Back-to-school season is once again upon us. Time to take the kids to the shopping mall to stock up on supplies.
Pencils, pens, protractors, Trapper Keepers… Come on, everybody! Out of the pool and into the station wagon!
Of course, financial advisors (thankfully) don’t have to make that annual outing. Maybe they’ll swing by the local Staples and pick up a few items. Or perhaps double their online order for delivery now that everybody is returning after the long summer break.
Either way, it’s safe to say that old-school office supplies are no longer a big deal at wealth management firms. That’s primarily because having the right technology on staff laptops is far more imperative to a firm’s success than filling the storage closet with Swingline staplers and White Out bottles.
With that in mind, InvestmentNews reached out to a number of financial advisors to school us on which technologies have added the most value to their practices.
Robert Eddy Jr., above right, financial planner at Pinnacle Group Insurance & Financial Services, part of Prudential Advisors:
“Adding eMoney financial planning software to our practice has really leveraged and enhanced our practice. We use both the foundation version and the advanced version of the software. It is very easy to use and allows us to keep track of assets and portfolios in our planning conversations and review meetings. The clients find the balance sheet reports helpful in understanding their full financial picture.”
“Most importantly, we use the cash-flow planning tools with all clients. This is extremely valuable for the client in understanding retirement planning strategies as well as day-to-day cash-flow planning decisions. It also provides a baseline so that clients can better understand the loss of one of the spouses and the impact that it has on the survivor’s financial future. This allows the advisor and client to objectively design the right life insurance portfolio.”
Christopher P. Davis, above centre, partner at Hudson Value Partners:
“The best technology investment we ever made was bringing in an IT Partner dedicated to the needs of a regulated investment firm. Chicago-based RIA Workspace has been a phenomenal partner for us. The firm built out a full custom Microsoft Cloud environment ensuring we get the most out of all the different software we use, and collaborates with our outside counsel to implement, test, and document a first-class cyber security program across all our hardware and software.”
“Maximizing tech investments is about using the right tools for the right job, and an expert partner makes all the difference in adapting solutions to fit our growing boutique. Even without the burdens of legacy software, it can still be a challenge to integrate systems to deliver a cohesive client user experience. RIA Workspace assisted us in using Microsoft CoPilot & PowerAutomate to write some custom scripts to seamlessly reformat and move data – creating a bridge to bring a custodian and reporting system together.”
Derek Wittjohann, chief operating officer at Premier Path Wealth Partners:
“Pontera is a technology platform that provides clients the ability to have their 401(k)/employer retirement plan managed by our firm as part of their comprehensive financial plan. There is no disruption to the client, as the assets remain at the record keeper.”
“Vanilla is a technology platform that helps provide a modern, visual flow-chart and analysis to help our clients understand their complex estate in a simple way. By integrating their existing estate planning documents, we’re now able to present concise outputs that address estate topics such as Estate Flow Chart, Estate Tax Projection, Asset Distribution & Waterfall, among other features.”
“We’ve relied on BlackDiamond as our clients’ go-to client portal and first stop for information about their investments. Our ability to customize the client experience and offer a platform that makes it easy for our clients to engage with their portfolios has yielded overwhelmingly positive feedback.”
Geoffrey Schaefer, wealth advisor at Intergy Private Wealth:
“Canvas has been incredibly valuable to our practice. The idea of direct indexing is growing in popularity and is a valuable strategy for many of our clients. There is an important tax savings element to the strategy, but Canvas took it a step further and added the ability to customize client portfolios. In real time we can remove industries or specific companies from the portfolio all while keeping it tax efficient and very low cost. The time it takes for building a personalized index has gone from hours to minutes.”
Matt Pearson, president at Nepsis:
“Our CRM, specifically Salesforce, has been by far the most integral and valuable piece of technology we have implemented here at Nepsis. Whether you work as an advisor, CPA, or assist with operations in the back office, everything our employees do runs through Salesforce. Its powerful customization capabilities allow us to build numerous integrations and custom processes tailored to our unique business needs. Salesforce is the heart of our technology infrastructure, with over a dozen other technologies integrated into our platform.”
Jason Inglis, chief revenue officer at Sowell Management:
“We’ve found that a fully integrated, open architecture enterprise technology platform has provided tremendous value. Sowell Management partnered with GeoWealth about 18 months ago, and it has been the most impactful technology since implementation. Given the unique structure of our firm – with most independent investment advisor representatives operating under their own brands while relying on Sowell as the operational backbone – a unified and efficient technological platform was crucial.”
Alexandra Quitko Baranski, above left, wealth advisor at Perigon Wealth Management:
“We have adopted financial planning software that has streamlined planning, created efficiency, and assisted in adhering to rules and regulations. In the past, advisors would meet with clients to discuss financial goals and develop a plan that was, for the most part, tracked in a spreadsheet and Word document. It was an inelegant solution because it was time-consuming and introduced the possibility of data entry errors. These programs can make it quick and efficient to incorporate updates related to retirement, moving, stock vesting, or regulations that might impact a client’s financial plan. We rely on these financial planning programs to help guide our decisions and develop and maintain our client relationships.”
Matt Cosgriff, head of wealth management advisory services, SageView Advisory Group:
“Calendly has had a profound impact on our business by streamlining the arduous and low-value task of scheduling meetings with clients, prospects, and the employees of the retirement plans we serve. Prior to using Calendly, scheduling the ‘old-fashioned’ way included the constant back and forth of providing dates, only to then have to send updated availability once the client got back to us and the original times are no longer available. Now clients and prospects can simply use a customized link for their advisor to schedule time when convenient for them.”
Ari Baum, founder & CEO of Endurance Wealth Partners, a part of Prospera Financial Services:
“Integrating Calendly into our practice has been a game-changer. It has streamlined our appointment scheduling process, significantly reducing the back-and-forth emails and phone calls required to coordinate meetings. The ability to offer clients a seamless way to book time directly from our website or emails has saved countless hours and improved our overall client experience.”
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