Tag Archives: Technology

The best financial adviser technology of 2015!

Posted on December 18, 2015 by in Bits & Bytes

2015 was a massive year in advisor technology, with shocking headlines dominating the airwaves! Mergers and acquisitions, robo advisors, cybersecurity, and social media.

So get ready, the Best Technology of 2015 begins now!

(Watch FPPad Bits and Bytes on YouTube)

Best Technology of 2015

Thank you, thank you everyone, welcome to the show, I’m your host Bill Winterberg, and we’re here tonight to recognize the “best of the best” in financial advisor technology.

This is my sixth year highlighting top technology for financial advisors, and just like in previous years, I break down award winners into three categories: the best back office technology, the best client-facing technology, and the best overall innovation of the year.

Best Back Office Technology

So let’s begin with the Best Back-Office Technology award winner, which is a product or service that boosts the overall efficiency and productivity of your back office and makes a direct impact to your bottom line.

The Best Back-Office Technology of 2015 goes to:

Riskalyze Autopilot!

Clearly, automated asset management has dominated the headlines this year, but many of you just aren’t certain what your strategy will be when it comes to offering low-cost investment management.

Autopilot wins this year’s award because it is purpose-built for advisors, and not cobbled together from a retail offering.

And with tighter relationships with custodians, like the end-to-end process I’ve seen soon to debut with Trust Company of America, Autopilot is well positioned for those of you who want to move forward with offering an automated platform for your emerging clients.

Unfortunately I’m being told that Riskalyze CEO Aaron Klein just boarded a flight with United, so he doesn’t have inflight WiFi to accept this award virtually. Am I right, Michael?!?

Oh, well then..

Best Client-Facing Technology

Next up is the award for the Best Client-Facing Technology. The winning solution significantly enhances the client-facing elements of your business and facilitates your interactions with clients.

If you’re looking to differentiate your business and offer deeper financial planning services to clients, you can’t go wrong with this year’s Best Client-Facing Technology award winner,

Advizr

Now Advizr has only been around for a little more than a year, but they’ve gained some very good traction early on by allowing advisors to easily engage clients with a financial plan.

Clients and prospects can create their own high-level plan using Advizr’s user friendly interface, and then engage an advisor to further refine their plan based on their unique goals and circumstances. As this year’s Best Client-Facing Technology, Advizr is worth a look for those of you who want to give each and every client the benefit of having a financial plan.

Innovation of the Year

And finally, our last category for this year’s awards is the Innovation of the Year, which goes to a product or service that introduces a completely new business practice or service experience that has never been possible or practical before.

The award for Innovation of the year goes to:

Periscope

So before Periscope was introduced, there really wasn’t an easy way for you to broadcast content live in real time to your audience. Some of you have used webinars or Google Hangouts before, but for those, you’re typically confined to your desktop or laptop computer in your office.

Periscope opens up an entirely new way to connect with your clients and prospects using nothing more than your mobile phone.

It’s incredible to consider the possibilities and potential of an app like this, so don’t let compliance create any excuses for you NOT to use something so revolutionary and well-deserving of Innovation of the Year.

So as this year’s awards come to an end, I want to take a moment to recognize all those who supported me through my career, because without them, I wouldn’t be where I am today, so honey, this is for you, I love you, and Dan, you’re an awesome son and you make me a proud dad, and, oh, I don’t want to forget my executive producer, Steve Biermann, I forgive you forcing me on the VooDoo ZipLine in Las Vegas, I’m ready to be friends again, and to my cat … ok ok!

Thank you everyone, hope you enjoyed the show, I’ll see you in 2016!!

 

Watch the Best Technology of 2015 for Financial Advisers

Watch the Best Technology of 2015 for Financial Advisers

The best financial adviser technology of 2013

Posted on December 12, 2013 by in Technology

Best financial adviser technology of 2013

The best technology of 2013 for financial advisers facilitates check deposits, client risk assessment, and custodian efficiency

I have the privilege (and the pressure!) of assessing the prior year’s technology for financial advisers to determine what I consider to be the best of the best.

