Latest / Bloomberg Intelligence / Lack of Talent's the Main Challenge in Advisory, Tibergien Says
Transcript
- 0:05Speaker 1: Welcome to the Bloomberg p m L Podcast. I'm Pim Fox.
- 0:08Speaker 1: Along with my co host Lisa Bramowitz. Each day we
- 0:11Speaker 1: bring you the most important, noteworthy, and useful interviews for
- 0:15Speaker 1: you and your money, whether you're at the grocery store
- 0:17Speaker 1: or the trading floor. Find the Bloomberg p m L
- 0:20Speaker 1: Podcast on Apple Podcasts, SoundCloud and Bloomberg dot com. This
- 0:32Speaker 1: is Bloomberg Markets. I'm Pim Fox along with Lisa Bramowitz.
- 0:35Speaker 1: We are broadcasting from Pershing Insights Conference at the Manchester
- 0:39Speaker 1: Hiatt in San Diego. This year marks nineteen years of insight,
- 0:44Speaker 1: nineteen years that the company is committed to the success
- 0:46Speaker 1: of its advisors, and we are here with more than
- 0:48Speaker 1: two thousand financial professionals from all over the globe. And
- 0:53Speaker 1: it's my pleasure to introduce one of those professionals. Mark
- 0:56Speaker 1: Tuberson joins us. He is the chief executive officer for
- 0:59Speaker 1: Persian Advisor Solutions. He is also the author of a
- 1:03Speaker 1: variety of books related to financial literacy, such as Practice
- 1:08Speaker 1: Made Perfect, How to Value, Buy and Sell a Financial
- 1:11Speaker 1: Advisory Practice. Mark, thanks very much for being with us.
- 1:14Speaker 1: Thank you, thanks for having what what is the biggest
- 1:17Speaker 1: issue on the minds of registered investment advisors money managers,
- 1:22Speaker 1: and I want to I want to say sort of
- 1:24Speaker 1: not very small shops, but those that may have less
- 1:29Speaker 1: than U fifty people and are not affiliated with a
- 1:33Speaker 1: very large organization. By definition, most registered investment advisors or
- 1:38Speaker 1: small businesses, if you put an SBA filter through it, UH,
- 1:42Speaker 1: and so the experiencemen of the same challenges that any
- 1:44Speaker 1: small business does. Probably the most acute challenges around talent.
- 1:49Speaker 1: So the instinct is to say regulation is an issue
- 1:52Speaker 1: or market threats is an issue, but there is an
- 1:55Speaker 1: acute talent shortage in this business today and that is
- 1:59Speaker 1: creating real mutations on growth from many of these firms.
- 2:02Speaker 1: What is the talent that you're talking about? In particular?
- 2:04Speaker 1: It is the is the is it the ability to
- 2:06Speaker 1: interact with people? Is that the ability to navigate UH
- 2:09Speaker 1: the growing world of robo advisory software and e t
- 2:14Speaker 1: f s. What specifically is the skill that people need? Frankly,
- 2:18Speaker 1: it's a skill in all areas, from direct contact with
- 2:21Speaker 1: clients to the operations and administrative elements of the business.
- 2:25Speaker 1: It's important to know that since two thousand eight, UH,
- 2:28Speaker 1: there are forty fewer financial professionals in this country. Uh,
- 2:32Speaker 1: there are fourteen hundred fewer broker dealers. Uh. And what's
- 2:36Speaker 1: happened is that the industry has taken such a hit
- 2:39Speaker 1: that many people coming out of university are not contemplating
- 2:42Speaker 1: this as a career choice. Is it partly because these
- 2:44Speaker 1: salaries have gone down? No, Actually, this is one of
- 2:47Speaker 1: those great careers where you get financially rewarded, intellectually stimulated,
- 2:52Speaker 1: you get opportunity to act independently to profoundly impact the
- 2:57Speaker 1: lives of others. So just to add long walks on
- 3:00Speaker 1: the beach, it's a pretty good personal adds and and
- 3:02Speaker 1: no no retirement target in terms of when you have
- 3:06Speaker 1: to leave the practice. Nothing is forcing that. Uh. And
- 3:09Speaker 1: so if you think about being a young student looking
- 3:12Speaker 1: for a career that's fulfilling and rewarding, then this certainly
- 3:16Speaker 1: becomes one of those places to to come to for
- 3:19Speaker 1: what it's worth. A couple of years ago, we asked
- 3:22Speaker 1: our reverse mentor group, this is a group of millennials,
- 3:24Speaker 1: to enquire among the friends who chose not to come
- 3:27Speaker 1: into this business why they said not and the first
- 3:30Speaker 1: reason why didn't study finance in schools? So never considered
- 3:34Speaker 1: as a career too they thought that it was just
- 3:36Speaker 1: a sales job. And three, they perceived the industry as
- 3:38Speaker 1: being corrupt. And so when you have those elements playing
- 3:42Speaker 1: against the profession, uh, none of which are true, by
- 3:45Speaker 1: the way, Uh, it makes it very difficult for us
- 3:47Speaker 1: to contemplate how we're going to recruit people to the business.
