John Connell, Co-Founder and CEO of Focal, outlines how AI can do more than capture notes—it can raise advisor performance. By pairing meeting intelligence with behavioral finance and science-backed coaching, Focal turns compliant client conversations into sharper questions, higher conversion rates, and measurable growth. With more than 130 integrations, the goal isn’t just efficiency—it’s real revenue impact.

Connell also makes clear that in a regulated industry, AI has to be secure and purpose-built. The firms that win won’t just save 10 to 15 hours per week—they’ll see tighter team consistency, stronger AUM growth, and better outcomes across the board. In this model, AI doesn’t replace the advisor. It clears the clutter so advisors can show up more prepared, more focused, and more effective in every client conversation.

Resources: Focal

Power Your Advice podcasts are produced with support from Fidelity Investments. If you would like to learn more about Fidelity’s top performing mutual funds and ETFs for financial advisors visit i.fidelity.com/topfunds. The information and opinions expressed in this podcast are solely those of the speakers and do not reflect or represent Fidelity’s views, perspectives, or intellectual property.

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Ritik Malhotra, founder and CEO of Savvy Wealth, explains how automation and AI can strip away the 70% of administrative work that clogs an advisor’s day—compliance, paperwork, data entry, and reporting—so they can focus on what actually matters: clients. By modernizing the middle and back office, Savvy aims to give advisors back time, clarity, and energy—making advice feel more personal, not more robotic.

Malhotra dives into the psychology of money and why AI is far more likely to empower advisors than replace them. As investing grows more complex—from crypto to alternative assets—technology can synthesize information instantly, but clients still want a steady human hand. Malhotra outlines a future where advisors act as conductors of specialized AI agents—scaling their impact, deepening relationships, and delivering truly holistic wealth management without sacrificing personalization.

Resources: Savvy

Power Your Advice podcasts are produced with support from Fidelity Investments. If you would like to learn more about Fidelity’s top performing mutual funds and ETFs for financial advisors visit i.fidelity.com/topfunds. The information and opinions expressed in this podcast are solely those of the speakers and do not reflect or represent Fidelity’s views, perspectives, or intellectual property.

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Liam Hanlon, Head of Insights at Jump, shares findings from Jump’s first-ever Financial Advisor Insights Report—an analysis of more than 12,000 real advisor-client meetings. Drawing on what Hanlon calls “ground truth data,” the study challenges long-held industry assumptions shaped by traditional surveys, revealing what actually happens inside client conversations. From how much advisors really talk to which topics drive the most engagement, the data offers a clearer view into how advice is delivered—and where perception often diverges from reality.

Hanlon also explains how Jump’s AI-powered platform helps advisors act on those insights by reducing meeting prep, documentation, and follow-up work while surfacing meaningful conversational intelligence. By tracking client sentiment, identifying effective communication patterns, and translating data into actionable guidance, Jump enables advisors to structure better meetings, focus on goals and planning, and improve client follow-through—turning better conversations into stronger outcomes and sustainable growth.

Resources: Jump

Power Your Advice podcasts are produced with support from Fidelity Investments. If you would like to learn more about Fidelity’s top performing mutual funds and ETFs for financial advisors visit i.fidelity.com/topfunds. The information and opinions expressed in this podcast are solely those of the speakers and do not reflect or represent Fidelity’s views, perspectives, or intellectual property.

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Erin Colledge, Executive Vice President of Platform Unification and AI Strategy at Orion, brings us a grounded view of how AI is being adopted inside advisory firms. As the industry moves past experimentation, Colledge describes a shift toward practical use cases that help advisors prepare for client conversations, understand exposure, and respond more quickly to market changes. The focus is no longer whether AI belongs in the workflow, but how it can be applied in ways that feel useful, controlled, and aligned with how advisors actually work.

She explains how Orion’s Denali AI is built around connected intelligence—bringing CRM, portfolio management, planning, risk, and compliance data together in context rather than across disconnected systems. With natural-language queries, firm-controlled data access, and explainable, auditable outputs, Denali AI is designed to turn unified data into action while maintaining privacy and oversight. As AI-native platforms evolve, Colledge highlights their potential to reduce operational friction and give advisors more time for client relationships and strategic work.

Resources: Orion

Outputs generated by Orion Denali AI should be reviewed for accuracy and appropriateness by financial professionals in all cases.

Orion Denali AI (Beta) is an early-access version available to selected users for testing and feedback. Final features and availability may differ at launch.

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Hans Williams, Head of ETF Strategy at Calamos Investments, joins us to explore how advisors are approaching Bitcoin exposure in a market where volatility remains a central concern. With drawdowns of 30% or more still defining the asset’s price behavior, Williams explains why the conversation has shifted toward managing downside risk even as interest in digital assets grows. For advisors, this means balancing client curiosity with disciplined portfolio construction rather than simply reacting to headline price moves or sidelining Bitcoin altogether.

Williams highlights how Calamos’ suite of protected Bitcoin ETFs aim to offer defined buffers and known outcome periods that align exposure to client risk tolerance. He discusses how these outcome-oriented structures, along with laddered versions that smooth timing risk, can help advisors thoughtfully integrate Bitcoin into portfolios with clearer expectations around upside caps and downside limits. As advisor sophistication around digital assets deepens, Williams sees these products as tools to help advisors participate in Bitcoin’s potential while maintaining consistency with clients’ long-term plans.

Click here for more information about Calamos Protected Bitcoin ETFs

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