Nerd's Eye View blog

Adopting A “Coach Approach” To Overcome Financial Planning Inaction

June 21, 2021 07:06 am 3 Comments CATEGORY: Practice Management

Sometimes it can be easy to misconstrue financial planning as a purely logical industry, as clear-cut as analyzing the numbers, adding expertise, and then giving clients the requisite recommendations. However, as all advisors quickly learn in the field, personal finance is often more personal than it is finance. The emotional ties that people have to money understandably manifest in many ways, and figuring out what clients want out of the financial planning relationship is sometimes contingent on getting clients to express what and why things are important to them. In short, because finances are deeply personal, good advice is built not just on a foundation of expertise and recommendations that accounts for the client’s capacity, but also on an emotional connection that allows the advisor to identify the client’s overall vision based on their values. By adopting a “coach approach” to financial planning, advisors focus on giving advice that clients will actually follow and that adapts to their changing financial circumstances and emotional priorities.

There are different coaching methods that advisors can use to better visualize and comprehend client goals, each that focuses on different aspects of how coaches can better connect with their coachees. This may range from client self-discovered solutions (International Coaching Federation Model) to an in-depth drill on who is sitting across from them to avoid giving the wrong advice or solving the right problems for the wrong reasons (the Who, How, What Coaching Model). Or it may focus on bridging the gap between what’s ‘Here and Now’ for the client and their desired outcome of ‘There and Then’ (Coach U Strategizing for Success Model). Each coaching method has its own emphasis, which advisors can choose to play to their strengths – or stretch themselves to learn new skills!

Once a client’s goals are clearly visualized, there still remains the issue of action, and at the same time, overcoming inaction. To this end, advisors can guide clients through areas that may be blocking their progress, such as by helping them tackle important tasks that have been difficult for them to complete. If a client feels reluctant or paralyzed by negative emotions, it may help to explore and identify options that clients may not have previously realized were available to them. Lastly, advisors can set up a systematic process with tools such as LifeCards and LifeMaps that can help clients lay out what their specific priorities and goals are—and give them something to be motivated about.

Ultimately, the key point is that advisors can consider a ‘coach approach’ as an effective way to bridge the gap between their technical knowledge and helping a client apply it to the relevant things that matter most to them. It can be leveraged to both onboard new clients and help existing ones move into action. Furthermore, when advisors use a coach approach, they place themselves at the intersection of a client’s life and money, which ultimately helps clients realize their life goals and achieve their desired quality of life!

Weekend Reading for Financial Planners (June 19-20)

June 18, 2021 02:55 pm 0 Comments CATEGORY: Weekend Reading

Enjoy the current installment of "Weekend Reading For Financial Planners" – this week's edition kicks off with the big industry news that now Goldman Sachs has officially thrown its hat into the RIA custody ring as well, announcing a significant new relationship with mega-RIA Stewardship Partners, and positioning itself to compete especially for the ongoing flow of "breakaway brokers" that may prefer the storied Wall Street brand over a more "retail"-affiliated RIA custodian?

Also in the industry news this week are a number of other interesting regulatory headlines:

The SEC is once again considering further updates to the Accredited Investor rules, including the potential to increase the income and net worth thresholds (which haven't been adjusted for inflation in decades) but also to potentially allow more exceptions for those with significant education or similar credentials
The Department of Labor is preparing yet another update to the fiduciary rules that may look into not only the compensation that advisors receive, but the titles they use when holding out to consumers

From there, we have several interesting articles on the evolution of the subscription fee model:

How subscription fees open up new segments of clients that the AUM model doesn't serve, expanding the breadth of who advisors can serve profitably
An industry benchmarking study showing that growth in subscription fee service models has reached the point where retainer-fee firms are enjoying the same high retention rates as AUM firms (even through the pandemic in 2020)
Why it's so important to set a minimum retainer fee for any client an advisory firm works with, to ensure they maximize the time they're spending with clients (and prospects)

We've also included a number of articles on retirement, including:

Strategies to avoid the IRMAA Medicare surcharges in retirement (particularly by managing pre-tax retirement accounts and their later-years' RMDs)
The valid and not-so-valid criticisms of using annuities in retirement allocations
Despite decades of fears that a large segment of consumers won't be prepared for retirement, in practice a recent Gallup study shows that nearly 80% of retirees are satisfied with their retirement (suggesting that we may underestimate our ability to adapt to our retirement circumstances whenever they do come!?)

