Tag Archives: Vestorly

FPPad Bits and Bytes for July 1, 2016

Posted on July 1, 2016 by in Bits & Bytes

On today’s broadcast, Betterment takes heat for suspending customer trades, TD Ameritrade Institutional hosts its annual technology summit, 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 Orion Advisor Services, the industry’s premier portfolio accounting service provider for advisors. Orion integrates with several automated investment platforms, but you’re not sure if now the right time to add a robo element to your firm.

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Find out if you’re ready, or not, to add your own solution by downloading a free copy of the Orion pre-robo checklist today by visiting fppad.com/robochecklist.

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

Robo Adviser Betterment Suspended Trading During ‘Brexit’ Market Turmoil via WSJ (subscription required),

After trading halt, Betterment suffers its own Brexit shock from Financial Planning,

Betterment explains why its Brexit-sparked trading halt on Friday wasn’t ‘suspended’ trading from RIABiz, and

Robo-advisor CEO: Here’s why I told clients they couldn’t trade in sell-off from CNBC

[This week’s top story is all about Betterment, because in the wake of last week’s Brexit vote, the company notified financial advisors on the Betterment Institutional platform that it had suspended trading from 10am to 12pm Eastern on June 24th, citing their expectation of “highly unpredictable volatility,” a decision which has triggered all sorts of discussions across the investment community.

First, a primer. Betterment uses ETFs for all customer portfolios, and when trading gets volatile, ETF pricing can get significantly disconnected from the value of the ETF’s underlying securities. Remember the flash crash of August 2015? ETF pricing was all over the map, especially for lightly traded and illiquid ETFs.

So, when Betterment’s team identified undesirable trading conditions, they suspend all trading. And as a discretionary advisor to retail customers, they can totally do that. It’s disclosed right there on page 65 of the retail agreement, which every customer acknowledges they read by checking the I agree box next to the Sign Up button. <wink wink>

But the exact same language is on page 70 of the Institutional Agreement, and I couldn’t find anything that said trading *authorized by the Advisor* would be treated any differently. In the RIABiz coverage of the event, Michael Kitces said that treating financial advisors the same as clients “creates operational channel conflicts.”

And there’s the rub. If you’re an advisor using Betterment Institutional for your clients, when you authorize trades, you need to know whether those trades will be subject to Betterment’s suspension criteria.

But that’s one risk of using ETFs in Betterment Institutional, or any automated investment service for that matter. Sometimes the pricing gets out of whack, and you won’t always know in advance when that happens.

So on a volatile day, you need to understand that, as of today, your trade authorizations might not be processed right away, and your trades will be in limbo for who knows how long until Betterment decides it’s ok to resume trading. I suspect that policy might soon be changing for Betterment Institutional users.] Betterment, LLC, a pioneer in the world of automated investing, made an unusual move and suspended all trading Friday morning as markets were roiled by the U.K.’s vote to leave the European Union.

TD Ameritrade Institutional Gathers Top Technology Innovators to Help Drive Significant Enhancements for Veo from BusinessWire

[My next story highlights TD Ameritrade Institutional, as I attended the custodian’s 7th annual technology summit in Dallas, and I made a vlog about it so you can get a glimpse of what the event is like, so be sure to check it out.

At the summit, executives offered updates on Veo Open Access, which now features 104 integrated solution providers, announced the introduction of Veo Advanced Alerts, and reiterated the pending release of the Veo One platform for late fall of this year.

There weren’t very many advisor dashboards available when Veo One was first announced in January of last year, but recently several tech providers have invested heavily in their own all-in-one dashboards, with notable names like Envestnet|Tamarac, supported by Envestnet’s acquisitions of Finance Logix and Yodlee, Salesforce, with its rollout of Financial Services Cloud happening now, and Fidelity’s Wealthscape platform anticipated by the end of this year, which will include technology from the eMoney acquisition.

So Veo One will go up against some stiff competition when it is rolled out later this year, so I recommend you make plans now to refresh what you know about the dashboard options for your business in the second half of this year.] A growing community of technology innovators, which has collaborated with TD Ameritrade Institutional1 to make Veo Open Access one of the industry’s leading platforms for independent registered investment advisors (“RIAs”), is again coming together to drive significant new enhancements to Veo and accelerate the pace of future Veo One integrations.

