Download a PDF version of this case study here.

Download a PDF version of this case study here.

 Download a PDF version of this case study here.

Download a PDF version of this case study here.

Introduction

“While we enjoy a strong legacy as a Savings Bank, our approach to financial planning and investment management is truly at the forefront of the industry today.”

Cape Ann Savings Bank has a rich tradition of serving the Gloucester, Massachusetts area for over 160 years.  Building on that dedication to client service, Cape Ann Savings Bank created the Trust and Financial Services Department in 1986 to serve the needs of the Bank’s customers.  Since then, the Trust and Financial Services Department has grown exponentially and has gone on to earn the respect of area legal and financial professionals with its competence and dedication to clients.

With over $220 million in managed assets, Cape Ann takes an integrated, personal approach to financial matters, targeting investment choices and tailoring financial strategies as life circumstances evolve, and market conditions change.

“While we enjoy a strong legacy as a Savings Bank, our approach to financial planning and investment management is truly at the forefront of the industry today,” notes Vice President and Senior Trust Officer, E. Gail Ramos, CFP^®.

Investment Policy Statements

“The IPS gives us and the client a clear understanding of how the assets will be managed.”

Since its inception, the Trust and Financial Services Department has brought a focus on client service to its investment planning process.  Critical to that approach is the use of Investment Policy Statements (IPS).

“When we meet with our clients, we take a comprehensive view of all of their financial matters and document that through the IPS process,” commented Brian Eddy, Trust Investment Officer.  “The IPS is the fundamental agreement that outlines the risks and goals of each account and is so important to us that we make it an automatic part of the new account process.”

“The Investment Policy Statement gives us and the client a clear understanding of how the assets will be managed.  We believe that it is important for the client to see that in writing, otherwise it is just to easy to say “ok” and walk away, only to find that key aspects of the relationship weren’t fully understood and that leads to increased business and operational risk,” Eddy said.

“From the client’s point of view, they quickly understand the role of the IPS and are very comfortable in signing it.  In fact, we have recently required that each account be reviewed and the IPS signed on an annual basis,” continued Eddy.

“What we found, particularly in today’s investment atmosphere, is that investors’ risk tolerances have changed and therefore we needed to change their investment allocation as a result.  Without the IPS process, we wouldn’t have an organized, disciplined and thoughtful approach to make these adjustments.”

“The IPS process also becomes an excellent marketing tool in that it gives you a reason to reach out and touch your client base again.  Particularly in today’s markets, we’ve seen that our advisors need to do that and it shows that we are involved and proactive with their needs.”

Building a Full Service Investment Solution

“IPS AdvisorPro^® with its advanced technology standardizes our process across our multiple advisors and also produces very professional, easily readable and customizable IPSs that can satisfy our most sophisticated clients.”

As Cape Ann Trust and Financial Services has grown over the years, Gail and her team have brought in “best of breed” partners to round out its service offering.

“Two years ago, we did a complete analysis of how we handle investments in general and realized that we needed a sophisticated, technology driven solution to help us with investment research, asset allocation, fund choices and to manage our business and operational risk,” noted Gail.  “Because of our size, we did not have the full capability of a large investment house and sought out help to formalize our investment planning process.”

Key to that approach was to partner with IPS AdvisorPro^® to provide the fundamental tools for the IPS process.

“IPS AdvisorPro^®, with its advanced technology standardizes our process across our multiple advisors and also produces very professional, easily readable and customizable Investment Policy Statementss that can satisfy even our most sophisticated clients. “

“Additionally, because it is an online tool and has innovative templates, we can easily adjust the IPS for the annual review at the Trust Officer level in roughly 10 to 15 minutes.  In the past, we used to hand-type them on paper and it quickly got very messy as it basically required us to re-do the entire document for each client every time,” commented Gail.

Cape Ann also leverages IPS AdvisorPro^® with its outsourced money management partner.

“To provide our clients with the best investments, we work with an institutional firm in Chicago to complement our client relationship management with their investment expertise.  We use that firm to provide us with investment advice, research, and reporting,” said Brian.

In order for Cape Ann’s advisors and trust officers to communicate their knowledge and understanding of the client to the money manager, Cape Ann uses the IPS generated from IPS AdvisorPro^® as the key document.

“Basically, the IPS becomes the bridge between the investment professionals and us, streamlining the process tremendously, reducing risk and ensuring that nothing falls through the cracks,” noted Brian.

Reducing Risk

“One of the key benefits from IPS AdvisorPro^® and our use of IPSs with clients is that it definitely has reduced risk for us.”

One of Cape Ann’s business priorities is to reduce risk in their business operations.  For smaller banks and trust companies, the FDIC has become much more focused and involved on how banks are operating, particularly in light of the recent financial crises.  “Anything we can do to minimize risk is critically important for us,” noted Ramos.