2013 proved to be an interesting year, as there were few industry-changing technology introductions overall. Many tech announcements this year consisted of updates to existing technology, such as the expansion of mobile device support or more granular control over trading.

But every year, I select award winners in the following categories: Best Back-Office Technology, Best Client-Facing Technology, and Innovation of the Year.

Wait! I’m going to highlight each award winner in tomorrow’s FPPad Bits and Bytes broadcast, so subscribe for free to get the broadcast emailed to you.

Without further ado, head over to Morningstar Advisor right now to see my selections for the Best Tech for Advisers, 2013 edition!

FPPad Bits and Bytes for June 14

Posted on June 14, 2013 by in Bits & Bytes

Younger, tech-savvy advisers are more successful than their baby boomer counterparts, says one study

Younger, tech-savvy advisers are more successful than their baby boomer counterparts, says one study

So you want to be more successful, right? According to one story in this week’s Bits and Bytes roundup, you need to be more tech savvy.

Being young doesn’t hurt either, but there’s not much you can do about rolling back the clock.

So go order the latest MacBook Airright now and move on with this week’s stories of interest:

High-tech solutions to manage less money from SFChronicle.com

[Pulled right from the article, one prospect said “I started as a dashboard client, then they sold me into their wealth management product.” And THAT is the power behind Personal Capital’s free tools. Give them technology that is so useful, up front, for free, and roughly 1 out of 285 will convert to a paying client at 95bps (700 clients, says TechCrunch, and 200,000 total dashboard users).] A growing group of startups is using technology to lower the cost and provide personalized solutions to a less-wealthy demographic. Many are based in the Bay Area, drawing on the region’s engineering and financial talent. Here’s a look at four of them.

Survey: Younger Financial Advisers Tech-Savvy, Successful from NBCBayArea.com

[First, watch the video embedded below. It’s Flash, so tap the link above if you’re viewing this on your iPad/iPhone or inside an email.]

[This story is based on the Fidelity survey that showed younger advisers are managing more AUM then their baby boomer counterparts (see that story at Financial-Planning.com). The good news is one adviser profiled in this story, Martin Weil, is making a commitment to embrace technology in his business. The results? Weil’s business is on a very positive growth curve. Plus, add in some gentle promotion from NerdWallet for good measure.] Is older and wiser always better? When it comes to managing your money, the answer is: Maybe not.

Junxure Cloud is really coming; availability and pricing firmed up from InvestmentNews.com

[Davis Janowski gets an early look at Junxure Cloud, expected to be released to the public this October. Advisers have been very patient waiting for the cloud version of Junxure, and according to Janowski, most will be rewarded for the wait. Since Junxure Cloud doesn’t provide all of the functionality of its desktop counterpart, there may be some barriers to migration for firms that find Junxure Cloud to be missing those two or three specific features they can’t live without. But for advisers seeking a new CRM, Junxure Cloud certainly is an attractive option among the remaining web-based CRMs. Still, pricing is pretty high at $75/user/month, especially compared to Redtail and Grendel, which both charge roughly $65/month for up to 15 users (or $4.33/user/month if all 15 user seats are filled).] Good things take time. That goes for the crafting of software and applications, too. Junxure Cloud is no exception.

The Best Financial Adviser Technology of 2012

Posted on December 13, 2012 by in Technology

Each year, readers look forward to my review of the best in financial adviser technology across the tech landscape.

This year’s winners of Best in Tech are highlighted in this month’s Morningstar Advisor column.

Read 2012’s Best Tech for Advisors today, and update your technology plan for 2013 to incorporate one or more of these leading solutions.

 

FPPad Bits and Bytes for December 16

Posted on December 16, 2011 by in Bits & Bytes

I’m on an extended holiday break now through the end of the year, but I’ll be sure to keep you up to date with the best stories in financial planning technology.

So here are this week’s stories of interest:

How Orion won the account of a $2-billion RIA from Advent after two very long drives across the prairie from RIABiz.com

[I have to hand it to Brooke, he managed to weave in an appealing story about driving across the Midwestern plains into a feature of Orion Advisor Services.] Orion’s announcement last week that it has supplanted Advent Software for the private client assets of Mariner Wealth Advisors, a firm that manages about $10 billion of assets, was four years, and two multi-state car rides, in the making.

