Products March 28, 2018

Betterment for Advisors Offers More Flexibility for Client Portfolios

With Flexible Portfolio, advisers now have the option to personalize a client's portfolio around their views, current holdings and personal circumstances.

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Betterment for Advisors launched a new portfolio strategy financial professionals can use to manage their clients’ investments, known as Flexible Portfolio.

Advisers using the Betterment for Advisors platform now have the ability to control asset class weights within their clients’ core Betterment portfolio, allowing them to decide how money is distributed. Using this new portfolio strategy, advisers now have the option to personalize a client’s portfolio around their views, current holdings and personal circumstances. Advisers also have more flexibility to express their expertise and preferences within their clients’ investment holdings.

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“One of our top priorities this year has been giving advisers more options and control to customize their experience on our platform,” says Cara Reisman, director of Betterment for Advisors. “With the launch of Flexible Portfolio, advisers can now offer an even more personalized service on behalf of their clients.” 

“The launch of Flexible Portfolios allows expertise from partner advisory firms, who may have different views about the expected risk and return of various asset classes, but still believe in the foundations of low-cost, evidence-based investing,” says Brad Felix, CFA, portfolio manager and founder at RhineVest and client of Betterment for Advisors. “We’re thrilled that Betterment is giving us the opportunity to provide more control of our clients’ investments.”

Since its launch, Betterment for Advisors has made a number of improvements to its platform to meet the demands of advisers. The introduction of Flexible Portfolio follows a series of improvements to its platform to meet this goal, including enhancements to its allocation advice, and access to additional portfolio strategies including an SRI Portfolio, the BlackRock Target Income portfolio, Goldman Sachs’ Smart Beta, and the Vanguard Portfolio.

At launch, Betterment’s Flexible Portfolio will be available for all advisers to use to manage their clients’ investments. Flexible Portfolio is complimented by Betterment’s features designed to increase after-tax returns: Tax-loss harvesting (TLH) and Tax-coordinated portfolios (TCP).

For more information, visit BettermentforAdvisors.com.
Products March 28, 2018

Ladenburg Launches Behavioral Finance Advice Training Program

Through the Behavioral Financial Advice Training Program, Ladenburg’s Practice Management team of professional business coaches provide education and training in order to support advisers in better understanding the psychological makeup of their clients.

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Ladenburg Thalmann Financial Services Inc. announced its Ladenburg Practice Management team has launched the Behavioral Financial Advice Training Program to help fuel the growth and success of financial advisers across Ladenburg’s five subsidiary firms: Securities America, Triad Advisors, KMS Financial Services, Investacorp and Securities Service Network (SSN).

Through the Behavioral Financial Advice Training Program, Ladenburg’s Practice Management team of professional business coaches provide education and training in order to support advisers in better understanding the psychological makeup of their clients, with a particular emphasis on developing the behavioral coaching expertise needed to help clients avoid making emotional decisions about finances that can lead to negative outcomes.

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The program, offered in cooperation with professional coaching and leadership consulting firm think2perform, trains advisers to help clients make better financial decisions through a rational, values-based approach; better prepare clients for unplanned life events; and understand how traditional financial practices are driven by psychology and neuroscience. The program allows advisers to move beyond a product focus and to more effectively influence the spending and saving behavior of clients, deepening client relationships and positioning themselves to better attract and retain new clients.

Advisers who successfully complete their Behavioral Financial Advice certification exam are then authorized to use the Behavioral Financial Advisor designation, or BFA.

In a related development, Ladenburg also announced it will make its “Next Level” business coaching program available to all subsidiaries across the Ladenburg enterprise going forward. Ladenburg’s Next Level business coaching program, which was developed by Securities America 10 years ago for the firm’s advisers, offers accountability coaching to help advisers increase their efficiency and profitability, while achieving a better work-life balance. The first Next Level program offered to all advisers across the Ladenburg enterprise will be held in late April in Chicago.

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