Advisor Blog from FA-Mag.com

[Kudos for the fund company for investing in the creation of technology content for advisers. The blog is largely made up of short 1-minute video walkthroughs, primarily showing off simple things to do on an iPad. One noteworthy video is the one on Dropbox; I’m surprised the video doesn’t include a disclaimer about checking with compliance before using Dropbox (or any similar app) to store files containing client information (see Dropbox for Financial Advisers: Is it Safe? Secure?).] Putnam Investments, which was recently voted to have the best website in the asset management industry for financial advisors by Kasina, is expanding its social media presence with a blog launched today to communicate with advisors.

Trumpet Publisher might be your answer to manually uploading hundreds of files to a file sharing site

Posted on September 26, 2012 by in Efficiency, Software

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Jo Day, co-founder of Trumpet, Inc.

In my presentations to advisers, I talk about file sharing and synchronization services like Dropbox and ShareFile as an alternative to client web portals.

These file sharing services can sync to a folder on your local computer, so uploading and downloading files is as easy as dragging-and-dropping them in and out of a folder.

But what happens if advisers need to deliver hundreds of documents to all of their clients at once? This is exactly what happens during the quarterly portfolio reporting period.

One solution to avoid manual work is a new product from Trumpet, Inc. called Trumpet Publisher.

Trumpet Publisher integrates with the popular file sharing service ShareFile from Citrix (see: Rob Kirkland tells how ShareFile can be an alternative to Dropbox for advisers). The integration was announced in the press release a few weeks ago (see: Trumpet, Inc. Integrates with Citrix ShareFile)

To learn more about Trumpet Publisher, I spoke with Jo Day, co-founder of Trumpet, Inc., about her company’s latest product and how it can streamline many manual processes when attempting to share hundreds of documents with hundreds of clients at once.

Click the player embedded below to listen to the podcast.

From the 2012 Gemini Orion Advisor Forum: Marty Kurtz of The Planning Center

Posted on September 26, 2012 by in Conferences, Portfolio Management Software

Last week I attended the 2012 Gemini Orion Advisor Forum to get the latest scoop on developments to the Orion Advisor Services platfom. See tweets with the #goaf12 hashtag for some of the insight.

While at the event, I sat down with several Orion clients to get their feedback on how the portfolio service bureau has helped grow their business.

Here is Marty Kurtz, founder and president of The Planning Center, speaking with me about his firm’s success with Orion.

(click to watch on YouTube)

FPPad Bits and Bytes for September 21

Posted on September 21, 2012 by in Bits & Bytes

I’m attending the final day of the Gemini Orion Advisor Forum 2012 today, so be sure to check the #GOAF12 hashtag on Twitter for the latest event updates.

Here are this week’s stories of interest:

Is Your Website Mobile? Three Do’s and Don’ts from Financial-Planning.com

[You have looked at your website with a tablet or smartphone recently, right? If not, you need to do it now and see if it’s at all user friendly. Just about 15% of all traffic to FPPad comes from mobile devices (80% of that is all from iPhones and iPads), so it’s more important than ever before to be mobile friendly.] It’s no secret that the rise of mobile devices has created one of the largest shifts in consumer behavior in the last 40 years.

Tungle, my go-to calendar service, is shutting down. Here are public calendar alternatives financial advisers should consider

Posted on September 18, 2012 by in Efficiency, Software

My Tungle.me calendar

Update, August 2016: I added Assistant.to, a slick Chrome plugin that works only with personal and corporate Gmail and Google Calendar accounts.

With a hat tip to Atlanta-based adviser Russ Thornton, I learned that Tungle.me, my go-to public calendar service, announced today that it is shutting down in December.

See the Life is About the Journey post from Tungle founder Marc Gingras on the company blog.

Sad but not surprising

This is a big disappointment, but it is not unexpected. Ever since being acquired by Research In Motion (the makers of BlackBerry mobile phones) in April 2011, Tungle’s blog and Twitter feed went silent, and customer service stopped responding to inquiries, mine included.

