How advisors can turn held-away cash into an asset

Why advisors can't manage held-away cash they can't see

Fiduciary advice depends on understanding a client's full financial picture, yet a meaningful share of assets often remains in held-away cash accounts outside the advisory relationship. Cash parked at a large bank doesn't show up in a portfolio review or get optimized alongside everything else the advisor manages. Closing that gap requires direct access to competitive-rate products across a wide network of banks, a way for clients to move into them without leaving their advisor's ecosystem, and a reporting link that brings balances back into the advisor's platform. In this episode of Inside WealthTech, Raisin Head of B2B Greg Smith explains how his firm's integration with Envestnet is built around that last piece, using Envestnet | Tamarac to report client balances back so advisors can help clients earn more on cash they already have. As elevated interest rates keep cash management in focus, advisors who gain visibility into held-away cash can deliver more holistic advice and uncover new opportunities that can help strengthen client relationships.

Rapid-fire reflections

Smith's quick takes from Inside WealthTech's speed round encompass the narratives and risks shaping advisors' conversations about cash.

• Held-away cash: A hidden opportunity, not a risk exposure, for advisors willing to surface it.

• Rate cycle outlook: Too tied to unpredictable geopolitical conditions right now to call a structural shift or a temporary spike.

• The great wealth transfer: Overhyped as a single moment. Older generations still hold most of the assets, but building next-generation relationships early remains worthwhile regardless of timing.

• Private credit: Overstated as a threat to traditional banks. It’s a specific niche rather than a systemic risk.

• What to retire from wealth management: High-fee active mutual funds buried in crowded 401(k) lineups.

What's clear is that Smith favors present, measurable facts over broad industry predictions.

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Check out all episodes of Inside WealthTech and follow along on LinkedIn for upcoming episodes spotlighting the leaders redefining wealth management through technology, data, and collaboration.

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Learn more about Envestnet | Tamarac and how it helps advisors bring held-away assets into view to build a more complete picture of a client's financial life.

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Full transcript

Envestnet Inside WealthTech – Raisin

Interviewer: Welcome to Inside WealthTech. We're live here at Future Proof. My name is Blake Wood, Head of Strategic Partnerships.

Interviewer: We are joined today by Greg Smith, Head of B2B at Raisin, and also the phenomenal host of a phenomenal dinner at a cool speakeasy last night. Thank you for joining us today on the podcast.

Greg Smith: Thank you, sir. Thank you guys for having me. It was a lovely dinner.

Interviewer: Wasn't it?

Interviewer: We all ate our way to the steak.

Interviewer: It was so good.

Interviewer: Something that'll be very memorable.

Interviewer: Chef's kiss, honestly.

Interviewer: We'll kick things off with an elevator pitch. Raisin.

Greg Smith: Thank you for having us. We're thrilled to be partners with Envestnet.

At a high level, Raisin is one of the world's largest savings platforms. We work with about 350 banks in 30 countries that provide deposit products to consumers such as high-yield savings accounts and CDs that are federally insured.

Globally, we have about $100 billion in assets. In the U.S., we're here to talk about our Raisin for Advisors offering, which is specifically our cash management platform for advisors. It gives advisors access to about 100 banks that are integrated with us and allows them to help clients achieve top-of-market rates. Current top rates are around 4.05%, while also maximizing FDIC insurance through a single login experience.

That's the high-level overview of Raisin, and we're really looking forward to talking with you about it.

Interviewer: Let's dig into that. How should advisors think about held-away cash, both as a fiduciary blind spot and a growth opportunity, and how does the integration and partnership help make that conversation actionable?

Greg Smith: Surveys show that high-net-worth investors typically keep about 20% of their total assets in cash and cash equivalents. Frequently that's measured in the hundreds of thousands of dollars and may be sitting at a top-four bank earning little or no yield.

Interviewer: Is that better than 4% or worse?

Greg Smith: Much worse. Much worse than 4%.

By some estimates, trillions of dollars in cash are sitting held away from advisors. One reason we're excited to launch this with Envestnet is that advisors historically haven't had great solutions to win held-away cash while still seeing those balances within their ecosystem.

Through the integration, advisors can help clients move from earning something like 0.05% to 4.05%. A 4% difference on a few hundred thousand dollars translates into thousands of dollars back into the client's pocket. That's a clear value-add for clients and easy for advisors to implement because of the Envestnet integration.

Interviewer: Cash used to be an afterthought in portfolio reviews. With short-term rates north of 4%, how can advisors reposition cash from a passive drag to a deliberate and optimized part of a client's allocation strategy?

Greg Smith: For years, rates were so low that cash just wasn't very high on the advisor priority list.

As rates rose, many sweep products kept a meaningful portion of the yield, so there weren't many incentives or easy pathways for advisors to engage clients about held-away cash.

Now that rates are north of 4% in many cases, it makes complete sense from a fiduciary standpoint for advisors to understand these positions. Advisors can provide holistic advice across the client's entire balance sheet and potentially put thousands of dollars back into their clients' pockets simply by helping them find a better solution.

A client with a few hundred thousand dollars earning five basis points can move to 400 basis points or more. That's an immediate and tangible win.

Interviewer: How have you seen advisors use that cash optimization conversation to deepen relationships and reinforce their fiduciary value?

Greg Smith: A few ways.

At the highest level, advisors are creating real monetary value for clients, which is satisfying for everyone involved.

Second, cash often serves a specific purpose. It could be for an upcoming purchase, college funding, or emergency savings. The better an advisor understands those goals, the better they can match a client with an appropriate product, FDIC insurance coverage, and yield.

Another important point is that Raisin has relationships with about 100 banks in the U.S. Many are community-focused banks, minority-owned banks, or institutions focused on specific missions. Increasingly, RIAs are working with clients who want their money held at institutions that align with their values.

