WealthTech on Deck

In this episode, Jack Sharry talks with LifeYield colleagues Harry Bartle and Steve Zuschin. Harry is the EVP of Enterprise Sales while Steve is the EVP of Enterprise Technology Adoption. 

What should I do with my rollover? When should I take social security? As money in motion is underway, these questions become a high priority for retiring clientele. Leading the innovation arms at LifeYield, Harry and Steve unpack the solutions they’ve helped develop that allow advisors to better serve their retiring clients. 

Steve, Harry, and Jack discuss why firms want to control the client and advisor experience, the importance of showing clients quantifiable benefits, and marrying planning with real-life results to optimize value.

“The first thing you have to do is listen to the client. What’s important? What’s important to them, right? And having great expectations around how much they’re going to be able to afford to spend and what their retirement income is going to look like is at front and center of most people’s minds as they approach retirement.” ~ Steve Zuschin 

In this episode, Jack Sharry talks with Yaqub Ahmed and Harshendu Bindal of Franklin Templeton. Yaqub is Head of the U.S. Investment-Only Division while Harshendu leads  Digital Strategy and Wealth Management.

While his parents wanted Yaqub to pursue medicine, Yaqub fell in love with financial services and began his career as a record keeper in an asset management organization. Having spent the last 11 years at Franklin Templeton, today Yaqub focuses on the U.S. retirement insurance sub-advisory and Franklin Templeton’s 529 businesses. 

For Harshendu, his journey in financial services began 27 years ago. He studied engineering in college and stumbled into the industry following graduation. With 24 years of experience at Franklin Templeton under his belt, Harshendu is now responsible for establishing strategic partnerships with global financial institutions and other distribution partners on the retail side of the business. 

Jack, Yaqub, and Harshendu discuss the role of technology in establishing strategic partnerships and providing holistic solutions for clients, why intelligent automation helps advisors thrive, and what the future holds for asset managers. 

“Advisors are not going away, they’re just evolving. And we see them be more and more financial life coaches to their clients. And as an asset management industry, I think we need to understand and pave for that transition.” ~ Harshendu Bindal

In this episode, Jack Sharry talks with Andrew Salesky. Andrew leads Digital Advisor Solutions at Charles Schwab, overseeing a suite of tech platforms used by more than 7,500 independent advisory firms working with Schwab. 

Having worked at Schwab for more than 20 years, Andrew has held jobs big and small under the Schwab umbrella – from branch leadership to running schwab.com and driving the growth of “Schwab startups” like Schwab Private Client. Andrew even worked as their first Global Data Officer before transitioning into his current role supporting digital platforms. Andrew spearheads integration across the company, viewing integration as the top accelerator for every corporate goal or initiative. 

Andrew and Jack discuss current trends and how advisors can best respond, the power of integration, why technology is the great enabler, and why it takes more than tech to reach success. 

“Integration is not a distraction, it’s an acceleration. It’s really bringing a level of investment that is unprecedented for Schwab in the digital advisor space. We’re able to accelerate our roadmaps in all different areas.” ~ Andrew Salesky 

In this episode, Jack Sharry talks with Rose Palazzo and Eric Lordi from Morgan Stanley. Rose heads financial planning while Eric leads efforts across WealthDesk, a place for advisors to manage household portfolios. At Morgan Stanley, Rose and Eric have been instrumental in building the industry’s most comprehensive wealth management platform. 

Creating a comprehensive ecosystem and saying goodbye to the more siloed industry standard is no easy feat. Eric and Rose have leaned on their prospective specialties to build a system that scales rather than a system where one person wears 10 hats and inevitably drops a few along the way.

Jack, Rose, and Eric discuss the magic and challenges of account integration, why integration benefits both client and advisor, and the future of financial technology.

“When we talk about moving from accumulation to decumulation, it actually really is the time when it’s most important for the portfolios to be working in concert with each other, as one sort of orchestra instead of being managed in pieces. We know that’s really critically important.” ~ Rose Palazzo 

In this episode, Jack Sharry talks with John Thiel, former Head of Wealth Management at Merrill Lynch and longtime advocate for comprehensive advising.

John began his career in public accounting where he realized the impact of tax law on financial planning and decision-making. He was eventually recruited into the insurance business and, while it wasn’t popular at the time, John became an advocate for financial advising as he rose through the ranks at Merrill Lynch. 

While the industry has made and continues to make great progress, advisors still have a ways to go when it comes to implementing a goals-based approach and finding synergy between technology and the advisor-client relationship. 

John and Jack discuss creating efficiencies for the client as well as the advisor, how advisors can address a rapidly retiring demographic, the impact of COVID-19, and why human advisors are always irreplaceable. 

“We really need to have a decumulation strategy that is simple, direct, consumable, and that people can execute in a relatively easy way. And it’s gotta be transparent, so people understand this isn’t some black box. Here’s where the returns were coming from, here’s where we’re pulling it from, here’s the decisions that were made to make the recommendation of where you would draw from. And then literally, maybe, send them a paycheck if that’s what they want. Give those retirees or those people in that stage of life the option to choose a preference on how they want to receive income when they stop receiving a normal paycheck.” ~ John Thiel

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In this episode, Jack Sharry talks with Samantha Russell, Chief Evangelist at FMG Suite, and Matt Nollman, VP of Marketing at LifeYield. The two share their expertise on all things digital communication. 

Six years ago, Samantha’s husband stumbled upon a problem with seemingly no solution. Every advisor at a firm had an identical web presence. So he created Twenty Over Ten, an easy-to-use website platform for financial advisors. Sam hopped on board to lead sales and marketing and when Twenty Over Ten sold to FMG Suite, Sam shifted to Chief Evangelist, or, as she likes to think of it, Chief Educator.

