Right out of the gate, iRebal is quickly
winning over RIAs, saving precious time by making it easier to keep
allocations on target and harvest tax losses
Many advisors know that TD Ameritrade Institutional’s1 iRebal®
on Veo® can help quickly rebalance client portfolios, manage cash
flows and harvest tax-losses, but early users say this time-saving
technology does something else even more valuable: restores balance
to their workday.
An illustrative version of the iRebal
home page. (Credit: TD Ameritrade Institutional)
Regular rebalancing is a popular strategy for keeping portfolio
allocations on target, yet the traditional process – manually
loading positions onto spreadsheets, calculating how many shares to
buy or sell, and then executing trades – can take days and even
weeks when multiplied across hundreds of accounts. That helps
explain why the ranks of RIAs using rebalancing software soared to
more than half this year from 31 percent in 2012, according to the
latest Financial Planning annual technology survey.2
And the most popular rebalancing technology among independent
advisors is iRebal, the survey said. Since its launch in June,
advisors say iRebal’s customizable, cloud-based technology –
available at no cost to firms on the Veo® brokerage platform – has
helped them save enormous amounts of time and offer a higher level
of service by streamlining the complex task of rebalancing.
“Before iRebal, we were spending a lot of time on manual
processes that weren’t adding value,” said Benjamin Birken of
Woodward Financial Advisors Inc., a Chapel Hill, N.C., firm that
manages $180 million. “Now, every minute that we’re not downloading
positions onto a spreadsheet is time we can spend on higher level
planning, meeting clients and talking about their finances.”
A few weeks ago, Birken said he used iRebal to sell two funds
for clients that held them, and purchase a new fund for those same
clients, completing in an hour and a half work that normally would
have taken a month. “That’s the kind of A-Ha! moment every firm
will have. The time savings created by iRebal are incalculable,” he
said.
The ability to scale up – that is, serve more customers
efficiently and profitably – has become a top concern among RIAs
since low-cost online advisory firms emerged as a threat to
traditional advisors. A growing number of firms are looking to stay
competitive by using technology to automate routine tasks and
deliver a better experience for consumers with high expectations
for service and convenience.
“There’s a lot of talk about people competing against
robo-advisors but, at the end of the day, the lines will blur: we
will all be technology-assisted advisors. It’s going to be about
people utilizing cutting edge technology and iRebal deserves a
place in that conversation,” said Josh Brown, chief executive of
Ritholtz Wealth Advisors, a New York-based RIA that manages $170
million in client assets. “iRebal makes the whole process of
rebalancing and tax-loss harvesting faster and easier.”
WNY Asset Management of Williamsville, N.Y., manages $340
million across more than 3,000 accounts, using model portfolios,
WNY research director Joseph Starinsky said. Exchanging a stock or
mutual fund, he said, could require hundreds of trades that would
take days or even weeks.
“This is one sleek machine: it cuts the time we spend on
rebalancing portfolios by more than half, even 75 percent,”
Starinsky said. “Our firm has really embraced it. It takes away the
stress from the daily trading mayhem and gives me more time to
concentrate on my other duties, like research.”
It also handles the nuances of what are complicated
transactions. For example, iRebal helps advisors simplify the work
of assessing tax implications of portfolio moves at the position
level or for each lot, which is especially helpful when clients
have multiple accounts. Advisors can set iRebal to calculate the
tax impact of trades during rebalancing, streamlining the process
of identifying and harvesting tax loss opportunities as they
happen, not just at the end of the year.
“I can’t even imagine how long it would take to look at every
single after-tax account manually to try to find positions or lots
that had losses significant enough to justify the trading costs,”
Woodward’s Birken said. “Now we can run that request across the
whole client base in a couple of minutes and see all the losses
that meet certain parameters. That’s huge. “
Since iRebal on Veo was launched in June, nearly 700 advisors
have completed introductory training in workshops and webcasts. New
training classes continue to fill up as quickly as they are
announced and firms are quickly using the technology to generate
trades.
“We’ve been beating down the doors to get access. It’s one of
the most important tools we use, because it lets us determine what
needs to be rebalanced in minutes and then fire off trades. That’s
powerful,” said portfolio manager Donald Capone of J.K. Financial
Inc., a Dallas firm managing nearly $100 million. “Advisors won’t
know how much time they can save until they use it,” he said.
And because it enhances the value of a firm’s services, it also
can be a competitive strength, he said. “This is a tool that many
advisors don’t have and so it sets us apart. We have the capacity
to know by the minute how our accounts line up and, at the push of
a button, attempt to take advantage of moves in the market.”
Ritholtz Wealth Advisors recently sent its clients a report,
generated with the help of iRebal, that detailed the results of
tax-loss harvesting transactions.
“We live in a day and age when advisors struggle to demonstrate
their value,” said Brown. “We want to show all the tools that we
bring to bear for the client.”
J. Richard Coe, whose Coe Financial Services in Wichita, Kan.,
manages nearly $100 million in assets, says iRebal makes his firm
more “nimble” by letting him execute trades as potential
opportunities arise. Spending less time on routine, labor intensive
tasks means more time for more productive activities, from meeting
clients and networking to big picture thinking and tactical
trading.
“One of the most time sensitive things we do is trading and we
want to be able to pursue the delivery of better results to our
clients,” he said. “I can’t imagine doing what we’re doing without
it.”
To learn more about iRebal, visit iRebal.com, call (800)
934-6124 or watch this introductory video.
About TD Ameritrade InstitutionalTD Ameritrade
Institutional is a leading provider of comprehensive brokerage and
custody services to over 4,500 fee-based, independent registered
investment advisors and their clients. Our advanced technology
platform, coupled with personal support from our dedicated service
teams, allows investment advisors to run their practices more
efficiently and effectively while optimizing time with clients. TD
Ameritrade Institutional is a division of TD Ameritrade, Inc., a
brokerage subsidiary of TD Ameritrade Holding Corporation.
About TD Ameritrade Holding CorporationMillions of
investors and independent registered investment advisors turn to TD
Ameritrade’s (NYSE: AMTD) technology, people and education
resources to help make investing and trading easier. Online or over
the phone. In a branch or with an independent RIA. First-timer or
sophisticated trader. Our clients want to take control, and we help
them decide how - bringing Wall Street to Main Street for more than
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Football League for the 2014, 2015 and 2016 seasons, TD Ameritrade
has time and again been recognized as a leader in investment
services. Visit TD Ameritrade's newsroom or amtd.com for more
information.
Brokerage services provided by TD Ameritrade, Inc., member FINRA
(www.FINRA.org) / SIPC (www.SIPC.org).
Advisors have not received remuneration for participation in
providing these testimonials. Advisor testimonials may not
represent the experience of all advisors using TD Ameritrade
brokerage services. The advisors mentioned are not affiliated with
TD Ameritrade Institutional. More information about the advisors is
available on the SEC website (www.adviserinfo.sec.gov).
1 TD Ameritrade Institutional is a division of TD Ameritrade,
Inc., a brokerage subsidiary of TD Ameritrade Holding Corporation.2
Tech Survey 2015: What's New Now?, Financial Planning, Dec. 1,
2014,
http://www.financial-planning.com/news/technology/tech-survey-2015-whats-new-now-2691255-1.html?force_pg=/News/
(Registration required)
Source: TD Ameritrade Holding Corporation
Photos/Multimedia Gallery Available:
http://www.businesswire.com/multimedia/home/20150108005070/en/
TD AmeritradeJoseph Giannone, 201-369-8705Communications &
Public AffairsJoseph.Giannone@tdameritrade.com
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