Tag Archives: Zywave

FPPad Bits and Bytes for December 6

Posted on December 6, 2013 by in Bits & Bytes

On this week’s broadcast, learn the hits and misses from the year’s most anticipated advisor technology survey, the pending termination of several financial planning software products catches advisors off guard, how the leading independent custodians are stepping up their technology, and more.

So get ready, FPPad Bits and Bytes begins now!

(watch FPPad Bits and Bytes on YouTube)

This week’s episode is brought to you by Angie Herbers Incorporated, a consulting and research company to financial advisory firms, who just released a new white paper called Take Two: The New Direction of Succession that addresses the key elements to create a successful transition to your junior advisors.

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Download the Take Two white paper for free, along with other practice management resources, by visiting fppad.com/ahi

Here are this week’s top stories:

Tech Survey 2013: What’s New iIn Advisor Tech? from Financial-Planning.com

[Leading off as the top story is one of the most anticipated technology articles that comes out every year. The first of December marks the release of the annual Financial Planning Magazine Technology Survey, where Joel Bruckenstein digests over 1,100 responses about the various software programs and practice management tools used by financial advisors today.

So who are the winners and losers from this year’s survey?

Redtail Technology, Salesforce, and Tamarac Advisor CRM are the winners among CRM software, as advisors continue to embrace cloud-based technology, with slippage coming from Junxure, ProTracker, ACT, and Goldmine.

In financial planning software, this year’s results are essentially a carbon copy of last year’s survey, with MoneyGuidePro, eMoney, and MoneyTree claiming the top three spots.

And the same is true with portfolio management software, as the top 6 vendors are also a total repeat of last year’s results.

So who missed out on opportunities this year? The survey randomly selected new products from Blueleaf, inStream, and Market76, but found that few advisors had even heard of these relatively new players, which tells me that financial advisors, well, those who don’t watch Bits and Bytes, continue to be a challenging market for new providers to gain exposure.] The move to the cloud is finally taking place. In category after category of this year’s Financial Planning Tech Survey, we found software providers making the shift, and advisors responding.

NaviPlan financial planning desktop products to be discontinued from InvestmentNews

[The next story features news from Advicent Solutions, the company formerly known as Zywave, who provides a suite of financial planning software to advisors under the NaviPro brand.

In an unexpected announcement to some users, the company announced it will sunset six of its NaviPlan products on March 31, 2014, citing an “ever-changing marketplace.”

Going away will be all of the NaviPlan Extended and NaviPlan Standard desktop-based variants, making the cloud-based NaviPlan Premium and NaviPlan Profiles the sole applications that will receive ongoing support and enhancements in 2014 and beyond.

This news reinforces the trend of advisors adopting cloud-based solutions as seen in the Financial Planning Software Survey, so don’t be surprised when other providers announce the discontinuation of their own desktop-based software in favor of cloud-based alternatives.] NaviPlan financial planning products for desktop computers will be discontinued as the owner develops its NaviPro products for online use.

Plowing Ahead from FA-Mag.com

[Software providers aren’t the only ones making big changes in advisor technology, as four of the major custodians are also investing heavily in advisor-facing technology in a very competitive arms race. Once again, Joel Bruckenstein interviewed executives from Fidelity, Pershing, Schwab Advisor Services, and TD Ameritrade Institutional to reveal their strategies to help make advisors more efficient and more profitable through enhanced technology.

There’s a ton of great information in this article, so be sure to read it to see what your custodian is doing to help you grow your business.] Over the last several years, custodians have been investing in advisor-facing technology like never before.

Envestnet | Tamarac’s Advisor Xi(R) Platform Added To Pershing’s NetX360(R) Technology Channel from WSJ.com

[And finally, one company benefiting from custodian technology enhancements is Envestnet|Tamarac. This week, the company announced that its Advisor Xi suite will soon integrate directly with Pershing’s NetX360 custodial platform, giving advisors straight-through processing capabilities for trades in accounts held at Pershing, as well as access to real-time custodial account data.

The real-time data feeds will compliment existing integrations with Schwab and TD Ameritrade supported today, and expand straight-through processing trading capabilities announced at Schwab IMPACT several weeks ago.

Tamarac anticipates that the new integrations will roll out to its 660 firms during the first quarter of 2014.] Envestnet | Tamarac, a division of Envestnet, Inc., a leading provider of integrated, web-based portfolio and client management software for independent advisors and wealth managers, announced today that it has formally begun the integration of its Advisor Xi(R) platform into Pershing’s NetX360(R) custodial channel for investment professionals and Registered Investment Advisors (RIAs). Advisors will have access to this integration in the first half of 2014.

 

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Watch FPPad Bits and Bytes for December 6, 2013

 

 

 

Schwab IMPACT 2013 Report: All the technology trends advisors can’t miss

Posted on November 12, 2013 by in Conferences, Technology

Bernie Clark, executive vice president of Schwab Advisor Services, kicks off IMPACT 2013 in Washington, D.C.