Matt began his career in tech startups before joining LifeYield and working to expand the company’s digital reach and online presence. Matt also aligned LifeYield’s marketing and sales with its strongest revenue stream and spearheaded LifeYield’s shift into enterprise. Both Samantha and Matt understand the importance of reaching people through effective communication and taking digital risks. 

Samantha, Matt, and Jack discuss why advisors should become educators, why marketing can no longer be an afterthought, and the most impactful (and surprising) marketing strategy for firms, advisors, and beyond.

"Digital marketing no longer should be a line item that kind of gets whatever is leftover in your budget. If you want to grow and grow intentionally and find the clients that will be the best fit for your business, you need to put your money where your mouth is. We see a lot of financial advisory firms, the average is spending 1 to 2 percent of revenue per year on their marketing budget. But the growth firms, the firms that are actually adding new clients more than they’re losing them, they’re spending about 5 to 10 percent.” ~ Samantha Russell 

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In this episode, Jack Sharry talks with Eric Clarke, CEO of Orion Advisors. Eric is committed to improving client outcomes through strategic acquisitions and smart technology.

Straight out of grad school, Eric began his career as an asset management wholesaler. The company he worked for was experiencing operational challenges and, eventually, Eric realized the fiduciary IRA business needed stronger technology. At the time, available tech was only built for the brokerage business rather than advisory firms. Seeing an opportunity from necessity, Eric developed a business plan and founded Orion. 

As Eric puts it, what’s current today is incredibly dated tomorrow. Orion provides technology services to advisory firms while keeping a pulse on what’s current and pivoting as needed.  

Jack and Eric discuss the art of acquisition, how to instill proactivity in advisors, and why behavioral psychology is the backbone of strong and effective advising.

“What’s fascinating to me is that our industry is dominated by finance and accounting degrees, myself included. And as we look forward, I think we’re going to see a lot more emphasis inside of the industry on having degrees potentially dominated around behavioral psychology. And hopefully, we get to a point where we’re really understanding the investors that we’re serving in ways that we can drive and create value back in very meaningful ways.” ~ Eric Clarke

In this episode, Jack talks with Lori Hardwick, Chairman of Riskalyze and Board Member at firms like Orion Advisor Tech and Cetera Financial Group.

Lori began climbing the financial services ladder working as a wholesaler. In 1997 she had her first baby and realized the wholesaler lifestyle didn’t mesh with motherhood. So she pitched an idea to her senior executive team about starting an RIA program back when RIAs were still relatively new to the industry. She then left to start her own firm, Envestnet. 

After decades as a leader in the industry, Lori describes the successes and failures that sometimes unfold when old tech meshes with emerging tech, and why culture determines the success of that merger. She also describes why financial tech is in direct competition with giants like Amazon and Google, and why our technology must allow clients to engage and interact in a way that’s personalized.

Jack and Lori discuss the importance of showing clients quantifiable benefits, why advisors should take inventory of the software at their fingertips, and the necessity of hyper-personalization. 

"We need to make sure we’re not just allowing for transparency to the data, but also the ability to interact with it. The one thing I truly believe is that transparency and the ability to interact digitally will build trust with that advisor. The more they can see, the more they trust their advisor, and that is critical to building those long-term relationships and keeping those clients happy.” ~ Lori Hardwick

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In this episode, Jack Sharry talks with Mary Beth Franklin, a columnist and contributing editor at Investment News, specializing in social security, medicare, and retirement income. 

We’re living in a time where traditional retirement rules no longer apply, in part because of COVID-19’s dramatic impact on money in motion. As a result, helping clients navigate retirement is more complex than ever before. Having spent her career covering retirement from all angles – from policies on Capitol Hill to life inside private firms – Mary Beth has a unique understanding of where we’ve been and, more importantly, what retirement now calls for.

Given her unique expertise on all things social security, Mary Beth emphasizes the importance of software in achieving increased personalization and how advisors can help clients answer the ultimate retirement question – what’s the optimal sequence for withdrawing retirement income? 

Mary Beth and Jack discuss what a changing landscape means for both client and advisor, how COVID-19 changed the financial industry for the better, and what most people miss when planning for retirement. 

“People grew up with a couple myths: that you’re going to put as much money as possible into your qualified retirement plans to lower today’s taxes and your taxes were going to go down in retirement. Well, that may not be true going forward. And advisors and software providers need to understand that this is a very fluid situation and the best thing they can do is stay on top of these changing environments and pivot where they can and help their clients make the best decision for them.” ~ Mary Beth Franklin

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In this episode, Jack Sharry talks with longtime colleague Steve Gresham, CEO of The Execution Project, a consulting firm that works with advisors and their firms to help advisors better serve the needs of retiring clientele.

For many of us, the questions, stressors, and concerns of our clients are changing. As Baby Boomers hit retirement age, it’s our responsibility as advisors to help them afford healthcare and alleviate concerns about outliving their money. 

A believer in innovation, Gresham advocates for the use of tools and training when it comes to helping advisors meet the needs of their ever-evolving clientele. 

Jack and Steve talk about segmenting clients, the role of technology in the financial industry, and dealing with disruption head-on.

“The markets have been ripping ahead but the clients have been slowing down. So we see them taking money out, we see them thinking about alternatives, and we need to turn that around. But if they don’t know where they stand, they cannot plan for anything better. So giving very solid answers to somewhat amorphous but critical questions is part of our job. Help them understand exactly where they are and what’s realistic for them to be able to do from there.” ~ @thegreshamco

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