The InvestmentNews Podcast: Recent Episodes
InvestmentNews
Veteran financial reporters Bruce Kelly and Jeff Benjamin take the listener beyond the page, into the heart of the story. With exclusive interviews of industry leaders and the hosts’ depth of knowledge, this podcast dives deep into a few select topics each week. The listener will gain new insight into the financial services industry, while Jeff and Bruce keep it all moving with a lighthearted approach.
Bruce Kelly, from InvestmentNews, calls up Vance Barse, founder and wealth strategist at Your Dedicated Fiduciary, for an insightful chat about fee models and where Barse thinks the industry is heading. They also talk about Barse’s career path and the executives that have had the biggest influence on him.
Ron Carson has long been regarded as one of the top financial advisors in the country but after stepping down as CEO, details have emerged about a new life path. From his new nickname “Omani”, to hosting festivals at his Omaha “healing center”, and talking about his use of psychedelics, it’s a world away from RIAs and portfolios.
Bruce Kelly, of InvestmentNews, chats with Jodie Papike, CEO of advisor recruiting firm Cross-Search, about following in the footsteps of her father Larry and being a second-generation recruiter. They also discuss the difficult topic of what it was really like rising to a senior level in a male-dominated industry, and how advisors are navigating the flood of private equity cash.
Tash Elwyn, president and CEO of Raymond James & Associates, took time out from his busy day to chat to InvestmentNews’ Bruce Kelly. The duo kick off the pod with a lighthearted chat about the origins of Tash’s unusual name before diving into a number of topics, including his new role following a leadership reshuffle, the success of the company’s annual employee event, and where Tash believes the industry is heading.
Private credit has surged in popularity as an attractive investment alternative, especially in today's fluctuating financial landscape. As traditional banking systems face increasing scrutiny and regulatory constraints, private credit offers a promising avenue with potentially higher yields and reduced risk profiles. Understanding this investment option is crucial for anyone looking to diversify their portfolio and capitalize on the current economic environment. With interest rates climbing and traditional equity markets showing signs of volatility, private credit stands out as a compelling choice for savvy investors. In this episode, Shiloh Bates, Chief Investment Officer at Flat Rock Global, delves deep into the intricacies of private credit. Whether you're an experienced investor or just starting to explore new financial opportunities, this podcast will equip you with essential insights and practical knowledge. Shiloh brings over two decades of investment experience, providing a unique perspective on the current trends and future prospects of private credit. Listen to this podcast to: •Learn what these terms mean and why they matter in the context of private credit. •Discover why private credit is currently a favored investment, including its potential for high yields and security. •Get insights into how Federal Reserve rate hikes impact private credit investments and why this creates opportunities. •Understand the risks associated with private credit and how investments are structured to mitigate these risks. •Gain foresight into the potential growth and sustainability of private credit as an investment class. Dive into the world of private credit and discover how it can revolutionize your investment portfolio. Listen now and take the first step towards smarter investing!
With the launch of a number of new Ethereum ETFs and a surge in the price in Bitcoin, crypto is having a moment. Bruce Kelly, of InvestmentNews, sits down with Roxanna Islam, of TMX/VettaFi, to talk about the latest developments, the impact of the regulators and where this is all heading.
Investors and financial advisors are redeeming nontraded REITs, spooked by spooked by high interest rates and empty spaces in office buildings. Will the nontraded REIT industry bounce back in the next 12 months?
InvestmentNews' Bruce Kelly sits down with trial lawyer Tom Ajamie to discuss deferred compensation cases and how a major strategic rethink led him and his team to ERISA, which could significantly change wirehouse compensation packages.
In today’s financial landscape, staying ahead isn’t just an advantage, it’s essential. As demand for financial advice grows and advisors face the challenge of aging populations — along with many of their own retirement plans — understanding industry trends becomes paramount. Join InvestmentNews senior columnist, Bruce Kelly, as he chats with Jeremy Holly, Executive Vice President at LPL Financial, as they discuss the complexities of the M&A space, focusing on advisors’ evolving liquidity needs and strategies for creating transferable value. Tune in to hear all about: •Challenges posed by aging client base and the emerging trends in advisor’s retirement planning •Specific factors driving value in today's market •How to navigate the war for talent and cultivate the next generation of advisors •The secrets to creating transferable value •The latest trends shaping advisor priorities Don’t miss the opportunity to revolutionize your approach to your business. Your journey to advisor excellence starts here — join us and unlock the secrets to success. LPL Financial. Member FINRA/SIPC.
Join BNY Mellon’s David Moss, Growth Ventures Partner, and Aaron Steinberg, Head of Prime Services Business Development and Capital Introductions, for the latest InvestmentNews podcast hosted by Senior Columnist and reporter, Bruce Kelly. In this episode, we dive into the expanding realm of alternative investments and explore why these assets are capturing the attention of both advisors and individual investors. David and Aaron share their unique perspectives on the future of investing, discussing how new innovations are making alternative investments more accessible and manageable for the wealth management community. During this podcast, you will gain key insights into the macro-outlook for private markets, the importance of diversity and downside protection, as well as the challenges and strategies surrounding investing in alternatives. Highlights include: • The expansive growth opportunities for private markets and alternatives among advisors and individual investors • Key factors impacting adoption – access, education, and experience – and how fund managers are addressing each in order to attract new investment • Technological advancements and rapid innovation taking place to facilitate greater access and flexibility in private markets and alternatives To learn more, press play and listen to the podcast
As we celebrate Women’s History Month, join our latest podcast for a deep dive into the impact women are making in alternative investments and across the financial sector. We’re joined by Lisa Lewin, Director of Business Development on BNY Mellon Pershing’s Prime Services team, who shares insights around women in leadership roles at hedge funds, the value of diversity, and supporting the growth of women in the industry. Topics include: - The changing roles of women in the hedge fund industry, particularly in investment-focused positions, and what it means for the industry - Exclusive data from BNY Mellon around women’s representation in C-Suite roles in financial services and investor trends around diversity - Ways in which companies can continue to grow the talent pipeline and foster team diversity – and much more Don’t miss this highly informative podcast – hit play now!
In 2024, allocators are considering reducing allocations from public markets and traditional investment strategies, and reallocating to alternative investments in order to diversify their portfolios. Aaron Steinberg, Head of Prime Services Business Development and Capital Introductions at BNY Mellon’s Pershing, breaks down key findings from his team’s recent alternative investment allocator survey, including the main drivers for investors allocating to both private credit and hedge funds, and key investment themes on the horizon for 2024. Don’t miss this highly informative podcast – hit play now!
Bruce talks to Steve Sanders from Interactive Brokers about how some broker-dealers are 'in a bit of a pickle' due to how they invested client cash.
Bruce talks to eMoney Advisor’s Matt Schulte and Dr. Emily Koochel about financial advisors and financial psychology, engaging and motivating clients and the experience of financial planning.
In the fast-changing world of wealth management, leaders need innovative ways to stand out and prosper. To remain competitive, attract talent, and fuel growth, firms need a modern strategy and approach. So, what does this look like? In this episode Bruce Kelly sits down with Ken Hullings, EVP, Institution Business Development at LPL Financial to uncover how firms can set themselves apart from the competition and better serve their clients. Don’t miss out – hit play now.
Bruce chats with Rob Isbitts, founder of ETFYourself.com, former financial advisor and fund manager, about interest rates, the bond market, and what fixed-income ETFs to consider right now.
Bruce is joined by Peter Mallouk, president and CEO of Creative Planning, to discuss the RIA giant’s recent deal for Goldman’s RIA, the former United Capital Financial Partners.
Bruce is joined by Ron Carson, founder and CEO of Carson Group, and John Furey, managing partner of Advisor Growth Strategies, to talk about Goldman’s sale of United Capital and how financial advisors can move beyond a mindset of fear and scarcity.
The InvestmentNews podcast returns after a summer hiatus. In this episode, Bruce talks to fellow reporters Ryan Neal and Emile Hallez, respectively, about AI and college debt.
Bruce and Jeff are joined by Abby Salameh, chief marketing officer and managing director of CAIS IQ, to talk about the appetite for and access to alternative investments.
Guest Bio:
Abby Salameh is the Chief Marketing Officer and Managing Director of CAIS IQ. She leads the firm’s brand and media strategy, corporate communications, channel marketing, and the CAIS IQ business unit. Abby has more than 20 years of experience in the independent wealth ecosystem.
Before joining CAIS, she served as CMO at Hightower and Private Advisor Group. She has also previously held leadership positions at Fusion Advisor Network and was Head of Marketing for Institutional Services at TD Ameritrade and TD Waterhouse Institutional Services. She holds a BA in Finance from Hofstra University and an MBA from the NYU Stern School of Business.
Bruce and Jeff speak to Richard Hill, head of real estate strategy and research at Cohen & Steers, about everything REITs. Rich walks us through the current downturn in commercial real estate, as well as the difference between inflation and stagflation. He also discusses why, if REITs are such a good hedge against inflation, they had such a bad year in 2022.
Guest Bio:
Mr. Richard Hill has more than 20 years of commercial real estate experience across a variety of roles including interest rate derivatives, capital markets and, most recently, research. Mr. Hill is a Senior Vice President at Cohen & Steers where he leads the Real Estate Strategy Group, a team responsible for identifying and analyzing long-term and secular real estate investment ideas, as well as building an integrated listed and private real estate strategy function to help investors optimize portfolios both strategically and tactically. Previously he was a Managing Director at Morgan Stanley where he was Head of U.S. Commercial Real Estate Research across public REITs, CRE Debt and macro property research. He’s a ranked analyst in both Equity and Fixed Income by Institutional Investors, one of a select few to be ranked in both polls. Mr Hill is 2022 member of the Commercial Real Estate / Multifamily Finance Board of Governors (COMBOG) of the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA). Previously Mr. Hill was Head of CLO and CMBS Research at Morgan Stanley. From 2010 to 2013, he was a Director of CLO & CMBS Strategy at Royal Bank of Scotland ("RBS") Securities where he was responsible for developing and communicating investment strategies for both internal and external clients. Mr. Hill started his career at Banc of America Securities where he was a debt capital markets banker in the Structured Securities Group and an associate in the Interest Rate Derivatives group, both roles focused on CRE.
Bruce and Jeff speak with Bob Smietana, national reporter at Religion News Service, about Christian radio host Dave Ramsey and the multiple lawsuits he's facing. They work through the question of how legally responsible Dave Ramsey is in these suits as someone considered a "financial guru."
Related Article: Dave Ramsey sued by listeners over failed promises of advertiser
Guest Bio:
Bob Smietana is a national reporter at Religion News Service with more than two decades of experience covering the intersection of faith, values and everyday life. His work is fueled by a wide range of sources, deep subject knowledge, a knack for finding stories that attract a large audience online, and a love for collaborating with other reporters, scholars and multimedia journalists.
Bruce and Jeff speak with forward thinker Michael Kitces, chief financial planning nerd at kitces.com. With ChatGPT pushing artificial intelligence into the mainstream, Michael walks us through how AI can complement your advisory services and how to integrate it.
Guest Bio:
Michael E. Kitces, MSFS, MTAX, CFP®, CLU, ChFC, RHU, REBC, CASL, is the Head of Planning Strategy for Buckingham Wealth Partners, a private wealth management firm located in St Louis, Missouri, that oversees approximately $50 billion of client assets. In addition, he is the co-founder of the XY Planning Network, AdvicePay, fpPathfinder, and New Planner Recruiting, former practitioner editor of the Journal of Financial Planning, and the publisher of the e-newsletter The Kitces Report and the popular financial planning industry blog Nerd’s Eye View through his website www.Kitces.com, dedicated to advancing knowledge in financial planning.
Michael is also a popular speaker on financial planning and practice management topics, and can be seen presenting at 50-70 regional and national conferences for financial advisors every year.
Michael is one of the 2010 recipients of the Financial Planning Association’s “Heart of Financial Planning” awards for his dedication to advancing the financial planning profession. In addition, he has variously been recognized as financial planning's "Deep Thinker," a "Legacy Builder," an "Influencer," a "Mover & Shaker," part of the “Power 20,” and a "Rising Star in Wealth Management" by industry publications. These awards were presented to honor Michael’s active work in the financial planning community. Michael is also a co-founder of NexGen, a community of the next generation of financial planners that aims to ensure the transference of wisdom, tradition, and integrity, from the pioneers of financial planning to the next generation of the profession.
Specialties: Financial Planning, CFP, Tax Planning, Retirement Planning, Investment Management, Blogger, Social Media for Advisors, Public Speaker
Bruce takes the pod solo as he speaks to Peter Nesvold of Republic Capital Group, an investment banker, teacher and author. Peter talks about recent deals Republic Capital has been involved in, the current premium on getting into the wealth management business, and his overall sense of the marketplace now.
Guest Bio:
Peter Nesvold, a lawyer, CFA and CPA by background, is a multi-disciplinary finance executive with 25 years of Wall Street experience in the asset and wealth management industries. He is a partner at Republic Capital Group and the founder of Nesvold Capital Partners (NCP).
Peter cut his teeth as a sell-side equity research analyst, rising to senior managing director at Bear Stearns in less than six years. Over the course of his sell-side career, Peter covered more than 50 companies and ranked in StarMine’s “Best Analysts” poll across three industries. This versatility carried over to Peter’s role as a portfolio manager/analyst at Lazard Asset Management, where he was one of three managers of the firm’s SMid-cap product. During his tenure, the team grew AUM more than tenfold and earned Morningstar’s coveted “five-star” rating.
In 2013, Peter became Managing Director and COO of Silver Lane Advisors, a premier investment banking boutique specializing in the asset and wealth management industries. In this role, he managed business development and institutionalized the firm's business practices to support its exponential growth (i.e., revenues grew sixfold in seven years, firm was ranked #1 by deal volume in its vertical). In April 2019, Raymond James acquired Silver Lane and Peter subsequently departed to launch NCP, through which he acquired a substantial stake in Republic Capital, in addition to minority stakes in Stratos Wealth ($23bn AUM) and Pure Financial ($4bn AUM).
Outside of work, Peter is an adjunct professor of corporate finance at Fordham and a fellow at the Gabelli Center for Global Security Analysis. He has published four books on M&A with McGraw-Hill and serves on the Board of Directors of Stratos Wealth and the Hampton Jitney (the iconic luxury motor coach carrier connecting Manhattan and the Hamptons). He previously served on the Board of Directors of the CFA Society New York (the largest CFA society globally with approximately 11,000 members) and served as a Business Advisory Director to ACT Research (a leading publisher of commercial vehicle industry data, analysis, and forecasting services).
Peter graduated from the University of Pennsylvania (B.A., Economics with a concentration equivalency in accounting from The Wharton School) and Fordham Law (cum laude, Order of the Coif), where he was elected Editor-in-Chief of his law journal. He was previously a competitive long-distance runner, completing 19 full marathons.
Bruce and Jeff speak to Emily Koochel, manager of financial wellness at eMoney Advisor. Emily stresses the importance of financial wellness through the exploration of financial psychology and helps us understand the difference between financial psychology and behavioral finance.
Guest Bio:
Dr. Emily Koochel is an experienced financial professional, academic, and researcher. She currently serves as a leader for eMoney Advisor’s Financial Education and Wellness initiatives in her role as the Senior Financial Planning Education Consultant. Dr. Koochel’s Ph.D. in Applied Family Science and Master’s in Financial Planning provide a multidisciplinary lens to inform her work where she focuses on understanding the effect of financial behaviors and financial decision making on personal and financial wellness. She serves as a subject matter expert in the field, reviewing and authoring peer-reviewed journal articles, book chapters, and contributing to public scholarship. Most notably, she served as a co-author of the CFP Board’s book — The Psychology of Financial Planning — and was awarded 2020 Outstanding Research Journal Article of the Year by the Association for Financial Counseling and Planning Education. She holds the Certified Financial Therapist — I designation and is an Accredited Financial Counselor.
Bruce and Jeff are joined by InvestmentNews ESG editor Emile Hallez to talk about the backlash he received in response to his recent column, 'The Bud Light case for ESG.' They discuss how ESG is defined and how it applies to Anheuser-Busch hiring a transgender influencer to promote its brand.
Related article: https://www.investmentnews.com/the-bud-light-case-for-esg-236936
Guest Bio:
Emile Hallez is ESG editor at InvestmentNews. Previously he was U.S. news editor for ESG Clarity, covered retirement at InvestmentNews, and worked as a reporter and associate editor at Ignites, a Financial Times publication. Prior to his work in financial journalism, he cut his teeth as a reporter at Evergreen Newspapers, a small chain of community papers in Colorado. Going back even farther in time, he worked as a technician at a tissue bank, making bone, soft tissue and skin grafts. Emile is passionate about cycling, rock climbing, and environmental and animal rights issues. He can often be found exploring the woods of Maine with his wife, Meika, and rescue mutts Piper and Buckey.
Bruce and Jeff talk to Louis Diamond, president of Diamond Consultants, about First Republic Bank, JPMorgan's role as its acquirer, and what the road ahead may look like for the First Republic brokers and clients. They also discuss the road paved by Louis' mother, Mindy Diamond, who started Diamond Consultants at a time when a woman leader in the industry wasn't common.
Jeff takes the pod solo this week to talk to Matt Matrisian, chief channel officer at AssetMark. They evaluate the current structure of fees and look at how advisors can use benchmarking to optimize their fee-based practice. They also consider how advisors can approach raising their fees.
Guest Bio:
Matt Matrisian serves as the senior vice president and chief channel officer for AssetMark. Matt started at AssetMark in April of 2010. Matt is based in the San Francisco Bay area.
Bruce and Jeff are joined by Adam Cox, executive vice president and chief wealth management officer at First National Bank in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. In addition to running his own award-winning podcast, 'Common Sense on the Prairie,' Adam walks us through how he's lead the growth and hybrid development of First National Bank to provide a variety of banking and RIA services to its clients.
Guest Bio:
Adam Cox is executive vice president and chief wealth management officer at The First National Bank in Sioux Falls, a community bank located in southeastern South Dakota. A native of South Dakota, Adam ventured through the Midwest to earn his bachelor’s degree from the University of South Dakota, JD from the University of St. Thomas School of Law and MBA from the University of Notre Dame.
Adam has devoted his entire professional career to the field of wealth management and has served as head of First National Wealth Management since 2016. More recently, Adam began hosting Common Cents on the Prairie™, a podcast by First National Wealth Management, in 2020. The award-winning podcast features national and local experts as well as groundbreaking interviews with real couples, all with the goal of making financial education more accessible to others regardless of their financial situation.
Under Adam’s leadership, First National Wealth Management has grown its discretionary assets by nearly $700 million, and added another $3.4 billion in non-discretionary trust assets. Over the past three years, Adam’s team has achieved double-digit annual organic new fee revenue growth (excluding market performance), added hundreds of millions in new discretionary assets, and averaged more than one new account every business day.
Adam’s personal mission is to change the way wealth management services are delivered, and he attributes his team’s success to their strong culture, client-obsessed mindset, digital-first marketing approach, and desire to become easily referrable. Furthermore, the First National Wealth Management team has created an incredibly exciting, winning culture that is intensely focused on the future of the wealth management business.
Adam and his wife, Diane, live in the Sioux Falls, SD area with their two daughters. They enjoy spending time together, walking, reading, relaxing on the weekends, and attending the occasional concert — preferably with country music artists.
Jeff takes the pod solo this week to talk to Lindsey Swanson, who founded and runs a niche advisory practice, Stripper Financial Planning. Lindsey takes us through how she identified her niche working with sex workers, and how she used tools like SEO and her desire to serve an underserved demographic to help define and grow her business.
Guest Bio:
Lindsey Swanson CFP® has worked in financial planning for the better part of the last decade. She is passionate about bringing education and advice to every corner of society. She noticed a severe lack of financial advice targeted toward workers in adult entertainment. Lindsey started Stripper Financial Planning to offer quality advice to sex worker clients and respect in their journey.
Jeff and Bruce chat with InvestmentNews contributing editor Mary Beth Franklin about recent projection that the Social Security trust funds will run out by 2034. Mary Beth walks us through how Social Security currently works, how it's been an ever-evolving system in constant need of reform, and the reality that this current problem is not a math problem but a political one.
Guest Bio:
Mary Beth Franklin is a dontributing editor at InvestmentNews specializing in Social Security, Medicare and retirement income. She has been a financial journalist for more than 40 years, covering everything from federal budget and tax policies as a Capitol Hill reporter for United Press International to consumer finances as a writer and editor at Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine. Mary Beth became a certified financial planner in 2015 and is an in-demand speaker at conferences for financial professionals as well as a frequent guest on numerous radio and television programs. She is the author of “Maximizing Your Social Security Retirement Benefits” and host of the Retirement Repair Shop podcast. In her free time, Mary Beth likes to read, garden, ski and play the piano. She received a BA in Communications from American University in 1975 where she continues to mentor journalism students.
