The first half of another rapidly evolving year for wealth management has come and gone in what seemed like a flash.
With the third quarter underway, we bring you a fast trip down memory lane, recapping the top 10 stories of the last two quarters, presented chronologically below.
As with previous top article roundups for the first half of the year, to select the top articles of the first six months of 2024, we factored in the timeliness of stories, the reputation of firms and professionals featured in the stories, audience engagement and the strength of insight and analysis.
1. Wirehouse Liberation: The Economics Of Independence For Advisors
As many advisors continued to break away from wirehouses, in January, we featured an editorial by Ed Friedman, Director of Business Development and Growth at Summit Financial, exploring Wirehouse Liberation: The Economics Of Independence For Advisors.
Friedman, whose firm serves independent and breakaway advisors, explained that breaking away can result in higher take-home earnings and better tax treatment for advisors, as well as advantages for their clients.
For example, clients of independent advisors can usually rest assured that recommendations and investments offered are not being influenced by corporate quotas or the need to push in-house products. Clients are instead receiving counsel that is entirely tailored to their individual financial goals and circumstances – and the advisor is unconflicted.
2. Key Trends Influencing Advisor Marketing In 2024 And Beyond
With a huge wealth transfer on the horizon in which Generation Xers, millennials and other heirs are expected to inherit $72.6 trillion in assets by 2045, according to Cerulli Associates, advisors need to implement an effective, creative marketing strategy that resonates across broad demographics.
In the article Key Trends Influencing Advisor Marketing In 2024 And Beyond, Kelly Coulter, Head of Marketing at independent wealth management firm Private Advisor Group, said, to accomplish that, there are three key marketing trends for advisors to prioritize this year.
Those major marketing trends are the transformative potential of artificial intelligence (AI), the need to balance personal connections with targeted messaging, and the beneficial role that outsourced marketing can provide, she said.
Coulter also provided some tips for sustained success, noting that diversification is essential to a marketing plan. Also, while staying abreast of current trends is crucial, it’s equally important not to overlook the effectiveness of traditional tactics and revisited strategies, she said.
3. Guide To Industry Conferences: Wealthtech
In January, we also published our first Guide To Industry Conferences for the year, covering the major wealthtech conferences of 2024: Orion Ascent, the T3 Technology Conference, Informa Connect’s WealthStack, Advisor Circle and Ritholtz Wealth Management’s Future Proof and the Nitrogen Fearless Investing Summit (formerly known as the Riskalyze Fearless Investing Summit before the firm’s rebranding).
The conference theme at this year’s T3 Technology Conference was “the past, present and future of the financial services industry, and how emerging technologies and AI/ML will change the landscape,” said Joel Bruckenstein, President of Technology Tools for Today (T3) and the event’s producer.
We continued to cover other major conferences throughout the first half for Insurance in February; Compliance, Governance and Regulatory in April; Custodians in May and M&A in June. Watch for the Asset Management installment in the second half.
4. WSR Announces Second Annual Wealth Exemplar Awards
Closing out January, for the second year, WSR was proud to present a series of invitation-only awards celebrating excellence in the wealth management industry – the WSR Wealth Exemplar Awards.
The awards call out the most outstanding firms in the industry in a wide range of categories (e.g., Family Office of the Year, Wealthtech Firm of the Year, Hybrid RIA of the Year and Fee-Based RIA of the Year), along with the most impactful and trend-setting M&A transactions and two leading executives with stellar reputations and achievements.
Natalie Wolfsen, CEO of Orion Advisor Solutions, was named Person of the Year, while Adam Malamed, CEO of Sanctuary Wealth, was named CEO of the Year.
The Wealth Exemplar Awards celebrate the best our industry has to offer as a foundation for a bright future and optimistic outlook for wealth management at all levels, from individual advisory practices to the largest enterprises and M&A deals.
5. Deals & Recruiting Roundup: LPL, Commonwealth, Osaic And More
This edition of our Deals & Recruiting Roundup covered a few especially significant deals and achievements, among them LPL agreeing to acquire $100 billion Atria Wealth Solutions, Pathstone agreeing to acquire $3 billion Crestone Capital, and Commonwealth recruiting nearly $16 billion last year.
At the time, Atria supported about 2,400 advisors and 150 banks and credit unions that, combined, managed approximately $100 billion of brokerage and advisory assets. LPL served over 22,000 financial advisors, including advisors at about 1,100 enterprises and at approximately 570 registered investment advisor firms nationwide.
