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FPPad Bits and Bytes for April 4

Posted on April 4, 2014 by Bill Winterberg in Bits & Bytes

On today’s broadcast, Morningstar acquires ByAllAccounts for $28 million, how this deal might shake up the account aggregation marketplace. The SEC issues new guidance on social media and the testimonial rule. Find out what you can and can’t do online regarding client testimonials. And Wealthfront raises another $35 million in venture capital. Are you ready to take on the new technology funded by this war chest?

So get ready, FPPad Bits and Bytes begins now!

(Watch FPPad Bits and Bytes on YouTube)

Today’s episode is brought to you by My Virtual COO, a leading practice management firm that helps advisors free up time so they can devote their energy to mission critical, profitable, and enjoyable activities.

To find out how you can implement a lean operations plan, download their latest white paper titled “The Lean Solution to Becoming a More Profitable, High Growth Advisory Firm” by visitingfppad.com/myvirtualcoo

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

Morningstar, Inc. Acquires ByAllAccounts, Inc., Provider of Innovative Data Aggregation Technology for Financial Applications from Morningstar, and

How Morningstar’s $28 million acquisition of ByAllAccounts will change account aggregation (or not) from FPPad

[Leading off this week is an announcement from Morningstar that the company just acquired account aggregation provider ByAllAccounts for $28 million. For over a decade, ByAllAccounts has been feeding, scraping, and otherwise aggregating account data for held-away 401(k)s, annuities, 529 plans, and any other accounts not held at an advisor’s custodian of choice.

Account aggregation makes it possible to generate net worth, asset allocation, and other reports that accurately reflect a client’s total portfolio, not just for those assets held with one custodian. But ByAllAccounts goes one step further by providing reconciliation-ready data, meaning advisors can import transactions into their portfolio management software of choice and actually generate performance reports for client portfolios.

The only other provider of reconciliation-ready data is Aqumulate, formerly Advisor Exchange, so essentially these two hold a monopoly in this space, leading me to wonder why ByAllAccounts would be willing to be acquired by Morningstar at this point in time. There certainly are other aggregation options from Yodlee and Intuit gaining traction among RIAs, but they only provide holding and balance information and not the reconciliation-ready data needed for performance reports.

James Carney, President and CEO of ByAllAccounts, wrote in an email to customers that “for now, it’s business as usual,” so stay tuned to see how this acquisition may alter the playing field in the account aggregation market.] Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ: MORN), a leading provider of independent investment research, today acquired ByAllAccounts, Inc., a provider of innovative data aggregation technology for financial applications.

Guidance on the Testimonial Rule and Social Media from SEC.gov, and

Yelp: Using a Business account from Yelp.com

[Next is an update from the SEC, who this week issued guidance number 2014-4 on the testimonial rule and the use of social media.
There’s a lot to this new guidance, but from a technology perspective, it clears the way for advisors to link their website and social media profiles to independent online review sites such as Yelp, Angie’s List, or even WalletHub.com without violating the prohibition against testimonials.

Now you can’t copy and paste select reviews from those sites and post them to your website. You have to copy all of the reviews together, but that requires too much ongoing maintenance to keep up to update.

Instead, you can embed widgets from sites like Yelp that display your average rating from all reviews, and since those widgets stay updated in real time, there’s no ongoing maintenance required on your part once you’ve embedded the code on your website.

Also, the SEC’s guidance clarified that you can include a partial list of clients on your social media profiles without triggering the testimonial rule, as long as the list doesn’t highlight your client’s experience or endorsement of you as an advisor.
Just take a look at Wealthfront’s website, which was just updated to include photos of sixteen influential investors from Silicon Valley. You can employ the same tactic if you think posting photos of some of your clients online will help you win future business.

And how does the new guidance affect LinkedIn? It’s clear that LinkedIn recommendations and endorsements still remain off limits to advisors, as you control what does and does not appear publicly next to your profile. That control can lead to cherry picking recommendations which is a definite no-no under the SEC’s guidance.] From time to time, we have been asked questions concerning the nature, scope and application of the rule that prohibits investment advisers from using testimonials in their advertisements.

