WealthTech on Deck

Wealth as a Service: The Future of Wealth Management with Justin Singer

In this episode, Jack Sharry talks with Justin Singer, Partner at EY. Justin provides strategy and management consulting services to many top wealth management, asset management, insurance, and retirement firms to drive growth and retention, improve their offerings, and achieve stronger operating margins through strategic and tactical projects. Jack and Justin discuss why WaaS (Wealth as a Service) is the future of financial services. Justin explores how financial institutions can use this integrated, cost-effective, scalable solution to drive efficiency and growth. He also dives into the key drivers behind this shift, the players involved, the exciting opportunities it presents, and the broader industry implications. In this episode: (00:00) - Intro (02:23) - Wealth as a Service defined (05:23) - Service providers in the wealth management space (08:56) - The expected consolidation of broker-dealers and RIAs (11:14) - Challenges for firms in operating wealth management businesses (16:20) - How WaaS improves client outcomes and advisor efficiency (18:51) - The industry's reaction to EY's Wealth as a Service research (21:59) - Justin's key takeaways (23:52) - Justin's interests outside of work Quotes "Wealth as a Service (WaaS) is an integrated, cost-effective, and scalable solution for financial institutions to deliver wealth management in a more turnkey way." ~ Justin Singer "The assets we've built are really positioning financial institutions to be able to drive toward the outcomes that many of them are looking to achieve, which are growth, improved operating efficiency, and scale." ~ Justin Singer "If we end up in a world where there's less broker-dealers, less RIAs, less trust companies, and a few providers that are supporting those entities that are left, I truly believe it's going to drive down costs and allow many firms to be able to go more down market to the mass affluent segment with a more scalable offering." ~ Justin Singer Links  Justin Singer on LinkedIn EY Connect with our hosts LifeYield Jack Sharry on LinkedIn Jack Sharry on Twitter Subscribe and stay in touch Apple Podcasts Spotify LinkedIn Twitter Facebook

Alternative Investments: Trends, Challenges, and Opportunities with Neil Bathon

Alternative investments are surging in popularity, but how do distributors, asset managers, and advisors adapt? While the appetite for alternatives continues to rise, education remains one of the biggest hurdles to widespread adoption. Managing alternatives requires more than just a basic understanding. It demands deep, specialized expertise. Despite significant investments in training and educational initiatives, the need for deeper expertise remains critical. In this episode, Jack Sharry talks with Neil Bathon, Managing Partner at FUSE Research Network, about the latest trends in alternative investments. Neil shares insights from FUSE's recent study on alternative distribution, diving into key findings on education gaps, sales strategies, and the importance of partnerships in alts adoption. In this episode: (00:00) - Intro (01:47) - About FUSE Research Network (04:54) - FUSE's alts distribution research findings (06:09) - The importance of education in alts adoption (07:38) - Neil's advice for firms entering the alts market (09:04) - Why partnerships are critical (11:33) - How alts can be incorporated into asset allocation (12:58) - Managing client expectations (16:48) - Neil's recommendations for investing in alts (19:18) - How alternative assets benefit distributors, advisors, and asset managers (20:00) - Neil's key takeaways (21:13) - Neil's interests outside of work Quotes "Distributors are making clear that despite many educational initiatives for years, some of these traditional firms have big institutes or universities specifically to help bring advisors along, but there's still an enormous need for additional education." ~ Neil Bathon "Some of these alternatives can get very complicated. You need to make a significant investment in educating your sales team and your marketing team. You really have to back them up with specialists who can go this third, fourth, or fifth level deep." ~ Neil Bathon "Partnership of some form is the way to go for most firms if they're not already firmly in the alternative business." ~ Neil Bathon Links  Neil Bathon on LinkedIn FUSE Research Network Apollo Global Management KKR Ares Management Blackstone Franklin Templeton Connect with our hosts LifeYield Jack Sharry on LinkedIn Jack Sharry on Twitter Subscribe and stay in touch Apple Podcasts Spotify LinkedIn Twitter Facebook

