Why Insurance Is the Most Overlooked Growth Strategy in Wealth Management with Jason Borek
Episode 154: This week, Kyle Van Pelt talks with Jason Borek, Chief Growth Officer at The Pinnacle Group. Jason has extensive experience in the financial services industry, with a focus on distribution and sales. At The Pinnacle Group, he is responsible for implementing the firm's enterprise-level business strategies.
Jason talks with Kyle about why insurance remains dramatically underutilized in wealth management, why advisors struggle to implement it, and what needs to change for it to become a meaningful part of holistic planning. He also shares how Pinnacle closes the gap between insurance manufacturers and financial advisors, where AI and technology fit into the future of distribution, and why emotional intelligence will define the next generation of great advisors.
In this episode:
(00:00) - Intro
(01:17) - Jason's money moment
(04:38) - Inside The Pinnacle Group's core businesses
(06:35) - Why only 2% of wealth management firms use insurance
(09:59) - How and when should insurance be used in client portfolios
(15:21) - How AI and data impact the future of advisor workflows
(21:17) - Will technology replace distribution in asset management or enhance it?
(23:52) - Jason's thoughts on emotional intelligence—innate or taught
(27:32) - Jason's outlook on the future of wealth management
(30:55) - What it takes to run a multicustodial firm
(33:51) - Jason's Milemarker Minute
Key Takeaways
Lead with culture and language, not product. The industry's biggest mistake has been pushing solutions before understanding the people they're meant for. Breaking into new markets isn't about forcing a pre-existing product. It's about learning how your audience thinks, operates, and communicates. Real traction comes from building bridges, not delivering pitches.
Don't confuse education with implementation. Education alone doesn't move people to action. Pair any new strategy or message with real people who can sit in the room and walk clients or stakeholders through the hard follow-up questions. Materials build awareness. People build trust.
Treat clean data as your foundation, not an afterthought. You cannot begin to solve a client's problem or identify new opportunities without clean, accurate data. Clean data is the modern business currency. Without it, organizations cannot deliver true, personalized value.
Don't mistake efficiency for engagement. Technology creates capacity. But its value only shows up if you reinvest that time into deeper relationships. Otherwise, you're not more effective, you're just more efficiently absent.
Quotes
"About 2% of revenues come from the sale of insurance products within the wealth management space. And part of the reason why is that our industry is terrible at listening. The insurance industry has forever been a hammer looking for a nail." ~ Jason Borek
"If we're going to move into a marketplace where 97% of the people who do business with us do not sell insurance as their primary means of revenue, we'd better take some time to understand how they communicate." ~ Jason Borek
"Without the technology creating more client engagement, all you've then become is more efficiently absent." — Jason Borek
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