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FPPad Bits and Bytes for April 15, 2016

Posted on April 15, 2016 by Bill Winterberg in Bits & Bytes

On today’s broadcast, LPL Financial hooks up with BlackRock’s FutureAdvisor, Riskalyze and Advizr integrate their platforms, and bots might be the future of financial technology.

So get ready, FPPad Bits and Bytes begins now!

(Watch FPPad Bits and Bytes on YouTube)

Today’s episode is brought to you by Twenty Over Ten, providers of beautiful, tailored, mobile responsive websites specifically for Financial Advisors.

Easily manage your brand while automatically archiving your website changes for compliance. Sign up for a 45 day free trial today by visiting twentyoverten.com/fppad. Oh, and be sure to watch the YouTube channel for videos from next week’s NAB Show, which are also brought to you by Twenty Over Ten.

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

LPL Financial to Leverage BlackRock Solutions’ FutureAdvisor to Offer Robo Solution to Advisors and Their Clients from LPL Financial

[Now on to this week’s top story which comes from LPL Financial, as the nation’s largest independent broker-dealer announced it will use BlackRock’s recently-acquired FutureAdvisor platform to power an online automated investment offering. LPL first hinted at its plans for a “robo advisor” back in the summer of 2015 at its annual Focus conference, which was roughly one month before BlackRock made its FutureAdvisor acquisition.

While the announcement sure generated some buzz, no details on specific pricing or availability were provided. What the press release did say is that the model portfolios will be provided by LPL’s research department, so at least initially, advisors and reps will not be able to create their own custom allocations.

The press release also said the automated solution will be integrated with LPL’s custodial platform, but it didn’t say if that was the existing BranchNet platform or the much-anticipated ClientWorks, which as far as I know, has still not been officially released.

So at least we now know what LPL’s robo strategy will be, but with so many forward-looking statements, we don’t know when that strategy will be ready for use by LPL’s financial advisors.] Leading retail investment advisory firm and independent broker/dealer LPL Financial LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA), today announced it will use BlackRock Solutions’ (BRS) FutureAdvisor platform to support a digital advice platform for use by LPL’s financial advisors and institutions and their clients.

A Match Made in Heaven: Advizr and Riskalyze Integrate from Businesswire

[Next up is news from Riskalyze and Advizr, as the two companies announced a new integration to streamline financial advisor workflows. The new integration will import Riskalyze model portfolio sets into the Advizr financial planning software, allowing advisors to recommend the most appropriate asset allocation according to their client’s personal Risk Number.

Not only that, both companies offer effective lead generation tools for advisors, with Riskalyze offering prospects the opportunity to determine their own Risk Number, and Advizr offering a quick financial plan illustration with Advizr Express.

The combination of the two will help advisors gain more information about prospects’ risk tolerance and the building blocks of a complete financial plan.

The companies called the integration “a match made in heaven” because both of them are winners of the Best Client Facing Technology award announced right here on FPPad.

So as a result, and I am now officially accepting endorsements for matchmaking on my LinkedIn profile.] Advizr, the financial planning software recognized as the Best Client Facing Technology of 2015 by Bill Winterberg’s FPPad, and Riskalyze, the world’s first Risk Alignment Platform recognized for the same award in 2014, are integrating their award-winning products to provide an elegant, intuitive and seamless solution to financial advisers.

Messenger Platform at F8 from Facebook.com

[And finally, this week’s top story comes from the future, oh wait, “THE FUTURE!” as Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg took the stage at this week at F8 conference and detailed the company’s roadmap for the next 10 years.

My best takeaway for you is the launch of the Messenger Platform that includes automated messaging powered by bots, no, not that bot, these are automated messenger bots.

With bots in messenger, you can make online clothing purchases, receive weather forecasts, view top headlines and more.

I can totally see bots making their way into your technology. Imagine if you could ask your Redtail bot when you next client meeting is scheduled, or your Orion bot how your AUM has grown over the past year, or even allow clients to ask the MoneyGuide Pro bot for their updated retirement confidence meter. How cool is that?!?

