Perhaps you’ve heard our recent news: LibertyFi and Aptus Capital Advisors have merged to create a firm designed to build custom solutions for RIAs. We provide a turnkey solution allowing advisors to fully outsource tech, investment management, and operations while also delivering à la carte services that can be incorporated with an advisor’s existing technology.
Our Co-Founder and President, Alli Jordan, recently sat down with JD Gardner, Founder and Chief Investment Officer of Aptus, on the latest Secrets to Scale episode. Their discussion sheds light on what makes this partnership unique and fitting, helping both of our organizations elevate the service we offer to advisors.
Keep reading to get to know more about Aptus.
Alli Jordan: When you think about our partnership, what are you excited about for LibertyFi and Aptus working together?
JD Gardner: Aptus exists to help the financial advisor be as valuable as possible, a mission that includes a service and investment side. Now, with LibertyFi, we can offer a full suite of services from idea to execution, offering even more value to advisors and their clients.
AJ: How can Aptus help advisors scale?
JG: Aptus believes that everything starts with the advisor-client relationship. Clients want to feel like their advisor cares and understands their situation. All of that requires the advisor’s time. We aim to free up their hands as much as possible to really dig into the relationship. We partner with advisors to help provide clear, consistent communication as a tool to create stronger relationships and excellent service.
AJ: Aptus has a unique investment philosophy. Can you explain how you all think about constructing a portfolio?
JG: Aptus brings a unique perspective to portfolio construction. One area we are most concerned about currently in terms of portfolio construction is longevity risk. I think portfolios today are more susceptible to longevity risk than they ever have been before. Why is that? The correlation benefit between stocks and bonds – when stocks are doing badly, bonds are typically benefiting investors – the reliance on that relationship to continue is everywhere. We don’t believe bonds will deliver the real returns or the correlation benefits of the past. We solve for longevity risk by seeking to shift allocations towards equities while preparing for drawdown risk. We always say, ‘better in the tails’. We want to own more stocks for right tail markets, and we want to hedge away left tail risk. We believe our philosophy will lead to higher compounded returns vs relevant benchmarks.
AJ: How would you describe Aptus to someone who has never heard of your company?
JG: Aptus is an investment company, an asset manager, but ultimately, a service company, just like LibertyFi. Our mission is to help create better client outcomes, supporting wealth managers in three primary ways — Active ETFs, Managed Portfolios, and Investment Support. We believe in a proactive approach to balancing risk and reward and that consistency in and of messaging is equally important to keeping clients confident enough to gain the benefits of long-term investing. We do this by hiring top talent. Our team of experts is our most powerful asset, and our unique investment approach sets us apart from other investment managers.
We are looking forward to our new partnership and the expansion of solutions we will offer, including:
- Outsourced middle office services
- A dedicated technology team
- Technology consulting
- Access to technology, onboarding, and implementation
- Ongoing support, training, and education
- Outsourced chief investment officer (OCIO) solutions
- Investment management consulting
- Managed portfolios
- Active ETFs
Listen to the entire episode to learn more about LibertyFi’s partnership with Aptus Capital Advisors.