United Capital's FinLife Platform Hits $22.5B
“The day may come soon when FinLife Partners eclipses United Capital in size,” CEO Joe Duran said.
United Capital, the RIA led by Joe Duran, says that the level of assets managed by advisors using its white-label wealth management platform FinLife Partners has hit $22.5 billion — double its level of about four months ago.
The financial life-management platform was launched in 2016 by the firm and is now used by 38 partner RIAs. Intersect Capital, which has about $900 million in assets, is one firm that has recently become a client.
“FinLife Partners taps into a tremendous need in our industry for cutting-edge tools to help our clients live richly, and its success is a vindication of our vision and efforts,” according to Duran. “The day may come soon when FinLife Partners eclipses United Capital in size.”
The financial management side of United Capital’s business currently includes about $23 billion in client assets.
“FinLife CX will empower clients to focus on what they can control, tracking their financial decisions instead of just tracking the financial markets,” said Intersect Managing Partner Joe McLean, who works with sports and entertainment stars, in a statement.
In 2018, United Capital released FinLife CX so third-party advisors could integrate their own data and other tools with those of several client relationship management systems.
‘Value Is Perception’
At last week’s Inside ETFs conference, Duran told a large crowd of advisors near Miami: The value of advisors isn’t their impact on “average clients, because they don’t exist,” he said. “All of us live once-in-a-lifetime experiences.”
Think about “what you do in terms of the client experience and deliver it” accordingly, said Duran, pointing to firms who excel at this like Starbucks, Apple and Southwest Airlines.
“Value is perception, not reality,” said Duran. “Price is fact. Value is perception 100%. And it’s driven by how [that value] delivered, how it’s explained to you and how it’s experienced.”
When your clients ask themselves if your work as an advisor is worth the fee, they reflect on the client experience. Their view/? “They must feel it’s worth it, which is what great brands understand.”
What’s your biggest enemy to growth? “Not being good enough,” Duran said. “What you were doing a decade ago does not cut it today, and it won’t be [so] for the future. The market will evolve, so … change before you have to.”
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