- 3:50Speaker 1: For those of us who remember, there used to be
- 3:53Speaker 1: training programs in a variety of the big brokerage firms,
- 3:56Speaker 1: those have basically disappeared. Is there anything that replacing that?
- 4:01Speaker 1: So one of the big challenges I think that that
- 4:03Speaker 1: is creating this is we used to have big, large,
- 4:06Speaker 1: employer based financial institutions that would recruit people and create
- 4:10Speaker 1: a career path for them. Now what we have is
- 4:13Speaker 1: a more fragmented industry many small businesses. There are twenty
- 4:17Speaker 1: eight thousand registered investment advisors, mostly independently owned. Most of
- 4:22Speaker 1: them don't have a human capital strategy. So it's really
- 4:25Speaker 1: more of an industry crisis than an individual business crisis.
- 4:28Speaker 1: And it's one of those things that we have to
- 4:29Speaker 1: think about, how do we appeal to young people earlier
- 4:33Speaker 1: and how do we help those small businesses become more
- 4:35Speaker 1: proficient at recruiting and developing talent. You know, I'm I'm
- 4:39Speaker 1: compelled by the idea that there's a shortage of talent
- 4:41Speaker 1: at a time when the industry is broadly believed to
- 4:44Speaker 1: be contracting. We hear so much about consolidation, about the
- 4:48Speaker 1: cost cuts that are going on broadly across the investment industry.
- 4:53Speaker 1: How do you square these two ideas? Well? Frankly, there's
- 4:56Speaker 1: an oversupply of clients and an undersupply of people to
- 4:58Speaker 1: provide advice. So well, let me you're talking about clients,
- 5:00Speaker 1: can you be a little more specific Which clients in
- 5:02Speaker 1: particular are looking for advisors and and and are sort
- 5:06Speaker 1: of creating opportunities. These would be individuals at different income
- 5:10Speaker 1: and wealth classes. Uh, the robo so called robo movement
- 5:15Speaker 1: is is really enhancing the experience that advisors have with
- 5:20Speaker 1: with individuals rather than replacing it. So that hasn't yet
- 5:24Speaker 1: proved to be a threat unto itself. Consolidation is true
- 5:28Speaker 1: at least among the employer based firms because they're thinking
- 5:31Speaker 1: of return to shareholders. Among the independent firms, the rate
- 5:34Speaker 1: of growth has been phenomenal. There were seven dred and
- 5:37Speaker 1: fifty new r A s that we that were formed
- 5:40Speaker 1: last year alone, so consolidation is really happening UH. If
- 5:45Speaker 1: you ignore the large companies for a minute, the consolidation
- 5:48Speaker 1: among the smaller firms is occurring because these businesses are
- 5:52Speaker 1: trying to get to critical mass. They recognize that they
- 5:54Speaker 1: have to behave like a business. They have to think strategically,
- 5:57Speaker 1: have a human capital plan, focus on operating efficiency. So
- 6:02Speaker 1: we're not seeing consolidation happen because old advisors are dead
- 6:06Speaker 1: or dying. It's happening because young advisors are thinking, how
- 6:10Speaker 1: do I build a real business that's enduring. What if
- 6:12Speaker 1: you could speak a little bit about the compensation programs
- 6:17Speaker 1: that exist the models, because previous to coming to Pershing,
- 6:22Speaker 1: you are partner in charge at Moss Adams in Seattle,
- 6:26Speaker 1: the accounting firm, and you know the incentives for fee based,
- 6:31Speaker 1: for UH commission based. And wonder if you could see
- 6:35Speaker 1: see your way towards the future what you think would work.
