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FPPad Bits and Bytes for October 16

Posted on October 16, 2015 by in Bits & Bytes

On today’s broadcast, Morningstar says it will acquire Total Rebalance Expert, LogMeIn acquires LastPass, and Laser App doubles down on technology training for advisors.

So get ready, FPPad Bits and Bytes begins now.

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Morningstar, Inc. to Acquire tRx Investment Portfolio Rebalancing Platform for Advisors from Morningstar

[Let’s get right to this week’s top story which comes from Morningstar, as the investment research company just announced that it will acquire Total Rebalance Expert, the portfolio rebalancing solution created by Sheryl Rowling back in 2008. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed, but my take on this news is that it’s a big positive for both companies, and here’s why.

First, Morningstar has provided back-office technology to thousands of advisors in the form of Morningstar Advisor Workstation and Morningstar Office, but for years advisors have complained that the internal portfolio rebalancing tool lacked some of the more sophisticated features found in competing solutions. So acquiring TRX closes this gap in Morningstar’s technology platform.

And for TRX, what began as a personal project for Sheryl Rowling’s own RIA has grown into a legitimate player in the portfolio rebalancing marketplace with over 175 firms already on board. But in order to take TRX to the next level, it’s going to require additional investments in development, marketing, and customer service, and that’s where Morningstar has the potential to add tremendous value.

This news is the latest in a string of fintech acquisitions this year that includes eMoney, Advent, LearnVest, Finance Logix, Upside Advisor, Guide Financial, and Yodlee. So, I think it’s time we have a chat. Come on, bring it in.

The independent technology providers you use today are in play. Fintech is hot right now, and there’s a lot of cash available, so don’t be surprised if one of the core solutions you use announces it’s going to be acquired.

Now I’m not saying you need to make an exit plan for each piece of technology you use, but I’m going do my best to keep you up to date on what’s happening, and offer suggestions where I feel appropriate if you need to make a move to an alternate solution. Ok? Ok.] Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ: MORN), a leading provider of independent investment research, has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Total Rebalance Expert (tRx), an automated, tax-efficient investment portfolio rebalancing platform for financial advisors, from FNA, LLC. Morningstar expects to complete the transaction in November 2015.

LastPass Joins the LogMeIn Family from LastPass, and

Joining forces with LastPass from Meldium, and

LogMeIn now owns LastPass – here’s how to migrate to 1Password from TroyHunt.com

[Next up is more acquisition news as LogMeIn, the remote access software provider, announced that it will acquire LastPass, the popular password manager solution, for $110 million. This follows the company’s September 2014 acquisition of Meldium, another password management tool, with a price tag of $15 million.

Now LastPass is the solution I use to manage passwords to hundreds of online accounts, so I am paying very close attention to what’s going to happen to the product in the near future. One thing LogMeIn did say on their website is that users of Meldium will be encouraged to transition to a comparable version of LastPass in early 2016.

But much of the online chatter I’ve read about LogMeIn mentions terrible customer service experiences and frustrating billing issues, so I admit that I’m considering competing solutions like 1Password or Dashlane, but I’m not making any moves just yet. Nevertheless, I’ve saved a great article that walks through the steps of extracting all my password data from LastPass to migrate to another service in case I might need it in the future, and you’ll find that link along with this episode’s top stories.] It’s a big day here at LastPass. We’re thrilled to announce that we’re joining LogMeIn.

Laser App doubles down on technology training at its first Advisor Con event in Las Vegas from FPPad

[And finally, a few days ago I attended the first-ever Advisor Con event hosted by Laser App Software in Las Vegas. The agenda at Advisor Con was filled with training sessions, and not just on Laser App software, but training for all of the technology providers who where in attendance.]

 

Watch FPPad Bits and Bytes for October 16, 2015

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FPPad Bits and Bytes for October 17

Posted on October 17, 2014 by in Bits & Bytes

On today’s broadcast, Betterment Institutional releases its online investment solution for advisors. Will the industry rush to adopt this new digital solution for emerging clients? The SEC admits it doesn’t know where its laptops are. Could you be at risk of making the same mistakes committed by this industry watchdog? And, hackers claim to have stolen millions of passwords from Dropbox. Find out what you should be doing right now to protect the information you store online.

