Sean dives back into the world of crypto, talking to  Mike Reust, president at Betterment, and Jesse Proudman, Makara CEO, about Betterment's purchase of Makara. They discuss how important crypto has become to portfolios and Makara’s future plans. 

Guest Bios: 

Jesse Proudman is a Seattle-based entrepreneur. He founded Blue Box, which provided private cloud as a service based on OpenStack technology. The company was sold to IBM in 2015. In 2018, after leaving IBM, he founded Strix Leviathan, which builds an investment management platform for crypto currencies. In 2021, he founded Makara, which aims to make it more simple to invest in crypto by creating “thematic baskets” that can meet various goals and interests, such as the largest coins or emerging trends. 

Mike Reust is president at Betterment. His goal is to lead the retail business at Betterment, helping deliver solutions to customers that wrangle the complexity of the American financial system. He has been with Betterment since 2016. 

In this episode, you’ll hear: 

• What are alternative investments and why are they so popular?
• How is fintech bringing down investment minimums?
• What are some of the most interesting investments available to clients?
• Are the investments only open to accredited investors?
• Are alt fintechs licensed by the SEC?
• How much do these platforms cost?
• Which clients are most suitable for alt investments?

Related Article:  Alts open up everything from Harlem Renaissance art to Japanese whisky

Guest Bios:

Rebecca Fine is the leader of Yieldstreet’s Art Platform, which includes Athena Art Finance and Yieldstreet’s newest asset class, Art Equity. She has served on the leadership team of Athena since its founding by The Carlyle Group in 2015. Rebecca has had a remarkable track record of success as a changemaker in many evolving roles, both before and after joining Yieldstreet in 2019.

Nick King is a finance and tech-driven founder of Vint. Nick started his career at an investment fund that managed $20 billion, where he learned to think, invest and build a business. He was inspired to launch Vint to democratize the wine and spirits industry, which has been historically inefficient and opaque.

Nick built a team of experienced sommeliers and launched the first SEC-qualified platform dedicated to wine and spirits investing. At Vint, Nick leads the fundraising efforts, sets the strategic vision, recruits top notch talent and manages day-to-day operations. He has a degree in financial economics from the University of Virginia. Outside the office, Nick is a fitness buff with boxing being his exercise of choice. He credits the real punches to his face with helping him put startup setbacks in context.

In this episode, you'll hear: 

• What are cash sweeps?
• Comparison of these portfolios with "regular" portfolios — how many millions did Schwab investors lose?
• What does it mean for robo-advisers writ large?
• What is the proper role of cash in a portfolio — how does it compare to Schwab’s methodology?
• The effect of inflation.
• What else is going on in the world of robo-advisers.
• A discussion on fees — the femur surgery metaphor.
• No free lunch.

Related Article:  How much does Schwab’s cash sweep really cost clients?

Related Article:  Schwab hit with class-action complaint over cash sweeps

Guest Bios: 

Laura Varas is founder and CEO at Hearts & Wallets, where she applies her experiences in participating in markets worldwide to create stronger connections between financial solutions and consumer needs. Laura is a thought leader who combines an in-depth knowledge of financial services with a proven ability to predict future trends. 

Laura bridges the investing and marketing worlds with over 25 years of experience in retail finance, consumer packaged goods and strategy consulting. Prior to founding Hearts & Wallets, she held senior positions at Fidelity and Citibank, with earlier roles at Colgate-Palmolive, Grey Advertising and Mercer Management Consulting strategy practice.

David Goldstone is the manager of research and analytics for Backend Benchmarking and The Robo Report™. He started his finance career in Shanghai working with the chief China analyst for Oppenheimer & Co. While living in China, he opened the office for DealFlow Media in Shanghai and organized their second international conference, where U.S. institutional investors were introduced to over 100 Chinese companies. Prior to joining Backend Benchmarking, David worked at First National Bank as a lender and financial advisor. In his role at Backend Benchmarking, he has established himself as a subject matter expert in the digital advice industry and has been quoted in WSJ, Barron’s and Money, among other publications. David graduated from Colorado College and is a CFA charterholder.