Product Partnerships – 4/3/24

AdvisorEngine, Franklin Templeton unveil wealth management platform; Elements partners with XYPN to enhance financial planning; Luma Financial Technologies announces collaboration with BNY Mellon’s Pershing; and more.

AdvisorEngine, Franklin Templeton Unveil Wealth Management Platform

AdvisorEngine Inc. launched a financial system allowing advisers to create and execute financial plans without navigating multiple systems.

The goals-based planning tool, run in partnership with Franklin Templeton, is integrated into the platform, streamlining plan implementation. AdvisorEngine supports the adviser-client relationship with features such as client profiling, plan proposals, account opening, portfolio management and ongoing maintenance.

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Advisers can use a customizable, white-label client portal to initiate processes. Multiple short- and long-term goal types, support for held-away assets and client-led planning capabilities are included. The platform is fully integrated with AdvisorEngine’s portfolio management suite, offering efficient client onboarding, trading, rebalancing and performance reporting.

“Advisers now have the power to drive a highly customized, engaging, goals-based planning experience with their clients,” said AdvisorEngine CEO Rich Cancro in a statement. “We are building upon our ethos of delivering efficiency of scale and giving time back to advisors to help them focus on their clients and growing their business.”

Elements Partners WXYPN to Enhance Financial Planning

Elements Technology Inc., a financial vitals system aiding advisers in faster client service, announced a strategic partnership with XY Planning Network Inc., a turnkey advice and planning platform, to enhance the financial planning experience for advisers.

This collaboration aims to bolster the capabilities of more than 1,800 independent financial planners supported by XYPN by giving them cost-effective access to the Elements platform.

“Doing financial planning for those in their 30s, 40s, and 50s, who are still working and may be decades away from retirement, is fundamentally different than the ‘traditional’ portfolio-centric focus of working with retirees and near-retirees,” said Michael Kitces, XYPN’s co-founder, in a statement. “Advice conversations are less about how assets are invested, and more about whether the household has built and is maintaining healthy financial habits around their household cash flow and still-accumulating assets. Our partnership with Elements will provide XYPN advisors with a new kind of financial monitoring tool, that supports these exact financial planning needs.”

This partnership gives financial advisers access to premier financial diagnostics software at discounted rates. Additionally, XYPN advisers receive month-to-month contracts and comprehensive training programs, facilitated by industry experts.

Luma Financial Technologies Announces Collaboration With BNY Mellon’s Pershing

Luma Financial Technologies LLC, an independent, multi-issuer, structured products and annuities platform, and BNY Mellon’s Pershing, a provider of global financial business solutions, announced a collaboration that will provide financial advisers with an enhanced annuity management experience.

“By expanding our annuity capabilities to the BNY Mellon’s Pershing network of financial professionals, we’re equipping advisors with the tools and knowledge that are essential for navigating the evolving annuity landscape,” said Tim Bonacci, Luma Financial Technologies’ CEO and president, in a statement.

Through Pershing’s custodial platform, NetX360 +, advisers will be able to access Luma’s educational materials, analytics and suitability tools to help them streamline and manage sales activities for all annuity product types. Pershing will transmit brokerage account details to Luma, and Luma will provide brokerage account, product and user information to Subscribe, Pershing’s proprietary annuity application.

“Through Subscribe, our proprietary annuity application, Pershing clients have access to a robust set of features to help them manage their annuity business,” said Sareena Dalla Brookshire, chief product officer at BNY Mellon | Pershing, in a statement.

Voya Financial and Empathy Offer Bereavement Support

Voya Financial Inc. announced a new collaboration with Empathy Project Inc., a support system that offers bereaved families guidance and support for many of the administrative, emotional, legal and financial challenges faced after the loss of a loved one.

Empathy’s services are now available to employees enrolled in group term life insurance offered by Voya through their employer.

“By extending the resources available to our customers through our new collaboration with Empathy, we are able to further support today’s workforce by providing full-circle care to navigate the emotional and practical challenges associated with loss,” said Maleiha Russell, vice president of life, absence and disability product at Voya Financial, in a statement.

Through Empathy, employees will now have access to its funeral-planning and will-planning services. In addition, employees and beneficiaries can access Empathy’s bereavement support that includes:

  • A custom care plan, guidance from a dedicated Care Manager and on-demand access to the care team; and
  • Curated bereavement tools such as help with closing accounts and creating an obituary, probate and estate administration guidance, grief resources and more.

DoorDash Pilots Portable Benefits Savings Program for Pennsylvania Dashers

The test program, which includes a retirement savings option, will run from April through September.


DoorDash Inc. has introduced a pilot benefits program in Pennsylvania, offering employees, known as Dashers, a portable savings plan for six months, the delivery service firm announced Wednesday. The initiative covers various expenses such as retirement savings; health, dental and vision insurance; and paid time off, in an attempt to address benefit offerings for part-time gig workers.

Independent contractors, like Dashers, can now access benefits typically only available with traditional employment. The pilot, scheduled to run from April through September, allocates funds for the benefits to eligible Dashers in Pennsylvania while receiving the backing of the state.

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“DoorDash’s new pilot program for Pennsylvania Dashers is a positive step forward, as it can give Pennsylvania workers greater access to benefits,” said Governor Josh Shapiro in a statement. “My administration looks forward to seeing the results of this program, and we will continue working to protect and expand the rights of all workers in Pennsylvania.”

Via the portable benefits tool Stride, users can assign their portable benefits savings to applicable categories of their choosing, according to DoorDash. Additionally, they can access details regarding available benefits offerings.

Specifics of the pilot program include:

  • Dashers in Pennsylvania who earn at least $1,000 in the second quarter of the year (excluding tips) from DoorDash can qualify to establish a Stride Save account and receive deposits into their portable benefits savings;
  • Eligible Dashers will receive deposits equivalent to 4% of their earnings before tips; and
  • Employees have the option to contribute their own funds to the account, which remains portable after the program ends, along with all deposited funds.

A spokesperson for DoorDash employment laws have historically prevented independent contractors, even those whose hours more closely resemble full-time employment, from getting those benefits. 

“We’re proud that dashing has helped millions of people achieve greater financial security, but we know that outdated rules have meant there are trade-offs for those who dash more consistently and may be missing out on important benefits,” said Tony Xu, DoorDash’s CEO and co-founder, in a statement. “Instead of settling for the way it has always been done, we can continue to try new things and expand the safety net in ways that provide both flexibility and security.”

According to DoorDash, the typical Dasher dedicates fewer than four hours per week to deliveries, and most Dashers have additional income sources or obligations that grant them access to benefits such as retirement savings or health care.

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