I owe a big thank you to all of the judges who help us each year vet the nominations for our WealthManagement.com Industry Awards, casually known as the #wealthies.
With the #wealthies, we set out to recognize the best business initiatives of the year (brand new or improved) that help financial advisors succeed. It could be a tech platform, an educational program, a business process, investment fund or research—if it helps advisors create better outcomes for their clients and grow their businesses, it’s in the mix.
We recently announced the finalists for 2019. Our panel of judges spent two days in our conference room vetting 650 nominations submitted by 262 companies. It still amazes me that there’s so much good work being done on behalf of advisors and their clients.
I won’t name all the judges here; you can find them on our website. But I want to single out two new additions, each from large, respected RIA firms. It made sense to me that if we are looking for initiatives that help advisors, who better than advisors themselves to help make those determinations? A big thank you to Greg Friedman, the founder and CEO of Private Ocean (and a previous #wealthies winner), and Michael Kossman, partner, chief operating officer and compliance head of Aspiriant. Both gave invaluable insight into what wealth management firms need from the marketplace.
That said, our judges also cause me problems—they take their mission seriously, and they’re brutal! Of the 262 companies that submitted, only 166 are represented on the finalist list. A lot of good stuff wound up on the cutting room floor—and I’m usually the one who gets asked why. Sometimes, the judges just weren’t persuaded. But just as often, nominations that had merit but weren’t awarded “finalist” status didn’t make the cut for one of two reasons: The judges couldn’t determine what was “new” or “improved” about a particular initiative, or the initiative was so new, it hadn’t yet found any traction in the real world.
It’s that question of traction that makes me excited when I think about the #wealthies alongside our newest program, the Thrive Awards. I see a virtuous circle. The Thrive Awards are an effort to create a verified, transparent list of the fastest growing financial advisors in the United States. Not the biggest, not the oldest, and—most importantly—judged not by the growth of AUM, but by revenue. That levels the playing field and lets smaller, younger practices compete.
So, on one hand we have companies that help advisors grow; on the other, with the Thrive designation, we have advisors that are engaged, successful and in verified growth mode, with a lot of runway ahead of them.
I’m not 100% sure how these dots get connected, but we advocate for advisors here so I have a suggestion: For those custodians, broker/dealers and tech providers that claim to help advisors grow, get as many of your users as you can on the Thrive list—maybe even help them fill out the (easy) entry form (entries accepted until middle of July). A significant presence on that list would help you prove your value to advisors—and perhaps to our judges as well.
David Armstrong
Editor-In-Chief