“We are really skilling up our organization to respond, to get to a deeper level of empathy, where we’re truly connecting with clients because their needs are being met,” Cella said.
To be alerted when the Cella/Dychtwald podcast series is available, click here.
Franklin Templeton/Advisorengine Walks The Talk
Franklin Templeton’s award-winning Goals Optimization EngineÒ is available on the AdvisorEngine platform and soon for Vestwell’s retirement plan users. It’s an intriguing case of a traditional asset manager forging digital capabilities that enhance advisor productivity and investor/advisor outcomes.
AdvisorEngine, with GOE as a critical piece, is one of the most advanced advice platforms today, and further enhancements are imminent. Advisors can create personalized implementation plans across multiple accounts that:
• Coordinate asset-allocated portfolios with tax alpha—through tax-smart asset location, transitions, harvesting and rebalancing—to maximize returns
• Are primed to suggest the optimal withdrawal sequence, including Social Security
• And is adaptable as clients’ goals and needs change
Deep Srivastav, digital investment solutions head at Franklin Templeton, told me that many talk about aligning advice to goals. Still, few can do the walk in a dynamic way that responds to personal circumstances, changing markets, and tax considerations.
“With GOE’s massive computing capability, you can tease out information on clients’ goals at any point, arm advisors to have meaningful conversations to help clients make smart, personal decisions,” Srivastav said. Click here to be alerted when this podcast interview is available.
What’s Ahead?
Table stakes for the future will be the ability to automatically and repeatedly:
• Generate tax alpha for investors across multiple qualified and non-qualified accounts accumulated over 40 years or more.
• Help investors along their accumulation and decumulation journeys, addressing their most pressing needs: retirement, taxes, Social Security, and healthcare.
• Answer investors’ point-in-time questions about their next-best moves with required minimum distributions (RMDs), Roth conversions, life insurance and annuities, and how to tax-efficiently transition assets as they consolidate.
The disruptors who do all this will attract more investors who are predisposed to consolidate accounts, and they will join the leaders in net new asset gains. Think of how Amazon brought Borders and Barnes & Noble to their knees. Netflix made Blockbuster a meme. eBay created a model often imitated by sites like Poshmark, Etsy, and Bonanza.
With up to 12,000 people reaching age 65 each day, the marketplace eagerly awaits financial advisory services that match the expectations Amazon and others have created for speed, ease of use, accuracy, selection, personalization, and improved financial outcomes.
Jack Sharry is co-chair of MMI's Digital Advice Community, a member of the Next Chapter Executive Leadership Advisory Board and co-chair of Next Chapter Leadership in Action. He hosts the WealthTech on Deck podcast and is executive vice president at LifeYield.