Meet Vestwell, Winner of Our 2017 FinTech Competition

Meet Vestwell, the digital employer retirement plan platform for advisors that took home first place at our annual Advisor FinTech Competition during XYPN LIVE 2017.

The competition, which solicited a record-breaking 24 submissions, was hosted by advisor technology guru Bill Winterberg of FPPad, and overseen by an elite panel of judges including XYPN Co-founder Michael Kitces, and representatives from the FinTech competition sponsors Betterment for Advisors and Quovo.

“It was our explicit goal with the XYPN FinTech competition to provide these new startups a way to showcase their technology to our young, tech-savvy advisors, who need the help of technology to service Gen X and Gen Y clients efficiently,” said Kitces. “When you look at the scale and quality of submissions we received this year, it’s evidence that the advisory industry really is attracting a tremendous new wave of startups looking specifically to serve the growing needs of financial advisors.”

“The judges were extremely impressed with Vestwell’s platform, and the way that they have weaved together the complex and disparate elements of the employer retirement plan industry into a single technology platform that makes it easy for advisors to help their small business clients with qualified plans,” continued Kitces.

Launched in September 2016, Vestwell’s retirement technology combines the best parts of automated investing with a human touch, removing the friction points of confusion, cost and compliance overhead that come with traditional retirement plans. The white-gloved retirement platform includes modern dashboards and rich visuals demonstrating planning objectives at the participant level, and a low-cost, compliant solution to scale the advisor’s business.

"It was incredible to witness the energy and passion of the hundreds of advisors who attended XYPN LIVE 2017,” said Vestwell CEO, Aaron Schumm. “A large part of Vestwell’s early success can be attributed to the many advisors who have been early adopters of our technology. These advisors, along with everyone involved with XYPN, have a shared vision to create an accessible, fiduciary future for financial services – we’re honored and excited to be a part of it.”

As the winner, Vestwell will be featured on Bill Winterberg's FPPad.com and Michael Kitces's Nerd’s Eye View blog. The company will also have a segment on the popular XYPN Radio podcast.

CSLA Technology won an Honorable Mention for its Student Loan Repayment Tracker. CSLA provided, "The CSLA Tech Repayment Tracker helps the financial advisor and client by reducing the complexity of the decision process by clarifying optimal repayment choices that account for tax, financial, and personal planning goals. The product allows the creation of client illustrations identifying various repayment options as well as the effect of each on tax, retirement and business planning. And perhaps one of the most important benefits is how it enables advisors to establish and maintain long-term client relationships from graduation to retirement!"

The other finalists included DataPoints, Loanbuddy, RobustWealth, ROL Advisor, and Tolerisk.

The 2018 conference, renamed XYPN LIVE, will again include a FinTech Competition, and will be held in St. Louis, MO on September 23-26, 2018.

About the Author

As XYPN's Director of Marketing, Jennifer Mastrud is tasked with sharing the movement at XYPN. Her expertise is in branding, marketing, and public relations. She’s as passionate about the XYPN message as she is about innovating new ways to share it. Before joining XYPN, Jen accumulated several years of experience representing national brands in diverse sectors including technology, gaming, TV, and education. She’s based in Minnesota, but travels frequently to warm up.