A financial advice CRM that treats the plan as the deliverable, not the asset total.
Fiduciary planners, flat-fee planners, and holistic advisors have been stuck fitting the advice-delivery workflow into asset-management CRMs. The plan is the product. The review cadence is the recurring revenue. Strkr lands the plan workflow, the fiduciary documentation, the client homework assignment, and the annual review cadence on one surface with the compliance posture every advice practice needs.
Advice-first practices run a different motion than asset-management practices. The deliverable is the plan, not the portfolio. The revenue model is flat-fee or subscription, not AUM-based. The compliance posture leans on the Investment Advisers Act Rule 204-2 and the fiduciary documentation of advice given. The client relationship runs on an annual review cadence with a mid-year check-in, not a quarterly performance review. Asset-management CRMs (Redtail, Wealthbox at the standard tier) do not model the plan as a first-class record, do not carry the fiduciary documentation inline, and do not run the advice-review cadence natively. Six specific gaps show up at the growing advice practice, each one driving the search for a better fit.
The plan is not a record type
Asset-management CRMs do not model it.
A financial plan is a deliverable with scope (comprehensive, modular, project), engagement date, delivery date, review cadence, and the recommendations given. Asset-management CRMs treat the plan as a note or an attached document. The plan as a first-class record with its own fields, lifecycle, and reporting is the shape advice-first practices need. Strkr models the plan as a top-level record with the full lifecycle.
Fiduciary documentation lives in a drive
The 204-2 record is scattered.
Rule 204-2 requires that an investment adviser retain books-and-records including the advice given to clients. Most advice practices hold the fiduciary documentation (recommendation memos, suitability analysis, risk tolerance questionnaires, meeting notes with the advice given) in a shared drive that no CRM can audit against. Strkr lands the fiduciary documentation on the client record with the retention clock applied automatically.
Flat-fee or subscription billing
AUM billing engines do not fit.
Flat-fee advice practices charge $4K to $12K annually for comprehensive planning or $150 to $450 per month on subscription. Project-based planning runs $2.5K to $7K per engagement. The billing engine for AUM-based practices (Orion, Addepar) does not fit the advice-first model. Strkr supports flat-fee, subscription, and project billing with Stripe for recurring charges and ACH or check for annual fees, all on the client record.
The annual review cadence
Advice reviews differ from portfolio reviews.
An advice-first annual review covers the plan refresh: have the client goals changed, has the cash flow changed, is the tax plan still right, is the estate plan current, is the insurance coverage appropriate. The review is not primarily a performance conversation. Asset-management CRMs auto-schedule quarterly performance reviews. Strkr runs the advice-review cadence (annual with mid-year check-in) with the plan-refresh prep packet generated.
Client homework and action items
Follow-through separates good advice from executed advice.
The plan recommends 7 to 12 action items at delivery: open a Roth IRA, increase 401(k) contribution to 15 percent, update the beneficiary on the IRA, buy term life insurance, draft a will. The client needs structured follow-through. Most advice practices manage this in a spreadsheet or a project tool. Strkr models each action item on the plan record with due dates, status, and the automated nudge cadence so the executed-advice rate improves meaningfully.
Marketing Rule for advice-first firms
Testimonials matter for referral-driven practices.
The 2022 SEC Marketing Rule permits testimonials and endorsements with specific disclosures. Advice-first firms grow heavily on referrals and testimonials; the ability to use testimonials in marketing is a non-trivial lever. Strkr tags testimonial content with the required disclosures (client status, compensation, material conflicts) and retains alongside the content for the 204-2 clock. The CCO approves before publication with the disclosure flags visible.
What Strkr ships for advice-first practices
Plan workflow, fiduciary docs, review cadence, action items.
An advice-first planner evaluates CRM on six capabilities: plan modeling as a first-class record, fiduciary documentation with 204-2 retention, flat-fee and subscription billing, advice-review cadence automation, client action-item follow-through, and the modern UX at a price that fits a flat-fee practice. The cards below are the capabilities Strkr ships on every FinServ-tier paid plan.
