News & Opinion

In The Media

Announcing the 2020 PlanPlus Global Canadian Financial Planning Awards Winners

July 22, 2020—PlanPlus Global, a Morningstar company, announced the winners of the 2020 Canadian Financial Planning Awards competition, which recognizes excellence in the financial planning profession. The competition was launched in 2013 to help increase awareness and understanding of the important role played by financial planners in Canada. The competition...

PlanPlus Global, a Morningstar Company, Recognized in the 2020 Global WealthTech100 List

PlanPlus Global, a Morningstar company, is proud to be included in the 2020 Global WealthTech100 list, which recognizes the top 100 companies transforming the global investment and banking industries. Thank you to our employees for your unbelievable work and to all our clients for placing their trust in us. Read...

A Comparison of Risk Tolerance Products

"Bear markets beget portfolio losses, unhappy clients and, sadly, lawsuits against advisors. If you relied on any of the popular risk tolerance products to construct that portfolio, here’s how you are likely to fare under the careful scrutiny of an arbitrator." -Bob Veres Discover how FinaMetrica and the SuitabilityPro features...

PlanPlus Global Joins Morningstar

On April 3, 2020, Morningstar, Inc. completed its acquisition of PlanPlus Global, combining PlanPlus Global’s financial planning tools with Morningstar's mission to empower investor success through the advisor ecosystem. Morningstar’s research-driven culture, trusted brand, and investment planning capabilities combined with PlanPlus Global’s financial planning and risk tolerance profiling tools, will...

‘We all believe in and follow the same process and proposition’

How advisers invest: Belmayne Independent Chartered Financial Planners partner Jon Stevens discusses the company’s approach to investment management. Could you explain your approach to investment management: in-house, outsourced or a combination of both? We outsource our investment management. A few years ago, I spent a lot of time picking the...

PlanPlus Global to Join Morningstar

Today, Morningstar, a global firm specialising in independent investment research, information, and technology, announced plans to acquire PlanPlus Global. This includes our full product suite, which is comprised of FinaMetrica Profiler, a global risk-profiling tool renowned around the world, our financial planning solution ProPlanner (formerly Planit) and ProTracker, our powerful...

Blog

Morningstar Takes A Leadership Role In Financial Planning Research Conferences

Shawn Brayman, director of financial planning methodology, Morningstar. I know not everyone would rate academic conferences as one of their must do activities, but as 2020 winds to a close, I am thrilled with the role Morningstar played in continuing traditional thought leadership and picking up the mantel from PlanPlus/FinaMetrica....

This Is Your Brain On Uncertainty: How To Keep Your (Investment) Cool When The World’s On Fire

Sarah Newcomb, director of behavioral sciences, Morningstar. Uncertainty is everywhere, and uncertainty is stressful. In fact, human experiments have repeatedly shown that people tend to prefer even physical pain to the psychological stress of uncertainty. Financial uncertainty is especially stressful because our money is tied to our hopes, dreams, and sense of safety.

Financial Life Planning: Personal Finance Is More Personal Than It Is Finance 

Morningstar’s Christine Benz, director of personal finance, and Jeff Ptak, head of manager research, interviewed Tim Mauer, the director of advisor development for Buckingham Wealth Partners, for Morningstar podcast, The Long View. Mauer coauthored The Ultimate Financial Plan: Balancing Your Money and Your Life with Jim Stovall, and he also...

FinaMetrica 10-Question RTQ Now Available In Morningstar’s Investment Planning Tool And As A Set Of Enterprise Components

Jason Stipp, director of product management, financial planning, Morningstar. We’re happy to announce that the FinaMetrica 10-question RTQ, response readout, and Suitability Score is now available in Morningstar’s Investment Planning Tool (IPT) for Advisor Workstation as well as through our Enterprise Components channel for integration to third-party platforms.

Morningstar’s Annual Investment Conference: We’ve Gone Digital

Morningstar’s annual Investment Conference will take place as a digital event beginning Sept. 16–17, 2020. The event will be an immersive online experience that features all the key benefits you love about our flagship industry conference, bringing together industry leaders and investing experts to discuss the latest developments and share...

FinaMetrica Risk Tolerance Score Mappings

Gain the tools you need to help guide your clients and facilitate the investment strategy selection process for Morningstar® Managed PortfoliosTM by matching clients’ risk tolerance score to a fund. In doing so, you’ll be able to make an equal comparison between risk tolerance and investment risk. The FinaMetrica three...

