Betterment for Advisors is endorsing a RIA-starter tech stack that includes CRM, financial planning and compliance capabilities. CRM provider Wealthbox, financial planning software developer RightCapital and compliance service RIA in a Box have all been added to Betterment for Advisors’ new RIA Tech Suite, according to an announcement. The collection of popular tech firms is best suited to the “early days” of a RIA’s business, said a company spokesperson.
Not only do the firms in the RIA Tech Suite earn Betterment for Advisors’ stamp of approval, but advisors using two or more of the services can receive discounts that add up to $3,100 in their first year. The original members of the suite were selected for their popularity, ease-of-use and reliability, said Betterment spokesperson Danielle Shechtman.
“We’ve integrated with many of these firms for years,” she said. “Over time, usage of these firms in particular has ballooned.” Betterment measured the growth in usage of the firms by tallying up integration requests.
“The decisions made in the early days of a practice can have major ramifications,” she added. “We wanted to help make that choice easier by shining a light on a solid stack on which RIAs can run their practice.”
Betterment wants to become the “single destination” for advisors, said David Goldstone, head of research at Backend Benchmarking. There aren’t “significant integrations” between Betterment and the firms in the tech suite, he said. Advisors instead benefit from the discounted pricing of bundling software.
Betterment isn’t the only firm or organization offering discounts for RIAs. Membership organization XY Planning Network offers its own tech stack suggestions and discounts, with the addition of a number of other benefits like trade association membership and other support. There are also services like LPL’s Vendor Affinity Program, a centralized repository of vendors that have agreed to provide their products and services to LPL advisors at discounted prices.
