Frequently Asked Questions
Built for RIAs, by people who understand fiduciary duty. Every feature exists to solve a specific pain point — from SEC compliance to client retention at scale.
No. There are no setup fees, onboarding fees, or hidden charges. You only pay the monthly subscription, and you can cancel anytime. Your first briefing goes out the very next business morning after onboarding.
Why we built it
RIAs told us they were exhausted by enterprise software that demanded $5,000+ onboarding fees and 12-month lock-ins before they could even evaluate ROI. We removed every barrier so you can prove value in 30 days before committing long-term.
Yes. Upgrades and downgrades take effect immediately — your per-RIA workflow is patched in place, no rebuild required. The very next morning's briefing reflects the new tier, and existing clients are never disrupted.
Why we built it
Firms grow organically: one new advisor, a big referral event, or a sudden market volatility spike. We built elastic tiering so your technology bill scales exactly with your revenue, never punishing you for success or trapping you in an oversized plan.
The 31st (Starter) / 101st (Growth) / 251st (Professional) client creation returns an in-context upgrade prompt. Existing clients and their briefings are never interrupted; you simply unlock the next tier when you're ready.
Why we built it
Nothing kills a prospect surge like a hard software stop. We built graceful tiering because RIAs need predictable scaling without surprise lockouts during their biggest growth moments.
Yes — on every plan, including Starter. We automatically push every brief script, MP3 audio file, and delivery receipt to your Smarsh or Global Relay account before the message ever reaches the client. You must maintain your own Smarsh license; we do not resell archiving. This means every outbound communication is audit-ready from day one.
Why we built it
SEC Rule 204-2 and FINRA require complete records of all client communications. RIAs were manually screenshotting WhatsApp messages or skipping archiving entirely — an existential compliance risk. We built native, pre-delivery archiving so your compliance officer sleeps at night and your next audit is a 10-minute conversation, not a 10-week scramble.
Our WhatsApp integration is outbound-only: the platform sends generated voice notes directly to the client. There is no two-way chat, no advisor-to-client side channel, and no way for an advisor to send an unmonitored message through our system. Every outbound message — script, audio, and delivery receipt — is archived in your Smarsh account before delivery. This architecture eliminates the 'off-channel communication' risk that triggered millions in SEC fines in 2024.
Why we built it
The SEC's 2024 enforcement sweep specifically targeted 'off-channel' advisor communications, with fines reaching tens of millions. We built a one-way broadcast architecture by design — not as an afterthought — to eliminate that existential risk entirely. Compliance isn't a feature we bolted on; it's the foundation we built on.
WhatsApp delivers rich voice-note messages up to 16 MB, is free for clients to receive, and our Twilio integration archives every message to Smarsh before delivery. SMS is limited to 160 characters of text and cannot carry audio — a compliance dead-end. Email open rates for advisor content sit below 15%. WhatsApp voice notes are how high-touch advisors actually communicate with HNW clients today, and we've hardened the channel for full regulatory compliance.
Why we built it
We tested SMS, email, and Slack. SMS can't carry audio and has no archiving path. Email gets buried. We built on WhatsApp because it's the #1 channel HNW clients actually respond to, and we engineered it from day one to be fully compliant — pre-delivery archiving, outbound-only, no side channels.
All data is encrypted in transit (TLS 1.3) and at rest (AES-256). We operate a zero-retention policy with OpenAI and ElevenLabs: your client PII and brief scripts are never used to train third-party models. Access is role-based and audit-logged. You retain full ownership of your data at all times. We are SOC 2 Type II aligned, and our infrastructure runs on isolated, encrypted instances — no shared tenant databases.
Why we built it
As a fiduciary, a data breach isn't just a PR problem — it's an existential threat to your license. We built AdvisoryBriefings on a privacy-first architecture because we know your clients' net worth, holdings, and family details are sacred. We collect the minimum data necessary, encrypt everything, and never sell or monetize client information. Your data is yours, period.
You can tag each client with their interests — e.g., 'crypto', 'energy-sector', 'fed-policy'. For tagged clients, each morning's Act 1 news is re-ranked specifically for them. A client tagged 'energy-sector' hears different top stories than a client tagged 'crypto'. Starter allows 3 VIP clients with this treatment; Growth 5; Professional 8. Every personalized brief is still archived to Smarsh with the same compliance rigor.
Why we built it
RIAs lose clients to robo-advisors not because of returns, but because of perceived indifference. A generic market update says 'you're one of hundreds.' We built per-client news filtering so every briefing feels like it was written personally by the advisor — reinforcing the human relationship at scale without adding a single minute of prep time.
You can attach a PDF or note — such as a Schwab statement, Fidelity report, or meeting summary — to specific clients. Our parser (Docling) extracts the content and weaves it into Act 3 of that client's brief. The audio excerpt is cached for 7 days and only re-rendered when you upload a new document. All uploaded documents are encrypted at rest and access-logged for compliance.
Why we built it
Advisors spend hours reviewing custodian statements before client calls, then forget key details by meeting time. We built automated document ingestion so the briefing already knows the client's holdings, recent trades, and cash positions — surfacing relevant context without manual prep work. It's like having a research analyst who never sleeps.
Yes. Upload your firm's investment policy statements, model portfolio changes, or CIO weekly commentary. Our RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation) system ensures every daily brief reflects your firm's exact voice, views, and risk guidelines. Growth and Professional tiers include this feature. All CIO documents are encrypted, access-controlled, and never shared across firms.
Why we built it
In multi-advisor firms, junior advisors sometimes drift 'off-message' during volatile markets — a compliance and brand risk. We built Firm RAG so the CIO's guidance is automatically injected into every daily briefing, enforcing consistency and protecting the firm's brand at scale. One source of truth, delivered automatically.