Automated Investment Service Wealthfront Raises $35M From Index, Ribbit Capital from TechCrunch

[And speaking of Wealthfront, this week’s final story highlights the automated investment service’s latest round of venture capital, as the company raised $35 million led by Index Ventures and Ribbit Capital. Wealthfront also updated its Form ADV Part II as the company now manages over $800 million in assets on behalf of its users.

This brings the company’s total funding to $65 million, surpassing Personal Capital’s $54 million, which is a significant war chest to pay for additional development and new tools and techniques to further reduce the cost of managing investment portfolios. This places even more pricing pressure on advisors who charge high fees exclusively for their own investment management services and nothing else.

So if you’re not making investments in your own technology, or don’t clearly differentiate how the services you offer involve a lot more than just investment management, the time to start doing so it right now.] Financial services as an industry is a sector that is rapidly being disrupted from all directions.

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

Smarsh Sites Delivers Professional, Modern Websites for Financial Services Professionals from BusinessWire.com

Smarsh®, the leading provider of hosted archiving solutions for business communications, today announced the launch of Smarsh Sites, the new website hosting and production platform optimized for the financial services industry.

Watch FPPad Bits and Bytes for April 4, 2014

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

How Vestorly transforms advisers’ web presence into qualified leads

Posted on December 31, 2013 by Bill Winterberg in Compliance, Social Media, Video Spotlight

Vestorly uses “smart data” techniques to convert advisers’ online audience into qualified leads

I recently met with Justin Wisz, co-founder of Vestorly, to learn more about the company’s technology offering to financial advisers.

Vestorly is a content marketing platform designed to enhance client acquisition for financial professionals. What does that mean in plain English? Wisz explains in the video interview above.

“Smart Data”

Vestorly helps financial advisers publish content online from a variety of aggregated sources (all compliance approved!) targeted to the interests of clients and prospects. Featured sources include personal finance content from Kiplinger.

As the adviser’s online audience grows, Vestorly captures lead information such as names and email addresses and then uses “smart data” techniques in the background to further associate leads with demographic information.

One goal of Vestorly is generate measurable ROI from the online efforts pursued by advisers.

Any activity in digital communications without a lead generation aspect is, frankly, a little bit of a waste of time and resources

– Justin Wisz, Vestorly co-founder

Vestorly is Free

Vestorly offers curated content from a variety of sources, smart data aggregation techniques, and compliance tools all in one platform, so how much does it all cost?

For individual advisers, Vestorly is free.

So why is Vestorly free for individual advisers? Watch the follow up video below to hear from Wisz.

According to Wisz, Vestorly combines a number of existing technologies common in online marketing, but not yet present among the financial services industry.

“Much of Vestorly is what we call status quo technology,” said Wisz.

“We think [that technology] should be free, especially for advisers who are just getting started with marketing in financial services,” he added.

Vestorly for the Financial Enterprise

But beyond individual adviser use, Vestorly is also built to suit the needs of large financial enterprises.

Vestorly’s enterprise relationships focus on integrations and expanding the utility of the content generation and lead generation functions.

In the extended interview below, Wisz describes how financial enterprises (e.g. broker-dealers and large RIAs) can compliment existing archiving and social media systems by tapping the Vestorly API for expanded features.

“I would see Vestorly as a major compliment to all the things that [broker-dealers] already have in place,” said Wisz.

“They’re now allowing reps to blog, send out email marketing, or do some social media marketing, but now it’s time to find out what they can get back,” Wisz added.

FPPad Bits and Bytes for October 18

Posted on October 18, 2013 by Bill Winterberg in Bits & Bytes

On this week’s broadcast, a popular financial planning software suite gets a complete overhaul, find out which investment policy statement provider just got acquired, learn how avoiding social media can actually be a risk to your business, and more.

(Watch Bits and Bytes on YouTube)

This week’s episode of Bits and Bytes is brought to you by Total Rebalance Expert, the industry’s largest, privately owned portfolio rebalancing software provider.