Bruce and Jeff talk to James Crowley, chief executive and chair of the executive committee at Pershing, about the continued success of the world's largest custodian and the keys that make that possible. James claims much of it has to do with his longevity as CEO and the relationships he's cultivated, mixed with the proper timing to create opportunity. He also stresses the need to continue to innovate the services offered.
Guest Bio:
Jim Crowley is the Chief Executive and Chair of the Executive Committee for Pershing. He is also a member of the BNY Mellon Executive Committee. Pershing provides business-to-business solutions to clients representing over 7 million investor accounts globally. Jim leads a team of experienced professionals dedicated to helping clients improve profitability, drive growth, create efficiency, and manage risk and regulation. He is a passionate supporter of Diversity and Inclusion and ESG efforts.
Prior to becoming CEO in July 2019, Jim served as the firm’s Chief Operating Officer, ensuring that Pershing had a sustainable and resilient business strategy, attracted and developed the best talent, and had the proper controls and systems in place to support its business.
He is a frequent speaker at client events and major industry conferences on business trends, strategy and transformation, sharing his broad range of industry insights and experience.
Bruce and Jeff chat with Shannon Eusey, CEO and founder of Beacon Pointe Advisors, about how Shannon launched Beacon Pointe, the nation's largest woman-led RIA, and how the firm has continued to grow amid challenging times. Shannon also talks about how she's been able to run the company while becoming a mother of four. They also ponder the question of when big firms will start acquiring other big firms.
Guest Bio:
Shannon is the Chief Executive Officer of Beacon Pointe Advisors, the largest female-led Registered Investment Advisory (RIA) firm in the country serving private clients, foundations, and retirement plans. Prior to launching Beacon Pointe, Shannon served as Senior Managing Director and Portfolio Manager at Roxbury Capital Management and oversaw the socially responsible investment (SRI) platform for several years. Shannon is a member of the CNBC Financial Advisor Council and is regularly featured in The Wall Street Journal, InvestmentNews, Barron’s, Forbes, Financial Planning Magazine, among other publications. In 2018 she was presented with the UC Irvine Lauds & Laurels Award and in 2017 the Orange County Business Journal Women in Business Award. Through Shannon’s passion for financial education, she is a founding member of the Beacon Pointe Women’s Advisory Institute and co-authored Your Dollars, Our Sense: A Fun and Simple Guide to Money Matters, an international best-selling book that has ranked #1 in six different business and finance categories. Shannon graduated from the University of California, Irvine where she played Division I Volleyball and she received her MBA from the University of California, Los Angeles Anderson School of Business. Shannon is a member of the Young Presidents Organization (YPO) for the Orange County Chapter, and serves or has served on numerous boards including the Bank of California (BAC), the UCI Athletic Fund Board, the Charles Schwab Advisor Council, the TD Ameritrade Advisory Council, as well as Scratchworks, a FinTech accelerator that connects innovative tech companies with investment and wealth management luminaries to advance the digital transformation of the financial services industry. As a dedicated philanthropist, she has also served on the Children’s Hospital of Orange County Professional Advisory Committee, the Investment Committee of Sisters of St. Joseph in Orange, and served as the Executive Director of the HALO Foundation. Shannon is married, has four children, and lives with her husband in Newport Beach, California.
In this special episode of the IN Pod, straight from the conference floor of T3, InvestmentNews technology editor Ryan W. Neal speaks with Rose Palazzo, group president of financial planning at Envestnet.
Guest Bio:
Rose Palazzo is the Group President of Envestnet Financial Planning, where she oversees all MoneyGuide operations.
In this special episode of the IN Pod, straight from the conference floor of T3, InvestmentNews technology editor Ryan W. Neal speaks with Nimesh Patel, chief technology officer at Carson Group.
Guest Bio:
Nimesh Patel is chief technology officer at Carson Group. Prior to joining Carson Group, Patel was CEO of Prefix Health Technologies, a tech startup that modernized access and delivery of social benefits to vulnerable populations. Previously, he served as COO and CTO at Cresset, a startup in capital markets, where he helped incubate and grow the firm to reach $5 billion in assets under management in under two years. Other career stops include five years as CTO of Emmi Solutions, a healthtech company, and work in a variety of technology leadership roles at UBS (Hong Kong), Intercontinental Exchange Trust, Boston Options Exchange and Chicago Mercantile Exchange.
In this special episode of the IN Pod, straight from the conference floor of T3, InvestmentNews technology editor Ryan W. Neal speaks with Joel Bruckenstein, producer of the T3 conference.
In this special episode of the IN Pod, straight from the conference floor of T3, InvestmentNews technology editor Ryan W. Neal speaks with Aaron Klein, co-founder and CEO of Riskalyze.
Guest Bio:
Aaron Klein is co-founder and CEO of Riskalyze. Aaron’s career has largely been at the intersection of finance and technology. As co-founder and CEO at Riskalyze, he led the company to twice being named one of the world’s top 10 most innovative companies in finance by Fast Company Magazine. Aaron has served as a Sierra College Trustee, and in his spare time, he co-founded a school project for orphans and vulnerable kids in Ethiopia. InvestmentNews has honored him as one of the industry’s top 40 Under 40 executives.
In this special episode of the IN Pod, straight from the conference floor of T3, InvestmentNews technology editor Ryan W. Neal speaks to Alison Dooher, managing director of digital advisor solutions at Charles Schwab.
Guest Bio:
Alison Dooher leads the Digital Advisor Solutions team, which oversees the suite of technology platforms that help the Registered Investment Advisors (RIAs) that custody assets with Schwab serve their clients and increase the scale and efficiency of their business. This group is a core component of the Digital Services team responsible for defining and developing strategy, offers and experiences to drive growth and loyalty across all Schwab client groups, reporting to Schwab’s Chief Digital Officer. It also plays a key role in advancing the overall custody, trading and support services Schwab provides to independent investment advisors.
Since joining the firm in 1999, Dooher has enjoyed a long career with Schwab serving clients across a breadth of roles. Most recently, Dooher has been responsible for leading the teams building industry-leading digital onboarding and account servicing experiences for advisors. This role followed her time as one of the leaders responsible for launching Schwab’s roboadvisor, Schwab Intelligent Portfolios. Prior roles also include directly supporting new advisors launching their RIA businesses as well as institutional trading.
Dooher earned her bachelor's degree at Wake Forest University. She lives in Denver with her husband Nicholas.
Bruce and Jeff are joined by Alexander Yokum, equity research analyst at CFRA, who provides context on what Silicon Valley Bank's problems mean for the immediate future of banking. He also talks about how First Republic, considered one of the least risky banks, got caught up in this, and whether or not we should be concerned for the banking industry as a whole.
Guest Bio:
Alexander Yokum is an Equity Research Analyst at CFRA. Alexander is primarily responsible for covering regional banks and diversified banks, including companies such as U.S. Bancorp, PNC, Truist and the largest six banks in Canada. Alexander also follows consumer finance names such as American Express and Capital One. Finally, he follows financial exchanges and data, which include names such as S&P Global, Moody’s, CME and Nasdaq.
Before joining CFRA in 2021, Alexander spent four years with IHS Markit. In that role, he advised CFOs and investor relations teams on strategic investor initiatives such as shareholder identification, conference and non-deal roadshow targeting, and activist defense.
Alexander is a CFA charter holder and obtained his bachelor's degree in Business Administration from North Carolina State University, with a concentration in Finance, an honors in Data Analytics, and a minor in Statistics. He graduated summa cum laude.
Bruce and Jeff chat with Candice Carlton, head of advisor growth marketing at FiComm Partners, about Merrill Lynch’s new tool allowing advisors to share custom videos and why Candace sees it as a wake-up call for advisors. She goes through the do's and don'ts of using video to market yourself as an advisor, and explains why this is a tool everyone will have to master.
Candice Carlton is the head of advisor growth marketing at FiComm Partners. Prior to FiComm, she worked for and with some of the fastest growing and most innovative firms in the US, including Mercer Advisors, United Capital acquired by Goldman Sachs and XY Planning Network.
This week Bruce and Jeff connect with Bruce Lavine, founder and CEO of NightShares. They discuss NightShares' strategies for trading ETFs while the markets are closed, the methodologies that make this successful and how advisors can use these strategies for their clients.
Guest Bio:
Bruce Lavine is NightShares' founder and chief executive officer. Pragmatic and inventive leader in multiple high-impact roles building successful businesses with an expertise in wealth management, asset management and exchange-traded funds. One of the early pioneers in creating the ETF industry’s success path by building relationships and partnerships, contributing to the design of creative products, and promoting products across multiple media and relationship platforms.
Broad experience managing high-performing teams and streamlining operations in startup/high growth phases of business evolution. Strong balance of vision, creativity and practicality in approaching planning, challenges, and opportunities.
On this episode, Jeff and Bruce come on strong with the questions and Michael Tiedemann, CEO of Alvarium Tiedemann, takes them in stride. There’s so much to unpack, from the inception of the Tiedemann Advisors to its journey of rebranding and going public. Jeff is curious about Michael's lack of interest in private equity. Bruce wants to know what the heck Gwyneth Paltrow and Goop have to do with Michael Tiedemann. And of course the bigger questions: Does an RIA go public? If so, when? And do you misalign with your clients by going public? They note that the company is not just an RIA, but also has real estate and asset management businesses, and discuss why merging three businesses privately has its own set of major challenges. Michael admits he has overall geopolitical concerns over the next three years. He also expresses the company's position on acquisitions and how it's maintained a high level of organic growth.
Guest Bio:
Michael Tiedemann is Chief Executive Officer of Alvarium Tiedemann I AlTi. Michael began his career working for Tiedemann Investment Group (TIG) as an emerging markets research analyst. In 1994, he joined the equity research group at Banco Garantia, one of Brazil’s leading Investment Banks, living in Brazil for two years. Later Michael ran their equity sales and trading operations out of New York where he worked closely with Garantia’s top-ranked Hedge Fund-of-Fund Group. In 1998, when Credit Suisse acquired Garantia, he remained there, heading up their sales trading efforts for Latin America, until he left to start Tiedemann Advisors in 2000.
Michael has been a selected speaker at a number of financial and regulatory associations around the country. In 2012, the Henry Street Settlement honored Michael for his contribution to charitable causes, and most recently in 2017 Michael received the Impact Award for his contribution to fighting poverty by the River Fund of New York.
Bruce and Jeff are joined by Jeremy Eisenstein, co-head of RIA custody sales at Goldman Sachs. Jeremy gives his views on the custody operation at Goldman, where it's going, where it's been and how it got here.
Guest Bio:
Jeremy Eisenstein is co-head of the RIA custody sales and relationship management teams at Goldman Sachs, which is part of the Firm's Global Banking & Markets Division. He is based in New York.
Prior to this role, he was a member of the Goldman Sachs derivatives franchise with responsibilities across the insurance and Structured Products groups covering financial advisors.
Before joining Goldman Sachs in 2017, Mr. Eisenstein held various roles at Credit Suisse between 2014-2017, and previously Barclays Bank/Lehman Brothers from 2005 to 2014.
Inspired by a Twitter showdown about ESG investing, Jeff and Bruce seek more information from Adam Fleck, director of equity research for ESG at Morningstar Research Services. The guys dive deep to better understand the landscape of ESG investing and how we can get past the political challenges.
Guest Bio:
Adam Fleck is the director of equity research, ESG for Morningstar Research Services LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Morningstar Inc. He leads Morningstar's environmental, social and governance equity research efforts, including collaboration with Sustainalytics, along with a team of analysts in Chicago and Amsterdam.
Before assuming his current role, Fleck was Morningstar's regional director of equity research in Australia and New Zealand and director of North American consumer equity research. He joined Morningstar in 2006.
Fleck holds a bachelor's degree in business administration from the University of Notre Dame, where he graduated cum laude. He also holds the Chartered Financial Analyst® designation.
Bruce and Jeff speak to Nadia Papagiannis, head of model portfolio products at Northern Trust Asset Management, about investing beyond one’s comfort zone and what it is about our current economy that makes alternative investments unique.
Additional Resources:
The name of the model portfolio discussed by Nadia is Diversified Strategist Growth with Income, and the FlexShares ETFs that provide its alts exposure are: iBox 3-Year Target Duration TIPS Index (TDTT); High Yield Value-Scored Bond Index (HYGV); Morningstar Global Upstream Natural Resources Index (GUNR); STOXX Global Infrastructure Index (NFRA); and Global Quality Real Estate Index (GQRE).
Guest Bio:
Nadia Papagiannis, CFA, is Head of Model Portfolio Products, Northern Trust Asset Management (NTAM), which has $1T in AUM. She’s responsible for developing and managing discretionary, multi-asset class products. Nadia joined NTAM in 2018, having spent more than four years at Goldman Sachs Asset Management as Director of Alternative Investment Strategy and eight years at Morningstar, where she was the Director of Alternative Fund Research. She holds a bachelor’s degree in finance and French from the University of Wisconsin and an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. In 2011, Institutional Investor magazine selected her as one of the publication’s Rising Stars of Mutual Funds. In 2017, The Hedge Fund Journal selected her as one of the 50 Leading Women in Hedge Funds.
Bruce and Jeff talk to Ben Carlson, director of institutional asset management at Ritholtz Wealth Management, about going 100% equities in portfolios, dealing with the risk averse versus the non-risk averse, and answering the big recession questions.
Guest Bio:
Ben Carlson CFA serves as the Director of Institutional Asset Management at Ritholtz Wealth Management. Mr. Carlson is responsible for working directly with institutional investors and developing portfolio solutions that address their needs, as well as leveraging and contributing to the firm's internal research program. Prior to this, he was a part of the investment team that managed the endowment fund for the Van Andel Institute. Mr. Carlson previously worked for an institutional investment consulting firm managing portfolios for various endowments, foundations and pension plans.
He is the author of the books A Wealth of Common Sense: Why Simplicity Trumps Complexity in Any Investment Plan and Organizational Alpha: How to Add Value in Institutional Asset Management.
In 2017, he was named to the InvestmentNews 40 Under 40 list of top financial advisors.
Mr. Carlson is a CFA charterholder. He earned an MBA from Grand Valley State University and a Bachelor's Degree in Business Management from Hope College.
Bruce and Jeff are joined by Thomas Moore, director of Betterment for Advisors, to talk about all things Betterment. They leave no stone unturned as they discuss the robo-advisor's business, its strategy and Betterment's outlook on its future.
Guest Bio:
Thomas Moore heads up the business development group for Betterment for Advisors. Prior to this, he held lead sales roles for Affiliated Managers Group, SEI and The Vanguard Group.
Jeff and Bruce connect with financial industry vet Mark Tibergien on all things financial advising. He explains how his retirement from Pershing Advisor Solutions in 2020 allowed him to rewire his services, providing greater reach in how he applies his years of experience in the industry.
Guest Bio:
Mark Tibergien retired in June 2020 as CEO of Pershing Advisor Solutions, a BNY Mellon Company, and now works as a consultant, speaker or board member with other enterprises that are going through dynamic transformation. Mark recently was appointed as Advisor in Residence for Ernst & Young Wealth & Asset Management Sector. He also serves on the board of Pathstone, a multi-family office backed by Lovell Minnick Partners.
Jeff and Bruce are joined by Michael Hunstad, executive vice president and chief investment officer for global equities at Northern Trust Asset Management. Michael talks us through his detailed research on risk, including six key findings every portfolio manager should be aware of.
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Guest Bio:
Michael Hunstad is Executive Vice President and Chief Investment Officer, Global Equities at Northern Trust Asset Management. Michael serves on the asset management executive group and has oversight of all equity portfolio management, research and trading activities, including quantitative, index and tax-advantaged strategies.
Previously, Michael was director of quantitative research, where he was responsible for leading Northern Trust Asset Management's factor based research and product development programs. Prior to joining Northern Trust, he was head of research at Breakwater Capital, an algorithmic trading firm and hedge fund. Previously, he was head of quantitative asset allocation at Allstate Investments and a quantitative analyst with a long-short equity hedge fund. He also served as an adjunct professor at the Illinois Institute of Technology. He holds a Ph.D. in mathematics, an MBA in finance, an M.A. in econometrics and a bachelor's degree in economics.
Bruce and Jeff ring in 2023 with their guest Charles Rowlan, senior vice president of business development at Advyzon. They discuss Charles' extensive research on the ever-evolving advisor fee model.
Guest Bio:
Charles (Chuck) Rowlan is a senior vice president of business development for Advyzon. In his current role, Chuck works to promote, implement, and sell Advyzon’s comprehensive solution for registered investment advisors across a 16 state region.
Previously he held various positions within Morningstar Investment Management and Morningstar Inc. During this time Chuck spent time working with Morningstar’s TAMP, 401k managed accounts, fiduciary services and also worked closely with Morningstar’s software tools including Morningstar DirectSM and Morningstar OfficeSM.
Prior to joining Morningstar, he was a financial advisor at Wells Fargo Advisors. He has over fifteen years of investment industry experience.
Chuck holds a bachelor’s degree in Finance from Baylor University and the CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNERTM designation as well as the CERTIFIED INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT ANALYST® designation.
Bruce and Jeff connect with Kevin T. Gannon, CEO of RA Stanger Investment Bank, to talk about nontraded REITS, their history, all of the current nuances when working with them, and their advantages and disadvantages.
Related article: https://www.investmentnews.com/nontraded-reit-math-bedeviling-230132
Guest Bio:
Mr. Gannon is chairman and CEO of Stanger. Mr. Gannon joined Stanger in 1983 and has been the lead or co-lead investment banker on more than $75 billion of assignments involving real estate assets and securities. Mr. Gannon is a frequent speaker at industry events sponsored by the Institute for Portfolio Alternatives (IPA) and ADISA and is frequently quoted in the Wall Street Journal, SNL, DI Wire and InvestmentNews. Mr. Gannon is a recognized expert on real estate securities and valuation matters having appeared as an expert in numerous forums including: U.S. Tax Court; U.S. Bankruptcy Court; Delaware Chancery Court; Federal Court; several State Courts; SEC Administrative Court; and arbitration forums.
Prior to joining Stanger in 1983, Mr. Gannon was a Manager with Deloitte Haskins & Sells, an international accounting firm. Mr. Gannon is a graduate of Rutgers University (Phi Beta Kappa, 1978) with a BA in Economics and Accounting. Mr. Gannon is a certified public accountant and member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and a General Securities Principal.
Jeff speaks with Toussaint Bailey, Founder and CEO of Uplifting Capital, about his creative ventures to shift the landscape of impact investing.
Guest Bio:
Toussaint Bailey is Founder and CEO of Uplifting Capital. Toussaint aims to align investments with efforts to uplift people, the planet and the economy. He draws on deep experience as a leader in private wealth and a trailblazer in impact engagement.
Jeff takes the pod solo this week with his guest Gary Zimmerman, Founder of MaxMyInterest.com. Gary explains how MaxMyInterest was born from his experience during the financial crisis. Jeff and Gary discuss Gary's thoughts on why inflation is here to stay and may well be an indicator of future social and political instability, and how a recession may be our only hope of quelling inflation.
Guest Bio:
Gary Zimmerman is the managing partner of Six Trees Capital LLC and Founder of MaxMyInterest.com. Previously, Zimmerman was an investment banker at Citigroup, where he was a managing director and global head of strategic solutions for sovereign wealth funds, responsible for advising these funds on their direct investment activities globally. In that role, he spent considerable time in Europe, the Middle East and Asia, advising funds with more than $5 trillion of assets under management.
Jeff and Bruce talk to Lorenzo Esparza, chief executive and founding principal at Manhattan West, about his preference for alternative investments, especially when working with the firm's high-profile clients, including entertainers and athletes.
Guest Bio:
Lorenzo Esparza is the chief executive officer and founding principal at Manhattan West, where he leveraged his legal, corporate and financial experience to form the modern version of an investment firm.
This episode is sponsored by Helios Quantitative Research.
Founded in 2016, Helios Quantitative Research was created to equip Financial Advisors with new and relevant tools that drastically improve their client's asset management experience, expand their firm's margins, and challenge the old-guard legacy providers as well as the emerging robos of Silicon Valley. We believe that the majority of existing services available to Financial Advisors lack innovation, are too expensive, and enable commoditization in the wealth management industry.
Therefore, we created our own service category – the insourced CIO. Our unique team of skilled and experienced individuals partners with financial advisors across the globe to create, implement, monitor, and communicate quantitative investment strategies that challenge Modern Portfolio Theory and seek to remove as much emotion as possible from investing. In a short time, we have grown to influence over 800 Financial Advisors who collectively manage over $30 billion.
Jeff and Bruce are joined by Joanne Cleaver, diversity, equity and inclusion editor at InvestmentNews, who explains her work highlighting the many individuals and firms who have put in the DEI work at their businesses, including celebrating them at the Women to Watch event in New York City this November. Cleaver also explains why the future of the business is in DEI and what you can do to continue growth.
