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FPPad Bits and Bytes for December 6

Posted on December 4, 2013 by in General

On this week’s broadcast, learn the hits and misses from the year’s most anticipated advisor technology survey, the pending termination of several financial planning software products catches advisors off guard, how the leading independent custodians are stepping up their technology, and more.

So get ready, FPPad Bits and Bytes begins now!

(watch FPPad Bits and Bytes on YouTube)

This week’s episode is brought to you by Angie Herbers Incorporated, a consulting and research company to financial advisory firms, who just released a new white paper called Take Two: The New Direction of Succession that addresses the key elements to create a successful transition to your junior advisors.

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Download the Take Two white paper for free, along with other practice management resources, by visiting fppad.com/ahi

Here are this week’s top stories:

Tech Survey 2013: What’s New iIn Advisor Tech? from Financial-Planning.com

[Leading off as the top story is one of the most anticipated technology articles that comes out every year. The first of December marks the release of the annual Financial Planning Magazine Technology Survey, where Joel Bruckenstein digests over 1,100 responses about the various software programs and practice management tools used by financial advisors today.

So who are the winners and losers from this year’s survey?

Redtail Technology, Salesforce, and Tamarac Advisor CRM are the winners among CRM software, as advisors continue to embrace cloud-based technology, with slippage coming from Junxure, ProTracker, ACT, and Goldmine.

In financial planning software, this year’s results are essentially a carbon copy of last year’s survey, with MoneyGuidePro, eMoney, and MoneyTree claiming the top three spots.

And the same is true with portfolio management software, as the top 6 vendors are also a total repeat of last year’s results.

So who missed out on opportunities this year? The survey randomly selected new products from Blueleaf, inStream, and Market76, but found that few advisors had even heard of these relatively new players, which tells me that financial advisors, well, those who don’t watch Bits and Bytes, continue to be a challenging market for new providers to gain exposure.] The move to the cloud is finally taking place. In category after category of this year’s Financial Planning Tech Survey, we found software providers making the shift, and advisors responding.

NaviPlan financial planning desktop products to be discontinued from InvestmentNews

[The next story features news from Advicent Solutions, the company formerly known as Zywave, who provides a suite of financial planning software to advisors under the NaviPro brand.

In an unexpected announcement to some users, the company announced it will sunset six of its NaviPlan products on March 31, 2014, citing an “ever-changing marketplace.”

Going away will be all of the NaviPlan Extended and NaviPlan Standard desktop-based variants, making the cloud-based NaviPlan Premium and NaviPlan Profiles the sole applications that will receive ongoing support and enhancements in 2014 and beyond.

This news reinforces the trend of advisors adopting cloud-based solutions as seen in the Financial Planning Software Survey, so don’t be surprised when other providers announce the discontinuation of their own desktop-based software in favor of cloud-based alternatives.] NaviPlan financial planning products for desktop computers will be discontinued as the owner develops its NaviPro products for online use.

Plowing Ahead from FA-Mag.com

[Software providers aren’t the only ones making big changes in advisor technology, as four of the major custodians are also investing heavily in advisor-facing technology in a very competitive arms race. Once again, Joel Bruckenstein interviewed executives from Fidelity, Pershing, Schwab Advisor Services, and TD Ameritrade Institutional to reveal their strategies to help make advisors more efficient and more profitable through enhanced technology.

There’s a ton of great information in this article, so be sure to read it to see what your custodian is doing to help you grow your business.] Over the last several years, custodians have been investing in advisor-facing technology like never before.

Envestnet | Tamarac’s Advisor Xi(R) Platform Added To Pershing’s NetX360(R) Technology Channel from WSJ.com

[And finally, one company benefiting from custodian technology enhancements is Envestnet|Tamarac. This week, the company announced that its Advisor Xi suite will soon integrate directly with Pershing’s NetX360 custodial platform, giving advisors straight-through processing capabilities for trades in accounts held at Pershing, as well as access to real-time custodial account data.

The real-time data feeds will compliment existing integrations with Schwab and TD Ameritrade supported today, and expand straight-through processing trading capabilities announced at Schwab IMPACT several weeks ago.

Tamarac anticipates that the new integrations will roll out to its 660 firms during the first quarter of 2014.] Envestnet | Tamarac, a division of Envestnet, Inc., a leading provider of integrated, web-based portfolio and client management software for independent advisors and wealth managers, announced today that it has formally begun the integration of its Advisor Xi(R) platform into Pershing’s NetX360(R) custodial channel for investment professionals and Registered Investment Advisors (RIAs). Advisors will have access to this integration in the first half of 2014.

 

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The 5 Best Podcasts of 2013 for Financial Advisers

Posted on November 25, 2013 by in Podcast, Social Media, Technology

Subscribe and listen to the five best podcasts for financial advisers

Subscribe and listen to the five best podcasts for financial advisers

Note for September 2014: Like technology, podcasts change and get updated. Look for a new article covering the Best Podcasts of 2014 for Financial Advisers!

Here are the five best podcasts of 2013 featuring content specific for financial advisers

Few will argue that the amount of content online for financial advisers is exploding.

There are dozens of websites from traditional print publications that run digital editions of their magazines as well as online-only content.

Then there are several dozen more blogs and niche sites covering a wide range of topics relevant to financial advisers (with the top site being Michael Kitces’ Nerd’s Eye View blog*)

Podcasts for Financial Advisers are Rare

But one media format with just a handful of “publishers” is the podcast.

Sure, there are many podcasts with consumer-oriented content, featuring personal finance advice on how to pay down debt, reduce fees on investments, diversify a portfolio, and more. Many of these podcasts are excellent, but they don’t include content that addresses the issues concerning financial advisers and operating an advisory business.

