http://wealthfly.com/blog/2007/11/02/fidelity-to-replace-advisor-channel/ A blog for investment advisors, brokers and financial planners. Tue, 06 Jan 2009 03:07:00 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3.3 http://wealthfly.com/blog/2007/11/02/fidelity-to-replace-advisor-channel/#comment-428 Matt Abar Wed, 07 Nov 2007 17:04:52 +0000 http://wealthfly.com/blog/2007/11/02/fidelity-to-replace-advisor-channel/#comment-428 I've been out of the loop for five years. Is Joel's technology conference attended by every company? Is this really where advisors go to get a handle on current technology? I’ve been out of the loop for five years. Is Joel’s technology conference attended by every company? Is this really where advisors go to get a handle on current technology?

]]> http://wealthfly.com/blog/2007/11/02/fidelity-to-replace-advisor-channel/#comment-420 Bill Ramsay Fri, 02 Nov 2007 15:50:39 +0000 http://wealthfly.com/blog/2007/11/02/fidelity-to-replace-advisor-channel/#comment-420 Joel Bruckenstein called me yesterday to discuss technology. One of the things we talked about was trying to integrate Naviplan- or any other projection tool for that matter. I told him I thought there are several problems with the current crop of projection systems like Naviplan. One is that they are terrible at accounting. In other words you can't easily reconcile a plan you did a year ago to what actually happened for the client over the last year (they need to add override records for specific projected data points). Another issue is that projecting investments at the holding level is a questionable strategy because of the complexity. Asset classes are a bit more appropriate, and we group on registration types by owner (for dealing with the tax implications). I took a look at the IAS system and projections are at the holding level (it's truly integrated with portfolio accounting), and there's little ability to adjust returns or cash flows or tax implications without extreme effort. It felt rather unwieldy. The portfolio accounting and reporting may be OK, and the "advisor" level screens are fairly sharp, though administration screens were pretty ugly. Joel suggested I come to his technology conference in January in Orlando. There will be Fidelity folks talking about their plans. I'm thinking about going. http://www.virtualofficenews.com/ Joel Bruckenstein called me yesterday to discuss technology. One of the things we talked about was trying to integrate Naviplan- or any other projection tool for that matter. I told him I thought there are several problems with the current crop of projection systems like Naviplan. One is that they are terrible at accounting. In other words you can’t easily reconcile a plan you did a year ago to what actually happened for the client over the last year (they need to add override records for specific projected data points). Another issue is that projecting investments at the holding level is a questionable strategy because of the complexity. Asset classes are a bit more appropriate, and we group on registration types by owner (for dealing with the tax implications). I took a look at the IAS system and projections are at the holding level (it’s truly integrated with portfolio accounting), and there’s little ability to adjust returns or cash flows or tax implications without extreme effort. It felt rather unwieldy. The portfolio accounting and reporting may be OK, and the “advisor” level screens are fairly sharp, though administration screens were pretty ugly.
Joel suggested I come to his technology conference in January in Orlando. There will be Fidelity folks talking about their plans. I’m thinking about going. http://www.virtualofficenews.com/

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