This blog recaps MyVest CEO Anton Honikman’s participation as a speaker at the 2023 WealthStack Conference. | June 20, 2023

MyVest CEO Anton Honikman spoke on the WealthStack Visionary — State of the Stack panel, which delved into how emerging trends in technology will impact wealth management over the coming years. The panel covered a variety of topics, ranging from how advisors can grow, what the future of advice holds, how the next generation of advisors can capitalize on technological advancements, and more.

Anton was joined on the panel by:

  • Lex Sokolin, Chief Cryptoeconomics Officer, ConsenSys
  • Ron Bullis, CEO, LifeWorks Advisors
  • Shannon Rosic, Director of WealthStack Connect and moderator of the discussion

We’ve come a long way

“Advisory firms are building more integrated experiences than ever before,” noted Anton. “Today, however, the pursuit of a better client experience, increasing advisor capacity and operating leverage are table stakes for firms.” Anton continued, “All these developments are good, but they’re still radically insufficient.” 

The industry still has a long way to go

Where the industry doesn’t get a great grade today is leveraging technology to help advisors provide holistic advice. For example, consider the role of account aggregation, bringing in accounts that you don’t have discretion over, to paint a more accurate picture of a client’s financial needs. Anton went further, urging advisors to consider the entire picture that impacts a client’s financial future: their whole balance sheet, their life stage, their health, their beneficiaries, their values, etc. As Anton put it, “holistic means beyond investing – build a comprehensive, dynamic profile of the client that informs your advice over time.” 

Other facets of wealth management where advisors are reevaluating how to best serve the needs of their clients is in retirement income and estate planning. Today, longevity is expanding, and the next generations are beginning to inherit wealth. Advisory firms must think beyond accumulation towards income generation and multi-generational wealth transfer, and how their tech stacks can solve these emerging needs.

Unintended consequences of digitization

While all modern financial services firms are pursuing digitization to some degree, Anton expressed caution over the possible unintended consequences — switching costs for clients goes way down. Anton posed the question, “What happens in wealth management when your clients can leave you with the click of a button on their smartphone?” Survival, in that context, centers on the evolution of the advisory value proposition beyond traditional investment selection, and how they must continue to deliver value to their clients across all the moments that matter in their families’ lives.

Holistic wealth management requires a shift from a planning-led to advice-led approach

Anton finished with how advice-led firms rather than planning-led firms are paving the way for the next generation. “Client-centric advisory firms that are continually learning about the moments that matter in their clients’ lives and delivering bite-sized pieces of engagement, when it matters, will be the ones who stand out.”

“The client-centric advisory firms who will win are the ones who are holistic in their outlook, who think of advice as not just financial advice, embracing non-financial advice, and think about not just what they deliver, but when and how. The monolithic, discrete methods of today are going to rapidly erode in favor of more dynamic engagement methods,” concluded Anton.

Read additional material from the WealthStack conference in WealthManagement.com: