WealthTech on Deck

The hesitation advisors once had about AI has given way—in a big way, says this week’s guest on WealthTech on Deck. He’s Parker Ence, the co-founder and CEO of Jump - Advisor AI, an AI-powered platform for financial advisors. A year ago, Jump had seven employees. Today, it has 120 employees and about 12,000 advisors using the platform. Ence told host Jack Sharry that broker/dealers, RIAs, and solo wealth advisors are adopting Jump’s AI tools not only to prepare for meetings, take notes, and set follow-up tasks but also to draw insights from data captured during recorded meetings and assign administrative tasks. “Don’t worry so much about getting replaced by AI,” Ence said he tells clients and prospects. “Worry about getting outcompeted by other advisors that are adopting it.” https://lnkd.in/emcZ76Gw

Millions of dollars flow into investment firms and wealth managers. It can be easy  to miss the money that’s leaking out, according to this week’s guest on WealthTech on Deck. 💸 Pete Hess is president of PureFacts Financial Solutions which helps investment companies calculate and collect fees, optimize compensation, and derive insights from their data. Hess told host Jack Sharry that the firm has helped some large enterprise wealth managers find between $12 million and $15 million in recoverable revenue. Listen to find out how. https://lnkd.in/eST7i93A

Earlier this year, McKinsey issued a report on the “looming advisor shortage” in wealth management. Steve Chen, this week’s guest on WealthTech on Deck, says he has part of the solution — and he already has 1 million users on his financial planning platform. Chen is founder and CEO of Boldin, a platform that strives to be the “Turbo Tax® of financial planning.” Starting with 75 paid users in 2018, Boldin has grown by word of mouth and enterprise contracts, including arrangements with Nationwide and RTX Corp. Listen to hear Chen tell host Jack Sharry how Boldin is using #AI to answer customers’ questions, personalize financial planning, and support collaboration between its users and financial advisors.   https://lnkd.in/esX7Jjpa

Does $2 billion get your attention? That’s how much some wealth managers have gained in net new assets using a TIFIN solution for identifying clients with the greatest potential for expanding share of wallet and deepening engagement, according to Rob Pettman, TIFIN president. Pettman talked with WealthTech on Deck host Jack Sharry about how firms are moving beyond harnessing AI to simply cut costs and focusing on how it can fire growth in net new assets. https://lnkd.in/eJAUiyvx

Investor zeal for alternative investments and direct indexing is roiling the waters for wealth and asset managers. Disruption presents opportunity, says J. Womack, CAIA, SEI’s head of asset and income optimization and this week’s guest on WealthTech on Deck. With multi-account unified managed accounts (UMAs), firms can use UMA infrastructure and third-party technology to manage those new products with others in the most tax-efficient way, Womack said.   “There's nothing like hearing from advisors who thought they were going to have tough conversations with clients in down markets but showed them the benefits of tax management. And it totally altered the conversation,” he said. https://lnkd.in/e_i5_7N7

It’s not just market upheaval or a job loss that can rattle an investor’s financial plan. The need—often unplanned for—to take on caregiving responsibilities for a parent, spouse, child, sibling, or friend can also rattle an investor’s financial health and their well-being. Listen to WealthTech on Deck to hear more about a national survey on caregiving and its implications for financial advisors from Ken Cella, principal and head of external affairs at Edward Jones, and Ken Dychtwald, PhD, co-founder and CEO of Age Wave. https://lnkd.in/eNdeZq5M

WealthTech on Deck did an about-face this week, from guests pioneering wealthtech, AI applications, and digital advice to the world’s oldest network: humans bound by trust and transparency. Teddy Gold joined host Jack Sharry to describe 3i Members, which he co-founded with Mark Gerson, and its community of more than 650 investors. Gold said members hail from family offices, active fund managers, and “exited” entrepreneurs. 3i Members uses crowdsourcing to nominate and vet investing opportunities. A monthly “deal call” introduces one or two curated opportunities to all members. In about three years, the network has facilitated the investment of more than $750 million and expanded activities to regional events, diligence discussions, and more. “Crowdsourcing works,” Gold said. “You just need a qualified crowd.” https://lnkd.in/e_Md6DB5

We’re seeing a quickening pace of applications of blockchain and AI for enhancing efficiency and transforming work. This week’s guest on WealthTech on Deck is at the center of it. He’s John F. Sweeney, president of Praxis Solutions, Inc., providing consulting, software development, and ongoing training to financial services companies. He explained to host Jack Sharry how firms can move quickly from ingesting reams of raw data to extracting actionable information. For example, Sweeney described a project for a private real estate firm that slashed the time it took to analyze thousands of pages of presentations, spreadsheets, and documents to produce an investment memorandum. Before: 10 days. After: 10 minutes. https://lnkd.in/eUY85pyZ

Wait for it. The question at the end of every guest’s interview on our podcast: “What’s one thing you do outside of work that people might find interesting or surprising?” Here are 13 intriguing and surprising answers from our guests, leaders and disruptors in wealth management and financial services technology. https://lnkd.in/e5yJg3Vw

It’s a maxim that a business diversifies to meet the demands of its clients. But that can backfire, said our guest on this week’s WealthTech on Deck podcast. Jamie Hopkins Esq., LLM, CFP®, ChFC®, CLU®, RICP®, CEO of Bryn Mawr Trust and chief wealth officer of WSFS Bank, told host Jack Sharry that firms face some tough decisions about which of their proprietary services and technology they support – and which they shutter. Look around for partners who can help you add the services you need: estate planning, trust services, alternative investments are some. Then focus on your people, Hopkins said. “It’s your people for the next decade who that are going to distinguish you from everyone else,” he said. “Hire great people, find great people, and keep them.” https://lnkd.in/e9r-d293