(Investopedia) - It's hard to imagine the days of financial planning and portfolio management without technology. Independent advisers, registered representatives, and accountants have come to rely on sophisticated financial software designed to help them devise appropriate investment and retirement plans for clients.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- Financial advisors often use an array of software solutions including customer relationship management tools, portfolio management tools, trading/rebalancing solutions, and investment analytics.
- One very common software program used by financial advisors is financial planning tools that aggregate financial strategies into one solution.
- The most commonly used financial planning solution in 2021 was MoneyGuidePro.
- eMoney had two of the five top used financial planning tools last year with its simpler Plus edition or more robust Pro edition.
- Right Capital and Orion are also competing and popular financial planning tools.
Software for Financial Advisors
Financial software programs typically provide a wide arrange of useful information and capabilities. The most in-demand software products include:
- Customer relationship management software organizes client information and streamlines process flows and communication techniques.
- Financial planning software provides cash flow analysis, long-term planning, and tax strategy plans.
- Portfolio management software provides comprehensive reporting tools for greater awareness and management of your client's entire asset holdings.
- Trading/rebalancing software automates and coordinates portfolio transactions.
- Investment analytics software provides all-encompassing data and historical information regarding securities and other investments.
- Risk tolerance software identifies, navigates, and quantifies hidden and known portfolio risks.
- Document management software simplifies document transmission, signature retrieval, or document storage.
Most Popular Type of Software
In a 2021 survey, 26% of financial advisors stated financial planning software programs were the most important technology tool for their business.
Though many companies may use several of the software groups above, some are very specific to financial advisors. Customer relationship management, risk tolerance, and document management solutions are common across industries.
In this article, we'll look at the top five financial planning software programs used by financial advisors. The top five financial planning software programs used by professional financial advisers based on market share include MoneyGuidePro, eMoney Pro, RightCapital, Orion Financial Planning, and eMoney Plus.
1. MoneyGuidePro
With 36.82% of the industry's market share by user in 2021, MoneyGuidePro is the most popular financial advisor software program in terms of market share. Launched in 2020, MoneyGuidePro is considered one of the most comprehensive programs.
Part of MoneyGuidePro’s success is attributed to its visually engaging, user-friendly presentation. The main portal is designed to fully engage the client, including Play Zone where the client can input different choices and options to see potential effects. The advisor retains ultimate control of the program including what parts of the program the client is allowed to see.
Owned by Envestnet, the MoneyGuide suite of products has three levels:
- MoneyGuideOne simplifies financial planning for advisors new to software for just starting out their planning practice.
- MoneyGuidePro provides more sophisticated solutions including custom report templates, estate planning, net worth statements, and risk management tools.
- MoneyGuideElite offers the high level of services including dynamic income modeling, tax planning quantification, and annuity strategy modeling.
2. eMoney Pro
eMoney offers a very in-depth program and is known for its detailed cash flow analysis module. The market share for eMoney Pro came in at 29.7% for 2021, up from 18.7% in 2020.1
One of eMoney's strengths is its financial feed that provides real-time data, alerts, and news, helping advisers stay on top of important client and market situations. Another noteworthy feature is the eMoney client portal (emX) which allows clients to access a printout of their finances at any time.
eMoney boasts the title of the top ranked financial software solution in regards to customer satisfaction.
The eMoney product line also has various standalone solutions and APIs to aid financial advisors at various levels of service.
3. RightCapital
RightCapital came in third place for 2021 with 9.71% of the market share. Founded in 2015, it's a relatively new software especially compared to the other software leaders. RightCapital competes very well with the leaders—MoneyGuidePro and eMoney Pro—when it comes to newer, smaller advisors.
RightCapital generally appeals to millennial clients who need help with budgeting and was created to exist in the middle ground between too limited and too comprehensive planning tools. It boasts a number of partner integrations with CRM programs, performance reporting solutions, custodian/clearing firms, and analytics software tools. RightCapital also boasts several specific features to its product including:
- RightIntel, a built-in business intelligence solution.
- RightPay, an integrated client billing system.
- Snapshot, personalized plan summaries for clients.
4. Orion Financial Planning
Orion Financial Planning comes in at fourth with 6.3% of the market share for 2021. Orion Financial stands out as a preferred solution for firms with assets under management between $4 million and $5 million where it had almost 10% of the market share in 2021.
Orion Advisor solutions bought Advizr in 2019 and turned it into Orion Financial Planning, seeing impressive growth over the last few years. Since the buyout, Orion was able to grow its assets under management by 50%. From 2020 to 2021, Orion Financial Planning more than quadrupled its market share.
The Orion Advisor tech solutions line includes but is not limited to tax management, financial reporting, client billing solution, security trading, business intelligence, and financial planning.
5. eMoney Plus
Another eMoney offering, eMoney Plus, comes in at fifth with 6.1% of market share in 2021. The software is a step below eMoney Pro, focusing on foundational planning with a more simplified suite of solutions compared to eMoney Pro's more advanced planning features.
eMoney Solutions
eMoney Plus
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Product Description: Leverage intuitive, streamlined goals-based solutions to build more planning-led relationships and deliver more plans to more clients.
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Solutions include basic access to eMoney's platform, foundational planning, and advanced analytics.
eMoney Pro
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Production Description: Harness advanced planning to provide the most comprehensive cash-flow-based capabilities to accommodate clients' most complex planning needs.
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Solutions include advanced platform access, advanced planning, and advanced analytics.
eMoney Plus sees most of its success with dually-registered advisors. For these users, eMoney Plus held 7.5% of the industry market share (behind only MoneyGuidePro and eMoney Pro).
What Software Do Financial Advisors Use?
There are dozens of financial planning software tools with the most common being MoneyGuidePro. In addition, financial advisors may use customer relationship management tools, portfolio management tools, trading/rebalancing software, or document management solutions.
What Is the Best Financial Planning Software?
Every financial advisor will be best suited for software that meshes well with their client's needs. Some advisors are better suited with more simple, less expensive solutions that can more easily explain client portfolios. Others require heavier analytical capabilities or more robust management tools. In either case, a financial advisor should reflect on their client's needs and back into whether a financial planning software tool is the right level for that need.
What Are Popular Financing Planning Tools?
In 2021, MoneyGuidePro was the most popular financial planning software solution for financial advisors. eMoney also had two of the top five financial planning tools.
The Bottom Line
Whether you're a small firm just starting out or a larger firm looking to upgrade to a complex, highly capable analytic solution, there is a financial planning software tool best suited for your clients. Consider what you need to best address your client's investing needs, and pursue a solution (potentially one of the more popular ones on this list) to better manage your client's assets.
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By J.B. Maverick
Fact checked by Suzanne Kvilhau
April 29, 2022