And if vendors eventually integrate bot into existing services, I bet that they’ll also include message archiving and retention so you can confidently use bots without violating your compliance requirements.

Oh, did I just give those vendors a little more work to do? I’m sorry!

Unfortunately there’s no word yet from FINRA or the SEC whether your bot has to be fingerprinted and subject to a background check. Thank you, I do two shows a night!] We’re excited to introduce bots for the Messenger Platform. Bots can provide anything from automated subscription content like weather and traffic updates, to customized communications like receipts, shipping notifications, and live automated messages all by interacting directly with the people who want to get them.

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

Former Top Schwab Executive Joins Betterment Board from New York Times

Less than one month after an investment round that doubled its private valuation to around $700 million, the robo-adviser Betterment is adding a former top executive from Charles Schwab, John S. Clendening, to its board.

Find time for your goals with Google Calendar from Google

That’s why starting today, we’re introducing Goals in Google Calendar. Just add a personal goal—like “run 3 times a week”—and Calendar will help you find the time and stick to it.

Orion’s Integration of FactSet’s Robust Research and Analytics Allows Advisors to Better Serve Their HNW and Institutional Clients from Marketwired

Orion Advisor Services, LLC (“Orion”), a premier portfolio accounting service provider for financial advisors, has announced it is now integrated with FactSet, a leading provider of financial data, analytics, and service, to offer its advisor clients easy access to portfolio research and analytics.

Watch FPPad Bits and Bytes for April 15, 2016

Social CRM for financial advisers: How activity streams will enhance client relationships

Posted on February 13, 2014 by Bill Winterberg in Social Media, Technology

Wealthbox CRM wants to deliver “Social CRM” to financial advisers

Social CRM for financial advisers ushers in a new paradigm in managing client relationships

Your day begins with quick glance at your mobile device. Open an app and you see that six of your clients are traveling for business, two of them overseas. Another client just revealed that her daughter’s volleyball team won a regional championship.

At first it sounds like you’re checking your Facebook feed. Or perhaps you’re swiping through lists on Twitter.

But in fact, you’re checking your social CRM.

Social CRM for Financial Advisers

Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and more attract billions of users month after month by aggregating updates from your professional, personal, and social connections.

So why not build the same functionality into CRM software, the technology advisers use the most day after day?

Wealthbox CRM

One startup doing so is New York City-based Gotham Tech Labs with the introduction of Wealthbox CRM.

I reviewed the final beta version of Wealthbox CRM prior to its general release announced at this week’s 2014 T3 Conference and provided my impressions in this month’s Morningstar Advisor column.

So go visit Morningstar Advisor and find out how a social CRM might open up new opportunities in your business.

Image credit: Wealthbox.com

FPPad Bits and Bytes for January 17

Posted on January 17, 2014 by Bill Winterberg in Bits & Bytes

On today’s broadcast, have robo advisers finally cracked the code to asset gathering? A leading document management provider rolls out mobile and social features your business soon can’t live without, and who are the top industry bloggers all financial advisors should be reading? All this and more.

So get ready, FPPad Bits and Bytes begins now!

(Watch FPPad Bits and Bytes on YouTube)

Today’s episode is brought to you by Blu Giant Advisor Studios, a multi-disciplinary creative firm, empowering advisors to engage clients though branding, social media, video and the web; an experience called “hypermedia.”

Experience Blu Giant’s new interactive website and see what’s possible for your business by visiting fppad.com/blugiant

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

Wealthfront Reaches Over Half a Billion Dollars in 2013 from Wealthfront

[This week’s top story comes from the world of online advice providers, aka “robo advisors,” as Wealthfront announced this week that the company surpassed $500 million dollars in assets under management. While topping $500 million in AUM might seem like celebrating another 1,000 point threshold in the Dow Jones index, Wealthfront is starting to increase the gap over similar competitors like Betterment, which manages a reported $360 million, and Personal Capital, weighing in at a little over $200 million.

Wealthfront claimed over $67 million dollars in new assets for the month of December, which for many RIAs would make up a great year in new assets under management. Still, Wealthfront may not be a profitable business just yet, as Nerd’s Eye View blogger Michael Kitces estimated an optimistic annualized revenue of $1-and-a-quarter million dollars generated to support a team of expensive, full-time software engineers.

