Savvy Wealth, a rapidly expanding AI-native registered investment advisor (RIA) with assets under advisement approaching $7 billion, is set to introduce its own suite of proprietary alternative investment strategies in the third quarter of this year. This strategic move, announced by Chief Investment Officer Anshul Sharma on the sidelines of the Wealth Management EDGE conference in Boca Raton, Florida, signals a significant expansion of the firm’s investment offerings and a commitment to providing advisors with more curated and institutionally-minded options.
Sharma, who joined Savvy Wealth in August from Bank of America, where he held a distinguished role as managing director and senior portfolio manager at Merrill Lynch, has been instrumental in reshaping the firm’s investment infrastructure. Prior to his tenure, Savvy Wealth’s platform primarily featured third-party, customizable investment solutions. Under Sharma’s leadership, the firm has since developed its own strategic investment allocation, complemented by comprehensive market views and commentary disseminated through a monthly investment committee. This internal investment strategy, branded as Savvy Total Portfolio, was rolled out to Savvy advisors in January, with the accompanying market insights, Savvy Portfolio Perspectives, following in February.
"We want a truly differentiated alts solution that checks a lot of the boxes," Sharma stated, emphasizing the firm’s ambition to move beyond generic offerings. "We’re still working through the design element there in terms of what we can do and what’s possible." This deliberate approach underscores Savvy Wealth’s intention to offer alternatives that meet rigorous standards, akin to those found in institutional investment portfolios.
Expanding the Alternative Investment Landscape
The forthcoming proprietary alternative investment strategies are expected to focus significantly on private markets. This strategic direction aligns with a growing trend within the wealth management industry, where advisors are increasingly seeking access to alternative assets to diversify portfolios and enhance potential returns for their clients. However, Sharma highlighted a critical challenge facing advisors: navigation.
"There’s more than enough [alternative] solutions out there now," Sharma observed. "The problem is navigation. How do you take a marketplace of 400 individual solutions as an advisor, right? The first step is curating to simplify for advisors. … we’ll shoulder that responsibility." This sentiment reflects a broader industry need for platforms that can effectively distill complex investment landscapes into digestible and actionable options for financial professionals.
Beyond the proprietary offerings, Sharma’s in-house investment team is also actively curating a selection of third-party alternative investment options for Savvy’s network of 135 advisors. This curated list will encompass a diverse range of asset classes, including private markets, private equity, private debt, hedge fund solutions, and direct real estate investments. The dual approach—developing proprietary strategies while simultaneously curating external ones—demonstrates Savvy Wealth’s commitment to providing a comprehensive and flexible alternative investment ecosystem.
A Growing Investment Team and Robust Infrastructure
Sharma’s investment team has undergone significant expansion since his arrival. Initially comprising two investment operations managers, the team has now grown to six employees, with plans to hire an additional three professionals. This growth in human capital is indicative of Savvy Wealth’s commitment to building a robust, in-house investment capability that can support its expanding platform and advisor base.
The introduction of the Savvy Total Portfolio and Savvy Portfolio Perspectives marks a foundational step in establishing Savvy Wealth as an institutional-grade investment partner. "That’s going to be part of our DNA on a go-forward basis," Sharma affirmed. "I think what we have done on the traditional side is that we have really moved the ball forward with Savvy’s capabilities, demonstrating to the market that Savvy is building an institutional-grade investment partner, and this is part of it."
Industry Context and Competitive Landscape
Savvy Wealth’s strategic push into proprietary alternatives occurs within a dynamic competitive environment. Notably, just days prior to Sharma’s remarks, Dynasty Financial Partners, a prominent RIA platform, announced its own initiative to provide advisors with preferred access to a third-party private markets allocator. Dynasty advisors will gain access to private-market investments and a related platform from Silicon Valley-based Allocate. This parallel development underscores the burgeoning demand for sophisticated alternative investment solutions across the RIA ecosystem.
