News

Webinar to Discuss Risks of Custody and Client Credentials

Posted on April 7, 2009 by in Practice Management

An increasing number of advisers have asked me about using client login credentials to obtain price, transaction, and balance information for assets held in captive accounts (e.g. a client’s active 401(k) plan that cannot be rolled over until termination from service).

As a benefit to clients, advisers are using client credentials to log in to captive accounts to copy the asset information into portfolio management software (such as PortfolioCenter, Advent, or dbCAMS).

This allows the adviser to generate a consolidated report for the client featuring all of his/her assets.  In addition, advisers can include the captive account assets in fee calculations if management of those assets is included in the asset advisory agreement with the client.

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NBA Fines Mark Cuban $25,000 for Twitter Comments; Will the SEC be Next?

Posted on March 30, 2009 by in Practice Management, Technology

So I woke up early in the hospital room Monday morning and turned on the TV.  What do I see rolling by in the bottom scroll bar?

Apparently over the weekend, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban was fined $25,000 by the NBA for comments he posted on Twitter (from USNews.com).

Can the SEC be far behind by issuing fines to registered advisers using Twitter for failing to comply with regulatory law on the publishing of advertisements?  I posted a few weeks ago about my concern of advisers using LinkedIn’s Recommendations feature when it may violate rules against testimonials.

Now that some precedent has been set, albeit by a completely different body (i.e. the NBA), I suspect that the SEC might not be too far behind in stepping up its enforcement efforts by following the tweets of registered advisers.

My advice to registered advisers: Tweet with extreme caution.

Want to Know More?

Andy Gluck at Advisor Products, Inc. is hosting a webinar this Friday, April 3 featuring Brian Hamburger of Market Counsel to address the compliance issues of using social networking technology, including LinkedIn, Twitter, FaceBook and others.

If you’re interested in learning more about this subject, I highly recommend you register now!  This session has the potential to reach the maximum number of participants allowed.

Register for Friday’s Compliance Issues Posed By Linkedin, Twitter, Blogging, & Social Networking at Advisor Products, Inc.

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A New Addition to the FPPad Family

Posted on March 28, 2009 by in General

Ok, now I’ll really be on a temporary hiatus from blogging.  I’ll be updating more frequently once my schedule returns to normal (will that ever happen?!?).

My wife and I welcomed our new baby boy into the world on March 28, 2009 at 11:23 AM.  Enjoy the photos below:

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Brief Hiatus; Follow the Action on Twitter

Posted on March 26, 2009 by in General

Posted with QuickPress:As I mentioned earlier this month, I’m training new staff and giving several presentations to professional organizations. As such, blog updating has taken a back seat. I plan to be back in April with insight on TWR performance reporting flaws, custodian captivity concerns involving custom tools, and a review of Smarsh’s recently unveiled CRM.

Until then, you can follow my micro updates on Twitter.

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Adviser Use of LinkedIn May Violate SEC Rules

Posted on March 15, 2009 by in Practice Management

Thank you to Financial Advisor Magazine for featuring this post on LinkedIn and SEC compliance.  If you’re new to FPPad, please consider subscribing to the RSS feed or subscribing by Email.

I’m going to open up a topic that has the potential to create a bit of controversy.  Here’s my bold statement:

Investment advisers registered under the SEC who use the “Recommendations” feature of LinkedIn.com may be in violation of Rule 206(4) of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940.

I’ve discussed this topic with several members of my local financial planning community, including investment adviser litigation defense attorneys.  More recently the topic has come up in discussions with other professionals I have connected with through Twitter, including Susan Weiner, CFA and Kristen Luke.

Investment Adviser Rules

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See my CRM and Productivity Presentation on March 17

Posted on March 11, 2009 by in Practice Management, Software

I’m busy working on the final slides for a presentation I’m delivering to the Mid-Oregon chapter of the FPA on Tuesday, March 17.  Lunch is served at 12:30PM, the first speaker begins at 1:00PM, and my session begins after 2:00PM. I’ve been asked to provide an overview of the CRM software market (not a small task!) and also provide easy productivity tips that can help financial advisers get the most out of each workday.

If you’re in the local vicinity, I encourage you to sign up for what I hope will be a very informative presentation.

Click here to visit the FPA of Mid-Oregon meeting page.  Cost is just $55 for FPA members, $65 for all others.

Pre-registration (at least 24 hours in advance) is strongly advised for all chapter meetings. To pre-register contact the Chapter Executive Director, Linda Barba at (541) 284-9855. Please leave your name, membership status, sessions attending, and number of guests.

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Two Webinars to Survive the Economic Crisis

Posted on March 5, 2009 by in Professional Development

I highlight two webinars to be held on March 6 to help advisers survive the economic crisis.  View this vlog entry on YouTube.

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Blogging for Fun and Profit

Posted on March 5, 2009 by in General

If the title of this post seems familiar, that’s because I took artistic license and modified Tim Ferriss’ original title to the Four Hour Work Week, Drug Dealing for Fun and Profit.

I do blog for fun, but I don’t blog for profit.  Note that there are zero ads from Google or any other type of marketing on FPPad. 

Since it’s a pastime of mine, sometimes blogging takes a back seat to the other priorities that consume my day.  Since I’m deep into staff training, managing trading in volatile markets, and preparing several presentations to advisers on technology and social media, I’m going to highlight some of the more popular FPPad posts that have been drawing a lot of traffic in the event you’ve missed them.

And I’ll return with new content that I have in process soon.

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Tweets and Blogs from T3 (Tech Tools for Today Conference)

Posted on February 26, 2009 by in Practice Management

The Technology Tools for Today Conference (T3) kicks off today at the Dallas InterContinental Hotel in Addison, TX.  Due to scheduling conflicts, I’m not able to attend, but I will be able to stay on top of the action at the conference through blogs and people I follow on Twitter.

Here are some useful links to keep up to date on T3 events.

Blogs

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CRM Review: AdviceAmerica ClientVision

Posted on February 21, 2009 by in Software

This is my first in-depth review of an application targeted for financial advisers.  Please post your comments on things like image quality, layout, and descriptions to help me improve the review process.

After exchanging several tweets with Bradd Delmuto (@bdelmuto), I attended a demonstration of AdviceAmerica, Inc.’s new ClientVision CRM utility.  Bradd was very helpful in coordinating a live demo with Gary Kinghorn, director of product management for AdviceAmerica.  Gary walked me through many of the features of this new program that I’ll share with you below.

First, some background.  AdviceAmerica has been around since 1999 and financial advisers may recognize the company for its AdvisorVision product, a web-based financial planning software tool now in its 7th major release.  For more on the company’s AdvisorVision offering, read Joel Bruckenstein’s review in the November 2006 edition of Financial Advisor Magazine.

Update: AdvisorVision 7.0 was reviewed in July 2009 by Joel Bruckenstein in this Morningstar Advisor article.

Do Advisers Need Another CRM?

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