Designed by well-known CPA Sheryl Rowling, TRX features tax-efficient rebalancing, an easy to use interface, and more, all at an affordable price. To learn how you can gain a half a million dollar return on your technology investment, download the latest white paper by visiting fppad.com/trx

Here are this week’s top stories:

Money Tree Software Announces New TOTAL ONLINE Financial Planning Solution from MoneyTree.com

[This week’s lead story comes from Money Tree Software, providers of one of the leading financial planning software applications used by advisors. Money Tree’s flagship product, Silver Financial Planner, originally started as a desktop program over 30 years ago, and the company introduced cloud-based versions of its software over the last decade.

But with competitors like MoneyGuidePro from PIETech, eMoney Advisor, and NaviPlan from Zywave all performing major redesigns in recent years, Money Tree’s programs began to show their age. But all that is about to change.

This week, Money Tree unveiled TOTAL Online, a significant redesign of Money Tree’s original software which dramatically simplifies data entry and overall usability. Advisors should find the new layout intuitive to use, but still offers the powerful features advisors have some to expect from their planning software.

And you’ll be glad to know that the complete overhaul did not come with a dramatic cost increase. First year pricing for TOTAL Online is $1,342, which includes both the Easy Money Power Planner and Golden Years Cash Flow modules. This is a 25% savings off the regular price when purchased individually, and in subsequent years, a continuing subscription of both modules is just $999.] We know cloud-based software is important in today’s financial industry because advisors want to create, collaborate, and deliver financial plans anytime and anywhere. But that software needs to be flexible and easy-to-use. That’s why we created TOTAL Online.

fi360 Acquires IPS AdvisorPro from PRNewswire.com

[Now when you use any financial planning software, you’re most likely going to define some kind of investment allocation in-line with your client’s goals and risk tolerance. So how exactly do you define the objectives of your clients’ portfolio? With an investment policy statement, of course.

IPS Advisor Pro, founded in 2006 by advisors Norm Boone and Linda Lubitz Boone, has been the go-to solution for advisors seeking ways to streamline the investment policy statement creation process.

But in news this week, IPS Advisor Pro announced it was acquired by fi360, the leading advocate for fiduciary behavior in the investment advisory world.

Financial details of the acquisition were not disclosed, but in a letter to IPS Advisor Pro users, the company assured that functionality and support of the software would continue as it is today for the foreseeable future. Norm Boone and Linda Lubiz Boone will remain on board as consultants to fi360, but no doubt the acquisition will allow them to devote a little more time to running their own advisory firms as well as other activities and interests.] fi360, the premier organization for fiduciary education, investment analytics, support services and industry insights for financial professionals, today announced it has acquired IPS AdvisorPro®, a cloud-based technology that helps financial advisors develop customized investment policy statements (IPS), which are used to document client investment goals and the subsequent procedures to achieve those goals.

Defend your online reputation before it’s too late from InvestmentNews.com

Kristen Luke, founder of Wealth Management Marketing, gives advisers five ways to combat negative online search results.

[In other news, you’re probably watching this broadcast because you saw a link on Twitter, LinkedIn, or Google+, so chances are you have some type of presence on social media. But did you know that NOT having a social media presence can actually be a risk to your business?

In her debut column for InvestmentNews, Wealth Management Marketing founder Kristen Luke provided two examples of how an advisory firm’s reputation was tarnished because of unflattering information that showed up on the first page of search results for each company.

So what can you do if your firm’s reputation is affected by online search results?

Luke offer five actions you can take right now to combat negative online publicity and reduce the impact of unfavorable press.] You are at risk for a negative online reputation whether or not you engage on the Internet. Two examples come to mind.

Envestnet | Tamarac builds Tamarac University Online, a massive online training program for the Advisor Xi software suite from FPPad

[And finally, you know how important comprehensive training is when you roll out any new technology in your business. Training is critical to the adoption and success of any tool you introduce in your firm.

The folks at Envestnet|Tamarac understand that, and have rolled out a new massive online training resource called Tamarac University Online.