“Our highest risk is in providing investment advice and serving as a discretionary trustee.  One of the key benefits from IPS AdvisorPro^® and our use of Investment Policy Statements with clients is that it definitely has reduced risk for us. “

“The presence of the IPS and our automation of the process through IPS AdvisorPro^® is proactive proof that we understand our clients, what their needs are and that we have an ironclad process in delivering financial services that are appropriate for their situation.“

“We take a lot of comfort knowing that we have policies, procedures and systems in place to provide this level of service, while managing our potential risk exposure,” commented Ramos.

Conclusion

“The IPS improves our professionalism and shows that we are keeping an eye on things – clients truly appreciate that.”

As Cape Ann Trust and Financial Services continue to grow, Gail and her team are confident in their outlook and dedication to client service.

“From the client reaction we get from our use of IPSs, we know that we are really providing value and helping our clients meet their goals.  The Investment Policy Statement improves our professionalism and shows that we are keeping an eye on things – clients truly appreciate that,” concluded Gail.

About IPS AdvisorPro^®

Created by financial advisors for financial advisors, IPS AdvisorPro^® is designed to work with all types of wealth management professionals and their practices.  IPS AdvisorPro^® offers a flexible solution to creating and managing Investment Policy Statements that are easy to use through an encrypted, secure web-based environment.  With over 1,000 users and 17,000 IPSs created, IPS AdvisorPro^® is the industry’s leading technology solution.  IPS AdvisorPro^® was named in 2006 by Morningstar as the “Software of the Year” and was a CPA Wealth Provider “Financial Planning Awards Winner” in 2009.  For more information, please visit www.IPSAdvisorPro.com.

]]> http://www.ipsadvisorpro.com/investment-policy-statement-blog/2009/08/cape-ann-savings-bank-trust-and-financial-services/feed/ 0 http://www.ipsadvisorpro.com/investment-policy-statement-blog/2009/06/syverson-strege-company/ http://www.ipsadvisorpro.com/investment-policy-statement-blog/2009/06/syverson-strege-company/#comments Tue, 23 Jun 2009 02:54:37 +0000 Staff Writer http://www.ipsadvisorpro.com/?p=948

How a Leading Wealth Coaching Firm is using Investment Policy Statements (IPS) and the technology platform of IPS AdvisorPro® as a competitive advantage in attracting and retaining individual investors and small endowments, foundations and charities.

Download a PDF version of this case study here.

Introduction

“We focus on wealth coaching as our service model as anyone can claim that they are a financial planner.”

Syverson Strege & Company (SSC) was founded in 1997 in West Des Moines, Iowa by Johnne Syverson, CFP®, AEP, CAP and David Strege, CFP®, CFA®, two financial services industry veterans who were looking to build a truly independent, client-centered and dedicated financial advisory firm.

Focused on “wealth coaching,” SSC takes a comprehensive, financial planning approach to helping provide financial clarity and confidence to business owners, professionals, executives, retirees and small endowments, foundations and charities.  SSC’s mission is to coach individuals and families to become great stewards of their resources to enable them to pursue an enriched and fulfilled life.

Serving over 340 clients and overseeing $200 mm in assets under management, SSC is a thriving and growing firm with 19 total staff.  “We focus on wealth coaching as our service model as anyone can claim that they are a financial planner,” notes co-founder and Senior Wealth Coach, David Strege.  “Our comprehensive approach includes all aspects of the client situation and we bring a complete solution to implementing financial and investment strategies to help clients meet their goals.”

Investment Policy Statements

“The IPS as a communication tool…enables us to provide a much higher level of service.”

A key aspect of SSC’s approach is through the use of Investment Policy Statements (IPS).  “Our comprehensive planning process is designed to help us and the client determine what they want to do with their financial resources,” commented Lance Gunkel, CFP®, CFA®, Senior Financial Analyst and head of SSC’s Investment Committee.

“Critical to that objective is the use of an Investment Policy Statement as the key communication tool we use to document how we will invest their assets and monitor their plan over time.  In our view it is critical to have an IPS, particularly in these times of market volatility.  Otherwise how will we invest their money?  Wild guesses?”

“We’ve found that in order to truly manage client expectations and provide the best service that we can in these choppy markets, it is imperative to have in place a document that has captured in writing the intent of how the assets will be managed.  We have a copy and they have a copy, so when any conversations arise, there is a concrete document we can both refer to, otherwise it can quickly become “who said what.”  The Investment Policy Statement as a communication tool quickly resolves any of these issues and enables us to provide a much higher level of service,” noted Gunkel.

