Ric Edelman's Digital Asset Group Offers Course to Flourish Crypto Users: Tech Roundup

News June 30, 2022 at 02:17 PM
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Advisors who use the Flourish Crypto platform now have free access to an introductory educational course offered by the Digital Assets Council of Financial Professionals as part of a new pact announced by the companies Thursday.

Flourish offers a turnkey, direct-ownership crypto investing solution for RIAs, while DACFP is a crypto education company established by Ric Edelman, founder of Edelman Financial Engines.

The free course was specifically designed to educate advisors about the emerging asset class and help them become more fluent in bitcoin, blockchain, ethereum and other digital assets.

The course includes 12 short videos, covering topics such as assessing crypto's role in client portfolios, compliance, understanding custody and the difference between direct and indirect ownership of crypto. Advisors who take the course get one and a half CE credits.

Advisors also get on a "path towards attaining" DACFP's Certificate in Blockchain and Digital Assets at a significant tuition discount, the companies said.

Flourish Crypto now serves over 70 RIAs with a combined $150 billion in assets under management and was built on the Flourish Platform, which is used by more than 440 RIAs managing over $1.4 trillion in combined assets, according to the company.

Advisor360° Enhances Beneficiaries Feature

Advisor360° announced a cross-product enhancement to its beneficiaries capability for advisors on Tuesday.

Advisors using the Software-as-a-Service provider's platform can now see and report on their clients' beneficiaries on insurance products, in addition to custody and investment accounts, in a single view, the company said.

"The improved functionality integrates beneficiaries across all investment products, including insurance and annuities, eliminating the need to visit multiple websites," according to the company.

Advisors can view and report on primary, secondary, tertiary and custom beneficiary arrangements for policies in effect or pending, it said, adding the enhancement "streamlines" advisor-client meeting preparation.

The company plans to offer new features later this year to remove more technological hurdles that it said broker-dealers need to overcome to remain competitive.

Facet Wealth Adds to its Team

Fintech firm Facet Wealth made four additions to its management team: Mayra Cardoso as head of client experience, Nick Betit as vice president of growth and client experience analytics, Jimmy Ellis as senior director of growth marketing, and Sung Lee as director of acquisition marketing.

Cardoso was previously a client portfolio manager at J.P. Morgan specializing in asset allocation strategy for pension plans, endowments and foundations.

Before joining Facet, Betit led growth analytics at Discovery Education.

Ellis joins Facet with more than 20 years of experience helping companies reach aggressive growth goals. He was previously director of optimization research at MEC Labs and vice president of marketing at Knox Financial.

Lee worked at various fintech firms before joining Facet, including PayPal and Revolut.

Facet offers personalized financial advice that integrates into each facet of life at a flat fee. It has raised over $165 million in funding from firms including Durable Capital Partners, Warburg Pincus, Slow Ventures, Telesoft Partners and Green Cow Venture Capital.

Wealthramp Partners With Smart Kx

As part of a new deal, advisors using the Wealthramp matching platform can now access the Smart Kx automation platform, and Wealthramp will also start using Smart Kx for its own billing, the companies announced.

Wealthramp is an SEC-registered advisor matching platform that connects investors with vetted and qualified fee-only financial advisors.

Smart Kx automates fee calculations from the start of an advisor-client relationship. The platform ensures individual client fees are documented and aligned with fee disclosures at all times, preventing companies from overbilling or underbilling clients.

This is the second vetted advisor technology offering on the Wealthramp platform. Earlier in June, it announced a new partnership with Carefull.

Andes Patent Approved

Andes Wealth Technologies announced that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office approved its patent applicationInvestor Risk Management System, covering the company's proprietary risk tolerance test and deep analytics.

Andes' direct, transparent and defensible Risk Tolerance Test maps an investor's risk preference directly to an advisor's model portfolios.

The company's now-patented deep analytics capabilities and risk tolerance test are important components of a four-dimensional risk framework that it said includes risk tolerance, risk capacity, risk perception and risk composure.

The patent was filed on May 21, 2019, and approved on June 13, 2022, it said.

GeoWealth Integrates With Pontera

The GeoWealth turnkey asset management platform for advisors has integrated with fintech firm Pontera, the companies said Thursday.

The integration will allow RIAs to maintain compliance with financial regulations while "alleviating custody and rollover challenges on held away assets," the firms said.

Pontera's proprietary technology allows advisors to securely trade 401(k)s, 403(b)s, HSAs and variable annuities in a similar manner to custodied accounts.

The companies will host a joint webinar on July 20 to offer more details on the integration and outline the benefits to advisors and their clients.

(Pictured: Ric Edelman, founder of DACFP and Edelman Financial Engines) 

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