The number of podcasts being created with content exclusive for the financial adviser audience is extremely small. Like less than ten.

Five Best Podcasts for Financial Advisers

With so few podcasts being created for financial advisers, how will you discover those with content applicable to your needs?

The answer is in my list of the five best podcasts for financial advisers!

But wait, why just five? Because that is exactly the number of active podcasts (with activity over the past year) to which I subscribe that I know produce content specifically for the financial adviser audience.

So here is my personally curated list of the five best podcasts for financial advisers, free and clear of irritating pageview-increasing slideshow gimmicks! (You can thank me by sharing this list with your friends.)

Pre-List Bonus: FPPad Technology Podcast

FPPad Podcast

First, let me first start off with a pre-list bonus, because I have a horse in this race, too. If you don’t already know, audio and video content from FPPad is available as a podcast on iTunes.

So if you’re not yet subscribed, subscribe now!

But why subscribe on iTunes if you can get the content on FPPad.com?

Because in the Podcasts app on your iOS device, you can download content for listening or viewing when you’re offline or away from a strong broadband connection. Also, the Podcasts app lets you increase the playback speed of content, so you can get your five-minute weekly technology update finished in just over three-and-a-half minutes! Now that’s an instant productivity boost of 33%!

1. Social Media Minute Podcast by RegEd

Social Media Minute by RegEd podcast

The Social Media Minute Podcast by RegEd is the best podcast for advisers seeking information on all things related to social media. Blane Warrene is host and producer of the Social Media Minute Podcast and does an excellent job addressing the timely issues surrounding the social media landscape.

As Senior Vice President of Customer Communications at RegEd, Warrene knows his stuff on social media. Sure, the content helps build awareness of RegEd’s social media compliance and content products, and that’s partly the point. But know that this podcast is all about deepening the conversation around financial advisers and social media and is NOT a blatant product promotion.

2. AdvisorToday.com’s Building a More Successful Practice by NAIFA

advisor today podcast

NAIFA, the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors, publishes a new podcast once every two months with a variety of content centered around practice management and business building ideas.

Occasionally the content addresses issues in the insurance marketplace, such as disability income policy sales and long-term-care insurance updates, but many of the podcasts feature interviews with advisers and insurance agents discussing strategies they have implemented to grow their business and enhance client service.

Subscribe to the AdvisorToday.com podcast now as six episodes per year will not fill up your “to-be-listened-to” playlist, and your odds of learning a good business-building idea are pretty good.

3. Journal of Financial Planning Podcasts

Journal of Financial Planning podcasts

The award-winning Journal of Financial Planning has been in print for over 30 years, and just over three years ago the publication started creating podcast content around many of its featured articles and authors.

The Journal of Financial Planning Podcast Page is somewhat of a best-kept-secret, since there is one simple icon on the navigation menu of the website home page, but each print article featuring additional podcast content directs readers to the website to listen to more information.

Journal of Financial Planning Podcasts are centered around the “10 Questions” interview features, giving readers a chance to hear from authors, financial planners, and thought leaders in the industry (self-promotion warning: I was interviewed in February 2013).

While not directly available as an iTunes podcast, you can still manually download and then drag and drop audio files to your media player of choice to listen offline, at the gym, or during your commute.

4. AdvisorPod Practice Builders by Securities America, Inc.

Advisorpod podcasts

Securities America, Inc. is a broker-dealer that walks-the-walk on practice management advice. Not only does the company urge its reps to be more active with client outreach and marketing initiatives, Securities America publishes these podcasts for advisers to back up what they say.

Led by Kirk Hulett, Executive Vice President of Strategy and Practice Management, AdvisorPod releases monthly updates on a wide range of practice management tips, including outreach to CPAs and other COI individuals, retaining relationships through family transitions, mobile app reviews and more.

5. Build Online Influence with Stephanie Sammons
Build Online Influence podcasts

Build Online Influence is a podcast from Stephanie Sammons, founder and CEO of Wired Advisor. Wired Advisor is a professional blogging platform for financial advisers and business professionals.

In Build Online Influence, Sammons reviews techniques financial advisers can use to increase their profile and brand recognition through the use of social media. Several of her podcasts include interviews with financial advisers who have created a large audience of people interested in financial planning (i.e. prospective clients) through their social media activity. Build Online Influence attempts to reveal what strategies work (and those that don’t) to help advisers compete in a social marketplace that is getting more crowded each day.

While Build Online Influence hasn’t been updated since January 2013, I know that Sammons is still active in her work with advisers, so I trust that a listing here in my top five podcasts for financial advisers will be enough motivation for her to pick up where she left off! Perhaps a tweet or two to Sammons wouldn’t hurt, either!

Who Would You Include?

There you have it! My top five podcasts of content created just for you, the successful financial adviser.

Inevitably, I likely missed a handful of other podcasts out there publishing outstanding content for the financial adviser audience. Tell me which ones I missed in the comments below, and hopefully with enough submissions, I can double the list to include the ten best podcasts for financial advisers.

But first, I want podcasts with business building ideas, technology coverage, practice management ideas and so on. Podcasts with economic commentary, stock picking ideas, or investment-centric content can be curated by someone else!

So tell me what podcasts I missed in the comments below, send me a tweet, or email me offline.

Audience Additions

Here are some of the podcasts recommended by readers since this article was posted on November 25, 2013.

*2013 top blogs according to the Zywave 2013 Top News and Blog Sites for Advisors Survey.

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FPPad Bits and Bytes for November 22

Posted on November 22, 2013 by in Bits & Bytes

On this week’s broadcast, learn about new technology offerings from two of the top institutional custodians, a bold new workflow platform launches with the potential to revolutionize the way you use technology, and a new app is introduced to fill your prospecting funnel with qualified leads.

