Category: Financial

The WealthStack Podcast: How Does 401(k) and Held Away Account Management Fit into Holistic Advice?

The WealthStack Podcast: How Does 401(k) and Held Away Account Management Fit into Holistic Advice?

What’s in a name? Acting as a “bridge” to better retirement, Pontera enables retirement savers to get help managing their 401(k) from their trusted advisor. 

In this episode, Shannon Rosic, Director of WealthStack Content and Solutions, is joined by Nicole Zheng, CMO of Pontera, to talk about how their secure and seamless platform allows advisors to monitor and trade 401(k), 403(b), and other held away accounts to ensure they are meeting their clients’ needs.

Shannon and Nicole discuss:

  • Why it’s important for clients to have the option to have their 401(k) managed by a trusted advisor as part of their comprehensive financial plan
  • What demographics are receptive to 401(k) management
  • How advisors should approach the concept of holistic advice, especially surrounding retirement planning
  • Who Pontera integrates with and where will they expand in the future 

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About Our Guest:

Nicole Zheng has been a startup founder and marketing executive in smart home, heath tech, unified communications, internet infrastructure, and now fintech. She is passionate about cultivating inclusive company cultures, advancing women in tech, and designing effective go-to-market strategies.



The WealthStack Podcast: Creating a Frictionless Wealth Management Experience with Stephen Daffron of BetaNXT

The WealthStack Podcast: Creating a Frictionless Wealth Management Experience with Stephen Daffron of BetaNXT

The ultimate objective to create an end-to-end, holistic wealth management experience seems simple in theory, but it continues to be difficult for the wealth management industry to execute on. Fortunately, BetaNXT is hyper-focused on solving customers’ most demanding integration challenges with flexible, efficient, connected solutions that anticipate their changing needs.

In this episode, Shannon Rosic, director of WealthStack Content and Solutions, speaks with Stephen Daffron, CEO of BetaNXT, on creating a “frictionless” wealth management experience and what it means for advisors, financial services and wealthtech firms that serve them.

Shannon and Stephen discuss:

  • Why BetaNXT is championing the next wave in wealth management technology and outsourcing solutions
  • The importance of advisors utilizing real-time data
  • Why BetaNXT is focused on solving customers most demanding integration challenges
  • What the acquisition of Mediant Communication means for BetaNXT

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About Our Guest:

Stephen is a Co-Founder and Industry Partner at Motive Partners since 2016, a specialist private equity firm focused on financial technology businesses and currently serves as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of BetaNXT, a Motive Partners portfolio company and an industry-leading provider of wealth management technology and outsourcing solutions. Dr. Daffron also recently served as the President of Dun & Bradstreet, a position he held from 2019 to 2021, also a Motive Partners portfolio company. Dr. Daffron has served on the Board of Motive Capital Corp II since 2021. Prior to joining Motive Partners, Dr. Daffron served from 2013 to 2015 as the Chief Executive Officer of Interactive Data. Prior to Interactive Data, Dr. Daffron was the Global Head of Technology, Operations, and Data at Morgan Stanley from 2008 to 2013. Before returning to the sell-side, Dr. Daffron was Chief Operating Officer at Renaissance Technologies. Prior to this, Dr. Daffron worked for Goldman Sachs from 1993 to 2003, initiated the re-engineering of operations and technology functions across payments, derivative processing, credit risk/collateral control, and investment management. Dr. Daffron earned a B.S. from the United States Military Academy, and an MBA, MA, M.Ph. and Ph.D. from Yale.



The WealthStack Podcast: Why the Timing of Financial Advice Matters

The WealthStack Podcast: Why the Timing of Financial Advice Matters

Summary

Bento Engine said it best: Even the best advice, delivered at the wrong time, can fall flat. Financial advice delivered too early – or worse, too late – can have the opposite effect of its intention. In order to truly help their clients, and therefore improve engagement, loyalty and retention, advisors need to offer advice when it actually matters.

