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FPPad Bits and Bytes for January 13

Posted on January 13, 2012 by in Bits & Bytes

Atlanta, Omaha, Las Vegas, Los Angeles…

That describes my homes away from home for the week leading up to and following today. While I didn’t have time to address some of the news that’s come across my wires, I still put together my Bits and Bytes list so you can quickly scan what’s going on in financial planning technology.

Here are this week’s stories of interest:

Erado Shatters 2011 Growth Projection from MarketWatch.com

[I’d like to say I played a part in Erado’s success, what with all the mentions here on FPPad and in my social media compliance presentations delivered across the country. Even so, all the marketing and buzz does nothing if the product fails to deliver on a fundamental need: automated, no-thought capture and archiving of social media messages posted by registered investment advisers and broker-dealer representatives.] Erado, the nation’s leading compliance and archiving firm in electronic communication, formally announces their record-shattering growth in 2011. Amongst many other key milestones, Erado added over 30 new broker-dealer clients and partners, provided social media compliance services to over 40,000 advisors, and will be hiring more employees from the area.

Keeping Files In The Cloud from the Wall Street Journal

[This is a preview of a larger story to which I contributed several ideas on best practices advisers should follow when deciding to use cloud services for file storage. You can view the full article with a free trial to Dow Jones NewsPlus.] Advisers are increasingly turning to Web-based services to hold business-related information, for the convenience of accessing it from anywhere. Some use simpler storage sites, while others are contracting a comprehensive document-management system based in the cloud, which may actually make it easier for advisers to meet some regulatory obligations.

Mercer Advisors Due Diligence Team Selects Orion Advisor Services as Portfolio Accounting Service Partner from MarketWatch.com

[With just one client, Orion effectively boosted its assets under administration by almost 6%. The competition is getting serious between the industry’s top service providers!] Orion Advisor Services, LLC was selected as the outsourced portfolio accounting partner by Mercer Advisors, a total wealth management firm with $3.5 billion in assets under management as of September 2011. The Mercer Advisors due diligence team includes 10 individuals that made on-site visits to a number of portfolio accounting service bureaus, including Orion.

FPPad Bits and Bytes for January 6

Posted on January 6, 2012 by in Bits & Bytes

Happy New Year! I’m on the road already, traveling to Atlanta and Omaha over the next week, followed by Las Vegas for the AICPA Advanced PFP conference. Here are this week’s stories of interest:

The Largest RIAs Race to Scale from Financial-Planning.com

[So you want to be a $1 billion firm: what do you need to do to get there? Hire great talent, differentiate yourself from your competition, and scale your technology. Easier said than done, based on feedback from some of the largest RIAs in the industry gathered by FP’s Ann Marsh.] Over the past 30 years, the fee-based RIA space has grown by leaps and bounds, from zero to close to $2 trillion in cumulative assets under management. That number is still dwarfed by the $9.3 trillion that research firm Cerulli & Associates estimates is in the hands of full-service brokerages, insurers, trust companies and banks. But the figures look poised to eventually flip as RIAs work to address their top challenges: boosting their efficiency, customizing their technology and differentiating themselves from the competition.

LPL makes big advance into the RIA business with Fortigent acquisition from RIABiz.com

[Why should RIAs cater to high-net-worth individuals? Well, that’s where the money (e.g. revenue) is. Let us hope that after LPL’s acquisition of Fortigent, the company can truly apply its newly-acquired service model ‘down market’ in the words of Brooke Southall.] After a month of rumblings, LPL Financial made official its intent to acquire Fortigent, LLC, a top outsourcer of high-net-worth solutions and consulting services to RIAs, banks and trust companies.

Who’s Afraid of Social Media? from Financial-Planning.com

[Look, satisfying compliance requirements when using social media does not require a degree in rocket science. Yes, regulatory requirements might be ambiguous, but by applying common sense principles and some clever uses of technology (e.g. automated archiving services), advisers can successfully engage in this new dialogue without fearing the regulatory hammer.] Social media compliance is a subject that elicits a range of reactions from planners, from groans to cautious, curious questions. But Leia Farmer, the deputy chief compliance officer at Securities America, is excited about it.

FPPad Bits and Bytes for December 30

Posted on December 30, 2011 by in Bits & Bytes

Happy New Year!

Here is this week’s story of interest:

Early adopters of social media, RIAs are growing disenchanted with its power to drum up new business from RIABiz.com

[I said it on Twitter and I’ll repeat it here: advisers looking for a quick score on social media should look elsewhere. Social media is an extension of brand awareness and relationship building that firms have been doing for decades.] Registered investment advisors have embraced the world of social media earlier and with more zeal than their competitors in the last couple of years. But as a result, they are more quickly discovering its limitations.