I got a preview of Tamarac University Online, which features training modules on their entire suite of tools, including Advisor CRM, Advisor Rebalancing, and the Advisor View online portal. Each module features hours of how-to videos and instruction, which you can watch on demand anytime, and since it’s mobile friendly, using any device.] Envestnet | Tamarac builds an online university to help advisers master the company’s total office software

Watch FPPad Bits and Bytes for October 18, 2013

FPPad Bits and Bytes for June 21

Posted on June 21, 2013 by Bill Winterberg in Bits & Bytes

For financial advisers, integration, no matter how simple or complex, leads to higher revenue, profitability, and income says one survey.

Here are this week’s stories of interest:

What I Learned from Getting Robbed: Part 1 from Advisortechbuzz.com

[This is a last-minute addition to this week’s Bits and Bytes. Here’s a personal story from Commonwealth’s Justin Unton about a robbery at his house and the theft of a bunch of his electronics. Unton strongly advocates the use of two-factor authentication (see: How to enable two-step verification on your LinkedIn account) which renders these devices and online logins useless without access Unton’s mobile phone. Let this be a lesson to us all: turn on two factor authentication wherever you can to give yourself an additional layer of protection in the event something like this happens to you.] At first, we thought it was our cat, Oscar, who had caused the mass destruction in our living room. We even laughed it off, thinking that he must have seen a fly and done his best puma impression to track it down and pounce on it. That all changed as we went down the hallway to our bedroom and saw the contents of our drawers strewn about the floor.

Envestnet | Tamarac White Paper: Technology Integration Leads To 20% More Annual Income For Advisors from Marketwatch.com

[I think it’s generally common sense to equate the use of integrated software tools with increased profitability. But just in case you have your doubts, here’s a white paper compiled from an Aite Group survey that demonstrates this fact. So what is “some degree” of technology integration? The white paper says it’s single sign-on, manual data sharing, automatic data sharing, and cross-product functionality. Want a copy of the white paper? Visit http://tamaracinc.com/White-Paper-Download.aspx and offer your contact information.] Envestnet | Tamarac, part of Envestnet, Inc., a leading provider of integrated web-based portfolio and client management software for independent advisors and wealth managers, has released a white paper showing that financial advisors at independent RIA practices with some degree of technology integration earn approximately 20 percent more in annual income than their counterparts at independent RIA practices with no technology integration.

AssetBook rolls out mobile portfolio management application from InvestmentNews.com

[AssetBook joins other portfolio management software providers including Black Diamond and Orion Advisor Services (see: Eric Clarke, President of Orion Advisor Services, on additional integrations and mobile apps) in offering a native mobile app advisers can use to view portfolios.] AssetBook LLC announced Friday the release of AssetBook Mobile: a native application for devices running both iOS and the Android operating system.

Smarsh, an archivist for the information age from OregonLive.com

[Smarsh routinely appears on FPPad for email and social media compliance. Clearly they’re a popular service provider among their regulated financial service customers, and that popularity has resulted in dramatic growth of what was once a small start up in the Pacific Northwest.] Companies used to wish away their old correspondence. Old letters were a legal liability, the thinking went, and ought to be destroyed. Smarsh has built one of Portland’s fastest-growing tech businesses by taking the opposite approach, contending that in the information age nothing is ever really gone.

Dell owns 60 percent of Smarsh, with an option to buy more from OregonLive.com

[This is a sidebar to the Smarsh article above, but I felt it important enough to break it out separately. Did you know Dell, yes, that Dell, now owns 60 percent of Smarsh? I didn’t either. That news managed to fly under my radar.] Companies that produce the kind of growth that Smarsh has inevitably attract suitors. But don’t look for a buyout at Smarsh: It’s already happened.

Tweet this: Finra spot-checking firms for social media compliance from InvestmentNews.com

[Surprise, surprise, FINRA is checking broker-dealer rep’s use of social media! It’s not breaking news, FINRA is doing what they’re supposed to be doing; their job! Still, if these spot-checks scare you, here’s what you need to have: 1) A compliance manual that includes your social media policy, 2) documentation that reps are periodically trained, and 3) a monitoring and archiving system that contains the history of social media posts. Is there anything I left out?] The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc. is doing social-media compliance spot checks on some of its member firms. In a notice posted Monday on Finra’s website, the regulator said it wants broker-dealers to identify the sites used by a firm, as well as all individuals who post or update the firm’s content on social-media sites.

