Future Proof kicks off with record attendance, calls for new pathways

Recruiting the next generation of financial advisors requires changing how aspiring professionals get paid upon entering the field, according to experts.

As part of the first panel at this year's Future Proof conference in Huntington Beach, California, The American College of Financial Services CEO George Nichols and CFA Institute CEO Margaret Franklin discussed the recruiting and succession challenge facing the industry. The topic served as a fitting opening session to the third year of the outdoor "wealth festival" launched by Future Proof founder Matt Middleton with co-creators from the influential registered investment advisory firm Ritholtz Wealth Management as an alternative to traditional industry conferences. Organizers say this year's event drew a record 4,200 attendees — up from 1,700 in 2022 and 2,500 last year.

The infamous "eat-what-you-kill" method of breaking into the profession has ruled out many aspiring rookie advisors who drop out of the field at a rate of more than 70%, according to one estimate by research firm Cerulli Associates earlier this year. Different pathways for young people and career changers into a profession that's expected, according to the same study, to lose a third of its advisors to retirements in the next decade are vital, according to Franklin and Nichols, whose respective groups are professional training and certification organizations.     

"So I've gone to college, I've either had my family, my parents pay for it, or I have student loans," Nichols said. "And then you're going to tell me that I'm going to be an advisor, and, depending on the structure I walk into, I eat what I kill. And then you tell me I can get another job where I have $60,000 a year, $70,000 a year, plus benefits. Which job would you take? So, when we think about it, if we don't rethink the compensation structure for them to understand it and expose them to all the different roles that they could get into, we're going to have a challenge."

READ MORE: Shrinking headcounts a growing problem

The CFA Institute has started a program supporting aspiring private wealth advisors alongside its chartered financial analyst designation and plans to develop it further in future years, Franklin noted.

"I think there's a way to actually train people differently," she said. "The second thing is, apprenticeship still matters. In person matters. And, for any of you who have kids who have gone into the workforce while COVID was on, it's a terrible experience. If anything of what you're doing requires mentoring, requires apprenticeship. … It doesn't happen all on a Zoom screen. So I think the hybrid workplace is going to be an interesting challenge, particularly for that younger generation."

Future Proof organizers are clearly seeking a younger crowd than most industry events by holding the conference next to the Pacific Ocean, where most attendees were wearing tennis shoes, sandals and sunglasses rather than formal attire. 

"We started this conference three years ago with an idea that, 'Let's change it up, let's do more of what makes these things fun and less of what makes it awful and boring and stodgy," Ritholtz Managing Partner Michael Batnick told attendees.

READ MORE: Future Proof 2023: a 'trade fair for financial planners' — but fun

Tobias Salinger

At the same time, the event has also attracted 300 sponsors, including nearly every one of the largest names in wealth and asset management and financial technology, noted Christine Cherry, Future Proof's head of strategic partnerships. This year's group of attendees represent firms with $22 trillion in combined assets under management and average three-year asset growth rates of 134%, according to organizers. The attendees have set up some 30,000 meetings with each other while onsite.

Cherry got involved after speaking at the first edition in 2022, she said.

"I said, 'I want a job," Cherry said. "I want to work here, like you're doing something that's different than anyone else is doing in our industry. And it was fun and it was genuine and authentic, and we wore regular clothes, and we talked to each other like real humans, and I didn't have to wear heels or my jackets, and it was just an amazing feeling."