Personal financial planning app Neontra recently launched a behavioural engineering feature that nudges users to stick to their financial goals.
The app is designed to complement existing desktop financial planning tools by playing a more day-to-day role in a client’s finances, said Daniel Vranesic, CEO of Toronto-based fintech TXIO, which developed the app.
Neontra synchronizes a client’s financial accounts to provide them and their financial advisor with an overview of their finances. It automatically updates the data, which can be used with the app’s tools to create budgets, for example, or analyze transactions.
“It’s a lot like a Fitbit for personal finance,” Vranesic said.
The behavioural feature can help clients understand how a lifestyle choice or an upcoming large purchase could affect financial goals like retirement savings or a dream holiday. For example, a client could set a monthly coffee budget and the app would push a reminder when the budget has been exceeded.
Financial advisors can also observe their clients’ spending habits through the app to help create more specific strategies to save or invest.
TXIO plans to introduce Neontra to the European market in the fourth quarter.
“Open banking is a much more established and regulated activity in Europe,” Vraneisc said. “The ability to take advantage of [the app’s] underlying banking and brokerage capabilities become that much more powerful.”
Equisoft and Life Design Analysis partner to continue sharing LifeGuide data
Montreal-based insurance and investment software company Equisoft and London, Ont.–based sales software firm Life Design Analysis (LDA) announced a new partnership on Monday.
LDA has used insurance quotation service LifeGuide’s data for nearly a decade to create quotations, interactive policy illustrations and client presentations, Charlie Conron, founder and president of LDA, told Investment Executive.
Equisoft acquired LifeGuide when it bought CompuOffice Software in February 2023. LDA’s new long-term partnership with Equisoft means LDA will continue to have access to LifeGuide data, Conron said.
“We have some asks around particular product types for more robust information, so [Equisoft is] really going to focus on enhancing that data feed,” Conron said. “We’re going to focus extremely hard on what [agents] can do with that feed afterwards in terms of presenting options [to clients].”
Looking ahead, Conron said he hopes LDA and LifeGuide will work to increase the number of carriers and products shown, provide more pricing information on rated policies and enhance illustrations for whole life policy cash values.