Tag Archives: Blueleaf

[VIDEO] Competing Against “Robo Advisors:” Delivering Advice in a New World from T3 2012

Posted on February 22, 2012 by in Conferences, Practice Management

Watch the session from T3 2012 titled Competing Against Robo Advisors to understand how your business must change in the face of disruptive, well-funded startups.

On Saturday, February 18 at the Technology Tools for Today (T3) conference in Dallas, TX, I moderated a panel discussion featuring John Prendergast, Co-founder and CEO of Blueleaf, and Alex Murguia, Co-founder of inStream. The session was titled Competing Against Robo Advisors: Delivering Advice in a New World, which addressed the rising trend of online startups who are launching low-cost financial advice platforms.

Companies like Personal Capital, Wealthfront, and LearnVest are encroaching on the independent financial adviser’s value proposition, and are leveraging their internal talent and well-funded venture capital to disrupt this industry.

I feel that the topic deserves attention from advisers, particularly for those who actively seek to attract wealth accumulators in their 30s and 40s. John sent me a text an hour before our session asking if I could film it to share with you. I did, and uploaded the session in two parts to YouTube so you can watch it.

Here is Part 1:

And here is Part 2:

Robo advisers are here: What you need to do to adapt

Posted on January 31, 2012 by in Conferences, Practice Management

Robo Advisor

January 2015: Note that this was the first instance of “robo adviser” I used on FPPad to refer to the automated advice investment providers emerging in 2011 and early 2012, but it’s not the first utterance of the term according to this Business Insider article.

If you don’t know already, your business is being targeted by online, low-cost financial advice and investment platforms.

Witness the advent of startups and applications like Personal Capital, Wealthfront, LearnVest, and more last year. Some advisers may have dismissed these platforms as “robo advisers,” which will never match the personal attention and relationship a human being can deliver.

While a compelling proposition, I don’t think that dismissing the competition is a wise strategy for advisers. I’m not alone in this line of thinking. Just this week, Alex Murguia, managing principal of McLean Asset Management and CEO and founder of inStream Solutions, said pretty much the same thing.

In an interview for Financial-Planning.com, Murguia had this to say:

While they [online advice platforms] are not currently a direct threat, they are becoming more popular and have significant financial backing. In addition, many advisors are doing themselves a disservice by just providing “set it and forget it” model portfolios. Could you blame consumers for not fully understanding the true value of independent financial advice, in this context?

Competing Against Robo-Advisers

So you want to adapt and separate yourself from the robo adviser competition. Where to begin?

Here is a session from the 2012 Technology Tools for Today conference (T3) held at the Hilton Anatole in Dallas, TX. I moderated a panel discussion featuring Murguia as well as John Prendergast, CEO of Blueleaf on this exact issue. The session is titled Competing Against Robo Advisors: Delivering Advice in a New World and it delivered several gut-checks as you think about where your business is headed in the next five years.

Here is Part 1 of the session:

Here is Part 2:

 

FPPad Bits and Bytes for October 21

Posted on October 21, 2011 by in Bits & Bytes

It’s been a quiet week in tech-related news, with only two stories hitting my screens worthy of Bits and Bytes features. So quickly go through this week’s stories of interest and get a head start on your weekend.

Is Your “Focus Long-Term” Message To Clients Footnoted? from Blueleaf.com

My latest post for Blueleaf questions whether the quarterly performance reports you send clients conflict with the long-term focus you communicate.

MyFinancialAdvice Founders Launch Social Media Site for Advisors from AdvisorOne.com

[Ron and Kevin are good friends and are putting together a social media toolkit to help convert traffic from social websites into live advice sessions (likely administrated through the MyFinancialAdvice.com platform).] The founders of MyFinancialAdvice.com, a site designed to enable financial planners to offer advice online to middle-income Americans, launched on Oct. 12 OnlineAdvisorCentral.com, which is designed to promote use of social media by advisors.

And in other news, though it’s not related to the benefits or value-add of any technology, interest in Mark Spangler’s connection with Tamarac, Inc. has caused some buzz, so make sure you read the good update from RIABiz on the subject, Tamarac CEO: Mark Spangler’s big trouble with the feds won’t harm Tamarac.

FPPad Bits and Bytes for October 7

Posted on October 7, 2011 by in Bits & Bytes

Thank you, Steve.

. . .

I’ve had a relatively quiet week this week before I hit the conference circuit once again. Over the next several weeks, I’ll be presenting at CabinetNG Collaborate 2011, NAPFA Practice Management & Investments, and Schwab IMPACT 2011. See all the details on my speaking page.

Now on to this week’s stories of interest:

I missed last week’s post for Morningstar Advisor, Fast-Track Your CRM Selection. If you custody with TD Ameritrade, you might find this CRM screening tool highly useful.

Fidelity launches new salvo in custodian technology “war” from InvestmentNews.com

[I had the privilege of presenting at Fidelity’s Technology In Practice event last week at the custodian’s headquarters in Boston. Davis Janowski attended and provides a great review of the takeaways advisors learned from the event.] Last Tuesday, Fidelity brought out the big guns at its Technology in Practice day held at the company’s hands-on research think tank in Boston.

Is Financial Planning A “Set It And Forget It” Process? from Blueleaf.com

[My latest contribution for Blueleaf highlights the increasing options advisors have for account aggregation, but once client data is consolidated, do advisors do anything useful with it?] Creating an initial plan is essential to identify things your clients can do to best meet their goals and objectives right now. But what many advisors fail to do is proactively review the plan according to new data collected as time goes on.

