Tag Archives: FutureAdvisor

FPPad Bits and Bytes for July 27

Posted on July 27, 2012 by in Bits & Bytes

Things are mostly unpacked (excluding books; why I continue to move these now that I’m 100% paperless is a mystery), the iMac is placed in front of a large window, and it’s actually cooler here in Atlanta than it is in Dallas.

It’s the middle of summer, as indicated by the slow trickle of useful financial planning technology news and information. Here are this week’s stories of interest:

InvestmentNews is running its adviser app, product and software survey this month. Similar to the annual Financial Planning Technology Survey, your responses will help benchmark where you and your peers fall in the technology spectrum in financial services.

Take the software survey at Investment News (login may be required).

FutureAdvisor, another advice site for the mass market from InvestmentNews

[In this short update, Davis Janowski provides a brief review of FutureAdvisor, the online mass-market advisory platform priced at just a few hundred dollars per year for their top plan. Recall that I interviewed FutureAdvisor co-founder Bo Lu at FinovateSpring 2012 (see FutureAdvisor co-founder Bo Lu at FinovateSpring 2012).] FutureAdvisor officially launched in March and its mission is to help the 99% get the most out of their investment portfolios. Its founders are chartered financial analysts and mathematicians, fairly atypical startup types and rather than Silicon Valley, the firm is based in Microsoft’s home turf up in Seattle.

How Financial Advisors Should Use a Customer Portal from Junxure

[So, yeah, Junxure sells a client portal called ClientView Live, so the highlights of this post focus on ClientView Live’s features. Two big features I want in a client portal solution not covered in this post: real-time synchronization of document folders with a client’s desktop/laptop of choice, and mobile device support.] Whether you’re shopping for a customer portal, or already have a customer portal for your firm, here are a few things to keep in mind.

FPPad Bits and Bytes for June 8

Posted on June 8, 2012 by in Bits & Bytes

So, have you reset your LinkedIn password yet?

With Boston on my schedule Monday through Wednesday (and some new video filmed that is coming soon), followed by Atlanta on Thursday and Friday, you can understand how frequent posts just aren’t high on my priority list. Nevertheless, I’m devoted to giving you the BEST (not simply all) technology stories from around the web this week.

Here are this week’s stories of interest:

Cabinet NG Launches CNG-SHARE, Secure File Sharing Portal from Yahoo! Finance

[See, enterprise and business document management providers won’t stand still while consumer services like Dropbox race ahead. Here, Cabinet NG is extending its functionality by offering a portal to share documents in the CNG repository with individuals outside of the firm (e.g. your clients). The portal can be white labeled for your firm, too. Though not as slick as Dropbox’s desktop sync, it’s a step in the right direction.]  Cabinet NG (CNG), provider of electronic document management and workflow management software, today announced the availability of the industry’s first fully integrated document management, cloud-based file sharing, and workflow solution.

Can Future Advisor be the self-driving car for financial advice? from O’Reilly Radar

[Give FutureAdvisor credit: I filmed Bo Lu last month at FinovateSpring 2012, and in the last week, they received this feature in O’Reilly and one in the Wall St. Journal. Advisers, you need to pay attention to what these new web apps are doing for clients that you’re turning away because of low assets.]  Future Advisor launched in 2010 with the goal of providing better financial advice through the Internet using data and algorithms. They’re competing against startups like Wealthfront and Betterment, among others.

Schwab shifts its strategy on its massive Intelligent Integration from RIABiz.com

[I was on Schwab’s press call 30 minutes after delivering a presentation in Boston. Credit to Brooke for turning this article around quickly, which captured much of the essence of the call, while I was in holding patterns over a stormy DFW airport.] Schwab Advisor Services has shifted strategies on its giant Intelligent Integration initiative, and rather than picking the best of breed in technology categories, the firm is looking to select the industry’s top platforms.

Black Diamond is setting its sights on smaller advisors and other things I learned over breakfast with Reed Colley from RIABiz.com

[Another great segment from Brooke on Black Diamond’s first year under the umbrella of Advent (see Advent Purchases Black Diamond Performance Reporting for Approximately $73 Million). But what isn’t discussed is what Black Diamond is doing to address the challenges of scaling up the adviser on-board process, training, and customer support of critical portfolio management software. Anyone want to chime in?] Since being acquired at this time last year by Advent Software, Black Diamond has increased its assets administered by 75% to $110 billion and it now serves 350 advisory firms.

