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The adviser’s answer to Mint.com, Personal Capital, LearnVest, and other PFM apps

Posted on July 16, 2013 by in Portfolio Management Software, Software

Mint.com is part of the explosion of personal financial management applications, or PFM, that are so popular among consumers. What is the financial adviser's answer to PFM apps?

Mint.com is part of the explosion of personal financial management applications, or PFM, that are so popular among consumers. What is the financial adviser’s answer to PFM apps?

Consumers are connected to their finances in ways never before possible.

New and innovative apps like Mint.com, Personal Capital, LearnVest and others can loosely be organized into a group of personal finance management, or PFM, tools.

Why Consumers Love PFM Apps

Mint.com alone has over 10 million registered users of its online and mobile app tools. Users can easily aggregate their checking, savings, credit, and loan accounts from a variety of providers and financial institutions, generating one dashboard to consolidate money management.

So when a user of these PFM apps decides it may be time to seek out services from a professional financial adviser, how will the adviser’s technology stack up to the expectations established by the PFM tools?

The Adviser’s Answer to PFM Apps

Fortunately, financial advisers do have tools at their disposal to give clients the convenience of consolidated account reporting. Clients can use them to view their account details at any time and on any device, be it a desktop, laptop, smartphone, or tablet.

Advisers use the same tools to capture information on all of their clients’ holdings, and can then use the data to drive up-to-date financial plans, net worth statements, cash flow illustrations, and much more.

I covered one solution in this month’s column for Morningstar Advisor.

Read The Advisor’s Answer to Popular Personal Finance Management Tools at Morningstar.com to find out more information.

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FPA of Georgia members, get your summer technology update on July 25

Posted on July 15, 2013 by in Conferences, Technology

If you’re an FPA of Georgia member, or live within a reasonable drive of the Atlanta metro area, consider attending next week’s practice management and technology meeting.

On Thursday, July 25 at 11:30 a.m. ET, I’m presenting along with Ted Jenkin of oXYGen Financial on how to use technology to engage the next generation of clients.

Registration is $30 for members, $60 for non members, and $15 for students.

Click or tap the button below and register today!

register

(click to watch on YouTube)

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The adviser’s mobile world: Register for this free videocast

Posted on July 12, 2013 by in Portfolio Management Software, Technology

By the end of 2014, mobile devices will outnumber people on planet Earth.

What is your mobile strategy?

Watch The Adviser’s Increasingly Mobile World, a FREE videocast hosted by InvestmentNews, live on July 17 at 4:30 p.m. ET.

Just visit the link above right before 4:30 p.m. ET, and barring any technical difficulties, watch the broadcast live at InvestmentNews.com

I will join panelists Blair duQuesnay, Sunit Bhalla, and Davis Janowski in this live discussion on all things mobile for financial advisers.

(view the promo on YouTube)

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FPPad Bits and Bytes for July 12

Posted on July 12, 2013 by in Bits & Bytes

The upper cascade portion of Amicalola Falls in the north Georgia mountains

The upper cascade portion of Amicalola Falls in the north Georgia mountains

I spent much of the week on vacation at Amicalola Falls State Park in Georgia, home to the tallest waterfall east of the Mississippi.

So, you know that this week’s stories of interest are some of the best for me to take time away to list them here:

Addepar Expands Management Team with Appointment of Chief Executive Officer, President and Chief Operating Officer from BusinessWire.com

[Earlier this week I posted my interview with former-president-turned-chief-strategy-officer Mike Paulus of Addepar (see: Managing over $100 billion, Addepar’s Mike Paulus reveals how the company will cultivate RIA business). I had to add an explanation at the beginning of that video because of Paulus’ title change, and know we know why. Addepar now has a new CEO, and President and COO, who bring seasoned experience from Palantir (Addepar co-founder Joe Lonsdale’s more recognized venture) and the private equity industry.] Addepar, the leader in smart technology platforms for global wealth and investment management, today announced the appointment of Eric Poirier as Chief Executive Officer and Karen White as President and Chief Operating Officer.

Client of the Future from AdvisorOne.com

[Practice management expert Mark Tibergien, Chief Executive Officer of Pershing Advisor Solutions, a BNY Mellon company, issues a stern warning that if your firm isn’t changing to adapt to service expectations of Gen X/Y, you’re in trouble. Tibergien is inspired by Cam Marston’s book Generational Insights and argues that the tactics used to satisfy baby boomers won’t work with the client of the future.] Something has been nagging at us about the way in which most advisory firms are oriented. The epiphany came when we realized our view was more about the advisor of the future than the client of the future.

