Advisor tech platfoms court firms with discounts, notaries, education

Three advisor technology providers rolled out new support programs for financial advisors this week.

The updates from DeepVest, Vanilla and Libretto each target a different pressure point: the cost of starting a registered investment advisory firm, how long it takes to get an estate plan signed, and whether advisors have a planning framework that goes beyond the software.

Discounted technology for new RIAs

DeepVest, which holds itself out as an an agentic front office for advisors, announced a friendly pricing scheme for newly established RIAs, offering its full platform for $100 per advisor a month for the first 12 months.

To qualify for the Day One Program, an RIA must have been operating for no more than two years and have three advisors at most.

The package spans four modules:

• AdvisorLab, which turns a prospect's account statements into portfolio diagnostics and client proposals;
• DataLab, a research terminal covering equities, ETFs, crypto, currencies, commodities, rates and macroeconomic data;
• AgentLab, which handles portfolio analysis, optimization, scenario modeling, stress testing and rebalancing; and
• MonitorLab, which tracks market-moving developments and sends alerts.

Subscribers also get client intelligence tools, risk and suitability workflows and firmwide AI governance controls. DeepVest says the software connects to whichever custodian and CRM a firm already uses, so it doesn't replace them.

"AI is changing how wealth management teams operate, and for a lot of advisors that means real uncertainty about where they fit in a leaner industry," said DeepVest CEO Toby Wade. "We created DeepVest Day One because we think that uncertainty is also an opportunity: advisors who choose to start out on their own shouldn't have to do it without the same institutional-grade tools the biggest firms already have."

Read more: Is Wall Street's AI risk analysis right for RIA portfolios?

Seeing estate plans through to the signature stage

Vanilla's new service deals with the last step of estate planning: getting the documents properly executed. According to the company, finalized plans can go unsigned for weeks while clients try to line up witnesses and a notary around bank hours or a trip to a retail store.

With Mobile Notary, any Vanilla client with a finalized plan can book a background-checked notary through a Snapdocs integration on the client's Vanilla dashboard. The notary comes to a time and place the client chooses. Snapdocs says its network has more than 140,000 credentialed notaries across all 50 states, covering more than 70 languages.

Once the documents are signed, clients upload them to the dashboard, where the advisor can see them. Advisors don't need to set anything up.

"Advisors do the meaningful work of helping families plan for what matters most, and they deserve to see that work carried all the way through," said Gene Farrell, CEO of Vanilla. "Mobile Notary gives advisors one less thing to chase and gives their clients a simple, convenient way to finish their plan on their own schedule."

Read more: Vanilla locks in US patent for estate planning tech, strengthening advisor reach

A learning hub for planners

Libretto, the self-described "total wealth" advice platform, unveiled a new Libretto Insights hub offering articles, webinars, podcasts, videos, interviews and news for advisors and wealth managers.

Topics include valuing human capital, working with ultra-high-net-worth clients, rethinking risk management, going beyond Monte Carlo analysis and AI's growing role in wealth management.

The platform maps a client's lifetime wealth, including private assets, liabilities and expected future inflows. It then treats the client's liquid investments as a "completion portfolio" built around that client's specific goals and risks.

While it was initially built for ultra-high-net-worth clients, Libretto says its approach works for clients at any wealth level.

"Technology alone doesn't create better advice," said Jeffery Coyle, founder and CEO of Libretto. "Advisors also need a framework for thinking differently about planning, investing, and risk. Libretto Insights gives us a place to share more of that education with the advisor community."