Many of the monthly Deals & Recruiting Roundups received a high number of views, as did our monthly Wealthtech Roundups and Investments Roundups. In addition to publication on our website, we also email these roundups to readers who have signed up for our weekly newsletter, Letters From Larry, available at no cost on our website homepage.
6. Binah CEO On Taking The Wentworth BDs Public
In March, after Wentworth Management Services and Kingswood Acquisition Corp. announced the successful completion of their merger and the subsequent launch of publicly traded Binah Capital Group, we caught up with Craig Gould, Wentworth’s President, who is serving as Binah’s new CEO.
Gould discussed the deal, why he thought going public was the right move for Wentworth, and what the future holds for Binah Capital in a quickly evolving and consolidating wealth management industry.
“Private equity dollars dominate this industry and, frankly, can impede complex deal-making,” Gould explained. “We believe operating as a public company gives us a significant advantage over private equity-backed firms, as potential partners will fully understand our capital structure and financial stability.”
Also, access to public markets will allow Binah to compete for deals other firms its size couldn’t consider, he added.
7. WSR Pathfinder Awards – Top Women Industry Leaders Of 2024
Also in March, we announced our second set of winners in the WSR Pathfinder Awards series for the year – the Top Women Industry Leaders of 2024 – in honor of Women’s History Month.
The group of winners followed February’s Top Black Industry Leaders of 2024. Later, in May, we announced our WSR Pathfinder Awards – Top AAPI Industry Leaders of 2024.
Now in its third year, the Pathfinder Awards recognize excellence in executives from underrepresented background and communities and organizations that empower those communities.
The awards also provide a focal point for the industry to discuss DEI and other issues. To catalyze those conversations, we provide certain winners with a platform to address the industry, which we have done in concurrently published interviews.
Pathfinder winners are selected based on their ability to serve as role models, their influence and reputation within the industry, their accomplishments and track record, as well as their dedication to the industry.
8. Top 2024 Wealthtech Trends Include Growing Presence Of AI
Closing out March, we reported on the Top 2024 Wealthtech Trends, which was led by the growing presence of AI in new platforms, products and services for advisors and their clients. There was a clear sign that AI had started to take off in the financial services industry after the introduction of ChatGPT chatbots in late 2022 and generative AI in 2023.
“Two continuing megatrends” in 2024 are “clients expect personalization, and advisors require scalability,” according to Martin Tarlie, Nebo Product Lead and a member of GMO’s asset allocation team.
Also, 70% of wealth management firms improved their data governance in 2023, according to F2 Strategy. That was a significant increase from the 50% of firms that indicated this would be a priority heading into 2023, F2 said.
Trends in the space that Kelly Waltrich, Co-Founder and CEO of marcoms firm Intention.ly, pointed to included demand for a solution to the problem of integration.
“I think it’s become apparent that the SSO most tech firms call integration is no longer cutting it for RIAs that want a seamless passing of data to all of their systems,” she said.
Another trend, according to Waltrich, is wealthtech firms “really focusing on their onboarding experiences.”
9. iCapital To Acquire Wealthtech Firm Mirador
In April, iCapital announced it was acquiring wealthtech firm Mirador, a provider of investment data aggregation and financial reporting of alternative and traditional investments.
Mirador also has a technology consulting team that offers custom wealth technology solutions.
The acquisition was expected to help iCapital expand its data management and reporting capabilities to create an “enhanced technology experience for clients” in the wealth management, family office, endowment and foundation segments of the financial services market, the firms said.
“Mirador has set the industry standard for managing data with leading third-party performance reporting providers,” Lawrence Calcano, Chairman and CEO of iCapital, said at the time.
10. WSR Honors Inaugural FAR 10 – Top Financial Advisor Recruiters
Rounding out the top 10 stories, in June, we ran our inaugural edition of the FAR 10 – Top Financial Advisor Recruiters. The winners included both in-house and third party financial advisor recruiters, and was an expansion and reimagining of WSR’s first published recognition list from January 2023, the Top 5 FA Recruiting Firms.
Since that first list, WSR has published recognition lists that highlight industry excellence in firms and individuals from specific niches, spaces and professional backgrounds in the wealth management industry. In the first half of 2024, WSR has honored top industry CMOs, CFOs, CIOs and Next Gen leaders. Look for more recognition lists in the second half.
Jeff Berman, Contributing Editor & Reporter at Wealth Solutions Report, can be reached at jberman@wealthsolutionsreport.com.