So get ready, FPPad Bits and Bytes begins now!

(Watch FPPad Bits and Bytes on YouTube)

This week’s episode of Bits and Bytes is brought to you by Total Rebalance Expert, the industry’s largest, privately owned portfolio rebalancing software provider.

Total Rebalance Expert

Fresh off its acquisition of PowerAdvisor, TRX offers advisors tax-efficient rebalancing, an easy to use interface, and more, all at an affordable price. Learn how you can gain a half a million dollar return on your technology investment by downloading their latest white paper at fppad.com/trx

Here are this week’s top stories:

Schwab IMPACT 2013 Report: All the technology trends advisors can’t miss from FPPad

[This week’s top story comes from Schwab Advisor Services, who unveiled several technology initiatives at their annual Schwab IMPACT conference last week. Capitalizing on four technology trends of Big Data, Mobile, Cloud and Integration, Schwab’s Neesha Hathi announced the company is working on Project PM2, a completely new, cloud-based portfolio management software solution.

Hathi also said Schwab is piloting mobile app development for advisors called OpenView Mobile, giving advisors a white-labeled app in the popular app stores that clients can use to view their account information.

Project PM2 and OpenView Mobile just scratch the surface of all of the announcements made at IMPACT, so be sure to read the main story for all the details.] Schwab IMPACT 2013 kicked off its pinnacle event in Washington, D.C. this year with a big focus on the technology trends sure to change the financial services industry in the foreseeable future. Here are the most important technology announcements provided by various members of the executive team inside Schwab Advisor Services.

Pershing Enhances NetX360® Platform with Additional Third-Party Technology Integrations from PRNewswire

[Another custodian that just introduced new technology integrations is Pershing, who announced that its NetX360 platform now connects with portfolio rebalancing software from Blaze Portfolio and portfolio management software from Portfolio Pathway.

These new integrations will streamline the data import and export process between NetX360, which should increase the popularity of these programs among advisors who custody assets through Pershing.

In addition, Pershing’s account opening process should get a little bit smoother through the addition of Laser App form filling software, and advisors using SmartOffice CRM from Ebix will enjoy single sign-on access from their NetX360 dashboard.] Pershing LLC, a BNY Mellon company, today announced several enhancements to NetX360®, its technology platform for advisors. NetX360 now offers additional integrations with two popular portfolio management and rebalancing solutions – Blaze Portfolio and Portfolio Pathway. Also, as part of its client onboarding solution, NetX360 now provides Laser App® forms management and configuration tools. In addition to these integrations, users of the NetX360 can now directly access Ebix Smart Office customer relationship management (CRM) software via a single sign-on process.

Fox Financial Planning Network Unveils Industry-Disruptive Technology for Financial Services Sector with Intelligent Automation and Integration™ Software from PRNewswire

[Next up comes a development in workflow systems for financial advisors. For years I’ve struggled to answer the question of where an advisor’s workflow system should ultimately live. Should it be a part of CRM software, or perhaps a sophisticated document management program? Well the folks at the Fox Financial Planning Network believe the answer is neither.

Instead, they recently announced the introduction of a new middleware application called Genesis Smartware, a workflow solution that operates in the background of the key programs advisors use every day. Genesis Smartware does not replace CRM or document management workflow, but rather it complements the capabilities of existing systems by leveraging APIs and integrations to step through a series of complex workflow steps.

I believe the potential for this approach to workflow is huge, but look for Fox Financial Planning Network to take a measured approach to rolling out this platform to advisors because until now, you’ve never seen anything like it.] Fox Financial Planning Network (FFPN) announced today the availability of a revolutionary new middleware software application, Genesis Smartware™, which will facilitate sophisticated integrations between industry technology providers, streamline and automate many of the daily tasks involved in providing financial advisory services, and serve as an integration translator between older legacy and newer platforms for financial institutions.

Orion Advisor Services, LLC Releases New Discover App For Creating Customizable Online Client Questionnaires from PRNewswire

[And finally, in an effort to boost advisors’ online lead generation capabilities, Orion Advisor Services just released a new interactive app called Discover. The portfolio accounting service bureau and past sponsor of Bits and Bytes is branching out to help advisors cultivate leads and capture prospect information online. Discover is an online questionnaire that can be completely customized by advisors, and prospects who complete the questionnaire can receive insightful portfolio reports and scorecards through an integration with AdvisoryWorld.

Prospect contact information is routed automatically to Salesforce, with other CRM integrations coming soon, giving advisors better control and visibility into lead generation and management of their prospecting funnel. The Discover app is free for Orion’s existing customers, and pricing for all other advisors is still to be determined.] Orion Advisor Services, LLC, a premier portfolio accounting service provider, announced the release of Discover, an interactive app that allows RIAs to design their own unique online client questionnaires to capture and connect with prospects prior to their initial meetings.

 

Watch FPPad Bits and Bytes for November 22, 2013

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“Big Data” for financial advisers is becoming a reality with two new solutions

Posted on November 19, 2013 by in Technology

Big Data for Financial Advisers

Two new big data tools for financial advisers will help make sense of massive collections of information.

If I had to choose a financial adviser technology buzzword for 2013, I would make the easy choice of “Big Data.”

Big data is the vague description of an enormous collection of information that traditional tools cannot efficiently manage, sort, and process to reveal meaningful insight.

Spreadsheets Won’t Cut It

Consider a recent example from an SEC-registered RIA that was ordered to go back through nearly eight years of fee and billing data to identify clients who were double-billed on their C-share mutual funds. That is a HUGE challenge to tackle with basic spreadsheet programs!