- 6:37Speaker 1: Because we know what lawyers do, they charge by the hour.
- 6:40Speaker 1: Accountants that may be a negotiated UH compensation plan. What
- 6:45Speaker 1: do you see happening in this space? There's some big changes,
- 6:48Speaker 1: But I'd make a distinction between the revenue generation methodology
- 6:53Speaker 1: and the way people would get paid once they're inside
- 6:55Speaker 1: the firm. So first is the relationship between the advisory
- 6:58Speaker 1: firm and the client. This is the only profession I
- 7:01Speaker 1: know where where the client pays based on the value
- 7:04Speaker 1: they bring rather than the value of the professional brings.
- 7:07Speaker 1: The more you have, the more you pay, which is
- 7:09Speaker 1: an odd sort of would be like right in the
- 7:10Speaker 1: legal profession, for example, a lawyer charges you whatever the
- 7:13Speaker 1: lawyer charges you, it doesn't matter what your bank account
- 7:16Speaker 1: says exactly. Would be like it would be like a
- 7:18Speaker 1: doctor charging me by the pound. I couldn't afford them,
- 7:20Speaker 1: so I'd have to think about that the So one
- 7:24Speaker 1: of the shifts that's happening is more of a consistent
- 7:28Speaker 1: approach to fee charging. And in fact, a study done
- 7:32Speaker 1: by Bob Various recently showed that of advisors are actually
- 7:36Speaker 1: charging a retainer either instead of or in addition to
- 7:39Speaker 1: an asset management fee. So there's a shift towards a
- 7:42Speaker 1: more fixed structure the variable compensation model around compensation around commissions.
- 7:47Speaker 1: As an example, Pershing being the largest clearing firm in
- 7:50Speaker 1: the US, we've observed since two thousand and eight that
- 7:53Speaker 1: assets on our platform have grown from five percent of
- 7:56Speaker 1: the total tot of the total. So the shift to
- 8:00Speaker 1: is a more advisory fee oriented type of approach is
- 8:04Speaker 1: reflected in our client base quite clearly. Do you think
- 8:07Speaker 1: that more people are seeking out financial advisors in order
- 8:11Speaker 1: to get guidance about how to use ETFs? In other words,
- 8:15Speaker 1: there's this feeling that they're all these passive investments that
- 8:18Speaker 1: have relatively low fees. Perhaps it's worth paying a little
- 8:21Speaker 1: bit more to get some advice and how to invest
- 8:24Speaker 1: in how to allocate. I think what you find among
- 8:27Speaker 1: most advisors is that they use some sort of passive
- 8:31Speaker 1: instrument as a core solution, and then the satellite might
- 8:34Speaker 1: be active instruments like mutual funds or even individual securities
- 8:38Speaker 1: in some cases. But the reason that most people are
- 8:41Speaker 1: seeking out advisors is because their lives of lives have
- 8:44Speaker 1: become more complex. What we're finding it's not just about investing,
- 8:48Speaker 1: but it's about the complexity of choices that people have
- 8:50Speaker 1: to make around cash flow, around how long will they
- 8:54Speaker 1: live and can they will they have enough to endure,
- 8:57Speaker 1: about a state planning about where they'll live. So these
- 9:02Speaker 1: become choices that as individuals become um more consumed with
- 9:07Speaker 1: the complexity of their lives, they have to seek professional
- 9:09Speaker 1: guidance and what they're doing. And I think this is
- 9:11Speaker 1: one of the reasons why we find so many people
- 9:13Speaker 1: attracted to this business who are not necessarily finance professionals,
- 9:17Speaker 1: but really human professionals with a with a capability around finance.
- 9:22Speaker 1: I want to pick up on that because this idea
- 9:24Speaker 1: of consistent guidance. You go to a doctor when you're sick,
- 9:28Speaker 1: you seek legal advice when you need it, But with
- 9:32Speaker 1: a financial advisor, whether you're managing the money of an
- 9:35Speaker 1: individual or a small business and their pension plan, that's
- 9:39Speaker 1: an ongoing relationship. It should be, because our lives UH
- 9:44Speaker 1: don't start and stop with one conversation UH, and even
- 9:48Speaker 1: in our health I I use the concierge program at
- 9:50Speaker 1: New York Presbyterian UH as a as an ongoing relationship.
