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iPad app launched by Personal Capital

Today Personal Capital has officially launched an iPad application, available for free at Apple…

Today Personal Capital has officially launched an iPad application, available for free at Apple Inc.’s App Store on iTunes.
Yes, you can start calling me the iPad app trumpeter to and for financial advisers (just the other day I wrote about one launched by Franklin Templeton and a few days before that about the Global Tracker application from Oppenheimer Funds).
This latest entrant though, is in fact a registered investment advisory firm, though one whose typical prospecting path is through the Internet.
For those that do not recall, Personal Capital is the online RIA launched by former PayPal and Intuit Inc. chief executive Bill Harris and Rob Foregger, a co-founder of online-banking pioneer EverBank.
The application itself is a free download as is use of the firm’s website and tools for financial planning.
As they say in their prepared statement of the app announcement: “79% of recent survey participants say they have a financial plan, but the majority of them do not have a written plan that they can reference regularly. Now, there’s an app for that.”
The application provides users with a way to view their transaction history, including their real-time credit card charges, cashflow, debt (mortgages and credit cards) and aggregates their investment accounts and stock options, all in one place.

“The real driver of long-term financial security is asset allocation,” said Mr. Harris in the prepared statement.
“Yet most people don’t know what their asset allocation is!” he added.
Unlike other budgeting sites such as Mint.com or those with more of a planning bent like Hellowallet.com Personal Capital has real live human advisers in addition to the online tools.
Through Personal Capital an investor can engage an adviser to manage their accounts for an annual fee (see next week’s print issue for a transcript of our recent webcast where you will find much more detail about the service provided by Mr. Foregger).
And from within the iPad app, users will be able to consult directly with the adviser using e-mail, iMessage, or FaceTime video chat.