May 9, 2025 - Last Updated: May 9, 2025
During The Advyzon Conference 2025, Julie Cooling, founder and CEO of RIA Channel, sat down with Olivia Eisinger, VP and head of relationship management at Apex Fintech Solutions, to talk about the state of the advisory industry. The conversation revolved around one pressing question: How can financial advisors create more meaningful client connections while scaling their businesses in an increasingly competitive space?
“Organic growth has really stalled,” Olivia said, pointing to data that shows sharp declines in net new flows into wealth management firms. Traditional approaches to attracting new clients aren’t working as well as they used to. And for ambitious advisors and their firms, it reveals a deeper issue: the need for a new way to grow. Read on or watch the video to hear what Olivia has to say.
The organic growth roadblock: A saturated High Net Worth (HNW) market
One reason for the stall in organic growth is the ongoing battle to attract high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth (UNHW) clients. As Olivia explained, “A lot of advisory firms are competing and fishing in the same pond, serving high-net-worth clients who are often already working with an advisor. Retention rates there are north of 95%, so it’s tough to pull those customers away.”
But while the competition spins its wheels in the same overfished waters, she notes, there’s a bigger opportunity waiting: mass-affluent and next-gen clients.
Overcome legacy barriers with Augmented Advice
Serving mass-affluent investors has historically been a challenge for advisory firms. These clients often fall short of the high investment minimums that were required to make advisory relationships profitable. On top of that, the traditional white-glove service model, designed for high-net-worth clients, has simply been too expensive and time-intensive to replicate at scale for smaller accounts.
This disconnect has left a massive gap in the market. But Apex Fintech Solutions is working to change that with a new offering called Augmented Advice.
As Olivia explained, Augmented Advice is a model designed to help advisors overcome these challenges by blending modern automations with meaningful human relationships. It’s about using technology to enhance advisors’ ability to connect.
“The advisor and the client — humans — are front and center in the relationship,” Olivia said during the interview. “But behind the scenes, we’re driving efficiency, digitizing the experience, and automating processes. It’s about enabling firms to serve more clients without sacrificing the personalized attention advisors are known for.”
The Augmented Advice model doesn’t just allow advisors to reduce costs — it also frees up their time to focus on what matters most: delivering thoughtful, personalized advice that builds trust and loyalty with their clients.
More tech efficiency, more human connection
Imagine the hours advisors could gain if opening a new client account didn’t involve paperwork delays or funding hurdles. This is where technology like real-time digital account opening and instant funding can help advisors reclaim their time.
Think of a firm’s operation as a kitchen. A skilled chef (or experienced advisor) shouldn’t waste time chopping onions or measuring out spices. Instead, the chef should focus on fine-tuning the recipe and plating it for presentation. Similarly, automation tools can act as an advisor’s sous chef, doing all the behind-the-scenes prep work so the experts can dedicate more of their time to what matters: building client relationships.
Olivia emphasized this point: “Our technology makes servicing smaller accounts practical and scalable. Mass-affluent investors represent an incredible opportunity, and by reducing servicing costs through automation, advisors can finally reach these untapped segments.”
The endgame: Unlocking organic growth
For advisory firms worried about stalled organic growth, the key isn’t to fight harder for clients who already have an advisor. Instead, it’s to expand your focus to include underserved markets. Clients in the mass-affluent and next-gen categories — those with less than $500,000 in AUM — have long been ignored because they didn’t fit the profitability equation. Augmented Advice can change that.
By using automation to reduce servicing costs, advisory firms can onboard clients with smaller accounts and give them a digital experience that allows them to self-service most of the time and request advice when they need it — all integrated into advisor workflows.
For clients, it means ease of use, modern interfaces, and flexible investing options like fractional trading. For advisors, it means the ability to serve more clients without working more hours.
Why next-gen investors are your secret weapon
Mass-affluent and next-gen investors aren’t just a secondary market — they’re the future of advisory firms’ organic growth. As Olivia pointed out during the interview, the average age of end-investors on the Apex platform is just 42 years old,1 signifying that our tools and technology have already been supporting a total addressable market that is younger than the typical high net worth audience.
“These clients might start small, but they’re incredibly sticky,” Olivia said, “If you can connect with them early, you’re looking at a lifetime of value as they accumulate wealth.” And the best part? The relationship between advisors and these clients strengthens when advisors reclaim their time from tedious administrative tasks to unlock more time for human connections.
Don’t just adapt — thrive
For advisors worried about stagnation, the opportunity here is clear. Augmented Advice isn’t just about keeping up; it’s about getting ahead in a fast-evolving industry. It’s about finding the right combination of automation and human connection to help improve reach and value.
Olivia shared, “We’re continuing to listen to feedback from our customers.” For example, after hearing that many firms don’t have development teams, Apex has begun offering user interfaces that can simplify the integration and launch of Augmented Advice.
As Julie Cooling closed the interview, she congratulated Olivia on Apex’s work, and rightly so. The message is simple: With the right tools and mindset, financial advisors can unlock new growth paths and make lasting human connections — all without burning out.
Your next phase of growth starts with asking the right question: How can I make more time for the advice that matters most? Talk to an Apex rep to see if Augmented Advice is right for your firm.
Request a phone call to get faster answers to your questions about Augmented Advice.