A more sophisticated solution, perhaps a purpose-built database and custom algorithm, would be able to make quick and, more importantly, accurate work of such a challenge.

Enter Big Data

Tools to take advantage of big data for financial advisers have slowly become available. Examples include business intelligence reports from Orion Advisor Services and Envestnet|Tamarac and trend analytics from inStream Solutions.

Those tools work well with the data that is maintained inside their ecosystem, but they generally do not collect or process data from external third party programs to deliver intelligence and actionable insight.

Two new solutions soon to be released for financial advisers aim to remove this current limitation.

To find out more, go read Two Big Data Solutions for Financial Enterprises at Morningstar Advisor and learn how these new solutions might change the way you leverage your data.

 

Note: At the time of publication, inStream Solutions was an advertiser on FPPad. No promotional consideration was received for inclusion in this article.

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Schwab IMPACT 2013 Report: All the technology trends advisors can’t miss

Posted on November 12, 2013 by in Conferences, Technology

Bernie Clark, executive vice president of Schwab Advisor Services, kicks off IMPACT 2013 in Washington, D.C.

Bernie Clark, executive vice president of Schwab Advisor Services, kicks off IMPACT 2013 in Washington, D.C.

Schwab IMPACT 2013 kicked off its pinnacle event in Washington, D.C. this year with a big focus on the technology trends sure to change the financial services industry in the foreseeable future.

Here are the most important technology announcements provided by various members of the executive team inside Schwab Advisor Services.

Project PM2 Coming

Likely the most intriguing announcement from Neesha Hathi, SVP of Advisor Technology Solutions is the preview of a new portfolio management software platform called Project PM2 (“PM Squared”).

Neesha Hathi, senior vice president of Advisor Technology Solutions, shares the latest on Schwab’s technology offerings at IMPACT 2013.

Neesha Hathi, senior vice president of Advisor Technology Solutions, shares the latest on Schwab’s technology offerings at IMPACT 2013.

From a video shown at Schwab IMPACT, the preview of PM2 featured a tile-like interface reminiscent of Windows 8. Project PM2 will offer proactive alerts for events like new account funding, trading reports, and revenue metrics.

PM2 will be a cloud-based solution offering direct integration to Schwab data feeds. Reports and presentations offer dynamic capabilities and will support one-step publishing to a variety of client delivery mechanisms.

PM2 to be Multi-Custodial

In a later interview with Brian Shenson, vice president of Advisor Technology solutions, he said the roadmap for PM2 includes multi-custodial data support as well as the potential integration of account aggregation software.

Shenson added that Schwab Advisor Services already has long-standing relationships with providers like ByAllAccounts and CashEdge from FiServ.

Details on pricing and availability for PM2 were not announced at IMPACT.

Schwab OpenView Mobile

Hathi also announced a current pilot program underway to provide affiliated advisors with a branded mobile app that clients can use to interface with their advisor.

Schwab OpenView Mobile is the official program, and Hathi explained that clients can use the branded app to view real-time account data and review their advisor’s contact information.

Schwab OpenView Mobile will be available for a nominal fee which was not disclosed during the Schwab IMPACT breakout session.

Reinvented Wire Requests; DocuSign Integration in Schwab Alliance

Naureen Hassan, senior vice president, Client Experience, shares the latest on Schwab’s technology offerings at IMPACT 2013.

Naureen Hassan, senior vice president, Client Experience, shares the latest on Schwab’s technology offerings at IMPACT 2013.

Naureen Hassan, SVP of Client Experience revealed that in an average quarter, Schwab manually verifies over 240,000 signatures across a variety of forms. Clearly Schwab recognizes the ability to increase operational efficiency here with the adoption of electronic signature support.

Hassan announced two pending initiatives. First, wire requests will be “completely reinvented,” as advisors can initiate wire requests via Schwab Advisor Center. Upon submission, clients will actually receive alerts on their mobile phone, and then they can log in to a Schwab app and approve the wire request on the spot.

This overhauled wire request process is aimed to combat fraud and theft in the industry due to a significant rise in client spoofing (see: Client spoofing strikes again, RIA loses $290,000 of client funds)

Second, Hassan announced that DocuSign is currently in a pilot program and will soon be completely integrated in the Schwab Alliance system. Details on when DocuSign will be formally introduced for all Schwab advisors were not disclosed.

MoneyGuidePro Now Part of Integrated Office

Brian Shenson, vice president, Advisor Technology Solutions, shares the latest on Schwab’s technology offerings at IMPACT 2013.

Brian Shenson, vice president, Advisor Technology Solutions, shares the latest on Schwab’s technology offerings at IMPACT 2013.

Brian Shenson, VP of Advisor Technology Solutions was the next to take the stage and provide updates on the suite of Schwab OpenView solutions: Gateway, Integrated Office, Workflow Library, and MarketSquare.

Of most relevance is the addition of financial planning software integrations to Schwab OpenView Integrated Office™ platform. The first integration is with PIEtech to integrate MoneyGuide Pro financial planning software. NaviPlan from Zywave was also mentioned as an integration coming soon to Integrated Office.

MarketSquare Update

If you recall last year, Schwab announced the introduction of Schwab OpenView MarketSqaure, a review website consisting of advisor-submitted feedback on technology vendors and providers.

At this year’s IMPACT conference, Hathi said that over 70 providers have the potential to be listed in OpenView MarketSquare, but only 34 of them have a sufficient number of reviews to be publicly listed in the resource.

Hathi urged advisors in the audience to continue to submit their reviews of tools and services they use so MarketSquare can increase the number of providers present in the website.
34 have reviews.

All photos by Billy Cole/Orange Photography for Charles Schwab. Used with permission.