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

Riskalyze Announces General Availability of Asset Sync from Riskalyze

Starting today, advisors will be able to import an investor’s outside assets from over 18,000 connections from thousands of financial institutions.

Junxure Cloud Expands Integration with TD Ameritrade Institutional’s Veo® from PRNewswire

Junxure, the industry leading CRM solutions and technology company for financial advisors, this week announced new enhancements to its cloud-based CRM platform, Junxure Cloud®. As part of its ongoing work to integrate with leading platforms serving independent registered investment advisors (RIAs), Junxure Cloud has expanded its integration with Veo®, TD Ameritrade Institutional’s comprehensive trading and account management platform.

Dow Jones and Vestorly Create Content Marketing Product for Financial Professionals and Their Clients from MarketWired

Vestorly Inc., the leading content marketing and relationship analytics platform in the financial services industry, today announced a unique partnership with Dow Jones that will enable all Vestorly users to access Dow Jones content, including The Wall Street Journal, in order to engage clients and generate leads.

Dashlane launches a password management tool for the enterprise from TechCrunch

Today, the company behind one of the more popular solutions for helping consumers manage their online accounts, Dashlane, is making its move into the enterprise.

BNY Mellon’s Pershing Unveils New Technology Capabilities that Enable Firms to Define Their Own Digital Wealth Management Experience from Pershing

Pershing LLC, a BNY Mellon company, today launched a suite of technology enhancements that provide wealth management firms with greater flexibility to digitally transform their business.

 

Watch FPPad Bits and Bytes for July 1, 2016

Watch FPPad Bits and Bytes for July 1, 2016

 

FPPad Bits and Bytes for January 29

Posted on January 29, 2016 by in Bits & Bytes

On today’s broadcast, Betterment launches 401k plans for business, Morningstar updates its iPad app for advisors, Vestorly raises a new venture capital, and more.

So get ready, FPPad Bits and Bytes begins now!

(Watch FPPad Bits and Bytes on YouTube)

Betterment for Business Officially Launches and Announces Advisory Board from PRNewswire.com

[This week’s top story features Betterment, as the automated investment service announced the official launch of Betterment for Business, the company’s 401(k) plan for employers.

Earlier this month, Betterment for Business received a very strong endorsement from the founder of a start-up called Estimize, saying the plan was so easy to set up that it could potentially crush the 401(k) industry.

With plan fees ranging from 60 basis points all the way down to 10 basis points for billion-dollar plans, and an interface built for ease of use, Betterment’s offering might actually be one that you recommend to your small business-owner clients, and you might even consider it for your own company’s 401(k) needs.

Among large 401(k) plans, established providers like Vanguard, Fidelity, and Financial Engines have a sizable advantage, but underserved companies establishing their first 401(k) plan should see Betterment as a very attractive solution.

This reminds me of how Betterment targeted young underserved investors back in 2010… huh.] Betterment, the largest automated investing service, today announced the official launch of Betterment for Business. The new 401(k) platform, which uses smarter technology and includes personalized investment advice for all plan participants, is now live for a charter group of plan sponsors and participants.


Preview Morningstar’s new iPad app dashboard for advisors from Morningstar

Sigma Prime leads Series A round for Vestorly from PEHub.com

Vestorly, Inc. the leading content marketing platform in financial services headquartered in New York City, today announced a Series A round of funding of $4.1 million.

New cloud storage options for Office mobile and Office Online from Office.com

Today, we’re making Office even easier for customers to use with cloud storage providers by adding real-time co-authoring with Office Online for documents stored in partner cloud services, extending our Office for iOS integration to all partners in the CSPP, and enabling integration between Outlook.com and cloud storage providers Dropbox and Box.

Watch FPPad Bits and Bytes for January 29, 2016

Watch FPPad Bits and Bytes for January 29, 2016

FPPad Bits and Bytes for May 22

Posted on May 22, 2015 by in Bits & Bytes

On today’s broadcast, Advicent rolls out Figlo to advisors in the United States, YCharts raises another $6 million to dethrone the industry’s dominant research terminal, and SEI rolls out a new program designed to streamline your internal workflow.

So get ready, FPPad Bits and Bytes begins now.

(Watch FPPad Bits and Bytes on YouTube)

Today’s episode is brought to you by Croesus, the affordable all-in-one portfolio management & CRM software for RIAs. Over 9,500 investment professionals use the Croesus application to manage more than $700 billion in assets, and Croesus is offering a 50% discount on set-up fees for Advent Axys users until June 30th.