Related Article: https://womentowatchaward.com/
Bruce and Jeff are joined by Chuck Failla of Sovereign Financial, who shares his own background as a breakaway RIA, his current success, and tips and tools to utilize when choosing a similar path.
Guest Bio:
Chuck Failla understands the importance of working as a Fiduciary and uses those standards to oversee the financial planning and investment management work done at Sovereign Financial.
As a Board Certified Financial Planning practitioner, Chuck understands that shepherding a client’s financial and retirement plan requires more than simply “picking investments.” Instead, he applies his experience as a CFP professional to coordinate all aspects of a client’s financial picture: goals, investments, taxes, liabilities, and estate / legacy planning. By following this disciplined approach, he is able to ensure all aspects of a client's financial and estate planning needs are properly coordinated and continuously monitored.
In addition to working with clients, Chuck is a regular speaker and commentator on financial topics and has been featured in Forbes, The New York Daily News, Reuters, CBS Market Watch and numerous other media outlets. Chuck is also committed to the financial planning community and advancing the cause of financial literacy. To that end, he currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Financial Planning Association of Connecticut as the Chairperson of their Pro Bono / Public Outreach Committee. Chuck is also active in the National Financial Planning Association, American Mensa and other nonprofits in the Connecticut and New York City Metro area.
Chuck received his degree in finance from The University of Connecticut and completed his coursework for the CFP certification with The American College. He resides in North Stamford, Connecticut, with his wife, two children and their Black Lab and cats. In his spare time, Chuck enjoys all things outdoors -- on the weekends you will find him with his family hiking, camping, skiing, boating or just enjoying the trees while grilling in the backyard.
Bruce takes the pod solo this week as he's joined by Rich Steinmeier, managing director and divisional president at LPL Financial. Rich lets us in on the details of LPL's latest acquisition, the firm's plans for the future, and why he's so passionate about the company.
Guest Bio:
Rich Steinmeier has served as managing director and divisional president, business development of LPL Financial since August 2018. In this role, he has responsibility for recruiting new financial advisors and institutions to LPL Financial and to existing advisor practices, as well as exploring new markets and merger and acquisition opportunities.
Prior to joining LPL Financial, Mr. Steinmeier served as managing director, head of digital strategy and platforms for UBS Wealth Management Americas from September 2017 to August 2018 and as managing director, head of the Emerging Affluent Segment and Wealth Advice Center from August 2012 to September 2017. Prior to UBS, Mr. Steinmeier held a variety of leadership roles at Merrill Lynch, most recently as managing director of the Merrill Edge Advisory Center from February 2009 to August 2012. Prior to joining Merrill Lynch, he served as an engagement manager at McKinsey & Company from 2002 to 2006.
Mr. Steinmeier earned a B.S. in economics from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and an M.B.A. from Stanford University.
Jeff and Bruce talk to Shane Sideris of Synchronous Wealth Advisors about the recent craze over Treasury I bonds. They discuss whether the rising popularity of I bonds is due to inflation, and whether or not this investment is worth it in the long term.
Guest Bio:
Shane Sideris is on the team of advisors at Synchronous Wealth Advisors LLC in Manhattan Beach, CA. Shane Sideris has been working for 13 years in roles with increasing responsibilities for Synchronous Wealth Advisors LLC, Blackrock Investments LLC, UBS and UCLA. Shane Sideris has successfully gained the Series 63 license allowing them to perform the duties of an Securities Agent and work in California.
Bruce and Jeff talk to Elizabeth Hiza, chief marketing officer at Barnum Financial Group, about her implementation of the growth mindset. Elizabeth swears by its power to evolve individual relationships as well as a firm's ability to thrive, so much so that she's implemented it as a companywide practice at Barnum. But Bruce has some big questions, including whether this is a cult.
Guest Bio:
In her role as chief of staff at Barnum Financial Group, Elizabeth Hiza provides all-encompassing support to drive the continued success of the firm. A major focus of her work is driving Barnum’s commitment to be an industry leader in providing financial wellness programs to people at all stages of their lives. She led the charge to launch The Establishment Barnum, a new approach to financial education and literacy focusing on young professionals. She also plays a key leadership role in implementing Barnum’s strategic alliance with MetLife to conduct financial wellness workshops for workforces across the country, as well as provide guidance to MetLife customers regarding their group life conversion options through the Transition Solutions program.
Elizabeth also serves as Barnum’s Chief Marketing Officer, providing strategic direction to a team dedicated to supporting our advisors and building Barnum’s brand in the marketplace. She has extensive experience collaborating with Barnum’s CEO, business managers, and leadership team members to bring innovative products and programs to market and improve operating results. By leveraging relationships within Barnum and with outside business partners, Elizabeth has led many transformational initiatives and new business endeavors that have delivered impactful results.
Shundrawn Thomas joins Bruce and Jeff to discuss his departure from Northern Trust Asset Management to launch The Copia Group. They talk about his reasons for leaving Northern Trust and The Copia Group’s plans. They also go in-depth about Shundrawn’s letters to corporate America reflecting on the racial unrest in this country and how that was reflected throughout the industry. Shundrawn gives his take on how, when it comes to recruiting, we have to rewrite the rules. It’s not working hard, but working differently.
Guest Bio:
Shundrawn A. Thomas is a professional investor and corporate executive with over 25 years of impactful leadership in financial services. He is the founder and managing partner of The Copia Group (TCG), a private investment firm which provides capital solutions for lower middle market companies and drives social impact through the power of scalable businesses.
Prior to founding TCG, Shundrawn served as president of Northern Trust Asset Management, a leading global investment manager with over $1.3 trillion in assets, and served as a member of the executive management group of Northern Trust Corporation. His executive roles included head of FlexShares ETFs, president of Northern Trust Securities, and head of corporate strategy. Prior to joining Northern Trust, Shundrawn worked at Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley in sales, trading, and research divisions.
Bruce and Jeff are joined by Tim Murray, capital markets strategist at T. Rowe Price, to talk about all things capital markets. The big question: is this economic slowdown inevitably going to become a recession? They discuss supply, demand and inflation to sort out the possibilities. They also touch on the effect the economic slowdown is having on equity markets.
Guest Bio:
Tim Murray is a vice president of T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc and a capital market strategist in the multi-asset division.
Murray's investment experience began in 1996 and he has been with T. Rowe Price since 2007, beginning in the portfolio analysis group. Prior to this, Murray was employed by ASB Capital Management as a vice president and director of consultant relations. He also was an adjunct faculty member at Loyola University Maryland.
Murray earned a B.S. in economics from Towson University and an M.S. in finance from Johns Hopkins University. He also has earned the Chartered Financial Analyst designation.
Jeff takes the pod solo with his guest, Cody Garrett of Measure Twice Financial, who breaks down his “advice only” financial planning operation. They discuss the branding elements that go into providing paid financial advice for the anti-financial-adviser population. Cody lets us in on the success he has had advising these DIY investors, to the extent that he only works 10 hours per week.
Guest Bio:
Cody Garrett is an advice-only financial planner passionate about helping families refine their path to financial independence (FI) as DIY investors. As a Certified Financial Planner™ professional, Cody specialize in comprehensive financial plan development, topic research, and personalized financial education. Cody believe that truly comprehensive financial advice can provide the clarity and confidence necessary for families to implement their own well-informed decisions.
Bruce and Jeff have an informative conversation with marketing whiz Samantha Russell, chief evangelist at financial adviser marketing firm FMG Suite. Samantha reveals major tricks of the trade when it comes to marketing across social media. She offers a get-started plan for advisers less familiar with social media platforms, as well as examples of some advisers already making major marketing moves.
Guest Bio:
Samantha is the Chief Evangelist at Twenty Over Ten and FMG Suite, a web development company that creates tailored, mobile-responsive websites for financial advisors. Samantha has spent the last 8 years empowering advisors to market themselves effectively online using digital tools. With a background in marketing, social media and public relations, Sam focuses on helping business owners understand the value of their online presence and connecting them with the marketing tools and digital solutions they need to effectively manage their brand and engage clients.
Bruce and Jeff talk to Knut Rostad, co-founder and president of the Institute for the Fiduciary Standard, about what the institute has accomplished so far during what Knut terms “Fiduciary September.” Knut discusses what he sees as the dismal state of the SEC's Regulation Best Interest.
Guest Bio:
Knut A. Rostad co-founded and is president of the Institute for the Fiduciary Standard, a nonprofit formed in 2011 to advance the fiduciary standard through research, education, and advocacy. Earlier, he served as the regulatory and compliance officer at Rembert Pendleton Jackson, a registered investment adviser in Falls Church, Virginia.
The Institute for the Fiduciary Standard advances fiduciary principles and practices in investment and financial advice and planning. The Institute has established a national reputation as a leading voice for uncompromised fiduciary duties. The Institute Real Fiduciary™ Practices Board has promulgated practices to guide advisors on fiduciary conduct. These Real Fiduciary Practices serve as the Institute’s North Star. The Institute has also launched Fiduciary September to remind the industry why fiduciary duties matter. The Frankel Fiduciary Prize honors individuals for outstanding contributions to fiduciary principles. Rostad advocates before federal and state regulators. He has authored numerous articles, papers, and regulatory comment letters.
Rostad is editor of The Man in the Arena: Vanguard Founder John C. Bogle and His Lifelong Battle to Serve Investors First, published by Wiley in December 2013. He is also a contributor to Advisor Perspectives; speaks frequently at industry conferences on fiduciary and compliance issues; and is regularly cited in media national and industry outlets. Rostad was named to Investment Adviser Magazine’s ‘IA 25’ list in 2014, which it calls “our annual list of the most influential people in and around the advisor industry.”
InvestmentNews's tech reporter, Ryan Neal, joins Bruce on the pod this week to talk through current major fintech deals and the tech conferences on his radar this fall. At the top of the list is the termination of UBS' acquisition of robo-adviser Wealthfront.
Guest Bio:
Originally from Northern California, Ryan received bachelor's degrees in English and philosophy from UC Santa Barbara before beginning a career in journalism at the Santa Barbara Independent. After a few years of freelancing, bartending and snowboarding in Colorado, Ryan moved to New York to earn a master's degree in journalism at Columbia University. He has covered the adviser fintech beat since 2014.
Bruce is joined by Mark Schoeff Jr., senior reporter with InvestmentNews, and Emile Hallez, US News Editor for ESG Clarity, to discuss current news about ESG. They explore government officials' efforts related to ESG, including the SEC and Labor Department. However, there's pushback coming from states like Texas and Florida, which have declared an anti-woke approach to ESG.
The band is back together, as Bruce and Jeff reunite to interview Vivek Ramaswamy, co-founder and executive Chairman at Thrive Asset Management. They unravel the problematic mix of politics and big business, as well as Vivek’s unconventional path to founding Thrive. They also talk about Thrive’s success and what’s next.
Guest Bio:
Vivek Ramaswamy is a first-generation American entrepreneur, investor and New York Times bestselling author. Before founding Strive, he founded multibillion-dollar enterprises including Roivant Sciences, which he led as CEO. Vivek graduated summa cum laude from Harvard and received his law degree from Yale while working as a hedge fund partner.
Jeff takes the pod solo, interviewing the founder and president of The ETF Store, Nate Geraci, about the nuances of single-stock ETFs. Nate talks about how we got to this point, how the newly released ETFs that invest in a single security work, and who they work for.
Guest Bio:
Nate Geraci is chairman and president of The ETF Store, an ETF-focused registered investment advisor providing comprehensive wealth management. Nate also hosts the weekly podcast “ETF Prime” and offers ETF perspectives at The ETF Educator blog.
Nate has contributed to major financial media outlets including The Wall Street Journal, CNBC, Investor’s Business Daily, and Money Magazine, and has appeared on Bloomberg Radio and TV. He earned both his undergraduate degree in business administration and his MBA from the University of Kansas.
Bruce takes the pod solo with guest Jim Gold, CEO and co-founder at Steward Partners Global Advisory. They talk about the evolution of Gold's career that paved the path to Steward Partners Global Advisory. Jim addresses the firm's continued growth and the nuance of what it takes to sustain success.
Guest Bio:
Jim Gold serves as CEO and is a founding partner, board member and member of the executive leadership team at Steward Partners Global Advisory. Gold spent 18 years with Smith Barney and successor firms, beginning in 1995 as a financial adviser and held numerous management positions at the firm. Gold attended Stonehill College and currently lives in Northport, NY. He and his wife, Elizabeth, have four children Will, Conor, Kiera and Braedon.
Bruce and Jeff push hard for answers to the questions we all have about the Financial Planning Association's efforts to turn the financial planner title into a protected and official designation. They talk with FPA CEO and secretary Patrick D. Mahoney about why the current actions were taken, what the process looks like, the plan for the long game, and how this new title will differ from the more than 225 designations that already exist across the financial services industry.
Related Article: FPA to push for ‘financial planner’ title protection
Guest Bio:
Patrick D. Mahoney is CEO and board secretary of the Financial Planning Association.
He is an experienced CEO, association and business leader, and strategist with a background across diverse organizations in the financial services, technology, and mission-based sectors. He is recognized for building and mentoring diverse teams and creating growth strategies that integrate the passion and expertise of an organization's members, volunteer leaders, and employees to meet its goals and mission.
Mr. Mahoney’s career began in product development and management in the United States and Asia, later evolving to sales, marketing, and general management. He has held executive leadership positions with breakthrough global organizations embracing membership value, innovation, growth, and change management, such as the Financial Planning Association and S&P Global Ratings.
Jeff and Bruce talk to Lisa Salvi of Schwab Advisor Services about its 16th annual RIA benchmarking study, which it just released. Lisa, who's spent the past 10 years working on this research, imparts what she sees as the study's key findings. She talks about how her team uses the data to inform their best practices within the firm, as well as the three factors that identify top performers in the industry.
Related Article: Schwab benchmarking report shows strong RIA growth, hiring challenges ahead
Guest Bio:
Lisa Salvi is a member of the Advisor Services leadership team and is responsible for Schwab’s Business Consulting and Education offer. Her team develops and manages programs and one-on-one consulting engagements designed to help independent advisors make lasting and significant improvements within their firms by focusing on key business, technology, and cybersecurity issues. Salvi’s team leads the annual RIA Benchmarking Study, the Compensation Study, and programs that support the development of advisor talent through executive education and student initiatives. They also provide insights and tools that help the Advisor Services sales and support teams deliver outstanding client service to independent advisors.
Salvi has worked with fee-based advisors since 2003. Since joining Schwab in 2007, she has held several positions, including chief of staff to Bernie Clark, head of Advisor Services.
Salvi holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Los Angeles, and the Series 7 and Series 24 registrations.
Bruce and Jeff explore the news that David Canter is leaving Fidelity Institutional for Bluespring Wealth Partners with Timothy D. Welsh, CEO of Nexus Strategy. They discuss the impact this will have on Fidelity and its custody business, as well as what it means for Bluespring.
Related Article: Fidelity’s outgoing RIA boss, David Canter, joining Bluespring Wealth as president
Guest Bio:
Timothy D. Welsh, CFP is president, CEO and founder of Nexus Strategy, LLC, a leading consulting firm to the wealth management industry.
Prior to founding Nexus Strategy, Tim was Director of Business Consulting Services for Schwab Advisor Services, where he led the development and marketing of practice management resources for independent advisors. While at Schwab, Tim also held senior roles in Strategy, Marketing, Advertising, PR and Industry Content development.
Prior to joining Schwab, Tim was vice president at Merrill Lynch, where he was responsible for marketing, product development and financial advisor training for the financial planning group. Tim is frequently quoted in the wealth management media on a wide range of business management and industry topics. He is the author of a number of industry white papers, a guest columnist for RIABiz, InvestmentNews and wealthmanagement.com, and is a frequent speaker at industry conferences and events. Tim earned a bachelor's degree in Economics from the University of California, Berkeley and an MBA in Finance from the University of Colorado.
Jeff takes the pod solo as he talks to Bobby Blue, senior manager research analyst at Morningstar. Together they tackle liquid alternative funds, ETFs and mutual funds. They discuss what's driving the flows, the fees involved, and red flags to look for on these investments.
Related Article: It’s not too late to join the liquid alts party, Morningstar says
Guest Bio:
Bobby Blue is a senior manager research analyst for Morningstar Research Services LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Morningstar Inc. He covers multi-asset and alternative fund strategies, and writes frequently on topics in the space. Before assuming his current role in 2018, Blue was a senior data research analyst on the portfolio analytics and acquisition team at Morningstar, where he worked to develop new data points by incorporating derivatives into Morningstar analytics. He earned a bachelor's degree in business economics from the University of Cincinnati.
Bruce takes the pod solo this week and interviews InvestmentNews senior reporter Mark Schoeff Jr. about the SEC's lawsuit against Western International Securities Inc. There's much to unpack about the lawsuit, which involves GWG bonds and violations of Reg BI. Bruce and Mark talk through the specific charges, how effective Reg BI has been during its two years of operation, and the potential outcome of the case.
Related article: Broker-dealers kept selling GWG's life settlement-backed bonds for years despite all the accounting and reporting static coming from the company.
Guest Bio:
Mark Schoeff Jr. is a senior reporter at InvestmentNews. Based in Washington, D.C., he covers legislation and regulations affecting retail investment advisers and brokers. Prior to joining InvestmentNews in 2010, he wrote about employment and labor law for Workforce Management, a magazine that was published at the time by Crain Communications. He is a member of the National Press Club board. Before migrating to the editorial side of the journalism ecosystem, he served as press secretary for the late Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana and as director of external relations for the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a think tank in Washington. In a region where people keep their hometown loyalties intact, he has lived in the Washington area long enough to become an actual fan of the Nationals, Wizards, Capitals and the Washington Football Team. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Purdue University and a master’s degree from George Mason University.
Bruce and Jeff interview SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce, who addresses a plethora of topics, including:
• The Securities and Exchange Commission’s position on regulating ESG and greenwashing.
• Qualifications beyond the size of someone’s bank account to determine how they can invest, specifically in private investments in 401(k) plans.
• Cryptocurrency regulation, and Peirce's nickname, “Crypto Mom.”
• What Peirce's agenda would be if she became SEC chair.
Guest Bio:
Hester Maria Peirce is an American lawyer who serves as a commissioner on the Securities and Exchange Commission. She previously served as the director of the Financial Markets Working Group at George Mason University's Mercatus Center.
In the 100th episode of the InvestmentNews Podcast, Bruce and Jeff go in strong with a big guest, Andy Sieg, president of Merrill Lynch Wealth Management. They address a multitude of topics related to the shift in wealth management from 2021 to 2022, including how firms are hiring and retaining talent, and when it will be time to start raising adviser fees.
Guest Bio:
Andy Sieg is president of Merrill Wealth Management and a member of Bank of America Corp.’s executive management team. In this role, he oversees more than 25,000 employees who provide investment and wealth management strategies to individuals and businesses across the U.S. Sieg also oversees Bank of America’s Investment Solutions Group, which includes the Chief Investment Office and a wide range of thought leadership, product and portfolio offerings and platforms.
Bruce and Jeff connect with Lance Dial, partner at Morgan Lewis, to discuss the SEC's proposed new rules related to ESG investing. They talk about the SEC's goal of cracking down on greenwashing, and the challenge of enforcing rules related to something that's evolving.
Guest Bio:
With more than a decade of experience as senior in-house counsel with global investment managers, Lance Dial has a deep understanding of mutual fund law and operation, and is fluent in the myriad regulations applicable to investment managers. He is well-versed in the creation of investment products and environmental, social and governance (ESG) and sustainability matters. Lance works extensively on regulatory policy matters engaging with various financial services regulators, including the Securities and Exchange Commission, Department of Labor, Internal Revenue Service and Department of Treasury.
Joel Bruckenstein, president of Technology Tools for Today and producer of the annual T3 conference, took time out of his busy schedule to identify some of the major themes of this year's event for guest host Ryan W. Neal. Bruckenstein also shared some highlights from his latest adviser software survey and some gaps in the adviser technology ecosystem he believes open opportunities for new startups.
Related article: T3 2022 recap: Top takeaways from the adviser fintech conference
Guest Bio:
Joel Bruckenstein is publisher of the Tecnology Tools for Today conferences and the T3 Technology Hub.. He also hosts other technology summits in partnership with thought leaders in the financial services industry and his own invitation-only fintech summit. He is the co-author of three books and has more than 20 years of experience advising financial service firms of all sizes on how to improve technology, processes and workflows.
Speaking at the Technology Tools for Today conference, SEI's Jeff Benfield tells guest host Ryan W. Neal about his impressions of Denton, Texas, and how his firm is using technology to drive personalization. Benfield shares a bit of what's coming on SEI's technology road map, as well as how he's getting back out into the world after the pandemic.
