Request demo

Dynamic Planner, the UK’s leading risk-based financial planning system, is now risk rating Marlborough’s managed portfolio solutions (MPS) range.

Marlborough’s MPS portfolios are now risk profiled along with over 900 other MPS solutions on the platform and will be available within Dynamic Planner’s DFM MPS Report Service.

The 21 portfolios target seven different levels of risk and return. For each portfolio, three options are available for the underlying investments: actively managed funds, passive funds or a blend of active and passive. The portfolios are unfettered, selecting from the full universe of funds.

Raj Manon, Marlborough’s Head of Investments – Multi-Asset, is the lead manager for the portfolios, working with the support of the wider multi-asset solutions team. The team have more than 200 years’ combined experience.

Advice firms using Dynamic Planner for MPS will benefit from in-depth reporting specifically focused on ensuring they are fully equipped to deliver good outcomes for clients under Consumer Duty requirements, demonstrating the value received for the risks being taken when using MPS.

Yasmina Siadatan, Chief Revenue Officer at Dynamic Planner said: “We welcome Marlborough to Dynamic Planner and are delighted to provide our clients with an even broader range of MPS solutions risk profiled on our platform. Having boosted our MPS research capabilities last year, we have seen increasing demand. With over 900 MPS now available on the platform, advisers have at their fingertips an expansive universe of MPS with insight delivered through the lens of our technology and asset risk model.”

Danny Knight, Marlborough’s Commercial Director – Intermediaries, said: “We’re very pleased to be working with Dynamic Planner, who share our commitment to helping advisers achieve first-class investment outcomes for their clients.

“This is an exciting time for Marlborough, with more and more financial advisers choosing our MPS service. Performance is clearly a crucial factor, and ours is comparable to the best in the industry. But over and above this, we provide an exceptional level of service and support for advisers. We believe this sets us apart, as does our partnership approach to working with adviser firms to help them grow.”

Dynamic Planner, the UK’s leading risk based financial planning system, has teamed up with Salesforce, the #1 AI CRM. The agreement makes Dynamic Planner the first and only UK based wealth planning partner for Salesforce.

This collaboration enables firms using Salesforce to underpin their financial planning process with Dynamic Planner, with Salesforce customers seeing many benefits including an enhanced and engaging digital financial planning experience. Proven to deliver huge productivity gains, Dynamic Planner will enable firms to scale their businesses, drive conversion and evidence suitability within a single system, reducing the risk of miscalibration and unsuitable investment recommendations.

Dynamic Planner has now launched on the Salesforce AppExchange.

Yasmina Siadatan, Chief Revenue Officer at Dynamic Planner said: “We are delighted to be the first UK based wealth planning partner for such an innovative and world leading company. Working with Salesforce and supporting firms that have Salesforce as part of their core infrastructure is a natural step which will be much welcomed.

“This collaboration provides financial planning and wealth management firms who use Salesforce with the ability to underpin their entire financial planning process with Dynamic Planner. It will boost productivity gains and efficiencies, whilst delivering seamless and engaging wealth and financial planning for Salesforce customers. We look forward to working with Salesforce to provide an enhanced experience for firms.”

This latest integration is the continuation of Dynamic Planner’s commitment to solving industry wide inefficiencies, a strategy at the heart of the firm’s vision.

Not a Dynamic Planner user? Schedule a free no-obligation demo with a business consultant and experience the full functionality of Dynamic Planner.

Advice firms will need to embrace app technology to attract and retain the next generation of clients, but the opportunity is not limited to younger age groups.

We commissioned research from AdviserSoftware.com, a division of FTRC, to explore the potential for technology to broaden access to financial planning and open up new markets for advice firms.

The survey of 4,000 members of the public confirms expectations around the use of technology in the advice process and points to rapidly changing behaviours. Alongside meetings with their adviser, 62% would like to track their pensions, investments and progress against their financial goals on a mobile phone app.

Unsurprisingly, demand is strongest in the youngest cohort. Those aged 18-34 are digital natives and bring the same expectations to financial planning as to other areas of life. In this group, three in four want to track their investments and access personalised content via an app. That compares to almost two-thirds (65%) of 35-55s, along with just over a third (35%) of over 55s.

