For an industry not usually on the cutting edge of technology, financial planning is getting more and more chances to try out innovative, next-generation tools to make the job of advisors easier. The days requiring the creation of custom spreadsheets and checklists and performing tedious data entry to create a holistic view of a client’s financial picture are being replaced by platforms and automation that can allow advisors to think more deeply and creatively about how best to help clients meet their goals.

Speaking on a recent webcast for advisors titled, “How Wealthtech is Impacting the Advisor of the Future,” Joel Bruckenstein, co-founder of the impactful Technology Tools for Today (or “T3”) Advisor Conferences and a former advisor himself, described some of the new offerings that have caught his attention in exciting ways. He was particularly impressed by the following wealthtech products presented at his 2020 T3 event in February:

Act Analytics’ Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) platform that enables registered investment advisors (RIAs) to screen and weight investments in terms of ESG factors, as well as compare, contrast and construct custom sustainable investing portfolios for their clients.

• Plantech Hub’s affordable financial planning software that integrates client information to create a single-page financial plan, which can enhance conversations about anything from retirement planning to tax strategy.

• FP Alpha, an AI-driven comprehensive wealth management platform that extracts information from clients’ wills, trusts, tax returns, and insurance policies to identify planning opportunities for advisors. Utilizing its proprietary recommendation engine, a database powered by dozens of subject-matter experts, the software crafts custom advice and creates a scalable process across more than 15 financial planning disciplines.

• ATA Risk Station, a program that creates an automated, customizable daily risk oversight process with actionable insights for client portfolios. It can also be used as a compliance dashboard by RIAs and enterprise firms.

• Vanilla, an estate planning automation tool that uses templates to save time and money by addressing the inefficiency of document preparation, increase understanding of an estate and demystify dealing with an estate after a client dies.

• Supernova, a digital end-to-end lending platform that analyzes the securities in a client’s portfolio and can uncover ways to refinance his or her debt. It connects broker-dealers and RIAs to wholesale funding opportunities with attractive rates to optimize return.

Maximizing Tech As An Advisor
As the founder of FP Alpha, the comprehensive wealth management platform launched in February 2020, CFP, Andrew Altfest said on the webcast that he decided to invest copious hours of his free time in building the software because he was keenly aware that a solution to scale true comprehensive financial planning for a wide client base simply did not exist.

Working as president of Altfest Personal Wealth Management in New York City, Andrew saw that the wealth management industry “still in the Stone Age regarding technology and innovation,” was missing out on the benefits of machine learning and AI, among other technological advancements. FP Alpha, he hopes, can offer advisory firms including his own, a complementary extension to current planning software, freeing up advisors through automation, rather than filling their positions with it.

First « 1 2 » Next