Financial Planning magazine conducts an annual survey of its readers to gauge the different types of technology in use by financial planners and advisers. 2008 marks the second year of the survey, and Joel P. Bruckenstein published an overview of the results and a comparison to last year’s survey information.
Click here to view Bruckenstein’s review of Financial Planning’s 2008 Software Survey.
Here’s my 30-second take if you don’t have time to read the entire review:
Day three of the NAPFA Technology Conference leads to the close of this invigorating trip. I had the opportunity to share many stories and ideas with practitioners and back-office staff alike, and have come away with several new ideas I hope to implement over the next several months. Here is the recap of day three:
Human Capital
Richard Lee of Lee Financial Corporation opened the final day with a session titled Human Capital and Systems. Richard commented that financial advisers have come a long way since the days of VisiCalc, but advisers are still defining the business and profession. He played a video featuring a staff member who discussed how spreadsheets and computer programs simplified financial product illustrations in the early 80s.
ByAllAccounts, the account aggregation service provider, is holding another “under the hood” session in November. I blogged about their first session in September, but I missed it due to a scheduling conflict.
I signed up for the next session to be held on:
November 5, 2008
2:00 – 3:00 Eastern Time
Visit my previous post to read more or simply go to the ByAllAccounts website to register.
Day two of the NAPFA Technology Conference has been exhausting. Admittedly, I was up late last night, but digesting the volume of information and resources highlighted today is something I’d compare to drinking water from a fire hose. So here it is, a recap of day two:
If you haven’t seen a Tamarac demo, DO IT NOW! If your firm trades on a consistent basis (e.g. over 2,000 trades a year or so), Tamarac will save time, reduce mistakes, and facilitate compliance.
Tamarac is poised to give 3rd party money managers a run for their money.
I recommend requesting a demonstration of the program. Connor Wilson presented for this conference, and he has deep knowledge of the program yet is able to explain its complex features with ease (note: I receive no compensation whatsoever for saying this, as noted in my About page).
Here’s a quick post on the highlights from today’s NAPFA Practice Management and Technology conference held in Las Vegas.
Chris Parker, Franklin Covey: Success Is In The Systems
Earlier today, Schwab Institutional’s website was unavailable for investment advisers, including my firm. My access was out for about one hour during the afternoon trading session.
We, like many other wealth managers, use Schwab’s custodial services fairly extensively, including the placing of trade orders online, opening new accounts, and reviewing balance and position history.
I often come across times when I want some real-time insight on a topic that’s garnering tremendous interest. The recent volatility of the stock market certainly has created widespread concern. Today is no different as the global stock markets are reacting negatively to the proposed bailout legislation (I could link an AP news article here, but I’m afraid the context will be obsolete tomorrow!).
But what specifically are people talking about?
Frequent readers of FPPad.com know that I try my best to keep up with new tools and technologies that can improve the service and efficiency of a financial planning firm. I’ll be attending the upcoming NAPFA Practice Management and Technology Conference in October to do just that.
The conference will be held on October 22-24, 2008 at Bally’s Las Vegas.
A few weeks ago I received an email that NAPFA reduced the conference registration fee to $199. Also, first time NAPFA conference attendees and the second and subsequent employees from the same firm are all invited to come for $99.
In February 2008, I adopted the use of the ByAllAccounts WebPortfolio and Custodial Integrator data aggregation service. I blogged a little bit about it here and here, and am working on a more comprehensive review of the service addressing how I’ve successfully integrated it into our operations process.
But until then, I wanted to point out an invitation from the folks at ByAllAccounts to take a “look under hood” of the service.
In the last month or two, I have received a number of new reports that focus on operations and technology in the financial adviser space. These reports do a fair job of identifying some of the trends of technology used in a wide variety of firms and some of the reasons why advisers have been slow to roll out new technology.
The first report is the 2008 FPA Practitioner Technology Report – Leveraging Technology Solutions. This report uses results from an online survey taken by 291 random FPA members in February 2008. Respondents consisted of the following categories:
The majority of participants (72 percent) reported revenue of $1 million or less.
