Many individuals and families face financial challenges that require professional assistance to navigate. These challenges can range from investment planning and portfolio management to retirement planning and tax optimization. With the best financial planning tools and investment strategies, financial advisors can provide investors with the best-in-class financial advice.

In today's episode, Jack talks with Jed Finn at the Next Chapter Rockin' Retirement Conference. Jed is the COO and Managing Director for Morgan Stanley Wealth Management. In his role, Jed often has to make tough decisions about budgets and strategies and work with the leadership team to optimize resource allocation in pursuit of the overall strategy.

Jed talks with Jack about how Morgan Stanley achieved strong asset growth, how the company integrated and coordinated wealth management and retirement platforms, and Morgan Stanley's comprehensive approach to serving clients.

Key Takeaways

Quotes

[03:20] - "We always thought that the future of wealth management would be the combination of best-in-class advice and best-in-class technology. We are proud of how our advisors perform on the various rankings and, most importantly, how they serve their clients." ~ Jed Finn

[14:01] - "What we've put together is differentiated because we're the only firm that can deliver cradle-to-grave corporate services where we can grow with a company at every step in its life cycle." ~ Jed Finn

[24:24] - "People have different preferences for advice consumption with different risk budgets, and we need to be able to deliver all of it, or somebody else is going to. From a service perspective, we make sure we can meet clients where they are across that entire spectrum." ~ Jed Finn

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Digital transformation is inevitable, and financial services companies have to be nimble and adapt to the changing landscape. They need to find ways to capitalize on opportunities to remain relevant. As the world ages and demographics change, client and advisor relationships continuously evolve.

In this episode, Jack talks with Kabir Sethi, Managing Director and Chief Product Officer at LPL Financial. In his role, Kabir oversees advisor and end client experience and investment solutions and platforms. He is responsible for investment, banking and lending products, research, core advisor operating platform, end investor experience, third-party and fintech partnerships, and enterprise data and analytics.

With a track record of building and growing award-winning businesses and platforms, Kabir talks with Jack about how he got his start in wealth management, his strategies for creating a better wealth management system, and what he sees as the future of wealth management.

Key Takeaways

Quotes

[12:39] - "This idea of making the experience easier will always be fundamental to our industry. There is no end to the opportunities to take the friction out and find new ways to do things. There are always new ways to try and make the experiences more efficient." ~ Kabir Sethi

[21:56] - "As this country ages and demographics change, you have generations of investors who have grown up digitally. Wealth management will always be a combination of a human and digital relationship. The nature of that relationship and how that relationship gets executed is going to keep changing." ~ Kabir Sethi

[28:45] - "I believe that true success and the people who will succeed will have advisors at the center of their strategy. If you can figure out and keep working at making financial advisors successful, their clients will benefit." ~ Kabir Sethi

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Most people would agree that financial planning is an important part of life. After all, who doesn't want to be able to retire comfortably and have enough money to live the life they want? However, financial planning needs to be much more than just a plan. It needs a clear understanding of the current financial situation and a roadmap to achieve future goals. How can investors create a financial plan that helps them live an intelligent financial life?

In this episode, Jack talks with Rose Palazzo, Group Head of Envestnet Money Guide. Before joining MoneyGuide, Rose was the Head of Financial Planning for Morgan Stanley Wealth Management, responsible for managing the development, implementation, and support of the firm's financial planning offering. Having hands-on experience designing financial planning software, Rose was also an architect of Morgan Stanley's proprietary goals-based wealth management platform, Goals Planning System (GPS).

Having extensive experience in the financial industry, Rose speaks with Jack about some of the exciting things she is working on at MoneyGuide, what she sees as the future of financial planning, and how she helps clients achieve their financial goals.

Key Takeaways

Quotes

[05:35] - "This idea of intelligent financial life is that all components of a client's financial life are connected. And that requires technology to help execute and to enhance clients' lives by providing better advice and helping them to attain what they want." ~ Rose Palazzo

[17:14] - "Clients have complex financial lives, which means they use different advisory products. But all the things that come together help them achieve what they want. There's been so much work done to have platforms inform each other to enhance the advice." ~ Rose Palazzo

[21:36] - "Planning is getting an understanding of why you were investing in the first place.  If we invest for you and provide solutions to you, we should know what the objective is." ~ Rose Palazzo

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Many investors are looking for more integrated solutions to help them manage their portfolios more efficiently. The goal is to minimize the overall tax burden while maximizing after-tax returns. With tax playing a significant role in investment portfolio performance, what can investors do to minimize taxes and transaction costs to achieve their desired investment results?

