J.P. Morgan Retirement Link, the firm’s retirement plan administration solution for small and mid-size employers, has gone mobile with a new iPhone and Android application.
The Retirement Link mobile portal grants plan participants
on-the-go access to key account data and retirement planning tools, including retirement
income projections and gap analyses. Participants can use the mobile portal to
check account balances, contribution rates and investment allocations.
The portal also allows easy click-through access to the full
site, which features more advanced transaction capabilities.
First Allied Securities Releases Pentameter Portal
Independent broker/dealer firm First Allied Securities Inc. launched the new Pentameter practice management portal and integrated business consulting process for financial advisers.
The Pentameter portal expands on First Allied’s effort to
provide a holistic ecosystem of tools and services to help advisers build and
strengthen their businesses for the long term, the firm says. The portal provides
a centralized reporting dashboard that enables advisers to identify and
leverage the most appropriate resources within the First Allied platform at
each stage of their practice’s development. The portal can be used by both fee-
and commission-based independent advisers.
As First Allied explains, the integrated Pentameter
consulting process helps advisers assess and optimize their businesses
according to First Allied’s “five measures of business success.” These include
business development, operational efficiency, human capital, business management and succession planning.
Using Pentameter, advisers can quickly and accurately gauge
their practices’ strengths and areas for improvement on each of these measures through a targeted diagnostic evaluation and real-time financial
metrics. Based on the results of the assessment, the portal can direct advisers
to the appropriate resources within First Allied to address each practice’s
specific challenges and opportunities.
These resources include access to First Allied’s Succession Planning
and Business Acquisition Center and the Advisor Marketing System. Other quantitative tools,
white papers, best practices guides and practice management templates are also provided. The
Pentameter assessment gives First Allied’s business consultants deeper insight into the needs and capabilities of each
individual practice, enabling them to tailor solutions and serve advisers more
effectively and efficiently.
After completing the assessment, advisers can use
Pentameter’s comprehensive, integrated business-planning tool to identify
needs, set goals, assign tasks and develop a strategic plan to strengthen their
business. Advisers can also choose to work with a dedicated member of First
Allied’s business consulting staff to further develop and implement action
items identified through the process. As advisers move to execute their plans,
the Pentameter portal allows them to track progress against their stated goals,
update their assessments and improve their practices’ scores in real time.