Searching for a Technology Solution

“IPS AdvisorPro® is a comprehensive and complete system, allowing us to create Investment Policy Statements that cover all aspects of what an IPS should address, customizable to how we want to present the information.”

David Strege has been a proponent of using Investment Policy Statements with clients from his early days in the late ’80s when he first became a CFA®.  “Using Investment Policy Statements has really been part of our routine since the inception of the firm,” commented Strege.  “At the outset, we put an IPS in place for all of our accounts, however, at the time we felt that they were inadequate in that they didn’t cover all aspects.  This was due to the fact that we were limited by the technology that was available.”

SSC was using SunGard and Frontier Analytics; however these legacy solutions were not customizable and couldn’t change to reflect SSC’s philosophy and approach.  “We were very excited to learn about IPS AdvisorPro® and its advanced technology,” noted David.

“With IPS AdvisorPro® we are able to input all of our models into the system, making it very easy to select the custom asset allocation for each client.  Additionally, IPS AdvisorPro® is a comprehensive and complete system, allowing us to create Investment Policy Statements that cover all aspects of what an IPS should address, customizable to how we want to present the information.”

“What really impressed us with IPS AdvisorPro® was the advanced functionality around rebalancing rules that we could specify within the system.  We are able to be very specific about our approach, more than just quarterly.  Also, in our old system we couldn’t state what the withdrawal requirements would be or take into consideration the tax issues around carry-forward losses.  With IPS AdvisorPro® we can include those specific client details.”

“Lastly, because the system is web-based and has a very intuitive interface, it really is a “no-brainer” to use.”

Time Savings

“If there is a change to the models or allocations, we can actually change it on the fly and print out a new document right then and there…and we’ve saved multiple steps in the process.”

SSC has found a number of areas of time savings and return on investment (ROI) with IPS AdvisorPro®.

According to Strege, “A key area of efficiency we realize is in using the templates within the system to set up our models and allocations, so that when it is time to create a new Investment Policy Statement, it is all ready to go.  It is simply a matter of a few key strokes to customize for each client.”

“Additionally, if there is a change to the models or allocations, we can actually change it on the fly and print out a new document right then and there, oftentimes during the client meeting where the client will sign the new Investment Policy Statement and we’ve saved multiple steps in the process.”

“If we tried to create our own word document, the problem we see is that it would be extremely difficult to maintain consistency, what with re-entering and re-casting the allocations for hundreds of clients, we would be challenged if we had to do it on our own.  By using the templates in IPS AdvisorPro® we know that we are achieving a big time savings and ROI.”

“From the compliance point of view, having IPS AdvisorPro® is also an excellent benefit.  We were audited last year and the SEC found comfort in that we had written Investment Policy Statements for our clients,” commented David.  “The IPS serves as an important tool to document the investment process used for each client relationship.”

Using IPS AdvisorPro® With Non-Profits and Charities

“We’ve been able to use IPS AdvisorPro® as an excellent marketing tool in that we can quickly and easily put together Investment Policy Statements on a consulting approach for these charities and foundations.”

SSC has been very successful in building their business by focusing on smaller Non profits, Charities, Foundations and Endowments.  Often, many of these smaller organizations don’t have adequate resources for professional investment consulting, and therefore are either doing it themselves or not following the appropriate procedures.

“We’ve been able to use IPS AdvisorPro® as an excellent marketing tool in that we can quickly and easily put together Investment Policy Statements on a consulting approach for these charities and foundations,” noted Strege.  “This has opened the door for us to provide our services and work with additional clients.”

“Our approach is really quite simply to ask these organizations if we can review their Investment Policy Statement.  The response is often that they don’t have one, which provides us the opportunity to walk the Trustees through the IPS process, educating them as to their responsibilities to the investments and enlightening them into what they should be doing.”

“For example, Trustees have a responsibility to prudently manage the investment of funds or hand that duty over to a professional.  The Investment Policy Statement spells that requirement out in detail for who makes decisions, whether that is a majority vote, a single person, as well as for other issues, such as how the assets should be managed, and many others.  Once these factors are pointed out to them, from there it is a very short process for us to help them find a solution and become clients of SSC.”

Conclusion

“To us, that is what good advice is all about.”

Syverson Strege & Company has been innovating on its approach to wealth coaching, financial planning and investment management since its inception over a decade ago.  Going forward, SSC is dedicated to continuing that spirit of innovation and client service using Investment Policy Statements and the technology platform of IPS AdvisorPro®.

“In our view, just going through the IPS process forces us as advisors to follow a consistent approach with corresponding documentation of what was discussed and implemented,” concluded Strege.  “To us, that is what good advice is all about.”

