Advisor Software, the US wealth management software firm, has launched an upgraded version of its investment management platform, ASI Wealth Manager.

Advisor Software has added a number of new features to release 1.1 of ASI Wealth Manager which are intended to help advisors more closely connect investors’ personal goals with their investments – an approach which the firm calls “personalised goal-based investment management.”

“These enhancements to ASI Wealth Manager are designed to improve the advisor’s ability to gather household balance sheet information, and communicate more effectively with clients about their recommendations. A recommendation is only as good as an advisor’s ability to explain it,” said Advisor Software’s president Neal Ringquist.

Among the new features added to ASI Wealth Manager is a portfolio diagnostics function which allows advisors to compare a client’s current portfolio and one proposed by ASI Wealth Manager with the target strategy produced by the platform. This function analyses portfolio characteristics such as tracking error, tax costs and expected risk and returns allowing advisors to see in summary how the proposed portfolio better implements the target strategy for the client, Advisor Software said in a statement.

Other features added to the platform include a tool for assessing clients’ current expenses against those anticipated in retirement and a household balance sheet analysis which alerts advisors when a client’s resources are insufficient to fully fund their financial liabilities and goals.

“We are constantly working to enhance our solutions so that advisors can build unique and dynamic investment portfolios for every client. We look forward to continuing our mission of bridging the gap between financial planning and investment management with innovative goal-based platforms,” said Mr Ringquist.

Advisor Software was granted a US patent for the process used in ASI Wealth Manager in April. The patented process, described by the firm as a workstation-based search algorithm, determines a multi-year investment strategy based on financial planning inputs, such as household goals, investment accounts and real estate holdings. It is designed to take into account uncertain economic environments over future decades and work in line with clients’ tiered personal goals over that period.