Month: June 2025
RIA Edge: Building a Future-Ready Firm with Brandywine Oak CEO Michael Henley

RIA Edge: Building a Future-Ready Firm with Brandywine Oak CEO Michael Henley

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Join host David Armstrong, fresh off the Wealth Management Edge Conference in Boca Raton, Fla., as he interviews Michael Henley, founder and chief executive officer of Brandywine Oak Private Wealth. Michael talks about the firm’s rapid growth since leaving Merrill Lynch in 2018 with the help of Dynasty Financial Partners and the focus that helped the firm double its AUM to $1.5 billion since breaking away. 

Like many serving HNW and UHNW clients, Henley’s firm takes a tax-centric approach to planning; unlike many similarly sized firms, Brandywine has brought tax preparation in-house, a service enthusiastically embraced by their clients. Henley talks about the conference panel he saw that led him and his firm to dive deep into crypto, educating clients on the technology and, for those who want it, adding a small sleeve to their portfolios. 

A culturally young firm of advisors mostly in their 30s and 40s, Henley and his team believe growing the business is important not just for the principals, but for the clients, arguing scale is needed to bring HNW and UHNW families the range of services they will come to expect. The team is grappling with the best way to make that happen and whether or not to look for a partner or a source of capital to fuel their next chapter. 

David and Michael discuss:

  • Why he and his team left the wirehouse, and how opening their own firm unlocked an ability to serve clients with fewer conflicts and more opportunities.
  • How the firm is “obsessed” with taxes, arguing proper tax planning moves the needle for HNW and UHNW clients like few other strategies.
  • Why bringing tax preparation in-house (unique for a firm of their size) ensures advisors maintain control of the financial plan’s implementation.
  • How the barriers have fallen around alternatives and structured products, and the role illiquid investments can play for clients.
  • The decision to add a sleeve of cryptocurrency to their portfolios, and how clients reacted.
  • He and his partner’s thinking around M&A, “acquihires,” and the possibility of bringing on a capital partner to accelerate the next phase of growth. 

Resources:

Connect With David Armstrong:

Connect With Michael Henley:

About Our Guest:

Michael Henley is the Founder and CEO of Brandywine Oak Private Wealth, a distinguished private wealth management firm headquartered in Kennett Square, Pa. Over the course of his 20-year career, Michael has partnered with wealthy individuals and families to help streamline the complexity associated with significant wealth. Michael built his team with a singular purpose: to provide a preeminent private wealth management experience to executives, retirees, and their family members, founded on exceptional service, transparency, and consistency. A skilled leader, he surrounds each client with a dedicated team of credentialed professionals who are sensitive to that family’s unique needs, values, and goals. Michael resides in Chadds Ford, PA, with his two children and their dogs. He holds the CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNERTM certification, the Certified Private Wealth Advisor® (CPWA®) designation, the Chartered Retirement Planning CounselorSM (CRPC®) designation, and the Retirement Management Advisor® (RMA®) designation.

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RIA Edge Podcast: Schwab’s Jalina Kerr on How Resilient RIAs Can Turn Market Volatility Into Growth Engines

RIA Edge Podcast: Schwab’s Jalina Kerr on How Resilient RIAs Can Turn Market Volatility Into Growth Engines

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Economic uncertainty, heightened volatility and on-again, off-again trade policies are challenging for investors. But similar to the Great Financial Crisis of 2008, fiduciary advisors can use this opportunity to assert their value and give clients confidence that their broader financial plans aren’t as negatively impacted as they may think, given the daily doom-and-gloom market headlines. Some RIAs can turn volatility into a growth engine.

In this episode of the RIA Edge Podcast, Jalina Kerr of Charles Schwab shares how the most adaptive firms are expanding beyond portfolio management, into areas like estate and tax planning, which have far more profound impacts on client outcomes than marginal tweaks to an allocation model or changes in asset managers and investment funds. Top-tier RIAs are also using technology to scale more personalized client experiences, communicating to clients that their personal plans remain resilient, despite the daily ups and downs in the markets.

Kerr discusses:

  • The resilience of RIAs during down markets and how bear markets can be an opportunity for growth
  • The increasing demand for comprehensive wealth management beyond portfolio construction, including estate and tax planning
  • Integration of technology to deliver personalization at scale and the benefits of all-in-one platforms
  • The rising interest in alternative investments and how they’re being integrated into many RIAs practices
  • If the wealth management industry is any closer to solving the talent shortage, and how RIAs are doing in forging career development tracks within firms.

Resources:

Connect With David Armstrong:

Connect With Jalina Kerr:

About Our Guest:

Jalina Kerr is the Managing Director, Head of Advisor Experience for Schwab Advisor Services. Kerr’s team shapes the constantly evolving client experience with progressive technical and human resources designed to support the custody needs of a diverse advisor base.

Kerr began her career at Schwab in 1994 on the Advisor Services trading desk. During her tenure at Schwab, Kerr has held roles in client service delivery, operations, advisors in transition, strategy, and technology.

In 2016, AZ Business Magazine recognized Kerr as one of Arizona’s Most Influential Women. Kerr also serves on the Board of the Arizona Women’s Leadership Forum. Kerr holds a bachelor’s degree in communications and her Series 7, 9, 10, 24, and 63 registrations.

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