Related article: T3 2022 recap: Top takeaways from the adviser fintech conference
Guest Bio:
Jeff Benfield, SEI managing director of adviser experience technology, leads the strategic vision, roadmap and execution of the financial adviser technology suite of solutions for SEI’s independent adviser business, focusing on the adviser experience. Jeff has served in a range of product management and program management roles over his career, including Vanguard, BNY Mellon’s Pershing/Albridge, and Axa Advisors. He joined SEI in 2014 in a business strategy, transformation and product management role in SEI’s Private Banking business.
At the Technology Tools for Today conference, guest host Ryan W. Neal sits down with Dani Fava, head of strategic development at Envestnet. After discussing the most interesting meals they had in Denton, Texas, Fava talks about the most exciting startups she met with in the conference's exhibit hall, the latest innovations coming out of Envestnet, pro bono financial planning and her vision for embedding financial wellness and advice into consumer apps.
Related article: T3 2022 recap: Top takeaways from the adviser fintech conference
Guest Bio:
As head of strategic development at Envestnet, Dani Fava accelerates the firm’s strategic vision to help advisers make financial wellness a reality for more people. Fava draws on more than 15 years of wealth management and technology experience, and most recently served as director of institutional innovation at TD Ameritrade Institutional.
Franklin Templeton CEO Jenny Johnson joins guest host Ryan W. Neal at the Technology Tools for Today conference. She shares her impressions of her first T3, where she appeared in a fireside chat with T3 president Joel Bruckenstein discussing her firm's latest technology, as well as on a panel on increasing diversity in the industry. The duo also discuss their love of skiing and snowboarding, and Johnson's cross-country RV trip and her new love of rollerblading.
Related article: T3 2022 recap: Top takeaways from the adviser fintech conference
Guest bio:
Jenny Johnson is president and chief executive officer of Franklin Resources, Inc. She is also a member of the company's board of directors. Ms. Johnson is responsible for developing the company's overall strategic direction, executing on its strategy and advancing Franklin Templeton's client-centric culture.
Reporting from the Technology Tools for Today conference in Denton, Texas, InvestmentNews technology editor Ryan W. Neal sits down with Andrew Salesky, head of digital adviser solutions at Charles Schwab, to get an update on the ongoing TD Ameritrade integration and the latest digital developments for advisers using Schwab's platform. They also discuss Schwab's latest third-party tech integrations, takeaways from the T3 conference and Salesky's new passion for swimming.
Related article: T3 2022 recap: Top takeaways from the adviser fintech conference
Guest Bio:
Andrew Salesky leads Charles Schwab's digital advisor solutions team, which manages the suite of technology platforms used by the registered investment advisers that custody assets with Schwab. This group is a core component of the digital services team, reporting to Schwab’s chief digital officer.
Bruce Kelly sorts through the complicated pairing of crypto and 401(k)s with InvestmentNews' very own Mark Schoeff Jr. and Jennifer Gibbs Swets, partner and retirement plan consultant at DWC – The 401(k) Experts. Together they address the big questions:
- Why is Fidelity advocating to push crypto onto its 401(k) platform?
- How should you explain this to option to your client?
- Where does the DOL stand on regulating this option?
- Why are these blurred lines a legal higher risk for the financial adviser than for a company like Fidelity?
Related article: Advisers caught between Fidelity, DOL on using crypto in 401(k)s
Guest Bio:
Jennifer Gibbs Swets is a partner and retirement plan consultant at DWC – The 401(k) Experts. She specializes in offering creative and innovative plan design, implemented through the development of strong client relationships, allowing for custom proposals and solutions.
Bruce and Jeff reconnect with InvestmentNew's very own technology editor, Ryan Neal, as he dives into the T3 conference in Texas. The guys discuss what Ryan's been doing during his hiatus from InvestmentNews, his big plans now that he's back, and the misleading bro culture of Silicon Valley.
Guest Bio:
Originally from Northern California, Ryan Neal received bachelor's degrees in English and philosophy at UC Santa Barbara before beginning a career in journalism at the Santa Barbara Independent. After a few years of freelancing, bartending and snowboarding in Colorado, Ryan moved to New York to earn a master's degree in journalism at Columbia University. He's written about music, sports, politics, technology, finance, art and entertainment.
Jeff and Bruce dive deep into the world of cannabis investments with ETF Managers Group's cannabis research and banking expert Jason Wilson. Jason addresses how the industry will continue to shift as a result of changing regulations, what the rules are currently and how they're expected to change, and the difference between CBD and THC.
Guest Bio:
Jason Wilson is cannabis research and banking expert with ETF Managers Group. With over 20 years of experience in the asset management, finance and structured product space, Jason has a track record of bringing hard-to-access asset classes to market. Most recently, Jason was senior vice president at Infor Financial Inc., a leading boutique investment bank based in Toronto, Canada that has worked in connection with a number of companies in the legal cannabis industry, including acting as advisor to Canopy Growth Corp. in connection with entering into its strategic relationship with Constellation Brands.
Bruce and Jeff talk with Tom Bradley, managing director at Charles Schwab, about the Schwab-TD Ameritrade merger. They break down the multiyear process of the acquisition and get an update on its current status, as well as unpacking the challenges faced throughout the process.
Guest Bio:
As managing director for Schwab Advisor Services, Tom Bradley's role is to oversee the Core segment of Schwab’s advisor business, which provides custodial support services customized to independent Registered Investment Advisors with up to $300 million in assets under management.
Jeff and Bruce talk to Knut Rostad, president of the Institute for the Fiduciary Standard, about the SEC's revisions to Form CRS and the complications that it's added to defining the term 'fiduciary.' Knut explains the purpose of the form and its very limited coverage of the fiduciary experience. The guys debate the significance of the fiduciary label, asset-based pricing vs. fee-based pricing, and the importance of transparency around fees.
Related Article: Fiduciary advocates raise alarm about SEC limits on term ‘fiduciary’
Guest Bio:
Knut A. Rostad, MBA, co-founded and is president of the Institute for the Fiduciary Standard, a nonprofit formed in 2011 to advance the fiduciary standard through research, education and advocacy. Earlier, he served as the regulatory and compliance officer at Rembert Pendleton Jackson, a registered investment adviser in Falls Church, Virginia.
Bruce and Jeff connect with Ron Carson, founder and CEO of Carson Group, to talk about the big Burt White news, the details of onboarding him, and how Ron feels about having another big personality on the team. They also get into Ron's mindset going into a relationship with a private equity investor.
Bruce and Jeff speak to Nick Frelinghuysen, managing director and portfolio manager at Chilton Trust, to unwrap the latest Biden tax proposal, known as the billionaire minimum income tax. They explore the big questions: Is this constitutional? Is this really just a billion-dollar campaign slogan? Without this distraction of a tax that will likely never pass, what can be accomplished while Democrats are still the majority?
Bruce and Jeff talk with Emile Hallez, US news editor at ESG Clarity, who has done the work of reading through the SEC's 510-page climate disclosure proposal. Listen in for a breakdown of the proposal, which will affect how public companies and some private companies report about their impact on the environment. Hear Emile's take on why this is necessary, what happens if the administration shifts in 2024, and how much authority the SEC actually has to enforce these requirements. Also, Bruce and Jeff start the countdown toward their 100th episode.
Jeff Benjamin speaks to David Kelly, chief global strategist at J.P. Morgan Asset Management, about Modern Monetary Theory and why we shouldn't be panicked about current inflation. Together they unravel the Fed's plans to raise interest rates seven times this year, and the dangers the U.S. may or may not be facing as the Federal Reserve tightens and the economy slows.
Guest Bio:
Dr. David Kelly is the chief global strategist and head of the global market insights strategy team at J.P. Morgan Asset Management. With over 20 years of experience, David provides valuable insight and perspective on the economy and markets to the institutional investor and financial adviser global communities.
Bruce and Jeff speak to Tom Roseen, head of research services at Refinitiv Lipper Research, about the recently announced Lipper Awards. They clarify how the awards work and discuss some of the winners, including T. Rowe Price. They also address how the shift in the fund industry from actively managed funds to index and passively managed funds has impacted Lipper.
Bruce and Jeff also talk about the upcoming release of InvestmentNews' New Normal story, which explores how work culture has been transformed for the long haul and what the financial industry must do to retain talent.
Related Article: T. Rowe Price, Calamos Advisors bring home overall fund company Lipper Awards
Guest Bio:
Tom Roseen is the head of Refinitiv Lipper Research, joining from Janus in 1996. He is the editor and an author of Refinitiv Lipper's U.S. Research Studies, FundFlows Insight Reports and FundIndustry Insight Reports.
Rob Isbitts of Sungarden Investment Publishing discusses how the markets are being affected by geopolitical unrest, and he advises advisers on how to work with clients through the changes to the market triggered by Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Later in the episode, Bruce and Jeff discuss Tyrone Ross' departure from Onramp Invest and his cryptic tweet from the Omaha airport.
Guest Bio:
Rob Isbitts has spent the past 35 years as an investment strategist, former advisor, researcher, thought leader and journalist. He has devoted his career to helping investors make sense of chaotic markets, and growing a team of next-generation leaders to continue developing his intellectual property and investment approach. In 2021, Rob and his team debuted Sungarden Investment Publishing, an investment publishing company that offers a differentiated investment research service at a compelling price point.
Nadia Papagiannis, senior vice president of multi-asset class solutions at Northern Trust Asset Management, joins Jeff to chat about the income portion of portfolios for clients on the cusp of retirement. Given inflation, low interest rates and general uncertainty, advisers have their work cut out for them. Nadia shares her perspective and advice on the matter.
Related Article: Americans want new ways to generate retirement income
Related Article: Gold emerges once again as rock of stability amid market unrest
Guest Bio:
Nadia Papagiannis, CFA, is responsible for developing and managing discretionary, multi-asset class products, including model portfolios and custom strategies for NTAM. She joined Northern Trust in 2018, having spent more than 4 years at GSAM as director of alternative investment strategy and 8 years at Morningstar, where she was the director of alternative fund research. Prior to joining Morningstar in 2005, she was a senior compliance examiner at NASD (now Finra), auditing broker-dealers. She also worked at the National Futures Association, auditing firms trading futures and options, including hedge funds.
Adam Gana, managing partner of Gana Weinstein, joins Bruce to discuss a recent Finra arbitration decision overturned by a court in Georgia. They discuss the case itself, how Finra abitration works in the first place, and what the case means for Finra and for advisers.
Related Article: Judge rips Wells, Finra, in decision over arbitration claim
Guest Bio:
Adam Gana is the managing partner of Gana Weinstein. His practice focuses on all aspects of securities arbitration, complex commercial and business litigation. As a seasoned trial lawyer, Mr. Gana's experience includes litigation in both State and Federal Courts as well as in various alternative dispute resolution venues. As lead counsel, he has tried more than fifty cases to verdict before the state and federal trial and appellate courts, AAA, JAMS, NFA and FINRA and has served as lead counsel in hundreds more cases through mediation and direct negotiation.
Mr. Gana also serves as a part-time adjunct professor for New York Law School in its clinical securities department and as a board member of the Public Investor Advocates Bar Association.
Jeff and Bruce pull back the curtain a bit this week on how private money finds its way into RIA businesses in the form of investments. Tim Bello from Merchant Investment Management joins to share his perspective as someone whose firm makes investments and forms partnerships mainly in the wealth management space. And no, this is not private equity.
Related Article: Fusion Family Wealth sells minority stake to Merchant
Related Article: Allworth Financial acquires $480 million RIA
Guest Bio:
At Merchant, Tim Bello is engaged across all aspects of the firm, with a day to day focus on driving the company’s key growth initiatives and directing the overall corporate strategy. Prior to Merchant, Tim was an early stage partner at Dynasty Financial Partners, where he was in charge of strategic implementation and advisor identification firmwide for the Dynasty Network. Prior to Dynasty, Tim was head of global platforms for New York-based alternative asset manager SkyBridge Capital, where he was in charge of building and managing the firm’s global platform sales activities.
Previous to SkyBridge, he was an original member of the Permal Group’s Hedge Fund of Fund US Private Client Platform distribution team, where he launched and developed the firm’s US distribution arm and brand. Earlier, he worked on Permal’s institutional sales team, which involved interfacing with pensions, endowments, foundations and institutional consultants across the Permal product suite. Tim currently serves as special advisor to the Board for the Family Office Association in Greenwich, Conn., and is on the Membership Committee of the Core Club in New York. He is a graduate of St. Lawrence University.
In this episode, you'll hear about:
- The volatility in the market so far this year.
- How does the recent up and down market compare to prior market shocks?
- Do we need an honest-to-goodness pullback?
- The Fed’s impact.
- Inflation.
- Jeff and Bruce talk about UBS purchasing Wealthfront.
Related Article: How UBS plans to leverage Wealthfront’s robo-adviser
Guest Bio:
Jim Paulsen is chief investment strategist of The Leuthold Group LLC. He is a member of the investment committee, authors market and economic commentary, and works with the Leuthold investment team in serving institutional, financial advisor, and investment professional clients. He will continue writing his long-running newsletter, which will be published and distributed alongside Leuthold's premier monthly research product, Perception for the Professional.
In this episode, you'll hear about:
- Correction territory.
- Blair’s takeaways on the markets.
- Client reactions.
- What is worth worrying about, and what isn’t.
- About Ritholtz and Blair’s journey.
- Crypto appetite among Blair’s client base.
- Merrill adviser fired over a racist tirade.
Related Article: Sudden market volatility has advisers preaching calm to newer investors
Related Article: Goldman, Citi strategists say it’s now time to buy stocks
Guest Bio - Blair duQuesnay - Advisor
How I arrived:
It’s a long and wild ride of a story. In my first job as a sales assistant at a brokerage firm, Barry was a client. I eventually left the brokerage firm, and learned investing and financial planning from some of the most talented advisors in the RIA world. After I relocated to New Orleans and began using social media, I "met" Josh on Twitter and a real life friendship followed after we were on the same 40 Under 40 list in 2014. When I met Kris in 2017, we talked about how the firm imbedded financial planning as a core of their service. A seed was unknowingly planted in my mind. I saw a group of talented people whom I admire, building a world-class wealth management firm. Josh’s blog about the firm having failed to hire more women was the final nudge I needed to jump, and here I am.
Favorite part of the job:
For me, it’s all about building long-term trusted relationships with clients and their families. The work we do is about solving problems for clients and providing them with peace of mind. I’m just as happy digging into a complicated financial plan as I am studying the markets and investing.
In this episode, you'll hear about:
- History of diversity in wealth management.
- Karen’s background and the story of Altfest Wealth Management.
- Women in financial planning.
- Widowhood planning.
- Getting wives involved in family finances.
- How many women in financial services is the ‘right amount’?
- Fathers and financial advice.
- Karen’s thoughts on RIA aggregators.
- Are the industry’s diversity programs working?
- Jeff and Bruce chat about the news that Dynasty Financial has filed for an IPO
Related Article: Kamila Elliott becomes first Black chair of CFP Board
Guest Bio:
Karen Caplan Altfest, Ph.D., CFP®, is a principal advisor at Altfest Personal Wealth Management. She helps many of the firm’s clients on a variety of investment and financial planning issues, and specializes in helping women clients and widows. Karen’s Financially Savvy Woman® programs, including the Women’s Financial $pa®, are popular with clients. Her focus is to educate and empower women.
Karen is frequently a speaker on the subject of women and money, and conducts educational seminars for recent widows and people looking to retire. In 2017, Karen’s article, “Life After Loss: 6 Smart Steps for Coping with Widowhood,” was published by the American Association of Individual Investors Journal.
In this episode, you'll hear about:
- What happened to big firm plans to return to the office by January 2022?
- When will we be called back to the office?
- In this work-from-home culture, how do companies retain talent and incentivize a return to the office?
- What are the regulatory challenges of a work-from-home culture?
- Hellochoir.com launches with the goal of setting a new industry standard for diversity in the big conference space.
- How does Choir qualify a conference?
Related Article: www.investmentnews.com/advisers-focus-working-from-home-in-2022
Guest Bio:
Brian Hart leads KPMG’s Financial Services Regulatory and Compliance Risk Network in the U.S. In that capacity, he supports clients across the financial services and regulatory sectors to devise and implement large-scale programs that combine driving commercial benefits (lower cost, greater scalability and effectiveness of compliance and risk management programs) while improving alignment with regulatory expectations and improved risk-taking.
Sonya Dreizler is co-founder of Choir. She is an author and speaker, and an outspoken advocate for racial and gender equity in financial services. She has a 20-year history in the field, including serving as a broker-dealer and RIA executive.
In this episode, you'll hear about:
- How to stand out in order to build your practice.
- Marketing yourself and your practice authentically.
- How to create or source marketing content, and what type of content is right for you.
- Tools to tap into your authenticity.
Related Article: Implementing a social strategy that won’t get you fined by the SEC
Related Article: The case for curiosity as a marketing strategy
Guest Bio:
Megan Carpenter is CEO and co-founder of FiComm Partners, an award-winning agency for RIA firms and financial advisors. FiComm exists to expand the impact of financial advice by leading human-centered business change through New Skool marketing, PR, and advisor marketing education. Recognized as a top-4 Industry Disruptor in 2020 by WealthManagement.com, FiComm’s services allow advisors to lead with authenticity, target their focus and drive to commercial success.
Recently named to the Investment News 40 Under 40 list, Meg’s expertise spans over 15 years of helping RIA firms and advisors connect, communicate and engage effectively with their target audiences. Her passion to promote the industry is demonstrated through her involvement with the CFP Board Center for Financial Planning Workforce Development Advisory Group. She is also part of the Pledge 1% global movement, having pledged 1% of personal equity, profits, time and product to nonprofits in the wealth management community. Current recipients of her Pledge are the CFP Board Center for Financial Planning, Foundation for Financial Planning and the Impact Forum. Megan began her career at John Hancock Financial Network before launching her own business, Caritative Wealth Consulting, at the age of 29. Megan merged her consulting business into her second business venture, FiComm Partners, in 2014.
In this episode, you'll hear about:
- Is inflation in 2022 transitory or not?
- How do financial advisers handle bonds in portfolios right now?
- Active management of ETFs.
- What's DoubleLine's position on ESG?
- What's our outlook for 2022?
Guest Bio:
As DoubleLine’s Deputy Chief Investment Officer, Jeffrey Sherman oversees and administers DoubleLine’s Investment Management subcommittee coordinating and implementing policies and processes across the investment teams. He also serves as lead portfolio manager for multi-sector and derivative-based strategies. He is a member of DoubleLine’s Executive Management and Fixed Income Asset Allocation Committees. He can be heard regularly on his podcast “The Sherman Show” (@ShermanShowPod) where he interviews distinguished guests, giving listeners insight into DoubleLine’s current views. In 2018, Money Management Executive named Jeffrey Sherman as one of “10 Fund Managers to Watch” in their yearly special report.
In this episode, you’ll hear about:
- What do these funds entail — which companies are they investing in?
- The MAGA ETF
- Is bringing politics into investing a good idea?
- Anti-woke vs. ESG performance
Related article: https://www.bloomberg.com/authors/ADUgYkp2OlE/eric-balchunas
Guest Bio:
Eric Balchunas is senior ETF analyst at Bloomberg. In this role he writes research, articles and feature stories about ETFs for the Bloomberg terminal and Bloomberg.com. He also appears in a weekly on-air segment for Bloomberg TV and Radio called "Exchange-Traded Friday" in which he discusses different ETFs and the way investors can utilize them.
He is author of "The Institutional ETF Toolbox," which was published by Wiley on March 2016. The book is at once a primer on ETFs that both novices and professionals can understand as well as a guide to doing proper due diligence on the fast-growing world of ETFs. The book is available on Amazon.com and most other places books are sold.
In this episode, you'll hear about:
- Background and history of Wealthfront.
- Wealthfront — will anyone buy it? Victim of its own success.
- Which robo has the edge in tech?
- Background on Wall Street wanting into the independent RIA space.
- Apollo buys wholesalers at Griffin Capital.
- Sean and Bruce’s predictions for future deals.
Related Article: Will Wealthfront fetch a $1.5 billion price tag?
Related Article: Wall Street’s latest to hook independent advisers? Alternatives
In this episode, you’ll hear about:
- Year-end tax management.
- Booming RIA M&A activity.
- What’s going on with mergers and acquisitions of advisory firms.
- How consolidation in the wealth management space is affecting your advisory firm.
Related article: https://www.investmentnews.com/bidens-tough-tax-talk-fuels-record-ma-activity-214574
Guest Bio:
Ed Slott is a nationally recognized IRA distribution expert, professional speaker, television personality and best-selling author. He is known for his ability to turn advanced tax strategies into understandable, actionable and entertaining advice.
He is the president and founder of Ed Slott and Company, a leading source of IRA expertise and analysis to financial advisers, institutions and consumers.
David DeVoe is founder and CEO of DeVoe & Company. As a thought leader on RIA practice management for over 17 years, David has been named "RIA M&A Guru" by Barron’s. He launched Schwab Advisor Services, which he led for eight years. David was previously in the Strategic Planning Group at American Express.
In this episode, you’ll hear about:
- What exactly is investor confusion.