- 9:54Speaker 1: I find I have more ailments since I've done that.
- 9:56Speaker 1: But but what we see is a real chang change
- 10:00Speaker 1: in how people are thinking about their relationship with the advisors.
- 10:05Speaker 1: So clearly what makes a difference is that when we
- 10:10Speaker 1: look at how people are engaging with the advisors, they're
- 10:12Speaker 1: trying to deal with more issues that are regularly scheduled meeting.
- 10:17Speaker 1: I mean, for example, if you're going to meet every
- 10:19Speaker 1: three months, is that enough or how should you do it?
- 10:22Speaker 1: Rather than just wait until you have some catastrophe in
- 10:25Speaker 1: the market or some problem with an individual's finances, I'll
- 10:29Speaker 1: personalize it in our own example of my wife and
- 10:31Speaker 1: I have worked with the same advisor for over ten years.
- 10:35Speaker 1: We have quarterly meetings, but we have regular communication via
- 10:38Speaker 1: email on different issues, on different questions. Uh. And that's
- 10:42Speaker 1: an ongoing relationship. And the significance is that they're not
- 10:46Speaker 1: just reporting on investment return. They're reporting on the choices
- 10:50Speaker 1: that we're making and whether or not we're progressing towards
- 10:52Speaker 1: implementing it. I'm sure a lot of people who are
- 10:54Speaker 1: closing getting closer to retirement staff at night worrying, So
- 10:59Speaker 1: I'm sure it would be better for them just to
- 11:00Speaker 1: have a conversation with somebody in a more regular basis.
- 11:03Speaker 1: Mark de virgin, thank you so much for joining us.
- 11:05Speaker 1: Mike di virgin is chief executive officer of Pershing Advisor
- 11:08Speaker 1: Solutions and New Joins. Is here where we are broadcasting
- 11:11Speaker 1: from Pershing's Inside twenty seventeen conference at the man Chance
- 11:15Speaker 1: at Manchester. Grant Hyatt, thanks for being here. I'm Lisa
- 11:31Speaker 1: brom Woy's I'm here with the PIM Fox and we
- 11:33Speaker 1: are broadcasting from Pershing's Insight seventeen conference at the Manchester
- 11:37Speaker 1: Grand Hyatt in San Diego, where more than two thousand
- 11:41Speaker 1: financial professionals are here talking about the future of their
- 11:45Speaker 1: industry and one big question that keeps coming up. The
- 11:49Speaker 1: big elephant in the room is what roll will roller
- 11:52Speaker 1: advisory services play in their futures. Here with us as
- 11:56Speaker 1: Simon Roy, president and chief executive officer of gems Aposilicon
- 12:00Speaker 1: value based firm that was acquired by invest Goo last year. Simon,
- 12:05Speaker 1: I'd love to hear your perspective on the robro advisory
- 12:09Speaker 1: industry and whether it is starting to take over some
- 12:13Speaker 1: of the jobs that previously were filled by humans in
- 12:17Speaker 1: the advisory industry. Yeah, thank thanks, You appreciate the opportunity
- 12:22Speaker 1: to share perspective on this. I think um technology has
- 12:26Speaker 1: been sweeping through many industries. We've seen it in media,
- 12:30Speaker 1: we've seen it in commerce, we've seen it in travel,
- 12:33Speaker 1: and so those same same trends that have driven it,
- 12:36Speaker 1: which is consumer adoption of technology, are starting to be
- 12:39Speaker 1: felt in the financial services industry. And so the initial
- 12:43Speaker 1: robo advises that came out appeared to be barbarians at
- 12:48Speaker 1: the gate. Right, They're gonna tear down the edifice of
- 12:51Speaker 1: the financial services industry, take over the market, and everyone's
- 12:55Speaker 1: going to be using robo advises, just like they use Amazon, Google, Netflix.
- 13:01Speaker 1: Hasn't turned out that way. Uh, investing is different. It
- 13:05Speaker 1: is a very emotional issue. It's very high complexity and
- 13:09Speaker 1: consequence for individuals, and so the role of the advisor,
- 13:13Speaker 1: the role of judgment, the role of expertise is quite critical.