InvestmentNews Technology Directory to make its debut this week from InvestmentNews.com

[This could be a promising new resource for advisers seeking information on the various technology vendors out there.] After a great deal of effort and teamwork, the InvestmentNews Technology Directory was introduced online Wednesday. The directory features detailed profiles of products designed for the advisory community. It already has more than 100 listed.

SROIIA Launches State Web Tool in Anticipation of ‘Switch’ from AdvisorOne.com

[SROIIA’s web tool is a nice way to quickly check the disorganized state registration requirements for investment advisers.] The Self-Regulatory Organization for Independent Investment Advisers, which was founded by two University of Mississippi School of Law students last March, announced Wednesday that it had created a web tool to help advisors wade through the registration requirements for each state.

Fidelity’s New Benchmarking Dashboards Help RIAs See How They Stack Up from Financial-Planning.com

[If you’re familiar with the dashboard reports from Quantuvis Consulting (Stephanie Bogan’s firm), you’ll recognize the data in Fidelity’s new tool.] Here’s one way RIA firms can measure their firms’ success: they can see everything from where their revenue is coming from to total assets under management —benchmarked to other firms — the same way you’d look at dials on a car dashboard.

 

 

Get Prepared For FPA Denver 2010, The Annual Conference of the Financial Planning Community

Posted on August 14, 2010 by in Professional Development

FPA Denver 2010, “The Annual Conference of the Financial Planning Community” is less than two months away!

FPA Denver 2010 will be held at the Colorado Convention Center in Denver from October 9 through 12. Register before August 27 to secure your spot and receive early-bird pricing, a $200 savings.

I will attend FPA Denver 2010 and will be presenting a session on Sunday, October 10 at 8:15AM. Bring your second cup of coffee and take in my session titled Emerging Trends in Financial Services Technology. My expectation is that advisors will take at least 3 ideas away on emerging technology to implement in their practice and enhance the way they engage clients.

Also, this past Friday the Financial Planning Association announced in a tweet that it will be using the hashtag #fpa2010 for information related to the annual conference in Denver.

So broadcast your impressions of sessions you attend during the conference and remember to tag them with the #fpa2010 hashtag.

FPA also created a group on LinkedIn that anyone can join to stay up to date on conference activities. Click here to join the FPA Denver 2010 LinkedIn Group.

I look forward to seeing you in Denver!

New at Morningstar Advisor: Rescue Your Imperiled Productivity

Posted on August 12, 2010 by in Efficiency

My August column for Morningstar Advisor is now available!

This month I find out just how productive I spend my time each day using a convenient time management utility. If advisors aren’t measuring time spent on daily tasks, how can they identify changes to make to enhance their productivity?

Click here to read “Rescue Your Imperiled Productivity” at Morningstar Advisor.

New at Morningstar Advisor: A Simpler Way to Schedule Meetings

Posted on June 10, 2010 by in Software, Technology

My June column for Morningstar Advisor is now available!

This month I tackle the issue of the constant back-and-forth messaging in which advisors often engage to schedule meetings with clients and colleagues. There is a better way!

Click here to read “A Simpler Way to Schedule Meetings” at Morningstar Advisor.

Free Attendance to Forbes Advisor iConference for FPA Members

Posted on December 3, 2009 by in Professional Development, Technology

I had no idea that Forbes puts on a totally web-based event they call the Advisor iConference. Forbes held an iConference in June titled Building Wealth With Innovative Ideas and Advice and the content is now available on-demand (click the link to register).

On December 9th, another iConference is being offered titled Building A Rebound-Ready Game Plan.

How did I find out about this resource? By chance, I was navigating the FPA national website looking for information related to my position as the incoming Technology Director for the FPA DFW chapter. Set over in the FPA News Brief section is a single-line link titled FPA President Part of Forbes.com Regulatory Webinar. I clicked the link and learned of the iConference.

Registration to the iConference is $75, but FPA members can attend the iConference for FREE. Here’s how.

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