As a marketer and consumer advocate, I’m worried. In the short run, there may be opportunities for creative entrepreneurs like Bera and Roberge to pair up with established firms like Kelly’s to form referral relationships or joint ventures. More transformations like the one going on at Seaward could be successful in attracting young advisors and clients, or the small firms out there today could find ways to attract capital and scale. That would be great.
But this is a big market we need to be prepared to serve. For the larger industry, the profitability of smaller accounts should be a problem we can solve. Where the money is now ignores where new money will come from. The time is now—the next generation won’t wait for us.
Gail Graham is CEO of Graham Strategy, dedicated to helping wealth managers build brands people love. As the former CMO of United Capital, she created an industry-leading marketing platform. Previously, she spent a decade at Fidelity Investments.