Advanced Technology

Our technology advantage begins with our state of the art hardware, software and infrastructure. Working off a central server, our internal network provides scalability, flexibility and security for all our computer processes. This allows us to run some of the industry’s most sophisticated software programs to help us better serve our clients.

We start with a comprehensive, integrated customer relationship management (CRM) system created exclusively for financial advisors by a financial advisor. Since implementing the system, it has become the nerve center of our practice, streamlining and systematizing operations that make possible exceptional client service and unprecedented efficiency.

Next, we deploy data management software that aggregates account information not held at our custodian, Charles Schwab & Co. This data is then fed into our portfolio management system via a single pipeline to capture all our clients’ accounts including investment, retirement, banking, insurance, annuities and REITs. And, this information is fully customizable providing an enhanced solution which includes consistent, normalized and detailed transaction, position and price information.

To combine this financial information with that held at Charles Schwab, we use a software application that gives us a single, consolidated view of all our clients’ financial assets, regardless of where they are held. Its capabilities include portfolio data management, performance measurement, decision support tools, accounting, reporting and billing.

The ability to view and report on client portfolios is not enough; we have to be able to efficiently manage them. With a rebalancing software application running in the cloud, we are able to create automated trade files to adjust the portfolios in a tax- efficient manner in accordance with our strategic and tactical asset allocation outlook. Once we review the trades for accuracy, we export them to Schwab’s online trading platform—one of the best of its kind in the industry—for execution.

To create the portfolios we manage, we apply rigorous research to securities using a proprietary software program created by David L. Blain, CFA, our president and chief investment officer. In addition, we subscribe to a third-party research service that delivers unbiased, team-based analysis of market and economic factors that is disciplined, objective and risk-appropriate.

Utilizing world-class software to manage our clients’ wealth is irrelevant if we don’t apply strategic tax planning to the mix. To help us do that, we employ a tax management system that features professional tax preparation, tax planning and tax research solutions for our clients. The program allows us to provide our clients with the highest level of support, quality and value available in the professional marketplace.

But gathering and consolidating this financial information means very little if our clients don’t have access to it. To accomplish this, we added a dynamic new dimension to our client service experience with ClientView. ClientView allows us to connect with our clients via a private, secure web portal at www.dlblain.com that includes a document vault, on-demand reports and two-way online communication.