IN Tech

May 23, 2012, 12:18 PM EST

FPA to leverage popular mobile planning app to assist adviser referral efforts

By Davis D. Janowski

Retire Logix, a slick retirement planning application for mobile devices I wrote about last year when it came out on the iPhone, is now going to link to the Financial Planning Association's PlannerSearch service.It sounds like a great point of possible synergy.The FPA and Finance Logix, a division of Oltis Software LLC and the creator of Retire Logix, announced the partnership in a joint prepared statement.As a result of that collaboration consumer/investor users that download the app (it is available for Android devices, the iPhone, and iPad) can now touch a button and be connected with the FPA PlannerSearch database, which has more than 6,000 member planners, all with the certified financial planner desgination.It has colorful, inviting, responsive interface that is easy to use (or just play with).The logic behind its “Money Capsule” page and “Retirement Timeline” charts will be intuitive for most users,... Read full post

May 21, 2012, 4:56 PM EST

With refresh, Morningstar is all the more dominant in the variable annuity research sector

By Davis D. Janowski

Morningstar has completed a combo package it is calling Morningstar Annuity Intelligence; a refresh and integration of its Annuity Intelligence and Annuity Analyzer products.The web-based set of applications for researching variable annuities has been designed with pretty much all the financial professionals in mind that interface with annuities.That includes advisers, broker-dealers, compliance officers, as well as insurance carrier representatives that need to compare their own products with those of others. The systems databases can churn out real-time information on almost 2,000 annuity contracts as well as more than 100,000 annuity subaccounts.I remain floored by the idea that much of what constitutes the data in the Intelligence tool is culled from manual research of annuity prospectuses that become available en masse from providers on or around 1 May each year.My colleague Darla Mercado and I met with Morningstar's Kevin... Read full post

May 21, 2012, 12:18 PM EST

Compliance consultancy NRS rolls out Rep Insight

By Davis D. Janowski

Rep Insight, a new module, has been announced by National Regulatory Services.NRS is itself part of BankersAccuity, and the new module is an addition the well-known ComplianceMAX platform in use with many independent broker-dealers.Much of Rep Insight is focused on being able to track data specific to FINRA Forms U4 and U5 and is integrated with FINRA’s WebEFT.Through that integration U4 and U5 data can be automatically submitted.For more information visit NRS RepInsight online.Related stories:Tools to help with ADV Part 2 formsNRS introduces social networking capture into new version of compliance technologyNRS and ComplianceMax merge... Read full post

May 17, 2012, 1:56 PM EST

Schwab taps Tamarac as next integration partner

By Davis D. Janowski

Schwab Advisor Services announced today that Tamarac would be the latest “selected participant” to be added to Schwab's set of advisory platforms.Those platforms, known collectively as Schwab Intelligent Integration, have been under development for two years.The integrations with Tamarac, once completed, will provide a real-time conduit for custody data to flow from the Schwab Advisor Services back office systems directly into the modules making up the Tamarac Xi adviser platform including both its Advisor CRM (built on Microsoft Dynamics) and its Advisor View billing applications.And Schwab has worked out a 20% discount off the first year's licensing of Tamarac for those firms interested in using it.That could end up representing $5,000 to $10,000 in savings for a new firm, depending on its size in terms of accounts and assets under management.RELATED: View the InvestmentNews Technology Directory and view more than 170... Read full post

May 10, 2012, 10:21 AM EST

Surreal McCoy? New tool promises to put ROI of art into perspective

By Davis D. Janowski

Advisers who would like to view art as an asset class rather than mere decoration or an insurance headache for clients can rejoice.Artnet Worldwide Corp. today launched what it is calling the world's most comprehensive modern and contemporary art indices.This is good timing, following the record-setting $119.9 million sale of Edvard Munch's 1895 pastel “The Scream” two weeks ago.“The art world has always been an opaque place for the financial adviser and we think this will break down those barriers,” said Thomas Galbraith, director of artnet Analytics in an interview Wednesday.For those who are unaware artnet (yes, they lowercase the name) is an online portal that, in a nutshell allows works of art to be viewed from a financial rather than asthectic perspective.With creation of their indices the artnet Analytics team has begun benchmarking the performance of art as a viable asset class and one that can be... Read full post

