--- title: "The Shape of Wealth Management to Come" description: "Lessons from punk band Refused for an industry with tight rules: how Robinhood is disrupting wealth management, and why custodians owe you nothing." url: https://www.milemarker.co/resources/newsletter/the-shape-of-wealth-management-to-come updated: 2025-04-22 --- [Newsletter](https://www.milemarker.co/resources/newsletter) The Rising Tide Apr 22, 2025 # The Shape of Wealth Management to Come The Shape of Wealth Management to Come **Jud Mackrill**CEO & Cofounder It was the summer of 2001. I had just finished my first year of undergrad, floating through life without much of a plan. Most of my classmates went back to their hometowns, picked up internships, or checked the next box on their life roadmap. Me? I wasn’t so clear. I went home for two days before realizing that “home” no longer fit. I packed up and headed back to campus, where I spent the rest of the summer working odd jobs and touring the country with friends’ bands. It was chaotic, uncomfortable, and wildly fun. We slept wherever we could. Ate whatever we could. And somewhere in that mess, I was introduced to a band that changed the way I thought about creativity: **Refused**. Refused wasn’t just another punk band. They were building a rebellion inside the rebellion. Their album *The Shape of Punk to Come* fused hardcore with jazz, electronica, spoken word, and glitchy weirdness. It was messy and technical. Loud and thoughtful. Totally disinterested in staying inside the lines. When asked why they made it, vocalist Dennis Lyxzén said: > > *“We were bored of the scene. The scene had rules. We didn’t want rules.”* > > Dennis Lyxzén, Refused That line still hits. Because today, wealth management has its own “scene.” Its own rules. Its own aesthetic. And just like punk in the late ’90s, the formula is getting tight. Too tight. #### **When Disruption Doesn’t Look Like You** I spent 2000–2003 promoting and designing for punk, hardcore, and indie artists (bands like Further Seems Forever, Underoath, Dashboard Confessional, Noise Ratchet, and a million other bands you may or may not have heard of). DIY everything. Built from scratch. Rarely any label money. Just raw energy and a belief that things could be done differently — and better. It’s why *The Shape of Punk to Come* hit me so hard. It’s also why I can’t ignore what companies like **Robinhood** are doing in wealth management. Robinhood didn’t grow up with our playbook. They didn’t wear the suit. They didn’t write the RIA pitch deck. But they’re coming for the same retail client. Let’s start with the recent obvious: – They’re now in RIA custody through **TradePMR**, serving over 350 RIAs and $40B in assets. – They launched **Robinhood Strategies**, offering professionally managed portfolios with tax-efficient features and real-time market insights. – They’re expanding into **private banking**, offering estate planning, tax advice, and concierge-like services to Robinhood Gold subscribers. And all of this is being delivered through an interface built for digital natives, which has proven more effective than legacy custodians today offer regarding user adoption. #### **For Less Than One Starbucks Drink** Robinhood Gold costs **$5/month**. That’s the cost of entry to: – Premium research – Lower-cost margin borrowing – Larger instant deposits – …and now, actual financial advice(ish). Yes, **$5 a month** is now a competitor to your firm. It’s not a threat to every advisor. But it *is* a shift in expectations. Robinhood isn’t copying RIAs — they’re creating an **alternative** for people who don’t want any of the formalities of an advisor. This is the shape of wealth management to come: Less friction. More productized. More personalized — without a person. #### **When Help Becomes Dependency** To be fair, many advisors have built incredibly successful businesses **with the support of custodians**. Referral programs, platform guidance, soft dollar support, integrations — all of it has played a major role in helping advisors deliver **deeper, more meaningful value** than a custodian ever could. Because let’s be honest: 1\. The custodian can’t sit in your client’s kitchen. 2\. It can’t understand their legacy, their community, their fear, or their faith. 3\. That’s your lane — and it’s where you shine. But somewhere along the way, that support from custodians turned into an assumption. That they’ll always be there. That they’ll help us grow. That they owe us something. Which brings us to a sharp reminder from Matt Sonnen. #### **The Custodians Don’t Owe You Anything** As Matt Sonnen, COO of Coldstream Wealth Management, writes: > > *“Custodians don’t owe us anything.”* > > [Matt Sonnen,](https://www.wealthmanagement.com/ria-news/your-custodian-doesn-t-owe-you-anything) [WealthManagement.com](https://wealthmanagement.com/) He explains that while RIAs benefit from critical services — custody, reporting, technology, even occasional client referrals — expecting those services to include *growth strategy* or *free marketing* is a misplaced bet. > > *Did we really start RIAs simply because we assumed the custodians would be our primary source of new clients? I don’t think so.”* > > [Matt Sonnen,](https://www.wealthmanagement.com/ria-news/your-custodian-doesn-t-owe-you-anything) [WealthManagement.com](https://wealthmanagement.com/) The truth? That’s never been the deal. Custodians serve millions of accounts, thousands of firms. They’re not competing with you intentionally — they’re just operating at a scale where your practice isn’t the priority. Your growth? Your client experience? Your value proposition? That’s always been your job. #### **So What’s the Shape of Wealth Management to Come?** It’s smaller. More specific. More creative. More rebellious. It’s founder-led and conviction-driven. It’s obsessed with design. It’s built for a generation that doesn’t automatically trust the system. The future won’t be built by firms trying to look like the last one that sold for $500 million. It will be built by those who, like Refused, are bored with the scene. ## Subscribe to get insights and company news straight to your inbox. ## Read more [View all ↗](https://www.milemarker.co/resources/newsletter) [### How To Leverage Data To Take Your Company To The Next Level How To Leverage Data To Take Your Company To The Next Level Jud Mackrill • Apr 12, 2025](https://www.milemarker.co/resources/newsletter/how-to-leverage-data-to-take-your-company-to-the-next-level) [### Who Are We Building the Next Generation Wealth Management Firms For? Who Are We Building the Next Generation Wealth Management Firms For? Jud Mackrill • Apr 5, 2025](https://www.milemarker.co/resources/newsletter/who-are-we-building-the-next-generation-wealth-management-firms-for)