The world’s economy is getting ready to witness the Great Wealth Transfer as baby boomers are about to receive $84 trillion as an inheritance. To capture this wealth that is reaching the tech-savvy generation, banks are ready to open new budgets, with fintech assisting through innovations. But the industry most awaited for this moment in history is private wealth management.
What Is Wealth Management?
Wealth management refers to the services offered by financial experts who provide investment advice, tax management services, retirement planning, and estate planning. Here, the wealth manager sits down with a client to discuss their future goals, risk tolerance, and restrictions regarding investments to create a portfolio. Based on this portfolio, the advisor derives an investment strategy that aims to maintain and increase the client’s wealth over time.
With a 100-year-old history behind it, the wealth management industry is infamous for catering only to the wealthy and is now a popular service offered by banks and private firms. While these firms ran after HENRYs (Highly Earning, Not Rich Yet), the integration of fintech brought the democratization of financial management the world deserved.
Financial Health Taking A Turn
After the 2009 financial crisis, the industry hit a positive turn when the focus shifted to the application of technology, stringent regulations, and renewed customer demands. A decade later, the pandemic marked another radical turn by accelerating digital transformations through fintech. With each of these turning points, economists marked an increase in the number of High Net Worthy Individuals (HNWI) and their total wealth. With these profit-yielding prospects lined up, the firms were forced to meet the demands for specific services and products the HNWIs demanded.
The traditional technique of meeting one-on-one and shaking hands on a decision made after months of meet-ups is no longer the only route for wealth management. The subsidiary of fintech, Wealthtech, has brought a radical shift by integrating technology with wealth management which tremendously improves efficiency and reduces the cost and time involved.
Wealthtech integrated innovations including artificial intelligence and large data-analyzing capabilities assisted by stringent compliance with the regulations of organizations like FINRA (Financial Industry Regulatory Authority).
When Private Wealth Management Met Wealthtech
From Wealthtech came the democratizing factor in the private wealth management industry – Robo-Advisors. Robo-Advisors are platforms developed by Wealthtech that lean on algorithms and automation to create portfolios and investment strategies for users. It decreased the minimum investment amount by almost 90%, drastically reducing the annual fee for the users. With little to no human interaction, robo-advisors transformed global business investments through its cheap, high-quality financial advice to laymen.
According to Statista, the data collecting online platform, the assets under the control of Robo-advisors are expected to reach $2.76 trillion (about $8,500 per person in the US) by 2023. These platforms allow fully digital interactions where the interaction can be conducted completely between the Robo-advisor and the client. They also offer hybrid interactions where the algorithm-driven insights derived by the robo-advisor are analyzed by a wealth manager to make a decision.
Although Robo-advisors brought wealth management to every earning individual across the world, they are not devoid of risks. The investment strategy derived by Robo-advisors is only as good as the data fed into them. Therefore, there is an over-reliance on adequate and precise data which could be misleading if altered.
Another risk a client of robo-advisors must look out for is privacy issues. With most of the client’s data being online, the Robo-advisors are extremely vulnerable to cyber-attacks. Therefore, it is crucial for clients to ensure that their advisors have strong data protection procedures intact to keep them safe. A major investment firm malpractice observed through Robo-advisors is the creation of a bias. Through manipulation of data, the firms sell investment products of their liking to users behind the guise of unbiased and neutral Robo-advisors. Therefore, every client, the rich, HNWI, or the middle class, must conduct thorough research before selecting their investment partner.
Years before the launch of the first Robo-advisor, Wealthtech introduced digital trading platforms. They offered software systems with an easy-to-use platform that allows users to manage shares, bonds, cryptocurrencies, and other financial instruments online. It gave the aspirational class better access to the market, with access to real-time data, new tools to assist, and constantly updated data research. Digital trading platforms gave users complete of their money and vanished the trouble of affording mediator fees. With several additional services, these trading platforms are now available to users in the form of mobile money management apps or, to be precise, do-it-yourself apps. The apps help the user manage their budgets while keeping an eye out for their financial health. These apps also depend on Machine Learning technologies to supervise their users’ spending and investing habits while assuring convenience and personalization.
With the “Great Wealth Transfer” at the doorstep, the wealth management industry can no longer rely on annual in-person meetings with clients. Clients now expect information on their investments whenever and wherever they want it. Wealthtech can close the gap between low-tech supported wealth managers and their tech-savvy clientele with a perfect partnering of financial services and technology.
Today, the private wealth management industry is not limited to advise or consulting for the rich. It is the decision-maker of every user’s future financial health and wealthtech is the equalizer of the journey toward it.