We wrap up with three final articles, all around the theme of finding financial contentment:

Economic conditions have improved dramatically since the 1950s, but our financial satisfaction has not, suggesting that the real challenge is not improving our financial condition, but preventing our expectations from growing faster than our reality?
When we are only ever limited in how much we can control in our lives, the key to financial happiness is not in having 'everything', but getting to the point that we feel we're in enough control to not need to worry about the future
While we focus heavily on building wealth in portfolios (and recovering from the decline of the pandemic), it's arguably investing in the bonds we have with our friends and family that builds the most happiness and life satisfaction

Enjoy the 'light' reading!

Kitces & Carl Ep 62: Do Vision And Mission Statements Really Matter For Advisory Firms?

June 17, 2021 07:07 am 0 Comments CATEGORY: Kitces & Carl Podcast

Although “statements of purpose” have, in one form or another, been around for centuries, it wasn’t until the 1970s (and especially into the 1980s) that the corporate mission statement really began to gain traction as a tool for businesses to state publicly what they do and who they do it for. It wasn’t long after that mission (and vision) statements began to elicit eye rolls, particularly from those who were all too familiar with businesses that would go through the motions of writing up such a statement… and then completely ignore it in practice (as Enron infamously included “Integrity” as a core value… right up until it collapsed in an accounting scandal). Yet, the practice of creating mission statements has persisted. And for the plethora of financial advisors who are striking out to become first-time entrepreneurs and are facing a mountain of tasks that need completing and decisions that need to be made, the question arises: is it really worthwhile to take the time and effort to come up with a mission statement (when starting the firm, or later once it is more established?).

In our 62nd episode of Kitces & Carl, Michael Kitces and financial advisor communication expert Carl Richards discuss what it means for financial advisors to have a mission statement in the first place, some of the key benefits mission statements bring to the table, and some practical and actionable ways that financial advisors can uncover and codify their core principles and personal code, both as advisors and as business owners.

As a first step, it’s important to recognize that most financial advisors who started their own practices did so because they decided that the only way they could help the clients they wanted to help in the way they wanted to help them was by simply going out and doing it themselves. In other words, there’s some core reason that they get out of bed in the morning, and that, in effect, is the anchor for a mission statement that clearly defines what it is that the financial advisor can uniquely do that their clients can’t get anywhere else.

From a practical perspective, the biggest benefit that a mission statement brings to the table for financial advisors is that it makes subsequent business decision-making exponentially easier. Because in practice, a mission statement can serve as a filter through which advisors can be intentional with the choices they make as they build their practices. Without a clearly articulated vision, it’s hard to be consistent when making key business decisions… which can eventually result in the business losing traction.

When it’s time to actually codify a mission statement, advisors have a few options. A less formal approach could be a brainstorming session facilitated by a series of questions that starts with, “Why does this firm exist?” and then digging into that answer by asking, “Why is that?” and “Why is that…” and “Why is that!”, several times over to uncover the advisor’s (and firm’s) underlying Why. Advisors who prefer a more structured approach can look into the EOS framework, which relies heavily on establishing a foundation of purpose and value, from which literally everything else that the firm does is built.

Ultimately, the key point is that a financial advisor’s mission statement is something that is already in them and is being used to make business decisions, regardless of whether they are aware of it or not. But without being cognizant of what that mission is, it’s easy to unwittingly make business decisions that aren’t well aligned. Thus, by discovering and articulating what that mission is, the financial advisor can gain the clarity of purpose that makes all the subsequent decisions around owning and operating an advisory firm much easier. In turn, when the advisor starts to add team members, the mission statement becomes even more important, because once there are more team members than can be practically managed by the advisor/owner (which usually happens once the headcount reaches about five or six), then the mission statement becomes the reference point from which the rest of the team can base their decisions on as well. As in the end, when team members have the tools to make the same decisions as the advisor/owner would make, it gets much easier to take the practice to the next levels.

Managing Clients That Use Other (Conflicting) Sources Of Advice

June 16, 2021 07:09 am 0 Comments CATEGORY: Client Trust & Communication

Humans are social creatures, and as such, we like to make decisions when we are backed with social support. This very much includes financial decisions, and research has often documented this human tendency in the context of investments and portfolio behavior. Simply said, it is normal and common to get advice from multiple sources when making an important decision. Which for financial advisors who are aiming to be the ‘quarterback’ or primary source of advice for their clients can be frustrating as the client seeks out and incorporates other (potentially conflicting) advice.

