Talking Wealth

On this episode of The Unlock, Ben Carlson is joined by Fred Barstein to discuss the growing importance of defined contribution retirement plans for financial advisors and how you can better position yourself to gain more clients. Fred is the founder and CEO of The Plan Sponsor University, which offers online and live workplace retirement plan education for business owners, benefits specialists an...

On the latest episode of Ben with Benefits, Ben Carlson spoke with Morningstar’s Director of Personal Finance and Retirement Planning, Christine Benz. Christine is also the author of the new book How to Retire. Ben and Christine discuss some of the biggest challenges and opportunities for financial advisors with the tidal wave of baby boomer assets that need to be managed in retirement. They dive...

On this episode of The Unlock, Downtown Josh Brown is joined by Samantha Russell, to discuss the eight marketing moves advisors can make today. Samantha is the Chief Evangelist at FMG Suite, an all-in-one financial advisor marketing platform that provides marketing tools and custom websites for advisors to grow their business. For more from The Unlock, sign up at: https://www.advisorunlock.com/ Th...

On this episode of The Unlock, Downtown Josh Brown and Michael Batnick are joined by financial planner and fintech expert Jason Pereira to discuss the current state of technology in the wealth management industry. Jason explains what he looks for in a technology provider, how advisors are using software and what's happening in the wealth tech startup space. For more from The Unlock, sign up at: ht...

Welcome to the first episode of The Unlock's new show, Ben with Benefits! Ben Carlson is joined by Shawn O'Brien, Director of Retirement at Cerulli Associates, to discuss the massive opportunities for financial advisors to grow their business in the defined contribution retirement plan space. Thanks to YCharts for sponsoring this episode. Follow the link to unlock exclusive access to downloadable...

On this episode of The Unlock, Downtown Josh Brown and Michael Batnick are joined by Alec Crawford to discuss the future of financial advice, how AI will be used by most advisors, and the critical role of AI cybersecurity in the financial industry. For more from The Unlock, sign up at: https://www.advisorunlock.com/ This episode is sponsored by Wealthbox®, a CRM platform for financial advisors. In...

On this episode of Ben with Benefits, Nick Maggiulli joins Ben Carlson to discuss their thoughts on the timing of an inheritance, the psychology behind spending & giving in retirement, how advisors can help bridge the generational gap, the best giving strategies, how to think about the inheritance puzzle and more! This episode is sponsored by Betterment Advisor Solutions. Grow your RIA, your way b...

On this episode of Ben with Benefits, Ben Carlson speaks with Bill Bengen, creator of the famed “4% rule,” to revisit the groundbreaking research he published over 30 years ago and answer the question on every retired client’s mind: Does the 4% rule still hold up today? They share insights about misconceptions about the 4% rule, what a “safe” withdrawal rate actually means, why so many retirees st...

On this episode of Ben with Benefits, Ben Carlson speaks with Scott Rick, author of Tightwads & Spendthrifts, to explore the psychology of spending. They discuss why most financial advice ignores the emotional side of money, how your spending habits are shaped, and why helping clients actually spend their wealth is one of the biggest challenges for financial advisors today. This episode is sponsor...

Welcome back to Talking Wealth. Today, we’re going to be talking about the future of AI and financial advice. I won’t bury the lede. Artificial intelligence has the potential to do to financial advisors what the comet did to dinosaurs. The financial advice my children get won’t be delivered by human beings the same way it is today. I couldn’t think of a better person to have on than my friend Dave...

On this episode of Ben with Benefits, Ben Carlson speaks with Carl Richards, author of The Behavior Gap and one of the most influential voices in financial advice, about challenges advisors face including: what advisors secretly worry about beyond the markets, how to create authentic content that connects with clients, how to have difficult conversations with your clients, the lessons he learned f...

On this episode of Talking Wealth, Ritholtz Wealth Management CEO Josh Brown and Altruist Founder and CEO Jason Wenk have a live conversation for an audience of financial advisors at Future Proof Festival 2025 in Huntington Beach, California. In this discussion, Josh and Jason reveal some of the latest developments involving portfolio management, financial advice, brokerage custody, investing tool...

