What we’re doing today on a mobile phone for beginning savers is what I used to do on a mainframe 30-plus years ago for wealthy families. We have truly democratized wealth management over the last three decades.

In my over 34 years in wealth management, I’ve seen dramatic change — from paper coupons on bonds to the use of the blockchain to register securities. It has been exciting to see how technology has fundamentally lowered the cost of services and improved outcomes for investors.

As we see it at Vestigo, we are on the edge of the next big wave of improvements. The combination of nearly free compute power and lots of data is ushering in a new way of managing money, providing solutions for emotion free planning and monitoring the behaviors of investors and advisors. We hope to invest in the most promising of these technologies in our fund.

Taking emotion out of financial decisions is smart, as it prevents humans from making poorly informed choices. As people, we tend to make decisions with our gut, while a computer makes them based on facts.

With technology and data, advisors and consumers can focus financial decisions on the meaning of money in investors’ lives. Exploring why we invest and save the way we do is critical to financial success, and it involves asking some basic questions including:

- What is important in your life?

- How much money do you want to give to your children?

- Will you pay for college or have the kids pay?

- What type of lifestyle do you imagine?

- Do you want to give back to charities with your time and treasure?

There are so many questions to think about. When the industry is at its best, these questions get answered and acted upon. When it’s not at its best, they at a minimum serve as a funding/financial formula for building a portfolio. We need to move from focusing on investing to  focusing on the relevance of savings and spending behaviors to our lives.

I like to think of this as ‘Life Capital.’ It's not just about the money we have and how we invest it. It’s also  about what we want to accomplish, what we hold dear, and how we can use our resources to be the best person we can on many levels in society.

I think we are ready as a society and as a wealth management industry to reset the standards of our profession. Let's focus on how to accomplish the key priorities for our investors and consumers across the range of wealth.

Imagine helping a beginning saver get on the right track by giving them a deeper understanding of what they spend and why. Think how satisfying it will be to watch people in control of their own futures realize their lifetime goals and dreams. This is why I entered the profession so long ago, and why I believe we may soon have the tools to make this a reality for so many.

Mark Casady
General Partner Vestigo Ventures