About IPS AdvisorPro®

Created by financial advisors for financial advisors, IPS AdvisorPro® is designed to work with all types of wealth management professionals and their practices.  IPS AdvisorPro® offers a flexible solution to creating and managing Investment Policy Statements that are easy to use through an encrypted, secure web-based environment.  With over 1,000 users and 16,000 IPSs created, IPS AdvisorPro® is the industry’s leading technology solution.  IPS AdvisorPro® was named in 2006 by Morningstar as the “Software of the Year” and was a CPA Wealth Provider “Financial Planning Awards Winner” in 2009.  For more information, please visit www.IPSAdvisorPro.com

Download a PDF version of this case study here.

Introduction

“On the surface we may look like a small community bank, however, we are actually doing institutional quality work on the wealth management front, including providing an Investment Policy Statement for each and every client.”

Monroe Bank and Trust (MBT) was founded nearly 150 years ago, tracing its origin to the back of a grocery store in the small, but growing town of Monroe, MI, located about fourteen miles north of Toledo, OH. From these humble beginnings, MBT has evolved and grown over the years to become a leading financial institution, with over $1.5 billion in assets.

The Wealth Management Group of MBT has over 65 years of experience in managing the complex needs of affluent investors and has recently undergone a transformation, “from a stodgy trust department to a dynamic, full service organization,” notes Senior Vice President and Investment Group Manager, Jim Arnold.

The Wealth Management Group serves over 1,200 accounts and represents over $700 million in assets under management. “While on the surface we may look like a small community bank, however, we are actually doing institutional quality work on the wealth management front, including providing an Investment Policy Statement for each and every client,” Arnold proudly stated.

Investment Policy Statements

“We made the decision two years ago to have an IPS in place for every client so that we would have an accurate picture of their investing needs…”

MBT is actively evolving and enhancing their service offering and access to a broad range of investment products and services. “As part of that service offering, we strongly believe in walking our clients through the Investment Policy Statement process. That approach takes us to the next level in discussing key life event issues with clients that are then brought into the equation of the Investment Policy Statement,” commented Jim. “This provides us with a complete view of the clients’ needs and ensures that we have a documented process to which both we and the client can refer back.”

“We made the decision two years ago to have an Investment Policy Statement in place for every client so that we would have an accurate picture of their investing needs and to provide both us and the client with a written document that details expectations,” noted Arnold.

“Before arriving here at MBT my previous career was in city retirement systems. In that role I learned that in order to protect yourself and the retirement plan, you never hired any investment manager without an Investment Policy Statement and I wanted to bring that discipline to the wealth management team at MBT.”

Technology-Driven Efficiencies

“IPS AdvisorPro® accomplished everything we wanted to accomplish at a very affordable price point.”

In the past, MBT relied on an ad-hoc basis for providing tools for advisors to create investment plans and Investment Policy Statements. “We had a variety of software programs, but most of it was difficult to use and learn, along with being cost prohibitive to provide a license to every advisor,” noted Jim. “As a result, the technology wasn’t optimized and we would provide a minimal document that didn’t adequately serve as the Investment Policy Statement.”

After much scrutiny and a thorough technology evaluation, Arnold and MBT selected the technology platform of IPS AdvisorPro®.

In Jim’s words, “IPS AdvisorPro® accomplished everything we wanted to accomplish at a very affordable price point. We are able to customize our asset allocation models to provide the investment perspective that is pertinent to that client.

“It also gives us the control and flexibility to handle the complex needs of high net worth clients that require even further custom models. Additionally, IPS AdvisorPro® has given us a format for a standard discovery meeting and risk agreement that we can implement across our many advisors.”

“This standard process and the flexible templates in IPS AdvisorPro® allow us to create one format and approach for generating consistent documents from each advisor for every client with the appropriate disclosure language and our pre-determined asset allocation models. Without that, our compliance and supervisory requirements would grow exponentially if we had everyone using their own approach, wording and content.”

Conclusion

“What we’ve gained with IPS AdvisorPro® is not so much in a dollar sense, but in the enhancement in relationships with clients.”

Monroe Bank & Trust is an example of a successful institution with a rich, multi-century history. A key part of that long-term success is a focus on evolving with the needs of its clients.

“What we’ve gained with IPS AdvisorPro® is not reflected so much in a dollar sense, but in the enhancement in relationships with our clients. Our advisors are able to demonstrate on a daily basis the depth and ability of the Wealth Management Group and the Investment Policy Statement contributes to the client’s confidence that their advisor is a true professional, providing a well thought out approach when managing the client’s financial affairs. As we continue to evolve, we look forward to working with IPS AdvisorPro®,” concluded Jim.

About IPS AdvisorPro®

Created by financial advisors for financial advisors, IPS AdvisorPro® is designed to work with all types of wealth management professionals and their practices. IPS AdvisorPro® offers a flexible solution to creating and managing Investment Policy Statements that are easy to use through an encrypted, secure web-based environment.