Bernie Clark, executive vice president of Schwab Advisor Services, kicks off IMPACT 2013 in Washington, D.C.

Schwab IMPACT 2013 kicked off its pinnacle event in Washington, D.C. this year with a big focus on the technology trends sure to change the financial services industry in the foreseeable future.

Here are the most important technology announcements provided by various members of the executive team inside Schwab Advisor Services.

Project PM2 Coming

Likely the most intriguing announcement from Neesha Hathi, SVP of Advisor Technology Solutions is the preview of a new portfolio management software platform called Project PM2 (“PM Squared”).

Neesha Hathi, senior vice president of Advisor Technology Solutions, shares the latest on Schwab’s technology offerings at IMPACT 2013.

Neesha Hathi, senior vice president of Advisor Technology Solutions, shares the latest on Schwab’s technology offerings at IMPACT 2013.

From a video shown at Schwab IMPACT, the preview of PM2 featured a tile-like interface reminiscent of Windows 8. Project PM2 will offer proactive alerts for events like new account funding, trading reports, and revenue metrics.

PM2 will be a cloud-based solution offering direct integration to Schwab data feeds. Reports and presentations offer dynamic capabilities and will support one-step publishing to a variety of client delivery mechanisms.

PM2 to be Multi-Custodial

In a later interview with Brian Shenson, vice president of Advisor Technology solutions, he said the roadmap for PM2 includes multi-custodial data support as well as the potential integration of account aggregation software.

Shenson added that Schwab Advisor Services already has long-standing relationships with providers like ByAllAccounts and CashEdge from FiServ.

Details on pricing and availability for PM2 were not announced at IMPACT.

Schwab OpenView Mobile

Hathi also announced a current pilot program underway to provide affiliated advisors with a branded mobile app that clients can use to interface with their advisor.

Schwab OpenView Mobile is the official program, and Hathi explained that clients can use the branded app to view real-time account data and review their advisor’s contact information.

Schwab OpenView Mobile will be available for a nominal fee which was not disclosed during the Schwab IMPACT breakout session.

Reinvented Wire Requests; DocuSign Integration in Schwab Alliance

Naureen Hassan, senior vice president, Client Experience, shares the latest on Schwab’s technology offerings at IMPACT 2013.

Naureen Hassan, senior vice president, Client Experience, shares the latest on Schwab’s technology offerings at IMPACT 2013.

Naureen Hassan, SVP of Client Experience revealed that in an average quarter, Schwab manually verifies over 240,000 signatures across a variety of forms. Clearly Schwab recognizes the ability to increase operational efficiency here with the adoption of electronic signature support.

Hassan announced two pending initiatives. First, wire requests will be “completely reinvented,” as advisors can initiate wire requests via Schwab Advisor Center. Upon submission, clients will actually receive alerts on their mobile phone, and then they can log in to a Schwab app and approve the wire request on the spot.

This overhauled wire request process is aimed to combat fraud and theft in the industry due to a significant rise in client spoofing (see: Client spoofing strikes again, RIA loses $290,000 of client funds)

Second, Hassan announced that DocuSign is currently in a pilot program and will soon be completely integrated in the Schwab Alliance system. Details on when DocuSign will be formally introduced for all Schwab advisors were not disclosed.

MoneyGuidePro Now Part of Integrated Office

Brian Shenson, vice president, Advisor Technology Solutions, shares the latest on Schwab’s technology offerings at IMPACT 2013.

Brian Shenson, vice president, Advisor Technology Solutions, shares the latest on Schwab’s technology offerings at IMPACT 2013.

Brian Shenson, VP of Advisor Technology Solutions was the next to take the stage and provide updates on the suite of Schwab OpenView solutions: Gateway, Integrated Office, Workflow Library, and MarketSquare.

Of most relevance is the addition of financial planning software integrations to Schwab OpenView Integrated Office™ platform. The first integration is with PIEtech to integrate MoneyGuide Pro financial planning software. NaviPlan from Zywave was also mentioned as an integration coming soon to Integrated Office.

MarketSquare Update

If you recall last year, Schwab announced the introduction of Schwab OpenView MarketSqaure, a review website consisting of advisor-submitted feedback on technology vendors and providers.

At this year’s IMPACT conference, Hathi said that over 70 providers have the potential to be listed in OpenView MarketSquare, but only 34 of them have a sufficient number of reviews to be publicly listed in the resource.

Hathi urged advisors in the audience to continue to submit their reviews of tools and services they use so MarketSquare can increase the number of providers present in the website.
34 have reviews.

All photos by Billy Cole/Orange Photography for Charles Schwab. Used with permission.

FPPad Bits and Bytes for October 18

Posted on October 18, 2013 by 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.

Total Rebalance Expert

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.

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

Watch FPPad Bits and Bytes for October 18, 2013