Carolyn McClanahan, founder of Life Planning Partners, co-founder of Whealthcare Planning“How are we going to deal with aging clients as they accumulate? When they're in early retirement and spending and then all of a sudden when they're hitting their 70s and 80s and they experience cognitive issues, health problems and other serious events that advisers are going to have to help their clients with — and they are not ready to do this.”
Craig Pfeiffer, CEO and
president, Money
Management Institute“Extraordinary fiscal revenue approaches, taxation, etc. by the new House of Representatives impacting perception of the capital markets by institutional investors and in turn retail investors … causing short-term volatility that quickly reminds investors of 2008.”
Corey Walther, senior vice president and head of
distribution relationship
management and business development, Allianz Life
Insurance Co. of North America“I think one of the areas that's maybe not getting as much attention as it should is the element of risk management. I believe as boomers move from accumulation to distribution, the topics and the elements of risk management strategies will become much more on the forefront of financial planning.”
Mark Casady, co-founder, Vestigo Ventures“I don't think we can underestimate things like stem cell research that's occurring and other forces in health care that may exponentially change life spans for people. So to really alter the way we think about how much money does one need in retirement, you've got to watch the health-care space.”
Ron Carson, CEO and founder, Carson Group“Machine learning is here, it's real. Imagine a financial adviser being able to look at every single potential outcome and situation a client has 365 days a year, 24 hours a day, and generate alpha actions, maybe none or maybe half a dozen. AI is going to change the way we add value and the way we interact with our clients in the future.”
Tricia Rothschild, chief
product officer, Morningstar“I think it's a simple message of communication between the adviser and the investor. Using visualizations and iconography or tools to convey complex portfolio context constructs or helps people figure out how they're going to reach their goal or how likely they are to reach their goal.”
Ross Znavor, managing director of digital wealth, BlackRock“I think the disruptive force right now is a connected ecosystem, from identifying the goal to coming up with the investment solution to then executing the goal and having the ongoing balancing. The problem we see right now is all those things are fragmented or separate.”
Tim Munsie, senior vice
president of advisory initiatives and integrations, Jackson National Life Distributors“As baby boomers start to rely on this nest egg to get them through retirement, decumulation is going to become more and more important, and it will be a shift. I think the folks that have planned for decumulation are certainly going to win their shares of the business in the future.”
Jack Sharry, executive vice president and chief marketing officer, LifeYield“The disrupter is household level management where risk and tax become critical. As we go forward, it will be about household level management that is both risk-smart and tax-smart.”
Eli George, senior director of solutions management for global data, partnerships and U.S. advisory, SS&C Advent“The invasion of asset management and product companies into adviser technology. While many firms will build or buy their own technology initially, they eventually will follow custodians' lead to integrate their technology products/services with the most popular advisory technology tools that RIA firms are using today.”
Steve Gresham, principal, The Gresham Co.“It's demography, it's aging. It's the exact same trap that almost every industry has fallen into when they don't think about the importance and the size of the baby-boomer generation.”
Edmond Walters, CEO, Apprise Labs“The distraction of machine learning. I believe it can be an enormous help to the client, and to the adviser to serve clients better so they make better decisions. But at the end of the day, it's not going to replace the adviser.”
From outstanding individuals to innovative organizations, find out who made the final shortlist for top honors at the IN awards, now in its second year.
Cresset's Susie Cranston is expecting an economic recession, but says her $65 billion RIA sees "great opportunity" to keep investing in a down market.
“There’s a big pull to alternative investments right now because of volatility of the stock market,” Kevin Gannon, CEO of Robert A. Stanger & Co., said.
Sellers shift focus: It's not about succession anymore.
Platform being adopted by independent-minded advisors who see insurance as a core pillar of their business.
RIAs face rising regulatory pressure in 2025. Forward-looking firms are responding with embedded technology, not more paperwork.
As inheritances are set to reshape client portfolios and next-gen heirs demand digital-first experiences, firms are retooling their wealth tech stacks and succession models in real time.