With over 1,000 users and over 15,000 Investment Policy Statements created, IPS AdvisorPro® is the industry’s leading technology solution. IPS AdvisorPro® was named in 2006 by Morningstar as the “Software of the Year” and was a CPA Wealth Provider “Financial Planning Awards Winner” in 2009. For more information, please visit www.IPSAdvisorPro.com.

Download a PDF version of this case study here.

Introduction

“Our philosophy all along has been to build our firm around a financial planning process that is repeatable, scalable and provides the highest levels of client service and satisfaction.”

Focus Financial Group (FFG) is a thriving and growing independent financial advisory firm based in Bingham Farms, Michigan. Founded in the ‘90’s, FFG has over 130 clients and $55 million under management. With a small staff of two advisors and two support people, FFG relies on technology and operational processes to scale their business, while still providing the personalized touch that has set their business apart.

Led by President, Jim Mathias, ChFC, FFG specializes in comprehensive financial and investment planning for individuals, families and small businesses. “Our philosophy all along has been to build our firm around a financial planning process that is repeatable, scalable and provides the highest levels of client service and satisfaction,” notes Jim. “A key part of that approach has been the use of Investment Policy Statements (IPS) and cutting-edge operational technology systems and applications.”

Why Investment Policy Statements?

“Through the use of IPSs, our clients gain confidence in their investment and financial plans, even in today’s bad markets.”

Early on, Jim recognized that not only having Investment Policy Statements for each of his clients was an industry “best practice” it has also been critical to their success in these current turbulent times in the markets.

In Jim’s words, “Through the use of Investment  Policy Statements, our clients gain confidence in their investment and financial plans, even in today’s bad markets. The key aspect as I see it is that there is a partnership between the Investment Policy Statement and the financial plan. They are both strengthened by each other and work hand in hand in implementing recommendations. We use a fairly sophisticated Monte Carlo analysis that educates clients as to the potential outcomes, including the probability of up and down markets, and how we will be investing for both good and bad times. Since we do not know the future, this approach provides a well thought out strategy for our clients and translates into fewer panicked phone calls.”

“Additionally, from my experience as an expert witness in arbitration cases, many claims that were in arbitration would not have happened, were there an Investment Policy Statement in place. The majority of issues were around trying to remember what the intent of an investment was and with no documentation in place in the form of an Investment Policy Statement, it was very difficult to defend. So not only are Investment Policy Statements critical for providing excellent service and education to our clients, they are also very important to provide a baseline of protection for us and our firm so that we are not exposed down the road should something happen.”

“Another key benefit is that when investment opportunities come along, we can quickly identify which clients are appropriate. For example, just this week our firm had access to a private placement for an excellent natural gas investment with a limited amount of shares available. Because we had Investment Policy Statements in place for our clients, we were quickly able to see which clients would be appropriate for this alternative investment and their level of acceptance was immediate since we had already laid out for them that they needed this type of investment to satisfy their diversification and asset allocation recommendations. Without the Investment Policy Statements in place, we would not have been able to move quickly enough to take advantage of these types of unique opportunities.”

The Process

“Having templates in place dramatically shortens the time it takes to develop an IPS for a client.”

Focus Financial Group uses a multi-step financial planning process that includes a financial plan for every client. If the client decides to invest with FFG, then an Investment Policy Statement is put in place. FFG uses Financeware as their financial planning software as it has a robust Monte Carlo analysis. From there, FFG uses IPS AdvisorPro® as the technology platform to customize Investment Policy Statements for each client.

“One key aspect of IPS AdvisorPro® that we like is the ability to create templates for our various types of clients, whether they are individual accounts, trust accounts, etc.,” notes Jim. “Because IPS AdvisorPro® provides suggested wording and formats called templates; we can easily customize these upfront to fit our allocations, benchmarks, disclosure information and our investment process for working with clients. Having these templates in place dramatically shortens the time it takes to develop an Investment Policy Statement for a client. Once the client data has been entered by the support staff, I can polish off a 20 page Investment Policy Statement totally customized to our firms investment strategies and practices and specific to that client in roughly 15 minutes.”

As part of the process, Jim walks each potential client through the Investment Policy Statement before taking on their account so they become familiar with what an Investment Policy Statement is and why it is a key part of the process for managing their investments. Once the Investment Policy Statement has been created, FFG sends the client the Investment Policy Statement along with an extra set of signature pages so that they can review and make any changes, or suggestions. The majority of the time the client accepts the Investment Policy Statement as is and then signs a copy and forwards to FFG for their files.

