Many of the best and brightest ideas in wealth management over the past decade have come from someone in the industry who saw a gap and filled it.
Such is the case with Matt Brownwhich envisioned the use of technology to make alternative investments more accessible to the masses.
Once limited to institutional and ultra-sophisticated investors, these “unconventional” alternative investments, or alts, have become popular tools for many advisors looking to serve clients and expand their portfolios.
Matt first recognized the white space when it came to advisor access to alts while he was a financial advisor at Shearson Lehman Brothers and Smith Barney.
So he founded CAIS in 2009 with a vision of democratizing alts investing and opening access to firms of all sizes. And it happened: Platforms like CAIS have leveled the playing field for independent firms by giving these advisors everything they need to compete with the biggest names in the business.
CAIS has achieved tremendous success, doubling network assets from $3 trillion to $6 trillion in the past 12 months alone.
As Matt shares, the firm's growth is indicative of a changing environment among investors moving beyond the traditional 60/40 portfolio to one that looks more like a 50/30/20 model based on stocks, bonds and alto.
In this special episode with Louis Diamond, Matt offers a glimpse of how his vision became a model for success in the industry, including:
- “The massive reallocation of capital into alternative strategies,” as Matt calls it—and the impact of this evolution on the private wealth channel.
- Alts as an incredible engine of growth—and Matt's advice for advisors looking to add new opportunities to their clients and businesses.
- Key considerations for advisors considering changing firms or models—and how best to replicate or improve what they currently offer their clients.
- Plus, Matt shares his insightful perspective on what's on the horizon—and so much more!
Also in this episode, we open a new segment called Founder's project. It's an idea that was born out of listener feedback for more stories from some of the most successful entrepreneurs in the industry. Our goal is to share each founder's unique “why” and “how” to help spark ideas and eliminate the fear that comes with the unknown.
We're collecting each entrepreneur's journey for a special year-end recap episode. So be sure to tune in to get a quick download from Matt on what it took to get from A to B – and beyond.