Our Newsletter

Quarterly Client Journal Q4 / 2021

Welcome Back! We hope this email finds you well and enjoying the new season. In the spirit of new, you may have noticed the updated look and feel for our quarterly newsletter. In this issue, we continue our conversation around the definition, management, and benefits of risk. This past July,...

July 2021 Client Journal

Welcome Back! We recently celebrated our one-year anniversary of PlanPlus Global joining the Morningstar family and are excited at all the work we’ve done. Going forward we will be updating the newsletter format to match the new look and feel you can see at morningstarriskprofiler.com. Henceforth, this will be the...

December 2020 Client Journal

FinaMetrica 10-Question RTQ Now Available in Morningstar’s Investment Planning Tool And As A Set Of Enterprise Components We’re happy to announce that the FinaMetrica 10-question RTQ, response readout, and Suitability Score is now available in Morningstar’s Investment Planning Tool (IPT) for Advisor Workstation as well as through our Enterprise Components...

September 2020 Client Journal

Goals-Based Financial Planning: How Simple Lists Can Overcome Cognitive Blind Spots At Morningstar behavioral finance isn’t just a buzz word, it’s baked into our software to help empower investor success. Our dedicated behavioral science team leverages research and psychology to improve the user experience of our software and deliver better...

June 2020 Client Journal

Update to the PlanPlus Global Newsletter We would like to thank you for your continued readership and engagement and would like to make you aware of an update to the delivery schedule of the PlanPlus Global Newsletter. This June edition will be the last monthly update we share. Going forward,...

May 2020 Client Journal

'Stay invested - stay with the plan' is a common reassurance that advisors give their clients during market turmoil, like that which has flowed from the coronavirus crisis. But is it the right advice to be giving today? Is the 'plan' you suggest they stick with still suitable for them?...

Articles and Whitepapers

Quarterly Client Journal Q4 / 2021

July 2021 Client Journal

Morningstar Takes A Leadership Role In Financial Planning Research Conferences

This Is Your Brain On Uncertainty: How To Keep Your (Investment) Cool When The World’s On Fire

Financial Life Planning: Personal Finance Is More Personal Than It Is Finance 

FinaMetrica 10-Question RTQ Now Available In Morningstar’s Investment Planning Tool And As A Set Of Enterprise Components

Events

Announcing the 2020 PlanPlus Global Canadian Financial Planning Awards Winners

February 2020 Events

Jan 30 to 31 Mar - MFPYA 2020 - MY The Malaysian Financial Planner of the Year Award (MFPYA) competition is open for registration and submissions until March 31. For more information on the 2020 MFPYA competition go to www.planplusawards.com/mfpya. Register here. Jan 30 to 31 Mar - Canada Financial...

November 2019 Events

Nov 19 - FP Canada Gala Dinner - Toronto, Ontario, CA Nov 20 - FP Canada Symposium - Toronto, Ontario, CA Nov 21 - OSC Dialogue - Toronto, Ontario, CA Nov 25 - Financial Planning Academic Forum (FPAF) - Melbourne, Victoria, AU Nov 26 - Personal Finance and Investment Symposium...

October 2019 Events

Oct 8 - Exceptional Advisor - Toronto, Ontario, CA Oct 15 to 16 - AFS Annual Meeting - Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA Oct 15 to 18 - FPA Pre-Conference Events - Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA Oct 17 - NextGen Conference - Manchester, UK Oct 17 - Private Client Event Oct 18 -...

September 2019 Events

Sep 8 to 11 - Private Client Event - St. Louis, USA Sep 11 to 13 - Bob Veres Conference - Omni Nashville Hotel, Nashville, USA Exhibitor and Speaker - Matt Glasgow and Shawn Brayman will attend Sep 11 from 1:30 to 2:30pm - Bob Veres - Shawn Brayman Presentation...

June 2019 Events

Jun 2 to 5 - CIFPs Annual Conference 2019 - Vancouver, British Columbia, CA PlanPlus is a proud sponsor of the CIFPs Annual Conference 2019 to be held at the Westin Bayshore in Vancouver, BC., Be sure to attend Shawn Brayman’s presentation From Tolerance to Solution: Latest Research and Practical...

I have been using FinaMetrica for over 17 years for onboarding new clients. They like the extensive value of the reports; but what we appreciate is the innovations in technology, the value of the client-facing materials and the development of the life-long client relationships as I get to really know their behavioral tendencies. FinaMetrica has assisted me in building a very successful practice and we highly recommend it for any advisor who wants to enhance the overall value of their client relationships.

Ron Wilkinson - Portland, Oregon, USA

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