ASN Summit Successful-Norm & Linda Boone, session hosts
December 1, 2009
The Advisor Solutions Network (ASN) held its first Practice Management Summit in November in Atlanta, Georgia. Sixty participants were treated to a world-class line-up of speakers who delivered two full days of thought-provoking content. The program agenda was designed to achieve three key objectives:
- Help render appropriate advice in a post-Black Swan Era
- Help advisor regain client confidence
- Help advisor rebuild or win new business
Thirteen (13) sessions held during the Practice Management Summit included, but was not limited to, the following:
- Investment Management Consulting in the 21st Century: Craft or Trade? Ron Surz, President, PPCA
- To Be or Not To Be: Fiduciary Landscape Under Regulatory Reform; Kristina Fausti, Director of Legal and Regulatory Affairs, fi360
- Using Public Relations to Turbo-Charge Your Marketing Plan; Marie Swift, President, Impact Communication
- Dynamic Asset Allocation: Rx for a Post-Black Swan Era; Rex Macey, Chief Investment Officer, Wilmington Trust
- Providing A Comfortable Ride for Your Clients (and Your Practice); David Loeper CIMA, Wealthcare Capital
- In Search of Manager Alpha: Does Active Management Still Make Sense? Larry Sinsimer
- The Value Gap: In Search of Advisor Alpha; Steve Barger, Consulting Partner, Advisor Solutions Network
- The Art of Conversation: Your Leading Advantage; Lewis Walker, Founder, Life Transitions Advisors
- Rebuilding Your Business and Managing Client Expectations with Investment Policy Statements; Norm Boone and Linda Lubitz-Boone, IPS AdvisorPro®
- How Personal Legacy Planning can Differentiate Your Practice and Drive Your Production; Mark Colgan, President / Plan Your Legacy
- Audio recordings and speaker presentations are available at www.asn360.com.agenda.asp
VSR Financial Services, Inc. Selects IPS AdvisorPro® for Investment Planning Technology
August 28, 2009
~ Innovative Platform Will Provide VSR’s 200+ Advisors with Web-based Tools for Creating Investment Policy Statements
Miami, FL and Overland Park, KS – August 26, 2009. VSR Financial Services, Inc. announced today the selection of IPS AdvisorPro® to provide their over 200 financial advisors with advanced investment planning tools for developing Investment Policy Statements (IPS). Read more
Cape Ann Savings Bank – Trust and Financial Services
August 21, 2009
How a leading community bank and trust is reducing risk in its delivery of investment advice through the technology platform of IPS AdvisorPro®. Read more
IPS AdvisorPro®: Go online and save time on investment policy statements
August 6, 2009
By Davis D. Janowski, technology reporter for InvestmentNews, this article was originally published July 31, 2009 in IN: TECHbits. I got a sneak preview of a white paper from IPS AdvisorPro® that sheds light on the time, costs associated with creating investment policy statements.
By one estimate, it can take the typical financial adviser 155 minutes to create an investment policy statement from scratch using a word-processing program such as Microsoft Word.
To refresh your memory, an IPS is a written document agreed to by both an adviser and client that outlines goals, policies and procedures to be used by the adviser for managing investments.
Such statements are required these days where a fiduciary relationship exists.
The above estimate is by Norm Boone, president of San Francisco-based Mosaic Financial Partners Inc. and co-creator of the popular IPS AdvisorPro® software and online application from BLIPS Partners LLC in Miami.
While the white paper is clearly meant to urge advisers to buy the firm’s software, the estimates included in the white paper, “Investment Policy Statements: The Technology Return on Investment for Financial Advisors,” seem reasonable and should be of interest to advisers in terms of comparing their current procedures and the time involved in preparation of policy statements. Read more
Investment Policy Statements: The Technology Return on Investment (ROI) for Financial Advisors
July 31, 2009
Download a PDF version of this white paper here.
Executive Summary
The financial services industry is undergoing rapid change due to recent financial crises on Wall Street and the impacts of a prolonged recession. Market volatility has increased, creating uncertainty and angst in investors’ minds. The demand for transparency has increased, as have the expectations for better “prudent practices.” As a result, there has been a renewed focus for investment planning by financial advisors and the use of the time-tested approach of Investment Policy Statements (IPS).