In this episode, Shannon Rosic, Director of WealthStack Content and Solutions, speaks with Philipp Hecker, co-founder and CEO of Bento Engine, on how they’re helping advisors connect with their clients on a deeper level by combining powerful SaaS technology with impactful content and timing expertise.

Shannon and Philipp discuss:

  • The power of holistic advice 
  • How Bento Engine is encouraging all family members to participate in the financial planning process
  • How the timing of advice encourages action towards financial goals
  • How advisors can help fill the gaps in client financial literacy
  • Why updating technology is as essential as staying up to date on financial news

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About Our Guest:

Global business strategist (J.P. Morgan, DB, BCG), passionate about advice beyond investing.

Previously Head of Wealth Planning & Advice, and Global Head of Strategy at J.P. Morgan Wealth Management Focused on tech-driven advisor-enablement for the benefit of clients, their families, and their communities



The WealthStack Podcast: Making the Complex Simple – Facilitating Meaningful Financial Planning Conversations

The WealthStack Podcast: Making the Complex Simple – Facilitating Meaningful Financial Planning Conversations

Would you rather walk through 37,000 different financial scenarios with your clients or review a one page sheet simplifying the financial plan? Not to mention having the ability to showcase what really matters to your clients.

In this episode, Shannon Rosic, director of WealthStack Content and Solutions, is joined by Carl Richards, chief brand officer of Elements, in discussing how the company provides advisors a way to capture vital client data quickly and easily, and ultimately present a holistic picture of their financial life in a tangible and understandable way.

Shannon and Carl discuss:

  • How Elements is modernizing the traditional financial planning model
  • What is the goal of the one-page-plan (OPP) and how they benefit advisors and their clients
  • Why they’re focused on building a client centric mobile app and overall engaging experience
  • What makes Elements ‘nudge’ capabilities different from any of the other CRM providers and other planning providers

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About Our Guest:

Carl Richards is a Certified Financial Planner and creator of the Sketch Guy column, appearing weekly in The New York Times since 2010.

Carl has also been featured on Marketplace Money, Oprah.com, and Forbes.com. In addition, Carl has become a frequent keynote speaker at financial planning conferences and visual learning events around the world.

Through his simple sketches, Carl makes complex financial concepts easy to understand. His sketches also serve as the foundation for his two books, The One-Page Financial Plan: A Simple Way to Be Smart About Your Money and The Behavior Gap: Simple Ways to Stop Doing Dumb Things with Money (Portfolio/Penguin).

His sketches have appeared in a solo show at the Kimball Art Center in Park City, Utah as well as other showings at Parsons School of Design in New York City, The Schulz Museum in Santa Rosa, California, and an exhibit at the Mansion House in London.

The WealthStack Podcast: Is it the Year of Advisor Productivity?

The WealthStack Podcast: Is it the Year of Advisor Productivity?

RIAs need to find ways to continue to be profitable and scale, even when the markets aren’t offering much growth. While technology has advanced in leaps and bounds, with new products and services being introduced every year, advisors still need to utilize the right technology to improve workflows within their business.

In this episode, Shannon Rosic, director of WealthStack Content and Solutions, speaks with Ryan George, chief marketing officer of Docupace, on what to look for when introducing new technology to a business to fill gaps in productivity.

Shannon and Ryan discuss:

  • Why now was the right time for Docupace to enter the RIA market
  • What the word ‘scale’ means within the RIA marketplace, and how is technology helping
  • Which technology will be most impactful for financial advisors this year and beyond
  • Eight questions to ask when looking for new technology to incorporate into your business

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About Our Guest:

Ryan George is the Chief Marketing Officer at Docupace, a solutions provider focused on digitizing and automating operations in the financial advice and investment industry. He serves as the company’s “chief diplomat” evangelizing the company’s people, solutions and brand across the financial services/ wealth management industry. As a member of the senior executive committee Ryan collaborates with key stakeholders across Docupace to support the company’s growth, retention and profitability objectives.



