Panoramix has launched a “Pro” version of its low-cost RIA platform.
Announced Wednesday, the new version provides basic financial planning features, trading and improved GIPS compliance in addition to the reporting and billing technology it was already known for.
While not intended as replacements for dedicated planning or trading applications—several of which already have deep integrations with Panoramix—the new features are meant to provide basic levels of functionality needed by advisors in their more casual, day-to-day interactions with clients and work routines.
For more sophisticated and complex client situations, advisors would still turn to integrations with Envestnet | MoneyGuidePro or RightCapital when it comes to financial planning or AdvisorPeak or iRebal when it comes to trading and rebalancing.
“The idea here is, in those cases where you as the advisor just want to do some quick scenario planning, we’re not replacing anything our integration partners do,” said Chris Hastings, CEO, co-founder and lead software architect at Panoramix.
“We don’t do complex rebalancing; if you need it, go use iRebal or AdvisorPeak, but if you are on the phone with a client and they say sell Apple, we’ve added a trading tab and you can easily search for, find it in all the client’s accounts and tell it to buy Microsoft and some Amazon,” he said during a demonstration of the new features.
Hastings went on to discuss the multiple locations within the Panoramix platform where trade requests can be initiated. He then demonstrated how easily those trades can then be exported to a Schwab trading file or sent automatically through Schwab’s trading API via an integration. The platform has similar integrations with TD Ameritrade Veo, Pershing, Fidelity and several smaller custodial platforms as well.
Minimum required distributions are another daily pain point for advisors that's addressed in the new feature: A simple right-click of the mouse while in a client account can be used to initiate systematic withdrawals and distribution of cash.
Other important features include simple financial goal tracking and GIPS-compliant composite management.
With goal tracking, advisors can enter data points to calculate and display goal results for quickly answering “How am I doing” questions from clients, and there is the ability now to run quick Monte Carlo simulations to address hypothetical client questions like “How long will my money last?”
In terms of GIPS-compliant composite management, advisors can track when an account moves from one Model to another and can accurately report time-weighted rate of return calculations during the period accounts were in a specific model. A performance data-mining tool can track composites over time and advisors can set investment minimums by account for composite reporting.
Hastings also discussed the future road map of the platform. Plans for the fourth quarter include compliance and audit support features and the ability for end clients to run their own goal tracking and simple reports with the Panoramix client portal.
To add the new features will cost current advisors licensing the platform $1,500 annually. The total cost for the entire platform for new advisors is $6,500 per year. Hastings said that XYPN advisors with less than $200 million in AUM can license the platform for $3,500 annually.
“From an advisor’s point of view, we think these features can prove to be a big time savings,” he said.