While Savvy Wealth may be considered a smaller player compared to some of the larger platforms, it has maintained a consistent pace of innovation and growth under the leadership of founder and CEO Ritik Malhotra. In April, Malhotra spoke with Wealth Management about the firm’s Savvy Intelligence, an AI-driven product designed to consolidate advisors’ investment, tax, and financial planning data into a single, reconciled system. This focus on AI integration, coupled with the expansion of investment capabilities, positions Savvy Wealth as a forward-thinking firm dedicated to enhancing advisor efficiency and client outcomes.
Advisor Customization and Flexibility
A key tenet of Savvy Wealth’s investment philosophy, as articulated by Sharma, is the emphasis on advisor customization and flexibility. The firm recognizes that advisors operate with varying levels of investment autonomy and client needs. Consequently, Savvy’s internal investment strategies are designed to accommodate a spectrum of engagement models.
"We have advisors on the platform that delegate everything to my team, which is investment authority and trading authority," Sharma explained. "We have advisors who are on the other side of the platform, who choose to retain all of that themselves. We respect that. Then we have the belly of the curve, which is advisors that think and choose individual solutions, individual strategies, and individual ways of engaging with my team." This client-centric approach ensures that advisors can leverage Savvy Wealth’s resources in a manner that best suits their business model and client mandates.
The Evolving Role of Alternative Investments in Wealth Management
The increasing allocation to alternative investments by RIAs is driven by several factors. Firstly, traditional asset classes like stocks and bonds have historically provided significant returns, but in recent years, low interest rate environments and market volatility have prompted advisors to seek alternative avenues for portfolio diversification and enhanced risk-adjusted returns. Alternative investments, such as private equity, venture capital, hedge funds, and real estate, often exhibit lower correlations with public markets, which can help to smooth out portfolio performance during periods of market turbulence.
Secondly, sophisticated investors, including high-net-worth individuals, are increasingly demanding access to a broader range of investment opportunities. RIAs, acting as fiduciaries, are compelled to meet these client demands by sourcing and offering suitable alternative investment products. However, the complexity of these investments, including illiquidity, higher fees, and specialized due diligence requirements, presents a significant hurdle for many advisors. This is where firms like Savvy Wealth aim to add value by providing curated access, proprietary insights, and simplified operational frameworks.
The move by Savvy Wealth to offer proprietary alternative investment strategies is a strategic response to these evolving market dynamics. By developing its own offerings, the firm can exert greater control over investment selection, fees, and operational processes, ensuring alignment with its fiduciary responsibilities and client objectives. This also allows Savvy Wealth to build a unique value proposition that differentiates it from competitors who rely solely on third-party providers.
Future Implications and Strategic Outlook
The introduction of Savvy Wealth’s proprietary alternative investment strategies is likely to have several implications:
- Enhanced Advisor Value Proposition: Advisors on the Savvy Wealth platform will gain access to a more comprehensive and potentially more cost-effective suite of alternative investment options. This can help them to better serve their clients’ evolving needs and strengthen their competitive positioning.
- Increased Firm Competitiveness: By building in-house expertise and proprietary offerings in a high-demand area, Savvy Wealth can enhance its attractiveness to both advisors and investors. This can fuel further growth in assets under advisement and market share.
- Industry Trend Acceleration: Savvy Wealth’s move could encourage other RIAs and wealth management platforms to accelerate their own development of proprietary alternative investment capabilities or to deepen their partnerships with specialized alternative asset managers.
- Focus on Due Diligence and Risk Management: As Savvy Wealth expands its alternative offerings, a continued emphasis on rigorous due diligence, risk management, and transparent reporting will be crucial to maintaining investor confidence and regulatory compliance.
Sharma’s vision for Savvy Wealth extends beyond simply providing access to alternative investments. It is about building a robust, institutional-quality investment engine that empowers advisors and ultimately benefits end clients. As the firm continues to grow and innovate, its commitment to simplifying complex markets and delivering differentiated investment solutions will be a key determinant of its long-term success in the competitive wealth management landscape. The upcoming launch of its proprietary alternative strategies marks a significant milestone in this ongoing journey, signaling Savvy Wealth’s ambition to become a leader in providing sophisticated investment solutions to the RIA community.