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FPPad Bits and Bytes for November 8

Posted on November 8, 2013 by in Bits & Bytes

On this week’s broadcast, get up to speed on all the developments from the T3 Enterprise Conference, find out which portfolio rebalancing company just acquired a portfolio management software provider, and another CRM with a long history with advisors gets a fresh start in the cloud.

So get ready, FPPad Bits and Bytes begins now!

(Watch FPPad Bits and Bytes on YouTube)

This week’s episode of Bits and Bytes is brought to you by Mimic Technologies, providers of complete outsourced technology support, security, infrastructure and IT solutions exclusively for RIAs.

Mimic Technologies

To learn how you can keep your data safe from attackers, download a free copy of their white paper on social engineering attacks by visiting fppad.com/mimic.

Here are this week’s top stories:

Joel Bruckenstein convenes a wholesale version of T3 for IBD execs who choose software for thousands of reps from RIABiz.com, Trying to harness the power of big data for advisers from InvestmentNews.com, Live from T3: Deploying Tech at the B/D Level and Day Two at T3: A Lack of Data Standards from WealthManagement.com.

[First up this week is a recap of the first-ever T3 Enterprise Conference for broker-dealers and financial enterprises. T3 Enterprise is modeled after the T3 Conference for financial advisors, now in its 9th year, and in full disclosure, I co-produced T3 Enterprise along with Joel Bruckenstein and David Drucker.

If you weren’t able to attend or follow the conference hashtag on Twitter, here’s what you need to know:

Redtail, the leading provider of cloud-based CRM to advisors, unveiled a new platform called Redtail Data Cloud. Redtail Data Cloud aims to tackle the challenge of making sense of “big data” present in disparate or poorly integrated technology solutions, and generate valuable, meaningful insight that was generally only possible after pouring over custom spreadsheets for hours upon hours.

Redtail Data Cloud collects over 500 unique data points across its CRM, email, and document imaging products, and also collects data via integrations with Riskalyze, Advisor Websites, Advisor Deck, ActiFi, and MoneyGuidePro. Look for the platform to debut for both advisors and broker-dealers this January.

Also, two companies exited stealth mode at the conference by introducing new promising products.

The first is CleverDome, is a Scottsdale, Arizona-based startup born from the back-office of United Planners Financial Services. Their two new solutions, SOAR, or Source of Accurate Record, and miVu, or Media Integrated View Unification, are best described as document management tools that are invisible to the user, so if that doesn’t make you at least a little curious about what they do, I don’t know what will.

And second to emerge is Gotham Tech Labs, led by John Rourke, who introduced two new stand-alone products, WealthBox CRM and WealthBase. WealthBox CRM is intended to be a simple CRM with a streamlined interface, but with powerful social and collaborative workflows. WealthBase is an inbound marketing network intended to connect financial advisors with consumers seeking feedback and engagement on their financial needs.] Joel Bruckenstein and his co-producers, David Drucker and Bill Winterberg, made it a two-day event geared toward broker-dealers and large RIAs looking to enhance their advisors’ productivity and simplify the many day-to-day processes of providing advice.

Total Rebalance Expert Acquires PowerAdvisor from Cornerstone Revolutions from PRNewswire.com

[The next story is news hot off the presses from Total Rebalance Expert, the San Diego-based portfolio rebalancing software provider. In a press release issued just today, TRX announced that it acquired the PowerAdvisor portfolio management software solution from Portland, Oregon-based Cornerstone Revolutions. PowerAdvisor will be rebranded as TPX, or Total Portfolio Expert, and TRX will continue to support over 100 firms that use portfolio management software every day in their business.

Financial details of the acquisition were not disclosed, but this deal will likely offer advisors with a tightly integrated portfolio management and rebalancing software package, a single resource for customer service and back office support, and a very capable solution offered at a very compelling price point.] Total Rebalance Expert (TRX) today announced the acquisition of PowerAdvisor’s portfolio management software suite from Cornerstone Revolutions. The combination of TRX’s industry leading portfolio rebalancing platform with PowerAdvisor’s portfolio management system will create a complete and integrated portfolio management solution.

Tech Review: ProTracker Cloud CRM Software from Financial-Planning.com

 [And finally, this week’s broadcast wraps up with an update on ProTracker software, providers of desktop-based CRM to advisors for over 16 years. In his technology column for Financial Planning magazine, Joel Bruckenstein reviewed ProTracker Cloud, the latest CRM to introduce a cloud-based solution, which is built on top of the SugarCRM platform. This is similar to the concept of overlays from XLR8 and AppCrown, which both customize the out-of-the-box Salesforce platform and tailor it for the wealth management environment.

Warren Mackensen, president of ProTracker Software and also an active fee-only financial planner, certainly has the experience of knowing what it takes to run a successful advisory business, so I’m optimistic that he’ll be able to introduce SugarCRM, which hasn’t yet gained much traction among advisors, as a viable contender among cloud-based CRMs.] A well-established product for independent advisors is moving to a platform that will provide increased flexibility and may attract new categories of users.

 News that didn’t make the broadcast:

Dell sells its majority stake in Smarsh to investment fund Toba Capital from Businessweek

[This in an informative review of Smarsh’s odd ownership by Dell, as a result of its purchase of Quest several years ago. Dell was a silent owner for roughly a year, making strategy moves challenging, according to the article. Now that the uncertainty seems all but gone for now, Smarsh is making strides to expand its growth among several industries, including archiving for financial services. They even opened a new office in the Atlanta metro area, about a half hour drive from FPPad world headquarters!] Dell has quietly unloaded its majority stake in digital archivist Smarsh, ending a prolonged period of uncertainty for one of Portland’s fast-growing tech companies.

