AI for Advisors

What if advisors have been approaching financial planning the wrong way all along? In this episode of AI for Advisors , James Cantwell and Mark Heynen are joined by Jeff Coyle, Founder & CEO of Libretto , to discuss why advisors should be managing total wealth —not just investment portfolios. Jeff explains how his experience serving ultra-high-net-worth families led to a new planning methodolo...

AI is reshaping financial advice—but not in the way many expected. Mike Barrasso of WealthReach and Matt Halloran of Zocks join Mark Heynen and James Cantwell to discuss what advisors are actually doing with AI today, why branding matters more than ever, and how AI assistants are moving beyond simple note taking. Midway through the episode, Derrick Kinney makes a surprise appearance to share his p...

Private markets are becoming more accessible—but the infrastructure supporting them hasn't always kept pace. James Cantwell and Mark Heynen are joined by Logan Henderson, Founder & CEO of Gridline , to discuss how AI and modern technology are transforming alternatives operations, due diligence, and reporting. They explore the challenges RIAs face when implementing private market programs,...

In this episode of AI for Advisors, Mark Heynen and James Cantwell sit down with Jason Quinn @ Advisor360° and Dr. Joshua Wilson @ Neubefi to talk about where AI is really taking advisor technology. The conversation explores how AI may reshape the wealthtech stack, why firms may move away from fragmented point solutions, and how AI-native operating systems could change the way advisors work. Jason...

AI is moving from hype into infrastructure. In this episode of AI for Advisors, Mark and James sit down with Alex Schlesinger of Advent to discuss what it actually looks like to build AI inside a large enterprise WealthTech organization — and why most firms are still approaching AI the wrong way. The conversation explores the tension between innovation and legacy systems, how large firms think abo...

Most advisors want to serve business owners — but many still lack the tools, data, and confidence to advise them well. In this episode of AI for Advisors , Mark Heynen and James Cantwell talk with Jason Early, Founder & CEO of RISR , about why business owners remain one of the biggest missed opportunities in wealth management. They discuss how advisors can move beyond rough business valuations...

In this episode of AI for Advisors, Mark and James sit down with Allen Darby, Founder and CEO of Alaris Acquisitions, to discuss how AI is beginning to reshape the future of RIAs, M&A, and wealth management operations. Allen shares insights from years of advising RIA transactions, including how buyers evaluate firms, why cultural fit matters more than price alone, and how AI could eventually i...

Most AI conversations in wealth management focus on efficiency. This one is about something harder: growth without breaking trust. In this episode of AI for Advisors, Eden Ovadia, founder of FINNY, shares how he’s building a modern, AI-native experience for financial advice — while staying grounded in the reality that trust is still the product. The conversation explores why most AI growth strateg...

Most advisor technology isn’t broken because it lacks features. It’s broken because it’s solving the wrong problem. In this episode of AI for Advisors , Mark Heynen and James Cantwell sit down with Churni Bhattacharya, Chief Product Officer at Amplify , to unpack why so much wealthtech fails to deliver real impact—and how AI is forcing a rethink of how advisor platforms should actually be built. I...

In this episode of AI for Advisors , Mark and James sit down with Haik Sahakyan and George Guidotti from Arca to talk about the reality of deploying AI in production environments. While the hype cycle continues, this conversation brings a grounded perspective on what actually works—and what doesn’t. What we cover: Why AI struggles in production Real-world deployment challenges Where AI delivers va...

In this episode of AI for Advisors , Mark Heynen and James Cantwell sit down with Derek Notman to tackle one of the biggest unanswered questions in wealth management today: Where should advisors draw the line with AI? As AI tools make it easier than ever to generate content, automate outreach, and scale communication, the line between authentic and artificial is getting blurry. Derek brings a stro...

In this episode of AI for Advisors , Mark Heynen and James Cantwell sit down with Larry Shumbres , founder and CEO of Archive Intel , to talk about one of the most urgent and underappreciated areas in wealth management AI: compliance . The conversation starts with the SEC’s recent enforcement actions and the growing pressure on firms to properly capture and supervise off-channel communications. La...

In this episode of AI for Advisors , Mark Heynen and James Cantwell sit down with John L. Connell , co-founder and CEO of Focal , to explore where AI in wealth management is actually headed. The conversation starts with some humor and quickly gets into the big questions shaping the category: What does agentic AI really mean? How is it different from simple generative AI or meeting summaries? And w...