The WealthStack Podcast: How To Engage the Unengaged With Santiago Burridge

The WealthStack Podcast: How To Engage the Unengaged With Santiago Burridge

As an advisor, your clients don’t necessarily care about what CRM tool or planning software you use. They care about HOW you use that technology to engage them and help live their best life.

In other words, it is time to shift your focus from product-centric to client-centric!

In this episode, Shannon Rosic, Director of WealthStack Content and Solutions, speaks with Santiago Burridge, CEO and Co-Founder of Lumiant, about what is driving innovation around advice engagement. They also explore how advisors should approach client engagement differently in 2023 and beyond.

Shannon and Santiago discuss:

  • How Lumiant’s platform helps advisors effectively engage the unengaged
  • What advisor engagement truly means — and how it can make clients fall in love with you
  • The adoption of advice engagement technology by next-gen advisors
  • Why intimate client connections are key to accelerating your organic growth

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About Our Guest:

Santiago is passionate about helping the financial advice industry deliver on the promise of advice. A 23-year industry leader, Santiago founded Lumiant to support advisors in delivering an extraordinary and engaging software-supported advice experience. Starting as a financial advisor, Santiago quickly became disillusioned with the product-centricity of the profession. Instead, he wanted to personalize the experience and create a model that placed client preferences at the heart of their financial decisions. In 2010, Santiago co-founded Implemented Portfolios, a technology platform that delivers highly individualized investment experiences, which now has circa $2bn in funds under management.



The WealthStack Podcast: 2023 WealthTech Outlook with Davis Janowski

The WealthStack Podcast: 2023 WealthTech Outlook with Davis Janowski

Technology innovations continue to shake up the wealth management industry. More than ever, advisors need to be aware of the solutions and tools available, and how they’re ultimately impacting the financial planning space.

In this episode, Shannon Rosic, Director of WealthStack Content and Solutions, is joined by Davis Janowski, Senior Technology Editor at WealthManagement.com. Shannon and Davis explore how emerging wealthtech players are changing the future of financial planning. They focus on some of the latest innovations and how advisors are incorporating them into their practice.

Shannon and Davis discuss:

  • Technology’s role as a driving force for success in the wealth management industry
  • Where are the biggest opportunities for financial advisors to grow
  • What interesting firms and wealth tech concepts that financial advisors should be paying attention to in 2023 and beyond
  • How are new practice management and “advice engagement” platforms being integrated by advisors
  • New advisor rating and review tech thanks to the SEC ad rule change

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About Our Guest:

Davis Janowski is a career journalist who has done stints with FinTech startups and as an analyst. Along the way, his work has appeared in the New York Times and many other publications. While much of his focus has been in the FinTech sector for the last 13 years, Davis also has extensive experience in evaluating technology and tech products. His career in tech journalism began at PC Magazine, where he tested and reviewed consumer and business products and managed a team of editors, technicians, and analysts. Davis also spent six years covering FinTech for InvestmentNews, where he was a technology reporter and columnist and also spoke frequently at industry conferences. Outside his daily work he volunteers with several groups that have a strong environmental and sustainability focus and, on occasion, writes about them too.



Rick Bookstaber and Dr. Ashby Monk: The Evolution of Financial Advisors as Risk Managers

Rick Bookstaber and Dr. Ashby Monk: The Evolution of Financial Advisors as Risk Managers

As more individuals enter and approach retirement, the role of a financial advisor is changing rapidly. An increasing number of clients need their advisors to act as “personal risk managers” and focus on downside protection and stability, vs. growth and outperformance. 

To learn more about this evolution, Mark Bruno, Managing Director of Wealth Management at Informa, is joined by Rick Bookstaber, Co-Founder and Head of Risk at Fabric, and Dr. Ashby Monk, Executive and Research Director at Stanford University, to discuss the importance of understanding risk and the advisor’s role as risk manager for clients. 

Listen in as Mark, Rick and Dr. Ashby discuss:

  • The most prominent market, economic and planning risks in today’s environment
  • What financial advisors can learn from institutional investors about risk management
  • How advisors should balance long-term risks with short-term risks 
  • How risk management technology has evolved – specifically, the risk management tools and resources available to financial advisors.