Managing Customer Contact from Financial-Planning.com

[The category of CRM software for advisers is crowded, yes, but there really are just a few market dominators followed by a long tail of solutions with 1%-2% adoption. Joel Bruckenstein highlights new player Wealth Advisor CRM. My take? Registered reps might find it useful, independent RIAs likely will find it limited. At $65/month for a 15-user database, Redtail is a very attractive alternative.] Advisors already have no shortage of customer relationship management products to choose from, so does the marketplace really need another one? The folks at Wealth Advisor CRM think so, and perhaps they are right. Their offering may be just different enough and inexpensive enough to attract a sizable following.

[Video Spotlight] FutureAdvisor co-founder Bo Lu at FinovateSpring 2012

Posted on May 15, 2012 by in Video Spotlight

In my final spotlight interview from FinovateSpring 2012, I asked Bo Lu, co-founder of FutureAdvisor, about his company’s service offering to the retail investor.

Hear how the platform is designed to deliver personalized, actionable advice to all investors and the company’s plans to incorporate financial advisors via recommendation marketplace.

(click to view on YouTube)

FinovateSpring 2012 highlights for independent financial advisers: Day 2

Posted on May 9, 2012 by in Conferences

 

Today is the second and final day of FinovateSpring 2012. Be sure to read my highlights of Day 1.

Here are today’s best takeaways for financial advisers.

(updated 10:27PM PDT)

Pindrop Securiity uses acoustic forensics to identify fraudulent and spoofed phone calls

[Last month I posted Why financial advisers can’t trust their clients anymore, as hackers are using more sophisticated methods to “spoof” clients’ identity and steal money. Some hackers use Caller ID spoofing to display a victim’s phone number in an attempt to fool an adviser into believing the incoming call is legitimate. Pindrop Security now offers a way to use acoustic forensics to examine over a hundred characteristics of incoming phone calls. They look for call characteristics like transmission over cellular networks versus voice-over-IP (VoIP), geolocation information, and more. While it’s likely targeted to call centers with high call volume, I wouldn’t be surprised if a tool like this trickles down to independent financial advisory firms who need such security capabilities.]

FutureAdvisor Announces its Premium Beta from Finovate.com

[I spoke with FutureAdvisor co-founder Bo Lu and filmed the interview for my YouTube channel. I should post it sometime next week. In the meantime, FutureAdvisor is another direct-to-consumer online advice platform, but is focused on servicing the defined contribution 401(k) market. At Finovate, they changed their business model by offering its Premium subscription tier for free while in beta, which previously cost $149 per year.] Kicking off the final afternoon session, FutureAdvisor showed how its new platform gives actionable investment advice.

(updated 1:35PM PDT)

inStream Shows How it is Changing the Financial Planning Software Industry from Finovate.com

[After opening their product to advisers last year, inStream Solutions, the proactive financial planning software application, now has over 800 firms representing $200 billion in assets under advisement on board. I filmed inStream CEO Alex Murguia here at Finovate and will post the video to YouTube in the next week.] inStream is changing the market standard for what is generally referenced today as “financial planning software” through multiple innovations

(updated 11:14AM PDT)

Would you rather watch football instead of planning for retirement? This app’s for you.

[Here’s an interesting take on financial education and planning tools; combine football concepts with finance. Portfolio Football is a platform that invites users to make a fantasy football “team” (aka portfolio) of 11 “players” (aka stocks, mutual funds, and ETFs). With a fantasy team assembled, Portfolio Football delivers allocation summary and performance graphs to show how this portfolio has performed in the past. It’s interesting, but I didn’t get a feel of how Portfolio Football determines what “players” would be appropriate on a “team” across a variety of investors, and whether or not 11 is a magic number of players. I give them credit for focusing on a very specific niche, though; the fantasy football community!]

(updated 10:02AM PDT)

Transparency Labs Helps Retirees Maximize Savings from Finovate.com

[What Brightscope did for retirement plan ratings, Transparency Labs seeks to do for retirement plan disclosure language. Have you ever read all the fine print about how your 401(k) works? Me neither. While intriguing, clients that engage financial advisers have an edge, as advisers generally counsel clients on the penalties of cashing out 401(k) accounts prior to reaching retirement. But for the rest of America, this can be a useful tool to help plan participants keep more of their money.] Transparency Labs addresses America’s “Cash-Out Crisis” by helping retirement savers understand the penalty, fee and tax implications of cashing-out their retirement savings as they change jobs

(updated 9:42AM PDT)

BehavioSec Uses Behavioral Analytics to Tackle Mobile Security from Finovate.com

[You have client data loaded on computers, phones, and tablets. By and large, sensitive data is protected by a basic username and password login. What BehavioSec does is apply a transparent layer of security protection that samples the behavior of how a user interacts with a device and types passwords into the system. BehavioSec calculates a confidence score in real time, and if the input behavior doesn’t match the user’s behavior, access is denied. Definitely cool software for security.] BehavioSec demonstrated its mobile security solution that uses behavioral analytics.