On this episode of Talking Wealth, Josh Brown is joined by Michael Kitces, one of the most influential financial advisors in America. Michael is the Head of Planning Strategy for Buckingham Wealth Partners, Co-Founder of the XY Planning Network, and publisher of the blog Nerd’s Eye View. The guys discuss the CFP Board, which controls the CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ standard and manages the organi...

On this episode of Talking Wealth, Michael Batnick is joined by Justin Fitzpatrick, co-founder and chief innovation officer of Income Lab — a platform that’s rethinking retirement income planning for advisors and their clients. Justin’s work sits at the intersection of technology, behavioral finance, and real-world retirement challenges, helping advisors deliver smarter, more adaptive plans that r...

On this episode of The Unlock, Michael Batnick is joined by Meb Faber, CEO of Cambria Investment Management, to discuss 351 ETF conversions and how they allow investors to exchange concentrated positions in individual securities for a diversified portfolio without immediate tax implications. Sign up for The Unlock newsletter and never miss out: https://www.advisorunlock.com Participants include em...

On today’s episode of Ben with Benefits, Ben Carlson is joined by Pontera’s Senior Director of Public Policy, Ben White to discuss Pontera’s new 401(k) Literacy Survey and how it helps you understand what 401(k) investors are looking for when it comes to financial advice, how financial advisors can improve investor confidence, how to ask better questions, the biggest problem areas for retirement i...

Downtown Josh Brown is joined by Founder of 9I Capital Group Kevin Thompson to discuss The TikTok financial advice epidemic, building an ecosystem your clients won't leave, attaining media features for advisor credibility and much more! For more from The Unlock, sign up at: https://www.advisorunlock.com/ Participants include employees of Ritholtz Wealth Management. All opinions expressed by them a...

On this episode of Talking Wealth, Michael Batnick sits down with Michael Lane, Head of Asset Management and an Executive Vice President at SEI, to dive into the evolving landscape of financial advice and advisor platforms. Lane shares his perspective on how RIAs can scale, compete, and thrive in a rapidly changing environment, and why SEI is doubling down on technology, custody, and operational s...

Today we’re talking with Wes Gray, founder of Alpha Architect, about one of the most interesting new investment products to hit the market — the 351 Exchange Fund. If you’ve got a big, concentrated stock position and don’t want to get clobbered by taxes when you diversify, this is something you’ll want to hear about. Wes breaks down how this structure works, why they launched it, and what it could...

Welcome to Talking Wealth, where we cover the biggest trends in the wealth management industry. Today we’re diving into one of the biggest decisions a financial advisor will ever face: Should you sell your business — and if so, how do you do it right? John Phoenix, founder and partner at Wealth advisor Growth Network, and longtime advisor advocate, joins us to unpack the real trade-offs behind M&A...

Today on Talking Wealth, Join Josh Brown and special guest Kevin Thompson for a ride through the CFP subreddit as they answer questions no one asked them to. In this episode, Josh and Kevin discuss whether or not an advisor must build a "holistic" practice, how a firm can train its younger advisors, whether the hourly billing business model works for large clients and what the future of financial...

Welcome to Talking Wealth, where we cover the biggest trends in the wealth management industry. RIAs have evolved from mom and pop store fronts to bonafide businesses. A big part of that evolution has been powered by more technology. But one of the downsides to that is we're using in some cases literally a dozen companies or more to perform various functions. With information spread out all over t...

On this episode of Talking Wealth, Josh Brown sits down with Kevin Thompson to break down the 3 biggest reasons clients leave their financial advisors. For more from The Unlock, sign up at: https://www.advisorunlock.com/ Participants include employees of Ritholtz Wealth Management. All opinions expressed by them are solely their own opinions and do not reflect the opinion of Ritholtz Wealth Manage...

On today’s episode of Talking Wealth, Michael Batnick will be speaking with Tim White and Danny Lohrfink, two of the four co-founders of wealth.com. Danny is the Chief Product Officer, and Tim is the Chief Growth Officer. We’ll explore some of the biggest trends shaping what we do every day, including practice management, M&A, asset management, technology, and everything in between. Wealth.com is...

Welcome to Talking Wealth, where we cover the biggest trends in the wealth management industry. Custodians have traditionally been one of the most boring rungs of the RIA tech ladder. They watch over our clients assets, help us trade, facilitate billing, and provide all sorts of other essential services. The landscape is dominated by two giant incumbents; Fidelity and Charles Schwab. But there's a...