June 16, 2020 • 9 mins
As advisors build out their financial planning business, they gather a lot of data and over the years, the strategy of the firm can change. That may mean it's a good time to change from a software application that's more cash flow to one that's more goal-oriented, or vice versa. As a follow-up to last week's high-level overview of the software selection process, Bill Davis offers the best approaches for advisors to take when selecting and implementing retirement plan software.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Oyster (00:02):
Welcome to this week's serving of Oyster Stew, a mix of
financial services, commentaryand insights.
Each week, we'll discuss what is happening in the industry,
based on what we see as we workwith regulators and clients.
We hope you come away with theknowledge and tools to help you
make the best decisions for yourfirm's future.
Libby Hall (00:21):
Hi everybody.
I'm Libby Hall, your host fortoday's podcast.
As a follow- up to last week'shigh-level overview of the
software selection process, BillDavis and I will be talking
about the best approaches foradvisors to take when selecting
and implementing retirement plansoftware.
Bill heads up our PlanningServices team here at Oyster.
He brings more than 35 years ofexperience and has managed large
(00:43):
areas in brokerage operations,IRAs, clearing for RIAs and
broker-dealers, compliance,digital advisors, self-directed
institutional and retailrelationship teams.
So Bill, why would investmentadvisors want to consider
changing their financialplanning software?
Bill Davis (01:03):
One of the big reasons is, as advisors build
out their financial planningbusiness, they gather a lot of
data.
And over the years, the strategyof the firm, the strategy of how
they want to do their businesschanges.
So they may want to change froma software application that's
(01:26):
more cash flow to one that'smore goal-oriented or vice
versa, or one that specializesin one or the other.
So that that's one of the mainreasons someone would, would
change.
It's a direction of the firmchanges the strategy around
financial planning, and thenfinding the tool that fits best
for their needs.
(01:46):
So for a firm, when they startto think about this, it's a lot
of work, and sometimes I thinkfirms don't realize all of the
things they have to do,especially if you're a bigger
firm.
It's really understanding theneeds around the software, it's
looking at what other firms aredoing and understanding what
your peers are doing, looking atthe different measurements o r
(02:10):
the volumes within your firm andwhat those are and how you're
tracking your models.
So that can all help you as youcreate a flow and determining
what's the best financialsoftware for your firm.
Libby Hall (02:25):
So if I was an investment advisor and I've
decided that, clearly, somethingneeds to happen, what's the best
approach that I could take tostart heading down this path?
Bill Davis (02:38):
One of the things we would do and we would help with,
and the approach you'd want totake, especially at a larger
firm, is to define what it isyou want to do.
What are the different thingsthat need to happen and identify
key milestones for when thosethings should happen?
Look at what types of resourceneeds you have and figuring out
(03:04):
what you want your overall modelto look like and how you're
going to control that.
Things like identifying andmanaging risk, looking at
issues.
You might have gaps between thetwo software packages.
Looking at what are the keydecision factors, how you're
(03:27):
going to communicate if you'removing from one plan to another.
What is that communication going t o l ook like?
And how ar e y ou go ing t o establish, when you choose a
software or even with theexisting software, a doption to
the planning application?
How are you going to work withthe FAs so that the new planning
(03:52):
software is s omething that theyfavor and wa nt t o u se?
And then figuring out how you'regoing to mentor the FAs to learn
the software so that they'll useit and use it efficiently so
that they can spend more facetime with their clients.
Libby Hall (04:09):
If I was an investment advisor, this might
sound like it's an awful lot oftime and an awful big effort to
try to make, to do what Iunderstand is going to make me
probably more efficient and moreeffective.
But I think it's going toprobably also take a lot of
resources away from me trying tostill be focused on growing my
(04:30):
business.
Are there resources availablethat can help me with this?
Are there alternatives to mesitting there Googling and
trying to figure out which arethe best resources for me, and
how do I go about trying to makethis as easy as possible?
Bill Davis (04:47):
Well, I can tell you from previous experience, it is
a daunting task and it's a lotto do.
Fortunately, there are expertsin the industry that are out
there t hat that can help.
One of the things that helps isto have somebody that can take
the program management, theproject management, somebody who
can oversee the process toimplement a financial planning
(05:11):
tool and successfully moveeither from one provider to
another one, or who can help a firm start up and to really get
the financial process going.
If you can outsource to a firmwith that type of expertise, t
hey can help significantly bytaking all of that work off of
(05:34):
an investment advisor and givethem more time to spend with
their clients, and give themmore time to focus on all the
other things you have to do dayin and day out.
