WealthTech on Deck

Empowering Advisors: Technology and Financial Psychology in Action with Morgan Bell

This week, Jack Sharry talks with Morgan Bell, Managing Director of Advisory at Constellation Wealth Capital.  Morgan leads the firm's technology consulting efforts and focuses on helping advisors and firms optimize technology for efficiency and growth. As a CFP® with an MBA in financial psychology and behavioral finance, Morgan offers a distinctive perspective that merges technological expertise with a deep grasp of human behavior and the advisor-client relationship. Jack and Morgan discuss the intersection of technology, AI, and financial psychology in wealth management. Morgan shares how technology can be used to drive organic growth, how to cut through the noise of endless vendor options, and why financial psychology remains at the heart of wealth management. From tech roadmaps and data integration to AI strategies and client relationships, Morgan brings her perfect mix of advisor experience, tech expertise, and behavioral finance insights to the conversation. In this episode: (00:00) - Intro (01:42) - What Constellation Wealth Capital does and who they serve (04:49) - How Morgan helps firms optimize technology (07:56) - Bridging the gap between "tech geeks" and "business geeks" (09:28) - How technology connects to organic growth strategies (12:04) - How AI plays a role in wealth management (14:03) - Morgan's career journey (15:34) - The role of financial psychology in client relationships and tech adoption (18:59) - Constellation's future and long-term goals (22:47) - Morgan's key takeaways (24:22) - Morgan's interests outside of work Quotes "The more clarity and understanding firms have around how they should be using a system and why they're using it, and the value it provides to them and the firm, the better adoption they have of the technology overall." ~ Morgan Bell  "The vast majority of the decisions that are being made related to technology tie back to either the client or the advisor experience. That's what fuels organic growth." ~ Morgan Bell  "Firms should strive to use AI to complement, not compete. AI is a skill, so results can certainly be improved based on human knowledge of AI." ~ Morgan Bell Links  Morgan Bell on LinkedIn Constellation Wealth Capital Pershing Creighton University Connect with our hosts LifeYield Jack Sharry on LinkedIn Jack Sharry on Twitter Subscribe and stay in touch Apple Podcasts Spotify LinkedIn Twitter Facebook

Enabling Advisors to Serve Aging Clients and Multigenerational Families with Suzanne Schmitt

This week, Jack Sharry talks with Suzanne Schmitt, Managing Director at Next Chapter. Suzanne brings a wealth of knowledge from her extensive career at firms such as Fidelity Investments, New York Life Insurance, Prudential Financial, and Lincoln Financial. At Next Chapter, Suzanne reframed and realigned needs to outcomes that benefited advisors and three generations of clients and their families. Today, she leads the NextGen engagement and growth strategies.  Suzanne talks with Jack about the implications of aging and its impact on consumers, advisors, and the industry as a whole. She shares key findings from Next Chapter's advisor study, which highlights the industry's need to better prepare advisors to navigate complex family dynamics, health events, caregiving challenges, and solo aging. In this episode: (00:00) - Intro (01:49) - Suzanne's career background (04:04) - Next Chapter's advisor study  (05:44) - Key findings from Next Chapter's advisor study  (08:54) - How Next Chapter addresses the aging population issue (12:50) - Helping advisors connect with families during moments that matter (18:11) - Age and gender weighted revenue (21:57) - Highlights from the Next Chapter's white paper (24:28) - Suzanne's key takeaways (25:05) - Suzanne's interests outside of work Quotes "The industry is not adequately prepared to help advisors engage families on health and non-financial matters. The industry is also not adequately prepared to help advisors detect cognitive change in their clients." ~ Suzanne Schmitt "Knowing the percentage of the current revenue in your book held by women is incredibly important, and engaging them on issues of caregiving is an absolute home run." ~ Suzanne Schmitt "A lot of advisors don't start because they don't know where to start. Getting used to asking simply 'what has changed with your health since we last talked' is one of the best questions you can work into your repertoire." ~ Suzanne Schmitt Links  Suzanne Schmitt on LinkedIn NextChapter Steve Gresham Fidelity Investments New York Life Insurance Prudential Financial Lincoln Financial LPL Financial McKinsey Connect with our hosts LifeYield Jack Sharry on LinkedIn Jack Sharry on Twitter Subscribe and stay in touch Apple Podcasts Spotify LinkedIn Twitter Facebook

From Wirehouse to Independence: Developing Complete Wealth Managers with John Amore

