Making Optimum Use of Blueleaf
By Ryan Turbyfill, MBA
Many of our clients are very familiar with Blueleaf as Capstone started using this system for performance tracking and reporting several years ago. It is most commonly referred to as; “Oh yeah, that email I get on Sunday morning that I look over with a cup of coffee.” Not only is it the email read while drinking coffee, but it is the software that
provides:
- A Sunday Balance Report
- A Performance Report for any time period
- A Link to our other software to help your comprehensive planning
Through Blueleaf, we provide transparency on how your accounts are doing. Blueleaf also helps us answer questions you may have on outside accounts such as a current workplace 401k, where we can analyze those holdings and discuss risk and possible changes. It integrates with our other tools so your data flows through to Riskalyze to see risk in all linked
accounts as well as into MoneyGuide Pro for financial planning.
The accounts that we manage through TD Ameritrade are automatically linked to Blueleaf, but as many of you already know, you can link up other investment accounts, bank accounts, 401k’s, credit cards, even your home value and mortgage. We provide this service at no additional cost, so please feel free to link as many accounts as you wish to get a full
picture of your finances. This also helps us, as we advise clients not only on your accounts with Capstone, but with your entire financial picture. Also, let us know if you don’t believe you’re getting these periodic reports and would like to.
With this said, nothing is perfect. Blueleaf aggregates all this data from a number of sources and institutions and sometimes those links stop updating or fall off completely. This can be for a variety of reasons, such as an expired password (most common) or changes at the bank or 401k provider website. If you open your Sunday Blueleaf message
and see an unusual drastic down arrow, look further down in the email and see which account may be the culprit. If you’ve changed the password on that account or the account provider has updated their website for example, please visit the Blueleaf website and update your account information. If that doesn’t work, please reach out to Capstone and we can work with Blueleaf to get the link reestablished.
Your Sunday morning Blueleaf report shows your balances and the weekly changes, including both market performance, deposits, and withdrawals to all accounts reporting data to Blueleaf. So, if you took out money from your savings account that is linked to Blueleaf to buy a car, your Blueleaf email will reflect that drop for the withdrawal along with the up or down
of the market performance. Separately, Blueleaf can generate performance reports that show how your accounts are performing over time, filtering out the deposits and withdrawals, showing your net results after Capstone fees.
Blueleaf is a great tool that we use and have had great feedback. If you get an unexpected surprise on Sunday, don’t panic, look at the email further, refresh your account credentials at Blueleaf, or feel free to contact us for assistance. We look forward to continuing to help advise you on your overall financial goals in
2020.
