Source: Financial-Planning
Throughout 2022, the wealth management industry has given us plenty to talk about. And on the Financial Planning Podcast, those conversations are captured while giving listeners a closer look at the people powering the industry.
ComplySci CEO Amy Kadomatsu
Kadomatsu, the CEO of New York-based compliance software firm ComplySci, joined the podcast fresh off being honored by WatersTechnology for her work in the DEI space and following the completion of a three-part ComplySci series for industry chief compliance officers focused on compliance technology integration for long-term success.
In this edition, she talks about her way into financial services and overcoming the idea that she — the daughter of a hair stylist and an architectural draftsman — shouldn’t be in this industry at all. For Kadomatsu, the path to success began with the support of passionate leaders and understanding that there was no right or wrong way to win.
She now works to make sure those in her organization have the same support, and on opening the doors of financial services to the next generation of leaders who “aren’t supposed to be here.”
During the podcast, Kadomatsu talks about the importance of bringing your authentic self with you to work, the pressures CCOs are facing in this fast-moving environment, and the strength that comes with shedding your armor.
Santa Clara University Professor Meir Statman
Statman, the Glenn Klimek Professor of Finance at Santa Clara University in Santa Clara, California, is a leading voice in the burgeoning world of behavioral finance. His formal introduction to the field came in the early 1980s when he discovered the work of the renowned Israeli psychologists Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky.
But Statman’s passion for understanding why people think and behave the way they do really started when he was just a child. Today, he dedicates his time to figuring out what investors want and how advisors can help them get it.
The key, he said, is happiness. But understanding what makes people happy requires a dismantling of the walls that have long stood between client and advisor.
During the podcast, Statman talks about the common mistakes advisors make when talking to clients, what the next evolution of behavioral finance will look like and why rational investors can still make some really stupid decisions.
Read and listen: Behavioral finance pioneer Meir Statman on why rational clients can still be stupid
Kayne Anderson Rudnick Managing Director Spuds Powell
Powell, managing director at Kayne Anderson Rudnick, is a top-ranked advisor with nearly 30 years of experience in the investment management industry, guiding clients through multiple stages of their financial lives and helping them hit their long-term goals along the way.
Powell’s career has included stints at Financial Engines as the national mid-plan sales manager, working as a retirement plan consultant for Retirement Plan Strategies and a variety of roles at Franklin Templeton during his early years in the industry.
At Kayne Anderson Rudnick flag, he leads a team with a “defense wins championships” game plan that may take some cues from his time as a college football player for Cornell University. Part planner and part zen master, Powell believes in helping clients make safe choices and helping them manage their emotions during difficult times.
During the podcast, Powell talks about how difficult the markets were in 2022, his fascination with financial psychology and how he manages to stay so cool under pressure.
Read and listen: Why a strong defense is the best offense with Spuds Powell
Williams Group CEO Amy Castoro
Castoro, CEO of the San Clemente, California-based firm The Williams Group, is a coach for high net worth families and their financial advisors. She joined the firm about a decade ago after earlier tenures with firms including The Walt Disney Company and Grant Thornton Management Consulting.
High net worth clients represent a coveted base requiring more resources than most practices can offer. Ultrawealthy families can take their pick among an array of family offices and giant firms that have teams of experts in areas like estate planning and taxes. Wealth transfers carry complicated emotional factors as well.
During the podcast, Castoro answers questions about generational planning among high net worth and ultrahigh net worth clients, including the consequences when ultrahigh net worth families don’t successfully transfer their wealth to the next generation. Also canvassed: How realistic is the popular HBO show “Succession?”
Read and listen: 5 questions on ‘Succession’ and planning for a high net worth coach
Founder of Van Leeuwen & Co. Ken Van Leeuwen
Van Leeuwen, who founded Van Leeuwen & Co. in 1997, serves as the firm’s managing director, making him responsible for the overall strategic direction of the company. And from day one, the 40-year industry veteran has been all about financial planning for the overlooked and underappreciated.
His firm’s clients include families with special needs and young corporate executives, two groups he feels are often overlooked in terms of getting sound financial guidance.
Assisting families caring for loved ones with special needs is close to his heart. Less than two years removed from founding his company, Van Leeuwen learned that his 2-year-old son was autistic. As a result, the longtime planner dedicated himself to helping others navigate the complex financial and emotional situations such a diagnosis can create.
During the podcast, Van Leeuwen talks about pulling from his personal experiences to help ease the uncertainties faced by families dealing with special needs, the uptick in awareness around investing in order to do good in the community, and advice for new advisors who also want to combine personal passions with their work.