Yet, what is often not discussed is how to benefit when ‘other’ advice – given to the client by someone other than the financial advisor – finds its way into the financial planning relationship. After all, while seeking out and incorporating multiple opinions from various sources is not common in financial planning, the medical field tends to actively encourage patients to seek second opinions and even to work with multiple doctors! As ultimately, seeking out and finding additional sources of guidance to affirm – or alternatively, finding conflicting sources and eventually reconciling them – can actually build the client’s confidence that it is the ‘right’ course of action and that it is time to take action! Or stated more simply, the truth of the matter is that people are often happier about their decisions when lots of people agree with them!

Still, though, clients seeking out other (and potentially conflicting) sources of information can create frustrations and challenges in the advisor-client relationship. Accordingly, the starting point when it comes to dealing with ‘other’ advice is to get a handle on what ‘other’ advice their clients are getting, and to have a way to discuss it (and even to incorporate it into the client’s own financial plan, if it’s good advice that should be followed!).

For instance, a client who has relied on financial advice from a close family member, who they hold in very high esteem, may mention one of their recommendations that they would like to implement. In this case, it would behoove the advisor to treat the recommendation with respect and, if possible, to incorporate this 'advice’ into the client’s plan. If the recommendation is not sound, or deemed not to be in the client’s best interest, the advisor can still delve further to explore the clients’ sources of advice and even leverage the client’s existing blocking points to help them find a better path (e.g., if the client received a hot stock tip from their brother and is asking their advisor’s opinion about it, clearly they’re not yet sold on the idea or they wouldn’t be asking, and simply reflecting back to the client that they’re hesitating from acting and inviting them to consider why can help them talk themselves out of the problematic advice!).

Ultimately, though, the key point is simply to recognize that when clients seek out advice from others, it’s not necessarily a negative statement about the financial advisor, and can actually help the client build momentum towards taking action. As a result, being able to candidly discuss this other advice can be useful for advisors, either to support their consensus-seeking exercise, or at least to better understand their clients and how they make decisions. Additionally, by making small changes to the ways that advisors learn about their clients’ other relationships, financial advisors can elucidate important relationship dynamics between clients and those sources, which can result in opportunities to create more holistic plans that make clients happier!

#FA Success Ep 233: Maximizing Your Productivity By Leveraging Your Time Not Your Technology, With Patty Kreamer

June 15, 2021 07:01 am 2 Comments CATEGORY: Financial Advisor Success Podcast

Welcome back to the 233rd episode of the Financial Advisor Success Podcast!

My guest on today’s podcast is Patty Kreamer. Patty is the Co-Owner of Productivity Uncorked, a productivity coaching firm that specializes in helping financial advisors become more organized and efficient, in order to have time to focus on what’s most important in their professional or personal life.

What’s unique about Patty, though, is that the heart of her methodology isn’t around implementing technology tools to create efficiencies, but rather, around how financial advisors can reduce “clutter” in their work routines and better focus their time and attention on the things that get them out of the bed in the morning and that they’re most energized to get done efficiently.

In this episode, we talk in depth about how, no matter what systems and processes a financial advisor has implemented within their practice, if they don’t have a concrete plan for what they’re going to get done that day, they’ll have a hard time accomplishing very much, why as an entrepreneur herself Patty realized the most important part of managing her own time is by knowing what she doesn’t want to do versus what she does want to do, and why learning to say ‘no’ is such big deal, especially for financial advisors, who so often build their businesses early on by saying yes to anything that can help them survive the first few years but then get trapped in the habit even when it’s no longer actually beneficial.

We also talk about the process that Patty uses with her financial advisor clients to help create space in their professional lives, starting with a Needs And Values exercise (which identifies those things they ‘Need’ to make their lives work, and the Values that they stand for), and then moving on to an Ideal Week exercise (which helps advisors see what they want to accomplish in and out of work during the week so they can start taking control of their time), and how Patty helps advisors clarify how they work with their clients in order to set clear boundaries and expectations (because one of the most common reasons advisors can’t get anything done is their daily workflow is constantly being disrupted by being too accommodative of outside interruptions).

And be certain to listen to the end, where Patty shares some practical tips that advisors can use to increase their productivity and focus (particularly for advisors who have cluttered email inboxes), how trying to do whatever clients want in the name of “good service” can end out undermining the advisor’s service quality, and why the key to gaining more growth momentum isn’t really about productivity but the self-confidence that comes from knowing that if the firm grows, you’ll have the capacity to handle it.