- 13:16Speaker 1: And so we've seen we have not seen that sort
- 13:18Speaker 1: of hockey stick growth that we've seen in some of
- 13:21Speaker 1: the other technology sectors in financial services. And what we're
- 13:25Speaker 1: seeing is a trend towards the adoption of technology by
- 13:29Speaker 1: financial services firms to enable advisers, essentially creating a bionic advisor,
- 13:35Speaker 1: a combination of the best of of people in relationships
- 13:39Speaker 1: with the best of technology, and that that's essentially the
- 13:41Speaker 1: business gym step is in. I want to see if
- 13:44Speaker 1: we can take one step deeper into the pool here,
- 13:47Speaker 1: because let's say you are a registered investment advisor and
- 13:53Speaker 1: you are on the black Rock platform, or you're using
- 13:56Speaker 1: t du merrit Trade or you're using Northwestern or Pershing
- 13:59Speaker 1: or whatever, but you've got a platform. You have your
- 14:01Speaker 1: own digital what they call wealth management platforms out there. Um,
- 14:07Speaker 1: what gem STEP I understand does as well as many
- 14:10Speaker 1: other some other competitors, is you are able to offer
- 14:13Speaker 1: online advice having to do with portfolio perhaps construction or allocation,
- 14:22Speaker 1: but in relationship to the registered advisor. Is that accurate? Yeah?
- 14:28Speaker 1: That So essentially the business GYM STEP is in is
- 14:31Speaker 1: helping connect investors with advice and quality advisers. And so
- 14:35Speaker 1: we do this by providing a platform, a digital advice
- 14:39Speaker 1: platform GYM STEP Advisor pro to advisory firms. So our
- 14:43Speaker 1: clients are the registered investment advisors or the broker dealers
- 14:46Speaker 1: or the banks, and we provide a platform. They put
- 14:50Speaker 1: their logo on it. It's their platform. We're a technology
- 14:53Speaker 1: service provided to them. But what it enables, what it
- 14:56Speaker 1: enables them to do is to have a prospect or
- 14:59Speaker 1: a client go through that same process that they would
- 15:03Speaker 1: sitting in front of an advisor. So answer questions about
- 15:07Speaker 1: what goals are important to them retirement, college savings in
- 15:11Speaker 1: the same way as they would if they were sitting
- 15:13Speaker 1: with someone, Um, fill out a restaurants question, a very
- 15:17Speaker 1: friendly question asking about when are you planning to retire?
- 15:21Speaker 1: Various questions, how much risk are you willing to take?
- 15:23Speaker 1: Are those answers actually read by human beings or is
- 15:29Speaker 1: the information that is then uh reported to the client?
- 15:35Speaker 1: Where does that information come from? How is that constructed? Yeah,
- 15:39Speaker 1: that's a great question. I think if I could. The
- 15:42Speaker 1: process essentially allows people to onboard, just like you can
- 15:46Speaker 1: download an app on a you know, on the phone.
- 15:49Speaker 1: It allows them to onboard as a client if they're ready,
- 15:52Speaker 1: without having to talk to the human. But it is
- 15:55Speaker 1: they're onboarding to that firm, they have access to the advisors,
- 15:58Speaker 1: they have access to the judgment and the experience of
- 16:02Speaker 1: the firm, the investment strategies. So to answer your question,
- 16:06Speaker 1: the the answers are input into the system, but the
- 16:11Speaker 1: way they are responded to, the way they the client
- 16:14Speaker 1: is guided to a portfolio, is based on the judgment
- 16:17Speaker 1: of those humans at the firm. So if I'm sitting
- 16:21Speaker 1: in front of you as an adviser and i fill
- 16:22Speaker 1: out a paper based questionnaire, I'm going to get a
- 16:25Speaker 1: risk score based on that I'm going to be put
- 16:28Speaker 1: into a portfolio. The fact that I'm entering it on
- 16:30Speaker 1: a computer as opposed to on a piece of paper
- 16:33Speaker 1: is not going to change the quality of the portfolio
- 16:36Speaker 1: and put into It's just easier for you know, Mary
- 16:40Speaker 1: on Sunday morning at home to be able to complete
- 16:43Speaker 1: this because she has a busy schedule and maybe doesn't
- 16:46Speaker 1: want to go to an advisor, doesn't have time. She
- 16:49Speaker 1: can complete this, be put into a portfolio that will
- 16:52Speaker 1: be well suited to help her get to retirement and
- 16:56Speaker 1: get on with her life. And so essentially what we're
- 16:58Speaker 1: doing is we're helping these firms take what used to
- 17:02Speaker 1: take about three months and put it into twelve minutes.