Watch FPPad Bits and Bytes for November 8, 2103

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Client spoofing strikes again, RIA loses $290,000 of client funds

Posted on October 29, 2013 by in Compliance

An RIA’s poor compliance procedures let hackers steal $290,000 of client funds

Financial advisers who aren’t prepared to defend against client spoofing attacks not only stand to lose client funds, but also face steep penalties from regulators.

FPPad readers have known since April 2012 that hackers are targeting financial advisers, masquerading as clients via email in a ruse to steal client funds.

Go read Why advisers can’t trust their clients anymore for a refresher of what spoofing attacks are and steps to defend them.

Spoofing Strikes Again

This week, several of the industry trade magazines broke the story about GW & Wade, a registered investment adviser based in Wellesley, Mass., regarding how hackers were able to steal $290,000 of client funds from the company. See RIA Fined By SEC After Hacker Uses E-Mails To Steal Client Funds from Financial Advisor magazine and SEC Sanctions 3 RIAs for Custody Rule Violations from Financial Planning magazine.

The lapse in compliance policies and procedures at the company also resulted in a civil penalty assessed by the SEC in the amount of $250,000.

Full details of the SEC Administrative Proceeding can be viewed here (opens a PDF in a new window).

Hackers Target Advisers

Hackers continue to target investment advisers because they’re the ones with the ability to direct fund transfers.

Solo advisers might not fall victim to a client spoofing attack so easily because they may detect right away that something about the client’s communication is just “not right.”

But when the same attack is deployed in a multi-billion dollar RIA with dozens of administrative employees, hackers have much better odds of success.

Convenience Creates Risk

Once again, according to the Administrative Proceeding, GW & Wade had hundreds of blank Letters of Authorization (“LOAs”) forms on file with only client signatures.

Only after a request was received would the company fill in the pertinent details on a pre-signed LOA and route it for processing.

The convenience of pre-signed LOA forms decreased the chances the company would suspect something wasn’t right with a client wire request. Instead of verifying the authenticity of the request, the company simply routed the pre-signed LOA forms with wire instructions included.

Although, one could argue that if GW & Wade DID try to obtain a client signature via email, following the spoofed client’s instructions, the attack still would have succeeded.

So assume for a moment that no pre-signed LOA forms existed, GW & Wade likely still would have fallen prey to client spoofing because the company would have tried to obtain a client signature via email. The hacker likely would have quickly complied using a signature cut and pasted from another document in the hacked email account.

Clearly, a separate factor of authentication is required to properly authenticate wire requests from clients (a secret phrase, a video chat, Why advisers can’t trust their clients anymore has more details).

Calculating Fees With Spreadsheets Is Hard

Also buried in the Administrative Proceeding is a note about excess fees charged by GW & Wade.

Allegedly since January 1, 2005, the company failed to exclude mutual fund class C share holdings in assets subject to the company’s advisory fee schedule.

The company likely was already receiving 12b-1 fees from the C share holdings, but evidently was “double dipping” by charging the firm’s advisory fee on the same C shares once again.

I have no additional details on the matter, but let’s assume that advisory fees were calculated using a spreadsheet loaded with the value of client holdings for each quarter.

If that spreadsheet isn’t designed to specifically recognize C share mutual fund holdings (which, quite frankly, opens up a Pandora’s box of trouble on its own) and exclude them from the advisory fee calculation, then it’s far too easy to roll up those C share holdings among all the other assets and calculate the fee due.

For GW & Wade, the company now has one year to reimburse in full every client affected by the excess advisory fees charged. That means going back over more than eight years of billing history to determine what the amount of excess fee was charged to each client, quarter by quarter, and credit each client accordingly. That applies to both current and former clients!

So for former clients, how many of you retain holding balances and pricing information indefinitely?

Talk about a huge big data challenge.

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FPPad Bits and Bytes for October 25

Posted on October 25, 2013 by in Bits & Bytes

(Watch FPPad Bits and Bytes on YouTube)

On this week’s broadcast, get the rundown of all the announcements from Apple this week, the trend of quick financial planning expands to a new software provider, and how you can impress clients with a survey. Yes, I said survey!

So get ready, a special Halloween edition of Bits and Bytes begins now.

This week’s episode is brought to you by Wealth Management Marketing, providers of complete outsourced marketing services for Registered Investment Advisers.

Wealth Management Marketing

Learn how outsourcing your marketing can result in successful custom marketing campaigns that grow your business by visiting fppad.com/wmm.

From iPad Air to Mac Pro: everything you need to know about Apple’s fall event from TheVerge.com

[By now, you’ve probably heard that Apple has further disrupted the hardware and software market as we know it. The company introduced a more powerful line of MacBook laptops, updated the release date of the Mac Pro uber-computer to December starting at just under $3,000, and revealed the both the iPad Air, with its ultra-thin 9.7-inch Retina display weighing in at just one pound, and a new iPad mini, upgraded with its own 7.9 inch Retina display and now priced at $399.

Apple also accelerated the race to zero on software pricing, announcing that Mavericks, the latest operating system for Mac, is now free for all users, and the iWork and iLife suites are free for anyone who purchases a new Mac or iOS device.

So what does all this mean to advisors?

Most of you run your business on Windows computers, with many of you still using Windows 7 and older versions of Microsoft Office.

The cost of upgrading your software is often a deterrent, especially if you need to buy one or two dozen licenses for everyone in your organization. That’s especially true now that Office 365 requires an annual subscription of $99 per person; that adds up quickly!

So with free versions of the latest software from Apple, you need to consider what your businesses technology will look like in the near future. Will you get more value from low-cost PCs that come with non-trivial software costs, or from higher-priced Apple hardware that includes core software for free?

