News

iRebal Receives Makeover

Written by Joel Bruckenstein, FA Magazine Friday, 17 August 2012

ThinkTech Inc., a TD Ameritrade affiliate, recently announced a number of major enhancements to iRebal, its highly-regarded intelligent rebalance and trade order management system.

The product, which has long offered tax efficient household level rebalancing, cash management, tax loss harvesting and trade management capabilities now sports a new user interface. “The new interface offers a much improved user experience,” said Justin Di Filippo, TD Ameritrade Institutional’s senior product manager. Read More..

The Rise of Discount Advisors

Written by Jonathan Lead, FinancialPlanning.com Friday, 17 August 2012

Discount brokerage firms revolutionized the financial world. Increasingly, discount advisory firms are poised to bring significant changes, as well.

In the past two years, a number of online financial platforms for investors have been launched. These sites offer computerized investment guidance aimed not only at the smallest customers, but also at those with upward of $250,000 in investable assets.

Should traditional planners see these companies, which some in the industry have derisively labeled robo-advisors, as potentially dangerous competitors? Or are these firms seeking out a wholly different market, a pool of investors with portfolios too modest to provoke much interest or to sustain the practice of a typical registered investment advisor? Read More..

Avoid Legacy Portfolio Software Constraints

Written by Bill Winterberg, Morningstar Advisor Friday, 17 August 2012

Established investment advisory businesses manage numerous active client relationships, many of which span multiple decades. As client engagements endure, advisors generate large databases with respect to historical investment activity performed in client accounts. At the same time, innovations by portfolio management software vendors have many advisors contemplating a switch from their current system to capitalize on new features and functionality.

With so much legacy data maintained in their existing systems, advisors are concerned that converting their database can turn into a costly, time-consuming, and error-prone process. Today, a growing number of service providers specialize in portfolio accounting database conversions, giving advisors the freedom and flexibility to switch to the accounting system that best meets the needs of both the firm and its clients. Read More..

Salentica Inc. begins Pilot Phase of testing the Salentica Advisor Desk™ with Schwab OpenView Gateway™

Written by Bob's Guide Friday, 17 August 2012

Last November, Schwab Intelligent Technologies™, a subsidiary of The Charles Schwab Corporation, announced Salentica Inc. as a confirmed participant in the Schwab OpenView Gateway™ program to integrate Schwab custody data into Salentica Advisor Desk™, a customized version of the Microsoft Dynamics® CRM. This integration will allow Salentica clients who custody assets with Schwab Advisor Services to access real-time custody data from within their CRM system. Read More..