Here’s to a cool $25 mil.

Avantos, an AI-powered operating system for advisors, raised $25 million in Series A funding this week, led by Bessemer Venture Partners, with additional backing from powerhouse wealth management firms like Vanguard, Guardian Life and SEI. The raise comes just over a week after Altruist launched an AI-powered tax planning tool that sent shares of wealth management firms including Charles Schwab and Morgan Stanley tumbling. The company plans to use the capital to expand research and development, and build out banking and insurance products.

The funding is the latest round for AI-driven wealthtech firms that are aiming to upend the advisor tech stack. “It’s all extremely fragmented,” said Avantos co-founder Bassam Chaptini. “It’s a headache for people to keep on marrying that data.” Avantos, which focuses heavily on client onboarding, is part of a growing group of AI operating systems aiming to consolidate those functions under one umbrella.

All in One Place

Advisors often operate across multiple systems: a CRM to track relationships and goals, a separate portfolio management platform for investments and a range of point solutions for tasks like note-taking, email drafting and document analysis. Even with automation, toggling among systems can drain time and create data silos. And it’s not just advisors who need access to client information; administrative staff, tax specialists and compliance officers rely on it as well.

A key feature of these new platforms is the AI agent, software that goes beyond responding to prompts and instead proactively surfaces tasks. Rather than waiting for instructions, the agent can flag lapses in communication or suggest planning opportunities, said Avantos co-founder Rabih Ramadi. “The AI agent can be like, ‘Hey, you haven’t talked to this client in eight months, we should trigger this specific action. And by the way, based on public data sources and email interactions, that client just had a child. You should suggest they open a 529 plan,’” he said.

The More, The Merrier. The broader pitch is economic. Advisors often turn away smaller accounts because servicing them isn’t profitable. Avantos’ founders argue that by automating routine work and centralizing data, AI operating systems can reduce servicing costs and allow firms to lower minimum asset thresholds.

“That’s exactly what we’re doing with one of our bigger clients, lowering the bar of what is the minimum asset,” Ramadi said.

Would gambling by any other name be as risky?

At least three companies have their fingers crossed that the Securities and Exchange Commission won’t halt their plans for ETFs making all-or-nothing bets on federal election results. Over the past week, Roundhill Investments, GraniteShares and Bitwise have each filed nearly identical prospectuses for sets of six exchange-traded funds that would use event contracts to make wagers on the outcome of the 2028 US presidential election and majorities in the House and Senate.

“This is a typical playbook: Issuer files for new, and potentially significant, ETF exposure. Peer issuers follow suit looking to capitalize as well, through their own distribution means,” said Todd Sohn, chief ETF strategist for Strategas. “The real question, assuming these are approved, is, ‘What kind of toothpaste are we letting out of the tube now?’”

What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

In uncannily identical language, each of the proposed funds outlines an investment strategy that promises to tank spectacularly if the bets are wrong. “In the event that a member of the Democratic Party is not the winner of the 2028 presidential election, the fund will lose substantially all of its value. This makes an investment in the fund highly risky,” each of the prospectuses for the Democratic president ETFs reads. “An investment in the fund is not appropriate for investors who do not wish to invest in a highly risky investment product or who do not fully understand the fund’s investment strategy. Such investors are urged not to purchase fund shares.”

At least they’re upfront about it. But such products, if approved by the SEC (a topic worthy of having its own event contracts on Kalshi), would nudge the ETF category further toward speculation. “Allowing event contract ETFs would remove the distinction between markets and gambling, and we know the house always wins long-term,” said Bryan Armour, US director of ETF and passive strategies research at Morningstar. “I don’t want to throw the baby out with the bathwater — many great investing options remain in the ETF market.”

The proposed lines of funds are not the first event-contract ETFs to seek SEC approval. In January, Roundhill separately filed for three products:

• One ETF would bet on the S&P 500 being at 10,000 or higher by 2030.
• Another would put it all on the Dow surpassing 75,000 as of 2030.
• And a third would wager on the Innovation-100 reaching 50,000 or above at the start of 2030.

A Roll of the Dice. As investor-protection group Better Markets has said, “‘prediction markets’ are just casinos.” Whether ETFs should be sold in a similar way will be up for debate. In the meantime, a look at some of the odds on Kalshi’s markets for the 2028 election provides some amusement: One can wager (for just a penny) on Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson being the Democratic nominee or (for the same price) Jamie Dimon being elected president.

It’s a she-conomy.

Women are putting off major life milestones, like getting married and having children, until later in life as careers take center stage. Nearly half of US women from 25 to 44 will be single and childless by 2030, with their rate of singledom rising faster than the rest of the population, according to a recent Morgan Stanley report. The shift has profound consequences for the future of wealth distribution, as trillions move into the hands of these women, the primary financial decisionmakers in 72% of households, according to data cited in the report. Advisors can help by being proactive before these major life events happen.

“A lot of people I talk to who are younger, in their mid-20s, need a little bit of advice right now,” said Crossan Ryals, a wealth manager at RFG Advisory who works with single women. “They might not need to fully be a client yet, but [they should] have things in place and a financial plan so that when it does come time for these big life moments, they’re prepared.”

Laying the Groundwork

Women may be delaying having children, but it varies greatly depending on location, Ryals said; in her state of Alabama, many of her clients got married in college. But skyrocketing childcare costs mean that by the time women do have kids — around age 27, on average — a proper nest egg is not optional. “There’s so much going into child planning that [some women] are planning it down to the month so they get the most out of PTO and maternity leave,” Ryals said. “They’re looking at options where they feel like they have more liquidity, not having to worry about the tax implications of long-term holds.”

Planning for big life events is important for all single women, but there are variations in how to approach each group depending on their situation, according to Jesica Ray, a CFP at Brighton Jones:

• For single women who have no kids and have never been married, the focus should be on financial education.
• Single, divorced women with no kids should focus on rebuilding and increasing financial independence.
• For single divorcees with children, ensuring that any future marriages account for the kids is key, as well as suggesting that finances be kept more separate. “We often see more boundaries around future financial partnerships,” she added.

Freedom to Finance. On the whole, Ray said the biggest concern single women face is the mental load of navigating skyrocketing costs and saving for retirement, all while figuring out a way to make the childcare budget work. But the pros of putting off kids and marriage outweigh the cons, she added. “These women feel relief that they’re not stuck, that they have choices, and they are thinking about financial preparedness,” Ray said. “They’re focusing on mental well-being and long-term goals around careers, and aspirations to do both.”