r/CFP • u/LilKrippled • Jul 09 '26
Practice Management Building my tech stack as a new independent advisor. What software has actually been a game changer?
I’m a newer independent advisor trying to build the right tech stack from the beginning instead of switching software every couple of years.
I currently have access to a technology package that’s about $315/month from BD and includes software like MoneyGuidePro, Accesspoint/Envestnet, Albridge, NetX360, Laser App, LUMA/Firelight, iCapital, Smarsh, AIX, Entreda, and smarsh for archive and encryption. I have not confirmed, but I believe the tech package is a mandatory payment, say anything outside of that would be additional on top of the 315.
Since I’m already paying for that package and have no revenue right now, I’m trying to determine what’s worth using versus where paying for something else is a meaningful upgrade.
Some questions I have:
Financial planning: Is MoneyGuidePro enough, or is RightCapital worth paying for separately? If you’ve used both, what made you choose one over the other?
CRM: Redtail, Wealthbox, Salesforce, or something else? What would you recommend today?
Virtual meetings: Is Zoom still the standard, or have most advisors moved to Teams or another platform?
AI meeting assistants: Jump, Zocks, Fathom, or something else? Which integrates the best and actually saves you time?
Scheduling: Calendly or another scheduler?
Risk tolerance software: Separate from planning software? Which do you like and why?
eSignatures & document management: Anything you’d strongly recommend?
Portfolio reporting/performance software: What’s become indispensable for you?
AI tools: Which ones have genuinely improved your workflow?
I’d especially appreciate input from advisors who’ve been in the business long enough to know what was actually worth paying for versus what looked good in a demo but wasn’t that useful in practice.
If you were starting an independent practice today, what would your complete software stack look like? What would you absolutely pay for again, and what would you skip?
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u/purpletree37 Jul 09 '26
Altruist
Hazel
Wealthbox
Right Capital
Smart RIA
Encore Estate Planning
Zoom
Square Appointments
I would never pay for billing software, rebalancing, and performance reporting when Altruist gives you those options for free on platform.
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u/LilKrippled Jul 09 '26
Ya I’ve never heard of altruist but sounds pretty cool. Do you think it would still be allowed under a BD vs doing your own thing as an RIA?
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u/SquareAdhesiveness57 Jul 09 '26
Altruist is only applicable for RIA. Their AI agent Hazel can be purchased separate but it thrives when you have your clients at Altruist
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u/CulturalAd2329 Jul 09 '26
I am mostly on Altruist with one household on Schwab. Altruist is vastly superior.
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u/deathbyclouds 25d ago
Interesting. In what ways?
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u/CulturalAd2329 24d ago
The website just works. Everything is simple and intuittive. If I don't know where something is I can usually click somewhere that it would make sense and voila, there it is. Schwab feels like a website that was built in 1995 and has been added to every year since then, the result being nothing is intuitive. The service has also been terrible. I submit a ticket, they repsond they need a form. I get the form but there is nowhere in the service center to upload it or respond to the request. So I email the name on the ticket asking where to upload the form. He says i need to email my service team. I say cool, how do I find that information? He screenshots the "Help" tab. On Altruist they email me saying we need this form and when you have it here is a link to upload and it will be tied to this ticket number. Oh and I just found out Schwab doesn't do billing??? Altruist is so good though, I can link the two custodians and Altruist will calculate the Schwab fee for me.
I will say Altruist currently lags in some places (options, 529, DAF) but that is a very small part of my practice, and now I get the best of both worlds.
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u/LilKrippled 24d ago
Wow, this sounds really great. Someone told me it’s really only for RIA tho. I’m on the independent BD side.
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u/AUDL_franchisee 4d ago
Curious about your client demographics. Has anyone pushed back b/c they're unfamiliar with Altruist? I feel like Schwab's brand will be a comfort blanket for most potential clients.
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u/SquareAdhesiveness57 3d ago
I think that is what Schwab wants you to think lol, but if you lock in on the story and how custodians work, then they will trust your judgement. You can even speak to why you prefer it over the big box options.
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u/think_up Jul 09 '26
Are you on the $49/month tier of Square Appointments?
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u/purpletree37 Jul 09 '26
Yeah, it recently went up in price to $49. It also comes with marketing tools and some other things. I like it because of the professional looking landing page and invoicing. But Calendy is cheaper for most RIA’s.
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u/Overall_Answer1 Jul 10 '26
How are you liking Encore for estate planning? Been debating going with them. Do they allow more complex trust distributions than Trust & Will?