AI-Powered Meeting Management for Financial Advisors with Arnulf Hsu

In this episode, Jack Sharry talks with Arnulf Hsu, CEO of GReminders. Arnulf is a serial entrepreneur and has been leading and running B2B enterprise software companies for the last 20+ years as CEO, CTO, Product Leader, and Board Member. He has a strong background in technology and business development, focusing on building successful ventures and growing companies from the ground up. Jack and Arnulf talk about why GReminders is one of the leading scheduling and meeting management platforms for professionals. They discuss how GReminders integrates with existing CRM systems to manage everything from scheduling and reminders to AI-generated meeting summaries and follow-ups. Jack and Arnulf also share the importance of deeply understanding customer needs and how AI can enhance personalization and efficiency in client relationships. In this episode: (00:00) - Intro (00:59) - What GReminders is and how it works (04:57) - The origin story of GReminders (05:59) - Why Arnulf chose to focus on wealth management (09:25) - Feedback from advisors and clients (12:49) - How GReminders compares to Arnulf’s past ventures (15:06) - Learning through listening (17:57) - How AI empowers GReminders (19:56) - What's next for GReminders (21:50) - Arnulf's key takeaways (23:34) - Arnulf's interests outside of work Quotes "In this area (wealth management), there were scheduling products that were installed in our customers that, to some degree, they were using, but they weren't very good." ~ Arnulf Hsu "If you have a bunch of data islands everywhere, it's not going to do anybody any good. If you ever want to use AI and analytics on top of this stuff, you better have systems that talk to each other, and data must flow between them." ~ Arnulf Hsu  "Wealth managers aren't IT experts. And so, we believed pretty strongly in a smaller technology stack that has fewer moving parts. It's inherently a better system because you have less complexity." ~ Arnulf Hsu Links  Arnulf Hsu on LinkedIn GReminders Redtail Technology Wealthbox Salesforce Smarsh PreciseFP Zapier Connect with our hosts LifeYield Jack Sharry on LinkedIn Jack Sharry on Twitter Subscribe and stay in touch Apple Podcasts Spotify LinkedIn Twitter Facebook

Building a Full-Service Wealth Management Platform with Mike Capelle

In this episode, Jack Sharry talks with Mike Capelle, Co-founder & Co-CEO of Modern Wealth Management. From his decades-long career in wealth management, Mike has experience building advisor-client platforms that drive continuous growth. He was part of the team that co-founded, scaled, and sold United Capital, a $25 billion RIA with 90 locations, to Goldman Sachs for $750 million.Jack and Mike discuss how Modern Wealth Management provides a full-service wealth management platform, including tax planning, estate planning, and insurance. They address the challenges and opportunities of integrating legacy systems and the importance of creating a replicable model for national expansion.In this episode: (00:00) - Intro (01:06) - How Modern Wealth Management reshaped financial planning (06:02) - How to serve clients (10:10) - The challenges and opportunities in acquisitions (16:17) - The future of the wealth management industry (18:56) - Mike's key takeaways (22:00) - Mike's interests outside of work Quotes"We saw the need in the market and the opportunity because we felt there was a shift from going to investment to planning, where there was much more alignment between the advisors and the client." ~ Mike Capelle"It's a great opportunity to really impact people's lives. They don't have all the resources to do everything they want. You have to help them understand what they want their future to look like, what things are important, and what trade-offs make sense to them." ~ Mike Capelle"We certainly recognize the opportunity with the industry, and not only do you have an underserved market of people across the country who are developing wealth, but needing help in how they manage it and how they use it as the engine to get to the outcome they want to." ~ Mike CapelleLinks  Mike Capelle on LinkedIn Joe Duran United Capital Modern Wealth Management Salesforce eMoney Advisor Doug Fritz Randy Lambert Connect with our hosts LifeYield Jack Sharry on LinkedIn Jack Sharry on Twitter Subscribe and stay in touch Apple Podcasts Spotify LinkedIn Twitter Facebook

Strategies for Sustainable Business Growth with Randy Lambert

In this episode, Jack Sharry talks with Randy Lambert, EVP and Head of RIA Solutions at Intention.ly. Randy shares how his experience scaling Orion informs his work helping FinTech and RIA firms streamline operations, align marketing, and enhance client engagement. He highlights the importance of eliminating silos, implementing intelligent automation, and transforming operations from a cost center to a strategic growth engine.In this episode: (00:00) - Intro (01:39) - Randy’s journey at Orion  (07:10) - The transition to Intention.ly (11:54) - Integrating marketing, sales, and operations (14:41) - Growing and scaling RIAs (18:43) - Bridging the gap between the marketing and operations (19:57) - Building a customer success model (22:40) - Randy's final thoughts (24:02) - Randy's interests outside of work Quotes"One of the weakest links in the technology chain is the advisor using the technology." ~ Randy Lambert"The better that an advisory team is able to systematize its operations, the better chance they have of being successful in scaling up." ~ Randy Lambert"When a firm's data is clean, structured, and fully integrated, technology stops being a barrier. It starts to become an enabler." ~ Randy LambertLinks  Randy Lambert on LinkedIn Intention.ly Orion Advisor Solutions Eric Clarke Kelly Waltrich Tina Powell Joe Steuter Doug Fritz Connect with our hosts LifeYield Jack Sharry on LinkedIn Jack Sharry on Twitter Subscribe and stay in touch Apple Podcasts Spotify LinkedIn Twitter Facebook