Originally UMAs were designed as a way to bring multiple separate account managers into one account.
They require only one client registration, one account, one set of paperwork and one 1099. Portfolios and investment policy statements can be created online in about 10 minutes.
Securities America has taken it one step further by working with Envestnet, a leading provider of wealth management solutions to independent financial advisors. They have now come up with a way to make it easier for advisors to convert to fees by allowing them to combine separately managed accounts (SMAs) and mutual fund wraps into a single Unified Management Account. No other firm does that.
As a sidebar, Envestnet estimates that by 2013, about $327 billion in client assets will by managed through UMAs.