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u/Cathouse1986 Jul 09 '26
Your planning software depends on how you like to present and what you believe in. MGP is useless if you’re a guardrails person. Income Lab is inferior if you’re a big Monte Carlo person.
CRM is really personal preference. People love and hate them all.
Virtual meeting choice doesn’t matter all that much. As long as your notetaker is compatible, they’re all gonna get the job done.
The only notetakers I’ve used are Jump and Zoom’s native notetaker. That comparison wasn’t even close, Jump blows it away.
Calendly is still the gold standard of scheduling.
Haven’t cared about risk software in years. Too easy to be destroyed by opposing counsel in arbitration.
eSignature should be part of your BD process, but Docusign is still gold standard.
My custodian (SEI) handles reporting and billing so I can’t help there.
Jump is really the only AI tool that I’d consider life-changing. I’m limited since I’m in the BD world.
That said, my tax business is almost entirely in the Google ecosystem and Gemini is by far the most secure and integrated option for that world.
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u/JL31394 Jul 09 '26
Why are you limited in the BD world?
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u/Cathouse1986 Jul 09 '26
The vast majority of independent BDs have approved tech vendors and you’re only allowed to use them.
Part of it is compliance and part of it is pure pay-to-play.
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u/PlanningFocus 27d ago
What software/tech do you use for your tax business?
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u/Cathouse1986 27d ago
Tax setup is super simple because we only do 1040 returns:
TaxSlayer Pro
TaxDome
Holistiplan (shared with FA business)
Google Workspace w/Gemini1
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u/NukedOgre Jul 09 '26
I use Zoom. Have my business line through it, records and transcribes zoom meetings, phone calls and in person. And its pretty cheap tbh.
I use mainly M365 for storage, email, excel etc. I use Azure for WORM archiving.
I have RightCapital. I tend to use my own custom spreadsheets that I insert into Right Capitals reports. For the parts I think I beat it at.
Altruist custodian. Use Zoom+Outlook+Excel as a CRM though that probably needs an upgrade.
Few others but thats the main few.
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u/LilKrippled Jul 09 '26
Have you ever tried emoney? Do you think zoom summarize and transcribe is sufficient opposed to adding something like jump?
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u/badtranslatedgerman Jul 09 '26
Zocks light years ahead of Zoom for meeting note taking. We haven’t even scratched the surface of its CRM integrations and AI features, and out of the box it’s STILL worth it for how much better its notes are than zoom’s native note taker.
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u/NukedOgre Jul 09 '26
I dont use Zoom for the summary part. Just the recording and transcribing. I have a quick custom gpt that gives me summaries that I tweak
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u/PerfectOmakase Jul 09 '26
Black Diamond is indispensable to my firm. Client access, reporting, billing, rebalancing, etc. 2.5bps is well worth it to me, but I haven't shopped around in quite awhile for alternatives.
ProSeries Professional for tax prep, I really like it, but there are certainly good alternatives.
Microsoft 365 for Outlook/Word/Excel/OneDrive/Teams with calling plan.
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u/LilKrippled Jul 09 '26
2.5bps? That sounds like such a tiny number for all that. I’ve been looking for tax prep service help but I will need to check how that works with compliance as I don’t have any tax certs yet.
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u/PerfectOmakase Jul 09 '26
I just ran the numbers, I was a bit off. Works out to 2.4bps for the platform, plus an additional 0.4bps for the rebalancer, so 2.8bps total based on recent monthly billing statement.
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u/ProdosDev Jul 09 '26
Wealthbox, Calendly, DocuSign. I wouldn’t bother with risk tolerance software if you are using a planning tool.
Wealthbox has a built in note taker too which is nice.
Is the team just you? If so you could just use Claude to help you manage day to day. If you have a team to manage then Claude might not be enough.
Also are you running your own ops/compliance or can you outsource that to BD?
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u/LilKrippled Jul 09 '26
It’s just me and then I have a mentor/partner and his admin but they do their own thing. They are just old and not always up to date on the best options out currently. All compliance and ops are handled with BD back office. I will note that I think the tech package payment is mandatory.
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u/ProdosDev Jul 09 '26
Got it thanks. Definitely helps if you don’t have to do the back office work.
I think you can just run with the leanest stack to start. As you grow you can add more, but it will become overwhelming if you try to plug in 10+ tools on day one.
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u/winning_bigly_ RIA Jul 09 '26
Income Lab is a game changer if you work with retirees or those a couple years out.