Read and listen: Financial planning for the underappreciated with Ken Van Leeuwen
CFP Board CEO Kevin Keller
Keller, CEO of the CFP Board, the certification organization overseeing the most prominent designation in planning, stopped by the show to explain the organization’s continuing efforts to reform its enforcement programs.
Since Keller took over the role in 2007, the number of CFP certificants has grown by more than 50% to more than 92,000 certified financial planners. Enforcement has emerged as a key area of change during his tenure, with the organization overhauling its governance and supervision of planners across wealth management. Critics, however, accuse the organization of falling short when it comes to upholding the high standards of the industry’s most prominent planning designation.
During the podcast, Keller answers five questions about the latest steps that the CFP Board has taken to alter its enforcement procedures, including enhancing the enforcement role outlined in its article of incorporation.
Read and listen: 5 questions for CFP Board CEO Kevin Keller about enforcement
YieldX CEO Adam Green
Green, co-founder and CEO at YieldX, launched the tech-powered platform designed to democratize fixed income investing 2019. But YieldX isn’t his first entrepreneurial endeavor.
That honor goes to his involvement as one of the key minds that took Insomnia Cookies from a friend’s dorm room at the University of Pennsylvania to a national brand while Green was still a student at Syracuse University. As the CEO of YieldX, which recently joined the Schwab Advisor Center Technology Integration marketplace, he leads a team that wants to simplify the complexities of fixed income investing for advisors by blending human know-how with powerful AI.
During the podcast, Green explains why the dated approach to fixed income investing won’t make it in the modern world, discusses fixed income trends he sees on the horizon and offers some advice to budding entrepreneurs working in wealth management.
Read and listen: Reimagining fixed income investing with YieldX CEO Adam Green
Lumiant U.S. CEO Blake Wood
Wood, U.S. CEO for Australian-based fintech Lumiant, is a financial services exec who joined the startup in May. Prior to becoming the person leading Lumiant’s stateside expansion, Wood spent 17 years at Envestnet where he most recently served as senior vice president of corporate strategy.
Now serving nearly 4,000 families globally via its cloud-based software, Lumiant wants to help advisors more easily marry a client’s life goals and their financial goals. But Lumiant also promotes itself as a platform that prioritizes a client’s entire family and provides tools with the goal of engaging family members beyond just an advisor’s primary financial point of contact. That means people like spouses, children and caregivers can be part of the conversation. Lumiant leaders say this approach can help advisors boost referrals and retention while forging stronger bonds with the people they advise.
During the podcast, Wood talked about how his new fintech gig blends his passion for helping advisors with his dedication to caring for his family.
Read and listen: Why taking your work personally is powerful, with Lumiant U.S. CEO Blake Wood
MyVest CEO Anton Honikman
Honikman, CEO of the San Francisco-based customized investment software-maker MyVest, is a 20-year industry veteran with a career that has always focused on the intersection of investments and technology.
Before becoming leader of MyVest, he was president of startup money manager Ada Investments. Honikman also helped establish the Strategic Ventures Group for Barclays Global Investors, now BlackRock, and led the team at Barra, now MSCI, that created BarraOne.
At MyVest, he develops enterprise wealth management technology for the digital age. A subsidiary of TIAA since 2016, MyVest works with large RIAs, broker-dealers, banks, service providers and others to deliver solutions.
During the podcast, Honikman talks about where direct indexing fits into the overall investment product set in the future, its ability to cannibalize ETFs, the potential conflict between asset and wealth managers, and how direct indexing needs to evolve to become truly accessible to more investors.
Read and listen: The evolution of direct indexing with Anton Honikman
Envestnet Group President Dana D’Auria
D’Auria, co-chief investment officer and group president for Envestnet Solutions, brings more than 15 years of experience managing and implementing investment solutions for wealth managers to the episode.
At Envestnet, she is responsible for wealth and asset management solutions across Envestnet’s ecosystem, including its research, overlay, direct indexing, sustainable investing and retirement services.
D’Auria joined the podcast just two months removed from her appointment as the head of one of Envestnet’s three streamlined business lines. It’s one of many executive-level adjustments made at the top of the organization in 2022.
During the podcast, D’Auria discusses the top issues advisors are facing today, how tech is working to solve those problems, and provides insight on Envestnet’s recent leadership changes.
Read and listen: Envestnet’s Dana D’Auria on the top issues advisors are facing