May 8, 2012, 4:06 PM EST

Personal Capital launches iPhone app

By Davis D. Janowski

Today you can add a free iPhone application to the list of tools Personal Capital provides its investor clients in managing their financial lives.The most impressive new feature from Personal Capital Corp. is the ability to move money between accounts using the new iPhone application (as well as pay other people, or pay bills).(View our slideshow of Personal Capital's iPhone application)Prior to this clients could check account balances, see recent transactions on all their bank, credit card and brokerage accounts and monitor cash flow but not actually transfer funds between accounts.In addition to these features users can monitor their current income and spending and compare it to prior months as well as track their investments including IRA, 401(k) and 529 accounts.“Many customers want to see their entire financial lives all in one place and be able to make things happen from that one place to view and do,” said chief... Read full post

May 4, 2012, 4:03 PM EST

Gentle reminder — Windows XP support going bye-bye

By Davis D. Janowski

‘Tis ironic.Just the other day I hosted an extremely popular webcast on iPads and advisers and all the nifty new apps coming out targeted at the niche that is the advisory world.Fairly cutting edge stuff.Today, embedded in the Tweetstream I follow were reminders that I know are also pertinent to my audience.Windows XP, launched way back in 2001 and still running on hundreds of millions of PCs — spread Stateside and worldwide — will officially stop receiving updates from Microsoft in 2014.What does that mean for you if you are still on XP?On April 8th 2014 you will stop getting security updates and will lose support from third-party software vendors (they follow the Microsoft wagon train).Nonetheless I remain truly amazed at the longevity of the operating system.While Windows 7 has captured ground and is now running 41% of the world's Microsoft-powered PCs, Windows XP is still running 50%!My current audience is made up ... Read full post

April 27, 2012, 5:35 PM EST

Twitter trilling for Enterprise

By Davis D. Janowski

I was struck yet again this morning by the aggregative (if that is a word) power and immediacy of the Twitter social media application.Having followed it now since inception I am the first to admit how I all too easily glaze over at the steady if slow plink…plink…plink of tweets coming in over the bow on a typical work day.This morning I decided to work from home for the first few hours in hopes of seeing the space shuttle Enterprise (#OV101) coming up the Hudson River to do a flyby of its new home at the Intrepid Sea Air & Space Museum (@IntrepidMuseum).(I promise there is a financial adviser angle in here).I'm going about my work and double-check the NASA app on my iPhone to see whether there is an update on when Enterprise will be taking off from Dulles atop its 747 carrier plane.At that point the last update was from last night so I headed over to the aggregated tweet stream available on the app.... Read full post

April 26, 2012, 2:54 PM EST

Google Drive, financial advisers should drive right on by

By Davis D. Janowski

I have already received a few e-mails from readers regarding Google's rollout of its new Google Drive online storage system.I say to financial advisers stay away for now, especially if you were thinking of using it for storing client information.As much as I love my Gmail account and its convenience and that it is free; and as much as I admire the engineering chops and think-out-side-the-box mentality Google often exhibits, the fact remains that they do things ultimately with Google in mind.And with Google Drive a whole new brouhaha is brewing over the company's privacy policies.This Network World article does a pretty good job of getting at the heart of the matter right off the bat in its interview with Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center."The terms of service are bad, but even worse is that Google has made clear it will change its terms of service whenever it wishes," he said.On March 1,... Read full post

April 20, 2012, 5:46 PM EST

Hey B-D, NASD Rule 3010 audit management got you down?

By Davis D. Janowski

No, I have not seen it yet myself but it certainly sounds good.Broker-dealers going through the annual branch office blues over their compliance inspection have a new tool at their disposal.That's because there is an updated version of the Wolters Kluwer TeamMate audit management system available, one that evidently has up-to-date rules and notices from Finra, the SEC and NYSE.TeamMate has been around for quite a while for audits in other sectors (according to the prepared statement it is in use with 85,000 auditors).The application/system has linkages to detailed audit procedures and checklists that can guide auditors through broker-dealer branch examinations.This includes the planning, pre-audit surveys and audit execution phases.And once ye olde branch audit is complete, the system automatically drafts the final report and tracks any findings through to remediation.And yes, it also has dashboards for providing comprehensive real-... Read full post

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