So with that introduction, I hope you enjoy this episode of the Financial Advisor Success podcast, with Patty Kreamer.

Summer Reading List Of “Best Books” For Financial Advisors – 2021 Edition

June 14, 2021 07:09 am 2 Comments CATEGORY: Personal/Career Development

As the vaccination count continues to rise and the new case count for the coronavirus continues to decline, more and more people – including financial advisors – are beginning to emerge from the shutdown and return to ‘life as normal’, which means a return to school, a return to the office… and now that summer is arriving, a return to the family trip and summer vacation. Which means some downtime for rest and relaxation. And for many, that includes finding some time to read and catch up on a few good books!

For those who love a good book, though (and especially for those who have limited time and will only get to read a few), the question quickly becomes “what’s a good book worth reading these days?” As a voracious reader myself, I'm always eager to hear suggestions from others of great books to read, whether it's something new that's just come out, or an "old classic" that I should go back and read (again or for the first time!). And so, in the spirit of sharing, a few years ago I launched my list of "Recommended (Book) Reading for Financial Advisors", and it was so well received that in 2013 I also started sharing my annual "Summer Reading List" for financial advisors of the best books I'd read in the preceding year. It quickly became a perennial favorite on Nerd's Eye View, and so I've updated it every year, with new lists of books in 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, and a fresh round last year in 2020.

And now, I'm now excited to share my latest Summer Reading list of top books for financial advisors in 2021, including some suggestions from our growing ‘team of nerds’ here at Kitces.com, from a deep dive into how helping clients with their money psychology can impact their wealth more so than ‘just’ the technical financial planning advice, why it’s so important to create time and space for the “Deep Work” that adds the most value, what the financial advice business can learn from the restaurant hospitality business, why the long-term key to building a successful business is not about maximizing your own skills and productivity but in finding the “Whos” that can help turn your ideas into reality (and then how to get the most out of the people on your team), what it takes to be more relevant for prospective clients and how to get them to actually see your value as a financial planner (hint: stop telling them about the value of your financial planning advice, and just start giving them financial planning advice that they’ll only want more of!), and some great guidance on how to not just have more answers for clients but how to ask better questions (replete with a list of actual questions to try out with your clients!).

So as the summer season gets underway, and summer vacations return, I hope that you find this suggested summer reading list of books for financial planners to be helpful… and please do share your own suggestions in the comments at the end of the article about the best books you've read over the past year as well!

Weekend Reading for Financial Planners (June 12-13)

June 11, 2021 02:58 pm 0 Comments CATEGORY: Weekend Reading

Enjoy the current installment of "Weekend Reading For Financial Planners" – this week's edition kicks off with the big industry news that LPL has formally announced the rollout of a 'standalone' RIA custodial solution for fee-only RIAs, promising no asset minimums and a more "high-touch, white-glove" approach than its larger competitors (i.e., Schwab and Fidelity), as the largest independent broker-dealer (and third-largest RIA custody given LPL's hybrid RIA assets) continues its shift from brokerage-based roots to becoming a platform for RIAs as the industry at large continues its own shift from brokerage to advisory and products to advice.

Also in the industry news this week are a number of other interesting headlines:

The latest Schwab Independent Advisor Outlook Study finds that the average advisory firm added more clients in 2020 than prior years, but also is struggling more with new competitors in the advice business
Wealthy investors are increasingly shifting their investment preferences towards a more values-based approach as "purpose-driven investing" threatens to replace "goals-based investing" (at least for HNW clients)

From there, we have several interesting articles on industry regulation:

FINRA withdraws its proposal to modify the expungement rules as PIABA claims it is not stringent enough in limiting such expungements to ensure consumers (and other regulators) have access to information about consumer complaints against problematic brokers
New legislation in Congress is shining a fresh light on whether it's time to end "mandatory arbitration" clauses in broker-dealer and RIA agreements
The SEC is pledging to step up enforcement of Regulation Best Interest, and FSI is pushing back against the potential for "regulation by enforcement"

We've also included a number of articles on the ongoing debates around income and wealth inequality and the broader economy:

A controversial investigative report from ProPublica finds that 25 wealthiest US billionaires paid an average tax rate of less than 16%, as the ultra-HNW increasingly take advantage of ultra-low interest rates to borrow against their assets for spending to avoid the need to liquidate and pay capital gains taxes
A new study suggests that the "global savings glut" may be primarily driven by the concentration of wealth, such that the wealthiest households literally can't deploy their cash quickly enough back into the economy (leading to a rise in savings that is driving down interest rates and fueling low-interest debt in the bottom 90% of households)
The balance between workers and businesses appears to be shifting as wage growth suddenly gains traction while the total number of working-age Americans declines for the first time ever

We wrap up with three final articles, all around the theme of trying new things:

Often the best "crazy new ideas" are the ones that are most widely criticized... until they're accepted and become self-evident
How self-criticism is only constructive up to a certain point, beyond which being introspective can actually become self-limiting
Why in the end, the best way to really learn something is not to study on it and pass a test about it, but to do it and even fail at it (because once you've failed and felt the pain of failure, you rarely ever forget that lesson for the rest of your life!)

