Quite frankly, it is difficult to fathom why other software developers are not following Profile's lead. The United States is now home to the fifth-largest Spanish speaking population in the world, and Hispanics are the fastest-growing ethnic minority in the United States. In some regions of the country (South Florida, California, New York and Texas, for example), the ability to produce Spanish language reports is already a business necessity; look for demand to grow dramatically over the next five to ten years.
Financial Profiles + Professional 7.0 looks to be an evolutionary move in the right direction. While this version's enhancements are insufficient to lure users of competing products into the Financial Profiles camp, current Profiles+ users will welcome the upgrade warmly.
Profiles+ Matrix
In June, Financial Profiles Inc., announced the purchase of StatiaFX Inc., a Portland, Ore.-based provider of data acquisition, consolidation and wealth management technology solutions. Like Statement One, Financial Profiles Inc. apparently senses a demand for additional data consolidation and portfolio reporting products, and the firm intends to offer their customers such an alternative through their new product, Profiles + Matrix.
Profiles + Matrix, built by the StatiaFX team, will offer another outsourced financial data consolidation and portfolio reporting solution. At its most basic level, Matrix will enable current Profiles + Professional and Profiles + Forecaster users to seamlessly access and upload client portfolio data housed on a Web server from within their Profiles+ financial planning application, alleviating the need for manual data entry. Once entered, the advisor will be able to update market pricing simply by connecting to the Web service. This basic connectivity-only service will be available on an enterprise basis for as little as $250 per user, per year.
For an additional fee of $90 per year, plus $4 per client, per year (for enterprise users), advisors can offer their clients online account access and account aggregation services. The full Matrix package, which costs an additional $450 per year ($790 in total), includes consolidated portfolio reporting, market data, asset allocation tools and portfolio analytics.
At initial release the Matrix will not offer true portfolio reporting at the transaction level, but the second release, scheduled for early next year, will. When transactional reporting becomes available, it is likely that Matrix will be marketed to smaller, independent RIAs as a "lite," low-cost data consolidation and reporting solution retailing for under $1,500 annually. At that time, it could generate a great deal of interest from the financial planning community at large. For now, however, Matrix will be of interest only to users of Financial Profiles financial planning products.
AdvisorProducts
AdvisorProducts Inc., the firm founded in 1996 by veteran financial journalist Andrew Gluck, is best known for the high-quality Web sites the firm creates and maintains for independent financial advisors, as well as the well-written client newsletters they offer. Recently, the firm has expanded its scope to include other products and services designed to help advisors communicate more effectively with clients and prospects.
Last month, the firm completed a major overhaul of the AdvisorProducts Web site. The new site both displays the full line-up of products available from the firm and empowers advisors to order many of them online for the first time.
If you are interested in building a coherent, unified brand for your financial advisory business, this Web site should be your first stop. Here, do-it-yourselfers can design and order everything from business cards, stationery and trifold brochures to promotional items like coffee mugs and golf balls. The process is very user friendly and, in the case of printed materials, highly customizable. Of course, those who require assistance can still reach a design consultant by phone or e-mail.
One service offered at the site, AdvisorSites Conferencing, deserves special mention. AdvisorSites Conferencing empowers advisors to hold an unlimited number of meetings with clients or prospects over the Web. "I don't understand why more advisors aren't using this technology," says Gluck. "It can really give your business a productivity boost, and our prices are only about one-fifth of what WebEx and PlaceWare are charging."