- 17:05Speaker 1: You know, Simon, as you talk, I'm struck by how
- 17:08Speaker 1: familiar this feels. I mean, this is basically what we
- 17:11Speaker 1: do in most aspects of our lives when we order
- 17:13Speaker 1: something online, when we search for airplane tickets. Are you
- 17:17Speaker 1: surprised that it has taken as long as it has
- 17:20Speaker 1: for the financial industry as a whole to adopt some
- 17:23Speaker 1: of these fairly basic technological advances. Uh As as a
- 17:31Speaker 1: you know, as an executive of a technology services firm
- 17:34Speaker 1: in this industry, I certainly would have liked it to
- 17:38Speaker 1: have happened a lot faster. What's the what's the reluctant money?
- 17:42Speaker 1: Money is different? Well, hold on when you're when you're
- 17:45Speaker 1: connected in in some kind of legal way with somebody's money,
- 17:50Speaker 1: it can make things different. Is that the issue with
- 17:53Speaker 1: money or is it a different issue with I think
- 17:55Speaker 1: it's a combination. One of the biggest issues that that
- 17:58Speaker 1: we're dealing with you has behavior change. We're dealing with humans.
- 18:04Speaker 1: Technology is just a means to an end, which humans
- 18:06Speaker 1: though that the clients or or the financial adviser, that's
- 18:10Speaker 1: the key, it's both. Now. Typically technology has been driven
- 18:13Speaker 1: from within the industry e t f s mutual fans,
- 18:17Speaker 1: index fans, product based party product, but also a t
- 18:21Speaker 1: m S in the banking industry comes from within. This
- 18:24Speaker 1: is the first time technology has been driven from you
- 18:27Speaker 1: and me, from the consumer, and so the consumer adoption
- 18:32Speaker 1: of this technology is actually helping drive behavior change of
- 18:36Speaker 1: the advisors, of the home office and of the back
- 18:42Speaker 1: office within any every one of these firms. So that
- 18:44Speaker 1: has been the constraint getting enough tractions, showing enough adoption
- 18:49Speaker 1: by consumers and the opportunity for these firms to say, huh,
- 18:54Speaker 1: things are changing. Well, I will tell you the cynic
- 18:57Speaker 1: in me wonders. If it's a different money issue, then
- 18:59Speaker 1: what is talking about, which is that investment firms have
- 19:03Speaker 1: a vested interest in not making a cookie cutter program
- 19:07Speaker 1: that people could just input data into and get the
- 19:09Speaker 1: answer that's spit out in twelve minutes. That reduces a
- 19:13Speaker 1: lot of the workflow and a lot of the legitimization
- 19:16Speaker 1: that they might have been able to provide for the fees.
- 19:18Speaker 1: So I'm going to take issue with the way your
- 19:19Speaker 1: characterize great. Please do when you think about your life
- 19:24Speaker 1: as I mean your life cycle as an investor, as
- 19:28Speaker 1: looking to achieve your goals, your entry points into investment
- 19:32Speaker 1: management maybe a twelve minute process, which is great because
- 19:35Speaker 1: it gets you towards advice. The issue we're deating here
- 19:39Speaker 1: with here is most people have no access to advice,
- 19:42Speaker 1: and so if we can make it easier for the
- 19:44Speaker 1: mass affluent and the mass market to actually get decent
- 19:47Speaker 1: advice end up with better outcomes. Twelve minutes. That is
- 19:51Speaker 1: a phenomenal outcome, But that is an entry point. Then
- 19:55Speaker 1: you get married, or you get a big bonus, or
- 19:58Speaker 1: you have kids, or maybe there's a parental shoot, your
- 20:01Speaker 1: your needs become more complex. You're looking for judgment and
- 20:06Speaker 1: so really what we're trying to do is reduce that
- 20:08Speaker 1: friction to get in to get decent portfolio advice, but
- 20:12Speaker 1: then make accessible the advisors if and when you need them.
