WEALTH MANAGEMENT INNOVATORS: Meet 7 people shaking up recruiting, tech, and education in the $49 trillion business of managing money

Wealthsimple; Charles Schwab; RBC Wealth Management; Shayanne Gal/Business Insider

For our inaugural list of wealth management innovators, we've pinpointed insiders shaking up recruitment, research, and digital advice and investing.

• The wealth management industry's evolution is dizzying.
• Technology is changing the lives of advisers and clients while a new generation of investors grows accustomed to some firms' dirt-cheap financial advice, trading, and investing options.
• At the same time, much of the business remains deeply institutionalized. Armies of advisers at legacy wirehouses - massive, full-service broker-dealers - oversee trillions in wealth, and large shops can be slow to change.
• For Business Insider's inaugural list of wealth management innovators, through interviews with industry insiders, analysts, and executives, we've pinpointed seven people shaking up recruitment, industry designations, and digital advice and investing today.
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We've called this moment for the wealth management industry "crowded, competitive, quickly aging," and there's a good reason for that.

A wave of financial advisers are expected to retire over the next five years, posing an urgent need for firms to build next-gen talent. And with profit margins thinning while commissions disappear from sight, analysts are renewing talk of consolidation among discount brokerages - some of which are also looking to beef up financial advice.

After all, customers have so many options from automated services and humans alike. All the while, many big banks are leaning more on wealth to produce steady revenues to help balance out more volatile businesses.

McKinsey's latest estimate pegs global wealth management assets at a record $49 trillion, a pile that's grown steadily in the wake of the global financial crisis as markets have charged higher.

For Business Insider's inaugural list of wealth management innovators, through interviews with industry insiders, analysts, and executives, we've pinpointed seven people who have been busy shaking up recruitment, industry training, and fee structures.