Croesus

To learn more about Croesus or to sign up for a free trial, visit fppad.com/croesus.

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

Advicent Unveils the Figlo™ Client Centric Planning Tool from Advicent, and

Advicent and Redtail Partner through Figlo™ Integration from Advicent

[This week’s top story comes from Advicent, as the company announced the official release of the Figlo™ interactive planning tool in the United States. You should recall that Advicent announced the acquisition of Netherlands-based Figlo back in September 2014 which I covered in episode 141, so they’ve wasted very little time to introduce the planning tool to advisors here in the U.S.

Figlo has nearly 20 years of history in the European marketplace and will bring a suite of features stateside that you should find compelling, especially if you strengthen your client relationships through comprehensive financial planning. So here’s what you can expect:

Figlo offers a prospecting and lead generation tool called Figlo Leads, the Figlo planning tool presents an interactive lifeline and goal gauge for plan illustrations, you can collaborate with clients using the client portal and secure document vault, and you can streamline client data entry through a new integration announced this week with Redtail CRM. The integration is a one-way connection with Redtail to start, but you can expect the data synchronization between the two programs to deepen over time.] Advicent Solutions, the leading provider of SaaS technology solutions for the financial services industry, announced the U.S. release of Figlo™, an interactive financial planning tool within its complete product offering for financial professionals. Advisors leveraging Figlo™ technology will have more opportunities for interactive, meaningful and impactful conversations with both prospects and clients.

YCharts Closes $6 Million Investment Round, Hires Morningstar’s Jeremy Diamond as Growth Accelerates from BusinessWire

[Next up is news from YCharts, as this week the provider of research and interactive charts announced series C funding to the tune of about $6 million, bringing its total funding to approximately $14.5 million. YCharts was founded in 2010 and positioned itself as an alternative to higher-priced research terminals, and in less than five years, the company is proving to be a very powerful and popular research tool for portfolio managers, wealth managers, and independent RIAs.

Back in episode 133, I told you about the new dashboard rolled out by YCharts, but at the time, research was limited to equities and ETFs. Fast forward to today, and YCharts now also offers extensive data on over 40,000 mutual funds. So once again, if detailed research and data plays a significant role in your investment process, you might find YCharts to be an attractive alternative to the high-end terminals so prevalent in the industry, but one that’s available at a fraction of the price.] Shawn Carpenter, co-founder and CEO of YCharts, the Financial Terminal of the Web, announced the closing of a C round of venture funding of about $6 million and the appointment of Jeremy Diamond as chief revenue officer of YCharts. These moves coincide with an acceleration of the company’s growth.

SEI’s ProcessWise Program Introduces New Workflows Designed to Maximize Advisor Efficiency and Productivity from MarketWatch

[And finally, rounding out this week’s broadcast is news from SEI, the turnkey asset management provider, that just released a new workflow program called SEI ProcessWise.

Once again, back in 2014 at the T3 conference, I covered SEI’s announcement of their partnership with Redtail CRM, MoneyGuidePro and ActiFi to develop an automated workflow solution for advisors. SEI ProcessWise is the first product of this partnership that is being rolled out to the roughly 6,100 advisors that work with SEI.

SEI ProcessWise provides 48 step-by-step workflow processes that address a variety of client service, account maintenance, and portfolio management activities, and for advisors who already use Redtail CRM in their business, SEI will preconfigure those workflows directly within Redtail to facilitate adoption. In addition to the workflow configurations, SEI is also including three months of training to help advisors implement the automated workflows into their business for a nominal cost.] As financial advisors look for new sources of productivity and efficiency, SEI announced today the launch of SEI ProcessWise, a comprehensive workflow program which streamlines client interactions, sales, marketing, and practice management tasks.

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

NFP Advisor Services Adopts Vestorly to Strengthen Advisors’ Digital Presence and Help Drive Business from PRNewswire

NFP Advisor Services, a leading independent broker-dealer, announced it will provide integrated access to the Vestorly solution to all affiliated financial advisors which includes over 1,400 registered representatives.

Finovate Spring 2015 Demo Archives from Finovate

 

Watch FPPad Bits and Bytes for May 22, 2015

Watch FPPad Bits and Bytes for May 22, 2015

From the 2015 Shareholders Service Group Conference: Junxure and Vestorly Partnerships

Posted on April 23, 2015 by in Conferences

I’m covering events at the 2015 Shareholders Service Group Conference in San Diego, CA. Watch the video below to learn about recent strategic partnerships formed with technology providers Junxure and Vestorly leading up to this year’s conference.