So get ready, FPPad Bits and Bytes begins now.

(Watch FPPad Bits and Bytes on YouTube)

Today’s episode is brought to you by Wealthbox CRM: Simple, social, and collaborative CRM for financial advisors.

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If you’re considering switching your CRM, connect with Amber from Team Wealthbox to get a personal demo at Wealthbox.com.

Here are the links to this week’s top stories:

Robo advisor Betterment works with Fidelity in RIA push from CNBC

[This week’s top story highlights Betterment Institutional, who this week announced the official release of an advisor-friendly version of its popular direct-to-consumer service that currently manages over $600 million in customer assets.

No doubt influenced by the guidance and financial investments from Steve Lockshin and Marty Bicknell, Betterment Institutional allows advisors to white label the Betterment platform and offer it to all clients for a cost of 25 basis points per year. Advisors can charge an additional fee if they so choose.

In addition, Fidelity Institutional Wealth Services announced that the company will include Betterment Institutional among a list of practice management resources it offers to advisors. But the use of Betterment Institutional is not exclusive to Fidelity, so whatever your custodial affiliation is today, you can begin to use Betterment Institutional if you’re seeking a low-cost automated investment solution for your emerging clients.

Betterment Institutional joins Upside Advisor, Guide Financial, JemStep and a few others as an advisor-friendly automated investment solution, and you’ll want to stay tuned for news following the Schwab IMPACT conference, as details on that custodian’s much anticipated free investment platform should be made public.] If you can’t beat the robots, join them. That’s what Betterment—the ultra-low cost, computer-driven personal portfolio service—hopes financial professionals will do with its new institutionally focused “robo-advisor” offering.

Missing SEC laptops risk release of nonpublic information, inspector says from Marketwatch

[Next up is an embarrassing revelation from the Securities and Exchange Commission, as the industry watchdog admitted that somewhere between 24 and 202 laptops were unaccounted for, opening up the risk that private, nonpublic information could be exposed. Is this when I should do a forehead slap?

Alright, so the SEC has its own data security issues to deal with, but I want to take a moment to challenge you about how you’re keeping your business and client information safe. Do you use full disk encryption on the laptops you use for work? You should.

Windows 8.1 Pro and Enterprise offers BitLocker drive encryption for free, and if you use Mac, FileVault 2 disk encryption is built right in to the operating system. All you need to do is turn the feature on and protect your laptop with a strong login password.

And don’t forget about your mobile devices. Every device you use should be protected with a login passcode, the longer the better, and in most cases, requiring a passcode automatically enables device encryption.] The inspector-general of the Securities and Exchange Commission said in a report that there’s at least 24 and as many as 202 laptops that are not accounted for, which risks the release of sensitive, nonpublic information.

Dropbox says it wasn’t hacked. But that doesn’t help users whose information was leaked from The Washington Post

[And finally, Dropbox made headlines this week as reports circulated that hackers claimed to have accessed over 7 million usernames and passwords to the popular online file storage service. Dropbox insists that its systems were not hacked, but rather the login credentials were obtained from unrelated companies and services.

Once again, it’s critical that you follow good online account protection practices: Use a unique password for each website, activate multi-factor authentication where possible, and consider managing login credentials in a reputable password management service like LastPass, 1Password, Meldium, and more.] Dropbox was the latest company under the gun on security, when a link on reddit surfaced a claim that hackers have nearly 7 million usernames — plus their passwords — from the storage service on Monday.

Here are the stories that didn’t make this week’s broadcast:

Canva Launches iPad App to Bring Amazingly Simple Design to Your Fingertips at Canva.com

We’re very excited to today announce the launch of the Canva app for iPad.

