The hard part of this move is not the export. It is the difference in how the two systems think. Redtail CRM works in contact records; Wealthbox works in contact records. Get that mapping wrong and every report built on it afterwards is wrong too. This page covers the field map, what does not survive, what it costs, and the reconciliation step that decides whether anyone trusts Wealthbox in month two.
The two systems, side by side
| Redtail CRM | Wealthbox | |
|---|---|---|
| Primary record | Contact | Contact |
| Grouping | Family or account grouping on the contact | Household, as a first-class record |
| Activity history | Notes, activities and a separate workflow object | Notes, tasks, events and email history on the contact |
| Documents | Attached to the contact, or in Redtail Imaging | Files on the contact or household |
| Getting data out | CSV export per module, or a vendor-assisted extract for full history. | CSV export, a documented API, and a migration team that maps the source for you. |
| Who administers it | None. An operations associate can run it. | None. An operations associate can run it. |
| Pricing | $39 to $59 per user per month billed annually. | $35 to $65 per user per month billed annually, or $59 to $99 monthly. |
What breaks
- Grouping changes: Family or account grouping on the contact becomes Household, as a first-class record. Somebody has to define what a group means in the target before load.
- Activity history moves with partial fidelity. Redtail CRM stores it as notes, activities and a separate workflow object; Wealthbox expects notes, tasks, events and email history on the contact.
- Automations, reports, dashboards and permissions never transfer. Budget them as build work.
- Every connected system has to be repointed and retested: the DMS, billing, e-signature and the shared inbox.
Known hazards on each side
Leaving Redtail CRM:
- Status, Servicing Advisor and Writing Advisor are used inconsistently between firms, so they get remapped rather than copied.
- Recurring activity criteria do not translate cleanly to other systems, and future occurrences generally cannot be recreated.
- Imaging attachments are a separate extract from the contact data.
Arriving in Wealthbox:
- Wealthbox documents that recurring-task future occurrences cannot be imported from Redtail.
- Contact Type absorbs the source system's status field, and Deceased or Inactive values also flip the Wealthbox Status field.
- Servicing and Writing Advisor fields are mapped to Assigned To or a custom contact role, which is a decision someone has to make.
The field map
| Concept | In Redtail CRM | In Wealthbox | What to watch |
|---|---|---|---|
| Primary record | Contact | Contact | Same shape. Mostly a mechanical load. |
| Grouping | Family or account grouping on the contact | Household, as a first-class record | The target groups records differently, so grouping is created rather than copied. |
| Activity history | Notes, activities and a separate workflow object | Notes, tasks, events and email history on the contact | Expect partial fidelity. Types, timestamps and authorship survive; structure often does not. |
| Documents | Attached to the contact, or in Redtail Imaging | Files on the contact or household | Usually a separate extract and load from the record data. |
| Owner and assignment | Assigned user or advisor fields | Assigned user or team fields | Map departed staff explicitly. Records assigned to nobody disappear from every view. |
| Custom fields | Firm-specific fields added over time | Created to match, or consciously dropped | The audit here is the work. Undocumented fields that reports depend on are the usual surprise. |
Cost and timeline
| Phase | Typical range |
|---|---|
| Data audit and cleanup | $3,000 to $25,000 |
| Migration execution | $5,000 to $50,000 |
| Target configuration | Two to six weeks |
| Ongoing administration | Absorbed by existing operations staff |
The five phases
- Audit Redtail CRM. Count records per object, find duplicates and orphans, and decide what does not come with you. Get that decision signed off before mapping.
- Map against real records. Use the table above as the starting point, then walk fifty live records field by field.
- Dry run into a Wealthbox sandbox. Load the full set, not a sample. Sample loads hide the failures that only appear at volume.
- Cut over on a quiet window. Freeze writes in Redtail CRM, load, repoint every integration, unfreeze. Keep Redtail CRM read-only for at least a quarter.
- Reconcile. Compare Wealthbox to Redtail CRM record by record and field by field, and produce a variance report.
The full version of this plan, with the failure evidence behind it, is in the CRM migration playbook.
The compliance clause
The Advisers Act books-and-records rule (17 CFR 275.204-2) survives the migration. A household that lands without its history is a records gap, not a cosmetic issue. Keep the field map, the variance report and the mapping sign-offs with the records, because the decisions you made in phase two are part of the record too.
Where Caddi fits
Caddi does the mechanical half and then keeps doing it. Show it the task once and it reads Redtail CRM, applies your field map, loads Wealthbox, and then compares both sides record by record and hands back a variance report you can act on. Because it runs over APIs across your stack, the same agent covers the parts a migration tool ignores: documents filed to the right contact with the right metadata, and the post-cutover hygiene that otherwise becomes someone's Monday.
Caddi automation for these systems: Redtail CRM and Wealthbox.
Related migrations
- Redtail CRM to Salesforce
- Redtail CRM to Salesforce Financial Services Cloud
- Salesforce Financial Services Cloud to Redtail CRM
- Salesforce Financial Services Cloud to Wealthbox
- Salesforce to Redtail CRM
- Salesforce to Wealthbox
Migration without the manual pass
Move and reconcile Redtail CRM into Wealthbox
Caddi reads Redtail CRM, applies your field map, loads Wealthbox, then compares both sides record by record and reports the variances.
Frequently asked questions
How do you migrate from Redtail CRM to Wealthbox?
Audit the Redtail CRM data first, then map fields against fifty real records rather than against the schema, dry run the full set into a Wealthbox sandbox, cut over on a quiet window with writes frozen, and reconcile record by record afterwards. CSV export per module, or a vendor-assisted extract for full history. Wealthbox then needs the records loaded in dependency order, with documents as a separate pass.
What does not transfer from Redtail CRM to Wealthbox?
Grouping changes: Family or account grouping on the contact becomes Household, as a first-class record. Somebody has to define what a group means in the target before load. Activity history moves with partial fidelity. Redtail CRM stores it as notes, activities and a separate workflow object; Wealthbox expects notes, tasks, events and email history on the contact. Automations, reports, dashboards and permissions never transfer. Budget them as build work.
How long does a Redtail CRM to Wealthbox migration take?
Six to twelve weeks is realistic for a clean mid-size move, and three to six months where Wealthbox is being implemented at the same time. Firms with years of history in Redtail CRM should budget several weeks of cleanup before any data moves.
Who administers Wealthbox afterwards?
None. An operations associate can run it. That is one of the reasons this move is lighter than a platform migration.
What are the compliance implications for advisory firms?
The Advisers Act books-and-records rule (17 CFR 275.204-2) survives the migration. A gap in client history is a finding, so keep the field map, the variance report and the sign-offs where an examiner can find them.