FPPad Bits and Bytes for August 8

Posted on August 8, 2014 by in Bits & Bytes

On today’s broadcast, online investment advisors are coming to an RIA new you. Find out who the latest company is to enter this growing market. JemStep is another provider that’s white-labeling its technology to RIAs. Learn how one RIA is using the platform to serve its emerging clients. And Joel Bruckenstein is concerned about the future of advisor technology. Find out what issues keep this technology expert up at night.

So get ready, FPPad Bits and Bytes begins now.

(Watch FPPad Bits and Bytes on YouTube)

Today’s episode is brought to you by ITEGRIA, providers of complete outsourced technology support, security, infrastructure and IT solutions exclusively for RIAs.

itegria - providing a 360-degree, comprehensive approach to financial advisor IT needs

To learn how you can keep your data safe from attackers, download a free copy of their latest white paper on social engineering attacks by visiting fppad.com/itegria.

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

Upside Raises $1.1M To Help Investment Advisers Compete Against Wealthfront, Betterment And Co. from TechCrunch

[This week’s top story comes from Upside Advisor, the latest startup to join the class of online investment advice providers. But unlike the direct-to-consumer startups like Wealthfront and FutureAdvisor, Upside Advisor is specifically targeting financial advisors who can white label Upside Advisor’s platform to provide a low-cost managed account solution to their emerging clients.

Upside’s platform offers paperless account opening using a DocuSign integration, automated trading and rebalancing, a client portal, and more, and just raised $1.1 million in new funding to continue to enhance its features for advisors. Upside comes on the heels of the introduction of Guide Financial, a similar advisor-focused solution I highlighted back in March in episode 124, giving you one more solution to offer a low-cost, high-tech automated solution to compete with the algorithm-based competition.] Upside, which today announced that it has raised a $1.1 million funding round led by Cultivation Capital, gives financial advisers a white label solution that’s very similar to what other robo-advisers offer.

Upside Advisor video

Traditional advisory firm hammers out deal with robo-adviser from InvestmentNews

[Now another online investment provider also dipping its toe into the RIA waters is JemStep, which just recently announced a partnership with Redhawk Wealth Advisors based in Minneapolis. Under the agreement, the RIA is able to white label the JemStep platform as Redhawk Online Advisor, where investors can sign up online, connect their financial accounts, and receive investment recommendations for a fee ranging from $17 to $69 dollars a month based on the amount of assets under advisement.

It’s important note that while JemStep offers investment recommendations, it does not automatically execute trades on behalf of its users. Actually following through on JemStep’s recommendations is the responsibility of either the advisor or the end-user, which could pose an implementation challenge as the platform gains momentum with RIAs.] Redhawk Wealth Advisors, a registered investment adviser with a wealth management practice, and Jemstep Inc., also an RIA but with an algorithm-driven account aggregation and investment advice platform, have become partners, bringing online advice to help Redhawk’s retail clients manage their investments, including funds held in their 401(k) accounts.

Things That Keep Me Up At Night from Financial Advisor Magazine

[And finally, all this news about competition from online investment advice providers might give you cause for concern, and it’s also one of the topics that keeps technology consultant Joel Bruckenstein up at night, too. In his latest column for Financial Advisor Magazine, Bruckenstein expresses his anxiety over the state of affairs in financial advisor technology.

He highlights complacency, insufficient integrations, and competition from automated online advisors as significant threats to the growth and success of the independent advisory industry. Fortunately, Bruckenstein cites vendors like Envestnet|Tamarac, Orion Advisor Services, Ornaj, Advyzon, and more who can equip independent advisors with technology solutions that not only rival those of the competition, but can also live up to the increased expectations from today’s tech-savvy clients and prospects.] Over the last several months, I’ve traveled thousands of miles, met hundreds of advisors and spoken with numerous representatives of custodians, broker-dealers and software vendors. Although I’m generally rather upbeat about the future of this industry, there are some things that concern me about current affairs.

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

Advent’s Black Diamond Platform Surpasses 500-Client Milestone from Advent

Advent Software, Inc., a leading provider of software and services for the global investment management industry, today announced that Black Diamond, an independent business group of Advent, has surpassed 540 clients and exceeded $245 billion in assets on its portfolio management, reporting, and rebalancing platform.

