WealthTech on Deck

It’s textbook design for organic growth in financial services. 1.?Make it easy to do business with you. 2.?Give financial professionals technology that enables conversations with investors. 3.?Listen to your producers, then act on their suggestions. This week’s guests on WealthTech on Deck with Jack Sharry are Jan Buchsbaum, chief product officer of Nassau Financial Group and Mark Fitzgerald, national sales manager. They described how Nassau Financial Group executed this strategy to enjoy strong sales growth, in part through its integration of SEI LifeYield technology. ? https://lnkd.in/ewrEscSb

No matter if you count AUM in millions, billions, or trillions, if you’re a wealth manager, you’re facing the same challenges: enlarged client expectations, the rise of AI, the need for organic growth.? This week’s WealthTech on Deck podcast is a replay of a conversation between host Jack Sharry and Jay Link, managing director at Bank of America Merrill Lynch and head of fiduciary programs and platforms. Link describes where he’s focusing his team and resources – on creating tax efficiency in clients’ portfolios, integrating formerly standalone platforms, and becoming a one-stop service provider. “I believe there’s never been a better time to be in the wealth management industry,” he said. “There’s so much change creating so many compelling opportunities for the bold and the curious.” https://lnkd.in/expY6kVV?

It seemed so obvious that a business like hers was needed that Lacy Garcia figured someone else had already started one. No one had, it turned out. So, she did. ?? Garcia is the CEO of Willow, a wealthtech platform serving advisors – with education, coaching, and marketing – and women and next-generation investors looking to be matched with advisors who “get them.” Listen to this week’s WealthTech on Deck podcast with host Jack Sharry to learn about what Willow does and why it attracted a minority investor in asset management giant BlackRock. https://lnkd.in/eN7tA92v

You can’t help but notice Harrison Ford is still acting at 82, and Bruce Springsteen is still rocking at 75. ? Ken Dychtwald, this week’s guest on WealthTech on Deck, said financial advisors had better be tuned into the paradigms of aging of those and other prominent people – like Warren Buffett (94) and Tom Cruise (62) – present. ?? ? “More and more people today are realizing that they don't want to live a longer life just to be old longer,” Dychtwald told host Jack Sharry. “They want a more cyclic life. They want to maybe retire a couple of three times, maybe take sabbaticals, maybe go back to school.” ? Financial advisors need to ask people approaching retirement or living it, “What are you thinking about in this next chapter in your life?” ? https://lnkd.in/ehnUZvnF

RIAs are aiming to grow, and SEI is prepared to help them, says SEI’s new head of asset management, Michael Lane. ? Lane described to WealthTech on Deck host Jack Sharry his thoughts on how his new company can help RIAs “do more with technology, do more with professional servicers … to offer a more robust offering and solution set.” https://lnkd.in/ee_5BPBh

Franklin Templeton is a 75-year-old investment manager that has made significant strategic changes in the past five years and expanded through acquisitions, new technology, and products. The company’s chief marketing officer, Jennifer Ball, told Jack Sharry on the WealthTech on Deck podcast that the company needed a coherent narrative to explain the upshot of all the activity. Listen to Ball explain how it teamed up with its agency, Boathouse, to develop new messaging for its diverse audiences and why it has invested in a new social media center of excellence. https://lnkd.in/eq4uW-H5

Wealth managers strive to provide investors with multi-account, tax-smart portfolio management. But it’s hard, complicated, and largely manual. There’s no “easy button”—yet. Speaking with WealthTech on Deck host Jack Sharry, Scott Smith from Cerulli Associates compared their challenges to the labors of the mythical Hercules and his epic battle with the nine-headed Hydra. Hercules slayed the Hydra. Automated technology connecting and coordinating the multiple processes that contribute to tax alpha can help deliver UMH, Smith said. https://lnkd.in/epxv68GN

Push aside?the PowerPoints and 50-page plans, says this week’s guest on?WealthTech?on Deck. ? Instead, put the power of the back of the napkin to work. ? H. Adam Holt, CFP?, ChFC? is?the?founder and CEO of Asset-Map,?a technology that helps financial advisors work with high-net-worth clients to draw a “treasure map” of their?holdings and the family members and others with?a stake in their finances. ? “Do?you realize how much of that stuff is haphazard?” Holt told podcast host Jack Sharry. ? “It turns out that a lot of people's financial instruments are not intentional. We?can do more to just help them organize their lives, as opposed to getting stuck in whether they have too much Apple or Microsoft?(stock).” ? https://lnkd.in/eKrFFR6U

It’s a wrap – almost. Download this week’s 2024 wrap-up of the WealthTech on Deck podcast to hear host Jack Sharry and executive producer Matt Nollman reflect on which guests revealed the most about the future of wealthtech and financial advice. https://lnkd.in/eA5e4RHq

Every week, we share a story about how human advice and evolving digital capabilities are charting the future of financial services. Today, we share some news: SEI? has acquired LifeYield. Together, they are developing real-time, unified managed household (UMH) capabilities in a cost-effective, fully bundled solution for advisors and institutions. Read the news release for more details on their future plans.?