Episode 41: The Future of Canadian Fintech: Leading the Charge with Robo-Advisors

On the show today we welcome Randy Cass, owner and founder of Nest Wealth, who were the first financial firm to employ the use of robo-advisors in Canada. Their unique business model and forward looking systems and practices are at the forefront of the industry in the country and hearing Randy’s recollections from their processes as well as thoughts going forward will be of great interest to anyone interested in the future of their money. In our conversation we cover the basic history of Nest Wealth and what inspired their big decisions. Randy unpacks their fee structure and how some of the systems work and have changed over the last few years before going into the ins and outs of how robo-advisors field questions. Our guest also comments on the financial market’s constant evolution and his personal and professional attitude to passive investment strategies. We chat about obstacles that currently stand in the way of the fintech industry and finish off the episode with Randy explaining his iterative approach to development as technology advances. For all this and more, be sure to tune in!

 

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Key Points From This Episode:

• How Randy decided to launch the first robo-advisor service in Canada. [0:02:17.3]
• The evolution of the systems used by Nest Wealth since its inception. [0:04:25.1]
• Nest Wealth’s unique fee structure. [0:06:38.0]
• Handling questions from clients at the firm. [0:09:50.0]
• Nest Wealth’s place in the evolving financial advice market. [0:13:23.8]
• How Nest Wealth use technology to scale financial advice. [0:19:04.8]
• Randy’s attitude towards passive and active investment management. [0:22:57.8]
• Some of the notable obstacles that Randy has encountered in Canadian fintech. [0:25:32.1]
• Looking forward to the future of the industry and developing iteratively. [0:29:19.0]
• How Randy measures success in his life. [0:31:39.4]
• And much more!

 

Tweetables:

[bctt tweet=”“To say that we knew there was an opportunity for a digital advisor in Canada, I think it’s just being said with 20/20 hindsight right now.” ” username=”randy_cass “] [bctt tweet=”“I had a belief that if we were really going to take a stab at making things better for the end investor, everything had to be on the table.” ” username=”randy_cass “] [bctt tweet=”“Not only did we have the cheapest fees in the country for our investors but we have the cheapest products in the portfolio from a cost point of view.”” username=”randy_cass “]

 

Links From Today’s Episode:
Benjamin Felix on Twitter — Follow @BenjaminwFelix

Cameron Passmore on Twitter — Follow @CameronPassmore

Randy Cass on Twitter — Follow @randy_cass

Randy Cass — https://www.nestwealth.com/meet-our-team/

Nest Wealth — https://www.nestwealth.com

Vanguard — https://investor.vanguard.com/corporate-portal/

Wealthsimple — https://www.wealthsimple.com/en-ca/

Betterment — https://www.betterment.com

Wealthfront — https://www.wealthfront.com

 

Download the transcript of this episode:  The Rational Reminder Podcast Ep.41 – Transcript