FPPad Bits and Bytes for December 23

Posted on December 23, 2011 by in Bits & Bytes

I hope you and yours have a wonderful holiday. Here are this week’s stories of interest:

How Black Diamond is faring as a unit of Advent Software from RIABiz.com

[So if you’re a disgruntled adviser on Advent’s legacy software, which new provider are you going to consider? Now that Advent owns Black Diamond, it seems like a no-brainer that advisers will make the transition to the web-based solution with little or no transition cost.] Since the Jacksonville, Fla.-based up-and-comer in portfolio accounting software was purchased back in early June by the San Francisco-based market leader, it has increased the number of advisory practices it serves to 330 from 270, an increase of about 22%.

TD to work on workflows for third-party technology partners from InvestmentNews.com

[This is a good, mid-week submission from Davis Janowski about TD Ameritrade’s efforts to provide sample workflows to advisors using Veo Open Access.] TD Ameritrade Institutional has completed an agreement with technology consultancy Actifi Inc. to help it build automated workflows for TD’s Veo Open Access platform.

FPPad Bits and Bytes for December 16

Posted on December 16, 2011 by in Bits & Bytes

I’m on an extended holiday break now through the end of the year, but I’ll be sure to keep you up to date with the best stories in financial planning technology.

So here are this week’s stories of interest:

How Orion won the account of a $2-billion RIA from Advent after two very long drives across the prairie from RIABiz.com

[I have to hand it to Brooke, he managed to weave in an appealing story about driving across the Midwestern plains into a feature of Orion Advisor Services.] Orion’s announcement last week that it has supplanted Advent Software for the private client assets of Mariner Wealth Advisors, a firm that manages about $10 billion of assets, was four years, and two multi-state car rides, in the making.

InvestmentNews Technology Directory to make its debut this week from InvestmentNews.com

[This could be a promising new resource for advisers seeking information on the various technology vendors out there.] After a great deal of effort and teamwork, the InvestmentNews Technology Directory was introduced online Wednesday. The directory features detailed profiles of products designed for the advisory community. It already has more than 100 listed.

SROIIA Launches State Web Tool in Anticipation of ‘Switch’ from AdvisorOne.com

[SROIIA’s web tool is a nice way to quickly check the disorganized state registration requirements for investment advisers.] The Self-Regulatory Organization for Independent Investment Advisers, which was founded by two University of Mississippi School of Law students last March, announced Wednesday that it had created a web tool to help advisors wade through the registration requirements for each state.

Fidelity’s New Benchmarking Dashboards Help RIAs See How They Stack Up from Financial-Planning.com

[If you’re familiar with the dashboard reports from Quantuvis Consulting (Stephanie Bogan’s firm), you’ll recognize the data in Fidelity’s new tool.] Here’s one way RIA firms can measure their firms’ success: they can see everything from where their revenue is coming from to total assets under management —benchmarked to other firms — the same way you’d look at dials on a car dashboard.

 

 

FPPad Bits and Bytes for December 2

Posted on December 2, 2011 by in Bits & Bytes

It was a slow week in financial planning technology news, but thankfully, December marks the release of the annual Financial Planning Technology Survey. Joel Bruckenstein’s review of what tools and technology advisers are using dominates this weeks update. Otherwise, companies must be entering that post-Thanksgiving quiet period in advance of the December holiday season.

Here are this week’s stories of interest:

Tech Survey from Financial-Planning.com

[Redtail leaps ahead of CRMs, advisors flock to iPads, and firms still operate without any form of real document management. Read this and other insights in Bruckenstein’s annual review.] From iPads to Androids to cloud providers, technology evolves oh-so-fast, and FP’s annual tech survey reveals that advisor technology usage is changing rapidly too.

Advisor Tech Survey: Tablets Are What’s Hot Now from Financial-Planning.com

[When I spoke to a room full of advisers at NAPFA Connections in Dallas last month, over 80% of them raised their hands when asked if they owned an iPad. How much more proof does one need?] For financial advisors, the introduction of iPad over the past year has changed everything. Notoriously resistant to new technologies, advisers have become envious of the remarkable advancements taking place in the consumer tech market.

UBS Gets Serious About Mobile With iPad App Test Drive from Financial-Planning.com

[Financial advisers affiliated with UBS Wealth Management Americas will soon have access to the UBS FA Mobile app for iPad. Perhaps the intro sentence would be better if the hope was to create more effective engagements with clients. AUM growth is just a side effect of that.] Some 60 UBS Wealth Management Americas financial advisors will kickoff a three-month test drive this week of an iPad application designed to make it easier to interact with clients and access research reports — all in the hope of generating more assets under management.

The Mitigator from Financial-Planning.com

[How do you manage $300+ million AUM with just a staff of three? Get Tamarac Advisor X and leverage ByAllAccounts.] When a Midwestern regional bank bought the independent firm financial planner Marc Henn worked for in 2002, his clients questioned where their interests ranked on the firm’s list of priorities. “My clients encouraged me to start my own firm,” Henn says. In 2008, he did, founding Harvest Financial Advisors of West Chester, Ohio.

