Data is the foundation of every financial plan. If you don't have good data, you can't give good advice. Simple as that.

But here's the thing about data collection: it happens at one of the most sensitive moments in the client relationship. You're either onboarding someone new (and first impressions matter) or you're asking an existing client to hand over their entire financial picture. The experience needs to be easy, flexible, and not feel like homework.

We built Kerdora with three ways to get data into the system, and you can use any combination depending on your process and your client.

Onboarding Form — a client-facing form you send via link. The client fills out what they know (household members, accounts, income, insurance, expenses) and anything you've already entered gets pre-filled. No required fields. They can give you a little or give you a lot.

Account Aggregation — clients link their bank and investment accounts directly. Kerdora pulls in balances, holdings, and account details automatically through a secure connection. You review what came in and confirm before anything hits the plan.

Data Extractor — upload financial documents (statements, tax returns, insurance policies, pay stubs) and Kerdora's AI reads them and extracts the data. You review what was extracted, approve or reject each item, and the data flows into the plan.

Some advisors use all three. Send the onboarding form before the first meeting to get the basics, have the client link accounts for real-time balances, and upload documents for the details that aggregation doesn't cover (insurance policies, estate documents, tax returns).

Some advisors just use the onboarding form and enter everything else manually. That works too.

The point is flexibility. Every advisor's process is different, and every client's comfort level with technology is different. We wanted to make sure you could meet them wherever they are.