My summary today comprises all the content we have shared via AdviserSoftware.com over the last two weeks. This starts with a look at two propositions in an area I now see as the most important part of an adviser’s technology, their client facing service. Specifically we explored moneyinfo’s Client Portal and their Personal Financial Management service.
Next we turned to Plan Happy the recently launched package that is aiming to provide an end to end advice proposition, built by advisers, for advisers. We extended our summary to include the latest updates to their solution.
Practifi’s Family Office Management system was our subject on Wednesday. It originates in Australia and has been getting significant attention at the top end of the US advice market. It may have much to offer those who concentrate on the Ultra high net worth market in the UK, especially any organisations who are using Salesforce for CRM or any parts of their Financial Services Cloud proposition.
On Thursday we turned our attention to two of the most popular systems in the mortgage market the Iress Xplan mortgage practice management system and Xplan mortgage sourcing.
Turning to this week, Adam Flowers began this week with an analysis of FE Fundinfo’s financial planning tools.
On Tuesday we turned our attention to Money Alive and their regtech platform and interactive video library.
Fincalc were in the spotlight on Wednesday when we examined their new retirement modeller proposition.
Thursday’s insight investigated Morningstar’s Advisor Workstation Portfolio Analysis tool.
Finally, our Friday insight promoted our next Investment Forum, which will be held on Tuesday 19th October at 2pm. The online meeting will discuss Why did robo advice fail, but why will the next generation of digital advice succeed? Advisers can register for a complimentary ticket via this link.
Yet another fun filled week in the Protection world. I want to start by calling out some great work by my colleague Rob Harvey who has put together another stunning infographic, this time on the real benefits paid out as Critical Illness claims.
Perhaps the biggest challenge we have as an industry is to increase consumers understanding that the life insurance industry really does pay out, time after time after time. If you have not yet viewed Rob’s great work on how to use critical illness claims stats to overcome objections. I would urge you to take a few minutes to read it. That should be an invaluable aid to advisers dealing with clients questioning why they might need such important cover. The infographic can be downloaded by advisers free of charge for use with clients, so please take advantage of it.
I’d like to thank all the insurers who put so much effort into providing us with the necessary stats, but can I also remind those who didn’t respond that would still love their data. We will be updating these infographics regularly as more data is provided to us.
If you haven’t already seen Rob’s excellent infographic around income protection this can be found here.
More of these infographics are on the way so please feel free to tell us which areas you would like more help in.
Also this week, we announced the shortlisted adviser firms in our inaugural Protection Guru Awards. Entries have been of an incredibly high standard and the judging has been a tough process, but the results will highlight excellence not just from established names in protection but also fresh talent, important players and innovators in wealth and mortgages.
The event is very nearly sold out with just a handful of sponsorship opportunities and a couple of tables left. If you do wish to attend what increasingly looks like a glittering celebration of the very best in protection advice, please contact any of the Protection Guru team as soon as possible.
Also, a huge thank you to all the advisers who took part in our Protection Forum on Tuesday; another great session which for those who couldn’t make it will be available soon from our websites. In the meantime you can now find the second part of the September discussion with DeadHappy’s Phil Zeidler, and how the industry can close the protection gap from this link highlights from our September Protection Forum meeting. If you have a spare hour one afternoon or over the weekend I would wholeheartedly recommend sitting down with a glass or two of your favourite wine and listening to parts one and two for some great industry insights.
The next Protection Forum meeting will be on Tuesday 9th November at 11am. Agenda topics will include a discussion on whether all COVID restrictions should now be removed, and what is holding insurers back from doing this. Advisers can register to attend the event via this link.
Turning to our normal output on Monday, Rob Harvey’s insight focused on World Mental Health Day 2021, asking what mental health support benefits do insurers offer?
Which income protection providers have the best approach to proportionate benefits was the subject of Tuesday’s analysis. Also, later that day we highlighted updates to Zurich’s showcase page which brings together some of the key USP’s of their proposition.
On Wednesday Rob investigated which insurers offer the best cover for overseas treatment. Both of Thursday’s updates have already been mentioned above.
We finished the week with a round-up insight, highlighting five things you should read about hospitalisation & rehabilitation support benefits.
Over on Benefits Guru this week we again concentrated on the results of a recent workplace pensions benchmarking with Jason Green examining Standard Life’s achievement of four overall gold awards achieved and similar results for Scottish Widows.