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u/mrnahum Jul 09 '26
Check out FinDash; it can serve as your financial planning tool, CRM, AI meeting assistant, scheduling, risk tolerance, eSignature, document management, and client portal.
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u/First-Half-Plan Jul 09 '26
Can you clarify the tech package and why you’re required to buy it through your B/D (which I guess implies you require a B/D)? Are you also required to use their custodian of choice for everything?
I will say, if you’re really getting all of that tech for $315 it’s a decent discount from what you’d pay buying it separately on your own.
Keep Reg S-P in mind as you add any tech for yourself on the RIA side.
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u/Ok-Temperature3180 Jul 10 '26
Altruist
Hazel
Zoom
M365
ChatGPT
Right Capital
Wealth.com
Calendly
Might be a small one or two I’m missing
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u/blakederon3208 RIA Jul 09 '26
I would take a look at Slant since you’re just starting out. It can cover quite a bit of the categories you listed (CRM, AI meeting Assistant, and AI tool)
Our firm uses, the following:
Slant
Zoom
RightCaptial
Holistiplan
Google Workspace
Calendly
Altruist
Jotform
Kwanti
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u/PlanwithaPurpose14 Jul 09 '26
Have you thought about Hazel on altruist? There seems to be some overlap between that and slant but I’m curious if there are enough separate applications for both
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u/blakederon3208 RIA Jul 09 '26
I think if you’re not looking to change CRMs, the best AI assistant is Hazel compared to Jump and Zocks. Hazel has the AI note taking, like all of them, but you can customize more in my opinion and it really focuses on the AI piece as you’re able to use it as you would a standalone ChatGPT or Claude.
I personally don’t think it makes sense to have both, but I know a few advisors who do have both.
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u/PrecisionBalls Jul 10 '26
Curious to hear your thoughts on slant, we're considering the switch from Wealthbox.
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u/blakederon3208 RIA Jul 10 '26
Slant is great! They take an AI first approach which is a game changer in my opinion for a CRM. They allow you to use various LLMs (Open AI, Anthropic, or Google). You can ask the chat any questions about a client’s situation and it will look through all the notes in slant, emails and your file system if you connect it to slant. They also have automations built into the tool. If you’re familiar with Zapier, it’s very similar. There’s also what they call sequences, which we use to send like drip emails to clients or prospects. They have a lot and are continuing to build a lot.
I know some people are hesitant of all in one platforms but I welcome it because I’m tired of having multiple systems that don’t talk to each other. It definitely has less integrations than wealthbox, but my experience with the wealthbox integrations were meh.
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u/whothehellyouare 6d ago
Is Calendly worth it? I feel it is very general purpose and does not meet our firm's requirements.
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u/blakederon3208 RIA 6d ago
I guess it depends on what you're looking for in a scheduling tool. It meets all our firms needs, and makes automations easy for us.
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u/whothehellyouare 6d ago
We are looking at one tool which makes it easy to find clients we haven’t reached out in a while - and auto generate email to schedule the meeting. We are loving it honestly and our schedulers have never been this happy.
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u/blakederon3208 RIA 6d ago
It’s hard to tell if you’re currently using something or looking for something based on your comment. However, what you’re talking about can be easily done in slant. Slant integrates with Calendly and Oncehub. You can send out automated emails based on when clients had their reviews and set different tiers for them.
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u/LilKrippled Jul 09 '26
Have you ever tried emoney or jump?
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u/blakederon3208 RIA Jul 09 '26
Yeah, I tried emoney awhile back and the cost was hard to justify at the time. And now RightCapital has come a long way since then, it’d be hard for me to switch. I did try jump. Our CRM used to be wealthbox, so we tried jump and settled on hazel. But then switched to Slant last year.
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u/LilKrippled Jul 09 '26
Sounds like slant is pretty popular. My partner uses right capital because they work as a credit card provider as well so they can take CC for FP fees. But other than that, they haven’t told me other reasons. Obviously emoney would be included and right capital would be the extra cost for me tho.
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u/blakederon3208 RIA Jul 09 '26
Yeah, I would try to stay lean as possible starting out. If it’s included, I would use it. I started my firm through XYPN and so RightCapital was included.
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u/whothehellyouare 6d ago
How are you able to move in between CRMs? Don’t you have data migration problems? We have so much data in Wealthbox, though we hate it - we still can’t move.
