1. Shadow AI Is Already in Your Advisory Firm. Do You Know What It Can Access?

AI is moving fast—and for financial advisors, the conversation can’t just be about what these tools can do. It also needs to include what they can access, where your data is going, and whether what’s actually happening inside your business matches what your compliance documents say. In this episode, I’m joined by Hugh from T2M Works to unpack the concept of “shadow AI,” the hidden risks that can come with rapidly adopting new technology, and how advisors can build an AI-ready foundation without sacrificing all of the incredible efficiency these tools can create. — Libby Greiwe

2. When Every Advisor Has AI, What Will Make Clients Choose You?

This week, financial stocks slid again on worries that artificial intelligence is coming for the advice business. It was the second time this year. In February, a single AI tax-planning tool was enough to send wealth-management shares to their worst days in years. I'm not going to add to the noise. Markets price fear by the day. Advisors earn trust by the decade. Those are different businesses, running on different clocks. — Craig Butler

3. Claude for Financial Advisors: What Anthropic Actually Shipped—and What It Didn’t

I read the Claude for Financial Advisors repo to see what it really does, and what it doesn't. "A set of ready-to-run workflows for Claude Cowork…" "Reference implementation. Not actively maintained or monitored, and not accepting contributions." Both lines come from the same README, for the plugin Anthropic launched for financial advisors this week. So which is it? — James Cantwell

4. The Uncomfortable Truth About Why Clients Don’t Refer You

Here's the uncomfortable truth about referrals. There's some bad – or should I say very incomplete advice going around about what it takes to generate quality referrals. Yes, you should show up on time. Yes, you should do what you say, finish what you start, and say please and thank you. Dan Sullivan is 100% right – these are non-negotiables. — Bill Cates

5. SpaceX as Platform: What a Value Investor Found When He Did the Engineering Work

There is a particular kind of investor credibility that comes not from tracking a stock price but from reading a filing, stress-testing a technical claim, and then arriving at a conclusion you didn't set out to find. Christopher Begg, CEO and Chief Investment Officer of East Coast Asset Management and a professor at Columbia Business School, where he teaches the Security Analysis course originally developed by Benjamin Graham, is that kind of investor. When Begg began spending serious time on SpaceX, he did not start with a bull thesis and work backward. He started with an engineering problem. — Christopher Gannatti

6. Great News for Investors: A Proven SMID Growth Discipline Is Now an ETF

The Calamos Timpani Active SMID Growth ETF (CTAG), converted from the open-end Calamos Timpani SMID Growth Fund, offers access to a time-tested strategy that has strongly outpaced its benchmark and peers over both short- and longer-term periods—with all the potential benefits of an ETF structure. — Calamos

7. Meta Ads for Financial Services Have Changed. Here Is What Actually Works in 2026

Many advisors I talk to have already tried Facebook ads. It either went nowhere, or it worked for a few months and then quietly stopped. Either way they came away believing the platform doesn't work for firms like theirs. Usually that's not the problem. The problem is the ads were built the way ads were built five or ten years ago. In financial services, that stopped working. — Alex Khassa

8. The 10X Referral Advantage of Meeting Clients Face-to-Face

Virtual meetings are efficient, but if there is one thing that can help any professional fuel referrals it is face-to-face time with clients and influencers. Actual getting-together-with those other humans more often tends to lead to better or deeper relationships, and more opportunities to be positioned for referrals and recommendations. And more meetings mean more opportunities to ask for referrals bluntly if you are that way inclined, right? — Tony Vidler

9. Finfluencers to Financial Planning: Turning Online Interest into Client Relationships

Financial advice is no longer confined to an advisor’s office. Social media is full of video explaining 401(k) contributions, whether to choose Roth or traditional accounts and where to put your extra cash. Finfluencers are getting young people interested in retirement planning and investing strategies. They are making foundational financial concepts accessible to people who may not have sought them out otherwise. — Hunter Lord

10. Aging in Place Is Getting Harder. Are We Thinking About Home the Wrong Way?

A new survey from Alignment Health and Ipsos found that 90% of seniors are facing at least one social barrier to healthy aging. The most cited barrier, ahead of even healthcare costs and economic instability, was aging in place, named by 68% of respondents. That's up from 62% last year, and as the report puts it: “The 4-point year-over-year increase – combined with aging in place challenges’ status as the top barrier for multiple consecutive years – suggests that seniors' struggles to remain safely at home are not stabilizing but growing.” We all want to stay in our own homes, independently, for as long as possible. But the barriers to that goal seem to be getting worse. — Tom West

11. How Much Money Are Clients Spending on Subscriptions?

Have you seen the ad where the 20 something person says “We fired our housekeeper…” How about the other 20 something saying “I don’t have time to cook” showing off a device reminiscent of a 1980’s toaster over, as she sprinkles herbs on top of what appears to be a one pound portion of filet mignon in an aluminum tray? I wondered what it costs if you sign up for the major subscription services designed to make your life easier? — Bryce Sanders