Clients by age group who want pension/investment/goal tracking on an app

Young people tend to lead the way in technology adoption, but older cohorts follow. In 2014, just 14% of over 65s in the UK owned smartphones, versus 88% of 16-24s and 84% of 25-34s. Over the past decade, the gap has narrowed dramatically, and today 82% of over 65s own the devices.

That suggests the opportunity, already strong today, will only grow and extend across age groups.

By gender, both male and female respondents were in favour of the use of app technology in the financial planning process, with men slightly in the lead. Close to two-thirds (65%) of men were keen to keep track of their finances via an app, compared with 58% of women.

Those in favour of using application technology in the financial planning process

There was also some regional variation, with respondents in major cities broadly showing more appetite to use an app to supplement the adviser relationship.

Results by income bracket make a persuasive case for advice firms to consider using apps with their clients. Among high earners (those in the £80,000 to £100,000 cohorts), the ability to gain quick access to pension, investment and goal tracking via an app is seen as particularly valuable.

Clients by income bracket who want pension/investment/goal tracking on an app

Importantly, apps are viewed as a complement to the human relationship that lies at the heart of the financial planning process. Across age groups, 62% want digital solutions and human interaction to work in tandem.

For firms seeking to demonstrate ongoing value in a consumer duty world, these findings are highly positive. Apps offer a powerful way for advice firms to connect with and support their clients outside the annual review cycle, while simplifying client communications and reducing the time and cost to serve. That clients across demographics are onboard suggests the time to investigate the possibilities for your business is now.

Find out what advisers are saying about supporting ongoing relationships with our client-facing app, Tram

Dynamic Planner, the UK’s leading digital advice platform has announced a new CRM integration with Adviser Cloud.

Advisers using the new integration will be able to seamlessly transfer client records easily, efficiently and securely between Dynamic Planner and Adviser Cloud. Data is passed between the systems, with Adviser Cloud validating all data, removing the need for rekeying, leaving less room for manual errors and creating huge time advantages.

Yasmina Siadatan, Chief Revenue Officer at Dynamic Planner said: “The Dynamic Planner ecosystem is continuously expanding and today we are pleased to announce another two-way integration, this time with Adviser Cloud. This will be a game changer for anyone using Adviser Cloud and Dynamic Planner, providing a seamless user experience.

“As the latest in our growing suite of strategic partners, this new CRM integration with Adviser Cloud will continue to transform the processes of financial planning firms and drive significant efficiencies. Integrations are fundamental for our clients and we are committed to our long-term strategy of continuously enhancing the flow of information to and from Dynamic Planner as the system of record.”

Ewan Humphreys, Tech Lead at Adviser Cloud said: “Our integration with Dynamic Planner is designed to make financial planning simpler and more efficient. Adviser Cloud has always focused on providing intuitive, user-friendly software for financial advisers, and this integration continues that mission by eliminating data rekeying and enhancing workflows. This partnership enables advisers to deliver even better client experiences while saving time and reducing operational costs.” Adviser Cloud specialises in intuitive and easy-to-use software for IFAs, designed to reduce costs, increase efficiency, and deliver an exceptional client experience.”

Not a Dynamic Planner user? Schedule a free no-obligation demo with a business consultant and experience the full functionality of Dynamic Planner.

At the Dynamic Planner conference back in March this year, Dame Harriett Baldwin, MP, passionately highlighted to our audience the challenges we as ordinary consumers face in getting support to make choices with money: “Only the rich, the 8% of the population, can benefit from the healthy financial options. The remaining 92% are being left in the generic aisles.” The great unserved.

However, she also offered some hope, both for consumers and for advice firms who recognise the commercial opportunity presented by the unserved population: “With the developments of technology, in particular more powerful artificial intelligence tools, innovators will find ways to give consumers more customised, less generic financial advice.”

All too often as tech specialists, living and breathing this quandary every day we could fall into the trap of navel gazing, so we commissioned research from AdviserSoftware.com, a division of FTRC, to explore the potential for technology to broaden access to financial planning and open up new markets for advice firms. How do consumers actually engage with financial advice, and how will they want to in the future?

FTRC undertook the research, in conjunction with Opinium, in February and April 2024. The survey of 4,000 members of the general public throws up some interesting learnings.

