One Wealth Perspectives

As the resident technology lead at One Wealth Advisors, last week I had the opportunity to attend the Coachella of tech conferences: Dreamforce. Dreamforce is sponsored by Salesforce, a company that builds Client Relationship Management (CRM) systems for organizations, including OWA. The theme of this year’s conference was Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) and how it can help different types of companies, including Financial Planning firms, in a variety of areas, such as predictive analytics, risk management and AI enhanced customer solutions.

If someone asked you today, how do you feel about the economy, what would you say? What about the stock market? If you follow the news, what is your perception of 2023? These questions may feel quite loaded, but they have been on my mind as we approach the end of the year. 

There are multiple ways for me to get from Cole Valley, where I live in San Francisco, to the One Wealth Advisors office in the Mission each morning. While not the most time efficient, I choose to take the N Muni train for a few stops just past Duboce Park and walk the remaining almost twenty minutes to get to work.

By David Steele I was in Tahoe this weekend and a close friend of mine drove up to snowboard with me. This friend has a company much like One Wealth...

In this ever-evolving digital age, where AI is not just a buzzword but an intimate part of our daily lives, it’s increasingly important to talk about the ‘E’ word – Empathy. Sure, as we delegate more tasks to our tireless, silicon-based friends, the other E word, Efficiency, also spikes up. But amidst this surge of productivity, let’s not forget that empathy, that uniquely human trait, doesn’t come pre-installed in these machines. In a world where AI can draft emails, drive cars, and even write blog posts, the need to remain empathetically human becomes not just important, but essential.

Cognitive decline, a natural part of aging, can significantly impact an individual’s ability to make sound financial decisions. As we age, changes in cognitive abilities such as memory, attention, and executive function can subtly erode our financial acumen. This decline can range from simple forgetfulness to more severe forms of impairment like dementia. The effects are far-reaching, affecting everything from daily budget management to long-term financial planning. Alarmingly, the decline often goes unnoticed by the
individuals themselves, making them vulnerable to financial mistakes or exploitation.

Yesterday – which happened to be January 1st, I was in my living room, on my bike, which I was riding via an app called Zwift and a machine called a Wahoo Kickr, both of which allow me to simulate real road riding right in the comfort of my own living room. I was also watching my favorite soccer team Liverpool FC, beat up on archrival Newcastle in the English Premier League, 3,000 miles away in Liverpool, UK. In the throes of a 250-watt push on the Champs Elysee’ in Paris (the app video simulates cities all over the world), I began to think of how easy it is to be alone these days.

At One Wealth Advisors, a primary driver behind the growth of our business has been from client referrals. Our philosophy has been that the more we focus on client service and planning, the more clients might be inclined to introduce us to a friend, family member or any other individual in their network. Upon being introduced to a prospective client, oftentimes we are asked, “What is your minimum?” When we first started One Wealth my favorite answer was to say, “Our minimums are nice people!”