WEALTH MANAGEMENT

Liz Shabaker, CFP CEO

Versant Capital Management versantcm.com

BACKGROUND: Shabaker manages Versant Capital Management’s strategic direction, delivering the firm’s mission of helping people reach their life and financial goals. Through her stewardship, Versant is a fiduciary that adheres to the highest legal standard to act in the best interests of the people it serves. Shabaker is also active in the community through numerous committees, board memberships and philanthropic activities. TREND TO WATCH: “There is a new generation of investors whose wealth management expectations and preferences have been shaped by new technologies and by their living through the last financial crisis. They bring new industry standards to how financial advice and investment strategies are delivered. A focus on enhancing the changing ways people prefer to communicate with advisors, continually expanding service offerings, and creating powerful and memorable experiences, has to be at the forefront of wealth management firms going forward to meet their client’s growing needs.” ADVICE FOR 2020: “It’s imperative we address today’s ‘longevity challenge’ (making one’s income last a lifetime while our population is living longer than ever). We must help people start vigorous financial planning earlier in their careers, before they meet a traditional wealth management minimum, to help balance both their immediate and laterin-life financial goals. Through strategic fiscal trade-offs and shifts in ways of thinking about money (behavior biases), younger people can create a flexible plan that works for them today, and that also meets their needs over the next 50-plus years and into retirement.”

Industry trends to watch THOMAS CONNELLY, president and chief investment officer, Versant Capital Management:

“There is too much capacity in financial services. As new technologies are applied, and consumers become more cost-conscious, value propositions need to be executed. Firms that apply resources to solve client problems will survive.” CALVIN P. GOETZ, founder and president, Strategy Financial Group:

“As the U.S. economy reaches full employment and wages rise, we will likely see this aging bull market stretch a little longer. I think increased volatility is here to stay. Pre-retirees should check in on their exposure to make sure it’s consistent with their risk tolerance.”

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AB | November-December 2019