Mass affluent.

Does this conjure up images of throngs in designer-chic Mao suits parading down broad boulevards holding aloft sleek wireless PDAs through which they access their investment accounts?

An awkward term, it is used to categorize clients, or potential clients, with $250,000 to $1 million of investable assets – enough money to warrant attention but nowhere near enough to justify a private banker.

The challenge for financial firms is to offer those investors some form of personalized advice through technology so it isn’t prohibitively costly to deliver. AdviceAmerica, a Microsoft partner, has developed technology for self-directed investors and for financial advisors who need a tool that can help them design personalized plans quickly.

First National Bank in Omaha, NE, uses AdviceAmerica software along with financial advisors in its wealth management group.

A survey of the bank’s customers showed that most of those who would fall into the wealth management category already have one or more investment relationships at other companies, said Gregg Johnson, program manager at Investment One, the brokerage arm of the bank.

“What we heard is that because they are doing business with the bank they are open to hearing what we offer in brokerage and insurance products.” First National is educating its staff on how to look for opportunities to strengthen relationships with customers and to identify clients who are new to the area, who are rolling over 401(k) assets, or are looking for a new advisor.

Alois Pirker, a securities industry analyst at Celent in Boston, said that only a few vendors are addressing the need for wealth management advice.

“Once you reach high-net-worth clients, you need more sophisticated products and much more high touch, but in the mass affluent you have so many clients that if you manage to get them into self-directed platforms and then take clients who are interested into an in-house advising process, that is a great success.”

First National uses AdviceAmerica to provide online planning so it doesn’t lose customers who want to use Internet-based tools. But Johnson thinks that most people still want to work with a real person for advice.

“Many people felt with the onset of the Internet and access to more and more information the advisor would become obsolete. But I think in many ways it is opportunity – the public has so much information that it becomes complicated to implement their own financial plan.”

Customers who start work online with AdviceAmerica can then work with an advisor over the phone or in a branch and give him permission to view the information they have already entered online.

“They don’t have to go back to square one,” said Johnson.

To be successful, an online planning tool has to be easy to use, according to Pirker.

“It needs to be easy to understand and Windows-based so the client has the same paradigm as on his PC. It should offer direct feedback because you want interaction with the client. Workflow, usability and good interfaces are very critical because you want to get the client drawn into your application. Put the carrot out there and let the client come in and develop the profile. If you have enough people coming in and checking on their funds and you get them to look into planning, it can be very effective for client acquisition.”

AdviceAmerica allows the firm to establish a relationship with the client, learn where he holds his assets, and how much he has in total.

“Having this information is the first step to gaining more share of wallet,” added Pirker.The advisory software offers self-directed and collaborative applications. Its LifeVision is a tool that financial institutions can put up on their own Web site where clients can then use it to enter their goals and see their assets, liabilities, assumptions and shortfalls, said Purna Pareek, the company’s founder and CEO. AdvisorVision, which has been licensed by more than 600,000 advisors, helps professional planners, including CFPs and CPAs, build holistic plans including risk profiles and time to retirement. They can then use the information to walk through portfolio planning and asset allocations with clients. Another module for internal users helps the institution see how many plans need to be generated, how many are under development, and the planning progress by region.

“All our product lines rest on the same platform, which is 100 percent .NET,” he added. “Plans are generated in Word, the database is SQL Server, and the operating system is Microsoft Server 2003. With a multi-tier architecture and OFX connectivity, it supports very extensible integration.”

The first step in combining an online tool and a personal advisor is to determine what the client needs, said First National’s Johnson. Regional banks getting into financial planning can waste a lot of time developing full-scale plans for anyone who asks.

The bank last year implemented mandatory profiling for new accounts, partly to meet regulatory requirements, partly because it is an effective way to uncover assets and it serves as an effective business development tool.

Can banks compete in wealth management?

“Absolutely,” said Johnson. “People who have relationships with other advisors said they wouldn’t necessarily move, but they would give us the opportunity to earn more of their business.”

Pirker said investors are reluctant to put all the eggs in one basket, but they often will agree to aggregate their account information at one firm, which simplifies asset allocation and other planning.

“Obviously you would like clients to move assets across, but if you own the advice you are on the first step.”

Advisors who five years ago would have gone on their own now find that privacy and cold calling rules make it harder to start a new business. Working at a bank which has strong existing client relationships becomes more attractive.

Technology, such as AdviceAmerica’s, makes advisors more efficient.

The challenge now, said Pirker, is how to get a financial plan set up in the least time – gather the data, analyze it efficiently, and then make sure the advisor understands the client and can respond to his needs with the correct advice.

“Automation lets you speed things up, but the advice must be coming from the advisor.”