Next week, more than 5,000 wealth management and technology professionals will be heading to Huntington Beach, California, for the fourth annual Future Proof Festival.
Attendees will be treated to four days of presentations and panel discussions, with such names as Barry Ritholtz, Josh Brown, Michael Kitces, Douglas Boneparth and dozens of other influential figures in the wealth management industry on the agenda.
As in prior years, the 2025 event will conclude with an on-site music festival, this time featuring Bush, the British rock band that has sold more than 20 million albums worldwide, and Blues Traveler, the Grammy Award-winning American rock band. ThinkAdvisor will also be on the ground, participating in a panel discussion about wealth management merger and acquisition trends in 2025, with a focus on the role of artificial intelligence and RIA market momentum on the fast pace of dealmaking.
Matt Middleton, CEO of Future Proof, told ThinkAdvisor that he couldn’t be more excited for the fourth edition of the festival, noting that the event has reached its maximum capacity — a feat that he expected to take substantially more time.
“I had always had the idea in mind of capping this event at around 5,000 attendees, just as a matter of logistics and making sure the event really delivers on the value proposition that we have set out,” Middleton said. “You could theoretically go bigger than that, but there are basically no hotel rooms or Airbnb locations left within a 30- or 40-minute drive. At some point, if people need to drive an hour to get to the event, that changes the experience.”
Middleton is particularly proud of the Breakthru meeting program, through which attendees participate in speed networking sessions. He credited that program for setting Future Proof apart and for helping it reach capacity.
“It felt pretty special back in 2023 when we were around 17,000 one-on-one meetings,” Middleton said. “This year, we’re looking at 50,000 opportunities for attendees to share their expertise and look for opportunities to collaborate. There’s really nothing else like it out there in the conference circuit.”
The 50,000 meetings now on the books, he noted, were derived from more than 180,000 meeting requests.
“It’s an absolutely incredible amount of engagement, if you think about it,” Middleton said. “Especially when you consider the fact that we’re asking people to go online during August and fill out their profile and send messages and opt into meetings. People are doing this during their vacation weeks and as they are getting ready to send their kids back to school. It’s just incredible and humbling how this community has come together.”
What’s New for 2025
Past attendees of Future Proof can expect a substantially similar event to prior years, Middleton said, with some key updates.
Topics are organized around five pillars:
- AI Moves From Buzzword to Everyday Work
- The Growth Flywheel
- Investment Delivery 2030
- Serving the 100-Year Investor
- Scaling Family Office Services Beyond the Ultra-Wealthy
“One really exciting thing that is new this year is the expanded Breakthru experiences program,” Middleton said. “The Breakthru brand is known for the speed networking sessions, but this year, there are also more than 60 activities on the agenda that are being organized by ourselves and by our attendee partners.”
These experiences include “both education and fun,” Middleton noted, ranging from morning yoga sessions on the beach to cocktail mixing classes by expert mixologists. Other opportunities include facilitated peer group discussions and off-site outings to locations around the Huntington Beach area.
“The expanded Breakthru program is another way for all of our community members to get involved and create their own experiences within the larger event,” Middleton said. “We’re excited to see so many of our attendee partners step up with really creative concepts and activities.”
Holistic Approach
This is the first year that people needed to register early and get their logistics in place or risk getting left out, Middleton noted, but for those who weren’t able to make it work, the recently launched Citywide event and the Future Proof Growth Retreat are options.
“What we’re striving to do is create a complementary calendar of events that are tailored for [registered investment advisors] and wealth management professionals,” Middleton said. “We’ve really come a long way to making that a reality. It’s funny, because back in the first year, it was really us having to go out and make pitches and try and get big speakers and rising stars to attend. Now, it’s the opposite. We’re getting so many great pitches, and we’re able to build agendas that are truly special.”
Pictured: Matthew Middleton
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