3 Reasons Advisors Should Use a TAMP to Invest in UMAs

UMAs for RIAs

Unified Managed Accounts offer a host of benefits to investment advisors and their end-clients. How can a Turnkey Asset Management Platform (TAMP) deepen the positive impact of UMAs on performance reporting, billing, and execution?

They may have been around since the 1990s, but Unified Managed Accounts (UMAs) have recently catapulted into the spotlight as advisors everywhere seek creative ways to scale growth and gain operational efficiency.

Over the past 13 years, UMA assets have increased more than five times to amass 22% of assets in managed accounts, according to a study from Cerulli. This shows that not only are advisors taking advantage of this investment vehicle, they’re actively looking for ways to balance efficiency and increased client support.

But juggling yet another investment vehicle in the complicated tapestry of your clients’ full financial picture can feel overwhelming and unattainable. Thankfully, there are platforms that power your efficiency and play nice with systems you already use.

That’s where modern TAMPs with UMA capabilities can play a key role. So let’s dig into the reasons why advisors should use a TAMP to access and invest in UMAs.

Leveraging a TAMP to Invest in UMAs

Beyond the increased flexibility, scalability and efficiency that UMAs offer advisors, TAMPs further advisors’ competitive advantage by bringing even more game-changing benefits to the table.

One of the primary benefits to leveraging a TAMP is streamlined manager selection, due diligence and diversification capabilities. Providing access to third-party money managers with a range of strategies and approaches, TAMPs let advisors select and combine multiple managers within a single UMA. This “sleeving” makes capitalizing on the flexibility of UMAs more efficient through TAMP-powered workflows.

TAMPs’ portfolio construction, monitoring, and reporting capabilities mean they often touch every corner of an advisor’s business, leaving a lot of space for increased efficiency. Modern TAMPs go the extra mile by partnering with strategic firms to integrate open-architecture APIs, making it easier for advisors to build workflows that streamline tedious tasks and facilitate seamless operations.

Finally, TAMPs make staying compliant much easier than if you were to invest in UMAs through other means. By their nature, TAMPs help advisors adhere to regulatory requirements and build compliant solutions to clients’ unique needs.

But when looking for a TAMP to support UMA investing, remember that not all TAMPs will serve up the same level of efficiency.

Not all TAMPs are Created Equal

And not all TAMPs support UMA investments. That’s why conducting due diligence and figuring out what’s most important to you and your clients is a critical first step to finding a TAMP that supports your goals.

Keep these considerations in mind when looking for a TAMP to support UMA investing:

Features & Functionality:

Not all TAMPs have the same features. This will impact the ways in which you leverage the technology in your practice. Before starting due diligence, consider what your top priorities are and what features will benefit your practice and clients the most. 

Costs & Fees:

TAMP fee structures can vary widely from platform to platform. Research and understand the differences between platforms to make sure you maximize impact to your bottom line. Plus, we recommend regularly evaluating how your TAMP is supporting the services you offer to justify recurring expenses. 

Service & Support:

Beyond empowering you with services like reporting, reconciliation, aggregation, billing and trading, the support your TAMP platform provides can make all the difference in maximizing your ROI. Additionally, look for a platform with reputable customer support and resources to support ongoing education.

Pace of Innovation:

There’s always something new in the financial technology arena. Finding a TAMP that keeps pace with the accelerated rate of innovation will help you stay on the cutting-edge and provide the most modern services to your clients. Additionally, look for a TAMP with a robust integration and partnership network so you can be as connected and data-centric as possible.   

Invest in UMAs with GeoWealth

If you’re looking for a TAMP that supports UMA capabilities, GeoWealth’s open-architecture platform can help you achieve efficient UMA investing through the combination of multiple investment vehicles to a custom model.

Our innovative platform empowers advisors to customize client portfolios further than ever by allowing Separately Managed Accounts (SMAs) and single asset class or “sleeve-level” strategies to be used as building blocks in UMA allocations.

Additionally, our recent partnership with BlackRock will offer custom models via GeoWealth’s platform that enable advisors to meet high-net-worth client demand for private markets, direct indexing and fixed income SMAs – in addition to traditionally offered ETFs and mutual funds – in a single account.

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