Inside Modern Wealth Management: How Top RIAs Build Portfolios, Select Managers & Manage Risk

The RIA landscape is changing fast.

Today’s top wealth advisors are doing far more than traditional portfolio management. They’re acting as investment committees, tax strategists, coaches, and long-term partners helping families navigate increasingly complex financial decisions.

In this episode of dakota, we sit down with Fulcrum Capital’s Kathryn Fisher, Chief Wealth Strategist, and Hans Krippaehne, Director of Investments, to explore how modern RIAs are evolving to meet that challenge.

We discuss how Fulcrum integrates holistic wealth planning with institutional-quality investment management—bringing together portfolio construction, manager selection, due diligence, tax efficiency, liquidity planning, estate strategy, and long-term family stewardship.

Topics include:

• How the RIA model has evolved from traditional brokerage to fully independent fiduciary advice
• Why manager research and due diligence matter more than ever in today’s investment environment
• How RIAs evaluate active managers across mutual funds, ETFs, and private market strategies
• The growing role of tax-efficient portfolio construction and asset location
• Managing liquidity needs while increasing exposure to private markets
• How advisors balance long-term discipline against near-term market narratives like AI, private credit, and thematic investing
• Why transparency and investor education remain central to client trust
• The future of active ETFs and what they mean for wealth advisors

Hans shares how Fulcrum approaches underwriting external managers, building portfolios with fewer but higher-conviction allocations, and maintaining discipline in an increasingly crowded investment landscape.

Kathryn explains how true wealth management extends beyond investments—covering tax planning, estate considerations, philanthropy, and multi-generational decision-making.

And in one of the most memorable moments of the episode, the conversation becomes personal.

Joining us as student co-host is Drexel University student Carter Garrison—who also happens to be Kathryn’s son.

What begins as a deep conversation about portfolio construction and investment due diligence ends with something even more important: a discussion about family, financial habits, and the lessons parents hope to pass on to the next generation.

Because at its core, wealth management isn’t just about growing capital.

It’s about building trust, preserving optionality, and creating a legacy that lasts beyond markets.