The following article was featured on Financial Advisor Magazine.
AUGUST 19, 2019
1. How did you personally become involved in fintech and what do you do on any given day?
Like many entrepreneurs, I found myself facing a challenge in my business. There are so many opportunities to grow a successful financial advisory practice today. Advisors are inundated with product offerings, and with growing regulatory scrutiny it is increasingly difficult to operate efficiently. I wanted to create something that would improve both the workflows of fiduciary advisors and the outcomes of retirement plan participants.
As co-CEO I wear many hats and am very fortunate to have a strong experienced team surrounding me. We are constantly improving our technology—setting that agenda and vision is critical. I manage all of the recordkeeper relationships on our platform and my co-CEO and partner, Michael Steffan, has been focused on growing our footprint with advisors.
2. What does your firm do/offer within the fintech sector?
Fiduciary Shield by BidMoni is an end-to-end fiduciary technology serving 401(k) advisors. 401(k) Prospector is a feature that identifies fiduciary risk factors on more than 800,000 plans. Advisors can geolocate plans, search by employer, search for service providers and even identify plan decision makers and connect with them via LinkedIn.
Advisors can request proposals from more than 20 recordkeepers through BidMoni's Fiduciary Shield platform. Advisors are able to download and analyze proposals with a simple and transparent interface. Automated plan monitoring reports are issued quarterly to help advisors and plan sponsors meet their ongoing requirement to monitor plan fees. All proposals, reports, forms and important documents are stored securely to help plan fiduciaries meet their obligations under ERISA.
3. How do you feel consumers (or if more relevant for your firm – businesses) are adapting to the facet of fintech that your company operates within?
A recent survey by the National Association of Retirement Plan Participants revealed that only 16% of participants trust financial advisors. The top driver of trust is fee transparency. Pairing transparency with a process that drives better fee results is a no brainer. Employers and advisors utilizing BidMoni's Fiduciary Shield platform are very pleased with the simplicity in which critical fiduciary data is presented and how easy it is to make an informed decision.