Wealth Managers Enlist Spy Tools to Map Portfolios from the New York Times

Some of the engineers who used to help the Central Intelligence Agency solve problems have moved on to another challenge: determining the value of every conceivable investment in the world.

Vestorly Partners With Advisor Websites to Enhance Client Engagement and Lead Generation from PRWeb

Vestorly, a leading client engagement and lead generation platform, and Advisor Websites, a leading provider of websites to advisors, announced today a joint venture to develop highly engaging websites that build advisors’ brands with investors, as well as generate qualified leads for marketing purposes.

Announcing our new release from Guide Financial

At Guide Financial, our core mission is to help America’s next generation achieve a secure financial future. We are excited to roll out a new release that underscores our commitment to advisors serving the next generation. The new release is now available to currently subscribed advisors and will become more broadly available in the coming weeks.

Watch FPPad Bits and Bytes for August 8, 2014

Watch FPPad Bits and Bytes for August 8, 2014

FPPad Bits and Bytes for January 3

Posted on January 3, 2014 by in Bits & Bytes

On today’s broadcast, hackers make headlines targeting high-profile companies, so how can you avoid a security breach in your business? Electronic signature technology gains momentum, find out which providers you should add to your processes. Big data is coming. Who’s harnessing all the data you gather in your business, and how will these tools help you make better decisions in 2014 and beyond? All this and more.

So get ready, FPPad Bits and Bytes begins now!

(Click to watch on YouTube)

Today’s episode is brought to you by New Planner Recruiting, which specializes in the sourcing, screening and integration of entry level financial planners within financial planning firms nationwide.

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Whether you’re a firm looking to hire or an aspiring planner establishing your career path, sign up for the free newsletter full of valuable resources and information by visiting fppad.com/npr

Here are this week’s links of interest:

Financial Adviser Technology Trends in 2014

Financial advisor technology news moved at a snail’s pace over the holidays, so today’s episode is going to cover the most important technology trends I see coming in 2014. These trends break down into four main categories:

  • Security
  • Electronic signature
  • Big data, and
  • Enhancing your online presence

Security

Security news has received a lot of attention recently, headlined by the recent data breach at Target of over 40 million credit and debit card accounts, and quickly followed up by the release of over 4 million usernames and phone numbers from users of Snapchat, the private mobile messaging service.

While these are big companies with a potential bounty of user information, don’t think that your business is immune to attacks from hackers seeking personal and financial information.

This year, you should make it a priority to strengthen the defenses of your computers, mobile devices, and your network. Also, social engineering will likely be the primary method hackers will use to exploit people in your organization, so periodically test how susceptible your organization is to well-designed social engineering attacks.

Vendors that can help with your security include Mimic Technologies, Right Size Solutions, True North Networks, Envision Consulting, and many more, and you can use simulated phishing applications from Wombat Security Technologies, TraceSecurity, ThreatSim and more.

Electronic Signature

Next up is the increased adoption of electronic signature by financial institutions. You heard about e-signature several times in last years’ broadcasts as TD Ameritrade Institutional, Fidelity, Pershing, LPL and others support some form of the technology in their existing account processes.

But you can also deploy e-signature for the contracts and agreements you have for your internal documentation. So it’s worth exploring your options from providers such as RightSignature, Adobe® EchoSign®, DocuSign, and more to streamline your signature-gathering process, all while satisfying compliance, of course!

Big Data

The third trend I see ramping up big time for advisors in 2014 is Big Data. More technology providers are developing big data capabilities to help you analyze your data more effectively so you can make informed decisions about your client needs and business opportunities.

Look to adopt one or more of the business analytics tools available from Redtail Data Cloud, AssetMark, Orion Advisor Services, Envestnet|Tamarac and more.

Enhancing Your Online Presence

Finally, 2014 should be the year you make a serious effort to enhance your online presence. This is about more than just creating a Twitter account, posting a few tweets, and calling it a day.

More and more prospects are looking for financial advice and evaluating financial advisors online, long before they pick up the phone to schedule an initial meeting. And some prospects don’t even care that your office be in the same city where they live; they want an advisor who is an expert regarding their specific needs and circumstances, without imposing some arbitrary geographic requirement.