And for those programs that don’t run on Macs: there’s always Parallels or VMWare Fusion if you absolutely must have access to your legacy Windows-only applications.] After a year in which Apple’s product announcements have largely leaked out ahead of time, today the company delivered something of a surprise: a redesigned tablet, the iPad Air, that is the lightest full-size iPad to date at just 1 pound.

SunGard Launches a Financial Planning Solution that Helps Advisors Quickly Create Holistic, Client-Friendly Plans from Sungard

[If you watched FPPad Bits and Bytes for October 11, you learned that Advisor Software published goalgamiPro, the company’s quick financial plan illustration tool, on the Salesforce AppExchange market.

Now the latest company capitalizing on the popularity of quick financial planning tools is Sungard, who announced this week the introduction of a new product called WealthStation CompAct.

The new tool is a single, stand-alone application advisors can use on their own or in collaboration with clients to highlight planning opportunities across eight areas, including cash management, asset allocation, and retirement planning.

WealthStation CompAct allows advisors to create basic plans simply and efficiently to help clients prioritize their financial goals. Should more detailed planning be needed, data from CompAct can be fed into the more robust WealthStation Financial Planning module.] SunGard has launched WealthStation CompAct, a new financial planning solution that gives advisors the ability to produce results-based, holistic financial plans quickly, simply and interactively.

Use Surveys to Impress Clients. Yes, Surveys! from Morningstar Advisor

[And finally, you’ve no doubt read countless articles why it’s important to send surveys to your clients. Client surveys provide valuable insight on what your clients are thinking, but the last thing you want to do is fill up your client’s inbox with another dull, plain-vanilla survey.

Enter a survey tool called Typeform. In four easy steps, you can use Typeform to create fun, yes I said fun, surveys that stand out among the rest. Instead of the standard radio bubbles and check boxes, Typeform gives you lots of options to add color, style, and bold icons to your survey. And since Typeform uses responsive design, your surveys look great no matter what device clients use to offer feedback.] The last thing you want is a client to see your survey request and think, “Hooray–another boring survey from my financial advisor.”

Watch FPPad Bits and Bytes for October 25, 2013, "Halloween Edition!"

Watch FPPad Bits and Bytes for October 25, 2013, “Halloween Edition!”

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FPPad Bits and Bytes for October 18

Posted on October 18, 2013 by in Bits & Bytes

On this week’s broadcast, a popular financial planning software suite gets a complete overhaul, find out which investment policy statement provider just got acquired, learn how avoiding social media can actually be a risk to your business, and more.

(Watch Bits and Bytes on YouTube)

This week’s episode of Bits and Bytes is brought to you by Total Rebalance Expert, the industry’s largest, privately owned portfolio rebalancing software provider.

Total Rebalance Expert

Designed by well-known CPA Sheryl Rowling, TRX features tax-efficient rebalancing, an easy to use interface, and more, all at an affordable price. To learn how you can gain a half a million dollar return on your technology investment, download the latest white paper by visiting fppad.com/trx

Here are this week’s top stories:

Money Tree Software Announces New TOTAL ONLINE Financial Planning Solution from MoneyTree.com

[This week’s lead story comes from Money Tree Software, providers of one of the leading financial planning software applications used by advisors. Money Tree’s flagship product, Silver Financial Planner, originally started as a desktop program over 30 years ago, and the company introduced cloud-based versions of its software over the last decade.

But with competitors like MoneyGuidePro from PIETech, eMoney Advisor, and NaviPlan from Zywave all performing major redesigns in recent years, Money Tree’s programs began to show their age. But all that is about to change.

This week, Money Tree unveiled TOTAL Online, a significant redesign of Money Tree’s original software which dramatically simplifies data entry and overall usability. Advisors should find the new layout intuitive to use, but still offers the powerful features advisors have some to expect from their planning software.

And you’ll be glad to know that the complete overhaul did not come with a dramatic cost increase. First year pricing for TOTAL Online is $1,342, which includes both the Easy Money Power Planner and Golden Years Cash Flow modules. This is a 25% savings off the regular price when purchased individually, and in subsequent years, a continuing subscription of both modules is just $999.] We know cloud-based software is important in today’s financial industry because advisors want to create, collaborate, and deliver financial plans anytime and anywhere. But that software needs to be flexible and easy-to-use. That’s why we created TOTAL Online.

fi360 Acquires IPS AdvisorPro from PRNewswire.com

[Now when you use any financial planning software, you’re most likely going to define some kind of investment allocation in-line with your client’s goals and risk tolerance. So how exactly do you define the objectives of your clients’ portfolio? With an investment policy statement, of course.

IPS Advisor Pro, founded in 2006 by advisors Norm Boone and Linda Lubitz Boone, has been the go-to solution for advisors seeking ways to streamline the investment policy statement creation process.

But in news this week, IPS Advisor Pro announced it was acquired by fi360, the leading advocate for fiduciary behavior in the investment advisory world.

Financial details of the acquisition were not disclosed, but in a letter to IPS Advisor Pro users, the company assured that functionality and support of the software would continue as it is today for the foreseeable future. Norm Boone and Linda Lubiz Boone will remain on board as consultants to fi360, but no doubt the acquisition will allow them to devote a little more time to running their own advisory firms as well as other activities and interests.] fi360, the premier organization for fiduciary education, investment analytics, support services and industry insights for financial professionals, today announced it has acquired IPS AdvisorPro®, a cloud-based technology that helps financial advisors develop customized investment policy statements (IPS), which are used to document client investment goals and the subsequent procedures to achieve those goals.

Defend your online reputation before it’s too late from InvestmentNews.com

Kristen Luke, founder of Wealth Management Marketing, gives advisers five ways to combat negative online search results.

