Ritholtz Execs Double Down on Fintech Startups

Ritholtz is feeling fintech startups. 

Media personality and Ritholtz Wealth Management CEO Josh Brown invested in the AI-powered lead generator and marketing platform FINNY last week and joined its advisory board. Not to be outdone, Ritholtz director of research Michael Batnick announced Monday the launch of a new fintech, called Exhibit A, that will provide advisors with financial charts and data. They’re the latest moves from high-profile executives into the quickly evolving world of wealthtech.

“Any success I’ve had backing wealthtech has been due to betting on the right people,” Brown told Advisor Upside.

OK, Cupid

Outside of current clients, an advisor’s top priority is finding new ones. But where do they come from? “Once you’ve called all your friends from college, your brother-in-law, and the people you play golf with, then what?” Brown said.

His solution? AI, which can help by replacing the analog-era “smile-and-dial” method. FINNY uses a proprietary model called the F Score, which reviews property records, court filings, social media accounts, and more to identify the right prospects for advisors as opposed to sending them every lead possible.

“Think of it like a dating app compatibility algorithm,” FINNY President Victoria Toli told Advisor Upside. “Otherwise, advisors are left to navigate a sea of hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of prospects.”

There’s plenty of pressure and opportunity to find new clients. With the Great Wealth Transfer on the way and a swath of advisors expected to retire in the coming years, lead generation is becoming more important than ever:

• Americans will inherit $124 trillion dollars through 2048, but less than half of clients’ adult children work with their parents’ advisors.
• Some 110,000 advisors, managing 42% of industry assets, plan to retire in the next decade, and some clients they represent may not want to stick with the same firm once they’re gone.

Pictures Worth 1,000 Words. Some people are visual learners, and that’s basically the ethos behind Batnick’s Exhibit A. The platform takes historical and real-time market data, and packages it into easily digestible charts and graphs that advisors can share with clients. “Markets are noisy, and data without context is relatively useless,” Batnick said in a statement.