Episode Summary

Welcome to episode #43 of the Fiduciary U™ Podcast. Like my more recent episodes, I’ve broken this one into 2 parts and will release them over successive weeks so make sure to check each of them out. You won’t want to miss either one.

My guest on this episode is Aaron Schumm, Founder & CEO of Vestwell. This is Aaron’s second time on the podcast since first appearing in 2020 as my second guest on the show. A lot has changed since then and Vestwell’s success has gone nuclear, making them a dominant force in the small plan recordkeeping market.

On this episode, we discuss topics that range from developing systems and workflows that scale, service models that succeed, how Vestwell is empowering the next generation of retirement savers by making advisors and TPA more efficient, crypto, and more. Make sure to listen to Parts 1 & 2 with your favorite podcast app!

What You'll Learn

Why scaling systems and service models are the keys to success in the small plan market
Why private wealth advisors need to have a retirement solution in the service stack for their HNW business owner clients to avoid competitive threats
How and why Vestwell has spent the last 12-18 months reshaping the underlying workflows of their technology to make things run smoother for advisors and their clients
How and why Vestwell has become the platform powering 75% of state-mandated retirement programs
Why Vestwell rolled out their TPA Flex program and how it’s helping TPAs scale their businesses and focus on more profitable, higher value services and activities
How Vestwell is driving deal flow to TPAs through the program
Why minimum fees instead of basis points are the key to advisors having success in the start-up market and why they should raise their minimums
Aaron’s thoughts on crypto in the 401(k) space
How Vestwell is leveraging Franklin Templeton’s Goal Optimization Engine (GOE) to drive the success of managed account adoption on their platform

Links to Resources

Aaron Schumm: LinkedIn | Website

Ideas Worth Sharing

“The approach we took to building Vestwell and how we thought about it being pretty methodical and not chasing or deviating has really paid dividends especially kind of in today's world and today's economy.” – Aaron Schumm
“We've spent the last year has by and large bent on reshaping the underlying workflows the technology, and the structures just to make sure everything runs really smoothly.” – Aaron Schumm
“The analogy I use is like hey look at us as the car manufacturer. You tell us what color you want, what features you want in the car, and we'll build it for you, we'll flip you the keys and you can drive. And if you're not comfortable driving we'll be your personal driver too, but you know in the long run you're going to want to drive yourself.” – Aaron Schumm
“I love the start up space because there’s less than 3% of these small businesses have something in place today so there's a there's a giant pool to jump into.” – Aaron Schumm
“We rolled out the TPA Flex platform at the end of the end of the summer and that's taken off like wildfire.” – Aaron Schumm