Nelson Greene, VP of Business Development at Benjamin, shares his knowledge and experience of working in banking, wealth management, and custodial businesses, and how these apply to financial advisors.

On this episode, we discuss the importance of financial advisors, the three verticals of why adoption of innovation is so difficult in our industry, and building client experiences around thoughtfulness.

COVID-19 created a lot of change. When you look at major companies, these companies have changed their work policies to be fully remote and are closing down their offices. COVID-19 forced new work policies and innovation, and we’ve discovered that we have the capability to work in an entirely new environment.

What is the financial advisory industry going to do? On this episode of Bridging the Gap, we look at what work policies could look like when we get back to our “new normal” post-COVID-19.

Consultant and financial planning advisor Shanna Tingom joins us on this episode of Bridging the Gap to discuss how to create an efficient financial advisory firm. With experience in building her own consulting and financial planning firms, Shanna knows from firsthand experience how to integrate and innovate in a way that helps firms become more efficient through technology and process innovation. She has overcome the same hurdles that many advisors face when it comes to technology, and now she helps other firms overcome those hurdles to create an efficient firm.

What does a client value? There’s a gap between the advisors’ perception of what the client values and what the client actually values, and this provides an opportunity for discussion. According to a study by Vanguard, 72% of the perceived value of an advisor is identified as these three things:

1. Trust

2. Personal Connection

3. Proactive Outreach

These are based on the “relationship” with an advisor. On this episode, Matt looks at the relationship between advisors and clients, how this relationship has evolved, and what we can do to bridge the gap of perceived value.

We're back with the new season of Bridging the Gap, and we're looking at what has happened to the financial advisory industry in the midst of COVID-19. The financial advisor industry has recently experienced an uncomfortable transition. This was a first of its kind scenario: advisors had to react and push forward without a prior checklist of items to check off. In the past, we've been able to react to market-related events. The COVID-19 pandemic turned our entire industry on its head. We look at how financial advisory firms responded.

Committed, transformative, and visionary...these are a few words that I took away from my conversation with Conor Richardson. Conor is a Certified Public Accountant and author of the book "Millennial Money Makeover," a book designed to navigate this generation through the financial issues of their time so that they are set up for lifelong success. In this interview, we discuss the future of Millennials, technology, and how Generation Y needs to start approaching financials today.

Innovative, well-versed, entrepreneur and client centric…these are just a few words that I took away from my conversation with Josh Bennett. Josh is a Certified Financial Planner that has a background in serving and helping families implement actionable financial advice. After spending some time at Charles Schwab and other wealth management firms, Josh decided to start his own innovative firm, Vincere Wealth. Focused on tech professionals and business owners, Josh provides extreme value to a niche industry and does so with a leading focus on innovation and value. Today, we talk about where Josh feels the industry is going and what got him to the point he is at today with Vincere Wealth.

A creator, innovator, outsider, and leader. These are just some of the words that I took away during my conversation with Anders Jones. Anders is the CEO and co-founder of Facet Wealth. Facet is a company that is changing the landscape of investment management by providing access to high-quality financial planning to all households. Anders comes from a background of innovation within the startup world, after being a part of the company LiveRamp and going through the sale of the company, he spent time investing and managing other startups. He has now taken the lessons learned from these experiences to start another endeavor and bring those lessons into our industry. Today we talk to him about everything from tech to financial services to open our eyes to a different perspective.

Experienced, versed, and industry-focused, these are just a few of the words that come to my mind from my conversation with Gordon Morse. Gordon has an extensive background within the financial services space, from being a financial advisor and restructuring a few firms, to now consulting and helping financial advisory firms push through both growing pains and desires to innovate. Gordon has seen the evolution of our industry and believes very much in the need to innovate and grow our firms. Today we are lucky enough to have Gordon on the show to talk about where the industry was, where it is going, and how firms are able to keep ahead in this ever-changing environment.

True industry veteran, mentor, strategic visionary and a true Schwabie. Those are just a few of the words that come to mind after my conversation with John Connor. John's official title is Vice President of Digital Advisor Solutions for Charles Schwab. But in my mind his job title should be bringer of change. John started with Charles Schwab over 20 years ago, when you still had to call the desk to make trades. He's been part of the transformation from phone and fax to online digital and app based trading. John gets the innovation that is occurring, is one of those industry vets that is open to it. Actually, he's all in on the innovation and today we go all in with John Connor on where Schwab is going technologically and what our IAS can do to stay innovative.