I covered the first Finovate event organized by Jim Bruene
back in October 2007 (in New York City). The event was such a success
(it sold out in only 6 weeks) that Jim decided to organize two more Finovate events in 2008: FinovateStartup & Finovate 08.
I was delighted when Jim invited me to be the official live blogger on NetBanker at FinovateStartup
in San Francisco. Before the event, I plan to blog about most of the
40 startups which will demo their products. My goal is to give you a
brief overview of those innovative startups.
Boulevard R, make sure you get on track for retirement
I contacted Matt Iverson, Boulevard R's co-Founder, via Linkedin. Matt and I will catch up in two weeks in San Francisco.
Boulevard R's vision is to bring independent, professional level
financial planning to consumers who have enough saved to know they need
to be doing something with it, but not enough to either qualify or be
able to afford independent wealth management services.
Team of experienced advisors
"We're working with several top
planners (San Francisco Chairman of the Financial Planning Association
and the Maryland President of the Financial Planning Association), as
well as leading behavioral economists, Dan Ariely from MIT."
Competition
They will compete directly with brokerage firms and banks.
"What we understand best is comprehensive, unbiased financial advice
that is on par with what leading independent financial advisors could
provide, with the difference being that we'll be able to do it for
approximately 1/10th of the cost.
Major news at FinovateStartup
I am delighted to share a few insider news with you.
Becoming an unbiased financial advisor
Some major news is that Boulevard R is going to basically re-position
itself at FinovateStartup from a retirement calculator to an unbiased
financial advisor.
"Ask a Planner": leveraging the power of online communities
"Behind the plan, there will be a community (the 2.0 angle), where users
can participate in "Ask a Planner" by posting a question to a group of
planners, contribute savings tips (like Wesabe) or post news articles/blog posts on one of the goals. Later on, we'll build out the
community with groups and other functionality."
Video advice modules
"The other service we're going to be launching at FinovateStartup
are video advice modules, where CFPs provide guidance on key financial
issues by asking questions that the user responds to through a Flex
interface."
Related articles on Visible-Banking.com
* Coverage FinovateStartup
* Coverage Finovate 2007
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