- How the SEC specifically deals with retail investors and regulation.
- How we got to a Reg BI and Form CRS in June 2019 by the SEC.
Guest Bio:
Knut A. Rostad is the co-founder and president of the Institute for the Fiduciary Standard, a nonprofit formed in 2011 to advance fiduciary principles and practices in investment advice and financial planning through research, education and advocacy. Previously, Rostad served as the regulatory and compliance officer at Rembert Pendleton Jackson, an investment adviser in Falls Church, Virginia.
The Institute for the Fiduciary Standard offers guidance on fiduciary and why it matters. Rostad has authored articles, papers and comment letters to the SEC and DOL, and is cited in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, Reuters and industry outlets. IA Magazine’s ‘IA 25’ list in 2014, “the most influential people in and around the advisor industry” named Rostad.
Rostad is the editor of The Man in the Arena: Vanguard Founder John C. Bogle and His Lifelong Battle to Serve Investors First, by Wiley. His BA in Political Science is from the University of Vermont and an MBA from the Norwegian School of Management in Oslo.
In this episode, you’ll hear about:
- Non-industry perspective on cases involving Finra typical arbitrations.
- How FINRA and the SEC are responding to unpaid arbitration awards.
- What to expect for RIAs and arbitrations.
- How the Great Resignation is impacting the financial adviser space.
- How advisers are handling advising their clients through the Great Resignation.
- Advisers utilizing this time to build their own practice.
Related article: https://www.investmentnews.com/the-great-resignation-is-for-advisers-too-214075
Guest Bios:
Michael S. Edmiston is an attorney at Jonathan W. Evans & Associates in Studio City, California. He has practiced with the firm since 2006. He is the new president of the Public Investors Advocate Bar Association. Prior to entering private practice, Michael served as a Senior Staff Attorney with NASD Disput Resolution (now FINRA) in Los Angeles, California (1997-2001), and as a Business Manager with JAMS in Dallas, Texas (2001-2004) and Orange, California (2004-2005). His practice focuses on representing investors in FINRA arbitration, private commercial arbitration forums, and in state and federal court.
Emile Hallez has been the retirement and insurance reporter at InvestmentNews since early 2020. Emile has covered the retirement beat since 2012, working as a reporter and associate editor at Ignites, a Financial Times publication. Prior to his work in financial journalism, he cut his teeth as a reporter at Evergreen Newspapers, a small chain of community papers in Colorado. Going back even farther in time, he worked as a technician at a tissue bank, making bone, soft-tissue and skin grafts. Emile is passionate about vegan cooking, rock climbing and cycling. He can often be found exploring the woods of Maine with his wife, Meika, and rescue mutts Piper and Buckey.
In this episode, you'll hear about:
- Wirehouses nudging into RIA space (JP Morgan Specifically)
- What the influx of money is doing to the RIA market place.
- Is Moneta pricing themselves out of the market for the next gen?
- About capitol gains in 2021
- Market downturns like the one we just had effects capitol losses which offsets capitol gains
- What’s driving mutual funds to ETFs
Related Article: Mutual fund investors brace for hefty capital gains taxes
This episode sponsored by Allworth Financial's State of the Industry Podcast
One of the five fastest growing RIAs in America, Allworth is seeking new partners to grow with us.
Listen to Allworth’s industry podcast here.
Guest Bios:
In 2018 Eric Kittner ushered in the next generation of leadership at Moneta. During that time, Moneta has transformed from a single-location Midwest firm into one of the nation’s largest, top ranked fee-only independent RIAs, now with a presence in Denver, Kansas City and the Greater Boston Area.
Moneta also shifted its strategy from one of organic-only growth to also include mergers and acquisitions for the first time in the firm’s history. Assets under management grew to $27 billion. The firm also has been ranked in Barron’s Top 10 in the nation for its combination of quality and scale for the last three years, 2018-2020.
Eric joined Moneta in 2003 because he was looking to build relationships while taking a more proactive, forward-looking role in the lives of his clients. He loves providing a service and managing his own practice, making Moneta’s client-focused and entrepreneurial approach a perfect landing spot for him.
Christopher Franz is an associate director of equity strategies for Morningstar.
Alec Lucas is a strategist within manager research for Morningstar.
In this episode, you'll hear about:
- The effects of Covid-19 on the advisory business.
- What the future looks like for the industry.
- The Texas Ponzi scheme that stole $32 million from older people.
- Elder fraud and what advisers should know about it.
Related Article: It’s time to radically rethink your ‘client experience’
Related Article: Ex-Texas adviser gets 3 life sentences for $32 million Ponzi
This episode sponsored by Allworth Financial's State of the Industry Podcast
One of the five fastest growing RIAs in America, Allworth is seeking new partners to grow with us.
Listen to Allworth’s industry podcast here.
Guest Bios:
Lori Varnell is the chief of the Tarrant County Criminal District Attorney’s Elder Financial Fraud team in Texas.
In this episode you'll hear:
- What ETFs have launched.
- Bitcoin ETF price war has already started.
- What are they, how do they work?
- Backwardation.
- Difference between these and other BTC products, such as coin trusts.
- The Cayman Islands subsidiaries taking on the actual futures contract.
- Is this just a foot in the door for a "real Bitcoin" ETF?
- Wirehouse CEOs talking comparing themselves to RIAs.
- Who's got wealthier clients?
- Aggregators.
Related Article: Bitcoin futures ETF opens with gain, explosive trading volume
Related Article: Bitcoin futures ETF fee war is heating up
Related Article: Wirehouse CEOs muse about RIAs and competition
This episode sponsored by Allworth Financial's State of the Industry Podcast
One of the five fastest growing RIAs in America, Allworth is seeking new partners to grow with us.
Listen to Allworth’s industry podcast here.
Guest Bios:
Nate Geraci helped launch The ETF Store Inc., nationally recognized as the first investment advisor to offer only exchange-traded funds. He is also creator and host of the weekly podcast “ETF Prime,” which Bloomberg has called one of the “most helpful plain-English resources for investors who want to demystify exchange-traded funds.” Nate is co-founder of The ETF Institute, the first and only independent organization providing ETF industry professionals and financial advisors with certification, education and training pertaining to ETFs.
He earned both his undergraduate degree in business administration and his MBA from the University of Kansas. He holds Series 7 and 65 Securities Licenses in addition to a Life and Health Insurance License.
Danny Sarch has been a headhunter for the wealth management industry since 1984 and has been the president of his own firm, Leitner Sarch Consultants, since 1990. The wealth management industry has evolved to present more opportunities for top financial advisors than ever before. Danny takes the time to thoroughly learn about his client companies so he can accurately address the unique questions and concerns of the advisory teams with whom he works. If you are curious about independence, about firms new or old, big or small, you can be sure that Danny has done his homework on your behalf.
Danny has a regular column in InvestmentNews about recruiting trends in the wealth management industry and is quoted regularly in the industry's trade publications. In 1998, Danny was accepted into the Pinnacle Society, the premier consortium of industry leading recruiters in North America. He served as president from 2004 to 2008, when he was the fifth member ever to be given the special recognition as an Honorary Lifetime Member. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1984 with a degree in English Literature.
In this episode, you'll hear about:
- What is RepRisk?
- Greenwashing — part of the asset class's growing pains.
- BlackRock’s Tariq Fancy’s criticism of ESG
- DOL’s proposal on ESG in 401(k) plans.
- How RepRisk works.
- Will the acronym ESG exist in five to 10 years?
- Worden Capital Management fiasco.
Related Article: ESG information buffet can confuse hungry investors
Related Article: The demise of Worden Capital signals danger for investors and harm to the industry
This episode sponsored by Allworth Financial's State of the Industry Podcast
One of the five fastest growing RIAs in America, Allworth is seeking new partners to grow with us.
Listen to Allworth’s industry podcast here.
Guest Bios:
Alexandra Mihailescu Cichon joined RepRisk in 2013 and is the executive vice president of sales and marketing. Over her tenure, she has established and led RepRisk’s globally distributed sales, partnerships, client relationship management, sales operations, and marketing and communications teams.
Alexandra holds a Master’s in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of St. Gallen (HSG), in Switzerland, with an exchange semester at the HEC Paris (École des hautes études commerciales de Paris), in France. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology (honors) and a Certificate in International Studies from Rutgers University in New Brunswick, NJ, as well as a Certificate in Executive Leadership from Cornell University.
Scott L. Silver is the managing partner of Silver Law Group, a nationally recognized law firm representing investors worldwide to recover their investment losses. Scott has received a Martindale Hubbell Preeminent “AV” Rating, the highest rating given for general ethical standards and legal ability. Scott has spent his entire legal career practicing securities and financial services law. Scott focuses his law practice on securities arbitration and litigation and plaintiff-side class action litigation, representing individual investors and institutions in claims against brokerage firms, investment advisors, commodities firms, hedge funds and others. Scott also routinely serves as counsel to receivers and trustees in matters relating to the recovery of investor losses in Ponzi schemes.
In this episode, you'll hear about:
- Peter Mallouk’s Twitter comments.
- Why are TDFs popular?
- Are investors using TDFs wrong?
- March 2020 event - 2020-2025 TDFs had net outflows
- Collective investment trusts.
- IN’s Compensation & Staffing survey results.
- New trends and developments in adviser pay.
Related Article: Target-date funds hold 27% of 401(k) assets, study finds
This episode sponsored by Allworth Financial's State of the Industry Podcast
One of the five fastest growing RIAs in America, Allworth is seeking new partners to grow with us.
Listen to Allworth’s industry podcast here.
Guest Bio: Jason Kephart, CFA, is a senior manager and research analyst for Morningstar. Follow Jason on Twitter: @JasonKephart
In this episode, you'll hear about:
- The IAA member demographic.
- Karen's take on the new administration.
- M&A.
- SEC's new marketing rule.
- Nicole Casperson on account aggregation via new technology.
Related Article: In search of adviser tech’s holy grail
Related Article: What’s coming for RIAs from Washington: New regs
This episode sponsored by Allworth Financial's State of the Industry Podcast
One of the five fastest growing RIAs in America, Allworth is seeking new partners to grow with us.
Listen to Allworth’s industry podcast here.
Guest Bio: Karen Barr is a native Washingtonian. She received her B.A. degree, magna cum laude, from the University of Pennsylvania in 1985 and her law degree, cum laude, from the University of Michigan in 1988, where she was an editor on the Journal of Law Reform. After law school, Karen served as law clerk to the Honorable Walter E. Black, Jr., a federal judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland. From 1989 until March 1997, when she joined the IAA, Karen was in private practice at the Washington, D.C. law firm Wilmer Cutler & Pickering, where she represented clients with respect to SEC investigations, securities class action litigation, administrative proceedings, internal corporate investigations, and securities regulatory matters. Karen is a member of the District of Columbia Bar.
In this episode, you'll hear
- Why traditional bond markets no longer allow for a 60/40 portfolio.
- Alternatives strategy.
- Alts for qualified investors, and for nonqualified investors.
- With the cost of alts, is the return worth it?
Related Video: Death of 60/40 model boosts interest in alts
Related Cover Story: Alts may provide the lift 60-40 portfolios need
This episode presented by AIX
AIX is an all-digital platform that completely transforms the way we buy, own and sell alternatives.
Designed specifically to solve for the pervasive lack of connectivity and visibility that plagues the alts investing world, AIX simplifies the investing experience for all involved, eliminating day-to-day fatigue and empowering partners to capitalize on the rapidly growing alts market.
By relying on digital data rather than documents, AIX effectively eliminates the operational, legal and regulatory challenges faced by alt investment stakeholders, making investing in alternatives as easy as buying an ETF or mutual fund.
Learn more about AIX here.
Guest Bio:
Steven L. Skancke, Ph.D., is chief economic advisor at Keel Point. Prior to joining Keel Point, Skancke spent 24 years at G.W. William Miller & Co., a D.C. – based private merchant-banking firm, advising U.S. and international individual, institutional and government clients with liquid portfolios of $50 million to $5 billion.
For the 15 years prior, during the Nixon, Ford, Carter and Reagan administration, he served on the White House National Security Council Staff and economic policy team and at the U.S. Treasury, working on national security, intelligence, development and regulation of banking, tax and law enforcement.
He also is a George Washington University adjunct professor of international affairs and economics, and the co-author of two books on business productivity and profitability.
Interview with Jamie Hopkins
- Biden administration tax plan: Implications for advisers and retirees
- Keeping track of different relevant bills
- Effect on marriage
- How this might all settle out
- The crypto wash rule inclusion and how that might help crypto
- Crypto ETF prospects
- Roth IRA conversions, back door or otherwise
- Roth vs. other retirement options
- Carson Group developments
- Benefits from the Bain investment
Related Article: The impact versus the job: Lessons on making a noble profession
Related Article: Democrats slim Biden tax plan
Guest Bio: A nationally recognized writer and researcher, Jamie Hopkins is a regular contributor to Forbes, InvestmentNews and MarketWatch. A highly sought-after speaker in the financial services industry, Jamie has also been featured on Wall Street Journal podcasts, NPR and Fox radio, and has made multiple appearances for NBC10 Philadelphia, PBS and USA Today.
Interview with Leslie Marshall — 0:30 - 23:45
- The deliberations going into the Morningstar conference.
- How this year's conference is different.
- Attendance numbers this year versus previous years.
- Sponsorship changes.
- Covid-related policies.
- Pricing changes.
- The agenda.
- Expenses and investments for a hybrid conference.
American Century conspiracy — 23:50-34:45
- The DOJ agreement and the conspiracy against wealth managers in Kansas City.
- Ramifications for employees.
- What was left out of the non-prosecution agreement.
- Unanswered questions.
Leslie Marshall, head of experiential marketing at Morningstar Inc. is responsible for the Morningstar brand and technology experience at Morningstar conferences and events around the world. A champion for social media within the organization, Leslie leads Morningstar’s global social media strategy. She is the former publisher of Morningstar magazine. Leslie and her team are the winners of two Cvent Excellence Awards and five Ozzie Awards.
Jim Paulsen — 0:30-37:15
- How valuations have changed in the market.
- Why they’ve changed — reduced cyclicality, fewer recessions, changed economy.
- Investing in the face of that change.
- Jim’s market outlook.
- The risks of inflation versus strong fundamentals.
- Reduced fixed-income exposure and the broader market effects.
Mark Schoeff Jr. — 38:45-55:30
- Barbara Roper’s background and her potential focus at the SEC.
- How Gary Gensler’s approach is shaping up.
- Where Roper’s focus might be.
- Will she have room to succeed at the SEC?
- The SEC’s public and social media presence.
Background on this week’s cover story on alternatives - 55:30-1:01:20
Related Article: Alts may provide the lift 60-40 portfolios need
Related Article: Investor advocate comes off the sidelines, gets into the regulatory game
This episode presented by AIX
AIX is an all-digital platform that completely transforms the way we buy, own and sell alternatives.
Designed specifically to solve for the pervasive lack of connectivity and visibility that plagues the alts investing world, AIX simplifies the investing experience for all involved, eliminating day-to-day fatigue and empowering partners to capitalize on the rapidly growing alts market.
By relying on digital data rather than documents, AIX effectively eliminates the operational, legal and regulatory challenges faced by alt investment stakeholders, making investing in alternatives as easy as buying an ETF or mutual fund.
Learn more about AIX here.
Guest Bios:
Jim Paulsen is chief investment strategist of The Leuthold Group. He is a member of the investment committee, authors market and economic commentary, and works with the Leuthold investment team in serving institutional, financial advisor, and investment professional clients. He will continue writing his long-running newsletter, which will be published and distributed alongside our premier monthly research product, Perception for the Professional.
Interview with Tom O'Shea – 0:30-19:15
- Direct Indexing 101.
- Factors driving the growth.
- Direct indexing as a way to get factor exposure or tilt.
- Who are the players and what's the special sauce?
- How big companies might change the game.
- Growth projections for direct indexing.
- Cost of direct indexing.
PPP loans aftermath – 19:20-31:15
- How many RIA firms took PPP loans, and for how much?
- The case against RIA firms using the PPP program.
- The degree of PPP fraud in the industry.
Related article: Direct indexing indexing emerges as must-have tool for tax management, ESG investing
Related article: Advisers reportedly gouged PPP loans by $36 million
Cerulli article: Improving Client Experience: Customizing with Direct Indexing
Guest bio: Tom O’Shea, director of managed accounts at Cerulli Associates, has more than 20 years of experience in the financial services industry. Prior to joining Cerulli, Tom was an investment product manager at Fidelity’s Global Asset Allocation Division, where he played a leadership role in the ongoing development of Fidelity Personalized Portfolios, Fidelity’s Unified Managed Account (UMA) for retail customers. He also led the investment managers in creating the Breckenridge Municipal Portfolio, Fidelity’s first separate account for consumers managed by a third party. Before working on the retail side of Fidelity, Tom built and led the team that developed Fidelity’s Separate Account Network for registered investment advisors, and his group partnered with a third-party wrap sponsor to create Managed Account Resources, a UMA platform for RIAs.
Interview with Dana Wilson — 0:30 – 16:15
- Background on CHIP and on Dana’s career.
- How CHIP Professionals works as a matching platform.
- The chance to elevate more POC voices in the space.
- The open lane for CHIP.
- Partnering with the wirehouses and big shops.
Interview with Jordan Waxman — 17:00 – 45:30
- Nucleus Advisors’ focus and experience with athletes, entertainers and advocates.
- The NCAA change and what it means.
- How many athletes will have this opportunity.
- Could there be further changes to marketing or even scholarly requirements?
- Potential of NCAA certification to work with athletes.
- The Olympics example.
Related Article: Dana's See it Be it award profile
Related Article: Newfound financial freedom for college athletes could be a game-changer for advisers
Guest Bio: Dana L. Wilson is a diversity and inclusion financial industry award winner and an experienced financial professional with over 15 years in the financial services industry. She graduated from North Carolina Central University, where she received her Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) with a concentration in Marketing. She is currently an Executive MBA candidate at Penn State University's Smeal School of Business, where she is studying Strategic Leadership and will complete a concentration in Corporate Innovation.
Dana is the founder and CEO of CHIP (Changing How Individuals Prosper), a B2B financial services marketplace that makes it easy to find Black and Latinx financial professionals.
Jordan Waxman is the managing partner of Nucleus Advisors, a private wealth planning and management firm. Jordan, a life-long learner, just completed his second advanced degree — the LL.M. degree in Entertainment, Arts and Sports Law at the University of Miami — in support of his work as a thought leader of Nucleus’ sports and entertainment business. Jordan’s personal quest to prepare all Nucleotides for future leadership roles supports Nucleus’ simple business mission — to be with our clients as Nucleus continually reaches for preeminence in wealth advisory. Jordan has been ranked among the top 100 financial advisers for several years by Forbes Shook, Barron's, the Financial Times and other publications.
Interview with Burt White — 0:30 - 19:30
- This year's Focus meeting and pandemic lessons.
- Measuring LPL's growth.
- Transitioning from the 60/40 mindset.
- The role of chief investment officers and where their focus should be.
- LPL's new householding feature.
Interview with Zach Teutsch — 19:45 - 46:45
- Focusing on a progressive niche.
- How tax planning fits for a more left-minded client base.
- Developing and finding the niche.
- The path not taken at Bear Stearns.
- Tips to finding one's niche.
Related Article: LPL cuts ties with adviser accused of racism in TikTok video
Related Article: A socialist adviser helps far-left clients accumulate wealth while fighting for financial fairness
Guest Bios:
Burt White is the managing director of investor and investment solutions and chief investment officer at LPL Financial.
Mr. White has served as managing director, investor and investment solutions and chief investment officer of LPL Financial since January 2017. He served as managing director, research, and chief investment officer from 2009 to December 2016. Mr. White is responsible for the strategic direction and continued growth of LPL Financial’s research, marketing, products, and investment platforms.
Zach Teutsch founded Values Added Financial to help clients live more fulfilling lives by making wise financial, career and other life decisions. Before he launched Values Added Financial, Zach developed the first national financial empowerment programs in the labor movement and reached several hundred thousand union members. After that, he joined the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, where he was a subject matter expert on financial education and empowerment. Zach has taught investment and financial planning topics to groups all around the country and has served individual clients for 15 years. His writing has appeared in Vox (link), The Billfold (link, link, link), and Greater Greater Washington (link). He has taught at the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute, Brown Alumni Association, National Labor College, Congressional Hispanic Staff Association, DC Bar Association, Tzedek DC, Jews United for Justice, The DCJCC, 6th+I, the National Havurah Institute, and for dozens of unions and union locals.
Guest interview with Luke Taylor — 0:45-21:45
- What drove ESG outperformance?
- Why that may not endure.
- Climate change awareness as a performance driver.
- How much is already priced into green stocks.
- Ongoing demand for ESG products.
Guest interview with Nicole Casperson — 22:00-42:00
- Robinhood’s challenges.
- The performance of the IPO.
- Historic brokerage public markets performance.