Kristen Luke, founder of Wealth Management Marketing, gives advisers five ways to combat negative online search results.

[In other news, you’re probably watching this broadcast because you saw a link on Twitter, LinkedIn, or Google+, so chances are you have some type of presence on social media. But did you know that NOT having a social media presence can actually be a risk to your business?

In her debut column for InvestmentNews, Wealth Management Marketing founder Kristen Luke provided two examples of how an advisory firm’s reputation was tarnished because of unflattering information that showed up on the first page of search results for each company.

So what can you do if your firm’s reputation is affected by online search results?

Luke offer five actions you can take right now to combat negative online publicity and reduce the impact of unfavorable press.] You are at risk for a negative online reputation whether or not you engage on the Internet. Two examples come to mind.

Envestnet | Tamarac builds Tamarac University Online, a massive online training program for the Advisor Xi software suite from FPPad

[And finally, you know how important comprehensive training is when you roll out any new technology in your business. Training is critical to the adoption and success of any tool you introduce in your firm.

The folks at Envestnet|Tamarac understand that, and have rolled out a new massive online training resource called Tamarac University Online.

I got a preview of Tamarac University Online, which features training modules on their entire suite of tools, including Advisor CRM, Advisor Rebalancing, and the Advisor View online portal. Each module features hours of how-to videos and instruction, which you can watch on demand anytime, and since it’s mobile friendly, using any device.] Envestnet | Tamarac builds an online university to help advisers master the company’s total office software

 

Watch FPPad Bits and Bytes for October 18, 2013

Watch FPPad Bits and Bytes for October 18, 2013

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Envestnet | Tamarac builds Tamarac University Online, a massive online training program for the Advisor Xi software suite

Posted on October 17, 2013 by in Portfolio Management Software, Practice Management, Technology

Envestnet|Tamarac releases Tamarac University Online for comprehensive on-demand training

Envestnet | Tamarac releases Tamarac University Online for comprehensive on-demand training

Envestnet | Tamarac builds an online university to help advisers master the company’s total office software

Training, or the lack thereof, can make or break the successful introduction of any new technology in a financial adviser’s business. (see Attend Redtail University and learn how to use Redtail CRM like a power user)

Fortunately, the time it takes to master many adviser technology tools has been decreasing consistently, since many applications have been thoughtfully updated with modern, intuitive interfaces and a uncluttered designs.

But when it comes to robust tools like portfolio rebalancing software, better design by itself just isn’t enough to make technology easier to use.

One example of this comes from the Advisor Xi suite of tools from Envestnet | Tamarac.

Better Adoption Through Training

Let’s walk through an example. Open up the Advisor Xi Rebalancer, and you don’t exactly know where to begin.

Tamarac University Online includes hours of video tutorials to guide users through various features

Tamarac University Online includes hours of video tutorials to guide users through various features

If you plan on rebalancing client accounts, your household positions first need to be up to date. That requires an update from your portfolio management software. Time to get some training.

Then when client account positions are current, you next need to compare current allocations with each client’s target portfolio. Time to create and define model portfolios. That requires training.

Next, when you identify what trades to execute to rebalance accounts, you need to know how to generate a trade file and submit it to the appropriate custodian. Training is required here, too.

The lists of processes goes on, and without proper training, acclimating to Advisor Xi (and to be fair, other similarly complex tools, too) can take much longer than originally anticipated.

Training On Demand

Envestent | Tamarac knows this all to well, and for years has been hosting live training events called Tamarac University.

Advisers new to Envestnet | Tamarac, as well as those looking to sharpen their mastery of the Advisor Xi suite, are welcome to attend the company’s two-day classroom style curriculum for a nominal fee.

But for advisers and back office employees unable to travel to the company’s live events in Seattle and Chicago, Tamarac University was not an accessible option for training.

Now the company is providing access to comprehensive, on-demand training through a new massive online training course called Tamarac University Online.

Tamarac University Online

All clients can now access Tamarac University Online through the Support & Training Center. Once in the Support & Training Center, a Tamarac University tab launches clients into Tamarac University Online.

Tamarac University Online features modules for all three of the products in the Advisor Xi suite: Advisor CRM, Advisor Rebalancing, and Advisor View.

Inside each module are dozens of courses designed to cover the primary functionality of each product.

An example of the curriculum found in each of the Tamarac University Online modules.

An example of the curriculum found in each of the Tamarac University Online modules.

As they navigate through the online courses, users are challenged with “knowledge check” activities to validate their lesson retention, followed by a final exam at the end of each course.

At any time, users with administrator privileges can monitor the progress of employees and advisors as they complete their training. In addition, users can complete evaluations at the conclusion of each course to provide feedback to Envestnet | Tamarac on the quality and organization of the curriculum.

Training Anywhere

Envestent | Tamarac invested in high quality learning management software to deploy Tamarac University Online, so the interface and user experience are overall very attractive.

The software is also HTML5 compatible, meaning Tamarac University Online can be accessed from any mobile device using the mobile web browser, so training need not be limited to one’s office computer.

Pricing

Tamarac University Online is available to all users at no additional cost. What else is there to say?

Users gain access to comprehensive training materials which cover much of the curriculum offered in the live events without requiring the commitment of time and travel.

Nevertheless, connecting with other Envestnet | Tamarac users face to face is valuable in its own right, so the company will continue to host Tamarac University in Seattle and Chicago in the future.

If you’re a Tamarac Advisor Xi user and haven’t yet enrolled, contact customer service to get enrolled, or if you’re considering Advisor Xi for your office, ask for a brief introduction to the available training resources so you know how well you will be prepared to make a transition.

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