Podcasts

The future of the wealth management firm with AdvicePeriod’s Jonathan Straub

  • AdvicePeriod attempts to be a different type of wealth management firm.
  • Co-founder Jonathan Straub joins us to talk about the hows and whys.
close

Email a Friend

The future of the wealth management firm with AdvicePeriod’s Jonathan Straub
With roboadvisors, exchange traded funds, and mobile banks in your pocket, what does the wealth management firm of the future look like? It feels like core parts of the investment process are being commoditized, if they haven't been already. So, where does a asset manager provide value? Jonathan Straub, co-founder of AdvicePeriod, an L.A.-based wealth management firms joins me to talk about the future of wealth management. He believes the current model of wealth management is outdated and so, AdvicePeriod is his effort at creating a wealth management firm that blends technology and advice, with a corporate culture that is deliberate. SubscribeiTunes I SoundCloud I Spotify The following excerpts were edited for clarity.

The old wealth advisory model

My partners and I have worked together for the better part of 15 years. We had success in the space -- we grew our prior firm to about $10 billion in AUM and ultimately sold it. What we were doing at the time seemed quite original: open architecture investing, consolidated performance reporting, and access to the best managers. Really, what we saw was access to information had commoditized much of the investing process. Take asset allocation, for example. Many of the model portfolios are readily available to consumers and advisors. We also found our competitors spent a lot of time tying to analyze and forecast financial markets. In our experience, we found that no one can tell you what the market will do today or in the future, yet firms continue to invest the resources in doing so.

Building something different

We thought there was an opportunity to change the discussion and focus on the things that truly matter, like actionable advice. Hence, that's the name of our firm, AdvicePeriod. We approached creating the firm from a blank sheet of paper. Meaning, if we didn't have any legacy people, processes, and clients, how would we go about building the wealth advisory firm of the future? What services would we provide? What would we charge? What would we change about the client experience? And ultimately, what kind of culture would we need to make this change in the industry sustainable?

The role of technology in investing

I think a lot of people in our industry saw robo-advisers as threats. We have embraced them as part of our solution. If you believe many parts of the investment process have become commoditized, we want to use our tools the best we can. We offer our clients access to many of the commodity solutions and commodity prices. From our perspective, it frees us our time to really focus on the value-add planning processes. We like to call ourselves bionic advisors. This is the idea that we can use technology to run our practice more efficiently and also to give our clients better experiences. And ultimately, we want to use technology to reach a wider audience. These are really the three ways we see technology helping us work with clients.

0 comments on “The future of the wealth management firm with AdvicePeriod’s Jonathan Straub”

Podcasts, The Customer Effect

How Gen Z likes to get paid with Amex, Wise, and DailyPay

  • Does Gen Z have different preferences and behaviors when it comes to getting paid?
  • In this episode of the podcast, we explore topics such as cross-border remittances, early wage access, and the evolving landscape of financial technology and services for Gen Z.
Zachary Miller | December 06, 2023
Podcasts

Tearsheet’s top 10 podcasts of 2023

  • What a year it's been -- from lingering COVID to bank failures to rising inflation and interest rates.
  • We track the year that was, through some of the top podcasts we published in 2023.
Zachary Miller | December 05, 2023
Podcasts

‘The Chief Data and Analytics Office is a team sport’: Vanguard’s Ryan Swann

  • Ryan Swann, Vanguard's Chief Data and Analytics Officer, champions the centralization of data analytics for business efficiency while highlighting the importance of diverse talent in innovation.
  • He envisions a convergence of offensive and defensive data strategies to enhance capabilities and reduce costs at Vanguard.
Zachary Miller | December 01, 2023
Podcasts

The state of bill pay with Solutions by Text’s Nick Babinsky

  • Consumers struggle with one-time payments, frequently forgetting to pay their bills on time.
  • Banks, billers, and payers can find success when simple texts are used as reminders and onboarding to payment flows.
Zachary Miller | November 29, 2023
Podcasts

‘If you can get Gen Z right, it’s going to build your bank for the future’: Citizens Bank’s Vice Chair, Brendan Coughlin

  • Regional banks like Citizens face a variety of challenges, from high interest rates to rising consumer expectations.
  • Brendan Coughlin, the bank's Vice Chair and head of consumer banking, joins us on the podcast to discuss how his firm is navigating the challenges and opportunities in this market.
Zachary Miller | November 21, 2023
More Articles