Types of Financial Planning Tools for Financial Advisors
Key types of financial planning technology: Tools and software
For many, technology is an important part of their lives. From connecting with others to assisting with daily chores and work. As a field that constantly changes, it’s no surprise that the financial industry is not an exception.
Based on research done by Financial Planning in 2021, 93% of financial advisors state that technology plays either a critical or very important role in their practice.
For example, Asset-Map’s visual maps let you create visual aids that are easy to understand for clients who aren’t familiar with the typical financial jargon. This makes your client meetings go from a one-sided presentation into a conversation that helps your clients make an informed decision so they can contribute to their financial plans.
There are various other tools that will help you make your other processes just as efficient.
As a financial advisor, using the right technology can significantly enhance your ability to visualize, analyze, and explain complicated financial processes to your clients.
In this article, we’ll help you figure out how you can find tools that are perfect for your advisory firm without trying every FinTech software under the sun.
Portfolio and account management
In today's fast-paced financial landscape, the importance of incorporating digital portfolio and account management tools cannot be overstated. Implementing these solutions can be game-changing – it offers a comprehensive approach to streamlining client onboarding, portfolio construction, and trading/performance reporting.
A few examples of portfolio management and account management tools include Orion, Black Diamond, and Veo.
Automation is the key aspect of these tools. Adopting these digital solutions means significantly reducing the time you spend on manual tasks and administrative work, allowing you to focus on more important things, such as client relationships and strategic decision-making.
Since data input is automated, these tools also help minimize errors, ensuring that your client’s financial data is accurate, reliable, and up to date. This enables you to provide more reliable advice and guidance.
These financial planning software usually also come with advanced analytics and reporting features, which can help you identify trends, spot opportunities, and make data-driven decisions. As a result, you can craft more effective investment strategies tailored to your client's unique needs and goals, ultimately maximizing their potential for long-term financial success.
Planning and research
There are a lot of tools to help you with the planning and research portion of your job.
These tools can assist you in various aspects of your practice, including investment research, tax planning, retirement strategies, and estate planning.
This new generation of software allows you to make more informed decisions based on data and analytics, enabling you to optimize your client's portfolios and improve their financial situations. These financial planning tools can also help you provide a customized and comprehensive financial planning service. Tailoring the experience to your client's unique needs and goals allows you to provide them with a higher level of personalized service and attention.
For example, tools like Morningstar, Riskalyze, and preciseFP are ones that you’d consider as planning and research tools, but each of them helps you with different tasks.
A Registered Investment Advisor (RIA) might need a more specialized toolset than a personal financial planner. They might use Riskalyze to discover a client’s risk tolerance, Morningstar to make sure that they get up-to-date information, and Asset-Map to help them illustrate their financial advice to clients. On top of that, they might need rebalancing software as well if they’re also doing investment management or wealth management.
As there are too many tools that span across various processes, the best way to find ones that would fit your needs would be to review your current process. Here are a few questions you can start asking yourself to discover tools that might improve your performance and client experience:
Is there a part of the work that frustrates you?
Is there a time-consuming process that you should be able to delegate?
If you’ve heard negative feedback from a client recently, is there something that you can optimize using tools to provide a better experience?
Once you've figured out what kind of software you’d like to find, it’s time to evaluate your options. There are a lot of things to consider when looking for software solutions. The things you should keep in mind will differ depending on what you’re looking for and how you work, but here are three basic questions that you should always ask:
How easily can it integrate with your existing systems?
How is their customer support quality?
Are their features and pricing structure scalable?
Are you looking for an all-in-one solution? Or are you willing to use multiple types of software to get a more customized experience?
Additionally, it is crucial to ensure that any software you choose complies with industry regulations and best practices, safeguarding your clients' sensitive financial information.
Document management and storage
Papers are a thing of the past – at least when it comes to important client documents. Digital document management and storage systems, such as Box, Google Drive, and Dropbox, are excellent choices to bring your documents to the 21st century.
While document management has always been essential for any financial advisory practice, a digital approach to these systems helps firms save on physical space. They also allow for better organization and quicker access to relevant documents. It improves efficiency and keeps you compliant with books and records requirements.
However, you can’t just store client files on your desktop, or the cloud, as is. As the financial industry embraced more sophisticated technology, financial cybercrimes are also growing to be more sophisticated – so are the regulations put in place to prevent said crimes. It’s necessary to ensure that your practice is equipped with the right systems to handle sensitive client information and remain compliant with regulatory requirements.