Plan record type
Scope, engagement, delivery, review.
A plan is a first-class record with scope (comprehensive, retirement focused, estate focused, business owner, divorce, modular), engagement date, delivery date, review cadence, and the state (in progress, delivered, in review). The plan references the client (or the household) and carries the recommendation set as linked action items. The report on all plans delivered in Q3 by scope type runs in a single query.
Fiduciary documentation (recommendation memos, suitability analysis, risk tolerance questionnaires, meeting notes capturing advice given, written investment policy statements) sits on the client record and on the plan record with the 204-2 retention clock applied. The 5-year retention with 2-year immediate accessibility runs automatically. A regulatory exam requesting books-and-records for a client period returns the complete record in a documented workflow.
Flat-fee and subscription billing
Annual, monthly, project engagement.
Billing supports flat-fee annual (invoiced once per year), subscription monthly (Stripe recurring charge), and project engagement (invoiced at delivery). The client record carries the billing arrangement, the next billing date, and the lifetime fee revenue. Dunning runs on failed charges with configurable escalation. The CFO reconciles against the GL from the Strkr side without a separate billing platform.
Advice-review cadence
Annual plus mid-year check-in.
The advice-review cadence runs annual plus a mid-year check-in by default, configurable per client. The annual review prep packet generates with current goals state, cash flow year-over-year, tax plan status, estate plan currency, and insurance coverage review. The mid-year check-in prep covers plan-execution progress. The planner spends the review time on the conversation instead of on the prep.
Client action items
Each recommendation with due date and status.
Each plan recommendation (open the Roth, increase the 401(k), update the beneficiary, buy the term insurance) carries a due date, an owner (client or planner), a status, and a nudge cadence. Overdue action items surface on the planner dashboard. The client sees the action-item list on the client portal. Executed-advice rate measures as a first-class metric that the firm optimizes against.
Client portal with homework
The planner-client workflow in one place.
The client portal gives the client secure access to the plan deliverables, the open action items with due dates, the uploaded documents (tax returns, insurance policies, estate documents), and the next review date. The portal replaces the back-and-forth email of document requests and progress check-ins. Firms running the client portal report meaningfully higher executed-advice rates.
Document collection
Tax returns, policies, statements, trust docs.
Document collection runs through the client portal with structured requests: tax returns for 3 years, current insurance policies with declarations pages, estate planning documents, employer benefits summaries, mortgage statements, Social Security benefits estimates. The planner sees received-vs-pending at a glance. The documents attach to the client record with the retention clock applied for 204-2 compliance.
Marketing Rule testimonial handling
Disclosures retained with the content.
Testimonials and endorsements tag with the Marketing-Rule classification at creation. The required disclosures (client status, compensation, material conflicts) retain alongside the content. The CCO approves before publication with the disclosure flags visible. Website testimonials, LinkedIn endorsements, and marketing materials all run through the compliance workflow with the retention chain intact.
Flat per-seat pricing
FinServ features included on every tier.
Strkr pricing is per seat with the full product on every paid tier including the FinServ-tier compliance features (204-2 retention, Marketing Rule handling, audit log, fiduciary documentation), the plan record type, the client portal, and the advice-review cadence. No module gate, no compliance SKU at renewal. A flat-fee planning firm pays a predictable line that fits the flat-fee revenue shape.
The advice-first workflow in detail
What a solo planner and an 8-planner firm actually do.
Advice-first workflow varies by scale. The solo planner serves 40 to 70 clients personally and the CRM needs to be fast enough that admin stays under 10 hours a week. The 8-planner firm serves 320 to 560 clients across the planners with a dedicated client service lead and the CRM needs to scale without a dedicated admin. The cards below walk through specific workflows at both scales.