- How sustainable is Robinhood’s business?
- Where Robinhood goes from here.
- Response to regulatory issues.
- The issues with payment for order flow.
Related Article: Robinhood makes public debut after wild year
Related Article: Robinhood under investigation by Finra ahead of IPO
Related Article: Gensler says SEC will propose climate risk rules by year-end
Guest Bio: Lucian (Luke) Taylor is an associate professor of finance at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. He earned his AB from Princeton University and MBA and PhD in Finance from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.
Professor Taylor’s primary areas of research are empirical corporate finance and asset management. His research focuses on two main themes: structural estimation in corporate finance, and understanding the skill of important financial actors like CEOs and active fund managers. His articles have appeared in the Journal of Finance, Journal of Financial Economics, and Review of Financial Studies, as well as nonacademic outlets such as the Wall Street Journal, CNN Money, and Forbes. His research has received the Fama-DFA Prize for best paper in the Journal of Financial Economics, Rothschild Caesarea Center Best Paper Award, Marshall Blume Prize, Jacobs Levy Prize, and the NASDAQ Award. Professor Taylor is an associate editor at the Journal of Financial Economics and Review of Finance.
Since joining Wharton, Professor Taylor has taught Venture Capital and the Finance of Innovation (FNCE 250/750) to undergraduate, MBA and executive MBA students.
Interview with R.J. Moore — 0:30 - 41:00
- Background on Private Advisor Group.
- The increased understanding (and valuations) of RIA firms among investors.
- How multiples and valuation approaches have shifted.
- How advisers should think about their own firm’s valuation.
- Fee compression or lack thereof.
- The role of private equity and where the endpoint might be in consolidation.
Interview with Peter Yi — 41:15-1:07:45
- The case for transitory inflation and a one-time step-up.
- The trend in wage growth and its role in inflation.
- The real trends in inflation and when the economy may get there.
- Fed targets and what it means for Fed policy.
- What does the risk scenario for inflation look like?
- When will the real trend resume?
Relevant Article: As inflation gets real, advisers ponder strategies
Relevant Article: How high can RIA valuations go?
Guest Bios: R.J. Moore brings over three decades of financial services industry experience and executive leadership to his role as CEO. A passionate advocate for advisers and the end client experience, R.J. has been at the forefront of innovation and transformation across the profession.
Peter Yi is director of short-duration fixed income and head of taxable credit research for Northern Trust Asset Management. In this capacity, Peter manages the team responsible for registered money market mutual funds, offshore global cash funds, short-term investment funds, separately managed institutional client mandates and securities lending cash reinvestment. His daily responsibilities are to develop and oversee strategies for the cash management business. Peter also manages the taxable credit research teams within fixed income.
Interview with Peggy Chait — 0:30 - 28:15
- What goes into the U4 form.
- The degree of disclosure on the U4.
- How that degree of disclosure interferes with diversity efforts.
- How much disclosure should potential employers or clients have access to?
- The role of Finra vs. the role of the employer.
Interview with Teri Shepherd — 28:25 - 52:15
- Carson Group's research on the low number of women RIAs.
- The sales culture hurdle.
- The gateways into the industry.
- Teaming up as a way to solve these challenges.
- Positive reinforcement of the progress so far.
- The Bain investment in Carson Group.
Related Article: Finra should review Form U4 to help industry diversity: Robinhood
Related Article: Carson Group Valued at $1 billion in latest deal
Guest Bios:
Peggy Chait works for Integrated Solutions
Teri Shepherd: As President at Carson Group, Teri focuses on strategic planning and development, financial forecasting and analysis as well as continuous improvements to optimize the client experience. Teri leads the operations, technology, compliance and legal teams that oversee more than 110 adviser firm locations.
Teri was the first woman executive to join the Carson Group team. Prior to this, the company she was with comprised only 2% female advisers, and she made it her personal mission to increase that number for Carson Wealth. When Teri joined nearly five years ago, the number of female advisers stood at zero — it has since increased to 40%.
Guest interview — Kara Murphy 0:20 to 16:05
- Why Kestra created an investment management division at this time.
- How Murphy’s first CIO role came about.
- What types of services the division will be offering advisers
- Which areas Kestra will be hiring for the new division
Guest interview — Blair DuQuesnay 16:05 to 39:40
- What is a conservatorship and who needs one?
- Why it’s imperative to do your estate planning early.
- How the lack of education and financial literacy led to this situation.
- What should happen to Britney Spears.
Related links:
Kestra Holdings
Ritholtz Wealth Management
Related stories:
Kestra hires Kara Murphy as CIO
Britney Spears’ fight for financial freedom holds lessons for advisers
Guest Bios
Kara Murphy is chief investment officer of Kestra Holdings, a new position that she stepped into in June 2021. Kara and her team provide hands-on support, which includes market commentary and research, guidance on portfolio construction, and a broad array of investment solutions designed to empower financial professionals to serve their clients’ wealth management needs. Kara was most recently chief investment officer and managing director at Goldman Sachs Personal Financial Management, responsible for overseeing client investments.
Blair DuQuesnay is a financial adviser and planner with Ritholtz Wealth Management, which focuses on providing long-term investing through a straightforward, uncomplicated, operationally efficient investment program. She's been at the forefront of social media for financial advisers and was recognized as a 2015 40 Under 40 by InvestmentNews.
Guest Interview – Ric Edelman – 1:10 to 39:35
- What led to Ric stepping down at Edelman Financial Engines.
- Why he’s winding down his nearly 30-year-old radio show this fall to create a new show.
- How blockchain and Bitcoin will become as impactful as the internet for the financial services industry.
- Where Ric stands on the prospect of a Bitcoin exchange-traded fund after six years of saying it’s on the way.
- What caused Ric to write a book in four days after the events of 9/11.
Related links:
Digital Assets Council of Financial Professionals
Edelman Financial Engines
Guest Bio
Ric Edelman launched Edelman Financial Services in 1987, aiming to create a financial advice firm with a client-centric approach focused on providing financial help to everyday American families. He merged that firm with Financial Engines in 2018 to create Edelman Financial Engines, with $270 billion in assets under management and 340 advisers. He’s also been host of the Ric Edelman Radio Show for more than 29 years. Three years ago he created RIADAC, the RIA Digital Assets Council, to teach financial professionals about blockchain and digital assets.
Interview with Bob Smietana — 0:45 – 25:45
- How Dave Ramsey advertises himself to the religious community.
- Questions about the management policies that Ramsey applies to his 900 employees.
- Ramsey’s growth driven by “endorsed local providers” program.
- ELP provides “red-hot, solid gold” client leads.
- Mission of getting out of debt became confused during Covid-19.
Interview with Sonya Dreizler — 25:46 – 1:04:00
- Why financial conference speakers should mimic the nation’s diversity.
- Dreizler says the industry won’t make progress on diversity if we listen to the same old folks.
- How to get past excuses and blaming the lack of diversity on a pipeline problem.
- What led Dreizler to write her “Do Better Series” telling stories of harassment and assault in the financial services industry.
- Women of color are entering financial services more often, but many are leaving or not moving up.
- How allies can help the financial services business create a more inclusive industry.
Guest Bios
Bob Smietana is a national reporter for the Religion News Service, which has covered a popular radio host Dave Ramsey, who preaches the gospel of debt-free living. Ramsey, who says he is a born-again Christian, promotes a variety of financial services products, companies and professionals, including financial advisers. Advisers pay an advertising fee to be an endorsed local provider and to be a part of the website directory.
Sonya Dreizler is a speaker and writer focused on diversity in the financial services industry. The former CEO of a broker-dealer and RIA, in 2019 Dreizler wrote a series of articles called the “Do Better Series,” describing sexual harassment, assault and discrimination in financial services. Her firm, Solutions with Sonya, offers a diversity and inclusion course for financial professionals.
Mindy Diamond — 0:30-28:00
- The pandemic effect on advisers moving.
- Longer-term trends in adviser movement and the shifting landscape for the wirehouses.
- Compensation trends.
- The job search process for advisers, and asking the right questions.
- Diversity in financial services.
- Why aren’t there more female RIAs?
George Moriarty — 28:45-49:45
- How the financial advice industry is changing.
- The role RIAs play in that transition.
- Preview of the second half of 2021 for InvestmentNews.
- Pandemic lessons learned for running a business and team.
This episode sponsored by Broadridge.
Broadridge is a global fintech leader whose infrastructure powers investing, corporate governance & communications. Visit Broadridge.com
For more on retirement planning and strategies for 2021 tune in to Retirement 2021 and beyond webcast OnDemand.
Guest Bios
Mindy Diamond started Diamond Consultants in 1998 with nothing more than a pad, pen and phone, working from the bedroom floor in her home. The business became a “third child” that she nurtured and developed into one of the leading consulting and recruiting firms for financial advisors in the country.
Considered by the industry as one of the top thought leaders, she is regularly quoted by national media outlets such as The Wall Street Journal, New York Times and CNBC, as well as industry publications including On Wall Street, Financial Advisor magazine, InvestmentNews and RIABiz. In addition to her weekly blog posts for financial advisors and active social media presence, she has shared her expertise on recruiting and career trends since 2004 in a monthly column for WealthManagement.com and is a contributor to Forbes.com.
George Moriarty is the chief content officer at InvestmentNews and is a solid boss to work for.
Interview with Michael Kitces — Niches, fees, brands and RIA valuations — 0:50-41:30
- Niche practices — what’s behind their rise and salience.
- Why the old niches are less unique.
- Subscription fees vs. AUM fees — how they work together, where the industry is heading, and why.
- What limits the AUM model.
- Financial advisers’ changing views on Bitcoin and crypto.
- Moving out of the day-to-day advising, and brand-building in the advisory space.
- Why RIAs deserve the valuations they’re getting in the merger market.
Interview with Ben Harrison — 42:10
- Pershing’s realignment and the convergence of different wealth markets.
- Impact on RIAs.
- Competitive pressure vs. changing market.
- The INSITE Conference: virtual vs. hybrid vs. in-person.
- Support for clients — is it time to go back to the office?
- The future of custody in a Big Three world.
- Changes in custodial fee arrangements?
This episode sponsored by:
Broadridge is a global fintech leader whose infrastructure powers investing, corporate governance & communications. Visit Broadridge.com
For more on retirement planning and strategies for 2021 tune in to Retirement 2021 and beyond webcast OnDemand.
Guest Bios
Michael E. Kitces, MSFS, MTAX, CFP®, CLU, ChFC, RHU, REBC, CASL, is head of planning strategy for Buckingham Wealth Partners, a private wealth management firm in St. Louis, Missouri, that oversees approximately $50 billion of client assets. In addition, he is the co-founder of the XY Planning Network, AdvicePay, fpPathfinder, and New Planner Recruiting, former practitioner editor of the Journal of Financial Planning and the publisher of the e-newsletter The Kitces Report and the popular financial planning industry blog Nerd’s Eye View through his website www.Kitces.com, dedicated to advancing knowledge in financial planning.
Ben Harrison is a managing director and member of the Executive Committee for Pershing. He is co-head of our wealth solutions segment, which serves wealth-oriented broker-dealers, registered investment advisors and trust companies, and the evolving and converging needs of these clients. Prior to this role, Ben led our RIA custody business and before that, both business development and relationship management for the advisory marketplace.
Interview with Bob Doll :30-23:10
- His move to Crossmark and the value of a smaller firm.
- Explaining "values-based investing."
- Where do product and distribution go for Crossmark?
- The industry pressure on active versus the demand among faith-based investors.
- Revisiting Bob’s 2021 predictions — value versus growth; interest rates and inflation; GDP and debt; political compromise or lack thereof; eye on geopolitical issues.
Interview with Susan Schroeder 23:40-41:00
- Background at Finra and memorable cases.
- Reg BI and its potential impact, and how the SEC might use it.
- The Finra-SEC relationship under the new administration and Reg BI.
- Expungement reform and the potential for cracking down on rogue brokers.
- Assessing Robert Cook’s time as Finra CEO and the Finra 360 initiative.
- The crypto gap.
This episode sponsored by:
Broadridge is a global fintech leader whose infrastructure powers investing, corporate governance & communications. Visit Broadridge.com
Guest Bios
Bob Doll: Financial services industry veteran with over 40 years of experience. Experienced portfolio manager for large-cap equity strategies, as well as long and long-short equity strategies. Author of weekly, quarterly and annual investment commentaries focusing on key themes and risks driving equity markets, monetary policy and the global economy. Regular guest and contributor to multiple media outlets such as CNBC, Bloomberg TV, Moneywise, and Fox Business News.
Susan Schroeder: As the former head of enforcement and management committee member at the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc., Susan Schroeder has deep insight into the priorities and procedures of the regulatory bodies that govern the financial services industry, including the Securities and Exchange Commission, Finra, exchanges and state securities regulators. In addition, Schroeder calls on her extensive experience overseeing thousands of regulatory investigations to assist and advise clients in all aspects of internal investigations, including detecting potential misconduct, complying with reporting obligations and effectively remediating systemic problems.
Liz Ann Sonders — Midyear outlook — 0:30 - 38:25
- Equities outlook for the rest of the year.
- Inflation — weighing transitory vs. longer lasting, the right historical comparison, and the Fed's response.
- Effects of fiscal plans — stimulus vs. taxes — and of the current monetary climate.
- Portfolio adjustments to deal with inflation.
- Fixed-income outlook.
- Crypto outlook.
- Thoughts on the advent of new traders in the market.
- The financial services sector's progress on diversity.
Shundrawn Thomas — Midyear outlook — 38:30 - 1:02:50
- Equities outlook.
- Where does fixed income fit in?
- Inflation — transitory inflation vs. longer lasting vs. "stuckflation."
- Effects of fiscal plans — how taxes may affect the markets.
- Sustainable investing at Northern Trust.
- Balancing a focus on diversity with leading the firm, the industry's progress, and what the outlook is.
Guest Bios:
Liz Ann Sonders: As senior vice president and chief investment strategist at Charles Schwab, Liz Ann has a range of investment strategy responsibilities, from market and economic analysis to investor education, all focused on the individual investor.
A keynote speaker at numerous industry conferences, Liz Ann is regularly quoted in financial publications including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Barron’s,and the Financial Times, and she appears asa regular guest on CNBC, Bloomberg, CNN, Yahoo! Finance and Fox Business News programs. Liz Ann has been named Best Market Strategist by Kiplinger’s Personal Finance and one of SmartMoney magazine’s Power 30. Barron’s has named her to its 100 Most Influential Women in Finance list and Investment Advisor has included her on the IA 25, its list of the 25 most important people in and around the financial advisory profession.
Shundrawn Thomas serves as president of Northern Trust Asset Management where his responsibilities include developing long-term strategy, executing operating plans, cultivating client relationships, managing vendor relationships and developing talented professionals. He also serves as a member of the management group for Northern Trust Corp.
Previously, Shundrawn served as executive vice president, head of funds and managed accounts. In this capacity he oversaw the development, management and distribution of Northern Funds, Northern Institutional Funds and FlexShares Exchange Traded Funds, as well as the managed accounts practice, which provides investment advisory solutions to clients. Shundrawn also served as president and chief executive of Northern Trust Securities Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Northern Trust Corp. Prior to joining the asset management executive team, Shundrawn served as head of corporate strategy for Northern Trust Corp. As a direct report to the chief executive officer, he supported executive management with key strategic planning initiatives. Prior to joining Northern Trust, Shundrawn served as a vice president for Goldman Sachs and held positions in sales, trading and research with Morgan Stanley.
Guest Interview - Andrew Komarow - autistic adviser - 0:30-25:30
- How Andrew came to start the firm.
- The extra aspects of working with autistic or special-needs families as an adviser.
- Hiring to work with that client base.
- What bias looks like from an autistic adviser’s perspective.
- Working with the autistic community as an outsider.
Guest Interview - Kevin Keller - CFP Board - 26:30-53:15
- Turning the CFP into the standard.
- Changing age mix in the CFP world and the pandemic effect.
- Are there too many designations?
- How do we clean this up?
- Trends in the profession and industry — hiring at the big firms, the holistic approach.
- The questions over the right fee-based model.
Submit to the Adviser Podcast Awards here! https://marketing.ficommpartners.com/advisor-podcast-awards
Guest Bios
Andrew Komarow understands the difficulty and stigma that many individuals with special needs face. Having received his autism spectrum disorder diagnosis as an adult, many questions about the struggles he had growing up, and as a young adult, were answered. Through this experience, Andrew knew that he wanted to do something to work with the special needs community to provide answers and security in the financial world.
Andrew is the Founder of Planning Across the Spectrum and specializes in helping any self-advocating client or family with autism and intellectual disabilities.
Kevin Keller is Chief Executive Officer of CFP Board, the professional body for personal financial planners in the U.S. Under his leadership, CFP Board is pursuing ambitious goals to:
- Growing Awareness of CFP certification as the recognized standard for competent and ethical financial planners and of financial planning as an attractive career choice;
- Expand Access to competent and ethical financial planning by increasing the number and diversity of CFP professionals and delivery of pro bono financial advice to underserved communities;
- Assure Accountability by holding CFP professionals to rigorous standards, recognition of financial planning as a profession, and effective oversight of financial planners;
- Serve as the respected Authority for the profession by setting standards, certifying financial planners and by advancing the Center for Financial Planning.
Mark Schoeff - Politics and President Biden’s Tax Plan - 1:00-20:30
- Biden tax plans and the ensuing adviser/client obsession around planning
- Financial advisers’ take on the plans
- A sign of changing demographics among the adviser community?
- Possible effects - The inflation risk and hastening M&A activity in the RIA sector
Nico Marais - 21:00-40:45
- Benefits of private equity ownership
- How Reverence works with its firms
- Plans for WFAM - Rebranding? ETFs? Work from home vs. return to office?
- How the future WFAM fits into the market
Cover Story: Heeding tax winds, advisers chart new financial tactics for clients
Guest Bio: Nico Marais is CEO of Wells Fargo Asset Management (WFAM). Nico leads a team of more than 1,400 including more than 400 investment professionals, and offices around the world. He serves as a member of the Wells Fargo Wealth & Investment Management (WIM) Operating Committee and is based in San Francisco.
Hannah Moore — Internships/Externships — 1:30-28:40
- How the new "externship" program works.
- What participants receive at the end.
- What financial advisers get out of participation.
- The cost of the program and the future of the program.
- The accountability element of the program.
- Hannah’s podcast.
Nicole Casperson and Sean Allocca - Bitcoin and Tech — 28:45-43:55
- Bitcoin story — ongoing concerns from advisers about crypto.
- The disconnect between clients' interest and advisers' willingness to invest in crypto.
- The FOMO around Bitcoin’s moves.
- This week’s TechStack$ - gamification in the financial advice industry.
- The challenge in gamifying steady-eddy savings.
Bitcoin cover story: Bitcoin bears: Financial advisers still cautious of crypto
Guest Bio: Hannah Moore is a certified financial planner and certified financial transitions expert. She is the owner of Guiding Wealth and works one-on-one with each of its clients.
Hannah graduated from Baylor University with a degree in Financial Services and Planning and Business Management in 2008. Since then, Hannah has been voted one of D Magazine’s Top Financial Planners in Dallas (from 2014 and running) and was awarded the Young Gun’s Award by the Dallas/Fort Worth Financial Planning Association.
Interview with Dennis Gallant on the Annual IBD Report Card — 2:15-29:15
- The tipping point in IBDs relying on fee-based revenues.
- The path from commission-based to fee-based.
- How this affects the wirehouses and how they scale around it.
- Have IBDs taken on digital marketing?
- Where do fee-based resources go next?
- Does the growth protect against fee erosion?
Interview with Natalie Kenway on ESG & the Global ESG event — 30:20-40:30
- The state of ESG investing in Europe.
- The Global ESG event and how global it gets.
- The keynote speakers from the UN.
- ESG Clarity details.
Related Article: In face of pandemic, IBDs proved resilient in 2020
Guest Bios:
Dennis Gallant is a senior analyst for Aite Group’s Wealth Management practice focused on advisor investment/annuity/product distribution and wholesaling, advisory services/managed accounts, financial planning and advice delivery, retirement income, advisor recruitment and retention, annuity and asset management product development, and advisor practice management. He has covered the financial advisor market for over 20 years and has specific expertise regarding independent advisors, including registered investment advisors and independent and insurance-affiliated broker-dealers. Mr. Gallant conducts numerous presentations, speeches, and workshops for client and industry conferences, and is often quoted in industry trade publications including WSJ, InvestmentNews, Financial Advisor Magazine, Financial Planning, Ignites and Institutional Investor.
Natalie Kenway: Editor of @ESGclarity, the go-to website for fund selectors with an interest in responsible investments. Passionate about #ESG and #Diversity.
Interview with Ben Edwards 0:00-24:40
How to talk about risk in light of Archegos - Agency Cost Theory
- The LGM Preservation case - where could compliance have played a role?
