Brent Brodeski, CEO and Founder of Savant Wealth Management, joined Keith Black, Managing Director of RIA Channel, to discuss how Savant is building a customized technology platform.
With $26.03 billion in discretionary assets and $6.46 billion in ETF assets as of March 31, 2024, Savant Wealth Management ranks #13 in RIA Channel’s list of the Top 50 ETF Power Users.
Since its first client in 1993, Savant grew organically until its first acquisition in 2012. Starting in Rockford, Illinois, Savant now operates 40 offices in 15 states. Brodeski notes that it was easier to grow geographically through acquisition rather than by expanding the current operations. After 28 acquisitions and reaching nearly 600 employees, Savant is the largest integrated accounting and wealth firm. While the firm offers investments and financial planning, taxes and wealth transfers differentiate it.
While building a portfolio of off-the-shelf software to meet all a firm’s technology needs is suboptimal, that may be the only choice available to RIA firms below $1 billion to $5 billion in AUM. Brodeski states that each fintech solution wants to be the center of your world and they don’t work well in combination with each other. Given the scale of Savant, Brodeski decided to build a custom fintech platform that integrates with disparate data sources that are now being combined into a single data warehouse.
Advisors think about investment strategies and mathematics, while clients think about their ideal future, their goal, and their legacy. Savant’s advisors work with Lumiant to direct conversations around these softer topics that help clients live their best lives, as defining client goals must come first in the financial planning process.
In 2010, Brodeski co-authored an academic paper on Evidence-Based Investing, which articulates his investment process focused on low costs, tax efficiency, and index funds. ETFs align well with this philosophy, especially as fees have declined and liquidity has improved. Savant’s investments in ETFs have grown as many of their mutual fund holdings have been converting to the ETF structure. With the exception of alternative investments, ETFs can be used for nearly all investment objectives. Brodeski is a fan of direct indexing, which allows clients to aggressively harvest tax losses, which can offset the tax burden of liquidity events.
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