The Challenges of Generating Organic Growth in Wealth Management with Steve Gresham

Organic growth in asset and wealth management is experiencing a slowdown, leaving behind a trail of passive assets and declining client numbers. The tide is turning as baby boomers are retiring with their wealth poised to flow toward a new generation with vastly different priorities and expectations. 

In this episode, Jack Sharry talks with Steve Gresham, Managing Principal at Next Chapter. Steve is also a Senior Education Advisor to the Alliance for Lifetime Income. Steve is a dedicated disruptor, and before founding Next Chapter, he held several senior leadership positions in the wealth management industry. 

Steve talks with Jack about the current state of the asset and wealth management industries and the challenges they face in achieving organic growth. He highlights the decline in organic growth and the need for firms to adapt to the changing landscape. They also discuss the best remedies for resolving these problems and the four ways firms can prepare for the future.

Key Takeaways

• [01:25] - Steve's latest project.
• [02:21] - Organic growth in wealth management at present.
• [03:56] - What it means when money leaves the industry.
• [04:35] - How firms can adjust to the flow of money out of the industry.
• [07:03] - Steve's best remedies for resolving the industry's money flow problems.
• [12:24] - How the industry can better understand its customers.
• [17:04] - Why organic growth in the industry has declined.
• [21:52] - What it takes to build for the future.
• [31:05] - The challenge of generating organic growth.
• [35:46] - Steve's passion outside of work.

Quotes

[01:48] - "Asset management has lost its organic growth primarily to passive, and wealth management has screeched to a halt. The culprit there is demography." ~ Steve Gresham

[08:26] - "You have to be fully invested in the arms race with the consumer. The consumer is calling all the shots. They always win. They may be delayed or distracted and think things are better than they are for a while, but when they bite, they bite hard." ~ Steve Gresham

[32:56] - "The industry has to understand where the money is because if it's not growing in the aggregate, it becomes a fairly zero-sum game of competition." ~ Steve Gresham

Links 

• Steve Gresham on LinkedIn
• Steve Gresham on Twitter
• Next Chapter
• Fidelity Investments
• Charles Schwab
• Vanguard
• Tiburon Strategic Advisors
• Money Management Institute
• Wealthcare Plan
• Douglas Heikkinen
• Phoenix Investment Partners
• Advisorpedia
• William Capuzzi
• Apex Fintech Solutions

Connect with our hosts

• LifeYield
• Jack Sharry on LinkedIn
• Jack Sharry on Twitter

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