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March 30, 2020 by cleden01

3 Simple Things with Pam Krueger, Founder and CEO of Wealthramp, an innovative private company focused on matching investors to financial advisors. www.wealthramp.com

What does Wealthramp do?

Wealthramp helps people find and connect with fee-only, fiduciary financial advisors.  That means an advisor that works for you – not a bank, brokerage firm or insurance company – and has your best interest in mind.  Everyone’s financial circumstances are unique, so financial advice can’t be one-size-fits-all. In 3 easy steps, Wealthramp’s proprietary platform matches consumers to best-fit independent advisors based on personal needs and preferences, including preferred fee model, how a client wants to interact with an advisor, and unique situations such as a child with special needs, concentrated stock ownership, or life event planning.

You’re an investor advocate and longtime co-host of Moneytrack on PBS, what would you advise investors do right now?

The last couple weeks have been challenging for all of us, and COVID-19 is now disrupting our finances. The stock market is in bear territory, making it easier to make emotionally-based and potentially irrational investment decisions.  I’ve lived through financial roller coaster rides, and anyone that’s seen me on MoneyTrack knows that the worst thing you can do is to make financial moves out of fear.  We just posted a very short video with the 3 most important questions to ask your financial advisor right now.  And if you don’t have a trusted fiduciary financial advisor, please know that Wealthramp.com as well as me, personally, are here to help.    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhlXD6zpaqw

 In this tumultuous period for consumers, what is an innovative fintech company like Wealthramp doing now to gain traction?  

We’ve always said that the time to start working with a fiduciary advisor you can trust is before a catastrophic event.  As the dust begins to settle, people are going to realize that they wish they had expert financial advice at the ready.  We want to make sure that we are visible when consumers are ready for help.  So media exposure now is extremely important.  Over the last year, we built out our advisor network across the country, so it’s the right time for us to access national media.  This week, we hired an expert PR firm – led by a key member of the PR team that launched Sallie Krawcheck’s digital advice platform.  We want to do everything we can to help people make the best decisions about who to turn to for help.  That’s our number one job.  We’re also partnering with employers to reduce financial anxiety in their workforce at this difficult time.

March 23, 2020 by cleden01

3 Simple Things with Sandy Posa, Founder and CEO of  HCI Cleaning Products, a private company focused on developing products that keep your home, and our environment, safe from toxic cleaning chemicals. www.forceofnatureclean.com

Force of Nature is in great demand these days—what is it?

Force of Nature is a little appliance that uses electricity to convert salt, water & vinegar into a multi-purpose cleaner and disinfectant as effective as bleach. It’s EPA registered for hospital use and kills 99.9% of viruses and bacteria with no toxic chemicals. Given how anxious families and businesses of all kinds are right now about COVID-19, we’re working day and night to keep up with the demand.

You’re an industry veteran from P&G & Gillette—what would you advise company decisionmakers about selling their products in challenging times?

In such stressful times we treat our customers with the utmost respect. We are truthful about when we can deliver product, we spend the time to answer all of their questions and we respond with a yes to all of their requests, if at all possible.

In this tumultuous period for consumers, what should new innovative product companies do now to get launched and gain traction?  

The obvious question for most early stage companies is how to survive until demand comes back. We are in the fortunate position that meeting  demand is our biggest challenge. Cash is king in these situations, so management must concentrate on all measures to either generate cash, raise additional capital, keep your best people, cut any extra activities. If the company has not yet launched then a plan to survive for the next  6+ months with no revenue and most likely very limited additional financing.

March 19, 2020 by cleden01

3 Simple Things with co-founders Terry Mullen and Jeremi Karnell of Truelytics, a private fintech company focused on developing innovative tools that empower financial advisors and wealth management executives. www.truelytics.com

What’s the idea behind Truelytics?:

According to Accenture, $30 Trillion in intergenerational wealth is about to exchange hands. Historically, generational transfers from one generation to the next have resulted in their heirs changing advisors, presenting both an opportunity and a major threat for wealth management firms and enterprises.  We call this the Great Transition. We’re focused on helping wealth management enterprises attract, grow and retain advisory businesses while also reducing time and costs related to transitions. 

Financial advisors must be hearing a LOT from their clients these days—What are you telling them about how to manage volatility and potential transitions?

We know that executives at wealth management firms, financial advisors, and their clients are likely feeling quite anxious about the COVID-19 pandemic. To that end, we recently introduced TrueContinuity which is designed to allow financial advisors to upload and store an emergency continuity plan (including key contacts, important documents, business processes, and detailed action steps) that can be automatically executed in the event of an untimely death, disability, or business disruption. Tomorrow we are publicly announcing that we are making that solution free to current customers for the remainder of 2020.

In this tumultuous period, what should innovative new fintech companies do now to get launched and gain traction?  

Focus on the basics: get people to try your product and tell their friends. Develop a financing strategy to fund the business—Wall Street may be in turmoil, but thoughtful investors who like fintech business are out there. Don’t be afraid—some of the best businesses get launched when other people are looking the other way.  Indeed, the current state of world affairs will expose many challenges presented by legacy systems/processes in the financial services space. Pay attention and see if you have an idea or creative solution that can present itself at the right time and place.