The planner opens Strkr at 8 AM and sees the day: 2 scheduled client meetings with prep packets ready, 4 overdue action items needing a nudge, 1 new document arrived in the portal, 1 testimonial pending CCO review. The planner handles the prep review in 10 minutes before the first meeting instead of 30 minutes assembling the context from a shared drive.
The plan engagement workflow
Scope, data gathering, draft, delivery, execution.
A new plan engagement moves through: scope definition and engagement letter, document collection via the portal, data entry and analysis, draft plan review internally, draft plan presentation to client, final plan delivery with action items, and ongoing execution tracking. Each stage carries the required steps, the typical duration, and the hand-off points. The planner knows at a glance which engagement is on which stage.
The annual review
Prep packet generated 7 days before.
The annual review prep packet generates 7 days before each scheduled review. The packet covers current goals state, cash flow year-over-year, tax plan status, estate plan currency, insurance coverage, and the executed-vs-outstanding action items from the plan. The planner reviews the packet, flags discussion points, and runs the review conversation with full context loaded.
The client portal interaction
Homework, documents, scheduling.
The client logs into the portal and sees: the current plan with action items, the document request list with uploader, the next review date with reschedule capability, and secure messaging to the planner. The portal replaces 60 to 70 percent of the back-and-forth email that typically fills the planner-client channel. Clients at firms running the portal report higher engagement and higher executed-advice rates.
The CCO review workflow
Testimonials, outbound marketing, retention.
The CCO runs the Marketing Rule testimonial workflow (approve content with disclosures), the outbound marketing review (website, LinkedIn, email campaigns), and the quarterly books-and-records retention check. The 204-2 retention clock runs automatically; the CCO verifies spot checks instead of running the retention manually. The CCO workload stays flat as the firm grows from 4 to 12 planners because the compliance tooling scales sub-linearly.
The ops review runs monthly: plans delivered by scope, plans in-progress by stage, action-item execution rate across the client base, fee revenue by billing arrangement, upcoming annual reviews. The managing partner sees the firm health in 20 minutes instead of 3 hours of spreadsheet assembly. The executed-advice rate is the metric that the partner optimizes against as the leading indicator of long-term client value.
What advice-first firms compare on
The honest evaluation criteria.
Advice-first firms evaluating CRM options sit outside the standard asset-management evaluation. The honest criteria: plan record modeling, fiduciary documentation, flat-fee billing, advice-review cadence, client action-item follow-through, and three-year TCO as a flat-fee practice. The six criteria below show up on every advice-first evaluation call.
Plan record modeling
Is the plan a first-class record?
Strkr: plan is a first-class record with scope, lifecycle, and recommendations. Redtail and Wealthbox: plan treated as a note or attached document. Advyzon: strong plan integration via the included financial-planning module. For advice-first practices, plan modeling depth is the first criterion.
Fiduciary documentation
204-2 retention with record-level clock.
Strkr: 204-2 retention with per-record clock, Marketing Rule testimonial handling, audit log. Redtail: strong compliance posture, broadly accepted at BDs. Wealthbox: compliance via specific BD partnerships. For registered investment advisers running advice-first with testimonials in marketing, compliance depth matters.
Flat-fee billing
Not an AUM billing engine.
Strkr: flat-fee annual, subscription monthly, project engagement, all native. Redtail: billing via Orion or Advyzon integration. Wealthbox: billing via integration. For flat-fee practices, having billing native to the CRM removes a layer of software.
Advice-review cadence
Annual plus mid-year, not quarterly performance.
Strkr: advice-review cadence with annual-plus-mid-year prep packet generation. Redtail: workflow module with templates. Wealthbox: workflow templates with lighter branching. For advice-first practices, the cadence shape matters because the review is a plan refresh, not a performance report.
Action-item follow-through
Executed-advice rate as a first-class metric.
Strkr: action items with due dates, nudges, portal visibility, firm-wide execution rate reporting. Redtail: workflow module. Wealthbox: workflow module. For advice-first practices measuring value as executed advice (not just plans delivered), the follow-through tooling is the lever.