Raisin allows advisors to evaluate those options and help clients move into attractive products while maintaining visibility.

Because of the Envestnet integration, advisors can access Raisin through their investment dashboard, see all of their clients, invite clients to open accounts, and receive balance reporting back into Envestnet once accounts are funded.

That means advisors can finally see cash positions that historically may have been invisible.

Interviewer: That's really cool. We haven't talked about the fact that an investor can put money to work with a bank that supports a community or mission they care about.

One of the biggest historical barriers with held-away cash is that it typically doesn't show up in portfolio reporting systems. How does the Envestnet-Raisin integration, where balances can now be monitored inside Tamarac while remaining client-owned, change the advisor's ability to provide holistic wealth management? Maybe give us a real-world example.

Greg Smith: Let's say an advisor has a client review and determines there's a use case for a CD ladder or high-yield savings account.

The advisor can help the client browse Raisin's available banks and products and make a recommendation. Because we ingest data from Envestnet, much of the KYC process can be pre-populated, making onboarding faster.

The client funds the account, and then the next day those balances begin appearing inside Tamarac. The advisor can monitor balances, advise on them, and help clients make changes as needed.

The average Raisin client uses products across about 2.5 banks, often because they're maximizing FDIC insurance. Through Tamarac, advisors gain a seamless way to monitor and manage those positions.

Interviewer: You've touched on yield enhancement, optimizing held-away cash, uncovering broader asset discovery conversations, and strengthening client retention. How should RIAs think about cash management as part of their competitive positioning against wirehouse and bank-affiliated advisors?

Greg Smith: For years, traditional banking services have largely been ceded to wirehouses and bank-affiliated advisors. We're trying to change that through the Raisin and Envestnet partnership.

Advisors want as complete a view of their client's financial life as possible. Through integrated reporting back into Envestnet, advisors can finally view and manage those cash positions.

Cash should function much like any other asset class from a visibility standpoint. Advisors can review rates across our network of approximately 100 banks, many of which compete aggressively on yield, and help clients potentially increase rates when opportunities arise.

That's much different than a sweep account where the underlying bank relationship may not be visible and optimization opportunities are harder to identify.

Interviewer: Awesome. My next question was going to be who's the coolest company you've seen at the conference. But before you answer that, I want to say Raisin is the coolest company I've seen here.

Outside of this partnership, I'm also a very satisfied customer. I couldn't be happier with Raisin, so thank you for what you do.

Greg Smith: We're thrilled. Could I turn that around and ask what you like most about Raisin or what made you become a client?

Interviewer: I'm not the most confident investor. I don't day trade. I'll invest in certain things and largely take a set-it-and-forget-it approach.

I love having a portion of my wealth that remains liquid while earning something meaningful. I'm not necessarily looking for dramatic upside. I'm looking for safety and FDIC insurance. It's something I can rely on.

Every month I earn interest that I can either reinvest, spend, or allocate elsewhere without touching principal. That's what I really value.

Greg Smith: Thank you. We're happy to have you as a client.

Interviewer: I'll provide a client testimonial anytime.

Greg Smith: Thank you.

Interviewer: I was going to ask if you wanted to join our sales team.

Interviewer: A thousand percent.

Interviewer: I know you have a full-time day job.

Interviewer: That's a timely question.

Greg Smith: Maybe I'll answer the original question about the coolest company here.

Honestly, we've spent most of our time meeting with advisors. What's been coolest to me is hearing advisors talk about their practices and why they do what they do.

Sometimes this business can feel transactional because we're all focused on solving problems. But every conference reminds me how personal this business really is.

Future Proof has been fantastic, and the one-on-one meetings have been phenomenal. We've gained tremendous insight into how advisors think about the world, and that's been both rewarding and fulfilling.

Interviewer: It is a fantastic conference. We've had the opportunity to interview some great advisors, and hearing what they're focused on is reinvigorating.

Interviewer: One hundred percent.

Interviewer: We'll move into the final segment, the speed round.

Held-away cash: risk exposure for advisors or hidden opportunity?

Greg Smith: Hidden opportunity.

Interviewer: Rate cycle outlook: structural shift or temporary spike?

Greg Smith: We're doing this interview at a time when there are a lot of geopolitical uncertainties in the world.

Hopefully things calm down, but it's very difficult to predict the macro environment or future rate cycles when there are so many variables. I'd say it's a difficult question to answer right now.

Interviewer: The great wealth transfer. Does it reshape the industry or is it overhyped?

Greg Smith: Blake, we've known each other for at least ten years, and I think we've been talking about the great wealth transfer since around 2011.

I still think older generations hold the majority of assets, so I don't view this as one single moment in time. But it's obvious that advisors should be building relationships with the next generation. It's never too early to do that.

Interviewer: Private credit. Real threat to traditional banks or overstated?

Greg Smith: It's not exactly my area of expertise, but my sense is that it's overstated.

It's still a fairly specialized category serving a particular niche, while traditional banking continues to serve a much broader range of needs. I don't view it as a major systemic threat.

Interviewer: Last question. If there's one piece of old-world wealth management, whether philosophy, process, technology, or product, that you'd throw out today, what would it be?

Greg Smith: High-fee active mutual funds in 401(k) lineups.

They're often buried among hundreds of available options, and I don't think the average person should be expected to navigate that complexity with a fine-tooth comb.

We're moving toward a world where fees continue to decline, and hopefully we'll get to a place where retirement savers can more easily choose affordable, market-based investment options.

Interviewer: Awesome. Greg, thank you so much for surviving the heat and joining us on the podcast. That was Greg Smith, Head of B2B at Raisin, and this is Inside WealthTech.