#ItzOnWealthTech Bonus Episode: A Maniacal Focus on Advisor Convenience at LPL Financial

“We have an almost maniacal focus around making it easy to manage money, which means making our systems more convenient for advisors. If something is not convenient, why have it in there?” — Rob Pettman, LPL Financial “If we can get advisors really happy faster, why wouldn’t we just reorganize things to do that?” — […]
#ItzOnWealthTech Ep 22: The Third Wave of Digital Advice with Margaret Hartigan, CEO of Marstone

“Digital wealth has to be one leg of the digital strategy a bank might have. So it’s going to be payments, it’s going to be mobiles, it’s going to be banking, and it’s going to be wealth management. They have to be coordinated together, because it has to be driven according to the expectations and […]
#ItzOnWealthTech Ep 12: How Morningstar Quietly Built One of the Biggest Financial Technology Businesses

“Everyone wants to be the next Amazon, but the reality of what we want to do is bring together capabilities where Morningstar research and IP can add some value.” — Dermot O’Mahony, Global Head of Software at Morningstar Dermot is a SaaS-focused product executive with a track record for identifying high potential market opportunities within […]
Assetmark’s WealthBuilder is a Next Level Technology Experience for Advisors

“[We] can see the writing on the wall. The real debate is not over whether to run, but over how far and how fast.” — Charles Stross, British writer Asset managers have seen the writing on the wall. It’s not enough to just push products and expect to continue gather assets. Advisors’ expectations are increasingly […]
Invest West Conference 7 Minute Summary

As anyone who has sat next to me at a conference knows, I’m a hyperactive tweeter, sharing interesting tidbits and observations from the various speakers and panelists. So, one would expect that someone who uses Twitter so much would think to check the conference hashtag before blasting out fifty or more tweets? Not I, said […]
Is BlackRock-Envestnet Deal a Tipping Point for Lite Financial Planning?

What’s the best way to get financial planning functionality into the hands of more advisors? Standalone applications, like MoneyGuide Pro and eMoney Advisor, or “lite”financial planning functionality built directly into wealth management platforms? This tug-of-war has been going on for the past few years and it looks as though we might have reached a tipping point. BlackRock […]
3 Reasons Why Model Marketplaces Are Taking Off

It seems as though every wealthtech vendor and custodian has launched their own model marketplace. It’s gotten to the point where I’m expecting to see model offerings at the drive thru at Dunkin Donuts one day soon. According to research from Cerulli, 80% of all financial advisors use some type of model portfolios in their […]
7 Impressions from the Orion Advisor Conference

Back when Orion Advisor Services’ CEO Eric Clark was still working for his father’s RIA, I’ll bet he never imagined that one day he would be on stage in front of 700+ clients, partners and staff of his own company. And on his birthday, to top it all off. Yet this very scenario played itself […]