Commonwealth Financial Network is beefing up its investment platform that has already led to double-digit growth for advisors who use it.
Advisors who use Commonwealth’s Preferred Portfolio Services Select outsourced investment platform grew almost 14 percent faster than those who didn’t, said Peter Essele, SVP, Commonwealth’s head of advisory solutions. Two-thirds of Commonwealth advisors use PPS Select, which offers more than 100 model portfolios.
At the firm’s recent national conference, Essele described four major additions to the platform that Commonwealth will introduce in 2025:
Personalized indexing
Commonwealth will add to its direct indexing capabilities by offering personalized indexing. The integration with PPS Select will make it easy for advisors to offer customized, tax-efficient portfolios.
Tax transition
Advisors will be able to set a tax budget and transition accounts to any PPS Select model — or personalized indexing — over time.
The new service can automatically conduct tax-loss harvesting, without the advisor needing to request specific trades, freeing up an advisor’s time.
Unified managed account (UMA) structure
Advisors will be able to combine multiple PPS Select models and third-party managers in one account, streamlining reporting and offering greater flexibility in portfolio construction.
“UMA is the biggest opportunity of all from an advisor efficiency perspective,” said Essele. “Advisors still have great flexibility around model selection, and they can easily control allocations within a single, unified account — whether that’s PPS Select models, personalized indexing, or third-party separately managed accounts. Structurally, it’ll be very easy for advisors to serve their clients as managers of underlying portfolios and give clients a streamlined, transparent experience.”
Additional Tech Support
Chris Blotto, SVP, chief digital & information officer, also announced tech advances to be rolled out next year to help advisors be more efficient. Commonwealth will offer advisors a turnkey managed service offering that will feature comprehensive outsourced IT support, including hardware management, AV, networking, and telecom services.
“As a concierge offering, our new CTO Services will help them scale efficiently and be more productive, without headaches. It’s something we’ve studied carefully — both what’s worked and what hasn’t worked in the industry—and are thrilled to roll it out to our community.”
Commonwealth Financial Network provides financial advisors with holistic, integrated solutions that support business evolution, growth acceleration, and operational efficiency. Privately held since 1979, the firm has headquarters in Waltham, Massachusetts, and San Diego, California, and partners with approximately 2,200 independent financial advisors overseeing more than $296 billion in assets nationwide.