Alongside meetings with their adviser, 62% would like to track their pensions, investments and progress against their financial goals on a mobile phone app. Demand is strongest in the youngest demographic, with 80% of 18-34 year olds expecting a phone-based digital offering to accompany face-to-face advice, but the preference is shared by close to two thirds of those aged 35-55. Even in the older 55+ cohort, 35% would be keen to check in through an app.

As in other walks of our consumer life, the younger generation are increasingly setting the agenda for how people engage with financial information and advice. Their worlds are mobile and app-led and they want to consume their financial planning in the way they access other services. The writing is on the wall.

Clients by age group who wanted pension/investment/goal tracking on an app

By income group, the results are similarly persuasive. Among those earning £60,000 or above, 81% would like to track their pensions and investments via a mobile app. For those with incomes over £80,000, this increases to 88%. This makes intuitive sense: for busy high earners, the seamless instant access to their financial plans that apps can offer is invaluable.

In addition to the consumer survey, FTRC carried out a comprehensive series of interviews with advice firms in 2023 and 2024. The findings were clear. Advisers want to give clients the best service they can, supported by technology that delivers operational excellence. They want the technology in place to ensure they can anticipate the needs of the next generation of clients and remain relevant and competitive.

Over 90% of firms thought having the means to remain in contact with their clients throughout the advice cycle was a real positive. Allowing the client to remain connected to their portfolio, policies, products, goals and other information through an app would strongly benefit the ongoing relationship.

Since our conference, it’s become apparent that expanding access to advice is not the only challenge. In a Consumer Duty world, firms are finding it more difficult to serve even their existing clients profitably, and we have seen the subsequent drop in the size of the advised population as a result. By making use of this channel, firms can pre-empt client queries, automate processes and speed up communication, reducing the cost to serve.

We believe advice businesses planning for their future can no longer ignore the opportunities that apps can bring, that is why we launched Tram, your white labelled app. To hold the financial plan in the palm of your hand will increasingly be an expectation across age groups. Firms that embrace the possibilities can unlock efficiencies, serve more clients, and bring high quality, engaging financial advice to the next generation. I’m personally excited to work with Dynamic Planner firms to grow their engagement and delight their clients.

Find out how you can engage your clients with Dynamic Planner’s mobile app, Tram>

Dynamic Planner, the UK’s leading risk based financial planning system, is now risk rating L&G’s Future World Global Opportunities Fund.

Managed by Colin Reedie, the award-winning L&G Future World Global Opportunities Fund is ranked No1 in its sector – IA Mixed Investment 20-60% Shares for its five-year performance. The fund follows a robust risk budgeting approach in portfolio construction and adopts an inherent conservative risk management culture. The fund invests in a wide range of assets, including equites and bonds, which meet Legal & General Investment Management long term sustainable investment criteria, based on environmental, social and governance factors.

On the independent and propriety 19 year Dynamic Planner Asset Risk Model the L&G Future World Global Opportunities Fund is a Risk Profile 5.

Yasmina Siadatan, Chief Revenue Officer, Dynamic Planner said: “L&G Future World Opportunities Fund is award-winning, with an interesting investment remit which incorporates L&G’s Climate Impact Pledge. Currently topping its sector for five year performance, we are pleased to be working closely with L&G to help match the fund to suitable investors through Dynamic Planner.

“There are now over 40 L&G solutions risk profiled with Dynamic Planner, meaning we take data direct from L&G to accurately risk assess the underlying holdings, institutional level research which is then available within the software to all our clients and their end investors through reports. We are delighted to welcome another L&G fund and further broaden out the choice of investment solutions and funds for our clients.”

Colin Reedie, Fund Manager and Head of Active Strategies, Legal & General Investment Management said: “We are living through remarkable times, both geopolitically and in financial markets. This creates prime investment opportunities that we have designed the L&G Global Ops fund to target. Our success is born out of a distinctive structure and process, underpinned by shrewd individual contributions to the team effort.”

Read to find more information about the fund on: https://fundcentres.lgim.com/en/uk/private-investors/fund-centre/Unit-Trust/Future-World-Sustainable-Opportunities-Fund/

Dynamic Planner, the UK’s leading risk based financial planning system, has made the first of several new key hires into its Customer Success and Marketing teams to continue to accelerate its growth and scale further.

