The next generation of the client experience

At the Future Proof Festival, Josh Brown, CEO of Ritholtz Wealth Management, and Jared Rabinowitz, CEO of Q Wealth Partners, explored how the next generation of Canadian financial advisors must rethink client experience in a rapidly shifting industry.

Brown traced the origins of Future Proof itself to a simple question: What will make people get on a plane in a world where everything can be done online? “One of the big drivers of events in the United States for advisors is continuing education,” he said. “Once the pandemic happened, all that moved online… so what’s going to be the thing” that gets people out of their home office and at an in-person live event?

The answer, he argued, is human connection. “If we lean into the live in-person interactions and the networking … people are not just flirting with each other in front of a booth, but people have an appointed time to sit down. That was the vision five years ago,” Brown said. The success of Future Proof, which has grown from 1,700 to 5,000 attendees since its launch in 2022, reflects this hunger for experiences that go beyond compliance and check-the-box education.

Designing offices as destinations

For Brown, the client experience extends directly into office design. His firm recently opened a headquarters in Chicago at a venue called the Salt Shed, once a Morton Salt distribution center, now also a concert hall.

“We built our Chicago headquarters… literally sitting next to a game room with arcade, ski ball, pinball. There are two bars in the location, and there’s a big lounge you can watch the concerts from,” he said. “You think I have to ask my employees to show up to work? Absolutely not. They’re dying to be there. And clients — our clients in the Chicago area want to come see the Salt Shed too.”

Brown predicted that by 2035, leading firms will create hubs across the country that feel less like cubicle farms and more like theme parks. “We will build living rooms for our clients and our employees,” he said, emphasizing that the experience must be authentic to each city.

Rabinowitz agreed, adding that experiences are not commodities. “The robo models of the world are bringing in everything they can at the lowest possible cost,” he said. “But experiences are not something that is commoditized. You go to Disney World, you don’t ask what it costs. It costs whatever it costs.”

Serving the Next Generation

Both speakers stressed that the future of client experience depends on serving younger, emerging clients. Brown was blunt: “Forget the middle. I want to treat people who aren’t wealthy yet as though they are. Take the next gen and treat them like they’re already billionaires, and earn that loyalty.”

Rabinowitz pointed to Canadian banks that don’t compensate advisors for households under $250,000. “They’re kind of forgetting about that next generation of clients,” he said. But for nimble firms, that’s an opportunity. “Some of our partners lock in on ‘Henrys’ — high earners, not rich yet. Those are our partners growing 30, 40 percent a year.”

Brown compared it to the resurgence of travel agents in an age of online booking and the personal service it brings. “If you’re doing [a big] trip once, you don’t want to gamble with Expedia. You want a professional who knows the guides, the restaurants, the hidden museums,” he said. Similarly, successful clients want advisors to ensure they don’t make mistakes with life-changing financial decisions. “That’s the highest function of a financial advisor in 2025.”

Rethinking Pricing Models

Rabinowitz argued that customization will eventually drive pricing in wealth management. “This is the only business where, what do we charge — 1% AUM, right? And what do you do for that? Here’s 38 things. I don’t think in 2035 that will fly,” he said. He predicted models that allow clients to add services as they need them, moving up the value chain.

Brown shared his firm’s experiments in this area. After hiring CPAs to provide tax consulting, they asked clients, “would you let us file your taxes?”

 “Seventy-two percent said yes,” Brown said. RWM now runs a tax subsidiary serving hundreds of families, with pricing set separately based on complexity. “We were nervous at first… but clients didn’t flinch. None of them [already] had an accountant working for free.”

Insurance followed the same pattern. “If you don’t want to pay for it, that’s okay. We’ll just do your wealth. But our professionals need to get paid,” Brown said. For him, this marks a shift in the industry: “Advisors of the future will have the confidence to say, we’re really doing this professionally, and our professionals need to get paid for it.”

Transformational Experiences

Rabinowitz suggested that the industry is moving beyond experiences and more toward “transformational experiences,” citing the field of positive psychology. “If we can elevate financial planning to be a transformational experience, we’re in a whole other league,” he said.

Brown agreed, stressing the importance of candor. He recalled an advisor telling a wealthy but hesitant client, “You’ve been saying you’ll buy the [expensive] car for three years. You think this will be more fun when you’re 85? I’m proving to you — you can buy three of them.” For Brown, that kind of radical honesty can itself be transformational.

Scaling Humanity in an AI World

The discussion turned to AI, with both speakers cautioning against seeing it as a replacement for people. “If you’re thinking about AI as an answer to stop hiring people, that’s not really what your clients are looking for,” Brown said. “But if you’re thinking about AI as how do I make my people’s jobs easier … that’s the road successful firms will find themselves on.”

Rabinowitz agreed that the future is about better people, not fewer. “We’ve got to make the people better, more focused on doing something exceptionally well. That’s what’s going to propel the success of the firms that grow fastest,” he said.

Brown added that automation should free employees to think strategically. “When your best people have space and time to think, really interesting things come out of that,” he said.

The Road Ahead

The next generation of client experience, as Brown and Rabinowitz described, will not be about cheaper portfolios or fancier tech stacks. It will be about immersive offices, pricing models that reflect real value, and advisors who can transform a client’s life by helping them spend wisely, live fully, and avoid mistakes.

“Rich people are not looking to talk to robots,” Brown concluded. “They’re looking to save time, save aggravation, and get on with their lives. That’s what we’re here to do.”