I am a career changer. I originally worked in leveraged finance when I left school. I always imagined myself as a working mother. I had three children.
I was traveling from New Jersey to the city. Life throws you curves. It didn't work anymore. So, I left Wall Street. I used to work at home, but I'm one of those people who can't sit still.
I fell into this industry (after) I started getting involved in the community where I live, Short Hills in Millburn Township, in Essex County, NJ I ran for a seat on the Millburn Township School District Board of Education. When I was elected, the president of the school board was Jeffrey Waters. He made me chairman of the (school board) finance committee.
He also came from Wall Street, having retired in the early 2000s. Then, he got his CFP and started OFC, which stands for Order From Chaos. The premise was that he was a high-level executive, an associate director of US equity research at Salomon Smith Barney, yet his financial affairs were in disarray.
When I came along, he was in business as a sole practitioner. I was blown away by the flexibility he had in his schedule. I asked him if I could join him and learn the business. In 2016, I received my CFP. Now, we are 50/50 business partners.
CRM, Rebalancing, Reporting and Portfolio Management: Advyzon
For CRM, we had been using Wealthbox. It was good, but it didn't have that performance reporting option. We learned about Counseling area and made the transition.
We provide our clients with quarterly performance reports for their portfolios. We started using It just advises on that part. Then we decided to use CRM.
When I came, I said, “Okay, we have to review this. We need a technology.” He had just been using Microsoft Outlook and Excel. Very solo-y. Going from a solo to a partnership, there was so much on his mind. His background for his clients was saved in Microsoft Outlook. We used that CRM to get him to open his vault of information in his mind so that I could be more of a partner to him in customer service.
I am amazed at what Advyzon can do. It's fantastic. They continue to expand and respond to the needs of more counselors in a way that other programs don't seem to be able to do so quickly.
We have expanded our use of Advyzon. In use Advyzon's Quantum Rebalancer, which is new to us and our most recent adoption in the last couple of months. Before that, it was good old Microsoft Excel. I built a rough model. Because of my Wall Street background, I speak Microsoft Excel. For me, it was no big deal. But then we started growing so fast, and it was too much.
Trading: At home
We create our own models. Schwab is our guardian. We take this approach as both have had extensive experience in growth firms in the equity and debt capital markets. We are the marketers.
Financial Planning: eMoney / Income Lab / Holistiplan
We have used eMoney Advisor for years. It's fantastic for cash flow. Once you get eMoney Advisor and know how to use it, it would be too much to go back because it is so detailed. Nothing else would be as good.
I have started using Revenue Lab to complete the eMoney Advisor. It presents information in a more digestible way. Instead of giving you a success rate, shows how much money you will earn per month in retirement. It is more customer friendly.
We also use Holistiplan, which is powerful. I love that software.
Document Management: eMoney Vault
We use eMoney Vault to share documents with our customers. Advyzon has an integration with eMoney Advisor. We can generate performance reports in Advyzon and they can automatically go to our customers' electronic money vaults.
Legal Documents: Family Legal Software
One of the things I did to improve my offering was to become a Certified Divorce Financial Analyst. I use Family Law Software, which is cool. You may have a license as a financial professional, but mostly, it's up to divorce attorneys to generate the paperwork for the cases. If someone hires me early in their process, I can coordinate with their attorney. I can take things like developing a net worth statement out of the hands of lawyers. This is the field. This will save the customer time and money. It is quite stressful when you are going through a divorce. They may say to a lawyer, “You don't have to pay your lawyer upfront to request a tax return. I have this.” Family Law Software produces the documents your attorneys need for court filings and financial forecasting.
AI note-taking assistant: Zocks
Zocks it has been transformative for my business. It can take notes on Zoom, Microsoft Teams and Google Meet meetings. It creates a summary for you. It gets smarter and recognizes you. You can teach them how you like your memos and snacks afterwards. It is designed for financial advisors. I already know if you are talking about a Roth conversion. The software understands those concepts. I had to make some corrections. He didn't know how to pronounce “Advyzon”. This made it “Recommend”. This is not a big deal.
They are also careful with compliance. You want to make sure that you are not storing customer information, making sure that it is secure and confidential. I am impressed with them.
It allows me to go on consecutive dates. I know I won't forget anything. This has been a way for me to make sure nothing slips through the cracks. This is important as a lean organization.
We're not just talking about numbers. We are getting to know our customers as people. We want to know what's going on in their lives. Part of Zocks makes this family tree. It's good. As a working mother, I call myself a modern feminist. I want to do it all and I should be able to do it all. I feel like a superhero for having that kind of backup to not miss any details. It's like a superpower. I am excited.
They tell me that integration with Advyzon is coming in their next release. I hope it is. I don't know what I'm going to do with all my free time.
Editor's Note: Zocks is part of a rapidly growing segment of advisor technology that includes SIFA (now AdvisoryAI), dance, Brightwave, AdvisorX.ai and many others marketing and communications applications and platforms.
As told by reporter Rob Burgess and edited for length and clarity. The views and opinions are not representative of the views of WealthManagement.com.
Want to tell us what's in your possession? Contact Rob Burgess at (email protected).