Interview with AdviceTech.LIVE Speaker Andina Anderson of Envestnet | Tamarac

Andina Anderson
Executive Managing Director at Envestnet | Tamarac
AdvisorTech.LIVE Speaker: Portfolio Management

How did you get your start in financial services?

During my sophomore year of college at the University of Washington, a friend referred me for a part-time internship as the receptionist at Ragen MacKenzie, a local broker dealer. Throughout the remainder of the school year, I was able to get a good feeling and understanding for many of the different positions, until they offered me a permanent position after graduation as an Institutional Equity Trader. 

I eventually became manager of the trading team until leaving to pursue my MBA. I then came back into the industry on the Financial Technology side of the business and have been at Envestnet | Tamarac ever since.

What’s something that you know now that you wish you’d known when you started your career?

At the beginning of my career I had the perception that everything would be planned and controlled, but what I found was that so many opportunities are driven purely by timing and chance. 

When those opportunities come up unexpectedly they can be a risk worth taking. It is still up to you to make that path successful, but be open to opportunities that may take you in a different direction then you had planned.

What excites you most about the financial advice profession right now?

For many years the financial advice industry has been relatively stagnant in terms of expectations and changes compared to other industries. However, what we have seen in the last decade or so is a shift and demand in what financial advice means and how it’s delivered. 

I transitioned to financial technology because it’s all about innovation, finding ways to solve for the growing demands of investors, and creating new ways to communicate and deliver advice. It’s exciting to see that with all of the shifts and challenges we have going on around us, we can continue to innovate in new ways to allow advisors to effectively provide financial wellness to their clients while at home with an ever-changing environment.

Is there something your company does that you don’t think advisors know about that they should be aware of?

There is always a balance between overwhelming our clients with too many new features and not delivering enough. In order to stay innovative, we continue to have a product release every 60 days to help our clients keep track of the new features, as well as provide a number of different methods to stay up to date. 

We have an online help center highlighting new releases, pop up notifications through the advisor’s site, webinars demonstrating new functionality, individualized emails and calls to walk through new functionality when needed. Our annual Advisor Summit and user groups that we host around the country, as well as updated blog posts are other examples of resources that we provide. 

We hope that by using many different formats our clients will remain up to date!

Any words of advice for advisors looking to update their tech stack?

Look for technologies and organizations that can partner with you in the long run, not just where you need to be today. Consider the next five to 10 years and beyond in terms of technology needs, practice management and your growth strategy. 

We are seeing a demand for delivering the full financial wellness picture, so make sure your technology stack can address each of the components that you require to deliver financial wellness for your clients and to fit your business needs.

What are you looking forward to the most about attending AdviceTech.LIVE?

I’m really looking forward to connecting with my peers and being able to collaborate and share thoughts, ideas and new perspectives across the industry.