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About Our Guests:

Rick Bookstaber has worked in risk management with chief risk officer roles on both the buy-side at Moore Capital and Bridgewater, and on the sell-side at Morgan Stanley and Salomon. From 2009 to 2015 he served in the public sector at the SEC and the U.S. Treasury, drafting the Volcker Rule, building out the risk management structure for the Financial Stability Oversight Council, and developing an agent-based model to assess financial vulnerabilities.

Dr. Ashby Monk is the Executive and Research Director of the Stanford Global Projects Center. He is also a Senior Research Associate at the University of Oxford and a Senior Advisor to the Chief Investment Officer of the University of California. Dr. Monk has a strong track record of academic and industry publications. His research and writing have been featured in The Economist, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Institutional Investor, Reuters, Forbes, and on National Public Radio among a variety of other media. 

The WealthStack Podcast: Ben Cruikshank on the Professionalization of Crypto

The WealthStack Podcast: Ben Cruikshank on the Professionalization of Crypto

Cryptocurrency is a hot topic with many investors – yet, financial advisors are still in the early stages of learning and navigating the evolving world of crypto and digital assets. 

Mark Bruno, Managing Director of Wealth Management at Informa, is joined on the WealthStack Podcast by Ben Cruikshank, Head of Flourish, in discussing the growing role of cryptocurrency within financial and retirement planning. They specifically focus on:

  • Where are we now in the professionalization of cryptocurrency
  • What role crypto could – and should – play in client portfolios
  • What options are available for financial advisors to consider
  • How current events are markets are creating new opportunities with Crypto and cash management

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About Our Guest:

Ben Cruikshank is the Head of Flourish and leads the Client Strategies organization, including sales, marketing and support. Ben is a frequent commentator on issues related to investment advisors and crypto and has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, Barron’s, Marketwatch, and numerous industry publications. Prior to Flourish, Ben worked at Betterment, where he was a founding member of the Betterment for Business team and led the 401(k) sales team.

 

Ric Edelman on Advisors’ “Crypto Knowledge Gap”

Ric Edelman on Advisors’ “Crypto Knowledge Gap”

Are investors outpacing advisors in their understanding of crypto and digital assets? 16% of advisors say they recommend bitcoin and other digital assets, yet 24% of American adults own crypto. It’s important for financial advisors to overcome this gap as the number of digital assets in the market continues to grow and the asset class increases in popularity.

Mark Bruno, Managing Director of Wealth Management at Informa, is joined by Ric Edelman, Founder, Digital Asset Council of Professionals and the Funding Our Future Coalition, to discuss the growth of cryptocurrency and the “professionalization” of digital assets. 

Listen in as Ric and Marc explore:

  • How to educate financial advisors and broaden the knowledge base when it concerns digital assets.
  • As innovations in digital assets continue what does it mean for the first adopters of this technology by hedge funds, billionaires, endowments, pension funds, insurance companies.
  • How the government is reacting to the rise of digital currency and how much truth are there in the predictions that by the end of the decade every government around the world will have a digital currency.
  • To what degree is the lack of knowledge in digital assets a result of a lack of technology, lack of regulation, or lack of infrastructure.
  • The ideal allocation for your client’s portfolio as these digital assets grow.

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Connect with Ric Edelman:

About Our Guest:

Ric Edelman is a #1 New York Times bestselling author of 10 books on personal finance. He was ranked three times as the nation’s #1 Independent Financial Advisor by Barron’s and founded the nation’s largest financial planning firm, now serving 1.3 million clients and managing $300 billion in AUM. Edelman is in both Research Magazine’s and Barron’s Financial Advisor Halls of Fame, and recipient of IARFC’s Lifetime Achievement Award. Investment Advisor, RIABiz and InvestmentNews all named him one of the most influential people in the investment management profession. He is the #1 New York Times best-selling author of 10 books on personal finance with more than one million copies in print in seven languages.