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North America accounted for more than 50 percent of all new financial wealth in 2023, propelled by the stock market recovery according to BCG’s Global Wealth Report 2024. The main driver was the S&P 500’s rise, led by the Magnificent Seven tech giants.
The report states, “The US is also the fastest-growing booking center for Western wealth and continues to be an attractive destination for global wealth. Cross-border wealth inflows increased by 5.6 percent in 2023 and, by our estimates, should grow by about 6.9 percent a year through 2028.”
This has presented an opportunity for the top financial professionals in the US to shine by utilizing their skills and delivering for clients. Those who have stood out from the crowd make up InvestmentNews’ Hot List 2024.
Lynn Chen-Zhang, CEO of Zhang Financial, pinpoints the major challenges of the past 12 months for financial professionals in the US:
Market volatility and uncertainty: geopolitical tensions and macroeconomic uncertainty impact the management of client expectations
Fee compression: the rise of robo-advisors and low-cost ETFs means clients are more cost-conscious
Regulatory changes: laws and compliance requirements create hurdles
Chen-Zhang says, “Leading firms emphasize value-added services beyond investment management, such as comprehensive financial planning, and successful advisors need to be proactive, stay informed, and ensure their practices align with the latest regulations.”
Dealing with the continued consolidation within the industry due to mergers and acquisitions is another challenge, as private equity buys up smaller wealth management firms, says Impel Wealth Management founder Jesse Hurst.
He also emphasizes how the leading finance professionals embrace progress. “I’m no technology expert, but I have been able to adopt generative AI into portfolio construction and AI summation of meetings. We’re just under $400 million of assets and serve our clients with a team of five. It would have taken double that amount 12 to 15 years ago to do the things we’re doing now and doing them so much more productively and efficiently.”
Chasing the future is one way the best finance professionals stand out, as they not only move their firms forward but make the US a global hotbed for wealth creation.
“I’m 59 and have been doing this for 37 years right out of college. I’m probably the poster child for what this average industry looks like – late 50s, white male moving toward retirement,” explains Hurst. “We’re an aging industry; we’ve got to continue to build toward that next generation and make sure the financial resources and the technology stack continue to grow.”
Leading the charge into the future is Hot List winner Craig Gould. Back in March, he oversaw a merger between Wentworth Management Services and Kingswood Acquisition Corp., and the launch of Binah Capital Group (where he is CEO) on the NASDAQ.
“It was a year and a half in the making, and to get that behind us was certainly a good feeling. We had a lot of skeptics asking why we would go public when there’s so much private equity available. That’s one of the reasons why we’ve gone public; we were looking to create long-term shareholder value.”
Binah Capital Group oversees:
over 550 RIAs
$25 to $30 billion of AUM, with around $300 billion of affiliated AUM
1,900 financial professionals
“We’ve spent a lot of time and energy building out our network, and it was important for us over the last year to look at what was going on, and we sit very well in the market now,” says Gould.
Binah Capital’s best-in-class broker-dealer platform provides advisors with the tools to reach new levels.
“We’ve created a platform within the wealth management space where we have the scale, which is important. We also want to be the leader in knowing how to end up partnering with RIAs, because there’s where the growth is,” adds Gould.
Also at the industry’s leading edge is fellow Hot List winner Thomas Ruggie. As founder and CEO of Destiny Wealth Partners, with $1.2 billion in AUM, he foresaw fee compression.
“We were very early on the adoption of fee-based advisory practice, because I always felt if you didn’t have commissions driving recommendations, it gave you an unbiased approach. Fast forward to today – that led us to the transition to be an RIA, well ahead of the curve,” he says.
His recognition of clients’ growing focus on personal relationships has also helped him make a mark.
“You have got to get the big things right, but our philosophy is that the real difference comes in getting the little things right,” says Ruggie. “I want to be first call if they have a question, concern, problem; whether it’s an issue with their kids, a PR issue, or hiring somebody. I want to be that sounding board.”
Another Hot List winner who has achieved great success with her people-first approach is Liz Miller. The founder and president of Summit Place Financial Advisors spotted the trend of clients preferring in-person interaction.
“After 15 years in front of a computer as a portfolio investor, I decided I wanted to be working more with individuals and helping people with their planning and taking a more holistic approach to wealth.”
She adds, “It's been an exciting journey. The idea of advisors including all parts of someone’s wealth and balance sheet into an investment plan is almost ubiquitous.”
Miller ensures that each advisor at Summit serves 15–20 families. “We want to build trust and commitment in our relationship with clients and marry it with our expertise, providing competent and ethical financial planning.”
A key pillar of Wealthspire Advisors’ success has been about leveraging connections. Its high-flying CEO and Hot List winner Mike LaMena has helped grow the organization to over $28 billion in AUM with 24 offices nationwide and more than 370 employees.
“Despite our growth, we haven’t lost sight of who we are,” he says. “It’s about individual advisor teams building great relationships with clients and then leveraging all that scale that we’ve been able to create to do more for clients.”
Wealthspire has been at the forefront of embracing game-changing technologies that enhance its clients’ plans.
“We value all the strategic relationships we’ve built with technology providers that augment what we’re able to do,” explains LaMena. “Interestingly, there’s a lot of visibility relative to AI and how things are going to continue to be automated. We use technology at every chance we can to automate issues that are commoditized to free up more advisor time to go super deep with the client. It sounds contradictory, but I think the future is more tech-enabled but also more human.”
High growth is a calling card across IN’s Hot List, illustrated by Jeffrey DeHaan of Clearwater Capital Partners. He has achieved over 13 percent growth in organic net new asset flow over the past 12 months, primarily with a select group of successful business owners and professionals.
As the managing partner of its wealth management office, chief compliance officer and a director on the board, he must make sacrifices.
“I don’t have the time to go out and purposefully market myself, but it’s a testament to my clients that have helped me get here,” he says.
Using the firm’s CRM program, DeHaan launched a phone campaign to enhance client security and verification processes. It involved collecting secure passphrases from clients to facilitate verbal verification during client requests.
Allied with that, leveraging technology is integral to Clearwater.
“It’s evolved dramatically over the past four years, as we now have access to easy answers, whereas it used to take a lot of calculator and Excel work,” says DeHaan. “We have tools that make it a much lighter lift for us, and as it keeps advancing, we’re going to be so much more productive and will be able to serve our clients in ways that are just not possible even today.”
In August 2024, InvestmentNews invited wealth professionals from across the country to nominate their most exceptional leaders for the second annual Hot List. After receiving hundreds of nominations, InvestmentNews narrowed the list down to 97 movers and shakers whose contributions have helped shape the wealth industry over the past 12 months. From innovators at the forefront of change to leaders who are transforming the way the industry does business, this year’s Hot List represents the best the industry has to offer.