“I’ve heard from other advisors that they don’t like to burden their client with extra steps, added documentation and signatures, but from our experience, the Investment Policy Statement is really not an obstacle – in fact it shows the client that you are a true professional with clarity and transparency for how you will be managing their assets. Clients really do appreciate this and see it as an added service,” notes Jim.

As both an RIA and affiliated with a Broker-Dealer, FFG worked with their BD’s compliance department to get approval on using IPS Advisor Pro®. The process was fairly simple and straightforward as the compliance department was very comforted by the level of transparency, disclosure and consistency that is controlled by IPS AdvisorPro®.

Technology Approach and Selection

“We’ve completed over a hundred IPSs through IPS AdvisorPro® and consider it a foundational part of our infrastructure and workflow.”

Focus Financial Group prides itself for its technology expertise. “I’m somewhat of a tech-geek,” admits Jim. “But I really don’t see how anyone can succeed in our business today without a strong technology backbone and infrastructure. In order for us to scale our business, we need the best technology available and are always looking to automate processes wherever possible.”

FFG took an in-depth review of various resources for developing their Investment Policy Statement process, including Excel spreadsheets, Word documents, books, even asset allocation modeling tools and other applications. “We were very excited to learn about IPS AdvisorPro®,” noted Jim. “Our goal is to streamline our workflow and having an online application that we can customize to meet our specific needs was critical to our success.”

“We use 6 profiles for our asset allocation recommendations, from capital preservation to aggressive growth. IPS AdvisorPro® had a number of benchmarks for us to select from and after extensive research, we found that the benchmarks that we were looking for were included in the tool. This was very important as now we don’t have to maintain these benchmarks and update our models on a quarterly basis – the system does it automatically.”

“Additionally, the ability to customize the templates and personalize them up front so we do not have to re-invent the wheel each time has dramatically reduced the amount of time it takes to create an Investment Policy Statement. We’ve completed over a hundred Investment Policy Statements through IPS AdvisorPro® and consider it a foundational part of our infrastructure and workflow.”

Conclusion

“To succeed in today’s environment, you really need to show your added value and demonstrate to your client what is important”

With over 33 years of experience in the financial services industry in a variety of roles, Jim has a wealth of knowledge regarding the delivery of financial advice. “To succeed in today’s environment, you really need to show your added value and demonstrate to your client what is important,” concludes Jim. “We’ve been able to do this successfully by building an investment and financial planning process that is repeatable, scalable and defendable.”

“I recommend that when embarking on this journey, that you spend the time up front to get it right and invest in your processes and operations. If you are doing something different for each and every client, then it will be very difficult to remember why certain things were done and you will be creating more work for yourself down the road.”

“You can still provide personalized service to each and every client, but in order to grow and continue to provide that high level of service, you need to incorporate technology and standardize your approach. Investment Policy Statements and IPS AdvisorPro® are a great example of the combination of those aspects.”

About IPS AdvisorPro®

Created by financial advisors for financial advisors, IPS AdvisorPro® is designed to work with all types of wealth management professionals and their practices. IPS AdvisorPro® offers a flexible solution to creating and managing Investment Policy Statements that are easy to use through an encrypted, secure web-based environment.

With over 1,000 users and 10,000 IPSs created, IPS AdvisorPro® is the industry’s leading technology solution. IPS AdvisorPro® was named in 2006 by Morningstar as the “Software of the Year” and was a CPA Wealth Provider “Financial Planning Awards Winner” in 2009. For more information, please visit www.IPSAdvisorPro.com.

Download a PDF version of this case study here.

Introduction

“We look to partner with the leading applications that advisors use so that we can leverage our industry positioning to provide added value benefits to our advisor clients.”

Shareholders Service Group was founded in 2002 by a small, core group of industry veterans who had pioneered the custody business for independent RIAs in the early ‘90’s at the custodian formerly known as Jack White. Jack White merged with Waterhouse Securities to broaden their service offering and this unique combination was then acquired by TD Bank of Canada, which ultimately merged with Ameritrade to become one of the industry’s leading custodians.

Based on the very successful approach of truly understanding the needs of independent advisors, the management team at SSG, led by President and CEO Peter Mangan, broke away from the TD combination to build a truly independent platform whose sole focus was to serve independent RIAs.

From these humble beginnings, SSG has quickly grown to become a major player in the fast growing RIA custody business. “We set out at SSG to be a pure-play custodian,” noted Peter. “Our philosophy and approach is all about serving the needs of the independent advisor and we look to partner with the leading applications that advisors use so that we can leverage our industry positioning to provide added value benefits to our advisor clients.”

Value Added Approach

“In order for us to be of the highest value to them, we needed to expand our service and technology offering beyond just asset custody and brokerage.”

