An early architect of Joe Duran’s United Capital, and a former Goldman Sachs PFM exec, Mike Capelle and his partners secured $200 million to build a national RIA with a vision of bringing all a client’s planning needs—tax, insurance, estate planning—under one roof.

In this episode of the RIA Edge Podcast, David Armstrong, editorial director for Informa Connect’s Wealth Management Group, talks with Capelle, co-founder and co-CEO at Modern Wealth Management, about the firm’s goal to serve the mass affluent and the “millionaire-next-door” with a suite of holistic services, including financial planning, taxes, insurance and trusts. 

Specifically, David and Mike discuss:

• What Modern Wealth’s trio of founders learned from helping grow United Capital to a $25 billion firm acquired by Goldman Sachs.
  
• The 2023 launch of the firm and how they rapidly identified and acquired the building blocks to set the stage for future growth.
  
• What pieces of the puzzle the firm’s principals are looking for now.
  
• Challenges in the RIA Industry when it comes to attracting talent, and why it is important to execute on an organic growth plan even amid a phase of rapid acquisition.
  
• The strategy behind acquiring a retirement plan advisory business.
  
• How acquired firms will adopt the Modern Wealth Management brand and platform while retaining key personnel as managing directors.
  
• A potential expansion of Modern Wealth Management’s offerings into banking services, focusing on lending and cash management through strategic partnerships.
  

Resources:

• RIA Edge Podcast
  

Connect With David Armstrong:

• WealthManagement.com
  
• LinkedIn: WealthManagment.com
  
• LinkedIn: David Armstrong 
  
• Twitter/X: @djamesarmstrong
  
• LinkedIn: Informa
  

Connect With Mike Capelle:

• LinkedIn: Mike Capelle
  
• Modern Wealth Management
  

About Our Guest: 

Mike Capelle is a co-founder and co-CEO at Modern Wealth Management. From his decades-long career in wealth management, Capelle has experience building advisor-client wealth management platforms to drive continuous growth. Prior to co-founding Modern Wealth, Capelle was a managing director at Goldman Sachs Personal Financial Management, where he was the Head of High-Net-Worth Product.

In addition, Capelle was part of the team that co-founded, scaled, and sold United Capital, a $25 billion RIA with 90 locations, to Goldman Sachs for $750 million, where he served as Chief Platform Officer. Capelle was responsible for the company’s operating platform and technology and for driving enterprise innovation. He was also a member of the firm’s Investment Committee.