Riskalyze co-founder lands role with former colleague at estate planning fintech startup

It may not make for as catchy a hook as Prince's chart topping 1982 single, but Matt Pistone and Matt Morris are ready to party like it's 2015.

More specifically, the two financial services veterans are ready to recapture the energy from their days working together at Riskalyze in the mid 2010s. Pistone is a co-founder of the well-known fintech and served as its chief technology officer for more than a decade before stepping down last spring.

Morris, meanwhile, was a financial advisor who became the then-startup's first sales hire and 10th overall hire before climbing to the role of vice president of sales. He left Riskalyze in early 2020 before becoming vice president of sales at estate planning firm Helios Integrated Planning prior to its closing in late 2021.

But as excited as they are to kick it old school, the two Matts are even more excited about what's next. On Wednesday, it was announced that Pistone was joining EncorEstate Plans as its first chief technology officer.

Morris is CEO of the Seattle-based startup that picks up where Helios left off and develops estate planning software specifically for financial advisors. 

So instead of Prince, Pistone and Morris may be better off humming a little Peaches & Herb. As the two fintech leaders shared their enthusiasm about the new collaboration with Financial Planning in an interview, it was clear that it feels so good to be reunited. 

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"This is the reunion of two really good friends and two people who have gone from taking a wealthtech firm from kind of nothing into an industry leader," Morris said. "And that was just such an awesome ride for both of us. I think we got a Ph.D in wealthtech startups, and the second time around is even more fun. All those learnings are now already there. So we're celebrating the ability to establish a new category, just like we did back in the Riskalyze days. And do it with all the things we now know we didn't know the first time."

Pistone echoed those sentiments.

"The stage that EncorEstate Plans is in … is pretty exciting for me," Pistone added. "We've already got product market fit, we've got some revenue, and we're building on that foundation. It's a pretty cool jumping off point to dive in from, and we've got a little bit more momentum out of the gate to get things rolling."

EncorEstate Plans

In his new role, Pistone will be responsible for the firm's software development, including UI/UX design, API development and implementation, product roadmaps and more.

Morris said estate planning is an important, yet often overlooked, aspect of client service in the wealth management industry, and as many as 67% of people do not have any kind of estate plan in place.

A recent Merrill Lynch survey found that only 55% of Americans ages 55 and up have a will, and just 18% have the recommended essentials of a will, healthcare directive or proxy and durable power of attorney. 

"And the issue is really wrapped in procrastination. And it's because the client experience isn't great that people don't take action to go and get these documents done," Morris said. "The other side of that is there are millions of estate plans sitting out there that are out of date, and no one is there to help people understand that what they did in the past may not be what they want today."

But more advisors are turning to wealthtech to repair what Morris calls a broken part of the client experience. According to the firm, the past two years has seen the number of advisors using an estate planning tool increase by 200%.

Since its inception, EncorEstate Plans has completed nearly 10,000 estate plans, working with thousands of advisors at more than 600 firms in all 50 states. For Morris, Pistone is the perfect person to lead the firm's product teams and ensure they're tapping into both existing and emerging technologies to meet the needs of advisors and their clients.

In addition to will and trust-based plans that start at $350, EncorEstate Plans recently added a service that allows advisors and clients to refresh out-of-date plans, providing a one-page visual summary that makes it easy to review all pertinent information and identify any gaps or outdated information.

As he prepares to step into his new role, Pistone is focused on creating new opportunities for advisors through estate planning as the potential client pool evolves. The great wealth transfer is on his mind, and he wants to make sure hardworking advisors don't get left behind.

"A lot of money is changing hands. And that's important for those clients directly. But keeping their children or whoever that wealth is getting passed in the conversation and being able to work with that entire family is also important," Pistone said. "I think that's one of the big things that we can do here … cut out the busy work and just jump straight to what we've always believed advisors are.

"You're really there to kind of coach and help guide clients. And I think, right now, it seems most of the industry has started waking up to the realization that estate planning is a huge ingredient and can't be skipped."