Three-year TCO
Fit for a flat-fee practice.
Strkr: flat per seat with full product. Redtail: license plus optional modules. Wealthbox: per seat, more stable. Advyzon: bundled per-advisor pricing including planning. For a flat-fee firm with 8 planners and 320 clients, three-year TCO fits the flat-fee revenue shape without an AUM-tier upcharge.
Head-to-head
Strkr vs Wealthbox for a flat-fee advice-first firm.
Wealthbox is the common evaluation for advice-first firms that want modern UX. The head-to-head for a 6-planner flat-fee firm:
Feature
Strkr
Wealthbox
Plan as first-class record
Plan record with scope, lifecycle, recommendations
Plan via workflow or attached document
Fiduciary documentation
Record-level 204-2 retention clock
Compliance archive at higher tier
Flat-fee billing
Native flat-fee, subscription, project
Via integration
Advice-review cadence
Annual plus mid-year prep packet
Workflow templates
Client portal
Plan, action items, documents, messaging
Via integration
Action-item tracking
Executed-advice rate as firm metric
Workflow module
Marketing Rule testimonial
Disclosures retained with content
Via compliance archive
Modern UX
Comparable to HubSpot or Attio
Modern UX across platform
Pricing shape
Flat per seat, compliance included
Per seat with Premier tier upcharge
Three-year TCO
Fit for flat-fee practice
Standard SaaS pricing
How teams use Strkr
How advice-first firms run Strkr today.
The common thread across advice-first customers: get the plan workflow, the fiduciary documentation, the action-item follow-through, and the client portal on one tool while cutting admin from a half-FTE to a quarter-FTE. The playbooks below are motions live on advice-first customer accounts.
6-planner flat-fee RIA
Wealthbox decommissioned over 8 weeks.
A 6-planner flat-fee RIA moved from Wealthbox to Strkr over 8 weeks. The 240 active client records migrated with 5 years of fiduciary documentation preserved. The plan record type activated in week 3 with 180 historical plans retrofitted into the new record shape. The client portal launched in week 5 and the executed-advice rate improved 22 percent over the following 2 quarters as action-item follow-through moved from spreadsheet to structured workflow.
Solo flat-fee planner
First 90 days with 45 clients.
A solo flat-fee planner serving 45 clients at $5,500 annually set up Strkr in week 1 with the FinServ configuration enabled. The plan workflow activated with the 3 scope types the planner delivers (comprehensive, retirement focused, business owner). The client portal launched in week 2 and the planner reported reclaiming 6 hours a week of email back-and-forth by moving document requests and scheduling to the portal.
Subscription planning firm
Monthly subscription billing on 180 clients.
A subscription planning firm serving 180 clients at $300 to $450 per month ran the billing engine on Strkr with Stripe recurring charges, dunning, and plan-based differential pricing. The CFO reconciled against the GL from Strkr instead of pulling from a separate billing platform. The firm added 32 clients in Q3 without adding admin headcount because the subscription-ops workflow scales with the client count.
Project-based planning practice
One-time engagements with structured delivery.
A project-based planning practice running $3K to $7K engagements for 60 clients a year used the project-engagement billing with structured delivery milestones. The engagement letter signs through the portal, the document collection runs structured, the data entry and analysis happens with the planning tool integrated, the plan delivers with action items, and the engagement closes with a satisfaction survey. The project close rate improved 18 percent on the structured workflow vs the prior ad-hoc approach.
Growing holistic practice
From 3 to 7 planners without admin growth.
A holistic planning practice grew from 3 to 7 planners over 14 months without proportional admin growth because the Strkr tooling absorbed the workflow coordination. The client service lead maintained a 0.4 FTE across the growth, which the managing partner called out as the thing that let the firm hire a planner instead of an admin.
A financial advice CRM that treats the plan as the deliverable, not the asset total.
