eMoney readies advisors for filing season with addition of new tax planning features: Wealthtech Weekly

February 2, 2023 9:23 AM

eMoney Advisor is beefing its tax planning capabilities for advisors just in time for their clients' looming date with Uncle Sam.

The financial planning software developer, part of Fidelity Investments, announced Wednesday new features coming to the platform that will give financial advisors the ability to show their clients the impact Roth conversions and other tax strategies have on their financial plans.

The new features — called the "Tax Bracket Report" and the "Automated Bracket-Based Roth Conversion" — are tools that can be leveraged in eMoney's Decision Center via a few clicks and drop-down boxes.

The Tax Bracket Report overlays a client's tax bracket floor with their annual income tax base and the taxable portion of any Roth conversion. It also provides insight into what remains in the federal marginal bracket for each year, identifying new opportunities and topics for conversation.

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The Automated Bracket-Based Roth Conversion tool quickly converts assets until reaching the breakpoint between marginal tax brackets. A full breakdown of how to use both tools, along with visual examples, can be found here.

"These new capabilities easily enable advisors to have dynamic tax planning conversations with their clients, which are then brought to life in the Decision Center," Josh Belfiore, advisory product manager at eMoney, said in a statement. "These conversations are especially top-of-mind for advisors as they navigate the SECURE 2.0 Act changes."

Belfiore adds that following the passage of SECURE 2.0, eMoney made a number of updates to accommodate the changes with more on the way. The following upgrades are now live on the eMoney Advisor platform and available to all users:

Required Minimum Distribution (RMD): The age to start taking RMDs has increased to age 73 in 2023 and to 75 in 2033.

Roth RMD: Roth funds in a qualified employer plan are no longer subject to RMD.

Contributions Indexed: Catch-up contributions to an IRA are now indexed for inflation.

"In addition to the tax planning benefits that are so important, we're really excited about these new capabilities because they build upon the streamlined, intuitive and comprehensive work environment within the Decision Center," Belfiore said.

Ahead of releasing the Tax Bracket Report and Automated Bracket-Based Roth Conversion tools, eMoney launched a feature called Total Taxes Report at the end of 2022 that shows advisors and their clients the impact of their decisions in real time by providing visibility into how different plan changes can impact their long-term cumulative taxes.

Scroll down to get caught up on other recent fintech news you might have missed in our Wealthtech Weekly recap. And check out the previous edition here.

Pontera lands Envestnet integration

Dave Goldman, chief business officer of Pontera

Pontera

Pontera is taking its held-away retirement account talents to Envestnet in what is the New York-based fintech's biggest partnership yet.

Founded in 2012 and formerly known as FeeX before an early 2022 rebrand, Pontera creates software tools that empower advisors to trade and rebalance clients' 401(k)s, 403(b)s, 457s, variable annuities and 529s with a complete view of all of their clients' investments.

This week, the firm is celebrating being integrated into Envestnet's financial wellness ecosystem. With this integration, advisors and financial professionals can plan, review and bill on employer-sponsored accounts in applications within the popular Envestnet|Tamarac platform.

The integration enables advisors to incorporate clients' retirement savings account balances into views of their entire financial picture.

"Our integration with Envestnet reflects our collective commitment to delivering technology that helps advisors create better financial outcomes for their clients," Dave Goldman, chief business officer of Pontera, said in a statement. "We are proud to partner with Envestnet to enable more clients to manage their retirement and investment allocations in a single view."

According to Federal Reserve data, the median American family holds more than half of their net worth in retirement accounts. Pontera's tools let advisors view held-away account data, run aggregated and performance reporting, and bill on those accounts in the Envestnet ecosystem.

"We have a shared goal to help resolve a longstanding problem for retirement savers — the ability to have the entirety of their assets professionally managed by their trusted advisor to better achieve an Intelligent Financial Life," Envestent Head of Product Innovation Dani Fava said in a statement. "This integration enables advisors to manage 401(k)s on behalf of their clients and gives them the ability to include these accounts in their existing billing process."

Fintech veteran joins Docupace as COO

New Docupace COO Mike Zebrowski

Docupace

The California-based fintech focused on helping financial professionals on the move do so more efficiently has added an industry veteran to its leadership ranks.

Docupace this week announced the addition of Mike Zebrowski as its new chief operating officer. Zebrowski will oversee teams in product, delivery, relationship management, support, training, transitions and legal.

Zebrowski, who in September was announced as one of four industry experts and former wealthtech executives to make up the first cohort of the F2 Strategy executives-in-residence program, has more than 27 years of experience in the advice and investment industry.

His career includes tenures at MassMutual, TD Bank and a decade as chief operating officer at eMoney where he worked alongside the company founder Edmond Walters.

Zebrowski also co-founded Advisor Innovation Labs (A.I. Labs) with Docupace board Chair Lori Hardwick. A.I. Labs was purchased by Envestnet to further its UI/UX and integration capabilities.

"It's wonderful to have an accomplished executive with a proven track record of leading execution and driving elevated client experience at diverse global organizations during periods of accelerated growth," David Knoch, CEO at Docupace, said in a statement. "Mike will play a significant role in deepening relationships with clients and empowering the Docupace brand to become known for its vibrant culture of execution excellence."

"I'm excited to join an organization committed to elevating what they (do) and how they do it," Zebrowski added. "We're putting the back office in the front seat for those wealth management firms seeking to grow and scale their businesses."

TIFIN and Morningstar once again join forces to boost AI-powered wealth platform

Vinay Nair, founder and CEO of TIFIN

BOB_CARMICHAEL

A new partnership between TIFIN and Morningstar aims to improve the capabilities of the former's latest innovation.

On Wednesday, the two companies announced that Morningstar has entered an agreement to provide TIFIN AMP with aggregated insights from Morningstar products to enhance TIFIN AMP's algorithmic models.

Launched in early December, TIFIN AMP (Asset Manager Platform) is billed as the industry's first software as a service AI platform to support the marketing, data and sales needs of asset management firms.

It follows the November launch of TIFIN Wealth, a client personalization platform that integrates more than a dozen tools focused on making client engagement unique and providing actionable recommendations to advisory firms who want to grow. The platform also sets out to answer questions for wealth managers like which clients to focus on and the most efficient way to personalize.

TIFIN AMP clients will now be able to glean insights from Morningstar's aggregated and anonymized advisor recommendation trends that can be filtered by key demographics such as region, firm size and firm type.

The announcement is also an expansion of the collaboration between TIFIN and Morningstar. Morningstar invested in TIFIN's Series B funding round in April 2021.

"TIFIN AMP aims to be the standard for modern investment distribution. A critical component of the modern distribution capability is AI-powered distribution intelligence that is real-time, customized for each asset manager's product suite, and leverages behavioral data in addition to standardized holdings, demographic and identity data," Vinay Nair, founder and CEO of TIFIN, said in a statement. "Through this effort with Morningstar, we are taking a giant step to help the industry modernize distribution through unparalleled intelligence and a unique delivery platform."

The TIFIN AMP platform can be operated independently or fully integrated into a firm's existing CRM and marketing automation capabilities. Officials say this modular approach allows firms of all sizes to use it.