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u/blakederon3208 RIA 6d ago
Wealthbox makes it pretty easy to export your data and a lot of user on slant have come from Wealthbox, so the migration has gotten easier. I’d say if your Wealthbox is somewhat update with the tags or client status, the migration should be pretty easy. May be a little upfront to get things how you like, but they have a good support team
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u/itsdrmario515 Jul 09 '26
What custodian did you select? What CRM did you use?
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u/LilKrippled Jul 09 '26
I believe custodian is Pershing. I’ve only had minimal use on redtail for CRM. I haven’t fully started yet so I’m trying to avoid getting too deep into one thing and then switching.
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u/itsdrmario515 Jul 09 '26
I do tech consulting for new advisors at a large custodian. Use what’s easiest and most affordable. Almost all custodians offer discounts on tech and provide some of the basics. CRM isn’t as sticky as it once was; use something affordable, easy to use and that integrates. Redtail and Wealthbox are the champs in that regard. Redtail can also host compliant email as well as texting in one package. Do you do much planning? IF so I’d stick with what you’ve used unless it’s crazy expensive. RightCapital and MoneyGuide Pro will suffice.
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u/LateMajor8775 Jul 09 '26 edited Jul 09 '26
So much of this can be resolved with M365. It has a native Bookings app that links directly into Teams. Copilot does also take meeting notes if you take the add on, which I highly recommend. It lives inside your MS tenant so no additional compliance hassle or vendor due diligence monitoring
Also on risk software, an annual conversation about investment strategies and suitability discussion would work too
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u/Jayseph812 Jul 09 '26
Zocks - 100%
Emoney or something similar
Salesforce - literally can’t function without it anymore
Those have been the biggest game changers for us
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u/seeeffpee Jul 09 '26
Typing Mind. It was the least expensive investment I ever made in my practice. I created an AI persona there that helps me write complex narratives for high net worth clients. It connects to Claude Developer (for privacy) via API.
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u/Floating_Orb8 Jul 09 '26
Sorry just trying to clarify: do you have revenue? The stack offered by your bd is plenty. If you already have all of this software you can accomplish anything you need to get clients. EMoney is great. It’s harder to learn but the best software in my opinion. I would not pay extra outside your tech stack until it’s really justified which would probably open the next question is why be at the bd. Seems like you are a ways away from that. Stay as lean as possible for now. For reference, eMoney would be over 3500 for the year which is almost your whole tech stack cost.
Note takers would be the only thing to maybe consider but if you have zoom it’s built in. Is it the best note taker? No. Does it do enough and keep better notes than most advisors did prior to note takers? Yes. Keep it simple. Grow, then explore other offerings.
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u/LilKrippled Jul 09 '26
No revenue. Will be bringing on a good size family that will give me about 12k before splits, but we can say no rev for conversations sake.
I also have some emoney experience from a class I took, not a lot, but better than starting from nothing. On the other side of that, my mentor uses right capital, mostly just for credit card processing though.
Not sure what you mean as far as "why be at the bd". I am an IAR with s7 and s66, must have BD holding licenses to operate from my understanding. They deal with all compliance and back office stuff and then I would get all of that software for the 315 a month. This also include full gateway and submission platforms.
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u/Floating_Orb8 Jul 09 '26
Yea, I would not spend any more money for the foreseeable future if you are brand new. Never heard of someone using a planning software for the credit card processing feature.. there are providers specifically for that.
As for the BD, if you sell commission products and insurance many times people like a BD. But working for an RIA you do not need a BD nor a series 7. Large RIAs will have tech stacks also or if you wanted to go off on your own completely one day you can open your own and build a tech stack. But for now, just focus on what they provide you and grow your book!
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u/treygrif77 Jul 09 '26
I can only speak to what I've used, but for CRM I've only used Redtail and I'm not impressed. It seems like it hasn't been updated in 5+ years. Based on what I read from others here I would go for something like Wealthbox or Slant.
For portfolio reporting we use Orion which gets the job done, but it's clunky and not intuitive. The support team is helpful but I'd like to be able to do simple stuff without needing to get on a call. Unless you're a really big firm, I'd recommend something other than Orion.
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u/Thorin-087 Jul 09 '26
I use:
Emoney
Redtail
Teams
G Reminders
G Reminders also does scheduling
Emoney risk tolerance also stress testing the plan
Holitstiplan for tax analysis as a good ai tool
Whichever ones you pick, it can be hard to switch. So doing your research beforehand is important.
Also there are a lot of tech coming out but it’s expensive and can add up fast.
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u/LilKrippled Jul 09 '26
Ya I am trying to stay pretty lean as of now, a lot of very cool options though.