Peter and his team knew from decades of working with independent advisors that their needs were unique. “For independent advisors, their approach to service and managing client’s financial and investment plans is a truly customized process. In order for us to be of the highest value to them, we needed to expand our service and
technology offering beyond just asset custody and brokerage.”

As part of this strategy, SSG continually scours the industry in search of the best providers of technology and business solutions to enhance their platform.

“When it came down to deciding what we should offer in the way of investment and financial planning tools, we knew that Investment Policy Statements were a very high priority,” commented Mangan. “In terms of client communications, Investment Policy Statements are the foundation for how advisors should be working with their clients.”

“The Investment Policy Statement is first a matter of prudence, to clearly document the investment plan, approach, asset allocation, basically the why’s and how’s of implementing recommendations. Secondly, as advisors grow, they need to adopt technology and workflow processes to streamline these types of activities. Lastly, as the issue of fiduciary responsibility continues to become more and more important and with the
increasingly complex compliance and regulatory environment, we just don’t see how advisors can operate without them.”

Based on this criteria, SSG conducted a very detailed due diligence of industry solutions and selected IPS AdvisorPro® as their preferred choice. “We examined a number of different options, but none of them were as elegant and simple as IPS AdvisorPro®,” remarked Peter. “We were very aware of the intellectual property and design by experienced, practicing financial advisors that went into the development of IPS AdvisorPro®. That, combined with its online technology platform, ease of use, and price point made it a very easy decision.”

The Benefits of Group Purchasing

“This very simple step we are taking pays off in many ways. Not only are we cementing loyalty with our existing clients, but we are also providing them with tools to help them grow faster.”

In order to streamline access to IPS AdvisorPro® for its advisor clients and to encourage them to take advantage of this value added service offering, SSG provides a central billing facility that they manage.

“We wanted to make it very easy for our advisor clients to access the tool and to provide them with a substantial discount and an enhanced service experience,” stated Mangan. “This very simple step we are taking pays off in many ways. Not only are we cementing loyalty with our existing clients, but we are also providing them with tools to help them grow faster. This “double dip” effect of offering IPS AdvisorPro® is helping us to gather more assets and ultimately pays for itself many times over.”

“Additionally, having such a compelling tool like IPS AdvisorPro® as part of our service offering is a very powerful marketing tool,” continued Peter. “It is definitely a differentiating feature and allows us to go out to the marketplace with a compelling marketing message. We see a very big opportunity to capitalize on the trend for advisors affiliated with the major Wall Street firms to go independent. These advisors typically have a comprehensive set of investment planning tools that they are used to and by us partnering with IPS AdvisorPro® makes the switch that much easier.”

Conclusion

“Advisors are on the precipice of an amazing growth period and in order for them to continue to be successful, we believe that they need to embrace technology, enhance their service offering and continue to be client-focused.”

The importance of advisors working with Investment Policy Statements is very clear to SSG. “In today’s volatile markets, independent, objective advice is needed now more than ever,” concluded Peter.

“Advisors are on the precipice of an amazing growth period and in order for them to continue to be successful, we believe that they need to embrace technology, enhance their service offering and continue to be client-focused. We will continue to seek out solutions that best enable our advisor clients to accomplish these goals and are very excited to be working with IPS AdvisorPro® as it is an excellent example of how we deliver on our promise to best serve our clients.”

About IPS AdvisorPro®

Created by financial advisors for financial advisors, IPS AdvisorPro® is designed to work with all types of wealth management professionals and their practices. IPS AdvisorPro® offers a flexible solution to creating and managing Investment Policy Statements that are easy to use through an encrypted, secure web-based environment.

With over 1,000 users and 10,000 IPSs created, IPS AdvisorPro® is the industry’s leading technology solution. IPS AdvisorPro® was named in 2006 by Morningstar as the “Software of the Year” and was a CPA Wealth Provider “Financial Planning Awards Winner” in 2009. For more information, please visit www.IPSAdvisorPro.com.

Download a PDF version of this case study here.

Introduction

“Since our founding, we at Harris myCFO have focused on being forward-thinking and that extends to our philosophy and approach to investment management.”

Harris myCFO Investment Advisory Services LLC, serves over 300 families, representing nearly $18 billion in assets under management. Led by President Steve Braverman, Harris myCFO provides family office guidance and services, including integrated and customized investment advisory, income tax planning and compliance, wealth management, philanthropy, financial planning, concierge, financial reporting, expense
management, and bill paying to high-net-worth families and individuals across the nation.

Harris myCFO is backed by Harris Bank, a Chicago-based integrated financial service organization that provides more than one million personal, business and corporate clients with banking, lending, investing, financial planning, trust administration, portfolio management, family office and wealth-transfer services. Harris Bank is a member of BMO Financial Group, one of the largest diversified financial services
providers in North America.

