Cred Blog
Family financial planning begins with the household, not the investment account. Two clients can have similar balances and similar answers on a risk questionnaire while facing very different obligations, timelines, and tradeoffs. At Cred, we believe personalization becomes more useful when the advisor can connect assets with the life around them: a partner’s income, dependents, education goals, aging parents, a home purchase, career changes, or a need for more liquidity. The portfolio is part of the plan, but it is not the whole picture.
Choosing wealth management software should begin with the advisor-client relationship, not the dashboard. A platform can have polished reporting, automation, and analytics while still adding friction if it creates duplicate data, vague alerts, or another system that advisors must manually reconcile. At Cred, we think technology earns its place when it helps an advisor understand the client more clearly, act on relevant changes, and communicate with context. The evaluation should therefore focus on workflow quality as much as feature count.
Machine learning in finance becomes useful when it helps an advisor notice what changed in a client’s financial picture and decide what deserves attention. At Cred, we see personalization as an ongoing process, not a questionnaire completed once and filed away. Income, employment, holdings, family responsibilities, liquidity needs, and goals can change over time. Technology can help organize those signals, but the investment decision still needs context, professional judgment, and a clear explanation to the client.
We probably all have that friend who, every so often, will whisper in our ear something like “You HAVE to invest in company X – it’s the next big thing”, or “The Y sector is booming, get in on it NOW!” This friend most likely read some article on some website by some “analyst”. They are now convinced that they are the next Warren Buffett, and that you should consider yourself lucky to be their friend and appreciate these incredible insights.
Financial advisors provide an invaluable service to retail investors. But the role of an advisor has been steadily evolving over the past few years.
Advisors were once focused on portfolio management – ensuring that you get the best return on your investment. However, with the rise of passive investment products, many advisors realized that they are unlikely to outperform the market on a consistent basis.
The gradual domination of Fintech in today’s globalized economy can be accounted for by various institutions.
There is no denying the fact that a Fintech innovation is taking place all around the world. In markets where the financial system is not “traditional”, these new innovations are extremely impactful and enable the financial system to be reached by a significant amount of individuals.
NerdWallet, Credit Karma, Venmo, Stripe, Wealthfront and Stash are all fintechs that have revolutionized every facet of the financial industry, from loans to credit scores to payment transfers to personal investment, in just the last decade. Chances are you have heard of all of them, and many others. What does this mean for incumbent banks that have built their hegemony offering these services?
The financial industry is changing fast. If you look away for a second, you may miss the crazy changes taking place. It takes time and effort to keep up, so we have condensed this guide down to just the most important terms.
One of my all-time favorite movie quotes (which has since been recycled into many memes) is attributed to Inigo Montoya, in the classic “The Princess Bride” (if you haven’t seen it, this should become your main priority after reading this article). It is triggered when Vizzini repeats his catchphrase – “inconceivable!”
I love how Facebook knows exactly what posts I want to see, and how Amazon and eBay offer me incredibly relevant products I didn’t even know I needed. I always change the TV channel when commercials start, because I can’t afford the newest BMW model at the moment (I’m a Millennial, remember?), and I definitely don’t need the newest, most absorbent female hygiene products. When it comes down to it, I just love feeling special. And I’m not alone.
It’s time to buy a new car. Or maybe, a new apartment. Perhaps you are moving to a new city. All of these decisions require a lot of thought and research ahead of time, so you can make the best decision for your life, while also being aware of how potential decisions would affect the rest of the world. For example, you may choose a more efficient car, which both keeps fuel money in your pocket and releases less emissions into the atmosphere.
What Is WealthTech?What Is WealthTech?
WealthTech, a portmanteau of wealth technology and subset of Fintech, refers generally to technology that aims to make wealth management and investment services and their delivery more efficient and automated. This definition, however, still leaves the term overly broad and potentially hard to understand; it may help to start at the term’s origin.