Still, over the two years that I used the service (see A Simpler Way to Schedule Meetings at Morningstar, login required), I booked well over 200 meetings and avoided unnecessary correspondence.

Why advisers need a public calendar

In my Transformative Technology You Can Implement Today presentation, I demonstrate how financial advisers can stop playing “email Battleship” when attempting to schedule meetings.

Instead of the constant back-and-forth emails trying to lock down a time that works for all those involved in a meeting, public calendar services allow one or more attendees to draw in the times they are available, and everyone receives a confirmation when a time is identified that all can attend. No more “how does Tuesday at 1pm work for you?” volleys.

Tungle alternatives

Never one to leave FPPad readers out in the cold, here are some free and low-cost alternatives to Tungle worth investigating. I’m not making any one specific recommendation now, but will soon have to switch my own public calendar over to one of these services (now sorted with the most recently modified first).

Have any others to recommend? Leave a comment below.

RegEd announces agreement to acquire Arkovi: What financial advisers need to know

Posted on September 17, 2012 by in Compliance, Social Media

This morning, compliance and risk management solutions provider RegEd announced an agreement to acquire social media archiving vendor Arkovi.

Click here to view the full press release RegEd Announces Agreement to Acquire Arkovi, the Award-Winning Financial Services Provider of Social Media Archiving and Surveillance.

Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

To get more details on the announcement, I invited RegEd CEO John Schobel and Arkovi CEO Blane Warrene to a Google+ Hangout. Below is the replay of that Hangout so you can hear from each company’s CEO about the acquisition and respective plans for the future.

FPPad Bits and Bytes for September 14

Posted on September 14, 2012 by in Bits & Bytes

Here are this week’s stories of interest:

New Apps for the Mobile Financial Adviser from The Wall Street Journal

[Clearly, mobile devices and their software apps are changing the way you do business. Expect even more functionality and enhanced security, such as facial recognition or biometrics, for mobile devices in the coming years.] Smart gadgets packed with apps are changing the way financial advisers do business and relate to their clients. As more advisers snap up mobile devices like iPads, the investment firms they work with are offering up apps that let them do their jobs from a small screen.

Money management, Silicon Valley-style from Forbes

[Forbes managed to extract info from start-up Addepar that both RIABiz and I failed to get. Now we know Addepar charges 5 basis points on AUM, generates about $25 million in revenue, has 75 “lean” employees, and a sales force with connections to the ultra high net worth segment of the wealth management market.] Having made a small fortune in his twenties, Joe Lonsdale has set his sights on a new challenge: designing software for the ultrawealthy.

Personal Capital Unveils its Professionally Managed 401(k) from Finovate.com

[So who out there has 401(k) fee evaluator tools? Brightscope and FutureAdvisor do, and they’ve been mentioned here before. Now start-up RIA Personal Capital has one, too. Add this to their free mobile app, free peer-to-peer payment support, and free stock option analyzer, and you’ve got a robust offering of pipeline-filling marketing tools. Oh, and they now are selling “America’s BEST 401k” plan at http://www.personalcapital401k.com/ with management fees around 50 basis points.] Personal Capital will be demoing its free 401(k) fee calculator, which enables users to determine how much their 401(k) costs and what long-term fees they can expect to pay over time. The calculator has the potential to save investors hundreds of thousands of dollars over a lifetime.

Advent Adds Alternative Investments Solution to Black Diamond Platform from MarketWatch.com

[Alternative investments are gaining adoption among financial advisers. The challenge with them, though, is getting updated data populated in a portfolio management system like PortfolioCenter, AssetBook, and in this case, Advent. From the press release, it sounds like advisers have a way to perform bulk updates to alternative assets in Advent’s Black Diamond platform. If there were 30 hours in a day, I’d have specifics for you on how that actually takes place.] Advent Software, Inc., a leading provider of software and services for the global investment management industry, today announced the launch of an alternative investments solution within the Black Diamond platform. The new functionality enables advisors and wealth managers to manage and report the details of their alternative investment holdings down to the transaction level allowing them to provide a more complete financial picture to their clients.

