The WealthStack Podcast

When the pandemic hit in March 2020, the financial advice industry essentially became virtual overnight. Advisors and the companies that support them embraced technology like never before and now, roughly 18 months later, the business of advice has experienced it’s most significant period of change ever. 

Where does the advice industry go from here? In this inaugural episode of the WealthStack podcast, Wealth Management’s Mark Bruno addresses the big picture with Joe Duran, managing director of Goldman Sachs Personal Financial Management. Joe dives into how modern technology and current worldwide events have changed the way that advisors work, from adapting client meetings to engaging virtually with potential clients and prospects.

Specifically, Joe and Mark dive into:

- What have been some of the most significant changes in the advisor-client relationship since March 2020? How will that re-shape the future of advice?
- What technologies, tools and resources allowed some advisors to thrive over the last 18 months?
- From an industry perspective, how has the landscape of wealth management providers changed the most? 
- What types of firms, services and experiences will “win” going forward?

Connect with Joe Duran:

Joe Duran
Goldman Sachs
Goldman Sachs Personal Financial Management

Connect with Mark Bruno:

Mark Bruno
WealthManagement.com

About our guest:

Joe is co-head of Personal Financial Management Group, which includes Ayco and Personal Financial Management (PFM). He is a member of the Consumer and Wealth Management Inclusion and Diversity Council and Steering Committee.

Joe joined Goldman Sachs as a partner in 2019 as part of Goldman Sachs’ acquisition of United Capital, which was subsequently renamed Personal Financial Management.

Joe founded United Capital in 2005. Before that, he served as president of GE Private Asset Management, which he built and sold to GE as president of Centurion Capital in 2001.

Joe has written three books, including The Money Code, which was listed on The New York Times and USA Today’s bestseller lists.

Joe earned a BS in Business Administration from Saint Louis University and MBA degrees from Columbia University and the University of California, Berkeley. He is a CFA charterholder.

1. The Evolution of Advice: Joe Duran on the Accelerating Pace of Change in Wealth Management

2. Dani Fava: Why Embedded Finance is a Game-Changer for Financial Advice

Financial advisors often have an impact on the lives of their clients that extends well beyond investment performance. An ability to help clients navigate complex life and financial decisions - which are frequently intertwined - is at the core of any successful advisor’s long-term relationships. 

But how can you ensure that clients understand the true value of the services that you deliver - and ultimately the unique problems that only you can solve for them?

In this episode of the WealthStack podcast, Mark Bruno and Jamie Hopkins Esq., LLM, CFP®, ChFC®, CLU®, RICP®, managing partner of Wealth Solutions at Carson Wealth, reveal how to articulate your unique advisor “alpha”. They dive into different ways to communicate your value with prospects and demonstrate what makes you different from other advisors. Jamie discusses how advisors are adapting to create experiences for clients, while also focusing on:

- The most effective ways to communicate your value proposition
- The role of technology as a differentiator for advisors
- The difference between service and relationship for advisors and clients
- The services, outcomes or solutions that have the most value for investors
- How behavioral finance impacts clients’ advisor selection

Connect with Jamie Hopkins:
LinkedIn: Jamie Hopkins
Carson Wealth

Connect with Mark Bruno:
LinkedIn: Mark Bruno
WealthManagement.com

About our guest:
Jamie P. Hopkins, ESQ., MBA, CFP®, LLM, CLU®, ChFC®, RICP® is the Managing Partner of Wealth Solutions. He is a Finance Professor of Practice at Creighton University’s Heider College of Business.

A nationally recognized writer and researcher, Jamie 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 radio and Fox radio, and has made multiple appearances for NBC10 Philadelphia, PBS and USA Today.
He’s been published in dozens of financial, educational and legal journals and developed educational materials for The American College’s CFP®, CLU®, ChFC® and RICP® programs, along with CE programs for attorneys.

Additionally, Jamie has co-authored three text books and has two ebooks on Retirement Planning, “Retirement Success In 10 Steps: How To Stretch Your Dollar To Last Through Your Golden Years'' and “Retirement Risks: How To Plan Around Uncertainty For A Successful Retirement.” He is also the author of 2018’s “Rewirement: Rewiring The Way You Think About Retirement.”

3. The Value of Advice: Articulating and Demonstrating Your True “Alpha”  with Jamie Hopkins

As technology for the wealth management industry evolves, financial advisors will have more options than ever before to enhance the services - and value - they deliver to clients. 

Understanding and navigating the readily changing WealthTech landscape can be a challenge for many, however. In this episode of the WealthStack podcast, Carina Diamond, the Chief Experience Officer at Dakota Wealth Management, shares her experience and perspective on how successful advisory firms are using technology to customize financial plans, improve and deepen relationships with clients -- and ultimately run a more productive and profitable business. 

