Six Steps Of Managing A Fee Based Practice On IFAnow (Reference: SEBI Consultation Paper)

Yesterday SEBI released a consultation paper on proposed amendments to RIA Regulations. This is a follow-up to earlier consultation paper released in Oct-16 to which SEBI has received numerous comments. Looks like, most of the proposals will go through.

SEBI for one has made it clear that it wants both, RIA and MFD to co exist but with a clear demarcation of the services each can offer. It is now obvious that if you wish to offer value added advisory services, then you have to seriously look at registering as an RIA. MFD on the other hand will have to restrict their offering and deal with disclosure norms.

At IFAnow, we have always been thinking proactively on how the regulations may shape up and we try gearing our product development towards the same. Our goal is to always keep you ahead of the curve. One such module is Billing & Invoicing.

Important to note that the scope of this post is not to answer all questions around the way forward, but rather look at how one of the core challenges of an RIA practice, viz calculating & collecting fee can be handled via technology.

We’ve outlined a six steps process on how you can manage your Fee based practice on IFAnow:

1. Register as an RIA: This is amply clear. To collect fees, you have to register as an RIA. The right model (individual vs corporate) would depend on your current structure.
2. Define fee structure: In IFANOW, our Billing & Invoicing module allows you to define your fee structure. Whether you want to charge a fixed fee, variable fee, separate fees for direct and regular plans, one time or recurring, monthly/ quarterly or annually, slab wise or flat, you have all the options.
3. Add clients: You can add your clients and add all their data on IFAnow. Right from personal profile, risk profile, goals to financial portfolio.
4. Create Plans: You have an option to generate holistic financial plans from the platform. Whether it is doing goal based planning or provide analysis of cash flow, networth, insurance planning etc. You can do a lot of things. You can simply use the billing module without writing plans too.
5. Generate Invoices: Having set the fee structure and done the planing, You can create invoices instantly.
6. Collect fees: You can use our fee collection feature to get the fee auto debited from the client’s bank account. We do this via NACH mandate and a Tri-partite agreement.

For further queries reach out to support@futurewise.co.in