Also, the folks over at Arkovi launched a brand new resource center with terrific information for advisors looking to add social media to their toolkit. Click here to visit the Arkovi Resource Center (free account registration required).

Finally, if you’re interested in attending the T3 Conference being held in our backyard in Dallas, registration is now open. The conference runs from February 16 to 18 and discounted early bird registration ($275) ends October 31. Click to register: http://t32012.eventbrite.com/

FPPad Bits and Bytes for September 16

Posted on September 16, 2011 by in Bits & Bytes

Summer is “officially” over. How do I know (besides the snow blower inventory in Wisconsin, thank you Nathan Gehring)? Temperatures have finally dipped below 100 degrees here in Dallas, and the floodgates have opened on technology news for financial advisers. Most guilty this week is RIABiz with multiple contributions.

Here are this week’s stories of interest:

If you work hard but feel like you’re not making any progress, view my latest update for Blueleaf, Was Otis Redding Singing About Your Advisory Practice?

Salesforce.com is more than a CRM app from InvestmentNews.com

[Again, Salesforce continues to dominate technology talk for financial advisers. Here Davis Janowski highlights how the Salesforce platform does much more beyond the basic CRM functions.] When thinking about Salesforce, advisers shouldn’t view it as stand-alone, dedicated CRM software.

AdventConnect Report: Black Diamond will sell rebalancing software and better reporting on alternative investments from RIABiz.com

By the start of 2012, Black Diamond Performance Reporting, now part of Advent, intends to provide rebalancing software as part of its capabilities and to vastly improve its ability to report on alternative assets.

Fidelity jumps into the game of providing technology for picking RIA technology from RIABiz.com

[I noted Fidelity’s new spreadsheet tool in last week’s Bits & Bytes, so thankfully Lisa Shidler dipped in for more research on the tool for RIABiz.] Before RIAs rush out and spend tens of thousands of dollars on new technology, Fidelity Investments executives want them to look at its new tool for determining the economic impact of costly technology purchases.

As advisors flunk social media 101, CRM makers are starting to pick up the slack from RIABiz.com

[In this article, Nevin Freeman points out Pivotal CRM’s social features. I’ve been spoiled by social aggregators that integrate with email programs like Gmail and Outlook and I share those tools in my presentations to advisers.] Customer relationship management suites like Salesforce.com are beginning to put more emphasis on interacting with online social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter – and it may answer a prayer or two for RIAs who are tired of asking their 14 year-olds for advice.

FPPad Bits and Bytes for July 15

Posted on July 15, 2011 by in Bits & Bytes

I’m flying with the family to Portland, Oregon tomorrow for business and pleasure. I’ll be speaking to the FPA of Oregon & SW Washington on Wednesday and visiting with a technology provider on Thursday. Outside of those commitments we’ll be touring the natural wonders of Oregon and relishing in the temperate summer weather (in contrast to 14 days of 100+ degree temperatures we’ve experienced here in Dallas!).

[Photo used under Creative Commons from camknows]

Now on to this week’s stories of interest:

Interactive Advisory Software joins the horse race with VC funding, a new look, and new CEO from RIABiz.com

[You’ve probably never heard of IAS unless you’re a user. They ranked far below competing platforms in the 2010 Financial Planning Technology Survey, so will their refresh and new marketing initiatives result in larger adoption by RIAs?] Based out of Atlanta, Ga., Interactive Advisory Software is stepping out of its “hidden gem” history with new investment, a new CEO, and a brand new look.

Fidelity adds trading to WealthCentral Mobile from InvestmentNews.com

[I suspect advisers are not too inclined to submit trades in client accounts from mobile devices. But from a marketing perspective, saying your app supports mobile trading is a nice checkbox in the functionality matrix] Financial advisers on the WealthCentral platform can now add trading to the list of things they can do from their iPhones and later model Android smart phones.

Social Media Archiving Meets the Back Office – a Cloud Computing Solution for Registered Investment Advisors from Arkovi.com

[Anyone heard of WinWeb? It’s new to me, and I have no clue how well they serve the adviser marketplace.] Arkovi and WinWeb Announce Integrated Partnership Bringing CRM, Social Media Archiving and Operations into One Solution for Registered Investments Advisors.

Orion Welcomes Advance Capital from PRNewswire.com

[Orion, the popular web-based portfolio accounting and service bureau, keeps gaining users and assets reconciled through their platform] Orion Advisor Services, LLC, a comprehensive portfolio accounting service bureau, is pleased to welcome new client Advance Capital Management, Inc., a Broker-Dealer and Registered Investment Advisor with almost $2 billion in assets under management including its own proprietary funds. Advance Capital Management joins a rapidly expanding roster of premier investment firms to utilize Orion’s innovative back-office solutions.

Read this month’s column for Morningstar Advisor, Save Time, Reduce Errors with Text Expanders. You might benefit tremendously from using tools like TextExpander and PhraseExpress.

And if you’re convinced your clients aren’t texting, you need to read my post this week for Blueleaf, Your Clients Are Leaving You In The Dust.

FPPad and Blueleaf Partner to Deliver Adviser Technology Content

Posted on June 10, 2011 by in General

I am happy to announce that I’m now contributing technology-related content to Blueleaf, a new personal financial tracking tool for both consumers and financial advisors.

Take a moment and read my first post Why Advisor Software Feels So Outdated.

Look for more posts featuring industry perspectives, best practices, and Blueleaf highlights in the future on the Blueleaf blog. And if you’re interested in learning more about the Blueleaf platform, click to request an invite.