Carina and Mark Bruno, the Managing Director of Wealth Management at Informa, specifically focus on:

- The role of technology in changing and improving client experiences 
- How virtual platforms can help to facilitate stronger advisor/client relationships
- Continued opportunities for advisors to leverage and invest in new technology
- The primary contributors to Dakota’s growth in 2021
- Insights into the acquisitions announced at Dakota earlier in 2021

Connect with Carina Diamond:
Carina Diamond
Dakota Wealth Management

Connect with Mark Bruno:
Mark Bruno
WealthManagement.com

About our guest:
As Chief Experience Officer, Carina is responsible for providing leadership and mentoring to the other client advisors at Dakota Wealth, as well as directing marketing efforts for the firm. Before joining Dakota Wealth Management, Carina Diamond was founder and CEO of Springside Partners LLC.

Dakota’s Carina Diamond: WealthTech’s Impact on the Future of Advice

Innovation and adoption of technology are rapidly redefining the way financial advisors work with clients - and are revolutionizing the wealth management industry. 

One of the most experienced and knowledgeable voices in the wealth management and WealthTech industries -- Lori Hardwick, CEO of Red Rock Strategic Partner -- stopped by the WealthStack podcast to highlight the developments in FinTech that all advisors need to know. 

Ms. Hardwick talks with Mark Bruno, the Managing Director of Wealth Management at Informa, about her key learnings sitting on the boards for major players in WealthTech, such as Orion, Cetera, and Vestwell. In addition, they discuss:

- How emerging technology is improving every interaction advisors can have with clients
- How technology is accelerating change in retirement plans
- How financial planning, risk management, and asset management are converging to create a truly holistic and customizable wealth management experience. 

Connect with Lori Hardwick:

Lori Hardwick
Red Rock Strategic Partners

Connect with Mark Bruno:

Mark Bruno
WealthManagement.com

About our guest:

Lori Hardwick brings more than 25 years of experience of working in the financial industry as a prominent voice and is known for her intense passion for continuous improvement in the financial advisory industry.  
 
As CEO of WealthTech at RedRock Strategic Partners LLC and as a Strategic Advisory Board member of Genstar Capital, Lori works directly with C-suite level executives at some of the largest financial services companies, to help them create, and execute against, winning growth strategies and to improve the overall experiences for advisors and their clients.  
 
Lori has been appointed to, and currently serves on, several corporate boards in the financial services and fintech industries including Orion Advisor Technologies, Cetera Financial Group, as Vestwell for which she serves a s Chairman. Lori previously served as Chairman of the Board at Riskalyze through mid-2021. 
 
In 2017, Lori created and co-founded, Advisor Innovation Labs (AI Labs) which underwent a successful transaction in early 2020. Prior to founding AI Labs, Lori served as Chief Operating Officer for Pershing, a BNY Mellon company, sharing leadership responsibility with the CEO for managing the Pershing family of companies. Lori served as a member of Pershing’s Executive Committee and BNY Mellon’s Senior Leadership Team.
 
Previously and for the majority of Lori’s career, she was a Co-Founder and Group President of Advisory Services for Envestnet, overseeing its enterprise relationship management, institutional advisory sales, strategic partnerships and practice management programs. She had been with Envestnet since its founding in 2000 and served in a variety of roles managing its enterprise, sales, services, advisor orientation and onboarding divisions during her 16-year tenure at the firm.
 
Lori has been recognized as one of the “22 People who will Transform Wealth Management in 2022” by Financial Planning Magazine, and as one of Top Women of Wealth Tech by ThinkAdvisor, a “Winner in Wealthtech” by Wealth Management Today, a “Woman to Watch” by InvestmentNews and on Investment Advisor’s list of “The 25 Most Influential People in the Financial Industry”.

Lori Hardwick: How Technology is Revolutionizing the Wealth Management Industry

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

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

Shannon and Carl discuss:

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

Connect with Shannon Rosic:

- Shannon Rosic
- WealthStack website
- WealthManagement.com

Connect with Carl Richards:

- Carl Richards
- Elements

About Our Guest:

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

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

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

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

Making the Complex Simple - Facilitating Meaningful Financial Planning Conversations

NREI Weekender Episode 6 - NREI Research Series: Annual REIT Study Review, July 13, 2019

Today, David Bodamer continues with the NREI Research Series by reviewing NREI’s 4th annual REIT study. 

In this episode, you will learn:

- The major takeaways from this year’s research
- Which categories are on respondents’ buy and sell lists
- The status of REIT balance sheets
- What kind of predictions the study provides for REIT stock prices and returns 
- And more

Tune in now to hear the latest findings in the Review of the fourth annual REIT Study as part of the NREI Research Series.

Resources:
National Real Estate Investor

Making the Complex Simple - Facilitating Meaningful Financial Planning Conversations

WealthManagement.com

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