In this episode, Jack Sharry talks with Amanda Lott, Head of Wealth Planning Strategy at J.P. Morgan Private Bank. In this high-impact role, Amanda drives the firm's training, content, and strategic approach to help clients articulate their most meaningful intentions and align their resources to these priorities. She believes that helping individuals with sound decision-making gives them financial peace of mind and the freedom to live their best lives.

Amanda talks with Jack about how she works on the key areas of financial planning, why smart asset location is important, and how she helps advisors embrace complex planning techniques.

Key Takeaways

Quotes

[13:55] - "With the evolution of the annuity space, being able to offer a low-cost option, and get more of your taxable dollars into a tax-deferred environment, presents a tremendous opportunity for advisors to deliver smart asset location advice to ultra clients." ~ Amanda Lott

[27:54] - "We need to make sure there’s a baseline planning knowledge for all advisors, so they can deliver consistently and ultimately add value because that's where the industry is headed." ~ Amanda Lott

[28:29] - "Technology is never going to replace the advisor. But it's got to complement them, making them more efficient and effective." ~ Amanda Lott

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The investment advisory industry focuses on asset accumulation and allocation as primary drivers of investor outcomes, leaving out opportunities to enhance returns. Taxes are the biggest expense that investors incur throughout their lives, more than everything else combined.

In this episode, Jack talks with Mark Hoffman, CEO, Chairman, and Founder at LifeYield. Mark and his longtime business partner, Paul Samuelson, founded LifeYield to facilitate tax-smart, risk-smart household portfolio management solutions. Mark has over 25 years of experience as an executive at public organizations, including State Street, Fiserv, and Colonial Management. He is also the founder of three financial technology firms: LifeYield, Upstream Technologies, and Lattice Trading. 

Mark talks with Jack about the lessons learned over the past 14 years of building comprehensive advice platforms, the importance of tax-smart implementation in financial planning, and how LifeYield simplifies portfolio management while maximizing returns.

Key Takeaways

Quotes

[18:03] - "At LifeYield, we see financial planning as finally becoming the central pillar supporting how advisors engage with their clients. But financial planning has not been tax aware. Without tax awareness, financial planning cannot provide implementable advice." ~ Mark Hoffman

[28:30] - "Tax alpha is often the largest benefit we've talked about in these bad markets. And for any firm in the wealth management industry to be successful, they certainly need a tax alpha strategy." ~ Mark Hoffman 

[28:58] - "Wealth management firms need to become the primary advisor for their clients, particularly when somebody's transitioning into retirement. It's a natural asset consolidation point because the client wants uniform advice." ~ Mark Hoffman

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Wealth management has long been focused on investment products – stocks, bonds, and mutual funds – but there is a shift taking place in the industry. A growing number of wealth management firms are seeing the value in shifting their focus from investment products to investment processes. 

In this episode, Jack Sharry talks with Randy Bullard, Global Head of Wealth at Charles River Development. Before joining Charles River Development, Randy served as General Manager of Wealth Management at SigFig. At Charles River, Randy leads the Charles River Wealth Management business globally. He is responsible for the firm's wealth product strategy and growth of the business with a heavy focus on client satisfaction. 

Randy talks with Jack about the secular shift from investment products to the investment process in wealth management. He also speaks about the current state of wealth management in the digital age, the future of comprehensive advice platforms, and coordinating wealthtech capabilities.

Key Takeaways

Quotes

[13:32] - "Direct indexing, hyper-personalization, increased focus on tax optimization, and ESG application at an individual investor level are all manifestations of this transition from product to process, which we're undergoing in the industry right now." ~ Randy Bullard

[16:08] - "UMH is a process. It's a way of collecting disconnected things and making decisions at a client level that span all the stuff the client has. And so it's a process, not a product." ~ Randy Bullard

[26:08] - "Most asset managers are not doing well in this transition from an investment product to an investment process. We have to find ways to turn their value add and value proposition into data and information they can sell." ~ Randy Bullard

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Attracted by the city's educated workforce and growing reputation as a hub for tech and entrepreneurship, many innovative companies have made Hartford their home. With the city's rich insurance history and a center for many resources, how can a new generation of insurtech talent find the best resources, mentorship, and networking opportunities to thrive in the city?

In this episode, Jack talks with Laura Dinan Haber, Innovation Program Manager at Nassau Financial Group, and Paul Tyler, Chief Marketing Officer at Nassau Financial Group. In their roles, Laura and Paul work with startups and scale-ups worldwide. They help foster connections, make introductions, and open doors for the new generation of insurtech talent to the city and state.

Dedicated to accelerating insurtech innovation, Laura and Paul talk with Jack about Hartford as a hub for innovation, the exciting projects they are working on, and where the world is going regarding technology and solutions.