- The importance of knowing what a fund does and who it’s for
- Lessons from Archegos and similar events
- The Charles Schwab and Citigroup transfer snafus
Interview with Amy Domini 25:45 - 53:20
The ‘overnight’ rise of ESG investing
- How Domini came to the sector and the origins of ESG investing
- Confusion around the profusion of ‘types’ of ESG investing
- The crucial role of finance in ESG goals
- COVID
Guest Bios: Benjamin Edwards joined the faculty of the William S. Boyd School of Law in 2017. He researches and writes about business and securities law, corporate governance, arbitration and consumer protection. Prior to teaching, Edwards practiced as a securities litigator in the New York office of Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom. At Skadden, he represented clients in complex civil litigation, including securities class actions arising out of the Madoff Ponzi scheme and litigation arising out of the 2008 financial crisis.
Amy Domini: A prolific author, entrepreneur and thought leader, Domini is known around the world for her pioneering work in SRI, shareholder advocacy and impact investing. She founded the Domini 400 Social Index, one of the first socially responsible investing indices.
- The role of pooled employer plans in the retirement landscape
- Who uses these plans?
- The stakes for the roll-out of pooled employer plans
- Role of and impact on retirement plan advisers
- How acute is the savings crisis and what role will governments play in addressing it?
- Consolidation in the retirement plan adviser sector, and other trends in the space
- The significance of Fidelity’s move into the PEP space
Related Article: Wave of PEPs hits the market
Related Article: Fidelity launches pooled employer plan
Michael Willis interview - 1:00-21:45
- The cap-weighted vs. equal-weight distinction
- What’s holding back adoption of equal-weighted indices
- Potential expansion of the equal-weighted approach and the shifting macro dynamics
- Relative performance and the nature of how cap-weighted and equal-weighted work
- The aha moment
Shannon McLay of Financial Gym interview - 22:00-53:00
- The inception for Financial Gym
- Apps vs. coaching as a way to teach people about finance
- Fitness as a concept for financial health
- The target audience
- How the gym model works
- How this coexists with the financial advisor model and expands the potential client base
- Using social media and online ‘gyms’ in the business
Guest Bios:
Michael Willis has worked in the Wall Street industry for the past 25 years. He is the lead portfolio manager for INDEX FUNDS and previously worked for UBS, Paine Webber and Smith Barney. Mike enjoys turning big ideas into reality.
Shannon McLay graduated cum laude with a degree in Business from Wake Forest University in 2000 and has since worked in financial services for the last 17 years. Her experience is in institutional sales, retail sales, hedge fund sales and management. She is the author of "Train Your Way To Financial Fitness" and her own blog, Financially Blonde, as well as being a contributor to AOL, LifeHacker, Huffington Post, US News & World Reports, Budgets Are Sexy, Frugal Rules and others. Shannon hosts the award-winning business and investing podcast, Martinis and Your Money – Living a Better Life One Cocktail at a Time, and is dedicated to helping people achieve financial freedom, which is how the Financial Gym came to be.
Interview with Susan Antilla – 0:00-28:15
- The story on her initial reporting/first book and the issues in the industry
- Are we getting any better in financial services?
- What explains the RIA diversity issues?
- High-profile success stories
- The power of the iPhone for shining a light on harassment
- Distinction between the biggest firms and smaller outfits like hedge funds or private equity
- The role of mandatory arbitration
Interview with Christine Shaw – 28:50-40:20
- Origins of Her Success Matters
- How women’s place in the financial services workplace has evolved over recent decades
- The InvestmentNews efforts on this front and how they’ve adapted to the pandemic environment
- Individuals vs. companies as ways to address these issues
Her Success Matters Podcast
Guest Bio: Susan Antilla is an award-winning investigative journalist who has been a financial columnist at The New York Times, Bloomberg, TheStreet and USA Today. She is author of the #MeToo book on sexual harassment on Wall Street: Tales From the Boom-Boom Room: The Landmark Legal Battles That Exposed Wall Street’s Shocking Culture of Sexual Harassment. The New York Observer called the book “a work of compelling Wall Street anthropology.”
Interview with Erika Karp about ESG Investing — 00:15-20:15
- ESG investing is just investing
- Regulatory outlook for ESG and the opening up of retirement plans to ESG
- The risk of greenwashing
- The challenges of increasing ESG popularity
- Impact investing vs. other ESG investing
- When will we reach full adoption?
Interview with Nicole Casperson on SPACs - 20:45-35:10
- The rise of SPACs
- What’s in it for celebrities promoting SPACs?
- High valuations in SPACs
- Any impact on advisers
Related Article: ESG investing is just investing
Related Article: Pathstone acquires $1.1 billion RIA
Guest Bio: Erika Karp is the chief impact officer at Pathstone. She joins the Pathstone team from Cornerstone Capital Group, the sustainable and impact investment advisory firm she founded in 2013, which was acquired by Pathstone earlier this year.
Erika founded Cornerstone Capital Group to bring the disciplines of finance, economics and sustainability to bear in pursuit of a more regenerative and inclusive form of capitalism. Over the course of her 25-plus years on Wall Street, she developed a deep belief in environmental, social and governance analysis as a critical input to investment decision-making.
Kurt Wolfe interview — 1:30-23:00
- The long-awaited change to the RIA marketing rule — starting the clock on compliance
- What is allowed under the new guidelines — principles-based approach
- FINRA vs. the SEC and brokers vs. advisers
- Open questions around remaining restrictions
- Effect of change in SEC Chair
- How industry consolidation might affect compliance
Chuck Failla interview — 24:00-37:30
- What set Chuck on the path to breaking away
- What the RIA event will offer
- The challenges that come with setting up an RIA business
- Brokerage house paranoia and the move to custodial business as a fallback
Receive a 20% discount on your RIA Summit registration using the code RIA20. Register at: https://investmentnews.eventscase.com/EN/RIASummit/Agenda
Guest Bio: Clients call on Kurt Wolfe when facing complex internal investigations and government enforcement inquiries. A trusted adviser, Kurt is known for delivering tailored, practical advice on securities regulatory and enforcement matters.
Guest Bio: Chuck has been a financial advisor for more than 25 years. He started in the early 90s as a "cold calling cowboy" in NYC selling individual stocks. As he built his book, he always planned to go independent and did so in 1999 by opening an independent branch of Raymond James Financial. At that time, Chuck earned his CFP® designation and transitioned from individual stock picking to financial planning and asset allocating using mutual funds and SMAs. Chuck's practice evolved into what is today Sovereign Financial Group, Inc., an SEC registered RIA.
With offices and advisors in Connecticut, New York and Pennsylvania, Sovereign is one of the fastest growing, independently owned RIAs in the North East.
Chuck is also the Director of Sovereign Advisor Solutions (SAS)-- a division of Sovereign Financial Group, Inc. SAS helps advisors transition to RIA by offering a comprehensive plug and play solution for going independent.
Chuck's ties to the financial planning community run deep. He currently serves on the Board of Directors for the FPA of Connecticut and Chairs their Pro Bono / Public Outreach Committee.
Chuck received his degree in Finance from The University of Connecticut and completed his coursework for the CFP® certification with The American College. He resides in Connecticut with his wife, two children, black lab and cats. In his spare time, he enjoys all things outdoors -- on the weekends you will find him with his family hiking, camping, skiing, boating or just enjoying the trees while grilling in the backyard.
1:30 - 26:00 Nathan Parkins interview on cannabis market
- Background on the legalization drive and the subsequent investing opportunity
- Distinctions between marijuana, hemp and CBD
- How to invest, and the limitations or challenges
- Picks and shovels in the cannabis industry
- Outlook for the industry from a tax perspective
- What do client conversations look like?
26:00-41:20 Discussion of the RIA roll-up market
- Where did this roll-up pattern start?
- How the current buying patterns match to the original era
- The driver behind all the buying and whether it can last
- Pressure on valuations
- Where this trend might go
Related Article: Is it high time to invest in cannabis?
Related Cover Article: The RIA roll-up market has seen a decade of explosion
Related Video: Cannabis investments soaring with Democrats at the helm
Guest Bio: Nathan Parkins is an ambitious, high-energy business professional with extensive experience in business operations, sales strategy and financial reporting and modeling. Particularly interested in leadership roles focused on business planning and strategy, driving efficiency through process reengineering and well run operations. Passionate about technology, complex problems within sales, finance and business strategy at both levels. Specialties include strategic planning and analysis, financial modeling and project management, forecasting and budgeting.
Interview with Chris Kuiper - 1:15-24:40
1:15 - The basics of Bitcoin
4:45 - Security for beginners in Bitcoin
8:00 - Coinbase’s direct listing
10:00 - Addressing the critics and the history of money
13:30 - The proliferation of crypto companies
15:00 - Currency or asset?
18:00 - Bitcoin ETF — when is it coming?
19:30 - The rise of digital cash overall
22:00 - Bitcoin outlook
The Wells Fargo Asset Management sale - 24:45-33:40
The basics of the deal
Changing the Wells Fargo brand
ETFs and SMAs in the wealth management category
Private equity, the presence of Advisor Group
The shifting valuations of classic wealth management vs. the advisory model
Related Article: Wells Fargo Asset Management sold to private equity for $2.1 billion
Related Video: Bitcoin bulls say price volatility is different this year
Chris Kuiper Guest Bio: I am an intellectually curious investment professional who loves all things related to financial markets, economics and coffee.
Currently an equity analyst at CFRA Research with a focus on consumer finance, market data and exchange companies, and REITs.
My experience ranges from investment research analyst (equity and debt), commercial credit analyst, and research fellow with a Masters in economics.
Interview with Les Brun — 1:00-20:45
- Background on Ariel Alternatives
- How does this play out specifically?
- Definition of minority-owned enterprises
- The new spin on private equity
- Scaling up diversity
- The distinction between ownership and leadership
- Role of JPMorgan and other investors
- What’s next
Interview with Emile Hallez — 20:55-32:30
- Health savings accounts’ rise in popularity
- How much do/should advisers push them
- Who’s actually using and investing their HSAs?
- Where HSAs fit into the health landscape
Related Article: Ariel Investments launches firm to build minority businesses
Related Article: HSAs, an adviser favorite, just don’t get much love
Ariel Alternatives Press Release
Guest Bio: Les Brun is chairman and CEO of Sarr Group. Previously, he was a managing director and head of investor relations at CCMP Capital Advisors. Les also founded Hamilton Lane, the world’s leading private equity advisory and management firm. He is currently chairman of Broadridge Financial Solutions Inc. and CDK Global Inc., and lead director of Merck & Co. Inc. He serves on the board of Corning Inc. and NXT Capital, and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Formerly, he was chair of Automatic Data Processing Inc. and chair and board member of Hewlett Packard Enterprise.
Interview with Jason Kane — 1:00-18:30
- GPB Capital background
- The charges against GPB
- Blurred lines over accredited investors; is this a private placement problem or a GPB problem?
- How far the GPB problems went
- The battle over remaining assets
Interview with Rick Ferri — 18:45-45:30
- Rick Ferri’s background and how low fees can work out for the adviser
- Why are ongoing portfolio management fees so high?
- The fiduciary element
- Fee-based and what the market "will bear"
- Customers' lack of awareness on fee levels
- The next generation of advisers and outlook on fees in the industry
Guest Bios:
Rick Ferri
Jason Kane
Relevant Article: Kitces report reignites debate over advisory fees
Relevant Article: SEC wants independent monitor to run GPB amid fraud charges
Interview with Tyler Gellasch - 1:20-32:40
- Background on Healthy Markets
- Immediate take on the GameStop backlash
- Why does this matter for institutional investors?
- What regulators might do about broker-dealers’ positions
- Focus on gamification or on capitalization?
- What's next for day traders?
- Was Robinhood ready for this?
- How fast can regulators/lawmakers move?
Interview with Bruce Bond - 32:45-53:00
- Background on his time at PowerShares, developing ETFs
- Buffered ETFs — how they work, how advisers use/trade them, costs, what they do/don’t offer to investors and advisers
Guest Bios:
Tyler Gellasch is a leading capital markets policy expert whose opinions and insights are frequently sought by regulators, members of congress, market participants, and the press. Gellasch’s public service included five years as counsel in the U.S. Senate, as well as service as counsel to then-new SEC Commissioner Kara M. Stein. In private practice, Gellasch has served as a general counsel of a boutique investment bank, as well as associate at Mayer Brown and Morgan Lewis & Bockius. Gellasch is also a Founder of Myrtle Makena, a consulting firm. Gellasch received his undergraduate degree from Case Western Reserve University. Both his juris doctor and master's degree in economics were awarded by Duke University.
Bruce Bond is co-founder and CEO of Innovator Capital Management. Having cofounded PowerShares Capital Management in 2003, he is recognized as one of the pioneers of the ETF industry. His leadership, creativity and entrepreneurial vision challenged the conventional thinking about ETFs and blazed a trail that made way for the massive growth of what is known today as smart or strategic beta. In addition to being recognized for best-in- class products, Bond has been named the ETF industry’s most influential person on multiple occasions. He is a thought leader and has been quoted in financial publications around the globe.
Interview with Robb Baldwin - 4:45 -19:00
- Robb’s background and what got him into the custodial business
- Should advisors anticipate merger pains?
- Opportunity for Schwab/Ameritrade competitors
- How remote work has or hasn’t affected customer service for custodians
- What Charles Schwab has and hasn’t been saying during this time
Interview with Paul Schatz on GameStop etc. - 19:10 - 39:45
- The concept of short squeezes
- The GameStop story
- The recurrence of manias
- The behavior of Robinhood and other brokerages
- How this affects short selling and market liquidity
Guest Bios:
Robb Baldwin is the founder, president and CEO of TradePMR. The firm provides technology, support and services to registered investment advisers through its own innovative management platform. TradePMR was born out of Robb’s personal experience with a difficult transition in his own RIA firm during the merger of two major custodians. Since 1998, TradePMR has focused on combining exceptional service with a truly innovative, industry leading technology platform.
Paul Schatz, founder and president of Heritage Capital, has a wealth of experience investing in equities, fixed income, options and futures. While he is best known for his equity index and precious metals models, his technically driven strategies have taken him into other asset classes as well. Paul is a recognized pioneer and expert in the exchange-traded fund field, having employed them in his work since 1994. Additionally, he has consulted for many of today’s ETF purveyors on new product development and is a highly sought after speaker in the field.
Interview with Mark Schoeff Jr. — 1:00-15:00
- Narrow operating margins for Democrats in government
- Key focuses and impact on advisers: ESG, fiduciary rules, taxes
- Will any big picture plans like Green New Deal pass?
- The standard partisan tensions
Interview with Emile Hallez — 15:00-27:00
- Recent RPA Convergence webcasts and publications
- Role of private equity in industry consolidation
- Valuations in the retirement plan adviser space
- Where convergence comes into the RPA vs. wealth management space
- What options individuals might see in their retirement plans
Interview with Nick Harness, CIO at Kestra Financial - :50-12:30
- The role of Chief Information Officer
- Interaction with financial advisers
- Breaking down the SolarWinds hack
- What can independent broker-dealers do to stay safe?
- Any recourse for firms when something like this happens?
Interview with Mark Schoeff - 12:45-28:00
- The Capitol riot from the perspective of a former Congress staffer
- Charles Schwab's political spending decision, and financial services spending at large
- How much does this spending matter, and how wide does a policy like this stretch?
- The outlook for financial corporations/associations future political spending
Guest Bio: Optimizing the customer experience through forward-thinking IT leadership and innovative product and platform development is my passion. My specialty is driving positive change in fast-paced and highly regulated business environments. Fusing deep expertise in both the sell-side and buy-side of the banking industry, with broad leadership experience in a variety of business lines and technology platforms, delivering groundbreaking technology products on a global scale by leveraging vendor platforms and bespoke builds that maximize proprietary capabilities. A true collaborator and innovator, I build trusted relationships that positively transforms organizations and products.
- Writing up the InvestmentNews Outlook story in the wake of Georgia runoffs — 0:00-5:30
- Interview with Bob Doll — 5:30-29:45
- 6:30-13:30 — Warm-up — Explaining the predictions' popularity, the evolution in the financial adviser space, Bob's track record, and any post-Georgia adjustments
- 13:30-26:30 — Walking through the predictions on GDP, inflation, the stock market, the dollar, small-cap vs. large cap, growth vs. value, standout sectors, government debt, China-U.S. relations and what sort of deals will happen in U.S. government
- 26:30-29:45 — Wrap-up — Any final adjustments, and thoughts on Modern Monetary Theory (MMT)
Related link: Bob Doll’s 2021 predictions
Guest Bio: Bob Doll is a senior portfolio manager and chief equity strategist at Nuveen. Bob manages seven portfolios, including large caps and alternatives. He is a highly respected authority on the equities markets among investors, advisors and the media. As the author of widely followed weekly commentaries and annual market predictions, Bob provides ongoing, timely market perspectives. Bob graduated with a B.S. in accounting and a B.A. in economics from Lehigh University and an M.B.A. from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He is a certified public accountant and holds the CFA designation from the CFA Institute.
2:00 - Big picture on M&A in the RIA space
5:30 - What's driving the increase in M&A?
9:00 - Deal structures in the current M&A environment
16:00 - Looking at valuations in the sector
19:00 - The public market option for RIAs - does it work?
24:30 - Why private equity may be as or more appealing to RIAs as public markets
27:00 - CI Financial's model and strategy
31:00 - How small firms fit in the current market
34:30 - What are buyers looking for?
37:00 - M&A Outlook for 2021
Related Article: Not even a global pandemic could derail RIA M&A momentum
Guest Bio: Mark Bruno is a managing director at Echelon Partners, an investment banking, management consulting and valuation specialist to the wealth management industry.
:40 - Jeff and Bruce takeaways
7:00 - Nicole Casperson - self education and being woke
8:00 - Jason Anciulis - shift in priorities
8:52 - Tara Means - in-person events go virtual
12:31 - Katie Downey - learning to be flexible
13:05 - Sean Allocca - journalism without meeting your sources face to face
14:09 - Mark Schoeff - how little I traveled
16:23 - Liz Skinner - connecting with people
18:49 - Nicole Casperson - starting a new job virtually
19:33 - Jason Anciulis - living in a reactive way
20:01 - Tara Means - the joy and fear of expecting during a pandemic
21:20 - Katie Downey - totaled the car, hit a black bear
21:52 - Sean Allocca - virtual sources
22:54 - Mark Schoeff - being grateful
23:54 - Jason Anciulis - proud of our inclusion content
24:33 - Sean Allocca - our biggest successes
26:16 - Nicole Casperson - maintaining this new version of myself
27:08 - Tara Means - can't wait to be in-person again
28:20 - Jason Anciulis - looking forward to a Cubs game
28:38 - Mark Schoeff - excited for complete strangers
29:12 - Katie Downey - two weeks at home with parents has turned into 9 months
30:00 - George Moriarty - the year ahead in the Finserv - going independent
- Introducing the Chief Governance Officer role - 2:00
- Does this add to RPA's fiduciary load? - 6:30
- What is the revenue opportunity and where does the Chief Governance Officer come from - 8:00
- The Plan Champion concept - 11:30
- The potential support Mass Mutual provides to Plan Champions - 15:00
-
Breaking down a Governance Policy Statement - 20:00
-
Post Covid issues to watch out for - 22:00
- Prospecting support for RPAs - 25:00
Guest Bios:
Fred Barstein is contributing editor for retirement for InvestmentNews & RPA Convergence. He is the founder and CEO of TRAA and TPSU.
Mark Cover is the Head of DCIO Field Sales for MassMutual Investments.
John Carl is Founder and President of Retirement Learning Center, the nation’s preeminent thought leader on retirement issues. As the “advisor to the advisors,” John is a highly sought after industry insider who travels the country educating groups of financial professionals on the very latest in retirement legislation, forecasts, and developments affecting the industry.
This episode is sponsored by:
MassMutual Investments is a leading provider of retirement-centric investment solutions. Leveraging the expertise, scale, heritage, and stability of our parent company, MassMutual Investments is uniquely qualified to serve the evolving investment needs of a diverse range of stakeholders. We employ an open architecture approach, constructing diversified, risk-sensitive, multi-manager portfolios that seek to optimally combine the expertise of carefully selected investment teams from proven third-party managers. We offer a comprehensive range of retirement solutions across the major asset classes, designed to address investors’ accumulation to post-retirement distribution life stages. These are available through our family of MassMutual Funds (http://www.massmutual.com/mmfunds), stable value products, and other investment strategies that leverage our multi-manager approach.
To contact a member of MassMutual Investments please visit http://www.massmutual.com/mmfunds/contact-us
1:00 — Patrick Mahoney’s background and path to the FPA
5:15 — FPA’s membership challenges
8:45 — FPA’s role in crisis times
11:45 — FPA’s budget outlook
14:45 — What about the One FPA Network?