But pay careful attention to the types of clients Wealthfront cites in its announcement. Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, and more make up the top ten list of Silicon Valley companies with the most employees that are Wealthfront clients. This group IS next generation of clients for your business, so if you’re interested in attracting them, your technology needs to be up to par, but you must offer something that robo advisors completely lack; a real relationship with a trusted advisor.] Although we began the year with less than $100 million in assets under management, we closed 2013 with over $538 million, growing over 450% to become the largest and fastest-growing software-based financial advisor.

Laserfiche Unveils Product Roadmap at Empower 2014 from BusinessWire.com

[Next up is news from Laserfiche, one of the leading providers of document and electronic content management to financial advisors. Laserfiche held its annual Empower conference for users and resellers in Southern California this week, selling out for the first time in the event’s history.

Laserfiche announced a number of updates, including a complete redesign of its web-based interface called Laserfiche Web Access 10. Users will find the fresh interface easier to navigate and much more user-friendly on tablets and smart phones. And speaking of smartphones, Laserfiche also introduced a brand new app for Android, adding more support for mobile devices since the introduction of the app for iOS back in 2011.

Finally, an interesting development for financial advisors is the addition of new feature in Laserfiche Forms 9.1. Laserfiche posted a form online that anyone could fill out to post a message on Twitter. But before each tweet went global, the message was automatically routed through an approval process built in to Laserfiche.

Tie that in with Laserfiche’s archiving capabilities, and you have a pretty elegant solution anyone in your business can use to stay compliant on social media and also avoid those embarrassing drunk tweets.] Laserfiche today kicked off its sold-out Empower 2014 Conference with a keynote speech from company CTO Karl Chan outlining new and upcoming software releases. The new lineup includes social BPM, expanded mobile offerings and new web products.

The RIABiz top 10 industry blogs — and what bloggers they recommend from RIABiz

[And finally, many of you ask where I get my news and information to produce each episode of FPPad Bits and Bytes. Well several of my favorite sources were just listed among the top 10 industry blogs for financial advisors.

This week, RIABiz published its list of the best industry blogs, and what’s wrong with a little shameless self-promotion since FPPad.com was listed as number three!

So let me thank you for helping make FPPad a part of the top industry blogs, because without your questions, feedback, and loyal viewership, FPPad would not be the resource that it is today.] The RIA business is a land of micro-niches where owner-operated blogs are often the best reading spot for advisors to find the vibe and the level of granularity they seek on a subject

Watch FPPad Bits and Bytes for January 17, 2014

FPPad Bits and Bytes for July 19

Posted on July 19, 2013 by Bill Winterberg in Bits & Bytes

Another day, another rain storm in the Atlanta metro. Need some water? We have plenty!

While most of the country has baked under oppressive heat and humidity, Atlanta’s temperatures didn’t get above 90 degrees in all of 2013 until Wednesday this week! “Hotlanta?”

Summer is half over, so you have roughly six more weeks before the activity in your office picks up again as clients return from vacation. What have you accomplished so far for your technology goals of the year?

Here are this week’s top stories:

Banks that offer money management tools may have advantage over startups and software companies from PRNewswire.com

[I must admit, I am shocked by this research! Banks have an edge over companies like Mint and Personal Capital when it comes to likelihood to take action and trust? Ok, trust I can believe, since a “big” bank with brick and mortar assets has a tangible component to it, while online finance websites have nothing but a virtual storefront. But likelihood to take action? I would have guessed that Mint, Personal Capital, HelloWallet and others would certainly convert many more visitors to use their tools compared with the spartan tools of a big bank. I’m flat out wrong, according to this Change Sciences Group study.] Today leading web researchers Change Sciences Group (www.changesciences.com) released new research showing that banks may have an advantage over startups and software companies like Mint when it comes to providing financial tools which help consumers take control of their finances online.

