The Future of Portfolio Construction Is Goals-Based
Our favorite five takeaways from Adam Scully-Power, CIMA®, CPWA® full presentation at Charles Schwab IMPACT® 2025: “The Future of Portfolio Construction Is Goals-Based.” 👇
1. Scalability Paradox
“Advisors are going to have to serve more clients than ever before and be faced with more complexity than ever before.” Clients now expect advice across “private markets, digital assets, outside business ownership.” Adam’s point: the old 60/40 era is gone. Personalization demands a framework that can keep up with modern client complexity.
2. Plan-to-Portfolio Gap
“The plan and the portfolio today are fundamentally disconnected.” Risk scores ignore “goals, time horizon, cash flows, total assets, legacy intentions,” yet remain the industry’s default connective tissue. Adam called it “hidden in plain sight,” noting that 96% of advisors agree risk scores shouldn’t drive asset allocation.
3. Freedom Within a Framework (feat. the Modern Model Matchmaker)
“You might stock the pantry with certain ingredients… models, asset classes, private assets.” Advisors choose the ingredients. Nebo builds “the precise recipe for that client using those ingredients to maximize the likelihood they achieve their goals.” This is why a leading industry consultant called Nebo “a modern model matchmaker.”
4. Precision in Private Markets
Most firms still size privates with rules of thumb: “Five percent feels right. Ten percent feels right.” Adam warned that when illiquidity bites, “you can’t be in front of an arbiter one day saying 10% felt right.” Optimization lets firms size private credit, private equity, and digital assets “personalized and precise to the client.”
5. Power of a Personalized Wealth Benchmark™
“This very innocent black line… is muy importante.” It shows “how much money this client is going to need at every single point in time to fund their goals.” It changes reviews: “No longer do we compare to the S&P… we compare to what I really care about, which is do I have the money I need when I need it.”
#goalsbasedinvesting #wealthbenchmark #portfolioinnovation