Twitter Advertising: A $100 Experiment Pays Off from Financial-Planning.com

[I don’t think columnist Dave Grant wrote the title of his article, because I don’t think he would have used the phrase “pays off.” Grant experimeted with advertising and promoting his Twitter accounts with $100 seed money, and experienced ho-hum traffic to his website. Remember, nearly anyone can access Twitter analytics for free (my screencast showing how is embedded below) and you can see your account with as little at $1 for some testing. You don’t have to start with $100.] As an avid Google Analytics user, and having previously explored Facebook ads, I thought I would see what effect “Promoted Tweets” would have on my website.

15 power Tweeters every adviser should know from InvestmentNews.com

[Remember, you don’t have to tweet to get benefits from Twitter. Following these 15 “power Tweeters” recommended by Nerd’s Eye View publisher Michael Kitces will get you off to a fast start to get the most out of Twitter without the compliance headaches of posting your own tweets.] While there are many social media lists out there of people and businesses to follow on Twitter, InvestmentNews’ own Power 20 “Power Tweeter” Michael Kitces, partner and director of research for Pinnacle Advisory Group and publisher of The Kitces Report and the blog Nerd’s Eye View maintains a list of people financial advisers should follow on Twitter.

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Office 365 versus Google Apps: Which one is right for financial advisers?

Posted on July 11, 2013 by in Software, Technology

Office 365 and Google Apps deliver your office software through the cloud. But which one is right for financial advisers?

Office 365 and Google Apps deliver your office software through the cloud. But which one is right for financial advisers?

Office 365 and Google Apps give financial advisers the flexibility to use office software on any Internet-connected computer.

But there are substantial differences in the way these applications work compared to their desktop counterparts (Word, Excel, and PowerPoint on Windows, Pages, Numbers, and Keynote on Mac).

Still, if the thought of switching to device-agnostic office software that is available anywhere you have Internet access is appealing, read my contribution to the July issue of the Journal of Financial Planning.

Read Your Office Apps in the Cloud at OneFPA.org today (FPA member login required).

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Managing over $100 billion, Addepar’s Mike Paulus reveals how the company will cultivate RIA business

Posted on July 9, 2013 by in Software, Technology

With its build first objective, Addepar has quickly attracted hundreds of billions in assets and is now targeting the lucrative RIA market

Addepar, the Silicon Valley tech startup, spent four years building the next-generation portfolio management platform.

Now the company is ready to solicit business from RIAs with its premiere analysis and reporting capabilities.

Addepar’s Origins

Mike Paulus, Chief Strategy Officer of Addepar

Mike Paulus, Chief Strategy Officer of Addepar

I recently sat down with Addepar Chief Strategy Officer Mike Paulus (who held the title of president up until June 2013) to clear some of the mystery surrounding the tech startup.

Addepar originated with the goal of solving founder Joe Lonsdale’s frustration with managing his own personal wealth from his success at PayPal and Palantir.

“[Lonsdale] looked at the tools that were available to him and really didn’t see any tools that met his need,”said Paulus.

Lonsdale founded Addepar in 2009 with the goal of creating “modern, well-built technology” that was capable of addressing the intricacies of a complex portfolio. Non-public and non-traded assets including private equity, committed capital, and hard assets are examples of holdings that can be difficult to manage with existing technology.

What About RIAs?

Four years later, Addepar’s robust platform is available to registered investment advisers.

“Some of our happiest clients are RIAs,” said Paulus.

“A lot of our workflows around billing and reporting are just better suited to RIAs,” he added.

Watch the entire interview to learn more about Addepar’s capabilities, how the company retains top talent in Silicon Valley’s competitive environment, and details on pricing.

(click to watch on YouTube)

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FPPad Bits and Bytes for July 5

Posted on July 5, 2013 by in Bits & Bytes

fireworks

The Fourth of July holiday is an ideal time for independent financial advisers in the U.S. to celebrate independence.

But before you leave for the long weekend of hot dogs, hamburgers and cold drinks, take three minutes to review this week’s stories of interest:

Lockbox and Smarsh Partner to Offer a New Standard in Privacy and Security Service to Financial Services Professionals from Marketwire.com and Exemplar Turns to the Cloud for Document Security from Financial-Planning.com

[Who is Lockbox? They rapidly advanced up my watch list of companies with technology solutions for financial advisers. Lockbox is an Australian company that just entered the US market in May this year. They are entering a crowded space of cloud document storage providers along with Dropbox, Box, ShareFile, SpiderOak, and many more. Lockbox’s strong points are that it offers two-factor authentication and client-side encryption (see: Evaluating Online Document Storage at the Journal of Financial Planning for more details), but Lockbox lacks a number of features I’d like to see in a true solution for advisers. As of today, Lockbox isn’t compatible with Mac, they don’t offer desktop file synchronization, and they don’t have mobile apps for iOS or Android. Add these capabilities and change pricing from user based to storage capacity based, and I’ll be interested.] Lockbox, the leader in privacy and security service, today announced that AdvisorSquare, part of the Smarsh suite of website services designed specifically for financial services professionals, has joined the company’s affiliate community.