FPPad Bits and Bytes for November 25

Posted on November 25, 2011 by in Bits & Bytes

I hope you and yours had a Happy Thanksgiving!

If you find yourself in a turkey-induced coma or in a daze from midnight doorbuster shopping, you might want to take a moment before you dive into this week’s stories of interest:

Endorsing B.Y.O.D.: Save Money, Gain Productivity from Securities Technology Monitor

[As an adviser, you are probably already using your own personal mobile device in your practice. But this excellent article explores your options for encouraging your employees to bring their own devices into the fray (and what you can do on the technology side to protect and secure device communication).] iPhone 4S sales are off the charts, even with its battery issues. iPad sales are similar. Android now is the most popular operating system for mobile phones. So why aren’t you encouraging your employees to bring their own devices to work?

Impeccable Timing is One Sign of a Mature Firm from Financial-Planning.com

[Here’s a vignette of ARGI Financial Group with some interesting takeaways:

    • According to the article, they clear about $6 million in revenues. On their Form ADV Part 2, they list assets under management of $207 million. Do the math and the average fee collected across all accounts is 2.9%. Wow. They disclose fees of 2.5% for accounts under $1 million and 2.0% for accounts between $1 and $5 million. There must not be much competition in Kentucky if they can easily charge 2+% on assets.
    • Next is their change of custodians. Note that under TD Ameritrade, they’ve been fairly successful in growing to the point where they are. Ok, no surprise.
    • But the third’s the kicker. ARGI uses Interactive Advisory Software, or IAS. It’s been a long time since I’ve heard of firms with revenues of this size who are actively using IAS. Wow.]

Louisville, Ky.-based ARGI Financial Group’s business is running smoothly now. The firm has two other offices in Bowling Green, Ky., and Cincinnati. It serves about 800 families, with an average net worth of about $1 million. But it wasn’t easy to get to this level — the firm had to overcome some operational hurdles before business really took off.

FPPad Bits and Bytes for November 18

Posted on November 18, 2011 by in Bits & Bytes

Not much came across my screens this week. So here is this week’s story of interest:

A small CRM system that offers many extras from InvestmentNews.com

[Here Davis Janowski highlights Grendel Online, a CRM I saw back in early 2009. It’s fast, because most of the code runs on a local machine, and the only pushed through the Internet is raw data. But since then, the CRM has yet to gain significant traction in the independent adviser space despite its recent integrations, about which Davis reviews.] Grendel is an information management system that provides customer relationship management, account aggregation and document management. It also serves as a client portal so that clients can access their account information.

FPPad Bits and Bytes for November 11

Posted on November 11, 2011 by in Bits & Bytes

I’ve been back in Dallas for a week, but I still have yet to review and edit my notes from Schwab IMPACT 2011. Soon I hope to have two or three new updates on my feedback from conference breakout sessions, but consulting, new content development, and family obligations take precedence. Still, I’ve kept my pulse on the wires this week for the best in technology stories for financial advisers.

First, if you have a website, but are wondering what you can do to take it to the next level and convert visitors to clients, read this month’s column on Morningstar Advisor, How Marketing Automation Can Accelerate Client Growth.

All the major media outlets were on site at Schwab IMPACT 2011, so there were a number of stories released this week regarding related announcements. Most of them were good, but in this case, video content did a better job of addressing what the custodian is doing with its technology platform for advisers than print.

Here are two video updates from Schwab IMPACT worth viewing, one from InvestmentNews’s Davis Janowski interviewing Neesha Hathi and a second from James J. Green’s AdvisorOne, also interviewing Neesha Hathi.

Advisor Tested: Arkovi expands and archives a firm’s online footprint from RIABiz.com

[As an adviser in a regulated industry, you can’t tweet, post to Facebook, or interact on LinkedIn if it’s related to your business unless you archive and supervise your records. One tool that facilitates your compliance obligations is Arkovi, and Judy Messina gives a good rundown in this RIABiz Advisor Tested story.] As registered investment advisors flock to Twitter, Facebook and other social-media sites to establish themselves as thought leaders and connect with customers and other investment professionals, storing and keeping track of tweets, posts and other content for compliance purposes can seem like an exercise in herding cats.

And in related news, I think you might care a little bit about what might happen with the future of regulatory examinations for investment advisers.

Let RIAs Foot Their Own Examination Bill, Report Says from FA-Mag.com

[In a report commissioned by TD Ameritrade Institutional, Georgetown University finance professor James J. Angel proposed that RIAs should pay for their own periodic compliance examinations conducted by an outside third party. There’s merit to this idea, as RIAs who take custody of client assets today must subject themselves to (and pay for) a surprise audit by an independent public accountant that is registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB).] Instead of the Securities And Exchange Commission (SEC) or the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (Finra) examining RIA firms, the firms themselves should foot the bill for their own periodic compliance examination by using an outside body.