Enjoy the 'light' reading!

Maximizing Split-Interest Charitable Deductions With New Pooled Income Funds Over CRTs

June 9, 2021 07:09 am 9 Comments CATEGORY: Taxes

Split-interest gifting has long been a staple of charitable tax planning for affluent individuals, where assets are “split” between individual beneficiaries (e.g., the donor themselves or their family members) and charitable beneficiaries. At its core, the appeal of such split-interest vehicles – particularly the ‘charitable remainder’ type – is the opportunity to claim a current tax deduction now, for a donation that can still generate income for the desired income beneficiaries in the years to come… paired with a remainder that only goes to the charity in the potentially-distant future.

The caveat, though, is that the charitable tax deduction for a charitable remainder trust and similar split-interest vehicles is determined by calculating the present value of the income interest that will be left to non-charitable beneficiaries, and subtracting that value from the upfront contribution to determine the value of the remainder. Which means the lower the interest rate, the higher the value of the non-charitable income interest, and the lower the value of the upfront charitable deduction. Which has diminished the desire to establish CRTs and other split-interest vehicles in the current low-rate environment.

However, Pooled Income Funds (PIFs) operate under slightly different rules, which can make them somewhat more appealing for split-interest giving at low yields. Functionally, PIFs are similar to CRTs, in providing an income interest to some non-charitable individuals (e.g., the donor or their family members) and the remainder to a charity. However, while CRTs typically pay out a fixed stated dollar amount or percentage of the trust, PIFs are assumed to pay out whatever their income actually will be (based on whatever their returns have been for the preceding 3 years). Which means when interest rates and projected returns are low, so too is the assumed payout rate from the PIF… allowing for a larger charitable deduction for the split-interest gift (albeit at a ‘cost’ of not necessarily generating as much income for the income beneficiaries).

For new Pooled Income Funds that have been formed, though, there is no 3-year history to determine an assumed return, and as a result the Treasury Regulations state that new PIFs are expected to use an assumed rate of the IRS 7520 rates reduced by 1%... producing an even lower interest rate assumption in the current environment, and an even higher charitable deduction. Except to the extent that the new PIF – or NPIF – actually earns a higher return in the future, it can pay out a higher rate to its income beneficiaries, even after “locking in” the charitable deduction at the initial lower-interest-rate assumption, allowing for the best of both worlds (a favorable potentially-higher payout rate to income beneficiaries and a favorable lower-interest-rate assumption for the charitable tax deduction)!

In fact, some charities are now establishing NPIFs on a rolling basis specifically to allow a steady flow of new donors to take advantage of the new rules for more favorable charitable tax deductions. And are incorporating other more-flexible provisions into their PIF documents to further attract donors to participate (for which the sponsoring charitable institution hopes to be the charitable remainder).

Unfortunately, though, because NPIFs are so ‘new’ themselves, there is no centralized directory of sponsoring charities and opportunities, requiring those interested to explore with their own charities of choice (and the associated Planned Giving Departments). Nonetheless, giving the substantial additional tax benefits that may be available, those who have an interest in split-interest charitable giving (e.g., via a Charitable Remainder Trust) should at least explore whether their charity of choice may be sponsoring a New Pooled Income Fund to use or a better charitable tax deduction instead!?
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#FA Success Ep 232: Turning Your Personal Passion (For Financial Literacy) Into A Personal Brand, With Jamie Bosse

June 8, 2021 07:03 am 0 Comments CATEGORY: Financial Advisor Success Podcast

Welcome back to the 232nd episode of the Financial Advisor Success Podcast!

My guest on today’s podcast is Jamie Bosse. Jamie is a financial planner at Aspyre Wealth Partners, an RIA in Overland Park, Kansas that manages just under $500m in assets for 275 families.

