$150M AUM firm, Amwell Ridge Wealth Management, saves thousands by consolidating technology spend with Nitrogen

A conversation shrouded in mystery

In his career serving high-net-worth clients with portfolios ranging between $1 and $5 million, David Johnston discovered a common thread: In spite of their wealth, they didn’t have the tools or the knowledge to fully understand and quantify their level of investment risk.

During discussions about investments and portfolio expectations, he often noticed a disconnect and confusion while speaking with investors about risk tolerance and what it meant for their long-term goals.

“I often found myself in a box with some of our industry jargon,” he says. While he did his best to gather insights about each client’s risk tolerance through questionnaires, the resources he had just weren’t enough to get through to the everyday client.

“Oftentimes advisors have 10 questions in a risk tolerance questionnaire and they can be obtuse. Before I discovered Nitrogen, I sometimes just had to resort to, ‘Hey, on a scale of 1 to 10, how aggressive are you?’ Which is not very scientific, candidly.”

Clearing away the cloud

As his frustration with his existing risk tolerance questionnaire and process, David knew he had to do something to clear up risk for his clients and make his conversations easier. He found what he was looking for in Nitrogen and quickly discovered how much untapped poten-tial was waiting for his firm’s relationships with clients.
Since implementing Nitrogen, David has found a way to communicate and build new relationships like never before.

“The biggest result I’ve gotten is being able to have the conversations around time horizon, and risk tolerance, and be quicker in ascertaining exactly what the client is looking to accomplish,” he says.

Nitrogen gave him the common language he needed to turn confusing conversations into impactful ones.

Accesible features for everyone

The easier it is for clients to know where they stand in terms of risk and reward, the better financial advisors like David can do their job effectively. With Nitrogen, David could help clients understand not just what was happening in the moment, but also what was at stake in the future for their portfolio.

“I think telling someone that they may lose 10% is not as meaningful as saying ‘you might lose a hundred thousand dollars.’ Then, being able to link real dollar amounts to a corresponding Risk Number is extremely impactful.”

Putting clients at ease

The addition of Nitrogen also helped the team at Amwell bring a much needed calming presence amidst the unprecedented market volatility from COVID-19. When portfolios dropped significantly during the initial days of the pandemic, David harnessed the power of Risklyze’s reports to put clients’ minds at ease.
“Being able to show clients a Nitrogen report that looks at a six month period and clearly shows that we’re still within their expected range of returns, even if things don’t feel great at the current moment, was incredibly helpful in managing expectations and emotions,” says David.

Jaw-dropping analytics

One of the most pivotal benefits that David stressed about Nitrogen was its unmatched analytics and in-depth portfolio statistics.

“Nitrogen is, quite simply, prettier and easier on the eyes than other tools I’ve used in the past,” he says. “It’s user friendly and still has all the analytics that we need.”

Whether a client wants to dive deep into detailed stats on securities and portfolios, or just get a simple overview, Nitrogen offers him the best of both worlds. Whether he needs a dynamic conversation about Risk Numbers with one client, or wants to get into the weeds, he can go in either direction at a moment’s notice.

Ditching the old technology

In addition to the ways it has demystified conversations about risk with clients, adding Nitrogen has also impacted David’s bottom line. With its expansive feature set, he’s been able to reduce his need to pay for other financial technology, and integrating Nitrogen into the software that he has retained has resulted in productivity increases across the board.

“Most of us in this industry kind of grew up with the same investment analytics and reporting technology, and Nitrogen’s latest features are just what I needed to finally cancel it. Nitrogen has everything my legacy system has, but it’s better presented and clients actually understand it.”

Even with the money and time savings, David still comes back to his clients when he considers how Nitrogen has impacted his business the most.