Visionary Advisor

Advisors have heard it for decades: robots and technology are coming for your job, so what actually keeps you indispensable in a world awash with AI, automation, and fee compression? In this episode of Visionary Advisor, host Alex Kirby (founder of Total Family ) welcomes Rich Ryffel , Professor of Finance Practice and Executive Director of Business Leadership at Purdue University, Mitch Daniels S...

When a spouse dies or a marriage ends, most women leave their advisor.  The real risk isn’t lost assets — it’s lost trust and connection that should never have been a single point of failure. In this episode of Visionary Advisor, hosted by Alex Kirby (founder of Total Family ), guests Katie Randall and Lisa Jones of Prime Capital Financial bring decades of experience working with women, couples, a...

AI isn’t coming for advisors’ jobs. It is quietly reshaping what clients expect, how firms differentiate, and where true value lies. The challenge is simple: will you be transparent about the technology supporting your work or let clients fill in the blanks themselves? In this episode of Visionary Advisor, Alex Kirby (founder of Total Family ) sits down with Mat Matthews , Chief Product and Engine...

Even the wealthiest families can be unprepared for their own complexity. Most advisors aren’t trained to handle what matters most: communication, culture, and preparing the next generation for leadership. In this episode of Visionary Advisor, Alex Kirby (founder of Total Family ) is joined by Mark Tepsich , co-author of the UBS Family Enterprise Governance Report . Mark and Alex dive into what gov...

Legacy letters give families the words that outlast any estate plan. Blake Brewer, founder of the Legacy Letter Challenge, joins Alex Kirby to show how wealth advisors can make this practice standard for every HNW client without it feeling heavy or hard to start. If legacy conversations are missing from your client relationships, this is the episode that changes that. Death can come shockingly fas...

Intergenerational wealth is about far more than money. Legendary family wealth author James E. Hughes returns to Visionary Advisor to walk through the full capital stack: human, intellectual, social, and financial. Advisors who understand complete family wealth are the ones multigenerational families trust and keep for decades. Wealth that isn’t lived as wellbeing is a tragedy—one advisors help wr...

When a family loses someone, the grief tax is real, and most wealth advisors are not equipped to help carry it. Ron Gura, CEO of Empathy, joins Alex Kirby to discuss what HNW clients actually need from their advisors during loss and how showing up in those moments builds the kind of trust that survives generations. This conversation will change how you think about client care and legacy planning....

Harris Poll data shows what HNW families expect from the great wealth transfer, and most advisors are missing the mark on what those families care about most. The research makes clear that values, relationships, and legacy conversations rank higher in client priorities than the financial mechanics of wealth transfer. Advisors who understand this shift are far better positioned to retain rising gen...

HNW clients talk about their wealth advisors to each other, and most advisors have no idea what those conversations sound like. Matt Shechtman of Long Angle, a private community for high net worth investors, joins Alex Kirby to share candid data on how these clients evaluate and compare advisors in private. If you want to understand what drives HNW client loyalty and referrals, this episode gives...

Legacy is the defining work of a great wealth advisor. Robert Balentine, CEO of Balentine, has spent decades building a firm rooted in values-based advising and multigenerational planning. He joins Alex Kirby to discuss what separates advisors who become trusted family institutions from those who get replaced when the next generation inherits. Some names in wealth management are respected. A few a...

HNW clients know they need an estate plan, but most still delay taking action. David York of Entrusted joins Alex Kirby to explain why the barrier is almost never information, it is inspiration. He shares a practical framework for advisors to open legacy conversations in a way that motivates clients to follow through on the planning that protects their family wealth. What if the problem with estat...

Family mission statements are going mainstream, and the Wall Street Journal is covering it. Whitney Webb of Cresset joins Alex Kirby to explain why this matters for wealth advisors working with multigenerational families and how documented family values make both family governance more durable and advisors more indispensable to the process. Since the Wall Street Journal is writing about Family Mis...

How do HNW families decide between a multifamily office and a wealth advisor? Rachel Hyman of Family Wealth Alliance brings clear, research-backed perspective on where the line is, what services families actually value, and how independent wealth advisors can compete for and retain the most complex multigenerational client relationships. The term “multifamily office” gets used by nearly every weal...

Capgemini's global wealth data shows the great wealth transfer is accelerating faster than most advisors realize. P.V. Narayan joins Alex Kirby to share what the numbers reveal about rising gen expectations, advisor retention risk, and the window of opportunity that exists right now for advisors who lead with family wealth strategy rather than portfolio management alone. Over the next two dec...

Ultra-high-net-worth clients carry emotional weight their advisors rarely see. Ken Haman of the AB Advisor Institute has spent years researching the psychological dimensions of wealth and joins Alex Kirby to translate that research into practical guidance. Advisors who understand the emotional journey of HNW clients build deeper relationships, have harder conversations, and keep families across ge...

Legacy isn’t just what you leave behind—Estate planning is broken for most families, and Cody Barbo built Trust and Will to fix it. He joins Alex Kirby to discuss how digital estate planning tools are changing what wealth advisors can offer clients, why legacy planning has to start earlier, and how advisors can use this moment to deepen relationships with both current clients and the rising gen. i...

Silence around wealth isn’t harmless—itTransparency inside a family office builds trust across generations, but most families and their advisors do not know how to structure it well. Luke Jernagan of Matter Family Office joins Alex Kirby to discuss what effective transparency looks like in practice: what to share, what to hold, and how family governance frameworks help wealth advisors guide these...

For experienced advisors serving ultra-hFee models for family wealth advisors are changing, and the old AUM-only structure is losing ground with sophisticated HNW clients. Paul Ferguson of Schwab Advisor Family Office joins Alex Kirby to break down the fee models that align best with multigenerational planning relationships, what clients expect to pay for, and how advisors can have the fee convers...

In an industry often dominated by spreadValues-based advising is how Glenn Spencer built Prime Capital into one of the most recognized wealth advisory firms in the country. He joins Alex Kirby for a candid conversation about what it means to lead a firm around family values, how that philosophy shapes client relationships from onboarding through intergenerational wealth transfer, and why this is t...

Family wealth exists to serve human flourishing, not the other way around. In this debut episode of Visionary Advisor, Alex Kirby sits down with James E. Hughes, one of the most influential voices in multigenerational wealth planning, to explore what it means for a wealth advisor to truly serve a family. Jay's framework for wealth as well-being reshapes how advisors think about their purpose,...