Institute for Innovation Development

NAIFA's recent 2024 Conference revealed how the 134-year-old financial services association has positioned itself to shape the future of the industry while empowering financial service professionals and enhancing the financial security of consumers in communities across the nation. Association members - known as NAIFA Nation - were provided with advanced professional development, deep-dive education on essential financial planning topics, leadership training, and introductions to new NAIFA strategic mergers and a carefully curated team of association strategic partnerships and resources. As the Dean of the financial services-focused Institute for Innovation Development, I have always strongly believed in strategic thinking, innovation creation, and strategic partnership management as the nexus of business forces needed to address an operating environment challenged by an accelerating and compounding rate of change. It was exhilarating to witness how NAIFA was exhibiting these innovation and growth-oriented approaches and mindsets by strategically building, accumulating, and aligning a wide range of specialized resources to support their membership value proposition in terms of advocacy, education, collaboration, and differentiation to better serve customers while concurrently driving financial services industry evolution towards holistic financial planning, technology embracement, business model innovation, mindset training, and the power of collaboration and strategic partnering in this changing financial services business environment. Kudos and mentions: Suzanne Carawan, NAIFA Carroll Golden, NAIFA Panos Leledakis, IFAAcademy - International Financial Architects Sue Kuraja, MassMutual Agency Brokerage Dan Mangus, Senior Marketing Specialists Tom Morgan CLF, American Senior Benefits Thomas Drapala, RSSA, Registered Social Security Analysts Assad Koshul CPA, CSM, CPTD, Game Changer Mindsets Neil Wilding, Stonewood Financial Brock Jolly, CFP® CLU® ChFC® CASL® CFBS® RICP® CEPA® , The College Funding Coach David Wood, Gateway Financial Partners Mike McGlothlin, CFP®, CLU®, ChFC®, LUTCF®, CPT® , Ash Brokerage Anthony Boquet, CLU, ChFC, CASL, CLF, FSCP, LUTCF, FIC, The American College of Financial Services

There is a growing recognition of the criticality of client documents and the need to move from merely being "data-rich" to being both "data-rich" and "information-rich". Our latest interview with Daniel Kenny, CEO and Kristian Borghesan, CMO of FutureVault explores how #DigitalVaults have developed from simple storage and basic functionality built for compliance and operations efficiency - now with the advancements of Artificial Intelligence (#AI) and Large Language Model (#LLM) technology - have evolved into a more comprehensive servicing and engagement tool that can quickly summarize documents, extract critical information, provide contextualized action items, offer actionable insights and analytics. This evolution can transform wealth management firms into delivering modern, high-touch wealth and advisory relationships through providing better insights, deeper engagement, and more value across all stakeholders and family members in the client relationship. We asked them questions to better understand how they developed their Digital Vault technology and where they see this technology going to power deeper advisor–client relationships and enable better holistic family financial outcomes. #financialservices #business #operations #engagement #innovation #AdvisorTech #FinTech #WealthTech #artificialintelligence #largelanguagemodels

Our latest interview explores how the accelerating rate of technology and business model innovation are both a blessing and a curse to growth-oriented financial services firms due to the challenge of knowing how to choose and apply these new approaches and resources. This endeavor is fraught with complex decisions. To better understand the changing strategic nature of the financial services industry, we reached out to Mark Spina, President and Jay Ramey, Director of Solutions at FLX Networks to learn how they are addressing accelerating industry change and complexity with a tech and community platform where growth-oriented financial firms - asset managers, financial advisors, and wealth management firms - can efficiently access and strategically deploy modern technology and business approaches in a cost-efficient way. We learn how an in-depth understanding of these new approaches and tools, along with a strategic thinking mindset to best design and deploy your tech stack and other key resources, are required to capture desired competitiveness and positioning. The growing complexity of this endeavor has also spawned the need to employ the power of networks, leverage the “shared economy”, and seek true strategic partners. #financialservices #business #businessmodels #innovation #strategy #distribution #engagement #branding #practicemanagement #FinTech #strategicpartnerships

Carroll Golden’s invaluable book is a thorough step-by-step guide for #caregivers and an excellent resource for financial advisors on how to engage family members with effective and productive #conversations essential to developing a #longtermcare plan. “ You only have two choices when it comes to caregiving: plan or panic…The lack of a plan can tear a caregiver’s life apart…This book will help families overcome objections that relegate extended care planning to stressful crisis planning.” - Carroll Golden As a leading expert and evangelist on the topic of Caregiving in the U.S. and the potentially devastating ramifications on a family’s finances and emotional cohesiveness, Carroll Golden’s latest book discusses and strategically compiles lists, resource links, funding sources, and planning options that are readily available for caregivers and their advisors. The book’s immeasurable value comes from Carroll Golden’s expertise on the topic of caregiving and her work at NAIFA that allows her to keep up-to-date on important legislation, proposals, studies, task forces, and initiatives that impact individual and family extended care planning. As she states, planning for extended care is not something you can just Google. #financialservices #holistic #comprehensive #financialplanning #engagement #planning #extendedcare https://lnkd.in/eTF7CBDN