YCharts: Bloomberg for the rest of us? from InvestmentNews.com

[If you are copying and pasting charts from Yahoo! Finance into your client reports, I think you are making a mistake. Here’s an affordable alternative from YCharts that let’s you scan over 17,000 equities and sort by over 3,000 individual metrics to create the charts of your dreams. At $199/month (plus 20% off if you buy a full year), it’s significantly cheaper than the competition from Bloomberg.] When it comes to getting real-time or near-real-time stock or other equity data there are two ends of the spectrum.

Hear That? It’s Your Financial Adviser Tweeting from the New York Times

[Financial institutions just don’t get it. Canned tweets don’t work. If you’re an adviser, I don’t think your audience really cares that much about random facts on Federal holidays. What I think they (your audience) DO care about is information that helps solve their problems or helps them learn something new they can actually use. And guess what? You can’t provide that level of value with prescreened, canned tweets from Hearsay Social, Socialware, Actiance, or anyone else providing scripted content.] Judging by his Facebook page, it would seem that Jeffrey E. Blum experienced a surge of patriotic inspiration around July 4. Mr. Blum, a financial adviser, posted no fewer than 12 updates with good wishes and trivia about the holiday.

Arbor Point Fills Gap for Independent Advisors from Businesswire.com

[First there was Pinnacle Advisory Solutions, an outsourced investment management program and back office solution provider designed to lighten the management load of the average RIA firm. Now Securities America has partnered with Orion Advisor Services to launch Arbor Point Advisors, an SEC-registered corporate RIA with no allegiance to any one custodian. Much of the software available today allows RIAs to be custodian agnostic, but now advisors can also benefit from regulatory registration and compliance support that I assume will be provided in some fashion by Arbor Point Advisors.] Arbor Point Advisors LLC, a new SEC registered investment advisory firm, intends to fill the gap for advisors seeking the freedom of the independent advisory model and a choice of custodians without the need to form their own registered investment advisory firm.

And if you want to read the best material in financial planning knowledge and information over the weekend, click or tap the button below to head over to Michael Kitces’ Nerd’s Eye View blog and see the latest in Weekend Reading.

Twitter analytics helps financial advisers boost social media ROI

Posted on June 14, 2013 by Bill Winterberg in Online Marketing, Social Media

Twitter analytics lets financial advisers calculate their social media ROI

Twitter analytics lets financial advisers determine their social media ROI

Twitter analytics is the next greatest thing in financial adviser social media ROI.

As a financial adviser, you read a ton of articles and hear from industry consultants (myself included!) how important social media can be to your business and how you should be using it to communicate with your audience.

But when you post something, how do you know if that message was actually effective in reaching people?

Introducing Twitter Analytics

Twitter, part of the top four social media sites (along with Facebook, LinkedIn, and Google+), just rolled out a new tool you can use to view your own analytics.

Twitter Analytics is free and can reveal nearly everything you ever wanted to know about the “reach,” or generated traffic, of your tweets.

Not only can you view analytics about your tweets, you can also gain insight on trends in your followers as well as demographics of the people who follow you.

Twitter Analytics in Two Minutes

I created the screencast below to show you how to access Twitter Analytics for your account and navigate among the data offered.

Enjoy!

How to enable two-step verification on your LinkedIn account

Posted on June 7, 2013 by Bill Winterberg in General

Don’t let hackers compromise your carefully curated LinkedIn profile. Protect your account by enabling LinkedIn’s two-step verification.

Hackers know that if they can trick you into handing over your password to online websites, they can carry out all sorts of nefarious activity.

Protecting Your Digital Assets

Online banks, Google, Dropbox and even Facebook and Twitter have all enhanced the security of user accounts by adding a two-step verification option to the login process (see: Boost your online security with two-factor authentication).

Not only do you need the right username and password to sign in to online accounts, you also need to enter a code sent to your mobile phone. That unique code is the second factor of authentication, drastically increasing the difficulty of hacking in to your account.

LinkedIn’s New Two-step Verification

Finally, LinkedIn just only recently added two-step verification to user accounts.

The video walkthrough above shows you how to quickly turn on two-step verification in your LinkedIn account.

All you need is your mobile phone and two minutes of time to keep your LinkedIn account safe from outside attacks. Go do it!