SigFig Lands $15 Million in Series B Funding From Top Investors from Finovate.com

[Officially launched just under two years ago, San Francisco-based SigFig raised $15 million in Series B funding to . Formerly known as WikiInvest, SigFig aggregates over $75 billion in assets on its platform and is entirely about making investment analysis accessible and transparent, while delivering investment recommendations in an attempt to generate a higher return in a portfolio. Recommendations typically cover switching mutual funds or ETFs for similar, lower-fee versions, or changing financial institutions where lower trading commission charges are offered. But for clients who have professional investment advisers, SigFig compares portfolio performance to a peer group of thousands of other investment advisers aggregated in the platform. If your portfolio isn’t performing, SigFig tells clients “Your adviser sucks for the following reasons:” How’s that for a nudge?!?] SigFig, the platform that helps users manage a total of $75 billion in assets, recently received $15 million in Series B funding.

Tech Review: New Digital Content Services from Financial-Planning.com

[You work something like 40 hours a week. If you want to maximize time servicing existing clients and attracting new ones, how much time should you be devoting to creating content shared on social media networks? Probably not a lot. Thankfully, Joel Bruckenstein shares two providers, Vestorly (listen to my podcast with Vestorly co-founder Justin Wisz at Social currency might just be the answer to financial advisers’ frustration with social media) and AdvisorDeck,  in his July column at Financial Planning that can streamline your content generation process, saving you precious time while still allowing you to maximize your compliant use of social media.] While many advisors have struggled to adopt social networking tools, there have been few low-cost, turnkey solutions to help advisors curate information and automatically deliver digital content to clients and prospects.

Succession Planning for an Entire Industry: Why Study Groups Aren’t That Bad from AdvisorOne.com

[Warning: subtle self promotion ahead! This story by AdvisorOne’s John Sullivan tells you why study groups are not bad, contrary to what compliance adviser Tom Giachetti might say. I belong to an outstanding study group called Xcelsior, and in this story you’ll ready why this study group shows that an exciting future lies ahead for the financial planning industry.] Compliance curmudgeon Tom Giachetti doesn’t think much of study groups. “Study groups are a bunch of people sitting around convincing each other that they’re right,” the chairman of the securities practice group at the law firm of Stark & Stark said recently in Denver.

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Schwab Advisor Services’ Brian Shenson addresses PortfolioCenter Hosted, OpenView Gateway, and Integrated Office offerings for advisers

Posted on July 1, 2013 by in Video Spotlight

In this video spotlight interview, Brian Shenson, vice president of Advisor Technology Solutions for Schwab Advisor Services met with me to update Schwab’s progress on a number of technology initiatives.

(For details on last weeks’ Schwab Tech Talk conference call, read RIA technology updates from Schwab Advisor Services’ Tech Talk series.)

Brian Shenson, vice president, Advisor Technology Solutions for Schwab Advisor Services

Brian Shenson, vice president, Advisor Technology Solutions for Schwab Advisor Services

PortfolioCenter Hosted

Clearly, Schwab Advisor Services recognizes the opportunity in offering advisers the ability to locate portions of their technology in the cloud.

The launch of PortfolioCenter Hosted, according to Shenson, is intended to simplify operations for advisers.

“We have over 3,500 advisers today relying on PortfolioCenter desktop, but they’re looking to simplify their operating model with cloud-based solutions,” said Shenson.

“PortfolioCenter Hosted allows [advisers] to have the same control and ownership of their data that they have today, but leverage Schwab’s backbone infrastructure to host their systems,” he added.

Schwab OpenView MarketSquare

I asked Shenson to elaborate on the resources Schwab provides when it comes to the various integrations supported by PortfolioCenter and other Schwab Intelligent Technologies’ resources.

Schwab OpenView MarketSquare is the latest resource Shenson highlighted to educate advisers on their technology purchase options.

“[OpenView MarketSquare is] not meant to replace other resources advisers rely on to learn about technology”, said Shenson, “but we think we have a unique opportunity to create voice to the adviser’s perspective on the technology they use to help inform other advisers before making that purchase decision for a particular technology.”