“Since our founding, we at Harris myCFO have focused on being forward-thinking and that extends to our philosophy and approach to investment management,” noted Steve. “As part of that service delivery we have adopted a very unique and customized methodology for generating risk-adjusted returns for our clients.”

A Customized Approach

“IPS AdvisorPro® with its flexible technology allows us to truly customize the IPS by importing our detailed, complex and innovative asset classification methodology into the IPS.”

Harris myCFO uses a combination of multiple asset classes to create customized investment strategies at the family level, which can include multi-generations, multi-locations and multiple entities. Given the complexity of the affairs of ultra-high net worth families, it is critical to have a customized approach.

“We have developed an innovative “dual-asset classification” strategy to meet the asset allocation and cash flow needs of our clients,” commented Braverman. “This philosophy includes going above and beyond just the basic asset allocation categories of stocks, bonds and cash. We separate investments into “high-volatility” and “low volatility” and then drill down into unique levels of specificity to match the long-term investment appreciation needs for the multiple family generations along with their current income requirements. This allows us to gather the full picture of the family’s investable wealth and then manage as stewards of those investments.”

“As part of our family office services, we are paying their bills, buying aircraft, managing vacation homes, doing their taxes, etc. so we know what they are spending and can match those cash flow needs,” continued Steve. “Thus it is critical to administer these requirements through a unique multi asset allocation approach that is not merely just decades long, but truly a multi-generational approach.”

Investment Policy Statements are a critical component for how Harris myCFO crafts their customized investment strategies for their clients. “The IPS is the tool we use to document our recommendations and communicate to the client how it all fits together,” noted Braverman. “IPS AdvisorPro® with its flexible technology allows us to truly customize the IPS by importing our detailed, complex and innovative asset classification methodology into the Investment Policy Statement. Additionally, through its online platform, we are able to provide a consistent approach across our 150 employees and 7 offices nationwide, all the while controlling the process.”

Solving Complex Compliance and Reporting Requirements

“These multiple layers of oversight and regulatory compliance are wonderful for clients…however, they create significant operational issues that we need to overcome.”

Because Harris myCFO is part of multiple entities that include a crossborder bank, the reporting responsibilities and compliance requirements for the OCC, SEC, and the Fed along with Canadian regulators creates added complexity.

“These multiple layers of oversight and regulatory compliance are wonderful for clients as it gives them strong comfort about the safety and security of their assets in these days of confusion and angst due to the many scandals investors have suffered elsewhere,” commented Steve.

“However, they create significant operational issues that we need to overcome. IPS AdvisorPro® helped us solve these challenges across our 7 offices nationwide by easily importing our unique approach and providing the flexibility to set rules, guidelines, establish security and access controls, and provide the compliance disclosures on every Investment Policy Statement. The true value of the system was that it allowed us to provide a consistent, personalized, and customized service model that was process-driven and met our multiple compliance and reporting requirements.”

“When we were searching for a solution, we found that there was nothing else on the market that allowed us to import our unique approach”, continued Steve. “IPS AdvisorPro® gave us the efficiency gains we needed to continue to deliver our high level of service.”

Return on Investment

“The real ROI that we are seeing with IPS AdvisorPro® is the better level of engagement our advisors are having with clients.”

The use of Investment Policy Statements continues to become more critical and important in the investment advisory industry during these times of market volatility. “The real ROI that we are seeing with IPS AdvisorPro® is the better level of engagement our advisors are having with clients,” noted Braverman.

“In times like this we are able to respond to the changes in the markets by being able to quickly and efficiently change our modeling and completely accommodate the risk tolerances of our clients.

The ability to have a customized communication tool through IPS AdvisorPro® means that we are not being impacted by panicked client calls. We are having thoughtful conversations with our clients because the Investment Policy Statement provides the framework, discipline and roadmap that we put in place before the choppy markets hit.”

“Having a solid understanding of client risk-tolerance is very critical to the client relationship and IPS AdvisorPro® truly has become a foundational aspect of our service platform. We have been extremely pleased with the partnership,” concluded Steve.

About IPS AdvisorPro®

Created by financial advisors for financial advisors, IPS AdvisorPro® is designed to work with all types of wealth management professionals and their practices. IPS AdvisorPro® offers a flexible solution to creating and managing Investment Policy Statements that are easy to use through an encrypted, secure web-based environment.

With over 1,000 users and 10,000 IPSs created, IPS AdvisorPro® is the industry’s leading technology solution. IPS AdvisorPro® was named in 2006 by Morningstar as the “Software of the Year” and was a CPA Wealth Provider “Financial Planning Awards Winner” in 2009. For more information, please visit www.IPSAdvisorPro.com.