MarketCounsel Sells MailBanc Messaging Unit to Global Relay from AdvisorOne

[MarketCounsel’s MailBanc email archiving service was one I covered last year in a review of archiving providers for Morningstar (see Avoid E-mail Audit Headaches). Thursday MarketCounsel said it sold MailBanc to archive provider Global Relay, who by no coincidence, was also featured in the same Morningstar column. When MailBanc was launched, advisers had few choices for email archiving. Today, there are many more options. As founder Brian Hamburger said, “The industry has now matured to a point where we can step aside and continue our focus on RIAs.”] “We have sold our MailBanc messaging compliance service to Global Relay,” Hamburger said, offering no details of the deal.

Junxure Achieves Company Milestone, Surpasses 10,000 Active Users from eReleases.com

[The number-two CRM (according to most financial advisor surveys, and excluding Microsoft Outlook!), now has over 10,000 users on its platform. This is a good milestone for a niche product, but the company faces an uphill battle to close the gap with leading CRM provider Redtail Technologies, which at last report had over 43,000 users.] Junxure, an industry-leading CRM practice improvement firm that integrates technology, consulting, and training, today announced that it surpassed 10,000 active users on its Junxure CRM as of July 2012.

LearnVest is now an RIA, adds Portfolio Builder service for $599

Posted on September 11, 2012 by in Technology

Online financial planning provider’s registration as SEC adviser allows investment advice delivered by personal CFP® practitioners

LearnVest, the online personal finance start-up founded by Alexa von Tobel, announced today that it is now an SEC registered investment adviser and added a plan called “Portfolio Builder” to address general investment recommendations.

Readers should recognize LearnVest from recent updates (see: LearnVest’s Mission to Wrangle Your Personal Finances) and as a member of the wave of “robo-adviser” start-ups, with Personal Capital, Wealthfront, and Betterment among them.

Without the investment adviser registration, LearnVest previously limited advice delivered through its online program to budgeting and money management. LearnVest clients could enroll in the “Complete Plan” program for $349 per year and receive a financial plan, four phone calls, and unlimited email support from the company’s CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER(TM) certificants.

Going forward, clients still have the option to work with a personal CFP® practitioner at the $349 per year level (now called “The 5-Year Planner” level) or choose to receive general investment advice under the “Portfolio Builder” plan priced at $599 per year.

While investment advice is now available, Portfolio Builder clients won’t receive specific guidance on buying or selling securities or which investment account custodian to select. Clients will need to perform those selections on their own with general input from their LearnVest planner.

There’s a lot of media coverage on LearnVest’s announcement, so visit Google’s News results page and select the outlet of interest.

To learn more about LearnVest’s positioning in the market, watch their 1:07 explainer video below.

Finally, view the LearnVest SEC Form ADV Part II brochure here.

 

FPPad Bits and Bytes for September 7

Posted on September 7, 2012 by in Bits & Bytes

Welcome to September!

Here are this week’s stories of interest:

Advisors Fed Up with Mediocre Financial Planning Technology from Financial-Planning.com

[I’m awaiting a copy of Tiburon’s survey to determine their methodology. If they asked a bunch of broker-dealer reps, then yes, survey respondents are going to be largely dissatisfied with technology. But for independent RIAs? Choices today are much more plentiful than ever, with ever-expanding APIs (see: TD Ameritrade Institutional’s Veo® Open Access to enhance trading, fee billing, and client on-boarding processes) and new integration “middleware” (see: Welcome To The Hub).] According to a survey by Tiburon Strategic Advisors, almost all the planners called the current technology offerings merely acceptable or downright unsatisfactory.

Grendel Online iPhone and iPad App Now Available from Grendel Online

[I covered Grendel Online back in January for Morningstar Advisor (see: One Capable CRM Flying Under Most Advisors’ Radar). Back then, CEO Aaron Guidotti showed me a beta version of the Grendel Online app for Android. Now, the CRM has an app for iPhone and iPad in the App Store.] View Grendel Online Mobile in the Apple App Store.