CONTRIBUTORS
Roger Paradiso
Head of Custom Client Solutions
As we reflect on the journey of Canvas, Franklin Templeton’s custom indexing platform, it's rewarding to see how far we've come in helping advisors serve their clients. This success directly translates into real-life benefits for the people advisors serve, such as preparing for life events, achieving retirement goals, or simply enjoying greater peace of mind.
Financial advice has continually focused on helping people handle unique financial challenges and turning ambitious goals into clear and attainable outcomes. Canvas was founded on this simple yet powerful principle. The strength of our platform lies in its ability to leverage our quantitative investment legacy to deliver personalized, objective-based portfolios with simplicity.
On Canvas, advisors can not only build and efficiently transition to tax-optimized direct indexes but also construct comprehensive multi-asset portfolios consisting of active and passive equities, fixed income, funds, thematic strategies, option overlays, and tax-aware long/short equity exposure—easily.
These levers respect the uniqueness of each client and can be tailored to better prepare for liquidity events, generate income, minimize taxes, facilitate gifting, build completion portfolios, or reflect personal values with just a few clicks. This efficiency lets advisors spend less time wrestling with complexity and stretching off-the-shelf solutions, and more time turning big financial dreams into realizable personal plans for their clients.
Like everything else, financial tools and vehicles have consistently evolved over time. We've seen the evolution of online banking, financial planning software, and productivity tools. Similarly, we’ve seen the rise of mutual funds, ETFs, and now SMAs for direct and custom indexing.
Looking ahead, we see significant opportunities in emerging technologies like blockchain and artificial intelligence. Specifically, blockchain-driven tokenization will increase what’s possible from an investment perspective while simplifying how these portfolios are implemented and delivered. Additionally, AI integration will boost system efficiency and portfolio insights, perhaps even guide advisors in decision making. While we carefully evaluate how to integrate these technologies, we remain focused on our long-term vision: becoming the ultimate portfolio management system by unlocking more capabilities and flexibility for investors and advisors through innovative, seamless, and scalable technology.
Our vision for Canvas is clear. Advisors will have one intuitive portfolio management system to manage their entire client base. They will no longer need to juggle multiple software platforms for planning, analysis, fulfillment, and reporting; adjust workflows for different account types; or manage relationships with several managers.
Canvas is a technology built to evolve. It represents a commitment to its investment roots, to simplicity over complexity, and to leading innovation. The “portfolio of the future” will certainly look different, but our focus will remain on empowering advisors to deliver extraordinary results for the people who matter most: their clients.
IMPORTANT LEGAL INFORMATION
CANVAS® is an interactive web-based investment tool developed by O’Shaughnessy Asset Management, L.L.C. (“OSAM”) that permits an investment professional to select a desired investment strategy for the professional’s client.
Franklin Templeton, its affiliates and its employees, are not in the business of providing tax or legal advice to taxpayers. These materials and any tax-related statements are not intended or written to be used, and cannot be used or relied upon, by any such taxpayer for the purpose of avoiding tax penalties or complying with any applicable tax laws or regulations. Tax-related statements, if any, may have been written in connection with the “promotion or marketing” of the transaction(s) or matter(s) addressed by these materials, to the extent allowed by applicable law. Any such taxpayer should seek advice based on the taxpayer’s particular circumstances from an independent tax advisor.
All investments involve risks, including possible loss of principal. Tax management practices may impact performance, portfolio characteristics and holdings; and may not result in favorable outcomes. There is no guarantee or assurance that any option strategy will achieve its investment objective.
Blockchain technology represents a new and rapidly evolving industry which is subject to regulatory uncertainty, competitive pressures, security risk, limited performance history and volatility.
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