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Creating an Investment Policy Statement (IPS) used to be an exercise in endurance—copy‑pasting from Word templates, double‑checking disclosures, and wrangling half‑finished PDFs. Today, technology can compress that busywork into a few clicks. In this guide we’ll walk through the anatomy of a rock‑solid IPS, show where traditional workflows bog down, and illustrate how one‑click automation turns a painful chore into a five‑minute task—without sacrificing rigor or compliance.
An IPS is the portfolio’s operating manual. It translates a client’s abstract goals into concrete guardrails—return targets, risk limits, rebalancing triggers, and hard constraints such as taxes or ESG screens. When markets lurch or emotions flare, the IPS brings the conversation back to the agreed‑upon plan.
Regulators also view the IPS as proof that the advisor acted deliberately and consistently. Missing, vague, or outdated statements often trigger follow‑up questions (or worse) in an audit. In short: a detailed IPS protects both the client and the firm.
Rather than burying content in dense paragraphs, think of the IPS as a series of clearly labeled building blocks:
These sections create a common language. Clients see exactly how their money will be managed; advisors gain a roadmap that’s easy to defend under scrutiny.
Many firms still maintain IPS “templates”. Each advisor manually edits a copy and personalizes the details. The result?
As books of business grow, the cumulative overhead balloons.
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Modern platforms such as Investipal use OCR to scan brokerage statements, capturing holdings and cost basis without manual typing. Information like risk assessments, household details, goals, and details related to the financial plan flow in automatically.
Advisors select a model portfolio or adjust weights on the fly. Constraints are toggled in seconds.
With inputs locked, the system merges them into a pre‑approved template that already includes firm branding and boiler‑plate disclosures. Paragraphs adapt to the client’s specifics, so language remains plain yet precise.
Post‑generation, the IPS isn’t a static file. Drift alerts flag accounts that wander outside allocation ranges; new goals trigger a quick refresh of the document, not a ground‑up rewrite.
Total elapsed time: about five minutes, start to finish.
Speed alone isn’t enough; the document has to read well. Automated IPS tools weave objective data with human‑friendly commentary:
Risk & Return Context
The proposed 60/35/5 allocation targets a long‑term real return of 4 % while limiting expected peak‑to‑trough drawdown to 15 %. Historical stress tests (2008, March 2020) show the blend recovering losses within 18 months, meeting the client’s comfort range.
Paragraphs like the one above replace cluttered spreadsheets and give clients a story they can recall when volatility spikes.
By eliminating keystrokes—not judgement—advisors reclaim hours per week, apply a single compliance standard across the firm, and deliver a polished experience that reinforces trust. Clients receive a clear, professional plan almost as soon as they commit to working with you, turning administrative lag into momentum.
If your IPS workflow still lives in Word and shared drives, it’s time for an upgrade. See how automated generation can slot into your existing sales and planning process:
👉 Book a demo to watch a five‑minute IPS build in real time.
Curious how Investipal can help accelerate your firm's growth? Chat with one of our solution experts.
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