Key Takeaways

Quotes

[13:12] - "We want to be a place for people to come up with their ideas and stories, and we want to help tell those things. I like to think of us as day 91, where we can help you figure out what's next and be there for you." ~ Laura Dinan Haber

[17:58] - "Watching people progress, not only as founders but as leaders themselves, and then watching their work become more fundamental to our bottom line and helping our team out, has been exciting. And it's fun to see what we can find next." ~ Laura Dinan Haber

[24:01] - "Whatever place you're at in business or life, surround yourself with a community, whether online or in person, where you can be authentic, engage, and share messages." ~ Laura Dinan Haber

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Today, we're seeing three major trends shaping the financial services industry - the retirement of baby boomers, taxes, and the popularity of financial advice platforms. As these trends significantly impact how financial services companies deliver their products and services, what do these trends mean for the future of investors and the industry?

In this episode, we flip the script as Matt Nollman, VP of Marketing at LifeYield, takes the host chair to talk with Jack Sharry as the guest. As Jack speaks with industry leaders on what they're working on to move the industry forward and their businesses weekly, he assesses the top trends in the financial services industry.

Jack talks with Matt about his takeaways from his conversations with industry leaders and the top three trends shaping financial services today. Jack speaks about how retirement has changed over time, why financial services place so much emphasis on tax alpha, and how financial advice platforms are increasingly becoming customized.

Key Takeaways

Quotes

[03:33] - "The increased inflation and market volatility, plus the threat of higher taxes, have caused many people who are considering retiring to become unsettled and insecure about when and how to retire." ~ Jack Sharry

[07:23] - "The most prominent issue in light of tough markets and inflation concerns are taxes. Taxes are the biggest cost investors incur and are more than their expenses combined." ~ Jack Sharry   

[07:55] - "Tax efficient asset management is the cornerstone of a successful retirement accumulation and de-accumulation plan. The more efficiency that you can obtain, the better." ~ Jack Sharry

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Data is at the heart of every organization, and the ability to effectively collect, store, and analyze data is critical to success. Yet, for many financial firms, data is scattered across different silos, making it difficult to get a comprehensive view of their customers and business operations. While data can only be useful if properly organized and accessible, how can financial services integrate data to power applications, analytics, and decision-making?

In this episode, Jack talks with Kyle Van Pelt, Chief Executive Officer at Milemarker. Kyle joined Milemarker through Skience, where he was the Executive Vice President of Sales. Before his role at Skience, Kyle was a Solutions Manager at SS&C Advent and the Vice President of Partnerships at Riskalyze. His wealth of knowledge in the financial services industry and his passion for technology position him as the right leader to take Milemarker into its next era of growth and development.

Kyle talks with Jack about how he developed expertise in financial services, what sets Milemarker apart from other advisory platforms, and how to make multi-account unified managed households a reality.

Key Takeaways

Quotes

[08:13] - "I have a thirst for learning about things. I have an addictive personality, and once something gets into my brain, I have to know as much about it as possible. And that's the DNA inside of me." ~ Kyle Van Pelt

[09:29] - "There's about 80% that every firm shares in common. And then there's this 20% of an advisory firm's business that makes the firm unique." ~ Kyle Van Pelt

[20:20] - "You can't have personalization without proper data. If the data are in different silos and all over the place, it's hard to do any level of personalization." ~ Kyle Van Pelt

[24:04] - "The best thing that can happen for unified managed household, personalization, etc., is for people to pick their core competency, the thing they’re really great at, the part of the stack they want to own, and own it.” ~ Kyle Van Pelt

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As the world of wealthtech continues to evolve, so do the products and services financial advisors use to manage their client's portfolios. The multi-account unified managed account is one of the exciting developments in the industry. While UMAs are the backbone of the wealth management industry, what does it take to implement multi-account UMAs?

In this episode, Jack talks with LifeYield colleague Harry Bartle. Harry is the Executive Vice President of Enterprise Sales. In his role, Harry helps enterprises build complete household wealth management platforms. Having seen all the positives and negatives of piecing together a new wealthtech platform, Harry has become a resource for current and future clients looking to build household wealthtech platforms.

Harry talks with Jack about improving financial outcomes and increasing overall tax efficiency at the household level. He also discusses the evolution of the unified managed account (UMA), how the multi-account UMA came to be, and what it takes to implement multi-account UMAs.

Key Takeaways

Quotes

[06:30] - "You can't do tax management effectively unless you're doing it across all your accounts in concert with each other." - Harry Bartle

[16:27] - "Anybody that's ever gone from a single account system to UMA knows how painful that process is. It's very painful, very expensive, and has years of work." - Harry Bartle

[20:45] - "Everybody's talking about multi-account management and multi-account implementation household. You don't need to replace UMA. You can create household multi-account implementation capabilities while still having the backbone of your firm." - Harry Bartle

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