Considered a “best practice” in modern wealth management, documenting advisor-client agreements in an IPS provides a systematic discipline for decision-making, bringing transparency, clarity and shared understanding to the advisor-investor relationship, helping to build an increased level of trust.
Many financial advisors are using word processing software solutions combined with manual processes to perform the related tasks of creating, updating and maintaining IPSs and the resulting inefficiencies cause higher costs and lack of controls, which result in declining profitability.
Industry experts all agree that the best solution is to adopt technology to increase efficiency, streamline operations and enable rapid response to market changes. New advances and innovations in technology specifically designed for financial advisors to provide web-based investment planning tools for creating Investment Policy Statements that allow advisors to meet these challenges head on and provide a substantial return on investment (ROI) is now available.
“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. By using the templates in IPS AdvisorPro® we know that we are achieving a big time savings and ROI.”
David Strege, CFP®, CFA®, Co-Founder and Senior Wealth Coach, Syverson Strege & Company
Syverson, Strege & Company
June 22, 2009
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. Read more
NOW INTEGRATED: IPS AdvisorPro® and MoneyGuidePro™ – Import Financial Planning Data into Investment Policy Statements
June 8, 2009
IPS AdvisorPro® and MoneyGuideProTM Integrate Software Systems, to provide a Complete Financial and Investment Planning Solution
IPS AdvisorPro® is pleased to announce the release of its first software integration with MoneyGuideProTM, the industry’s leading financial planning software tool. With this announcement, the integration between these two industry award-winning online financial software programs is available immediately to IPS AdvisorPro® users. The new integration will save time and streamline the preparation of financial plans and investment policy statements (IPS) ensuring consistency of data between the two programs and providing financial advisors with a complete financial and investment planning solution. Read more
Monroe Bank & Trust
May 19, 2009
How a Leading Community Bank is Transforming Their Wealth Management Group Through Investment Policy Statements and IPS AdvisorPro®. Read more
The Investment Policy Statement: Providing the Bridge Between Compliance and a Satisfied Client
May 15, 2009
By Norman M. Boone, MBA, CFP ® and Linda Lubitz Boone, CFP®
An investment policy statement helps an advisor communicate to relevant parties the procedures and investment philosophy of that advisor, and it documents the agreements between the advisor and the client about how that client’s money will be managed. The statement should provide the guidelines for investment decisions and set forth the responsibilities of each party.
When our first article about investment policy statements was published in the Journal of Financial Planning in July 1992, very few advisors were using these statements in their practices. Today, the landscape has significantly changed: It is now considered a best practice to provide investment policy statements to all clients, whether or not it is legally directed. Although some compliance officers may disagree, we believe that a properly written investment policy statement can be critical in minimizing the legal liability of your fiduciary clients (qualified plan trustees and trustees of irrevocable trusts, endowments, foundations and charitable trusts) and for that matter, all your clients. Read more
Compliance Considerations
April 26, 2009
Compliance departments have a few concerns about investment policy statements.
First, it is critical that anything that is written down (promised) is what is actually delivered. One approach is to avoid writing anything down, but that violates a number of other principles, not the least of which is the need to develop/earn the client’s trust, which means being open with them and helping them clearly understand what they might experience. The better alternative is to make sure that you only write down in the IPS what you are actually going to do. You can (and should) be as detailed as possible in order to enhance client understanding, but you need to limit the details to accurate ones. Read more
Why pay for an application to help write Investment Policy Statements?
April 23, 2009
A common concern we hear these days of market turmoil and lowered advisor revenues is whether it isn’t cheaper to write Investment Policy Statements with a word document instead of using a dedicated application. We disagree.
How much is your time worth and what could you be doing with that time savings (servicing existing clients to help retain them? marketing for new prospective clients? training your staff to help save you even more time?)? Read more
WINNER, CPA Wealth Provider Financial Planning Awards 2009
April 15, 2009
CPA Wealth Provider is proud to present the sixth annual financial planning awards honoring CPA/financial planning firms, broker/dealers, and financial planning software vendors as well as providing special Awards of Excellence to those who are in the vanguard of leadership in financial planning. The winners are those firms or companies that have taken the lead through innovation, efficiency, initiative, or growth in the financial planning area. Read more
Step One to Fiduciary
April 10, 2009
This article originally appeared on Inside Information. Used with permission.