Three new team members have joined: Will Dunwell, as Marketing Director to lead the Marketing team with more than 20 years of experience in scaling SaaS businesses to draw on; James O’Gara as Customer Success Director, with an extensive background in delivering positive outcomes for customers, joins having spent the past five years at Morningstar; and Neil Andrews, who joins as Customer Success Manager following eight years at Intelliflo, has spent 25 years in financial services and financial services technology.

The Customer Success Team will ensure a customer centric approach and build on trusted partnerships to ensure clients and their customers are achieving their goals – a critical driver of the success of Dynamic Planner. The Marketing Team will focus on executing growth campaigns, brand awareness and driving digital transformation.

Yasmina Siadatan, Chief Revenue Officer, Dynamic Planner said: “Dynamic Planner is now used by 40% of UK advice professionals and has risk profiled more than 2 million investors. We are proud to have built a market leading award-winning product which our clients tell us has been integral to meeting the demands of Consumer Duty.

“Our ambition is to continue to drive innovation in the UK financial planning market, and these new appointments will give us the firepower to make it happen. It’s an incredibly exciting time at Dynamic Planner and we are delighted to have James, Will and Neil on board. With their background and experience they will be a formidable addition to the team, ensuring that we have a strong customer-centric approach to our growth, that we fully understand our clients’ goals and that we communicate and listen in a meaningful way.”

Dynamic Planner, the UK’s leading risk based financial planning system, has added Omba’s Managed Portfolio Service (MPS) to its growing range of over 900 model portfolio solutions.

Omba MPS is aimed at advisers and designed to provide transparent, cost-effective and tax-efficient access to global and multi-asset managed portfolios. It consists of three ranges of investment options: Core, ESG and UK, with a total of eight portfolios all now risk profiled on Dynamic Planner.

The Omba MPS portfolios added to Dynamic Planner are:

Yasmina Siadatan, Chief Revenue Officer, Dynamic Planner said: “Model portfolios have seen significant growth in recent times driven by technology adoption and the increasing regulatory burden on advisers, whether MiFID2 or Consumer Duty.

“As a result we are working with an ever increasing number of MPS providers to ensure we deliver the full choice to our clients and theirs, with MPS solutions risk profiled on Dynamic Planner now totalling over 900. We welcome Omba’s Managed Portfolio Service in bringing advice firms even more choice when it comes to risk profiled MPS on Dynamic Planner.”

Co-Founder Mark Perchtold, Omba said: “We are excited to announce Dynamic Planner has risk profiled our Managed Portfolio Service (MPS). Since our inception in 2017, we have specialised in ETFs and our independence is what sets us apart.

“We believe having our MPS risk profiled on Dynamic Planner will provide enhanced choice to the UK adviser market as they strive to meet the dynamic and evolving needs of their client base.”

To find out more about Omba’s Model Portfolio Services, visit their website here

The fundamental definition of risk being lost in translation in the investment process remains very real following this month’s Money Marketing survey results.

Risk profiling a client, and subsequently recommending investments that employ different definitions of risk, is problematic. The issue lies in mis aligning the recommendation to the client’s needs and desires, leading to future regulatory sanction and client redress.

More than 10 per cent of advisers from more than 260 surveyed by Money Marketing on 1 November said that they used one company for the risk profiler and a different one for the risk-targeted funds. Eight per cent, or one in 10, said they had no standard process for measuring a client’s attitude to or capacity for risk prior to that. I suspect they may have been the same people, but we didn’t get to see that level of granularity.

Our CEO Ben Goss, commenting on this month’s survey findings, told Money Marketing, “The FCA wants people comparing apples and apples. It doesn’t matter what tool, it should be the same for the investment and the investor. The FCA might look at that eight per cent and ask questions.”

62 per cent of advisers surveyed said that they bore the main responsibility for ensuring investments remained in line with the client’s risk profile and agreed mandate. 22 per cent, in comparison, felt asset managers shouldered that fundamental burden.

