I’m going to be honest — I had a hard time with the dress code.
When I was asked to moderate a fireside chat at Future Proof — the industry’s largest wealth festival — I took a quick gander at the website and photos from last year before committing. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing: T-shirts, flip-flops, shorts, sunglasses. And on stage, no less.
I’ve grown up in the wealth management space, and I’ve never been anything other than dressed to the nines. (Think power work dress, high heels and conservative jewelry). We are talking about an extremely traditional industry, after all.
Enter Future Proof, a wealth management festival in Huntington Beach, California, that has decided to shake things up. Founders Josh Brown of Ritholtz Wealth Management and Matt Middleton of Advisor Circle knew the industry was due for some change, so they boldly decided to lead the way.
The entire event was outside on the beach. Stages were erected; food trucks were displayed; huddle tables and high-top tables were scattered throughout the festival site to ensure that spontaneous networking could happen at any time, anywhere.
It was by far the most diverse group of people I’ve ever seen gathered to discuss the future of wealth — not to mention the staggering number of women in attendance.
The content was extremely diverse as well. While there were the traditional main-stage panels, they also did live sessions of podcast episodes, fireside chats, personal-growth workshops as well as wellness and food and beverage networking activities. You could wake up and do yoga on the beach and catch a quick salsa lesson midafternoon.
While I tend to struggle to keep up my energy levels at most conferences, this felt like a jolt to my system the moment I arrived. I had the pleasure of interviewing the CEO of the largest crypto asset manager, Grayscale’s Michael Sonnenshein.
The normal pre-panel discussion is usually in a long hallway before entering a ballroom.
In our case, we met next to a few food trucks. The vibe was immediately different. We were laughing within a few minutes of sitting down, and that chemistry that you hope to find between an interviewer and interviewee was ever-present. A few hours later, we took to the main stage for our chat.
Now, when I say “main stage,” it’s important to note that the stage felt as if it was erected for a concert — and in fact, it was. Method Man and Redman played there Tuesday night. Right before getting announced to walk on stage, I whispered to Michael, “OK, so I feel like a rock star.”
Michael and I talked about where Grayscale is today after winning its court case with the SEC, a decision that should pave the way for the launch of an ETF that would actually hold cryptocurrency. He shared some insights about how advisers to the high-net-worth space can help them understand digital assets in a more palatable way.
It was a short conversation, with the shot clock blaring and the sun in our eyes. But we were able to talk about actionable ways for the high-net-worth investor to understand the world of cryptocurrency just a bit better.
While my time at the festival was short, it was meaningful. I’ve never moderated a session and had so many solid, content-driven meetings in the span of 48 hours.
I look forward to seeing where Advisor Circle and Ritholtz Wealth takes Future Proof next year. I’ll be sure to work on my salsa moves in the meantime.