FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Your Questions Answered
About Slate
What is ‘simplified financial certainty’ and why is it the logo for Slate?
Advisors are sometimes called to answer the question: ‘what business are you really in?’ We argue that professional advisors are there to make their clients hopes and dreams come true, and that advisors are in the business of managing the outcomes of their clients. We have created slate because we have a passion for the advice industry. We hold the view that advisors can improve the certainty of the financial outcomes desired by clients through the habitual use by them of slate’s simplified process and intelligent technology, hence our slogan of seeking ‘simplified financial certainty’.
What is ‘goals-based advice’?
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Internationally many advisors have recognized the need to transition from a ‘product-led’ business model to a ‘client-centric’ one and have therefore commenced the journey of adopting a goals-based advice philosophy and process which is deeply client-centric.
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Goals-based advice is a way of converting a client’s hopes, dreams and worries into measurable and achievable financial goals. Each goal is matched to a financial solution that is purposefully selected so as to achieve the goal within the desired time duration.
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Clients are constantly reminded of the ‘why’ of the investment and risk solutions, giving them a greater sense of control over the future. The data feedback loop becomes the fly-wheel that ensures that a strong connection is formed between client behaviour and advice strategies, with the overarching aim being the achievement of the desired outcomes.
Why is the app called Slate?
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We selected the name ‘slate’ because we envisaged advisors ‘starting with a clean slate’ with each client so as to freshly examine all the potential hopes and dreams and anxieties of their clients and create financial plans in a new and better way.
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We recognized that people’s lives change over time as different events occur and therefore from time to time new financial goals become relevant. A slate is a strong and durable substance which is capable of being re-used in the future to record the new goals.
Is Slate limited to goals-based investment advice?
No. Slate’s goals-based advisory approach is much broader than investing as it incorporates identifying many financial solutions other than just investments. Risk solutions (such as life insurance, medical insurance, insurance of assets etc) and Structuring optimization solutions (such as creating Wills, Trusts, Companies, Tax-effectiveness planning) and other goals such as Philanthropy.
Is Slate a South African company?
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The slate software has been developed outside South Africa and is owned and managed by the parent company in The Netherlands.
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A South African company called slate (pty) ltd has been authorized to market slate in South Africa and to provide all necessary sales support and training services to South Africa based advisors.
Why would advisors want to use Slate?
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The traditional way of creating a financial plan and delivering advice is disconnected from the way that today’s consumer prefers to interact. Slate’s ‘gamefied’ approach provides an alternative and superior approach that is more appealing to the large proportion of people who are visual learners. It is a disciplined and repeatable process, which is completely customizable for every client.
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Advisors report that they are finding that slate is a digital engagement tool that lends itself extremely well to the current environment where face-to-face advisory sessions have reduced. Advisors everywhere are looking for interesting ways to keep engaged with their clients while obeying social distancing protocols. Using slate, the client and adviser can enjoy a great and meaningful ‘advice experience’ from the comfort of their own homes.
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Good technology can crush costs and delight clients at the same time. We are confident that the use of slate will increase the revenue earned by advisors. Their deeper trust-based relationships with clients will increase the advisor’s share of wallet and retain clients for longer.
Is Slate a robo-advice tool?
No. Slate is a ‘software-as-a-service’ web application for use by advisors so as to co-create meaningful financial plans with their clients. It is not a robo-advice tool which is for self-directed clients who bypass the service provided by professional advisors.
Can advisors and their clients use Slate?
Slate has been purpose-built for the use of advisors, rather than for self-directed clients to use independently of advisors. Once the advisor has had an initial meeting with the client and the client has been on-boarded by the slate support team, then slate can be accessed independently by clients so that they can do scenario planning and share the outputs with family members.
Is Slate only for the first meeting with a new client?
No. The slate process is well suited for the first meeting with a new client so as to accurately capture all the necessary information about what really matters to the client. In addition, slate can also be used very effectively to deepen the knowledge about existing clients and ensure that their current and future financial goals are identified and are then achieved.
Can slate be used on an iPad or smartphone?
Not yet. The current version of slate has been configured for usage on laptops and pc’s. If there is demand from advisors, then at a later date a version is likely to be created which can render on smaller screens such as on smartphones.
How much does it cost to use slate?
At present, slate is free for usage by advisors. At a future date, a reasonable fee will be levied in line with the value added to advisors and their clients.
Data handling and storage
What data does Slate store?
Slate only stores client data that is absolutely necessary for the effective function of Slate and the optimal user experience of advisor and client. To this end, Slate stores the minimal personal information required, such as client name, email and birth date. Elaborative data such as family structure, gender, ID number etc. is not required for the functioning of Slate but is made available to the advisor and client for enhanced user experience.
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Slate only stores client account data that has been explicitly volunteered by the client and only the required amount of account data to allow a client data to successfully link their goals to their accounts, and to monitor their investments.
How is data linked to a client?
Client data on Slate is made anonymous to every extent possible. This means that, aside from a small set of distinct personal client information (name, birth date and email etc. as above) that is stored on a separate database table, all other client data can in no way be identified as belonging to a specific client.
How does Slate store sensitive data?
Where client data stored by Slate is capable of identifying a certain client, that data has been encrypted using AES 256-bit encryption. This means that, in the hypothetical event of a data breach, the bad actor will be unable to read sensitive client data for unethical use.
Where and how are client passwords stored?
Slate explicitly does not store any client passwords. Slate is partnered with a third-party, Auth0 (see auth0.com) who are leading experts in user password storage and management and are aligned with cutting edge password security principles. Auth0 store client passwords in the form of a hash with bcrypt and are never stored in plain text. Passwords are checked by Auth0 which then verifies that the user password is correct before returning Slate a web token which allows the client access to the Slate system. Slate itself does not read, transfer or handle the client’s password in any way whatsoever. Please see Auth0’s password storage policies for advanced information.
How is data communicated between the Slate app, servers and databases?
Slate makes use of industry standard https protocols. This means that all transfer of client data is encrypted and cannot be exposed in “man-in-the-middle” attacks.
How are client bank and investment account passwords stored and used in Slate?
Slate is partnered with Yodlee who handle all client bank and investment account access, client account passwords and reading of client account data. To this end, Slate explicitly does not view client account passwords, save passwords or handle passwords in any step of the client account access process whatsoever. Slate will never be able to directly access a client’s account.
Slate is only able to gain ‘read’ rights of client account information when explicitly consented by the client (meaning Slate can read information on client accounts only and cannot edit or transact in any way). Slate is granted temporary read access of client account information only after (1) the client has consented through enabling access by logging into their account using their username and password, and (2) Slate requesting a temporary access token that allows Slate to read information from the client account.
Should a client leave the Slate app, Yodlee will handle the removal of the client’s account and any ability for Slate to read their account data in future. Should a client change their account password, Yodlee too will not be able to access their account information any longer.
Can account data ever be used to transact a client’s cash or investments without the client's consent?
No. Should an unauthorized person ever manage to intercept a temporary access token to view a client’s data, they would only be to do so for a brief period of time. They will not be able to transact on client’s accounts, withdraw funds, eft a client’s cash or perform any other action on a client’s account in any way whatsoever.
Who is Yodlee?
Envestnet | Yodlee is the leading data aggregation and data analytics platform, helping consumers live better financial lives through innovative products and services created for more than 1400 financial institutions and FinTech companies, including 15 of the top 20 U.S. banks. For more information on how Yodlee aggregates and manages user data, please see yodlee.com.