In this “Canuck episode” of AI for Advisors , Mark Heynen and James Cantwell are joined by Jason Pereira and Ken Lotocki for a distinctly Canadian perspective on AI in wealth management. From adoption and compliance to planning software and product design, they explain why the conversation north of the border is different — and where US firms may be getting distracted by hype. Jason brings the ske...

Ritik Malhotra shares insights on AI culture shock, his background, and the challenges of transitioning from tech entrepreneurship to wealth management. He discusses the advantages of an outsider's perspective in the industry and the challenges of implementing innovative solutions in the wealth management space. The conversation digs into the challenges of client transitions, the hybrid approach i...

In this conversation, Michael Kitces discusses various themes surrounding the intersection of AI, social media, and financial advisory. The discussion begins with light-hearted banter about blue shirts and transitions into serious topics such as LinkedIn's connection limits, the future of social media, and the impact of AI on the advisory industry. Kitces shares insights on productivity in fin...

In this episode of AI for Advisors , Mark Heynen and James Cantwell talk with Jason Wenk, founder and CEO of Altruist, about building a modern custody platform from scratch and why infrastructure matters more than software. They discuss Jason’s journey from FormulaFolios’ 14,000% growth to raising nearly half a billion dollars for Altruist, his early (failed) attempts to pitch AI to advisors in 20...

In this episode of AI for Advisors , Mark Heynen and James Cantwell talk with Rajesh Jayaraman, founder and CEO of Flextract, about solving wealth management’s most painful onboarding problem. Rajesh shares his journey from Yodlee and Ellevest to tackling the document-heavy nightmare that forces advisors into three-meeting cadences lasting months. They discuss why Google Gemini won the model race...

In this episode of AI for Advisors, Mark Heynen and James Cantwell welcome two founders building critical AI infrastructure for wealth management: Max Klein, co-founder and CEO of LEA, and Mike Wilson, CEO of Hamachi.ai. Fresh from the Advise AI conference in Vegas, the group digs into the backend systems that power front-office tools—from client data orchestration to compliant email drafting. The...

In this episode of AI for Advisors , Mark Heynen and James Cantwell talks with Ryan Eisenman, CEO of Arch, which builds digital admin infrastructure for private markets, and Jacob Miller, Chief Solutions Officer of Opto Investments, a curated investment access platform for advisors. They discuss the infrastructure pain points holding back advisor adoption, Opto’s rigorous 1.4% fund approval rate,...

In this episode, Mark and James speak with Victoria Toli , Co-founder and President of Finny , and Arnulf Hsu , Founder and CEO of GReminders , about how AI is redefining client acquisition and engagement in the wealth management industry amid the $100 trillion Great Wealth Transfer. Victoria shares how Finny helps advisors achieve true organic growth through AI-driven, hyper-personalized outreach...

Explore the forefront of AI for wealthtech with insights from industry leaders at the Advise AI conference. This episode features conversations with representatives from Orion, CommuniFi, Mutify, Knapsack, Conquest Planning, Fini, Syntax, Alpathena, FinMate AI, Advisor CRM, AIdentified, Meetings Hub, and Egnyte. Discover how these companies are revolutionizing data management, client engagement, a...

In this conversation, Joe Moss discusses the evolving landscape of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems in the context of artificial intelligence (AI). He identifies two main categories of AI integration: integrated AI CRMs and AI overlays. Moss emphasizes that larger Registered Investment Advisors (RIAs) are more likely to adopt AI features as overlays rather than switching to entirely...

What happens when AI gives legal advice — and gets it wrong? In this episode, Mark Heynen and James Cantwell sit down with Matt Morris and Mike Bennett from Encore Estate Plans to unpack their viral study comparing ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, and Google AI to human estate-planning experts . The results? Some bots aced the basics, others literally gave up halfway through. From hilarious “ChatGPT L...

In this episode of AI for Advisors , hosts Mark Heynen and James Cantwell welcome Reed Colley , President of Orion Advisor Technology, for a deep-dive into how Orion is driving AI innovation in wealth management. Reed, a seasoned entrepreneur and founder of Black Diamond and Summit Wealth Systems , shares insights from his journey—from startup “pirate” to leading a “Navy” of enterprise solutions....