What’s unique about Jamie, though, is how she’s been able to balance her own responsibilities within a firm that serves affluent clients, with writing a series of children’s books on personal finance and a soon-to-be-published “grown-up” book addressing many of the money issues that young parents face, as she crafts her own personal brand as the “Money Boss Mom”.

In this episode, we talk in depth about how Jamie found that creating content for Aspyre that spoke about financial decisions and issues she was making as a parent resonated with (and began to attract) a younger client base, how a “teachable moment” with her son was the inspiration for her first children’s book, “Milton Brings Home The Bacon”, the mechanics of the publishing process that Jamie had to navigate to bring that book to life, and how Jamie has found that the value of being a published author isn’t in book sales per se, but rather the goodwill that having a book brings to herself as a planner, as well as to the firm she works for, which benefits from the additional reach that Jamie’s brand can bring.

We also talk about how Aspyre charges both an AUM fee as well as a separate financial planning fee for their more ‘traditional’ clients (and how they think about the value they bring to the table when the all-in fee can approach 150 basis points), Jamie’s role in expanding the service model of Aspyre to serve next-generation clients that Jamie has been able to help attract to the firm, the subscription fee business model the firm implemented and the technology it's using to make next-generation client meetings more efficient, and how Aspyre has been testing out a surge meeting structure in order to create space to work on bigger picture projects within the firm (as well as the challenges that they’ve faced as they learn how to make surge meetings work for them).

And be sure to listen to the end, where Jamie shares how her own career journey, from starting at a firm that ended out being too small, to working at a bank that was too big, before settling in at a mid-sized RIA that was ‘just right’, mirrors the career progression of so many young planners as they find their right fit over the span of three career jumps in their early years, the lessons Jamie has learned around the importance of maintaining professional relationships and not burning bridges (because the financial advisor community isn’t all that large, and you never know who you’ll run into later in your career), and why Jamie feels it’s so important for younger planners to get involved in the advisor community as a way not only to give back to the profession, but to stay connected as well.

So whether you're interested in learning about how Jamie balances her personal brand as an author with her responsibilities within her firm, the process she uses to publish her books, or how she helped broaden the focus of her firm to be able to serve next-generation clients effectively, then we hope you enjoy this episode of the Financial Advisor Success podcast, with Jamie Bosse.

The Latest In Financial #AdvisorTech (June 2021)

June 7, 2021 07:05 am 5 Comments CATEGORY: Technology & Advisor FinTech

Welcome to the June 2021 issue of the Latest News in Financial #AdvisorTech – where we look at the big news, announcements, and underlying trends and developments that are emerging in the world of technology solutions for financial advisors!

This month's edition kicks off with the big news that Zoe Financial has raised a $10M Series A round to accelerate its lead generation service for advisors, as the pandemic accelerates the consumer shift away from finding a local advisor in their area and instead to going online and finding the ‘best’ advisor to solve their particular financial challenges. As the reality is that with an average Client Acquisition Cost of over $3,100 for the typical advisor to get a single client, and a lifetime client value for a mass affluent client that is still 10X that cost or more, there is a significant market opportunity in driving new leads to advisors. In fact, the only real question is how many consumers are actually in the market for an advisor at any particular time, and whether there’s enough room for Zoe (and other advisor lead generation startups entering the same at the same time) to grow and scale.

From there, the latest highlights also feature a number of other interesting advisor technology announcements, including:

Tifin Group pledges to spend $100M acquiring financial media sites to turn self-directed investors into clients of advisors
Altruist raises $50M as it shifts from RIA custodian to the All-In-One overlay that powers one
Vise raises $65M at a $1B valuation as Silicon Valley places its bets on advisor-driven Direct Indexing
InvestCloud acquires NaviPlan for what may become the digital storefront for its own financial products supermarket?

Read the analysis about these announcements in this month's column, and a discussion of more trends in advisor technology, including:

Skience launches a new centralized workflow platform to overlay any advisor’s CRM
RIA In A Box acquires Itegria to expand into outsourced IT support and cybersecurity
OnRamp launches a new platform to facilitate advisors monitoring their clients’ cryptocurrency investments
FMG Suite and WealthTender roll out new marketing modules for advisors to leverage client testimonials
ScratchWorks AdvisorTech incubator announces Season 4 applications are open through mid-June, with pitches to occur at the fall T3 Advisor Technology conference!

And be certain to read to the end, where we have provided an update to our popular “Financial AdvisorTech Solutions Map” as well!

*And for #AdvisorTech companies who want to submit their tech announcements for consideration in future issues, please submit to [email protected]!