Blucora plans to merge its two wealth management businesses under the name Avantax. H.D. Vest is expected to be renamed this month with the name being applied to 1st. Global later this year.
Blucora, which also owns the TaxAct software, line intends the name to show the inherent relationship between taxes and financial planning.
“Every investing decision, at the heart of it, is a tax decision,” Enrique Vasquez, president of wealth management for Blucora, said in an interview this week. “Most people go to a tax professional or to a financial advisor. What we do in our organization is we work with advisors who do both.”
The company began in June the rollout of what it calls a tax-smart investing software platform. It started with a module focused on tax-loss harvesting with more planned for introduction this year.
Blucora reported when its second quarter ended on June 30, it had 4,225 advisors, an increase of 14 percent from 3,709 the prior year, a result of the addition of the H.D Vest advisors.
Bob Scott has provided information to the tax and accounting community since 1991, first as technology editor of Accounting Today, and from 1997 through 2009 as editor of its sister publication, Accounting Technology. He is known throughout the industry for his depth of knowledge and for his high journalistic standards. Scott has made frequent appearances as a speaker, moderator and panelist and events serving tax and accounting professionals. He has a strong background in computer journalism as an editor with two former trade publications, Computer+Software News and MIS Week and spent several years with weekly and daily newspapers in Morris County New Jersey prior to that. A graduate of Indiana University with a degree in journalism, Bob is a native of Madison, Ind
