July / August 2025 • www. fa-mag. com

KNOWLEDGE FOR THE SOPHISTICATED ADVISOR

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The next wave of advisors want their firms to help those in need.

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Sometimes, it’ s better to hold on to the debt, advisors say.

ESOPs: No Fables Here

Here’ s why business owners like employee stock ownership plans.

NYONE WHO DOESN’ T THINK AI IS LIKELY TO TRANSform the advisory business might want to read this month’ s cover story, the companion piece to FA’ s annual RIA survey. If the CEOs of the big RIA firms that senior editor Eric Rasmussen interviewed are right, it’ s those advisors who are building the forward-thinking platforms who will emerge as the big winners over the next five years.

As an advisor, you’ ve probably heard statistics about the looming advisor shortage more times than you need to. While many in the profession are working overtime to find and develop young advisors, the executives running larger firms are turning to technology, particularly AI, to create tools that will enable existing advisors to serve many more clients.

Already, leading firms are using new generations of technology to prospect for those clients, onboard them, study their investments and analyze returns, as well as compile information about their overall financial situation. According to Susie Cranston, the president and chief operating officer of multi-family office Cresset, this trend will ultimately save hours of time, and thus free advisors for face time with the people who need them.

When it comes to the industry’ s Achilles’ heel, organic growth, one large aggregator, Mercer Advisors, isn’ t just encouraging its advisors to become more aggressive in client development. It has created an entire team of 100 client acquisition specialists whose sole job is to find new clients and match them up with those Mercer advisors who they believe are the best fits. That’ s a new approach to the organic problem and one that is likely to be emulated.

While many in the profession are working overtime to find and develop young advisors, the executives running larger firms are turning to technology, particularly AI.

As Al is introduced into the broader economy, the implications could be farreaching. Earlier this month, Rob Almeida, global investment strategist at MFS Investment Management, offered an intriguing perspective of how the next generation of technology, which he called Internet 3.0, is likely to diverge from conventional wisdom and market expectations.

Over the last 10 years, items like cloud computing that Almeida called Internet 2.0 proved highly profitable to a concentrated group of technology providers. But the more he studies AI, the more it looks to him like a commodity— or“ a solution in search of a problem.”

In his view, the value is likely to accrue to the consumer rather than the operator.“ The commercial application of AI won’ t look anything like Internet 2.0,” he predicts. If he’ s right, it could be bad news for technology stocks and good news for users like advisors.

Evan Simonoff

Email me at esimonoff @ famagazine. com with your opinion.

8 | FINANCIAL ADVISOR MAGAZINE | JULY / AUGUST 2025 WWW. FA-MAG. COM