It is perhaps not surprising then that advisers have increasingly recommended Risk Target Managed (RTM) solutions in Dynamic Planner in the last 12 months. New figures out in October 2018 revealed that RTM recommendations were up 15 per cent year-on-year compared to October 2017 data. The recommendation of Premium and Select-rated funds in Dynamic Planner also increased, 30% year-on-year. It makes sense that if you use the underlying assumptions in Dynamic Planner to risk profile your client, you’ll use the same assumptions for the asset allocation and recommendations. Nothing will be lost in translation.

Premium and Select-rated funds highlight investments with strong five and three-year performance, respectively. When it came to choosing an RTM solution in the Money Marketing survey, advisers underlined that returns delivered for the risk taken after charges was the most important attribute, closely followed by staying within the risk boundaries over a given period. When advisers were asked what were the key benefits of RTM funds, ensuring ongoing suitability ranked first followed by managing client expectations. All things we hear time and time again from Dynamic Planners.

The 6,500 advisers and paraplanners who use Dynamic Planner select from more than 120 RTM solutions and Dynamic Planner RTM funds under management have grown rapidly from £1.6bn in 2013 to £6.7bn in 2018, or 320 per cent. We are proud to be spearheading this change.

Ben Goss told Money Marketing, “Data on risk-targeted solutions shows the area is expanding. It goes back to the FCA’s question of how you ensure good value for money. Advisers are receiving the message and engaging with clients to get them to understand it’s about assessing the return for the risk being taken. Investment and investor just have to be aligned; we’ve seen that in the Financial Advice Market Review.”

“It’s difficult to argue that with professional targeting you are not going to get a good outcome. But blending risk-target solutions could be a bit self-defeating. Managers are taking particular allocations and tactical decisions based on their own view of risk. As long as these decisions are made within the risk profile, they are not necessarily visible to advisers.”

Dynamic Planner was founded in 2003 and is the UK’s most popular risk profiling and asset allocation investment process. It helps you and your firm ensure your clients’ investment suitability, increase efficiency and demonstrate value. Crucially it ensures nothing is lost in translation between risk profiling a client, building a risk-based financial plan, creating an asset allocation-based investment strategy and recommending suitable investments. All that translates into suitable, compliant outcomes both for you and for your clients. Learn more.

Wednesday saw the most exciting event ever held by the award-winning provider of risk profiling and asset allocation experts Dynamic Planner, at the IET in Savoy Place in London. The day was filled with controversial yet inspirational conversation, stacked with industry insight as well as macroeconomic expertise.

Advisers and paraplanners from all over the UK gathered with asset managers, platform providers, VIPs and speakers to learn the very latest in the world of investment. Simon Jack, the BBC’s Business Editor fresh from Davos, trotted us through the day with entertaining insight and mastery. Jack tells us French President Macron was the star of the Swiss slopes, and Brexit wows may be dampened by the prospect of global growth in 2018. The stage was set for a serious day.

Up next were five heavyweight CIOs from some of the UK’s top asset management houses. We heard that the giant global quantitative easing will continue to run, and we’re currently amassing pools of bonds normally associated with the latter part of wartime. The top-class debate had the CIOs agreeing that 2018 is the ‘year for portfolio housekeeping’ and advisers need to let investors know bull markets have to come to an end eventually, so make sure the risks are made clear. On cryptocurrency, this was said, ‘It’s yesterday’s story already, it’s not an investment’.

The Dragons’ Den session fired up the audience and pitches came in fast and hard from the Dynamic Planner team, with the Review Reports pitch winning over Charting and Investment Suitability Indices. The audience was delighted to hear that Dynamic Planner is taking the audience’s steer and developing the winning pitch into the product.

Updates to the Dynamic Planner risk profiler and the launch of a new questionnaire was delivered, arguably one of the most fiercely listened to addresses of the day. The remainder of the afternoon was seen through by some top-class keynotes spanning sport, politics and investment, all culminating in a quality panel debate with Dynamic Planner CEO Ben Goss, former General Secretary to the Premier League Nic Coward, Alastair Campbell, Tony Blair’s speechwriter and Simon Jack, the BBC’s Business Editor.

Firmly positioned as one the investment industry’s best events, the Dynamic Planner 6th Annual Conference has received critical acclaim by both the attendees and the wider community alike, and is set to be the must-attend conference in our industry’s calendar.

 

 

Yasmina Siadatan

Head of Marketing