Wow, wow, wow! There’s no other way to sum up what over 4,000 people just experienced at the third annual Future Proof Festival in Huntington Beach this week.
As someone involved in planning and executing this event for the past three years, I was completely blown away by how it has grown while maintaining a level of personalization and intimacy that no other industry conference can touch. Imagine SXSW mixed with a hint of Burning Man, then add every colleague and thought leader in wealth management you could hope to see mingling outside in the southern California sunshine. Throw in a rock concert headlined by the ultimate 90’s nostalgia band, Third Eye Blind, and you have Future Proof. In the end, you had to be there to understand truly. If you had FOMO from your social media earlier this week, sign up for the 2025 waitlist here.
I honestly don’t know how to write a proper recap, so I’ll do my best to mention the highlights.
On Sunday, CFA Institute President and CEO Marg Franklin kicked off the content by participating in a panel titled Future Proofing Wealth Management, moderated by RWM’s COO Nick Magguilli. I was glad to find Marg at the opening night reception and chat for a few minutes. The CFA Insitute is reshaping itself under her leadership, and we are lucky to have her at the helm. Josh took the stage to discuss his latest book – You Weren’t Supposed to See That – and shared incredibly poignant advice for those trying to market and build the wealth management businesses of tomorrow. He shared his experience of losing some freedom to share unfiltered opinions as our firm has grown. This point hit home for me. I hadn’t realized I felt the same way on a much smaller scale.
Speaking of the opening night reception, it was huge! Somehow I managed to bump into many old friends – Jeremy Schwartz, Joe Weisenthal, Sam Ro, JC Parets, Eric Flynn, Kai Wu, Nicole Casperson, and many more I am sure to have left off.
On Monday and Tuesday, I had emcee duties all over the festival. I love acting as a host, introducing speakers and topics, and making housekeeping announcements.
A key takeaway from a panel discussion on cybersecurity with Amy DeTolla, Mario Chilin, Shane Cummings, and Bart McDonough is that there is no shame in having a security breach. How you respond to an inevitable security breach matters, and practicing your game plan in advance is critical to that success. The SEC is considering requiring self-reporting breaches within 48 hours of discovery.
It was a treat to spend a few minutes with Chelsea Ransom-Cooper before she took the stage to discuss – Can Smaller RIAs Compete & Thrive – with Kevin Thompson of 9I Capital and Ryan Hughes of Bull Oak. Spoiler alert: of course, the most talented small firm leaders will both survive and thrive.
I moderated a panel on my favorite topic Tuesday morning, women and wealth. Three rockstar women in wealth management served as panelists: Laura Combs, MD, at Mercer Advisors; Cary Carbonaro, longtime thought leader in this space who has a book coming out next year; and Ashley Bleckner, who must be the secret weapon behind the growth of wealth management at Ellevest. We covered why women are likely to be the majority of wealth management clients in the not-too-distant future and how the industry needs to adapt to serve them. Spoiler alert – because women are soon to be the majority breadwinners, in addition to living longer than men (widows, heirs), and starting businesses at historically high rates. Tobias Salinger did a great job covering the panel for Financial Planning.
After introducing Phil Pearlman for a super important talk on why advisors need to take care of themselves, I ran down to the large stage to catch the end of The Compound and Friends podcast live with Peter Mallouk, CEO of Creative Planning. If I had to name one person outside of RWM I look to for advice about our industry, it would be Peter. He aims to make Creative Planning the first household name independent advisory firm. I am excited for a future where firms like Creative and, dare I say, Ritholtz Wealth are name brands like Merrill Lynch or Morgan Stanley. It’s a joy to watch Mallouk’s eye-popping success, especially given how genuinely “Midwest nice” he is. I can’t wait to listen to his entire TCAF episode when it drops on Friday morning.
I missed some heavy-hitting star power names like Jeffrey Gundlach, Morgan Housel, John Rogers, Michael Kitces, Daniel Crosby, and more. My panel ran concurrently with my friends Doug and Heather Boneparth, who shared a preview of the research into couples and money. I cannot wait for their book to come out. Speaking of books, Christine Benz was signing copies of her new one – How to Retire. I will cherish my signed version and can’t wait to read it.
Tuesday night ended with a fantastic concert. The lesser-known X Ambassadors gave a great show. I really enjoyed their music and performance. DJ Mick played a fun dance set while the stagehands switched over for Third Eye Blind. I thought the 90s nostalgia would sweep me over more than it did. It was still fun to “doot doot doot doot to doot to” with my colleagues to Semi-charmed Life.
Hats off to Matt Middleton and his all-star team at Future Proof. His vision to turn the advisor conference game on its head is complete. I cannot wait to see what he does next.
