WealthTech in the Weeds with Rose Palazzo and Mark Hoffman

WealthTech in the Weeds is a new series covering the broad yet critical path to financial services. The goal is to get together with industry experts and get into the details of building an effective, productive, coordinated, and comprehensive advice system. 

In the past, financial services focused on managing individual accounts in silos. This fragmented approach limited advisors' ability to minimize tax burdens and convert assets into sustainable income streams, especially in retirement. However, as the industry evolves, advisors and investors recognize the importance of creating comprehensive advice platforms. The challenge lies in operationalizing these platforms to allow advisors to translate financial plans into actionable strategies.

In this episode, Jack talks with Rose Palazzo. Rose is the Group President of Envestnet | MoneyGuide and has extensive experience building comprehensive advice platforms. She previously led financial planning at Morgan Stanley and played a key role in developing the firm's industry-leading comprehensive advice platform. Rose is known for her expertise in personalized advice and coordinating planning conversations with technology platforms.

Mark Hoffman, CEO, Chairman, and Founder at LifeYield, joins Jack and Rose. Mark has more than 25 years of experience as an executive at public organizations, including State Street, Fiserv, and Colonial Management. He is also the founder of three financial technology firms: LifeYield, Upstream Technologies, and Lattice Trading.

Jack talks with Rose and Mark about the role of financial planning in building comprehensive advice platforms. They discuss how to turn a financial plan into actions that improve results and the challenges that come with it.

Key Takeaways

• [03:09] - How Rose develops comprehensive advisory platforms for firms.
• [05:54] - Mark's view on financial planning.
• [09:34] - The challenge of turning a financial plan into actionable strategies.
• [10:41] - Turning a comprehensive financial plan into action.
• [11:54] - The importance of considering tax in executing a financial plan.
• [13:18] - Two factors to consider when executing a financial plan.
• [16:00] - The dynamics between asset accumulation and decumulation.
• [21:09] - What it takes to operationalize a comprehensive advice platform.
• [25:32] - Prioritization and starting with the end goal in mind.
• [30:27] - What Morgan Stanley's Intelligent Withdrawals is about.
• [34:08] - Rose’s and Mark's key takeaways.

Quotes

[04:19] - "We no longer see planning as a one-time event that advisors engage in. It really is more of an ongoing planning where you're having that initial conversation, understanding a client's goals, and connecting that to all the conversations folks are having." ~ Rose Palazzo

[23:52] - "It [operationalizing a comprehensive advice platform] is like putting together a puzzle. It doesn't really matter where you start or what pieces you find that go together. It's all going to be complementary to the end goal." ~ Mark Hoffman

[34:17] - "There's this increased focus on personalized advice, which starts with the client's objectives. The coordination between platforms is what's really required to get to that next level of advice." ~ Rose Palazzo

[35:12] - "If you're coordinating all the client's accounts and assets and focus on understanding that client's goals, then you get to do asset location. And asset location is a dominant part of tax alpha." ~ Mark Hoffman

Links 

• Rose Palazzo on LinkedIn
• Mark Hoffman on LinkedIn
• MoneyGuidePro
• Morgan Stanley
• Paul Samuelson
• James Gorman

Connect with our hosts

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

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