Ken Lotocki, Chief Product Officer for Conquest Planning, joined Julie Cooling, Founder and CEO of RIA Channel, to discuss how the firm automates the preparation of financial plans.
Lotocki is a self-proclaimed tax nerd who spent his career building and supporting financial planning software. Lotocki is a co-founder of Conquest Planning, which has a goal of speeding up the time it takes for advisors to build financial plans for clients. Because of the time it previously took for advisors to create financial plans, that time was usually spent serving high and ultra-high-net-worth clients, leaving the mass affluent market without proper guidance. Conquest launched in Canada in 2020, where the platform has achieved an advisor market share of over 60%.
Conquest seeks to make building high-quality financial plans more efficient and effective. The platform seeks to provide quality advice for advisors and self-directed individual users. The system is used by retail branch advisors, insurance reps, estate lawyers, and financial planners. Topics include annuities, insurance, debt management, business ownership, and complex estate needs. The software is not a tax planning platform, but it is intelligent about tax topics such as filing status, brackets, and contribution limits. Typical robo-advisors have a much narrower focus on investments.
The Strategic Advice Manager (SAM) is an expert system that reduces the time it takes to build a financial plan. The algorithm uses cost-benefit analysis to create a ranked list of strategies that are unique to each client’s circumstances. Because the system was built with API access, advisors can integrate portfolio construction and portfolio management platforms. The recommendations of the plan can be used to electronically open new accounts and rebalance portfolios.
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