WisdomTree Teams With 55ip on Tax-Smart Strategy: Tech Roundup

WisdomTree Investments teamed with JPMorgan's 55ip to launch a tax-smart solution for advisors.

WisdomTree's model portfolios combined with 55ip's technology allows advisors to transition clients into diversified WisdomTree model portfolios while managing capital gains, WisdomTree said.

The new offering is "driven by 55ip's tax-smart investment strategy engine" and "uses intelligent automation to help advisors unlock efficiencies, achieve scale and deliver a more transparent model portfolio selection experience to their clients," WisdomTree said. JPMorgan acquired fintech startup 55ip last year.

The solution is available now to RIAs within the WisdomTree ecosystem, but is "expected to be expanded in the future to additional channels including independent broker-dealers," it said.

Through the 55ip integration, advisors and their clients can access: ActiveTax Technology, including tax-smart transition, management and withdrawals combined with WisdomTree model portfolios; automated trading and rebalancing in the 55ip platform, streamlining account management; and customized client reporting including Tax Savings Reports.

The solution uses WisdomTree's Modern Alpha ETF Model Portfolios, launched in 2013 with growth, income and wealth preservation investment objectives in mind.

The new solution's onboarding process follows three simple steps: Advisors select the portfolio that best aligns with a client's goals on the 55ip platform; based on the client's portfolio, the solution generates a tax-smart plan to transition the assets to the new model portfolio over time; and advisors receive proposal and reporting information to share with clients, helping them understand the potential tax advantages with ongoing, automated tax management.

RBC Expands Online Tool to More Than 2,000 Advisors

RBC Wealth Management – U.S. has launched Business Compass, a proprietary, online planning tool developed by the firm's Practice Management and Teams division.

The launch follows what it said was a "successful pilot implementation" among more than 150 practices and now makes the tool available to more than 2,000 advisors, it said.

Financial advisors with a clear and documented business plan are 92% more productive in their practices than those without. However, a 2018 study by Business Health revealed that only one in five practices held such a plan, RBC said. The tool was designed to close that gap in business planning and help advisors succeed, it noted.

Business Compass will help the organization's advisors think strategically about their practices while implementing specific tactics to achieve their goals, the company said.

The tool is fully integrated into advisors' desktops and other key technology solutions, including Salesforce. The tool gives advisors the option to take a simple or in-depth approach to the business planning process.

The tool includes the ability to: Document and broadly share their practice core values, mission, vision and value statement; capture and publicly communicate practice goals; automatically track goals and key practice metrics; and create accountability with task assignment via Salesforce.

Riskalyze Launches New Proposal Workflow for Advisors

Riskalyze launched a new workflow to help advisors compare, contrast and manage their proposals for clients.

Advisors can now build multiple portfolio proposals for a client, move them through the process from draft to selection, and archive each recommendation to satisfy compliance standards, the company said Tuesday.

The support for proposal comparison was built upon the principles of Rational Choice Theory that Riskalyze said is the idea that investors will feel most confident in a selection when given options "A" and "B," rather than simply "yes" or "no." The new solution will "equip advisors with the ability to elicit maximum buy-in and empower clients to invest fearlessly," according to the company.

iCapital Network and CAIA Association Launch AltsEdge

iCapital Network and the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) Association introduced AltsEdge, an education initiative they said Wednesday was designed to help advisors better understand alternative investments and how they can leverage such products to improve client outcomes.

The AltsEdge program will initially consist of 10 guided modules covering an overview of the private markets, various kinds of strategies and product structures, hedge funds, registered funds and portfolio construction. Four modules are available now.

The modules, which progress the advisor from foundational knowledge through the practical considerations in employing alternatives, are hosted on a best-in-class learning management system that includes in-program learning assessments and the opportunity for continuing education credits.