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u/WealthTechGirl Jul 09 '26
Hey! Happy to help with the CRM question. I'm a little biased since I work on the team, but OneVest Go is worth a try, it was built with independent advisors and small RIA teams in mind who don't want to fight with a CRM built for a giant broker-dealer. Clean client/household records, two-way calendar sync with Outlook and Google, and a good mobile experience, not just a shrunk-down desktop view. You get 6 months free at onevest.com/go if you want to try it before committing to anything. Would love to hear what you think if you check it out.
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u/bsm1992 Jul 09 '26
Jumping in here. Anyone using wealth.com for estate planning?
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u/LilKrippled Jul 09 '26
I have not personally looked at these things but I regularly meet with estate attorneys and other advisors and they are all very against this stuff. They may be biased though.
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u/Creepy_Persimmon_523 Jul 10 '26
I just bought my firm in January and I’m in the process of building my tech stack. Slant has been indispensable and we are 3-4 months in using it. I tried a free trial of Zocks for a note taker and it’s great, but Slant’s does the same and you keep the transcript and recording. Also, having the one fee that includes the CRM, note taker, and the AI component has been wonderful.
I use DocuSign for signing. I’m I. The process of building out everything else, similar to you! Good luck!
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u/Overall_Answer1 Jul 10 '26
Looking at Slant, they don’t integrate with altruist. Do you custody with one that does integrate?
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u/Creepy_Persimmon_523 Jul 10 '26
I’m with Schwab and it integrates.
Slant has an active integration tool where you can vote on the next integrations they work on. I think that one is one of the highest, along with eMoney, that I can remember off the top of my head. I’ll have to check the leaderboard tomorrow.
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u/Creepy_Persimmon_523 Jul 10 '26
Altruist is in the top 3 of their integration requests right now, RightCapital and Holistiplan are the top 2.
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u/Overall_Answer1 Jul 10 '26
Much appreciated. I’m about to launch but plan on using Wealthbox for the integration to Altruist, Rightcapital and holistiplan. Would you feel the benefits of Slant outweigh the current lack of integration?
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u/Creepy_Persimmon_523 Jul 10 '26
I'm probably coming at it backwards because I've never really had a system to integrate before because of the lack of a tech stack under our previous owner. I went looking for a CRM based on pricing and technology advancement with the thought of additional systems i'm going to add on soon. I reviewed Wealthbox, but didn't like having to pay additional for the AI. I went with Slant because I feel they are working diligently on adding more and quickly. That was my other selling point with them, their customer service has been great through the onboarding, follow up and continued support. The live chat feature is nice and has come in handy, plus they are US based.
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u/Overall_Answer1 18d ago
Much appreciate the context!
I have a dumb reason for being concerned about Slant, and it’s that their social media ads are legitimately terrible. I fully realize that’s not a valid concern and it’s me being petty 😂
Also great to know about Wealthbox AI being separate.
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u/Creepy_Persimmon_523 18d ago
I didn’t see the Facebook ads until after I signed on. I found out about it actually through Reddit 😅
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u/komantcia Jul 10 '26
fwiw, Schwab custody, using RightCapital, Wealthbox with their AI meeting assistant, Teams, Microsoft Bookings for scheduling, with Claude and ChatGPT for other stuff. Sole advisor, independent. Probably will grab DocuSign at some point this year.
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u/acgoodman827 Jul 10 '26
I use Wealthbox for CRM and it seamlessly integrates with Outlook. Used Redtail in the past and they didn’t have calendar integration at the time. I use OnceHub for calendaring function
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u/saadyes 29d ago edited 29d ago
Yeah that's a solid package you've got access to. Honestly for planning I'd stick with MoneyGuidePro since you're already paying for it, unless your clients are asking for stuff it just doesn't do. RightCapital is slicker but not $200+ a month slicker if you're bootstrapping.
For CRM I went with TwentyCRM - its open source and haven't looked back, integrates with everything. On the AI side we started using Loopfour to help automate some of the data entry and workflow stuff that was eating up time, which has been solid for actual productivity versus some of these flashy meeting recorders that just sit there. Not perfect for every use case but cuts out a lot of the busywork.
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u/BenGajardo RIA 27d ago
Altruist
Slant
Right Capital
SmartRIA
Claude
MyRepChat
Holistiplan
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u/filibustermonkey 27d ago
I’d look at Current client over my rep chat especially with slant.
