Aite Rates Best Software for Advisors

the group with its ability to help financial advisors relate to clients and explain complex financial concepts through its extensive goal-setting and presentation capabilities. NaviPlan supports more specialized planning topics, including tax management, estate planning, business planning, and stock option modeling.

Planning-supported advisors are as focused on investment management, in some cases more, as they are on financial planning, providing financial plans to more than 50% of clients, according to the Aite report. "WealthStation is Aite Group's top choice for North American financial advisors in the planning-supported category," the report says. "The solution includes all of the wealth management workflow components on one platform, including portfolio management and reporting. In addition, the solution includes comprehensive financial planning capabilities through 60 different modules that range from calculators to integrated, cash-flow-based analyses."

For planning-challenged advisors, Aite recommends AdviceAmerica's AdvisorVision. "The solution delivers client-friendly recommendations, graphics, and charts…without requiring advisors to engage in significant manipulation beyond entering their clients' financial information," the report says. "In addition, AdvisorVision enables an integrated and efficient workflow that incorporates an advisor dashboard, contact management, financial planning, portfolio construction, and monitoring, all in one solution."

Investment-focused advisors view financial planning as less important to their business than investment management. "They need a solution that combines the strongest investment management capabilities (portfolio construction, optimization, benchmark selection, portfolio management) with the essential components of a financial planning solution," the Aite report says. "Thomson Reuters' Financial Planning solution is currently the strongest offering for investment-focused advisors in North America. The solution integrates with Thomson One's PropGen and Asset Allocation solutions to include comprehensive security selection and investment proposal generation. In addition, its financial planning application is highly configurable."

Sophie Schmitt, senior analyst with Aite Group and author of the report, said in a statement: "Financial planning will become a more important part of financial advisors' value proposition as regulators in key financial markets draft legislation that requires financial advisors to act as fiduciaries with all clients, and wealth management firms seek to differentiate financial advisors' offerings from those of online brokerages."

Read about Fiserv's acquisition of AdviceAmerica and AdvisorVision at AdvisorOne.com.