Analyse portfolios and plan a rebalance

Ask Operator about your clients' holdings: what a household owns, which clients are outside your limits, and what it takes to bring an account back to its target. Operator reads the same figures as a household's Portfolio tab, works out the numbers and can chart them for you.

What firms use it for

• Preparing a review. Chart a household's asset allocation and largest holdings to talk through with the client. See Ask about one household.
• Checking your book. Find the clients who hold too much in one investment or too much cash. See Ask across your clients.
• Planning a rebalance. Give Operator the target weights or your model portfolio, and it works out the buys and sells to get there. See Plan a rebalance.
• Answering a client's question. Check which transactions went through on an account, for example after a client asks about a withdrawal.
• Material for the client. Save a chart as an image or a PDF for a review pack. See Save a chart.

Ask about one household

Use this before a review, or when a client asks about their investments.

1. Open the household, then select Ask Operator at the bottom of the page. Alcova attaches the household to your request.
2. Enter your question. For example:
   • "Chart the asset allocation of each of their accounts."
   • "What are the ten largest holdings across the household, and what share of the total is each one?"
   • "Which holdings have the largest unrealised losses?"
   • "List the transactions on the family trust's account in the past month."
3. Press Enter.

Operator totals only the accounts it can value. An account on a platform that Alcova cannot read is listed without figures.

Ask across your clients

Use this to find the clients who need attention, for example before a quarterly review cycle.

1. Select Operator at the top of the sidebar.
2. Under the prompt box, select Portfolio insights. Examples show below the topics:
   • "Which clients have more than 10% in a single holding?"
   • "Which clients hold more than 15% of their portfolio in cash?"
   • "Chart the asset allocation of my largest household"
3. Select an example, or enter your own question with your firm's limits.

A question across many households can take a while.

Plan a rebalance

Use this when an account has drifted from its target and you want to see the trades that would bring it back.

Operator does not know your firm's targets unless you give them. Give it the target weights, or tell it where your model portfolio is.

1. Open the household, then select Ask Operator.

2. Name the account and the target. For example:

   • "Rebalance the Abbott Family Trust investment account to 70% growth and 30% defensive. Show the change for each asset class in dollars."
   • "Compare this account with our Balanced model in Firm Resources, and list the buys and sells to match it."

   You can also attach a file that sets out the model. See Attach files.

3. Press Enter, then check the result.

4. Ask for changes until the plan suits the client. For example, "Keep at least $20,000 in cash" or "Do not sell any Australian shares."

5. Make the trades on the platform.

Operator does not place trades or switch investments. Check its figures before you act on them or share them with a client. See Check Operator's work.

Read a chart

Operator shows charts in the conversation.

• To see the figures as a table, select View data. To go back, select View chart.
• When a chart has more than one series, select a series name to hide it. Select the name again to show it.
• A price chart has buttons such as 1M, 1Y and All to change the period it shows.

Under some replies, Operator offers buttons for likely next steps, such as breaking a total down further. Select one to send that request.

Save a chart

Use this to add a chart to a review pack or a client presentation.

1. Ask Operator to save the chart, and say which format you want: PNG, SVG or PDF. For example, "Save this chart as a PDF."
2. Open the file from the Resources panel, under In this conversation. See Files in the conversation.

Operator saves charts with the conversation's files. To save a chart somewhere else, such as the household's folder in Client Context, say where. Operator asks you before it saves a file outside the conversation.

Saved charts use Alcova's colours. To use your firm's colours, ask for them. See Use your firm's colours in charts.

To build the chart into a document or a presentation, see Create Word documents and presentations.

Check the figures

• Platform figures can be delayed, or show values at the end of a day. If Operator does not say how recent the figures are, ask it.
• A household's total covers only the accounts Operator can value. Ask which accounts it left out.

Related

• See a household's portfolio
• How Operator works
• Prepare for a client meeting