Yes. Professional tier includes voice cloning via ElevenLabs: record a short sample, and your daily brief is read in your own voice. You can also upload a custom podcast cover for a fully white-label experience. Voice samples are stored encrypted and are never shared or used for any purpose other than generating your briefings.
Why we built it
HNW clients trust people, not bots. When a briefing sounds like the advisor they've known for 10 years, it creates intimacy and trust that no generic AI voice can replicate. We built voice cloning because retention and engagement skyrocket when the client hears a familiar voice — and that directly protects your AUM.
Yes. When the Fed moves, earnings drop, or geopolitical events spike volatility, you can trigger a breaking-news brief from the dashboard. It is generated, archived to Smarsh, and delivered via WhatsApp just like the morning briefing. All tiers include breaking news (Starter: 5/mo, Growth: 10/mo, Professional: 50/mo). Every breaking brief follows the same compliance pipeline — no shortcuts.
Why we built it
Markets move in minutes, not days. RIAs were stuck sending email digests six hours after the event, or worse, texting clients on unmonitored channels. We built real-time breaking briefs so your clients hear from you first — on a compliant, archived channel — reinforcing your role as their trusted guide in uncertain moments.
Professional tier supports English (EN), Spanish (ES), and 5 additional languages. Each client's briefing is generated in their preferred language natively — not via a crude translation layer. Multi-language briefings are archived with the same compliance rigor as English ones. Additional language packs are available for Enterprise plans.
Why we built it
RIAs serving global families were either ignoring non-English-speaking household members or paying expensive translators for weekly summaries. We built native multi-language support so language is never a barrier to client retention or prospect conversion. Every family member gets the same high-quality, compliant experience.
SAGE Vault is a 5-year, WORM-locked compliance archive included free with every paid plan. Every briefing, podcast, and video we produce for your company is automatically archived with SHA-256 hash verification, searchable transcripts, a complete approval ledger, and immutable audit logs. Up to 10 team members can access it with role-based permissions.
Why we built it
RIAs need to prove to auditors and regulators that every client communication is preserved, searchable, and tamper-proof. Third-party archiving solutions are expensive and slow. We built SAGE Vault as a zero-cost, in-house archive that gives compliance officers instant access to every asset their firm ever produced — without waiting on vendor exports.
Maze AI is our in-house per-client intelligence engine. While the standard daily briefing covers general market news relevant to your firm, Maze AI goes a step further: it reads today's headlines, matches them to each individual client's exact portfolio holdings, pulls live prices, injects your firm's research commentary via RAG, and drafts a 5-minute compliance-safe transcript written specifically for that client. Every run is archived automatically to SAGE Vault with full source citations.
Why we built it
RIAs with 50+ clients simply cannot hand-write a personalised briefing for each person every morning. Maze AI automates that hyper-personalisation — so Joyce hears about her Tesla position when Tesla moves, and David hears about his bond exposure when the Fed speaks. The result: clients feel genuinely looked after, not like a number in a generic broadcast.
Never. Maze AI is compliance-hardened at the system-prompt level to be absolutely forbidden from making buy, sell, hold, or tax-loss-harvest recommendations. It can say 'Your Tesla position is up 3.2%, adding $760 to your portfolio today,' but it will never say 'We recommend buying more TSLA.' Every transcript goes through a compliance guard layer before it reaches you for approval, and you have full edit rights before anything is sent to the client.
Why we built it
The #1 concern RIAs raised during our beta was 'what if the AI says something it shouldn't?' We answered that by building compliance guards into the foundation — not as a filter bolted on afterwards. The model literally cannot generate investment advice because its instructions forbid it. Your license, your firm, and your clients are protected.
You do. Maze AI never auto-publishes. Every generated transcript appears in your dashboard for review. You can read it line by line, edit any sentence, and then hit Approve. Only after your explicit approval does Maze AI render the audio and queue it for delivery. The entire review workflow — including your edits and the timestamp of your approval — is logged to SAGE Vault for compliance.
Why we built it
We believe AI should augment advisor judgment, not replace it. Building a mandatory human-in-the-loop review wasn't a regulatory afterthought — it was a design principle. Your clients trust you, not an algorithm. We make sure every word that reaches them has your implicit or explicit sign-off.
Maze AI is available on Growth (30 runs/month) and Professional (120 runs/month) plans. Starter does not include Maze AI. A 'run' is one generated transcript for one client based on one news cycle. Unused runs do not roll over. Enterprise plans include custom Maze AI volumes. You can try a live demo with a synthetic client persona at advisorybriefings.com/maze-ai — no sign-up required.
Why we built it
We priced Maze AI as a premium add-on because the live data fetching, RAG retrieval, and AI generation pipeline has real infrastructure costs per run. Rather than baking it into base pricing and raising everyone's bill, we made it a transparent, measurable feature — so you can see exactly how many per-client briefings you're generating and the ROI of each one.
Enterprise and multi-family office plans are custom-quoted. We charge a one-time setup fee to configure your dedicated infrastructure, custom voice cloning, white-label domain, and any proprietary feed connectors. After setup, billing is annual and upfront. This covers your SLA-guaranteed infrastructure, dedicated implementation manager, and 1-hour phone support.
Why we built it
$1B+ AUM firms have unique requirements — isolated data tenancy, on-prem TTS, Bloomberg feeds, and 28-language multilingual support — that don't fit standard tiered pricing. We built custom enterprise contracts so these firms get exactly what they need without paying for features they don't use, while maintaining the same compliance rigor as every other plan.
Compliance isn't an add-on. It's our architecture.
Pre-delivery Smarsh archiving, SAGE Vault in-house compliance archive, outbound-only WhatsApp, zero-retention AI providers, AES-256 encryption, and role-based audit logs — on every plan, from day one.
Learn more about our compliance architecture