By Mike Burke on June 14, 2023August 15, 2023 Great Valley Advisor Group (GVA) is excited to announce its partnership with Pontera, a groundbreaking fintech platform that is transforming how advisors manage held away accounts. This strategic alliance opens new avenues for advisors to deliver holistic financial services to their clients by seamlessly integrating with Orion. In this post, we will delve into what Pontera is, how it works, the limitations of previous approaches to managing held away accounts, and why this solution holds immense value for our advisors and end clients. What is Pontera? Pontera is a tool that financial advisors use to manage, trade, and bill on their clients held away accounts. Unlike traditional methods, Pontera provides an intuitive and unified solution that works seamlessly with core held away account types, including 401(k)s, 403(b)s, and TSP plans, which covers more than 96% of the held away market. Pontera has spent more than a decade developing secure connections and account support, while focusing on compliance, reliability, and user experience. Their mission is to create the tools that advisors need to assist clients in managing what are potentially their largest assets. How does Pontera work? Pontera simplifies the management of held away accounts by bringing together hard-to-access accounts using a client-permissioned security layer that streamlines the management experience for advisors. Your clients can grant you access to their retirement accounts, enabling a comprehensive and standardized view of available fund options, current allocations, and rebalancing tools. The portfolio management tool within Pontera enables advisors to compare fees and historical returns in real-time, set target allocations, and establish drift thresholds. These features allow advisors to implement their best strategies without the need for daily manual interventions. Furthermore, Pontera introduces a unique supervision tool tied to held away account management. This tool enables GVA advisors to provide a new level of assistance to clients by providing the opportunity to supervise these assets in a way not previously possible—all while proactively solving historical compliance and risk management concerns. Limitations of Previous Approaches Historically, advisors have faced limitations when managing held away accounts, leading to missed opportunities and suboptimal client outcomes. Three common approaches have been observed: Doing Nothing: Many advisors have ignored held away accounts, failing to recognize the immense potential they hold. This approach denies advisors the opportunity to deepen relationships and provide comprehensive advice. Clients may end up with suboptimal allocations in their accounts and may be missing out on tremendous tax savings that a cross-portfolio allocation could provide. Making Recommendations: Some advisors have relied on periodic statements to make recommendations. However, this approach can result in missed market opportunities and setbacks if clients make uninformed decisions based on short-term performance or emotional reactions. Advisors also report that clients will agree that changes need to be made but will not follow through on the rebalancing homework that needs to be done. Client Conference Calls: Some advisors conduct a conference call with clients to the custodian of the plan to process changes. This can be time consuming, cumbersome, and difficult to coordinate schedules for all parties. And, as a reminder using a clients’ credentials to login to their account is strictly prohibited. Pontera addresses these limitations head-on, offering a game-changing solution for our GVA advisors and their end clients. By seamlessly integrating with Orion, Pontera ensures data reconciliation and provides a holistic view of clients’ assets. Advisors can now manage held away accounts alongside other investments, creating a unified and comprehensive approach to wealth management. Advisors gain the ability to offer holistic advice, leveraging their market expertise, understanding of clients’ goals, and years of experience. With Pontera, advisors can truly become the trusted partners their clients seek, offering guidance that extends beyond individual held away accounts to comprehensive financial planning. For clients, the benefits are equally significant. Pontera enables advisors to actively manage these accounts, and multiple studies have demonstrated that advisor management outperforms self-directed management strategies by an average of 3%. Clients no longer have to bear the burden of managing their held away accounts alone, as they can now share this responsibility with their trusted advisor. The partnership between Great Valley Advisor Group and Pontera marks a pivotal moment in our ability to help clients with their held away account management needs. Pontera will headline our June 15th Basecamp call, and we hope you will join us to learn more about this unique opportunity!