Our interview with Rocco Pellegrinelli Pellegrinelli, CEO of Swiss-based #investment #analytics firm Trendrating offers pragmatic perspectives and an overview of his performance management platform designed to help professional investment managers - across all investment styles and methodologies - beat their benchmarks and passive fund performance. As a #performance management partner for active managers, his firm provides advanced #alpha discovery analytics, market intelligence, and #riskmanagement solutions as added research and an overlay to a manager's current investment process. #financialservices #investing #research #process #innovation

Our interview explores #financial #businessmodel #innovation through advisors integrating proactive tax planning and mitigation services to differentiate their value proposition, deeply engage clients, and capture new assets. Our discussion with Erik R. Flegal Managing Director of Family Fortune Financial LLC and CEO of affiliated firm Fortune Tax Alliance, LLC walks us through his business thought process on developing his tax-forward financial business model and how he presents his tax mitigation services to establish a “win-win,” noninvasive tax alliance with the client’s other advisors. Financial services business models are rapidly evolving and generating intensive introspection for advisors to determine what they specifically do for their clients and how they want to be perceived in their communities. The expanding #holistic #financialplanning movement and the growing threat of rising #taxes in #retirement are vital factors that challenge the traditional distinction between #wealthmanagement advice and #accountant/ #CPA tax services. #financialservices #practicemanagement #taxmitigation #taxplanning #businessstrategy #growth #competitiveadvantage

 Our interview explores #financialplanning in the context of delivery in a Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, and Ambiguous world and how the future of #wealthmanagement may well be in advisors embracing simplicity. A thought-provoking discussion with Jason L Smith, CEP®, BPC, Founder & CEO of C2P Enterprises and JL Smith Holistic Wealth Management who is the author of "The Bucket Plan: Protecting and Growing Your Assets for a Worry-Free Retirement" and the Bucket Plan® Best Interest Process for advisors. He explains his goal to simplify the often complex world of financial planning for greater #client #engagement and #results - to improve the lives and state of mind of his clients - and the practical steps that advisors need to take to actualize that. #financialservices #businessmodels #practicemanagement #engagement #strategy #bucketplanning

Challenging the entrenched industry #businessmodel of employer group health insurance is a massive but doable endeavor that is being driven by smaller, but dynamic industry players. These entrepreneurial players have been emerging armed with a decisive and purposeful #mindset to become a catalyst of change. To provide an important case study on how to transform a well-established financial industry business model, like group health insurance, we interviewed Steven Guilfoile, CEO of AffordaCare Insurance - one of the largest nationally recognized group #healthinsurance agencies in the country. For over 14 years, he has been working to break the old #employeebenefits model and help #businessowners make smarter decisions about what they and their #employees are getting for their money. Steven also offers his best advice to business advisors working in the employer benefits marketplace on how to competitively position these new options and benefits and help their business clients of all sizes to take back control of their employee benefits programs. #financialservices #healthcare #insurance #smallbusiness #benefits #grouphealthinsurance #CHAMP https://lnkd.in/eTrCT42M

Our interview explores the changing dynamic of financial services #practicemanagement and #businessdevelopment #growth in a business environment of accelerating and compounding change for advisors, asset managers, and wealth management firms. Eric Sheikowitz and Michael Silver co-leaders of the FLX Business Accelerator offered through FLX Networks explain how the role of practice management and business development efforts take on a whole new urgency and purpose in our changing business environment and why that led them to build a "Business Accelerator" model for the industry. They firmly believe a new imperative has emerged towards a growth #mindset and a core reliance on modern business #strategy. #financialservices #business #operations #engagement #innovation #growthstrategy #growthmindset #assetmanagement #advisors #wealthmanagement https://lnkd.in/eQBDJZxu

An important advanced #financialplanning tool application and resource has just been created to help advisors provide vital support for their retiring, retired, and "sandwich generation" clients who are caregivers for family members and other loved ones. Kudos to our Institute Founding members Carroll Golden, Executive Director, NAIFA Centers of Excellence, Limited & Extended Care Planning Center and H. Adam Holt, CFP®, ChFC®, CEO and the whole team at Asset-Map on building this "Caring Conversation Stencil" on the Asset-Map financial and life planning software platform. It was crafted with precision to assist advisors in mapping out all possible financial implications of caregiving scenarios, provide resource suggestions, offer conversational strategies, and allow for a more holistic approach to #retirementplanning that is often overlooked in traditional financial planning processes. I'm offering a link here to my previous interview with Carroll Golden that details and alerts advisors of the scale and severity of the hidden threats to retirement and severe financial consequences behind what Carroll calls the "shadow" #caregiving system and economy that needs to be addressed and integrated into proactive, holistic retirement planning: https://lnkd.in/ef5RT_fF I'm also providing a link for you to join Asset-Map and NAIFA for an exclusive webinar highlighting the brand-new “Caring Conversation” Stencil to learn how this revolutionary tool is integrated into the Asset-Map software platform, enhancing the toolkit available to financial advisors. This innovation aims to provide advisors with the means to offer comprehensive and holistic financial planning solutions, encompassing short-term, long-term, and extended-care scenarios. - This is a must-watch webinar! https://lnkd.in/e35r7gZH #financialservices #business #advice #innovation #AdvisorTech #WealthTech #practicemanagement