Start a 14-day trial with the FinServ configuration enabled: plan record type with scope and lifecycle, fiduciary documentation with 204-2 retention, flat-fee and subscription billing with Stripe, advice-review cadence with annual-plus-mid-year prep packets, client portal with action items and documents, Marketing Rule testimonial handling, and native integrations with eMoney, MoneyGuidePro, RightCapital, and Advyzon. Migrate from Redtail, Wealthbox, or Advyzon with the fiduciary record chain preserved.
How does Strkr handle the plan as a first-class record?
A plan is a top-level record with its own schema: scope (comprehensive, retirement focused, estate focused, business owner, divorce, modular), engagement date, delivery date, review cadence, state (in progress, delivered, in review), and the recommendation set as linked action items. The plan references the client (or the household) and carries the fiduciary documentation (recommendation memos, suitability analysis, meeting notes capturing advice given) with the 204-2 retention clock applied. Reports run across plans by scope, by state, by planner, by delivery date, and by executed-advice rate. The plan record type ships on every FinServ-tier paid plan.
How does the client portal work for action-item follow-through?
The client portal gives each client secure access to the plan deliverables, the current action items with due dates and status, the document request list with uploader, the next review date with reschedule capability, and secure messaging to the planner. Action items that the client is responsible for (open the Roth, upload the tax return, meet with the estate attorney) carry nudge cadences at 14, 7, and 2 days before the due date. The planner dashboard shows the executed-advice rate across the client base as a first-class metric; firms running the portal typically report 30 to 50 percent higher executed-advice rates vs the baseline spreadsheet approach.
Can Strkr handle flat-fee annual billing and subscription monthly billing?
Yes. The billing engine supports flat-fee annual (invoiced once per year with payment via ACH or check), subscription monthly (Stripe recurring charge with card or ACH), and project engagement (invoiced at delivery). The client record carries the billing arrangement, the next billing date, the lifetime fee revenue, and the dunning status. Failed charges run through configurable dunning (retry at 3 days, 7 days, 14 days with escalation to the planner). The CFO reconciles against the GL from Strkr. For firms wanting a separate billing platform, Strkr integrates with Advyzon, Orion, and the common billing tools.
How does Strkr handle the Marketing Rule for an advice-first firm?
Testimonial and endorsement content tags with the Marketing-Rule classification at creation. The required disclosures under the 2022 Rule (client status, compensation, material conflicts) retain alongside the content. The CCO approves before publication with the disclosure flags visible. Retention runs on the 204-2 clock (5 years from the end of the fiscal year with 2-year immediate accessibility). Removal or replacement of a testimonial preserves the historical record so an SEC exam sees what was published when with the context the regulator needs. For firms heavily dependent on referrals and testimonials for growth, the compliance tooling makes the use of testimonials practical at scale.
What is the migration path from Redtail or Wealthbox?
Strkr runs a wealth-CRM migration tool that pulls client records, household structures, fiduciary documentation, meeting notes, workflow logic, and custom fields from Redtail (via Redtail API) and Wealthbox (via Wealthbox API). The historical plans retrofit into the plan record type with the engagement date, scope, and recommendation set captured where discoverable. The fiduciary documentation migrates with the retention chain preserved so the 204-2 record is unbroken. Most migrations complete in 6 to 10 weeks for firms up to 10 planners. The deeper work is usually the plan-workflow setup and the client-portal rollout, each of which gets dedicated program weeks.
Can Strkr integrate with the common financial planning software?
Yes. Native integrations with eMoney Advisor, MoneyGuidePro, RightCapital, Advyzon, and the common planning platforms. The plan draft generates in the planning tool and the recommendation set imports to Strkr as action items on the plan record. Updates in the planning tool sync to the Strkr plan state. The client sees the plan deliverable in the client portal with the planning tool reference preserved. The pattern most practices run (planning tool for the modeling, Strkr for the client relationship and workflow) sits comfortably on the integrated surface without duplicate data entry.
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