If you hire or outsource forthis type of work as you're
exploring your planning softwareoptions, and you're thinking
about either starting financialplanning or moving from one
(05:57):
software application to another,a lot of the intricate details
of all the work that has to bedone can be taken off your plate
because these experts typicallyhave done this a number of
times, and they understand theflow of information that you
have to gather.
(06:18):
All of the work that goes aroundadoption with the financial plan
application and working with IAsin order to get them to buy into
the software and really use itefficiently so that they can
spend more time doing otherthings other than trying to
figure out how to use thesoftware.
Libby Hall (06:40):
Well, Bill, that's good to know that there are
resources out there.
If I was going to go exploresome of these and found firms
that may be able to help me withthis, what are some questions
that I could ask them that wouldhelp me decide who's going to be
the best fit for me?
Bill Davis (06:57):
I think most of the questions would center around
trying to determine that thefirm or the person has the
expertise around the softwareapplications that you're looking
at.
So you might want to ask ifthey're familiar with the
different subscriptions that areoffered and the different
applications that are offeredfor financial planning.
(07:19):
You might want to ask them ifthey understand capital market
assumptions and whether or notyou build your own capital
market assumption, or you'reusing the default within the
software application.
Are they familiar with, when youtransition from one application
to another, can youautomatically move that data or
(07:40):
is it more of a manual process?
And if it's automatically moved,how are you going to suggest
helping us to make that move?
Adoption rates- are you familiarwith working with investment
advisors and, and understandinghow they will start to use the
software?
And how do you measure thatgoing forward to ensure that we
(08:02):
have success?
And how you can implement thosetypes of metrics and those plans
as we move forward?
Explain your current planningprocess to them and how that
works, and see what questionsthey have about how you operate
today; and how you're organized,what your thoughts are going
forward to see what kind ofquestions they have there.
(08:26):
And understand what type ofexpertise they have around the
different planning softwareapplications that you're
considering.
I think really understanding theknowledge level of the person or
the firm that you're workingwith is extremely critical to
making sure that your adoptionof the new application, that you
(08:50):
decide to go with, is a hugesuccess.
Libby Hall (08:52):
Thanks Bill, for sharing this with us today.
I hope everyone found thisinformative and helpful.
If you have any questions,please reach out to Oyster and
we'll be happy to help you withyour needs.
Oyster (09:04):
Thanks again, for listening to the Oyster Stew
podcast.
Don't forget to subscribe so wecan continue to bring you
resources to help you make thebest decisions for your firm.
If you're struggling with atopic and you'd like us to do a
podcast on it, or you'd like afree consultation, feel free to
reach out to us at(804) 965-5400or by visiting our website at
(09:27):
oysterllc.com.
Welcome to this week's serving of Oyster Stew, a mix of
financial services, commentaryand insights.
Each week, we'll discuss what is happening in the industry,
based on what we see as we workwith regulators and clients.
We hope you come away with theknowledge and tools to help you
make the best decisions for yourfirm's future.
Libby Hall (00:21):
Hi everybody.
I'm Libby Hall, your host fortoday's podcast.
As a follow- up to last week'shigh-level overview of the
software selection process, BillDavis and I will be talking
about the best approaches foradvisors to take when selecting
and implementing retirement plansoftware.
Bill heads up our PlanningServices team here at Oyster.
He brings more than 35 years ofexperience and has managed large
(00:43):
areas in brokerage operations,IRAs, clearing for RIAs and
broker-dealers, compliance,digital advisors, self-directed
institutional and retailrelationship teams.
So Bill, why would investmentadvisors want to consider
changing their financialplanning software?
Bill Davis (01:03):
One of the big reasons is, as advisors build
out their financial planningbusiness, they gather a lot of
data.
And over the years, the strategyof the firm, the strategy of how
they want to do their businesschanges.
So they may want to change froma software application that's
(01:26):
more cash flow to one that'smore goal-oriented or vice
versa, or one that specializesin one or the other.
So that that's one of the mainreasons someone would, would
change.
It's a direction of the firmchanges the strategy around
financial planning, and thenfinding the tool that fits best
for their needs.
(01:46):
So for a firm, when they startto think about this, it's a lot
of work, and sometimes I thinkfirms don't realize all of the
things they have to do,especially if you're a bigger
firm.
It's really understanding theneeds around the software, it's
looking at what other firms aredoing and understanding what
your peers are doing, looking atthe different measurements o r
(02:10):
the volumes within your firm andwhat those are and how you're
tracking your models.
So that can all help you as youcreate a flow and determining
what's the best financialsoftware for your firm.
Libby Hall (02:25):
So if I was an investment advisor and I've
decided that, clearly, somethingneeds to happen, what's the best
approach that I could take tostart heading down this path?
Bill Davis (02:38):
One of the things we would do and we would help with,
and the approach you'd want totake, especially at a larger
firm, is to define what it isyou want to do.
