Adviice with Owen Winkelmolen | E291

Enabling collaborative financial planning.

On this episode of Fintech Impact, Jason talks to Owen Winkelmolen, Founder/CEO of Adviice, a financial planning tool in Canada. It is a client-facing financial planning platform designed to support fee-for-service advisors and all advisors in general. It enables clients and advisors to collaborate in building a financial plan. The origin of Adviice, can be traced back to Owen's financial planning practice, Plan Easy, which he founded in 2018. The discussion touches upon the challenges faced by those in the financial planning space, especially when it comes to handling payments, subscriptions, and client retention.

Episode Highlights 

  • 0.41: Adviice is a platform that manages the entire client engagement process, including onboarding, payment processing, discovery, document uploads, planning, recommendations, implementation, and tracking, all within a single platform. 

  • 01:20: Adviice can be completely white labeled, allowing advisors and companies to customize it with their own branding, domain, email address, email content, and calendars.

  • 02:19: To make the collaborative financial planning process effective, Plan Easy started as a fully virtual practice, which was a unique approach at the time. 

  • 04:01: The development of the Advice platform followed a unique and organic path. Over the course of two years, it was built alongside Plan Easy's client engagements.

  • 04:10: New clients and plan updates served as opportunities to introduce new features and improve the client experience. This iterative approach allowed for real-time feedback from clients, helping to refine the platform's user experience and interface.

  • 6.25: Owen explains that the onboarding process in Advice is designed to be user-friendly and efficient, with yes-no questions and multiple-choice questions that are easy for clients to answer.

  • 7.20: What sets Adviice apart is its client-facing approach. Clients actively participate in the discovery process by providing information and uploading documents, and the platform's tailored design turns this into a streamlined and personalized "fill in the blank" exercise.

  • 10:02: After the initial information gathering and onboarding, the next phase in the financial planning process involves encouraging clients to engage with the system further.

  • 11.19: Advisors save time on data entry and can focus on providing valuable advice and solutions based on the information collected. This collaborative approach ensures that clients remain actively involved and motivated throughout the financial planning process.

  • 12:05: Regarding white labeling, the Adviice platform allows advisors and companies to fully brand the platform as their own.

  • 16:23: The Adviice platform incorporates a range of visual tools and features to enhance the financial planning experience and provide valuable insights to clients.

  • 18:02: The combination of visual aids, contextualization, and a client-centric approach helps clients make better financial decisions and feel more engaged in the planning process. It empowers them to see the bigger picture, understand the trade-offs involved, and work collaboratively with their advisors to achieve their financial goals with confidence.

  • 21:02: The conversation underscores the need for innovation and entrepreneurship in the financial planning industry to cater to a broader range of clients, including those who may not fit traditional high-net-worth profiles.

  • 26:50: What Omen sees next is really around the automation of the math itself, making it easier for the adviser to do the sort of the finance side of things and spend more time on the personal finance. 

  • 31:30: Owen highlights the common challenge in the financial planning industry, where the traditional approach involves delivering a financial plan document to clients, and then it often stops there.

  • 32.03: Today's technology allows for more frequent and efficient updates, which is crucial for keeping financial plans relevant and aligned with changing circumstances.

  • 33:01: The idea of advisors adopting a hybrid fee-for-service model to cater to clients at various income and asset levels is a strategic approach, says Owen.

3 Key Points

  1. What sets Adviice apart from many other financial planning software platforms is its emphasis on workflow and planning tools.

  2. The platform's client-facing nature, combined with the ability to mark completed actions and interact with the plan regularly, fosters ongoing engagement and collaboration between clients and advisors. This approach ensures that financial planning becomes an ongoing, dynamic process rather than a one-time event, ultimately leading to better financial outcomes for clients.

  3. The discussion emphasizes the importance of shifting from a one-time financial planning model to an ongoing and collaborative planning experience. It's recognized that the real value in financial planning lies in the continuous planning process, which takes into account the changing circumstances and goals of clients over time.

Tweetable Quotes

  • "The practice Plan Easy was entirely virtual, emphasizing speed and efficiency in delivering financial planning services to clients. This experience and mission laid the foundation for the development of Adviice as a platform to support financial advisors and clients in collaborative financial planning." - Owen Winkelmolen

  • "Planning software may start with the planning tool itself, and the front-end (client acquisition, payments, etc.) and back-end (modeling) are secondary considerations." - Owen Winkelmolen

  • "The use of visual tools like the Sankey diagram and the contextualization of financial data are essential for helping clients truly understand their financial situation and the impact of various scenarios." - Owen Winkelmolen

  • "Encouraging the adoption of fee-for-service planning could lead to more accessible financial advice for a broader segment of the population, ultimately improving financial literacy and well-being." - Owen Winkelmolen

  • "The ability to white-label and customize the platform for different niches and client segments is a testament to its flexibility and usability" -Jason. 

Resources Mentioned:

Fintech ImpactJason PereiraFintech