Activity
Mon
Wed
Fri
Sun
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
What is this?
Less
More

Memberships

RIA Operators

1.1k members • Free

6 contributions to RIA Operators
Jump vs. Zocks vs. GReminders... Which are you using, and Why?
Hi everyone, looking for real-world feedback and details about which notetaker your firm is using and why. We're at a large BD that has these 3 as the only approved options. I've been testing Jump and Zocks off and on for the past 6 months but haven't pulled the trigger yet on either. I had originally been leaning towards Jump due to their Insights, but Zocks seems like the summaries are more thorough, and a UI that makes more sense to me. Zocks also pulls in email content as a meeting prep source and now integrates with Holistiplan too, which is a big win for us. We have a team of 9 advisors, 10 client service associates, and 4 admin. We use Wealthbox, RightCapital, and Holistiplan. Would love to hear your experiences!
1 like • Oct 15
thanks for the heads up @Joe Moss! @David Gilmore happy to help here - I'm having our team reach out now to get you early access and a walkthrough - appreciate you using Wealthbox!
Performance Software?
I'm a single advisor RIA looking for performance software that will bring in fixed annuity products. Does anyone currently use a product like that? Or have any recommendations on where to look? Thanx!
2 likes • Mar '24
@Duane Bolinger unfortunately there's no PAS system that has figured out reporting on any non-securities based annuity products - the blame there is more on the annuity companies than any PAS vendor. At best reporting providers will offer manually updated accounts which still require ongoing work on the broker/advisor's end - an imperfect solution. PAS providers live and breathe based on data feeds (and reconciliation) and there's one off solutions (I believe Black Diamond has feeds with Allianz and Pac Life for instance) but nothing that will aggregate account data across multiple different insurance companies on an ongoing basis. Depending on how focused your fixed business is on specific carriers, it may be worth checking in with them to see if they do have any data feeds with PAS providers but I'll caution you that the majority of data feeds have been focused on the FIA marketplace. Depending on the firm and how they work with clients, I've seen a lot of firms leverage their planning software to show the "value" of annuities but again that's more from a planning perspective than from a reporting standpoint. Specifically I've seen MoneyGuide and RightCapital do a good job of this. The reality is most firms blend planning and reporting to some degree for their client facing work so I see this as the best possible option until these annuity companies decide to join the 21st century and figure out how to get data feeds set up.
Wealthbox- Paper Preparation Tools
For those of you who use Wealthbox and use Schwab and/or Fidelity as a custodian, what do you use to prep paperwork? Are you using LaserApp or prepping directly at the custodians with their account opening tools? I appreciate any insight anyone has on this.
2 likes • Feb '24
@Kayla Berger I'm surprised more firms don't use digital account opening with custodians, but it's often simply just the result of years of "muscle memory" in filling out forms. To @Marcella Toronto's point - the major custodians have definitely made some steps forward in recent years and it's worth checking with your RM to see what's new there. There's still a handful of outlier account types that don't flow through custodian's digital account opening, but for the bulk of most RIA's new accounts - they should be covered. Wealthbox's integration with Schwab and Fidelity's account opening works well if you're using your CRM as the "source of truth" for client/prospect data - I've attached a quick look at the fields that can be pushed into the respective custodian's system. Last year Schwab released statistics about NIGO's for paper vs. digital - "Digital onboarding reduced errors from a typical rework rate of 33% for paper forms to less than 5% with the digital tool." If this doesn't nudge more firms to use digital account opening...not sure what will...
0 likes • Feb '24
@Kayla Berger I'd say it's worth a deeper dive if it's been a while - their "digital envelope" process has improved quite a bit, a couple specific additions being the ability to add firm documents (pg 22-23) and monitoring "what's out there" (pg 27) as these can be time savers. There's newer entrants in the custodial space, specifically Altruist, that have really streamlined the account opening process in terms of time for data entry. Most firms get comfortable with Schwab Advisor Center as time goes on, but often only in the areas they "live" on a consistent basis, so I always encourage teams to check out "what's new" in SAC a couple times a year.
2024 Webinar Ideas
We are putting together our webinar calendar for 2024 and here are some of the experts that we would like to highlight: RIA Compliance Solution RIA Marketing Expert Business and Life Coach Outsourced Investment Management Solution Are there other industry professionals that YOU would like to hear from? Please add your ideas to the comments section and we will reach out to them and hopefully feature their expertise on one of our upcoming webinars!
2 likes • Nov '23
Managing multi-generational family relationships as an advisor/firm - Reporting - Billing - Communications/Marketing Lot of ways to take this conversation, but something that comes up all the time with firms wondering how to use tech to better serve current clients and market to the "next generation"
Orion Reporting
Hi All, For perspective, I work with RIAs in various capacities and one of our advisors had a question (which I don't think there is a solution for), but I thought I'd toss the question out there anyways. Is there some type of overlay for Orion (or maybe an alternative solution to Orion) for more modern reporting? This particular client works primarily in alternative investments and he does not like how he has to manually input alternative investments into Orion and wishes there was a better or more modern reporting solution that can pull in both held and held away accounts. I'm familiar with solutions like ByAllAccounts, but BAA doesn't have any reporting features do they? It's been awhile since I've used BAA directly. Michelle
2 likes • Sep '23
In the PAS world - Addepar and Black Diamond both have a strong lineup of data feeds for Alts and I'd give Addepar a slight leg up given their background in the FO/MFO space. That said, these are completely new systems versus an overlay with Orion and shifting PAS systems can be a lot. BAA doesn't have any reporting features - it feeds into existing PAS systems and the data is spotty especially in less liquid assets and especially with non-traditional asset classes. It's nice for bringing in "outside" accounts, but it's an imperfect solution at best and often requires ongoing oversight and review for broken data links. Also may be worth looking into Canoe depending on the type of Alts your firms are using - they would plug into an existing PAS system from a data feed standpoint. Reporting on Alts has taken some serious steps forward in recent years, but it's still a relatively new space and maturing quickly. It's also typically either a very manual process or quite expensive to bring in an aggregator like Canoe but depending on the firm and depth of their Alts usage, it can make sense. Hope this helps!
1-6 of 6
Andrew Ladwig
2
11points to level up
@andrew-ladwig-2300
Michigander & WealthTech Pro

Active 3d ago
Joined Feb 21, 2023
Powered by