What are the different thingsthat need to happen and identify
key milestones for when thosethings should happen?
Look at what types of resourceneeds you have and figuring out
(03:04):
what you want your overall modelto look like and how you're
going to control that.
Things like identifying andmanaging risk, looking at
issues.
You might have gaps between thetwo software packages.
Looking at what are the keydecision factors, how you're
(03:27):
going to communicate if you'removing from one plan to another.
What is that communication going t o l ook like?
And how ar e y ou go ing t o establish, when you choose a
software or even with theexisting software, a doption to
the planning application?
How are you going to work withthe FAs so that the new planning
(03:52):
software is s omething that theyfavor and wa nt t o u se?
And then figuring out how you'regoing to mentor the FAs to learn
the software so that they'll useit and use it efficiently so
that they can spend more facetime with their clients.
Libby Hall (04:09):
If I was an investment advisor, this might
sound like it's an awful lot oftime and an awful big effort to
try to make, to do what Iunderstand is going to make me
probably more efficient and moreeffective.
But I think it's going toprobably also take a lot of
resources away from me trying tostill be focused on growing my
(04:30):
business.
Are there resources availablethat can help me with this?
Are there alternatives to mesitting there Googling and
trying to figure out which arethe best resources for me, and
how do I go about trying to makethis as easy as possible?
Bill Davis (04:47):
Well, I can tell you from previous experience, it is
a daunting task and it's a lotto do.
Fortunately, there are expertsin the industry that are out
there t hat that can help.
One of the things that helps isto have somebody that can take
the program management, theproject management, somebody who
can oversee the process toimplement a financial planning
(05:11):
tool and successfully moveeither from one provider to
another one, or who can help a firm start up and to really get
the financial process going.
If you can outsource to a firmwith that type of expertise, t
hey can help significantly bytaking all of that work off of
(05:34):
an investment advisor and givethem more time to spend with
their clients, and give themmore time to focus on all the
other things you have to do dayin and day out.
If you hire or outsource forthis type of work as you're
exploring your planning softwareoptions, and you're thinking
about either starting financialplanning or moving from one
(05:57):
software application to another,a lot of the intricate details
of all the work that has to bedone can be taken off your plate
because these experts typicallyhave done this a number of
times, and they understand theflow of information that you
have to gather.
(06:18):
All of the work that goes aroundadoption with the financial plan
application and working with IAsin order to get them to buy into
the software and really use itefficiently so that they can
spend more time doing otherthings other than trying to
figure out how to use thesoftware.
Libby Hall (06:40):
Well, Bill, that's good to know that there are
resources out there.
If I was going to go exploresome of these and found firms
that may be able to help me withthis, what are some questions
that I could ask them that wouldhelp me decide who's going to be
the best fit for me?
Bill Davis (06:57):
I think most of the questions would center around
trying to determine that thefirm or the person has the
expertise around the softwareapplications that you're looking
at.
So you might want to ask ifthey're familiar with the
different subscriptions that areoffered and the different
applications that are offeredfor financial planning.
(07:19):
You might want to ask them ifthey understand capital market
assumptions and whether or notyou build your own capital
market assumption, or you'reusing the default within the
software application.
Are they familiar with, when youtransition from one application
to another, can youautomatically move that data or
(07:40):
is it more of a manual process?
And if it's automatically moved,how are you going to suggest
helping us to make that move?
Adoption rates- are you familiarwith working with investment
advisors and, and understandinghow they will start to use the
software?
And how do you measure thatgoing forward to ensure that we
(08:02):
have success?
And how you can implement thosetypes of metrics and those plans
as we move forward?
Explain your current planningprocess to them and how that
works, and see what questionsthey have about how you operate
today; and how you're organized,what your thoughts are going
forward to see what kind ofquestions they have there.
(08:26):
And understand what type ofexpertise they have around the
different planning softwareapplications that you're
considering.
I think really understanding theknowledge level of the person or
the firm that you're workingwith is extremely critical to
making sure that your adoptionof the new application, that you
(08:50):
decide to go with, is a hugesuccess.
Libby Hall (08:52):
Thanks Bill, for sharing this with us today.
I hope everyone found thisinformative and helpful.
If you have any questions,please reach out to Oyster and
we'll be happy to help you withyour needs.
Oyster (09:04):
Thanks again, for listening to the Oyster Stew
podcast.
Don't forget to subscribe so wecan continue to bring you
resources to help you make thebest decisions for your firm.
If you're struggling with atopic and you'd like us to do a
podcast on it, or you'd like afree consultation, feel free to
reach out to us at(804) 965-5400or by visiting our website at
(09:27):
oysterllc.com.
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