This week, Jack Sharry talks with John Amore, President of Kestra Financial. John is committed to building out capabilities that empower advisors and support the financial independence of their clients. He focuses on creating a thriving community of complete wealth managers. Before becoming President, John led Kestra's Wealth Management division, where he drew on his global leadership experience to drive growth, innovation, and advisor success. John shares with Jack why he made the leap from wirehouse to the independent space, how Kestra is building out a holistic ecosystem for advisors, and what the firm is learning about one of the most critical issues facing the industry today—succession planning. John also discusses the recent industry study on succession planning and why it's a necessary and often deeply personal issue for financial advisors. In this episode: (00:00) - Intro (01:25) - John's career journey (05:10) - Lessons learned as president of Kestra (06:27) - Kestra's ecosystem and wealth management capabilities (10:03) - Why succession planning is important at Kestra (13:46) - The personal side of business and relationships (16:29) - How John operationalizes succession planning (18:29) - Kestra's new ventures (19:38) - John's key takeaways (20:20) - John's interests outside of work Quotes "It's always been my goal to make sure that our advisors can be complete wealth managers, and that means meeting all the needs of their clients." ~ John Amore "It's one thing to have the expertise. It's another thing to have it built into the platform so that it's easier for our advisors to use." ~ John Amore "It's interesting to learn that only 6% of the advisors surveyed have a written succession plan, which is fascinating for an industry that gets paid to give financial planning advice." ~ John Amore "Anyone who has been successful in this business, chances are they started because they were good or appreciate the power of relationships." ~ John Amore Links  John Amore on LinkedIn Kestra Financial UBS Stephen Langlois Kestra Holdings James Poer Kestra Investment Management Kara Murphy CBS Brokerage Bluespring Wealth Partners LPL Financial Connect with our hosts LifeYield Jack Sharry on LinkedIn Jack Sharry on Twitter Subscribe and stay in touch Apple Podcasts Spotify LinkedIn Twitter Facebook

The Digital Advantage: Enhancing Client Engagement and Advisor Independence with Ritik Malhotra

This week, Jack Sharry talks with Ritik Malhotra, Founder & CEO of Savvy Wealth, a digital-first platform for financial advisors centered around modernizing human financial advice. Ritik shares how his frustration with outdated advisor technology pushed him to design an AI-powered platform that helps financial advisors grow, operate efficiently, and deliver better client experiences. He highlights how focusing on the advisor first, integrating AI into workflows, and reimagining client engagement can unlock scale and independence in wealth management. In this episode: (00:00) - Intro (01:42) - Ritik's background and how he started Savvy Wealth (04:43) - The business plan that launched Savvy in just three bullet points (06:42) - How Savvy  built and stress-tested the platform from the ground up (11:34) - The $72 million Series B and what it means for Savvy (13:43) - A look under the hood at how Savvy’s digital-first platform works (16:18) - What’s next for Savvy (19:58) - Ritik's key takeaways (20:29) - Ritik's interests outside of work Quotes "The worst that you can do is try to build something for everyone. It just won't work." ~ Ritik Malhotra  "Listen to the feedback from the core user. Let's literally listen to customers and then build what they need." ~ Ritik Malhotra "There's something really satisfying about enabling independence in any industry—especially one as important as wealth management. There's something nice about helping someone beat the rat race." ~ Ritik Malhotra Links  Ritik Malhotra on LinkedIn Savvy Wealth Box Mark Casady Vestigo Ventures LPL Financial Connect with our hosts LifeYield Jack Sharry on LinkedIn Jack Sharry on Twitter Subscribe and stay in touch Apple Podcasts Spotify LinkedIn Twitter Facebook

Turning Conversations into Compliance-Ready Records with Parker Ence

This week, Jack Sharry talks with Parker Ence, CEO & Co-founder of Jump Advisor AI, a fast-growing startup that brings an AI-enhanced client meeting cycle to financial advisors. Parker is an entrepreneur and operator with 12 years of CEO/Co-founder experience across advisortech, data/DaaS, AI, SaaS, and insurtech.  Jack and Parker discuss how Jump helps RIAs and broker-dealers slash client meeting admin time by up to 90%. From real-time meeting prep and automated CRM updates to actionable insights and compliance-ready workflows, Parker shares how Jump revolutionizes the client meeting cycle for financial advisors. He also explores the company's rapid growth, significant enterprise partnerships, and his vision for the future of AI in financial services. In this episode: (00:00) - Intro (01:39) - The origin of Jump Advisor AI (03:30) - Jump's most popular product and what it does (05:01) - Jump's enterprise-level partnerships (06:18) - Parker's startup journey (11:29) - Jump's three core products (13:35) - Parker's outlook on AI in financial services (15:29) - Parker's key takeaways (17:34) - Parker's interests outside of work Quotes "What we're best known for is our AI meeting assistant that's made for advisors. And whatever the compliance team has approved, that's the most popular." ~ Parker Ence "Don't worry so much about getting replaced by AI. Worry about getting outcompeted by other advisors who are adopting AI faster." ~ Parker Ence "Everything that is inside the Jump product is there because an advisor requested it. So, we love partnering with RIAs, broker-dealers, solo advisors, and any of our customers to co-create the future." ~ Parker Ence Links  Parker Ence on LinkedIn Jump AI Cetera Osaic LPL Financial Tim Chaves Stanford Graduate School of Business Google Cloud Salesforce Connect with our hosts LifeYield Jack Sharry on LinkedIn Jack Sharry on Twitter Subscribe and stay in touch Apple Podcasts Spotify LinkedIn Twitter Facebook