Bloomberg Talks: Adam Dell

**SPEAKER_1** (0:02)
Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, Radio, News.

**Carol Massar** (0:07)
Carol Massar, Tim Stenovec, live here at Uncharted in Southampton. And think about FinTech, I mean, there's things like nowadays, agentic AI, digital and tokenized assets, programmable money, compliance. I mean, FinTech has come a very long way when you think about years ago, when it kind of first came on, certainly the landscape and how we talked about it.

**Tim Stenovec** (0:29)
Somebody who's been in FinTech, really, since the very beginning is Adam Dell. He's the founder and CEO at Domain Money. He's known for a lot, venture capital, clarity money, which sold to Goldman Sachs, reportedly $100 million just a few years ago. He's also formed principal over at Crosspoint Venture Partners. He joins us here at the Uncharted Summit in Southampton. Welcome, welcome. How are you?

**Adam Dell** (0:50)
Thanks for having me.

**Tim Stenovec** (0:51)
Hey, thanks for joining us.
As we mentioned, you have been in FinTech, really, since there was no tech in finance. This is like what you've been doing for such a long time. What was the opportunity that you identified right now with Domain Money?

**Adam Dell** (1:05)
Well, really, it's about the empowerment of the consumer.
The Internet was the first wave of giving access to consumers information about choice and options, and really helping them understand what pricing power they did have relative to their bank, their financial advisor, their investments. And that opened up the mind of the consumer to really delve deeper into what their options are. And of course now with AI and with these incredibly powerful tools at the hands of consumers, they have much more leverage when they are dealing with things like retirement, their financial advisor, which is really the opportunity we're pursuing at Domain Money. We are trying to blow apart the 1% AUM fee that most people pay to their financial advisor, which if you do the math over the course of a lifetime, is essentially the equivalent of giving your advisor a house.

**Tim Stenovec** (2:03)
Okay, so here's what I don't get. Okay, here's what I don't get.
So many rich people are super smart, hence how they got their money. They are still paying huge management fees that end up eating into returns. Even people who don't have a ton of money are paying huge management fees. I thought the robo advisors were going to kill this, but you know what, quarter after quarter, from the banks, wealth management business is booming. We're bringing in more and more clients, we're bringing in more and more money. Why?

**Adam Dell** (2:29)
So a couple of things. One is that when the complexity is high and the cost of being wrong is high, you want an expert. And while robo advisors solve one part of that problem, which is just your fundamental taxable investment accounts, what about your 529 plan for your kids? What about your RSUs? What about your 401k? What about how you manage the cash flow and budgeting to fund the various goals you have for the long term?
Robo advisors don't do that. And people want a bespoke human experience. They want to be able to sit down with somebody that they trust and understands the nuances of their life and help them navigate all of those pieces. And so, you know, people continue to seek out a human advisor and will continue to seek out a human advisor. If you want a digital AI advisor today, you can get it from Chachi Petit for free, essentially. But people don't want that. They want the interaction with someone who has judgment and understands again the nuances of their family and their lives, and they'll pay for it. Unfortunately, most people don't appreciate that that 1% fee is enormously erosive to their long-term net worth.

**Carol Massar** (3:35)
One of the things I'm curious about too, is the flat fee you guys do. You've got one advisor that works with one client, and you do that through the duration as much as you can.

**Adam Dell** (3:44)
That's right. With Domain Money, you get a dedicated certified financial planner, which is the highest level of designation in the advisor business. They stay with you throughout your journey, and we handle everything. We manage your investments, we file your taxes, we get you an estate plan, we give you a financial plan, obviously, and we work with you and coach you along the way to help you stay on track as your life unfolds and as things change.

**Carol Massar** (4:05)
Adam, who's your demographic? Give us an idea of who is mostly on the platform.

**Adam Dell** (4:09)
Yeah, our average customer is 42 years old, household income of 364, net worth of 1.3 million. So they're right smack below the traditional wealth management sector, and they are frustrated because their options are call Vanguard, get sold an ETF with somebody with a headset on trying to get another account. Yeah.