RIA Advisor: Aaron Hodari on Building a Differentiated Client Experience

"We put our clients' needs first. How do we provide not only the best investments and advice for our clients, but a unique experience for our clients?"

-Aaron Hodari, Managing Director

Aaron Hodari, Managing Director & CIO, Schechter Wealth, joined RIA Channel to discuss the firm’s focus on differentiated client experience, and how it has paved the way for its distinguished growth.

Ranked #44 on RIA Channel’s 2022 Top Wealth Managers By Growth in Assets List, Schechter Wealth grew by over $1 billion in total assets under management from 2020 to 2021.

Hodari joined Schechter Wealth during the Global Financial Crisis, when Schechter was purely a life insurance advisory firm. Hodari joined with two other senior colleagues, with whom he launched their RIA in 2013 with $400 million in AUM. “Since then, it’s been a great run of organic growth that has really accelerated in the past three years,” says Hodari. 

Hodari describes the unique way that Schechter prioritizes not just client needs in terms of investment and advice, but in terms of the actual experience of the client. Schechter uses the Black Diamond Wealth Platform, an online platform that creates custom reports for clients. The platform has an intuitive interface and offers an interactive experience. 

Schechter prioritizes making investment information easily and immediately accessible for their clients. The platform supplements the information that each client receives through their advisors, and is always there for clients to access. Hodari highlights the importance of such transparency, saying, “what that reporting does is builds a sense of trust between us and the clients, so that they know we are accurately reporting and taking ownership of the investment decisions we make on their behalf.”

Hodari attributes Schechter’s impressive growth of over a billion dollars in wealth management in the past year to the “amalgamation that our firm has been working on building.” He names many factors that contribute to their success, including the strength of their client relationships, the intelligence of their client service, and the strong performance of their investments. With the onset of remote working, Schechter has been able to hire talented advisors from across the country.

Since Hodari joined Schechter, the firm has developed offerings in wealth management and a direct private equity group called Schechter Private Capital, in addition to its life insurance advisory services. Client portfolios are widely diversified across lots of different asset classes, with alternative investments making up a large part. Schechter is a boutique wealth management firm that now manages $2.5 billion in assets, a number which continues to grow.

To see Aaron Hodari's full interview, please visit the original article on RIA Channel.