When choosing a document management and storage solution, you want to consider factors such as security, ease of use, and integration with your existing systems. Ensure that the chosen platform offers robust encryption and data protection features to safeguard sensitive client information. Look for solutions that provide seamless integration with your existing software, streamlining the process of storing, retrieving, and managing documents.
Customer relationship management (CRM)
To thrive in the financial services landscape that grows more competitive by the day, it’s important to build and maintain strong client relationships and stay top of mind.
That said, it’s impossible to keep accurate details of all of your clients’ data and keep track of when you should reach out to stay relevant.
Unless you have robust customer relationship management (CRM), that is.
A CRM like RedTail or Wealthbox helps you manage the relationships you’ve formed with clients. With a CRM platform, you can deliver personalized content and experiences to your clients and prospects, ensuring that you create lasting connections.
Some essential features in a CRM include contact information, a client portal, activity tracking, and client preferences. Having access to comprehensive client profiles and interaction histories allows you to tailor your communication and services to match the individual needs and preferences of your clients. This level of personalization enhances the client experience and increases the likelihood of their satisfaction and loyalty.
Additionally, a CRM system can provide valuable insights into your clients' behaviors and preferences, allowing you to identify new opportunities for growth and expansion.
When selecting a CRM platform, consider factors such as ease of use, scalability, and integration with other systems in your practice. Choosing a solution that is intuitive and user-friendly will ensure that your team can quickly adopt and use the platform.
Productivity
Your primary focus as a financial advisor is to serve your clients and help them achieve the financial life they’re aiming for. To accomplish this, you need to have a well-functioning internal operation that supports your client-facing activities.
Adopting tools that can smooth out your processes will significantly improve the productivity and overall efficiency of your practice, allowing you to concentrate more on your clients.
These tools include communication software that enables easy collaboration between coworkers, HR software for managing personnel, and accounting software to keep track of your business's finances.
A key area to consider is a communication software that fosters seamless collaboration between coworkers and clients alike. Tools like project management platforms, messaging apps, and video conferencing systems can help your team stay connected, share ideas, and work together more effectively, regardless of their physical location.
Another crucial aspect is human resources (HR) software that streamlines personnel management. With a comprehensive HR platform, you can simplify tasks like payroll processing, benefits administration, and performance evaluations. Not only does this save time, it also ensures accuracy and compliance with labor regulations.
Additionally, adopting accounting software tailored to your business needs can help you keep track of your practice's finances with ease. Automated invoicing, expense tracking, and reporting features can provide you with real-time insights into your financial performance, helping you to make informed decisions and plan for the future.
How to choose the best financial planning technology
Selecting the right financial planning technology is crucial for optimizing your practice in this digital age. It’s normal to feel overwhelmed by the sheer number of options of technology platforms available. Here are 4 steps to guide you so you can make the best decision for your unique workflow:
Determine your goals: Consider your practice's specific needs and objectives when evaluating potential tools and software.
Get familiar with the features: Research the available features of each solution to understand how they can benefit your practice and clients.
Learn more about your top options: Reach out to the software providers for product demonstrations or trials to gain hands-on experience with each tool.
Read user reviews: Check online forums, social media, and other resources to learn about the experiences of other financial professionals who have used the tools you're considering. This will help you make a more informed decision and select the best technology for your practice.
Upgrade your financial advisor business with Asset-Map
While it’s wonderful to have so many options to help you achieve your client’s financial goals, having too many is also a problem for most advisors. If you don’t know what they do and why you need them, you’ll only be wasting your time and resources after getting swayed by shiny new things. Having too many options can put you in a state of analysis paralysis – where you end up spending too much time weighing your options and can’t make a decision in the end.
The key to assembling your system is to make sure that it serves your unique needs, especially if you specialize in a specific type of financial planning.
That said, there are always some platforms that are absolutely necessary whether you’re doing personal financial planning, retirement planning, wealth management, or any other type of financial services.
Asset-Map helps you streamline various processes in your workflow. The Discovery tool allows your clients to fill in their data wherever they are – negating the need to spend your first meeting filling out missing information. The visual maps help you and your clients get a bird’s eye view of where your clients are in terms of their financial goals.
In addition, the visual maps turn your client meetings into productive discussions instead of presentations. With the intuitive visual aid, your clients will get a better understanding of their financial situation and can make an informed decision about their financial future.
Schedule a demo today and see how Asset-Map can simplify your workflow without losing the VIP experience you’re looking to provide for your clients.