17:45 — Mahoney’s mandate from the board
19:45 — Skip Schweiss’ role
21:15 — Challenges facing the financial planning industry
23:45 — Lobbying aims
26:45 — What do big conferences like FPA’s look like post-pandemic?
28:45 — Current office/WFH status
30:30 — Any future hires to watch for?
Relevant Article: FPA appoints interim chief Patrick Mahoney as CEO
Guest Bio:
Patrick D. Mahoney is an experienced CEO, business leader and strategist with a background across diverse organizations in the financial services, technology, and mission-based sectors. He is recognized for his skill in building and mentoring diverse teams and launching global growth strategies that integrate all disciplines from an organization’s portfolio to meet strategy-driven desired outcomes.
Interview with Christine Benz - :45-20:15
- Portfolio makeovers concept – 1:00
- Who gets a makeover – 2:45
- Themes from the makeover process – 5:30
- The value of simplicity – 10:00
- Do people actually listen? – 12:00
- Jeff Benjamin’s portfolio goes under the microscope – 15:00
- The importance of saving/spending rate to a financial plan – 16:30
- The right withdrawal rate at the start of retirement – 17:30
- Bond allocations – 18:30
Interview with Stephen Lamb - 20:30 - 32:30
- ESG Film Festival Description - 21:00
- Origins of the festival - 23:15
- Highlights from this year's festival - 27:15
- The winning film - Flowers in the River - 29:15
- Where to watch the films - 30:30
Watch the 2020 ESG Films!
Related Article: Morningstar makeover confirms I need to keep leaning on stocks
Related Article: Short films illustrate global sustainability needs
Guest Bios:
Christine Benz is Morningstar's director of personal finance and author of 30-Minute Money Solutions: A Step-by-Step Guide to Managing Your Finances and the Morningstar Guide to Mutual Funds: 5-Star Strategies for Success. Follow Christine on Twitter: @christine_benz
Stephen Lamb is the Director of Multimedia for InvestmentNews. A 9 year veteran of the indie filmmaking trenches, Steve now oversees the production of video and podcast projects, and organizes the ESG Film Festival. You can find him on a bike or at home pleading with his daughter to only eat one more marshmallow, and not five. On twitter @slimslamb
1:00 — Introduction; why leave BlackRock to start Wise Rhino Group?
5:15 — What explains the hot RPA market and adviser industry consolidation in general
12:30 — Valuations in the RPA market and the key sector trends
18:00 — What drives valuation and what an adviser can do to meet buyer interest
21:30 — Post-acquisition trends
23:30 — The other side — why hold out?
26:30 — Where does consolidation leave the independent adviser?
Guest Bios:
Fred Barstein is contributing editor for retirement for InvestmentNews & RPA Convergence. He is the founder and CEO of TRAA and TPSU.
Dick Darian is founder and CEO of the Wise Rhino Group. Previously he headed up BlackRock’s DCIO division and held senior positions at NRP and MFS Retirement.
This episode is sponsored by MassMutual.
MassMutual Investments is a leading provider of retirement-centric investment solutions. Leveraging the expertise, scale, heritage, and stability of our parent company, MassMutual Investments is uniquely qualified to serve the evolving investment needs of a diverse range of stakeholders. We employ an open architecture approach, constructing diversified, risk-sensitive, multi-manager portfolios that seek to optimally combine the expertise of carefully selected investment teams from proven third-party managers. We offer a comprehensive range of retirement solutions across the major asset classes, designed to address investors’ accumulation to post-retirement distribution life stages. These are available through our family of MassMutual Funds (http://www.massmutual.com/mmfunds), stable value products, and other investment strategies that leverage our multi-manager approach.
To contact a member of MassMutual Investments please visit http://www.massmutual.com/mmfunds/contact-us
Interview with Jeffrey Kleintop — 0:00-16:30
1:00 — Kleintop's global outlook and the change in global leadership
4:00 — Are we forgetting about the pandemic and the transition risks?
6:00 — S&P 500 valuation and what that portends
7:15 — What a Biden administration could mean for the market (and what may have been priced in too much)
9:00 — Market volatility given a pandemic and a new president
10:00 — The remaining potential in Black Friday and Cyber Monday
12:15 — Gaming out pandemic restrictions regionally in the US
14:30 — Kleintop's career moves and changing perspective in recent years
Interview with Liz Skinner — 16:45-30:45
17:00 — InvestmenNews' Women's Issue
19:15 — Challenges facing women and women advisers in this climate
21:00 — Women to Watch for 2020
22:45 — The persistent gender imbalance at the senior level at RIA firms
25:30 — Celebrating 2019's Women to Watch pandemic style, including a clip from the celebration
29:00 — The outlook for next year's celebration, and InvestmentNews events in general
Related Articles:
Women to Watch Awards
Work-life balance is harder for women in the pandemic
How women-led fintechs are combating the gender wealth gap
Guest Bio — Jeffrey Kleintop. As senior vice president and chief global investment strategist at Charles Schwab, Kleintop is responsible for analyzing and discussing international markets, trends and events to help investors understand their significance and financial implications. He provides research, commentary and actionable insights to Schwab’s client-facing teams and the firm’s Investor Services and Advisor Services clients.
Prior to joining Schwab, Kleintop served as chief market strategist at LPL Financial. Earlier in his career, he was chief investment strategist at PNC Wealth Management and senior investment strategist at ARIS Corp. of America. Cited in The Wall Street Journal as one of “Wall Street’s best and brightest,” Kleintop frequently appears on CNBC, Bloomberg TV and CNN, and is often quoted in The Wall Street Journal, Barron’s and the Financial Times.
1:00 — The appeal of the U.S. RIA market and CI Financial's background
4:45 — The timing on a roll-up strategy in the RIA space
6:30 — Why focus more on the U.S. than Canada, and what's the future acquisition pace?
10:30 — Talking CI's acquisition criteria
12:00 — CI's new U.S. listing and how it fits in
15:00 — The appeal of selling out to CI vs. private equity or other options
19:00 — CI's referral program
21:30 — Where does CI go next?
24:00 — Why CI doesn't look as closely at the brokerage space
Article: CI Financial lists on NYSE
Article: Mega-buyer CI Financial acquires Roosevelt Investments
Guest bio: Kurt MacAlpine has served as the Chief Executive Officer and Director of CI Financial since September 2019. He has extensive experience in the global asset and wealth management industry. As CEO, MacAlpine is on a three-pronged mission to modernize its asset management, globalize the company and expand wealth management.
Interview with Jon Dauphiné - 1:00-16:40
1:00 - About the recent pro bono call
4:00 - The legal field parallel
8:00 - The financial sector's reputation and how this can help
9:15 - Measuring success for this effort and prior efforts
12:15 - How advisers can get started in pro bono work
Using the corporate credit card in the wrong place - 16:15-22:15
Guest Bio: Jon Dauphiné was named CEO of the Foundation for Financial Planning in January 2016, and since then has led FFP’s efforts to support and grow programs linking volunteer financial planners to people in need to provide them with free, quality advice to improve their finances. To boost FFP’s impact, Jon initiated efforts for particularly vulnerable groups, such as the Pro Bono for Cancer Campaign, which assists financially struggling people with cancer and their families.
Related articles:
Pro Bono Letter
Getting into a pickle with the corporate card
:30 - Initial reaction
2:30 - The Biden administration's outlook for the SEC
5:30 - How much does the SEC head matter for investment advisors?
10:40 - Impact on ESG investing
15:30 - Where do taxes go?
17:00 - Biden administration top priorities that might affect the financial services industry
The InvestmentNews Podcast will have a special episode dropping Tuesday, Nov. 10, to discuss how Joe Biden and Kamala Harris' election will affect the financial services business. Stay tuned!
2:15-13:30 - Nicole Casperson on big banks getting into the robo advice game
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The play for the younger investor (3:00)
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Targeting lower asset customers (5:00)
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How this plays for Bank of America/Merrill Lynch (7:30)
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The melding of investing and banking services, and Betterment/Wealthfront's response (9:30)
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The importance of brand and the freemium model (12:30)
13:45-38:45 - CFRA's Todd Rosenbluth on semi-transparent ETFs
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What role do semi-transparent ETFs play? (15:00)
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Are flows actually going into these funds? (19:30)
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The challenges of launching amidst a pandemic (23:00)
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The outlook for semi-transparent ETFs and active mutual funds (27:30)
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Surprises from the rollout of semi-transparent ETFs (31:15)
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Is there a real market for semi-transparent ETFs? - (35:30)
Guest Bio:
Todd Rosenbluth is head of ETF and Mutual Fund Research at CFRA, an independent research company. He provides fund insights to the wealth management market through ratings and thematic commentary. He is based in New York.
Potential impact of a Blue Wave on Advisors - 1:00-6:20
https://www.investmentnews.com/election-impact-reg-bi-198850
Interview with Michelle Fuller - 6:20-30:45
- 7:00 - background on Hancock’s ETFs
- 9:40 - JH’s different models from active to passive and more
- 13:15 - Stacking up to competition and the go to market strategy for JH
- 20:00 - Morningstar's effect
- 21:10 - Wholesaling during COVID
- 25:00 - Dimensional’s role
- 28:15 - JH - early or late to the party?
Charles Schwab Impact conference - 30:45-37:00
This episode is sponsored by John Hancock Investment Management
We serve investors globally through a unique multimanager approach: We search the world to find proven portfolio teams with specialized expertise in those strategies, then we apply robust investment oversight to ensure they continue to meet our uncompromised standards and serve the best interests of our shareholders.
www.Jhinvestments.com
1:40 - Where "How I Invest My Money" comes from
4:00 - The exceptions advisers make in their own investing
7:00 - The importance of roots to how we think about money
11:00 - The editing process
13:20 - Lessons learned from the book and the recruiting process
16:30 - Revisiting Josh's first book and the Jamba Juice pitch
20:30 - The Social Media Adviser opportunity
23:30 - Josh's Twitter silence and focus on YouTube
29:30 - Hope for Twitter, or does the problem run to its roots?
0:30-7:30 - Wells Fargo lays off advisers - what’s going on?
7:30-29:30 - Mary Beth Franklin interview
7:30-11:30 - The latest outlook for filling the trust fund gap
11:30 -15:10 - The opportunity for converting to or contributing to a Roth in the current tax environment
15:10 - 18:00 - The inevitability of a solution vs. the ongoing political impasse
18:00-22:15 - The varying projections about when the trust fund might run out, and how it should or should not affect individuals’ retirement decisions
22:15-27:15 - What’s missing at the top of the funnel in contributions to Social Security
27:15-29:00 - The role advisors can play
https://www.investmentnews.com/social-security-cuts-retirement-198279
https://www.investmentnews.com/wells-fargo-adviser-job-cuts-198144
0:00-10:30 - Interview with Nicole Casperson -
The importance of TD Ameritrade’s Veo Platform advisors, and how it fits into the integration (:40)
The other platforms and the data choices (5:30)
Effect on the small advisor (7:30)
Competitive shake-up and opportunity (9:30)
10:30-19:30 - Morgan Stanley buys Eaton Vance
Morgan Stanley’s shopping spree strategy, and The ESG angle, and the advisor impact
Adviser on the lam - 19:30-29:00
The developing story, the echoes of the financial crisis, and is this the start of a trend or a one-off?
https://www.investmentnews.com/charles-schwab-td-ameritrade-veo-one-197817
https://www.investmentnews.com/financial-adviser-reported-missing-197786
0:00-19:00 - Interview with Emile Hallez
https://www.investmentnews.com/retirement-planning-biological-age-testing-197698
1:00 - Talking and testing longevity
3:15 - Effect on financial planning industry
6:00 - When does this become a factor?
8:45 - Life expectancy meaning
11:15 - Silver lining to the pandemic?
14:45 - Effect on Annuities
19:00 - 31:00 - Discussion on racism in the financial services industry
https://www.investmentnews.com/another-financial-pro-fired-racial-insult-197538
- 2:00 - The increased appetite for ESG investing and why it’s misguided
- 6:15 - What about ESG outperformance
- 10:00 - ESG core values
- 14:00 - Alternatives to ESG funds
- 18:00 - The Pros of ESG investing
- 20:00 - ESG as part of standard fundamental analysis
- 23:00 - ESG fixed income investing
- 24:30 - ESG and Retirement plans
- 26:00 - The 60/40 portfolio’s waning relevance
- 29:30 - The future of active management
- 33:30 - The future of financial advice
- 36:00 - Most important thing to watch
Guest Bio:
Dr. Burton Malkiel is a Professor of Economics, Emeritus, and Senior Economist at Princeton University, perhaps most famous for his classic finance book A Random Walk Down Wall Street (first published 1973, in its 12th edition as of 2019). He is a leading proponent of the efficient-market hypothesis, which contends that prices of publicly traded assets reflect all publicly available information, although he has pointed out that some markets are inefficient
Dr. Malkiel served as a member of the Council of Economic Advisers (1975–1977), president of the American Finance Association (1978), and dean of the Yale School of Management (1981–1988).
He also spent 28 years as a director of the Vanguard Group. He currently serves as Chief Investment Officer to WealthFront, he also serves as a member of the Investment Advisory Board for Rebalance.
Summary:
This week we looking into the NFL Players Association rules for hiring financial advisers, along with the poor performance of active management. Hosts Jeff and Bruce also look at job cuts at Raymond James, a guest appearance by IN reporter Emile Hallez to discuss his latest cover story, and we grade Morningstar’s virtual conference.
Episode Notes:
00:34 - NFL and Financial Advisers:
https://www.investmentnews.com/nfl-players-union-adviser-program-197132
08:57 - Active Management:
https://www.investmentnews.com/active-management-fails-impress-2020-196500
https://www.investmentnews.com/morningstar-conference-active-management-197210
12:39 - Raymond James Staff Cuts
https://www.investmentnews.com/raymond-james-data-outage-197296
https://www.investmentnews.com/blackrock-larry-fink-corporate-culture-197240
https://www.investmentnews.com/working-home-new-normal-196992
18:15 - Eugene Scalia Cover Story
https://www.investmentnews.com/sec-eugene-scalia-fiduciary-rule-197300
32:32 Open Notebook: Morningstar Virtual Conference
1:15-21:00 - Interview with Mary Beth Franklin about Social Security
21:15-29:30 - Discussion on Wells Fargo’s clamping down on dinners
29:40-43:00 - Interview with Liz Skinner about Diversity and Inclusion
Mary Beth Franklin is one of the country’s leading experts on Social Security and Medicare. An award-winning journalist and Certified Financial Planner, Mary Beth writes a weekly column on retirement issues for Investment News and is author of the ebook, Maximizing Your Social Security Retirement Benefits.
Relevant Articles:
https://www.investmentnews.com/wells-fargo-advisors-limits-dining-clients-covid-196924
https://www.investmentnews.com/building-better-asset-management-requires-women-minorities-196923
https://www.investmentnews.com/diversity-inclusion-success-focus-inclusion-196965
https://www.investmentnews.com/impact-raising-social-security-taxable-wage-base-196953
Mark Schoeff's reporting on an adviser poll about the presidential election: https://www.investmentnews.com/financial-advisers-donald-trump-reelection-193267
Story relating to GPB: https://www.investmentnews.com/galvin-gpb-fraud-charge-193370
Mark Schoeff, political and regulatory reporter for InvestmentNews, joins for the entire episode. A one-time communications officer for a senator, Mark is an old hand in the political arena and brings on-the-ground insights on political discourse.
We look at how the Twitter dustup between two advisers over politics should send a message to the financial services community that it doesn’t pay to let your political colors show on social media. Also, Covid has had a negative impact on broker recruiting. Then we get into the trend toward reducing bond allocations from otherwise balanced portfolios. And Bruce Kelly dishes up another example of a bad broker. Finally, in the Open Notebook segment, we delve into whether New York can continue to be the center of the universe, as far as New Yorkers are concerned.
https://www.investmentnews.com/financial-advisers-take-political-views-to-twitter-196177
https://www.investmentnews.com/broker-recruiting-slows-covid-19-196190
https://www.investmentnews.com/advisers-questioning-value-bonds-client-portfolios-196238
https://twitter.com/BDNEWSGUY/status/1295896859135926272
Merrill Lynch has learned that broker trainees are one group of employees that is not best suited for the remote work environment. The wirehouse has temporarily shuttered its trainee program when some of the cold-calling newbies apparently went off the rails. Who didn’t see this happening?
Jeff and Bruce take another look at the potential conflicts of interest that could arise as Morgan Stanley continues to absorb ETrade’s custody business.
What’s up with buffered ETFs? Jeff and Bruce discuss how they work, when they work, who needs them, and the reason they cost so much more than other ETFs.
The pace of consolidation in the RIA space is an ongoing story, but as the biggest buyers get bigger, is it possible the consolidators will start consolidating? We tell you what the biggest buyers are doing and how.
And in the Open Notebook segment, we celebrate the unusual level of access to high-level industry executives. It’s one of the upsides of a pandemic lockdown that has left everyone with more time on their hands.
Recruiting behemoth LPL Financial never lets up, and we look at the latest effort to expand the footprint.
Skip Schweiss becomes the latest high-profile exec to jump ship at TD Ameritrade ahead of the Schwab acquisition.
Morgan Stanley’s acquisition of Etrade has left the big bank with a small custody business that might not have a permanent home.
And in the Open Notebook segment Jeff and Bruce delve into the reality of placing “chief” in front of anything and everything to make us all feel better about ourselves.
InvestmentNews senior reporter Mark Schoeff, a veteran Washington insider, takes us behind the scenes of Congress and regulatory rule making to highlight the hurdles facing ESG investments trying to get a piece of the lucrative retirement savings market.
Bruce details the sad regulatory track record of Purshe Kaplan Sterling, where million-dollar-plus settlements are too common.
We explain why The Vanguard Group throws in the towel in a 20-year battle with value investing by folding a $1 billion actively-managed mutual fund into a $77 billion index fund.
Earnings season is here, and the message is becoming clearer that fallout from the coronavirus is changing the way brokers and advisers move between firms.
And this week’s Open Notebook segment explores how a lack of industry conferences and a face-to-face meetings with sources is changing the way we gather the good gossip.
Dani Fava emerged this week as the latest example of fallout from Schwab’s pending $26 billion acquisition of TD Ameritrade. She explains her rationale for joining Envestnet to take on new challenges.
Bruce explains how the math doesn’t add up at GPB Capital, where the latest public filings point to a $200 million gap at this alternative investments operation.
The conundrum of why zero-fee funds don’t always fly off the shelf has the asset management industry scrambling to find the sweet spot when it comes to expense ratios. Spoiler alert, brand names matter.
Securities America’s quest for scale through acquisitions is leaving a lot of reps waiting on hold as the near-constant state of consolidation creates headaches and technology glitches that might not have been anticipated.
And in the popular Open Notebook segment, Jeff and Bruce ponder how far is too far when it comes to leaning on a global pandemic as an excuse for lousy service.
As Joe Biden releases his tax plan, we fold in a deep dive into the odds of a financial transaction tax hitting wealth management.
The pace of mergers and acquisitions in the RIA space fell off pace from March through May, but ramped back up in June, suggesting the second half of the year could be on pace with the record levels of 2019.
IN technology reporter Nicole Casperson joins the podcast to explain Wells Fargo’s challenges getting the TikTok app removed from company-issued devices.
Nicole, who was hired in May, shares her perspective on what it’s like to be interviewed, hired, and start a new job without a single in-person meeting with her new colleagues.
The SBA released the list of PPP loan recipients recently and the wealth management industry is scrambling to justify their loans while operating a fee-based business model.
What exactly are semitransparent ETFs and why do they matter? As these unique new funds slowly come to market, questions remain as to whether the market has any interest.
Cetera’s new head of recruiting has a steep hill to climb to compete with deep-pocketed BD recruiting giants like LPL.
The state of the financial markets and the economy suggest now is the time for diversification into alternative investments.
And Bruce Kelly made his first trip to the office since March for a glimpse of what work might look like going forward.
This week Jeff and Bruce tackle what the freshly minted Reg BI rule means for the wealth management industry and whether consumers even know the difference. The candid conversation between IN’s two senior columnists also looks at the contradiction of brokers supposedly having more relaxed fiduciary rules but still racing toward the independent channel. And don’t miss the open notebook segment where you’ll learn how journalists and public relations professionals coexist in a less than perfect relationship.
This week Jeff and Bruce scratch beneath the surface of SEC chairman Jay Clayton’s contributions to the financial services industry, what recourse brokers have when consolidation leads to pay cuts, why outsourcing makes sense for advisers, how financial service industry professional sometimes talk when clients aren’t around, and Doc Kennedy’s legal wrangling. Keep the conversation going on twitter @InvestmentNews
This episode includes a free-wheeling discussion of four main topics: diversity issues in the financial advice industry; potential big firm layoffs; what’s the market outlook for the second half of 2020 and succession planning. The final segment, called Open Notebook, explores the risks for advisers taking PPP loans. Please share on Twitter.
We will be launching an episode every week with our very own Bruce Kelly and Jeff Benjamin.