With the need for inclusivity a theme of this week's Future Proof Conference, financial advisors at "the world's first wealth management festival" received a reinvigorated roadmap for how to change the industry.
In a panel, Renée Baker, Raymond James' head of advisor inclusion networks for the Private Client Group, 2022 CFP Board Chair Kamila Elliott and 401 Financial Founder Tyrone Ross shared how advisors and firms can alter the industry's
Future Proof — an event held by Ritholtz Wealth Management and Advisor Circle next to the sand and waves of Huntington Beach, California — has attracted a younger and more diverse group of 2,200 attendees than is usually present at industry events. A
Panelists said that advisors should start from the simple principle that it's wrong to exclude people and block access to wealth-building tools, then acknowledge that America's shifting demographics signal a multicultural future that's
"There's no better time than now to be able to start to break and disrupt the status quo of what it means to be in this industry," Baker said. "And as we're having this conversation at this event that is also disrupting what it means to be at an event, I think there's no better time for that."
Firms can remove those traditional barriers by using subscription or hourly fees that make it more feasible for practices to serve customers whose investable assets wouldn't be high enough to make meaningful profits on the standard 1% charge, Elliott said. She and three other Black CFPs launched Atlanta-based Collective Wealth Partners earlier this year. Firms can also hire more CFPs who are Black, Hispanic, Asian American, LGBTQ or other minorities. Better cultural understanding, such as preferred terminology or pronouns and respecting clients' wishes to donate to a church or charity, can also help boost access for historically excluded groups.
"If you're going to work with different households, if you're going to expand your reach, if you're going to follow the demographics and how they're moving right now in the U.S., you need to understand these cultures," Elliott said. "One thing I always tell people who want to be a financial advisor, I say, 'You always have to have intellectual curiosity.' It can never stop. Your learning and your desire to learn more will never stop."
Those insights are a notable contrast to the stories that the panelists shared of often being the only Black person on training teams when they started their careers — something Elliott experienced when she started at Vanguard more than 20 years ago. Ross resigned as
Advisors and wealth managers have the opportunity to shape a different future for the next generation of professionals and clients, the panelists said.
"I walked into Merrill Lynch completely financially illiterate, and I didn't have an example," Ross said. "Our visuals are important. If we change what little girls and boys can see, they would know that this is a possibility for them. But they've got to see it. If I see it, I can be it.