Schwab OpenView MarketSquare™ provides technology ratings and reviews, exclusively by and for advisors who custody with Schwab Advisor Services™

Schwab OpenView MarketSquare™ provides technology ratings and reviews, exclusively by and for advisors who custody with Schwab Advisor Services™

Visit Schwab OpenView MarketSquare online at http://www.schwabintelligenttechnologies.com/MarketSquare

OpenView Gateway versus Integrated Office

Finally, there still is confusion over the differences in the two primary back office offerings from Schwab Advisor Services, OpenView Gateway and the Integrated Office.

I asked Shenson to identify the type of advisory firm to which each solution is best suited.

“Many advisers have already made substantial investments in their technology infrastructure, and for them we wanted to work with best-of-breed providers and build integrations to those platforms. That is what we designed with OpenView Gateway,” said Shenson.

The alternate solution, Integrated Office, is a complete “office in a box” offering.

“Many advisers are looking for incredible simplicity in their operating model,” said Shenson.

“They’re looking to us as a provider to offer an integrated solution where all the pieces are designed to fit very well together. For them we offer the Integrated Office.”

(click to watch on YouTube)

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FPPad Bits and Bytes for June 28

Posted on June 28, 2013 by in Bits & Bytes

2013 is half over. How much have you accomplished towards your technology goals?

2013 is half over. How much have you accomplished towards your technology goals?

And just like that, the first half of 2013 is over.

Remember the technology objectives you had when you entered the year? How have you fared on increasing efficiency and enhancing the service you deliver to clients?

If you’re not as far along as you had hoped, you still have 26 weeks to move ahead!

Here are this week’s stories of interest:

What I Learned from Getting Robbed: Part 2 from Advisortechbuzz.com

[This is the second update from Justin Unton from Commonwealth about the theft of his laptop and mobile devices. As an Apple user, he has several preexisting options for device recovery including updating his Apple ID with stolen device information and attempting to locate devices with the Find My iPhone app. Prey is also a clever app to install on your laptop which will try to contact the owner and send webcam photos of whoever is trying to access the laptop.] As I mentioned in the previous post, after getting robbed I was thankful I’d taken steps to protect the information stored on my electronic devices. Today, I’ll discuss a few specific security measures that served me well (and one that I wish I’d had in place).

RIA technology updates from Schwab Advisor Services’ Tech Talk series from FPPad

[Yes, I’m shamelessly promoting my own coverage of technology updates from Schwab Advisor Services. But let’s face it; you could read the PR-heavy press release, or read my review of the technology updates that matter to your business.] In a move to be more visible and transparent, Schwab Advisor Services launched a periodic series of conference calls called Tech Talk, featuring the latest updates on Schwab’s technology and related services for independent investment advisors.

Erado Announces Addition of Google Plus to Social Media Capturing Suite from Erado.com

[Erado continues to grow under the radar of most advisers, and that’s partly due to their success in cultivating new broker-dealer relationships. Now Erado becomes more attractive after recently adding Google Plus archiving (or Google+ which isn’t so press-release friendly) to their compliance suite.] Erado, the nation’s leading compliance and archiving firm in electronic communication, officially announces the newest addition to their Social Media Capturing suite, Google Plus.

Convenience or security: You can’t have both when it comes to Wi-Fi from TechRepublic.com

[Frequent Bits & Bytes readers might be tired of hearing about the risks of using public WiFi networks. For a refresher specific to you as a financial adviser, go read Why advisers can’t trust their clients anymore and How to secure mobile devices against “WiFi honeypots” here at FPPad. In this TechRepublic.com article, author Michael Kassner interviews an information security professional about how the risks of using public WiFi and what tools and programs to have in place to protect against hacking. But again, everything in the TechRepublic article has been covered for you in the two posts I provided as a refresher.] Open Wi-Fi networks can be a godsend when you need them. Michael P. Kassner interviews a network-security expert who explains why bad guys like them even more.

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Did you screw up a client request? Say you’re sorry with this two-minute technique

Posted on June 27, 2013 by in General

You screwed up! Now it's time to apologize.

You screwed up! Now it’s time to apologize.

It happens to us all; you promised to call a client, but somehow the appointment/reminder never made it on your calendar.

For whatever reason, you dropped the ball and need to apologize.

What’s a quick and convenient way to do it?

Why not send a free coffee to your client?

In the screencast above, I show you in two minutes how easy it is to send a Starbucks gift card to your client using the mobile app. I used my iPhone for the screencast, but the steps are essentially the same for the Android app.

And no, Starbucks didn’t provide promotional consideration for this tip (but if you’re reading this and you work for Starbucks, email me!)

(click to watch on YouTube)

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