- 20:16Speaker 1: And that's that bionic advisor. I'm just gonna throw out
- 20:20Speaker 1: a couple of words for you, but I want to
- 20:21Speaker 1: just give you the context black Rock and the Future Advisor,
- 20:26Speaker 1: Fidelity and E Money Advisor, Northwestern Mutual, Learned Vest and
- 20:31Speaker 1: now invest Go gemstep. Would it be accurate to describe
- 20:37Speaker 1: this industry as one that is taking advantage of a
- 20:40Speaker 1: generational shift as well? Because last time I checked, you
- 20:45Speaker 1: look at anybody you know who doesn't have gray hair,
- 20:48Speaker 1: and there's no paper around. There's no pens or pencils.
- 20:51Speaker 1: They're not writing anything. In fact, they're not even taking
- 20:54Speaker 1: telephone calls. They're just texting or they're on their mobile devices.
- 20:58Speaker 1: That but go on, okay, well but you but you
- 21:03Speaker 1: get my point, which is that there's no one today
- 21:07Speaker 1: if you're in business and sends you a message, if
- 21:10Speaker 1: it's a customer, you're gonna respond to them relatively quickly.
- 21:14Speaker 1: But having said that, there are some industries, maybe like
- 21:17Speaker 1: the medical industry, try getting the doctor to call you back. Uh,
- 21:20Speaker 1: there's some industries which have not embraced the technology. Is
- 21:24Speaker 1: that what you found? Clearly the rising tide of digital
- 21:29Speaker 1: adoption is just sweeping through the consumer I mean the
- 21:33Speaker 1: consumer space. It's not just the millennials. Uh, there was
- 21:37Speaker 1: an initial conception that it's the millennials. They're digital. You
- 21:41Speaker 1: have a smartphone, Netflix and say, I want to say,
- 21:46Speaker 1: is nothing Oh yes, No, No, I was gonna say,
- 21:48Speaker 1: I still have some hair that is not gray. I'm
- 21:50Speaker 1: not sure I could say the same. But it's you know, essentially,
- 21:53Speaker 1: it's all of us, and so we're addicted. Well, it's
- 21:56Speaker 1: it's addicted. We're addicted because it is so efficient and engaging.
- 22:01Speaker 1: It means you can have access to you know, to services, everything. Well,
- 22:05Speaker 1: but that's the point. You have access to everything that
- 22:08Speaker 1: previously had so much friction you didn't consume. One of
- 22:11Speaker 1: the things you didn't consume was advice. And so firms
- 22:14Speaker 1: like Investco look at this and say, we want to
- 22:17Speaker 1: add value to our advisory firm clients. Technology is a
- 22:21Speaker 1: key key factor going forward. It's a rising tide. We
- 22:25Speaker 1: want to make sure that we were able to add
- 22:27Speaker 1: that as a as a pillar as one of the
- 22:29Speaker 1: value adds you know we can provide. So that's that's
- 22:33Speaker 1: the rationale. Well, thanks for providing us with the opportunity
- 22:36Speaker 1: to speak with you and learn about the business. Much appreciated.
- 22:39Speaker 1: Simon Roy is the president and the chief executive of
- 22:41Speaker 1: gem step By Investco. And we are broadcasting from Pershing
- 22:46Speaker 1: Insight Seen conference is taking place at the Manchester Hired
- 22:50Speaker 1: in San Diego, and this year marks nineteen years of
- 22:54Speaker 1: Insight nineteen years. The company is committed to the success
- 22:56Speaker 1: of its advisors and we are here along with more
- 23:00Speaker 1: than two thou financial professionals from all over the world.
- 23:04Speaker 1: This is Bloomberg. Thanks for listening to the Bloomberg P
- 23:10Speaker 1: and L podcast. You can subscribe and listen to interviews
- 23:13Speaker 1: at Apple Podcasts, SoundCloud or whatever podcast platform you prefer.
- 23:17Speaker 1: I'm pim Fox. I'm on Twitter at pim Fox. I'm
- 23:21Speaker 1: on Twitter at Lisa Abramo wits one. Before the podcast,
- 23:24Speaker 1: you can always catch us worldwide on Bloomberg Radio.