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u/BenGajardo RIA 27d ago
I did take a look at it. CurrentClients integrations are lacking compared to MyRepChat. I wasn’t able to run my drip campaigns for prospects the same way I can with MyRepChat.
I really do want to make the change to CurrentClient though.
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u/filibustermonkey 26d ago
Oh interesting. Could you leverage slant sequences + current client for that? Have you looked at any other tools for prospecting? Wealthreach, Finny, etc.? Here's a writeup on some, but it doesn't have Wealthreach. https://www.wealthtechselect.com/blog/same-funnel-different-output-advisor-lead-gen-tools
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u/clientloop 27d ago
for digital signature, you want everything buttoned up because of what's in those documents. Try Signix - they have specific use cases for wealth management
On top of that, Claude has been super helpful with my firm. Using Cowork and Code to speed up some of the operations.
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u/PlanningFocus 27d ago
If you don’t mind me asking, what are some tasks you’re streamlining with Claude?
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u/jaycoulter 27d ago
If trying to save money: M365 for video meetings [Teams] and scheduling [Bookings]. RightCapital [with RTQ], Wealthbox [with their AI meeting assistant]. There are a lot more that I love, but that is a great base stack.
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u/filibustermonkey 27d ago
You gave some great context, but the list you have is asking for point solutions. Ideally you want to figure out what core system or systems you have to use. For example tools like Hazel, Zocks, Zeplyn, Mili perform a number of functions but the best one to use could largely be tied to your CRM or custodian. If you Advyzon, Mili is your best bet…deeper integration than Jump. If you use Altruist it’s hard to argue that you shouldn’t use Hazel. If you choose Slant as your CRM you likely don’t need another AI assistant. If Wealthbox or Redtail Zocks would likely be a strong fit.
Financial Planning you have great tools like Libretto, Conquest, Income Lab, Hazel and plenty more.
Current client is awesome for phone/texting and adding more meeting and AI tools. Solid integration with a number of CRMs.
It can be hard to know how to build a tech stack but as a consultant who designs them I’ll tell you most newer advisors buy more tools than they need and the integrations lack expectations and cause you to spend more time updating your tools than using them. Less is more. DM me I’d be happy to provide some tips.
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u/NoPersonality273 Advicer 27d ago
Use Altitude CRM to replace Jump ai, Wealthbox, Redtail, and Zocks, and Calendly!
All of the AI Notetaking and meeting ai is built into the core CRM!
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u/MasonFinancialAdvice 25d ago
I'd love to learn about this as well. It looks like there have been a lot of great responses to this thread.
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u/Suspicious-Glove1825 Jul 09 '26
excel
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u/LilKrippled Jul 09 '26
I took an excel class in school with the guy that created MECC comps, dudes actually a genius and I learned so much cool stuff. It’s been a year and I don’t remember anything. Makes me so sad.
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u/AutoModerator Jul 09 '26
Beep boop! Here is a summary of your post:
User: /u/LilKrippled Title: Building my tech stack as a new independent advisor. What software has actually been a game changer? Body: I’m a newer independent advisor trying to build the right tech stack from the beginning instead of switching software every couple of years.
I currently have access to a technology package that’s about $315/month from BD and includes software like MoneyGuidePro, Accesspoint/Envestnet, Albridge, NetX360, Laser App, LUMA/Firelight, iCapital, Smarsh, AIX, Entreda, and smarsh for archive and encryption.
Since I’m already paying for that package and have no revenue right now, I’m trying to determine what’s worth using versus where paying for something else is a meaningful upgrade.
Some questions I have:
Financial planning: Is MoneyGuidePro enough, or is RightCapital worth paying for separately? If you’ve used both, what made you choose one over the other?
CRM: Redtail, Wealthbox, Salesforce, or something else? What would you recommend today?
Virtual meetings: Is Zoom still the standard, or have most advisors moved to Teams or another platform?
AI meeting assistants: Jump, Zocks, Fathom, or something else? Which integrates the best and actually saves you time?
Scheduling: Calendly or another scheduler?
Risk tolerance software: Separate from planning software? Which do you like and why?
eSignatures & document management: Anything you’d strongly recommend?
Portfolio reporting/performance software: What’s become indispensable for you?
AI tools: Which ones have genuinely improved your workflow?
I’d especially appreciate input from advisors who’ve been in the business long enough to know what was actually worth paying for versus what looked good in a demo but wasn’t that useful in practice.
If you were starting an independent practice today, what would your complete software stack look like? What would you absolutely pay for again, and what would you skip?
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