Social currency might just be the answer to financial advisers’ frustration with social media

Posted on November 15, 2012 by Bill Winterberg in Podcast

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Have you heard of social currency before?

Justin Wisz, co-founder of Vestorly

Before you buy a book, do you visit the reviews on Amazon.com to read what other people said about it?

And before your next dinner out, do you pull up Yelp to find 4- and 5-star restaurant reviews nearby?

Those are examples of social currency. You’re seeking feedback curated by social networks to find the best resource (be it a book, restaurant, mechanic, etc.) for your needs. Many times, recommendations from your immediate social network on Facebook, LinkedIn, or Twitter point you to products and services that have already been vetted by your friends and colleagues.

So how can financial advisers take advantage of social currency?

To answer that question, I connected with Justin Wisz, co-founder of Vestorly, an investment adviser matching service powered by social communities. Hear what he has to say about social currency and how Vestorly can help advisers get the most out of it.

PODCAST: Smarsh president Stephen Marsh addresses Pinterest and compliance

Posted on August 29, 2012 by Bill Winterberg in Compliance, Podcast, Social Media

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Founder of email archiving provider says advisers can use Pinterest without skirting compliance requirements

I had the opportunity to connect with Stephen Marsh, Founder and CEO of Smarsh, Inc., a company well-known for its email and social media archiving services.

Smarsh Founder and CEO Stephen Marsh

By now, most advisers are aware of multiple archiving solutions for social media websites like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter, but it’s not so clear whether updates to emerging social media sites like Pinterest can also be archived.

In this podcast, Marsh shares information on his company’s Web Archiving product and how it allows advisers to “pin” updates to Pinterest and archive them for compliance purposes.

Marsh also addresses the company’s annual Electronic Communications Compliance Survey report with key statistics.

After listening to the podcast, use the following link to download the free compliance survey: 2012 Electronic Communications Compliance Survey

Click to view/download the PDF podcast transcript.

FPPad Bits and Bytes for June 1

Posted on June 1, 2012 by Bill Winterberg in Bits & Bytes

Wow, it’s June already? I returned from presenting at FPA NorCal this week on top apps for financial advisers. If you want some of the inside scoop, check out the #FPANorCal hashtag or tweets from Michael Kitces while they’re still on his timeline (you’ll need to scroll down to see tweets from May 29).

Here are this week’s stories of interest:

How Can RIAs Improve Efficiency? from Financial-Planning.com

[Donna Mitchell covers a new report from Pershing Advisor Solutions with three ways advisers can be more efficient, but it doesn’t list any resources to use. So here’s a recap of Pershing’s insight with a resource thrown in: 1) Identify an ideal client profile (self explanatory), 2) Have a consistent business process (so you need a tool to define workflow), and 3) avoid overloading staff members (I wish I had a solution for that!)] Principals of RIA firms need to pay closer attention to workflow and operational issues at their firms, especially if they want to stay viable amid rising operational costs, Pershing Advisor Solutions said.

Advisers still shaky on social media policy from Reuters

[Guess what: you need a social media policy, even if your policy is ‘we don’t use social media.’ And what about Facebook ‘Like’ buttons? It appears that as long as a ‘Like’ stands on its own without any additional commentary, advisers aren’t violating regulatory rules prohibiting testimonials.] As the securities industry finally warms up to using social media sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn, regulators are discovering that brokerages and investment advisers are off to a rocky start.

Plantly launches “missing allocation tool” to the public from FPPad

[It’s my blog so I get to link to my own posts once in a while. Most of you are familiar with Personal Capital, Betterment, SigFig, and Wealthfront in the race to deliver online financial advice to investors. Plantly is yet another startup aiming to equip DIY investors with simple plans based on MPT models. Oh, it’s free to use today.] Brooklyn-based startup launches free asset allocation planning tool to the public.

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FPPad Bits and Bytes for April 15, 2016

FPPad Bits and Bytes for January 17

How to enable two-step verification on your LinkedIn account

Protecting Your Digital Assets

LinkedIn’s New Two-step Verification

Bill Winterberg’s Tweets

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