New version of Finance Logix planning software released

Version 3.0 of Finance Logix came out today. The financial planning program from Oltis Software LLC is web-based and known among advisers for its easy-to-use interface, appealing graphics and easy-to-adjust hypotheticals.
This version boasts improved workflow, navigation, and client management features as well as a new “strategy framework.” It also has new Book Management features that work in tandem with Microsoft Outlook and an Advisor Dashboard where users can view client portal activities, among other things.
Around 2,000 advisers currently use the program and it and Oltis now have partnerships/affiliations with 10 broker-dealers and have five others in the works they said.
One thing that has always intrigued me about Finance Logix is that it has been built entirely in-house using C# (and a lot of the code written by Oleg Tishkevich, who in addition to now being president and co-CEO, is a really talented programmer).
To get the application to its current state has taken 11 years and it doesn’t use anyone else’s Java modules or components. And this means the program is more responsive than many other web-based applications and because of this many folks might even assume it is running locally on the desktop.
I just received an online demonstration of the software from Sal Esposito, co-chief executive at Oltis.
Finance Logix has always had both cash flow and goal modes built into the software and this latest version retains that.
With just a single click at the top of the screen you can add a client and set up a portal account for them. (Post continues below screenshot)

A second button provides the adviser a quick look at their client list. You can search them alphabetical as well and sort based on a few other parameters. There’s also a one-click entry into that client’s latest financial plan profile as well as a single click to open an e-mail to them in Outlook.
The program also has three new buttons at the bottom for advisers to use with data mining and looking up a client’s records to see if they have needs of other services.
Delving into a client profile will bring up tabs for net worth, assets managed, or securities.
In this latest version Finance Logix provides advisers with a choice of account aggregation integrations as well. These currently include a choice between CashEdge or ByAllAccounts.
Once an adviser begins using an aggregation service they will get notified when errors occur following nightly updates, for example if a client has changed their password.
“Another thing we want to facilitate here is integration with other providers,” said Mr. Esposito.
For example, the program he said, now has full two-way integration with Redtail CRM. Integrations have also been completed with Albridge, XLR8 (a highly customized version of Salesforce.com being used by advisers), as well as Orion, among others.
“We have a client interview, which is a five-step process. It can be done from the adviser side of the portal manually if a client doesn’t want to do it themselves,” he said.
A quick link in the lower left also lets the adviser print out the pages and physically send these to the client as well.
Another integration that Mr. Esposito said many advisers had been asking for is to be able to get Morningstar data fed into the program.
I was showed an example of this by way of a hypothetical 401(k) account he showed me. An adviser can set the account to use the historical rate of return and standard deviation or can set the rate of return assumptions themselves.
He was quick to point out that advisers have at their disposal three levels of analysis based on the Morningstar integration and that this was included at no extra charge.
In addition to the account and holding levels advisers can take a look at the portfolio level as well and get more of a holistic view of a clients entire set of holdings.
A lot of work has also been done to improve the tax projection abilities of the software including basically importing all the fields from a form 1040 and integrating them with the software.
Among the other new features is a “strategy framework” that is meant to help advisers make decisions when it comes to setting up default sweep accounts and the Roth conversion strategies sections of the software have also been enhanced with a lot of additional choices and settings that can be adjusted because as Mr. Esposito said during the demo: “There is no off-the-shelf strategy that is right for everybody.”
Finance Logix has a vault storage feature as well that is set by default at 250MB. “We’ve tried to make it a little more visual. We have a great search filter for finding files and it now displays how much of the capacity a client is using.
All files are uploaded, compressed and encrypted using 256-bit encryption.
There is also fully customized reporting and advisers can also set up and store templates. They can also select or deselect among 55 predefined sections and can re-arrange the order of those for each client.
As I said in my post from two days ago, it would be great to hear from some advisers that are currently using the software.
Here’s a link to a training demo shown earlier in the month to current Finance Logix users (it’s the “Introducing: Finance Logix v3.0 – New Features and Updates – Recorded on March 18th” that’s at the top of the list).
For more information visit the Finance Logix website.