Orion Event Showcases Integration, Inspiration

One of the most widely attended sessions — “Fully Digital Account Opening in Under 5 Minutes” — led by Megan Haussman, director of Advisory Success at Apex, and Brian Morgan, director of product for Orion. Apex and Orion have worked together to create an automated account opening solution that’s paired with a financial planning workflow process.

With Apex as the custodian, advisors are able to send a link to clients and prospects and have them provide some basic information. Clients and prospects then receive a financial plan that features various model portfolios set up by advisors or available via Orion’s model marketplace, Communities. Next, accounts are opened and funded via Apex technology and APIs, which are integrated into Orion’s client portal.

According to Haussman, this solution provides advisors with the ability to expand their reach and work with smaller clients with asset levels typically below their minimums. It also provides advisors with a modern, digital experience that can help them attract younger clients and advisors.

Crosby, Other Speakers

One of the big benefits of Orion’s 2020 merger with Brinker Capital was the addition of Brinker’s focus on behavioral finance, led by popular psychologist Daniel Crosby. Crosby, who is now Orion’s chief behavioral officer, is having a big influence on how Orion frames its many technological capabilities.

Crosby’s “Protect, Live, Dream” approach aims to help investor clients “bucket their money” in conjunction with various goals and provide them with better outcomes while providing advisors with a robust toolkit to enhance their client relationships. “Clients are 12 times less likely to go to cash during market volatility if they bucket their accounts according to various goals,” he said.

“The number-one aspect that clients want from their advisor is that the advisor understands them deeply,” Crosby noted. To help advisors develop a better awareness of their clients’ needs, Crosby has created a number of new behavioral finance tools, including a broader way to discuss risk through a “3D risk questionnaire” and the “BeFi 20” client assessment tool.

These resources are part of the recently launched Orion Advisor Academy, which offers financial professionals access to tools, templates and behavioral finance research, as well as continuing education credits.

The Orion Ascent conference is also known for its non-traditional keynote speakers that bring fun and inspiration to advisors. Ben Nemtin, star of the MTV series “The Buried Life,” for instance, recounted his experience of going through depression during college. He emerged from it after his friends asked, “What do you want to do before you die?”

This prompted him and his pals to write up a bucket list of 100 dreams they wanted to achieve. They hit the road in a borrowed RV to cross off as many activities as possible. “We knew we couldn’t do this alone, so for each item we accomplished, we would help a stranger [complete] their own” dreams, too, Nemtin said.

Based on the group’s initial success and notoriety for achieving highly unlikely goals — such as playing basketball with Barack Obama, being guests on Oprah, delivering a baby and having a beer with Prince Harry — Nemtin and his friends turned this project into a 10-year journey that ultimately became “The Buried Life” series on MTV, as well as a book, speaking tour and documentary.

For advisors working to help clients achieve their hopes and dreams, Nemtin delivered a highly inspirational message focused on doing what you want to do before you die — without hesitation. This was definitely one of the best keynotes I have seen in a long time and a great way to kick off the 2023 conference season.

*** Timothy D. Welsh, CFP, is president, CEO and founder of Nexus Strategy, a leading consulting firm to the wealth management industry and can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @NexusStrategy.