Inside Information ~ Filed Under Practice Management, February 2007
Bob Veres, Publisher, Inside Information
“The definitive tool for creating investment policy statements is back — and a LOT more powerful than the earlier version.”
If we’re moving into a fiduciary world, then it seems likely that, eventually, clients will receive some kind of investment policy statement from their advisors — just like qualified plans do, by law, from THEIR advisors today. And why not? The IPS clarifies the purpose of the portfolio, defines how it will be managed, and (most importantly) it becomes something you can come back to if the client starts asking why you weren’t more heavily weighted in emerging markets funds or REITS following some kind of freakish runup. From a compliance standpoint, it creates a clear record of the investment agreement between advisor and client. Wealthier clients like the idea that their assets are being given the same treatment as large pension plans. And if you do decide to manage a client’s 401(k) plan, you need to have an IPS to define the relationship. Read more
A Software Solution to Investment Policy Statements
April 10, 2009
This article originally appeared on MorningstarAdvisor.com. Used with permission.
Joel Bruckenstein, CFP
It has been a long wait, a very long wait, but IPS AdvisorPro® is finally here. This Web-based application that creates investment policy statements was developed by two prominent, highly gifted financial planning professionals, Norm Boone and Linda Lubitz.
Boone is founder and principal of Mosaic Financial Partners in San Francisco. He has been cited by numerous periodicals as one of the best financial planners in the country. Boone has served on the National Board of the Financial Planning Association, the TIAA-CREF Institutional Advisory Board, and the advisory council for Schwab Institutional. His articles have appeared in CCH’s Journal of Retirement Planning, Journal of Financial Planning, and Wealth Manager. Read more
Getting Comfortable With Change
April 7, 2009
Norm Boone, MBA, CFP®
As an active proponent of investment policy statements, I have frequent opportunities to speak with advisors about the how and why of using this tool in their practice. While most recognize an IPS’s potential benefits, one question is often raised. “Wouldn’t it be risky to start using IPSs? My clients would wonder why, all of a sudden, I’m using this tool when I’d never mentioned it before. They might question my motivation and lose confidence in me.”
It’s true that change is often challenging for clients. But the fact is that change is constant. In our business, the market fluctuates and there are constant changes in the client’s situation. We also have internal changes in our firms that must be communicated to clients. Still, far too many advisors use their clients as an excuse for not making needed changes. Here are some communication tips for introducing change to your clients: Read more
Adviser Services 411
April 7, 2009
Bob Veres, Publisher, Inside Information
It has taken 30 years, but the financial planning profession has finally evolved a rich and diverse ecology of support services that address virtually every practice need. The trouble is, there isn’t any handy telephone book to help you find what you’re looking for.
Until this column, that is. My goal is to provide names and web (or email) addresses for some of the very best services, consultants and information resources that I’ve come across in my 23-plus years of roaming around the industry. Whatever you need, chances are it’s out there, and you’ll be grateful when you find it. [Ed's note: Some of these services and contacts will be available through Financial Planning's AdvisorMax.com, launching in November. It will be a comprehensive source of information, research and practice management tools for planners.] Read more
Save Valuable Time: Import Financial Plan Data into Investment Policy Statements
April 3, 2009
MoneyGuidePro™ is a client-centered Financial Planning and Retirement Planning Software for fast and easy Goal Planning, Insurance Needs Analysis, Asset Allocation, and Estate Planning. It is intuitive and easy to use, while still providing sophisticated analyses and results. Like IPS AdvisorPro®, MoneyGuidePro™ is completely web-based and features online collaborative planning between advisors and clients.
Now you can save time and streamline the preparation of financial plans and investment policy statements (IPS) ensuring consistency of data between the two programs and providing financial advisors with a complete financial and investment planning solution.
Focus Financial Group, LLC
April 3, 2009
How an Independent Financial and Investment Planning Firm Utilizes Investment Policy Statements as a Point of Reference and to Maintain Their Standard of Excellence in Client Services and Education. Read more
Shareholders Service Group
April 3, 2009
How a Leading Custodian Adds Value to Their Advisor Clients through Investment Policy Statements. Read more
Harris myCFO Investment Advisory Services, LLC
April 2, 2009
How a Leading Wealth Manager Enhances Their Service Offering Through Investment Policy Statements. Read more
