Tag: Independent Advisors

Building a Private-bank-like Experience for Independent Advisors with Max Lane (Ep. 20)

Building a Private-bank-like Experience for Independent Advisors with Max Lane (Ep. 20)

Holistic advice is becoming more common, but many clients still experience a gap between planning and actual implementation.

What happens when advisors can support not only investments, but also cash, lending, annuities, and other major financial decisions with a more connected client experience?

In this episode, Thomas Manetta talks with Max Lane, CEO of Flourish, about how independent advisors can broaden their value beyond portfolio management. They explore Flourish’s approach to cash accounts, mortgage and refinance solutions, annuity support, and AI-enabled execution tools. The conversation also focuses on helping advisors stay involved in major client decisions, strengthening relationships, improving the client experience, and creating a more complete private bank style offering for RIAs.

Key takeaways:

  • Why independent advisors need better tools to implement advice across cash, lending, and insurance needs
  • How Flourish Cash helps advisors capture held-away cash while offering yield and added FDIC protection
  • What makes Flourish Lending competitive, from rate pricing to refinance monitoring and advisor involvement
  • How annuity analysis and service support can help advisors review existing contracts with more confidence
  • Where AI, integrations, and execution tools may help advisors deliver a more connected client experience
  • And more!

Connect with Thomas Manetta: 

Connect with Max Lane: 

About our Guest: 

A founding member of the Flourish team, Max is passionate about financial technology and its ability to help more Americans secure their financial futures and has spent his career developing solutions to further this goal. Max began his career in wealth management with the International Private Equity Services team at UBS, and then joined Openfolio, a personal investing startup later acquired by Stone Ridge Holdings Group. In 2017 Max was part of the team within Stone Ridge that created Flourish.

First as a head of the product group, Max was a key driver of the development and launch of Flourish Cash and Flourish Crypto, leading cross-functional teams from strategy to execution. As CEO, Max continues to lead Flourish in driving growth and building technology solutions for RIAs that help them better serve their clients.

Max is a sought-after speaker and industry thought leader who has been featured on the Barron’s Advisor Podcast, CBS Money Watch, Financial Planning and other publications.

Max holds a degree in History and Spanish from the University of San Diego and was the recipient of a Fulbright Scholarship to study in Madrid.

Why Advisor Onboarding Is Broken and How Tech Is Changing the Game with John Finney, CFP® (Ep. 15)

Why Advisor Onboarding Is Broken and How Tech Is Changing the Game with John Finney, CFP® (Ep. 15)

Most advisors do not lose prospects because of advice quality; they lose them because the process feels slow, confusing, or outdated before trust ever has a chance to form.

In this episode, Thomas Manetta sits down with John Finney, CFP®, Co-Founder of Overvue, to pull back the curtain on one of the most overlooked friction points in financial services: onboarding. Together, they explore how the way advisors gather information sets the tone for trust, confidence, and long-term relationships.

Thomas and John discuss:

  • Why onboarding is often the biggest hidden bottleneck in advisory firms
  • How outdated paperwork and manual processes impact client perception
  • The role client experience plays in advisor retention and growth
  • What frictionless onboarding looks like for both tech-savvy and non-tech clients
  • Why scalable, independent advisory practices are becoming more realistic
  • And more!

Connect with Thomas Manetta: 

Connect with John Finney:

About our Guest: 

John Finney is the Co-Founder of Overvue, a platform built to simplify and modernize the onboarding experience between financial advisors and clients. With a background in wealth management, John focuses on solving real operational problems that improve efficiency, accuracy, and client experience.

Building the Future of Advice with Jason Wenk (Ep. 11)

Building the Future of Advice with Jason Wenk (Ep. 11)

What happens when the infrastructure of financial services finally catches up to the modern world of cloud, APIs, and AI?

In this episode of Behind the Curtain Finance, host Thomas Manetta sits down with Jason Wenk, founder and CEO of Altruist, the first fully integrated digital custodian designed for independent advisors. Together, they explore how technology is reshaping financial services, from APIs and microservices to agent-based AI support like Hazel and paraplanners.

Thomas and Jason discuss:

  • Why legacy financial infrastructure holds advisors back, and how vertical integration changes the game
  • The role of APIs and cloud-native architecture in building seamless advisor and client experiences
  • How AI agents may transform operations, scale, and client outcomes in the next 24 months
  • Why the future of advice depends on empathy, authenticity, and human connection, even in a tech-driven world
  • And more!

Resources:

Connect with Thomas Manetta: 

Connect with Jason Wenk:

About our Guest:

Jason Wenk is the founder and CEO of Altruist, the first custodian built intentionally from the ground up to support independent financial advisors who want to do the best possible work for their clients with as few conflicts as possible.

The Future of Custodianship: Transparency, Technology, and Trust (Ep. 10)

The Future of Custodianship: Transparency, Technology, and Trust (Ep. 10)

What if the very institutions holding your money were competing against you?

In this episode of Behind the Curtain Finance, Thomas Manetta pulls back the curtain on the hidden conflicts of traditional Wall Street custodians and how a new era of transparency and technology is reshaping the way advisors and clients interact with their money.

Thomas discusses:

  • The history of custodianship, from banks in the Gilded Age to today’s RIAs
  • Why discount brokerages like Schwab and Fidelity disrupted the status quo
  • How independent custodians, such as Altruist, are removing conflicts of interest
  • The role of AI in transforming how clients and advisors see their financial lives
  • Why younger advisors are demanding independence and ownership in their careers
  • And more!

Resources:

Connect with Thomas Manetta: