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For Acme Wealth Aqua · Q2 2026 · Prepared by David Mathews

Alternatives, as simple as your custody.

A proposal for Acme Wealth to bring private credit, real estate, and PE into your client portfolios — without breaking your operations, your reporting, or your reconciliation.

Prepared forSarah Chen, CIO
Marcus Reid, Head of Alts
FromAqua — David Mathews
(212) 555-0142
Valid untilJuly 31, 2026
For Acme The opportunity in your book
Aqua

Your clients are asking.

The retail alternatives wave isn't coming — it's here. Across $1M+ households, demand has tripled in five years. The question isn't whether to offer alts. It's whether you'll offer them, or your competitor will.

HNW households with alts
67%
Up from 42% in 2020 (Cerulli, 2026)
Projected retail alts AUM by 2027
$4.2T
From $2.1T today (BlackRock, 2025 outlook)
Acme clients who've asked about alts
23%
Per your last NPS survey, March 2026
The block Why most RIAs say no
Aqua

Three reasons your competitors say no.

Acme's already heard them. They're real. They're also solvable.

01

Custody headaches

Alts don't sit with Schwab or Fidelity. Reconciliation breaks every quarter end. Your CFO loses a day per fund.

02

Reporting nightmares

Capital calls, K-1s, NAV lag, valuation timing — none of this fits in Tamarac, Orion, or Black Diamond out of the box.

03

Liquidity confusion

"I need it next year" + "7-year lockup" = uncomfortable client conversations your advisors don't want to have.

The fix How Aqua makes it work
Aqua

Three pieces, all working together.

For Acme What success looks like
Aqua

12 months from contract signature.

Based on the trajectory of three RIAs we've onboarded with similar size and book composition.

Projected alts AUM
$300M
~10% of Acme's $3B book
Additional FTEs needed
0
Aqua handles reconciliation, K-1s, NAV
Time to first client onboarded
4 wks
Two weeks of integration, two of pilot

For your advisors

Same workflow they use today for equities. Add alts in two clicks during the planning conversation. Reporting handled.

For Sarah and Marcus

A new revenue line that doesn't require new headcount. ~70-80 bps additional advisory revenue on alts AUM.

Reference Mountain Trust · $4.7B RIA · launched alts Q4 2024
Aqua

Mountain Trust did exactly this.

"It feels like alts have always been part of our platform. My advisors stopped seeing them as a separate thing. That's the test."
Sarah Chen · CIO, Mountain Trust · Q1 2026 review call
Alts AUM after 12 months
$420M
9% of total book
Client adoption
30%
Of HHs with $500K+ have at least one position
Ops headcount added
0
Same team, same tooling, more revenue
Plan How we'd start with Acme
Aqua

Three phases. No big bang.

Each phase has a clear exit criterion. You can pause or back out at the end of any of them, no fee.

Weeks 1-2

Phase 1 — Discovery + integration test

Map your Schwab/Fidelity custody setup. Test data flow into your reporting system with one fund. Confirm with your CFO before going further.

Weeks 3-6

Phase 2 — Pilot with 5 advisors

Five hand-picked advisors run client conversations using the Aqua platform. We refine based on their feedback. Goal: $25-50M committed AUM.

Weeks 7+

Phase 3 — Full rollout

Train the rest of your advisor team. Ongoing — quarterly business reviews, fund pipeline updates, performance reporting integrated into your existing reviews.

Timing Why this matters now
Aqua

Two trends, converging.

A

Client demand has 3x'd

In 2020, 22% of HNW households held alts. Today: 67%. The pace is accelerating, not slowing. Your clients aren't asking yet — but they will. Acme's already getting the early signals (23% inquiry rate from your last survey).

B

Infrastructure has caught up

In 2024, alts platforms reached parity with traditional custody for reconciliation, reporting, and minimums. The "operational nightmare" excuse is no longer valid. Your peers (LPL, Carson, Mariner) already offer alts. Doing nothing isn't neutral.

The honest version

Acme has 18-24 months before alts become table stakes. The firms that move now compound the lead. The firms that wait will spend that time playing catch-up while their clients get poached. We've watched this play out four times in the last 18 months.

Next step Let's talk
Aqua

30 minutes. One call.

A structured discovery session with David from our team and a solutions architect. We'll review your specific advisor mix, current custody, top-ARR opportunities, and walk through what Phase 1 would look like for Acme specifically.

What we'll cover

  • Walk through your specific custody setup
  • Identify your highest-ARR alts opportunities
  • Show the platform with your data (live)
  • Answer Sarah's and Marcus's specific questions

What you'll leave with

  • A custom 12-month projection for Acme
  • A Phase 1 statement of work to review internally
  • Three RIA references at Acme's size
  • A clear "yes/no/maybe" decision framework
Book the call

Pick a time that works.

Two 30-minute slots open this week — Wednesday 2pm ET and Friday 10am ET. Or reply with what works for Sarah's calendar and we'll match.

Book a discovery call →
David Mathews · Head of Sales, Aqua · david@investwithaqua.com · (212) 555-0142