While financial advice remains a deeply human endeavor, the role of technology in modern advisory firms has become indispensable. As client expectations rise and wealth management grows more complex, advisors are turning to technology not just as a tool, but as a strategic asset. Wealth tech solutions enable firms to maximize their most valuable and limited resource: human capital.
Few understand this better than Gary Corderman, managing director at Farther. With almost four decades in wealth management, Corderman has seen firsthand how technology can either complicate an advisor’s life or simplify it. “I’ve worked at big firms, run my own practice, and I’ve been through mergers and acquisitions,” he says. “Each time, the biggest pain point was always the same: the technology never did what it was supposed to.”
That changed when Corderman joined Farther, a fast-growing, technology-powered wealth management firm co-founded by CEO Taylor Matthews and CTO Brad Genser. Built from the ground up with an integrated tech stack, Farther was created to help advisors focus on what matters most - delivering personalized advice- while automating the manual tasks that bog them down.
“After 37 years, I know when something doesn’t work,” Corderman says. “And this works.”
Besides staffing, technology often represents the largest investment an advisory firm makes. Increasingly, the focus is on creating a connected, end-to-end digital experience where efficiency comes from designing workflows where one action seamlessly triggers the next. For example, onboarding a new client should automatically initiate document generation, account openings, and compliance tasks.
In addition to simplifying onboarding, Farther’s platform also enables advisors to automate tax-loss harvesting and cash management, which has historically been a very manual and labour-intensive exercise.
“The trading system will automatically look for opportunities to harvest losses, and you tell it the frequency you want,” Corderman explains. “I don’t manually have to go through all of my clients anymore - unless I choose to.”
This data-driven approach not only simplifies day-to-day operations but also offers real-time insights into the overall health of the business. By adopting a platform mindset, wealth management firms can transform fragmented processes into a cohesive, integrated system - allowing their practice to function as a unified whole rather than a collection of disconnected tools.
That’s the vision behind Farther’s platform, which removes unrealistic expectations from the advisors.
“Advisors are asked to do this crazy thing, taking dozens of different pieces of technology and building their own pyramid. But the tools don’t really integrate - not in the way they’re advertised. It’s not a good experience. Farther’s platform, on the other hand, is the most advisor-centric wealth management platform out there.”
Corderman was drawn to Farther after his experience working at a large corporation. There was a choice to make, and he realized he didn’t want to join another corporation of 50,000 employees. He wanted control of his own destiny.
Farther offered that, and then some: independence without isolation. Advisors retain their book of business while gaining access to a collaborative network of peers and a robust operational infrastructure.
“I wanted to join a group of people that were collegial, where we all liked working together and could help each other out,” Corderman says. “But I also wanted a cutting-edge platform with open architecture - because without that, you can’t really deliver for clients anymore.”
And Farther’s technology hasn’t disappointed. “Everywhere I’ve been, there’s been a platform or a way of doing things,” Corderman says. “And all of them have promised a lot but didn’t deliver. You rely on the custodians and external tools a hundred percent of the time. Farther is different.”
Farther is also committed to its own evolution, rolling out substantial improvements because advisors have said, ‘Hey, the platform does this, but it would be better if it did this other thing.’ Farther is constantly asking, ‘What could we add next quarter that would be better for your clients?’”
Matthews sees it as a natural extension of the company’s advisor-centric philosophy. “We listen, and we continue to build,” he says.
Despite the complexity of changing firms, Corderman describes his onboarding experience at Farther as the easiest transition of his career.
“I have moved three times, and this one was the easiest from an onboarding point of view,” he says. “The first business day after I joined, they had people on-site with me. My technology was ready to go- no waiting around for equipment to show up. We were up and running right away.”
For advisors who are already independent RIAs, onboarding can take as little as two or three days. And even for more complex transitions, Farther provides hands-on support, helping advisors reconnect with clients quickly and process paperwork efficiently.
As Farther continues its rapid growth, Matthews says the firm remains focused on deliberate, sustainable expansion. “We’re constantly improving what we’ve built and refining our technology,” he says. “And we’re tripling the number of engineers on the team over the next few months to support that growth.”
Cerulli research shows that managing technology remains one of the most significant challenges for advisors. Nearly 30% of practices cite it as a top concern, while 73% struggle with compliance restrictions that limit functionality. Another 71% point to a lack of integration between different tools and applications, and 70% say finding the time to learn and implement new technology is a hurdle. Farther aims to eliminate those barriers.
“We don’t have restrictive covenants, non-competes, or non-solicits,” Matthews says. “We have to earn our advisors’ business every day- and that keeps us focused on delivering an experience that works.”
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