That said, does your website have what it takes to attract this generation of web-savvy prospects? Does your social media activity reinforce your value proposition to potential clients? And does your technology live up to the expectations of individuals born in the digital age?

Boost your online presence with services from providers like Advisor Websites, Wealth Management Marketing, Vestorly, Advisor Studios, Wired Advisor, and more.

So there you have it!

You’ve heard what I think the most important technology trends of 2014 will be, and I’ve given you a head start with a number of vendors and providers that can help you get the new year off to a fantastic start.

Watch FPPad Bits and Bytes for January 3, 2014

Watch FPPad Bits and Bytes for January 3, 2014

How Vestorly transforms advisers’ web presence into qualified leads

Posted on December 31, 2013 by 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 July 5

Posted on July 5, 2013 by in Bits & Bytes

fireworks

The Fourth of July holiday is an ideal time for independent financial advisers in the U.S. to celebrate independence.

But before you leave for the long weekend of hot dogs, hamburgers and cold drinks, take three minutes to review this week’s stories of interest:

Lockbox and Smarsh Partner to Offer a New Standard in Privacy and Security Service to Financial Services Professionals from Marketwire.com and Exemplar Turns to the Cloud for Document Security from Financial-Planning.com

[Who is Lockbox? They rapidly advanced up my watch list of companies with technology solutions for financial advisers. Lockbox is an Australian company that just entered the US market in May this year. They are entering a crowded space of cloud document storage providers along with Dropbox, Box, ShareFile, SpiderOak, and many more. Lockbox’s strong points are that it offers two-factor authentication and client-side encryption (see: Evaluating Online Document Storage at the Journal of Financial Planning for more details), but Lockbox lacks a number of features I’d like to see in a true solution for advisers. As of today, Lockbox isn’t compatible with Mac, they don’t offer desktop file synchronization, and they don’t have mobile apps for iOS or Android. Add these capabilities and change pricing from user based to storage capacity based, and I’ll be interested.] Lockbox, the leader in privacy and security service, today announced that AdvisorSquare, part of the Smarsh suite of website services designed specifically for financial services professionals, has joined the company’s affiliate community.

SigFig Lands $15 Million in Series B Funding From Top Investors from Finovate.com

[Officially launched just under two years ago, San Francisco-based SigFig raised $15 million in Series B funding to . Formerly known as WikiInvest, SigFig aggregates over $75 billion in assets on its platform and is entirely about making investment analysis accessible and transparent, while delivering investment recommendations in an attempt to generate a higher return in a portfolio. Recommendations typically cover switching mutual funds or ETFs for similar, lower-fee versions, or changing financial institutions where lower trading commission charges are offered. But for clients who have professional investment advisers, SigFig compares portfolio performance to a peer group of thousands of other investment advisers aggregated in the platform. If your portfolio isn’t performing, SigFig tells clients “Your adviser sucks for the following reasons:” How’s that for a nudge?!?] SigFig, the platform that helps users manage a total of $75 billion in assets, recently received $15 million in Series B funding.

Tech Review: New Digital Content Services from Financial-Planning.com

[You work something like 40 hours a week. If you want to maximize time servicing existing clients and attracting new ones, how much time should you be devoting to creating content shared on social media networks? Probably not a lot. Thankfully, Joel Bruckenstein shares two providers, Vestorly (listen to my podcast with Vestorly co-founder Justin Wisz at Social currency might just be the answer to financial advisers’ frustration with social media) and AdvisorDeck,  in his July column at Financial Planning that can streamline your content generation process, saving you precious time while still allowing you to maximize your compliant use of social media.] While many advisors have struggled to adopt social networking tools, there have been few low-cost, turnkey solutions to help advisors curate information and automatically deliver digital content to clients and prospects.

Succession Planning for an Entire Industry: Why Study Groups Aren’t That Bad from AdvisorOne.com

[Warning: subtle self promotion ahead! This story by AdvisorOne’s John Sullivan tells you why study groups are not bad, contrary to what compliance adviser Tom Giachetti might say. I belong to an outstanding study group called Xcelsior, and in this story you’ll ready why this study group shows that an exciting future lies ahead for the financial planning industry.] Compliance curmudgeon Tom Giachetti doesn’t think much of study groups. “Study groups are a bunch of people sitting around convincing each other that they’re right,” the chairman of the securities practice group at the law firm of Stark & Stark said recently in Denver.

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

Posted on November 15, 2012 by 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.