 

Watch FPPad Bits and Bytes for October 17, 2014

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FPPad Bits and Bytes for March 7

Posted on March 7, 2014 by in Bits & Bytes

On today’s broadcast, hackers launch a massive denial of service attack, so what should you do if one of your providers gets attacked? Apple is releasing yet another update to iOS, find out how this will help you support the bring-your-own-device trend in the workplace, and passwords are growing like weeds. Find out what programs you should use to better manage passwords while also protecting your account security.

So get ready, FPPad Bits and Bytes begins now.

(Watch FPPad Bits and Bytes on YouTube)

Today’s episode is brought to you by The Mercato, an online marketplace of do-it-yourself practice management tools, templates and training for independent advisors.

The Mercato

Discover the tools that can help take your business to the next level and receive a free practice management resource by visiting fppad.com/mercato.

Get your free resource by adding the guide to your shopping cart, and right before you enter your payment information, use the discount code: FPPad

Here are the links to this week’s top stories:

Hit with a DDoS from Aweber

[This week’s top story serves as a warning for anyone who uses cloud-based software services, which pretty much means all of us. Last week, dozens of popular web-based services were the victim of a distributed denial of service attack, or DDoS, including popular email newsletter services like MailChimp, GetResponse, and Aweber, the service I use to send out my weekly Bits and Bytes updates via email.

The DDoS attacks essentially flood websites with malicious traffic, making it impossible for legitimate traffic to make it through, bringing entire websites down. The good news is that no passwords or user data are ever compromised, but the bad news is that the website is totally offline, and in this recent attack, many websites were down for several days. So what lesson did I learn from the DDoS attack on Aweber?

The primary way I communicate with you, the FPPad audience, is through my email newsletter. But without access to Aweber, I had no way to send out updates to anyone. So the lesson for me is to get in the habit of making an offline backup of my newsletter subscribers, so that when Aweber is down, I can still send out an emergency message if I need to.

It takes less than a minute to export my database to a spreadsheet, and I probably only need to backup my data once a week. So if you’re dependent on access to your online services to communicate with clients, be sure you make a periodic backup of client contact information so you can still contact them in the event your website provider goes down.] Starting on Monday, February 24 at about 1PM, AWeber began experiencing large, sustained, and repeated DDoS attacks that completely disabled all aspects of our service for extended periods of time.

iPhone in Business from Apple

[Next up is news of a pending release of Apple’s latest version of their mobile operating system, iOS 7.1, which will feature expanded mobile device management, or MDM, capabilities. This is a big deal for any advisor who wants to use an iPhone or iPad to access a mix of personal and business information on one device, a trend known as bring-your-own-device.

iOS 7.1 will allow IT administrators to deploy MDM profiles wirelessly to devices, which is a big advantage over the existing process of requiring physical access to the device so administrators could plug it in. Users will be able to accept the MDM profiles on their devices and can view what access and controls the IT administrator has over the device. IT can also install apps, settings, and device policies wirelessly over the air without ever needing physical access to the device.

These new MDM controls will be supported by third party solutions, so if you’re seeking a way to support BYOD in your business, look to companies like airwatch, MobileIron, and Zenprise for a solution that meets your needs as well as your budget.] Progressive IT organizations worldwide are prioritizing productivity and innovation by empowering employees with iPhone and iPad.

Easing the burden of password management from InvestmentNews

[And finally, you are no stranger to the growing number of passwords you need to manage in order to log in to your online accounts. With a new password seemingly created each week, how do you possibly manage them all without jeopardizing your account security? In a recent article on InvestmentNews, Joyce Hanson highlighted several password managers advisors are using to organize and secure of all the passwords they need to log in to web-based services.

Top contenders cited by advisors include LastPass, 1Password, or DirectPass, which are all available for less than $50 per year per user, which is inexpensive insurance compared to the cost of a security breach should just one of your passwords become compromised.] Cloud software helps advisers keep track of the minutiae

Plus one story that didn’t make this week’s broadcast:

The world’s largest photo service just made its pictures free to use from The Verge

Getty Images is betting its business on embeddable photos

 

FPPad Bits and Bytes for March 7, 2014

Watch FPPad Bits and Bytes for March 7, 2014