Today we launched the NextWealth Directory to allow financial planners to learn from the successes – and mistakes – of their peers to run more efficient, profitable and scalable businesses. The NextWealth Directory profiles and rates the technology companies that support the UKs financial advice businesses – with over 1,400 reviews of individual components of adviser technology systems at launch.

We are releasing the directory to help financial planners make more informed decisions about the technology infrastructure supporting their businesses. Many financial planners work in small businesses that don’t have the skills in-house or the time to invest in getting technology to run smoothly.

We think the adviser tech stack is ripe for disruption. By shining a light on what’s working and what’s not, the directory will help financial planners run more efficient businesses and push the industry to adapt, innovate and thrive.

Financial planners and those working in financial planning firms: we hope you will read a review and leave a review.

Please get in touch with any questions and comments. This is the NextWealth Directory 1.0. Let us know what to include in version 2.0.

And now, some data…

• Spend on tech is highly correlated to firm size (by AUA or number of employees). 84% of sole traders spend less than £10k on technology in the most recent fiscal year while 71% of firms with 50 or more employees spent more than £100k.
• Most firms use back office systems (88%), cash flow modelling (80%) and risk profiling (78%). And just over half use a client portal (54%).

And what do the data tell us about providers?

• Some 46% of financial planers say they use Intelligent Office and 11% use Xplan. But True Potential gets the highest score on willingness to recommend
• Back office systems earned the lowest scores. Financial planners express frustrations at a lack of effective integrations.
• CashCalc and Voyant are the most used cash flow modelling tools. Voyant gets better reviews from financial planners with a score of 4.4 out of 5 for willingness to recommend.
• Dynamic Planner is used by 30% of advisers that use attitude to risk tools, making it by far the most used tool. But Finametrica and Oxford Risk say they are more likely to recommend those firms compared with users of Dynamic Planner.

The NextWealth Directory rates and reviews the technology that supports financial planning businesses. The more the directory is used the more useful it will be to the community. You can sign up for free and leave a review either under your name or anonymously on our website.