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!

FPPad Bits and Bytes for April 26

Posted on April 26, 2013 by Bill Winterberg in Bits & Bytes

Get a lead on the weekend with this week’s best stories in technology

It’s been a slow week with respect to technology news in the financial planning industry. So get your quick update below and get a fast start to your weekend.

Here are this week’s stories of interest:

Fidelity selects External IT for a cloud-based virtual desktop solution for financial advisers from FPPad

[In case you missed it, Fidelity announced it has vetted cloud desktop provider External IT for its advisers, giving them a fast track solution to leave legacy servers behind and move critical resources to the cloud. Pricing is around $150/month/user, so while it may not save advisers tons of money, it will give them greater mobility in business and better backup and disaster recovery.] In a press release today, Fidelity announced it has selected External IT as the exclusive provider of a cloud-based virtual desktop solution to financial advisers.

AP Twitter Hack Preceded By A Phishing Attempt, News Org Says from TechCrunch

[Don’t think Twitter moves the stock market? Think again. One rogue tweet from a hacked AP account sent the Dow plunging nearly 150 points in a matter of seconds. What’s your takeaway from all this? Vigorously guard your online credentials, because attackers will do everything they can to get them and then exploit them for financial gain.] The AP Twitter hack which sent the stock market briefly crashing was caused by a phishing attack, according to the AP. The news organization now says the attack on Twitter was “preceded by a phishing attempt on AP’s corporate network.”

Erado Message Control Solutions Reports First Quarter Growth Strongest in Company History from Erado

[Social media archiving provider Erado continues to grow quickly. You’ve read here before about its relationships with firms like LPL, the largest independent broker dealer ranked by revenue as wel as account assets.] Erado, the nation’s leading compliance and archiving firm in electronic communication, announced today their record first quarter growth. Erado added new services for over 500 offices, and continued hiring due to its continued growth. The quarter was the strongest in the company’s history.

FPPad Bits and Bytes for January 18

Posted on January 18, 2013 by Bill Winterberg in Bits & Bytes

Ethan Eden, founder and CEO of Market76

This week’s FPPad On Air guest is Ethan Eden, founder and CEO of Market76, and we’ll cover what’s new in CRM software and how his company’s product is different from the traditional systems with which advisers are familiar.

You can view the broadcast on the FPPad On Air page beginning at 4:15pm ET or get the link through my Twitter feed.

Here are this week’s stories of interest:

RegEd Expands Social Media Archiving and Surveillance Solution with a Content Library and Multiple Lexicons Continuing its Leadership in Compliance Technology from Arkovi.com

[Here are two solutions to the age-old question on social media: what should you post, and how do you keep posts compliant? First, RegEd now offers a library of pre-approved content suitable for social media (for those of you who constantly have a broker-dealer staring over your social media shoulder) and a broader range of words and phrases the program uses to scan social medial posts for potential compliance issues. What’s not to like?] RegEd, the leader of compliance technology in the financial services industry, announced today two major features, the social media content library and multiple-lexicons, as part of their Social Media Archiving and Surveillance solution, powered by Arkovi.

12 key events of 2012 that rocked the RIA technology landscape, Part 1 from RIABiz.com

[In what essentially represents a top 12 list (Part 1 has 6 items) of tech related RIABiz stories of 2012, contributor Lisa Shidler recaps some of the major and minor trends that will no doubt play a growing role in how advisers manage and grow their business.] Our identification of big technology events that happened in the past year starts with Salesforce, Junxure, Techfi, NetX360, IAS and MoneyGuidePro. As we move toward number one in our second installment, the names in many cases become less familiar, not more so, which indicates just how fast RIA technology is moving.

1 2 … 6 Next →

Social CRM for Financial Advisers

Wealthbox CRM

“Smart Data”

Vestorly is Free

Vestorly for the Financial Enterprise

Introducing Twitter Analytics

Twitter Analytics in Two Minutes

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