Between Now and Success (Steve Sanduski)

Imagine walking into a doctor’s office with a bad cough and walking out on crutches, still coughing. That’s how Brent Brodeski saw the client experience of financial advisory in 1992 when he co-founded Savant Capital Management in Rockford, IL.

“It was kind of like going to the general practitioner, you get a checkup, and he wrote prescriptions and sent people on their way,” said Brent. “And people take that prescription and imagine the pharmacist saying, ‘No, I’m going to sell you this wonder drug instead. It’s more expensive and doesn’t really make you better.’ That was the problem, the clients had a prescription for one thing and they often were getting something else.”

On today's pod we discuss lessons Brent learned from diagnosing his clients’ problems and devising the best cures for their finances on his way to expanding Savant to nearly $5 billion in assets under management and 13 offices throughout the Midwest:

For many years, I've started each business day by writing down my prioritized list of actions. I then spend a couple minutes searching for a quote that speaks to me that day and I write that quote on the top of my list. When that's done, I print the list and keep it on the top of my desk so it's front and center during the day.

For today's show, I’m going to share with you 10 quotes that made my list recently and describe why they spoke to me and why you may be able to benefit from them, too.

This is the first of two episodes.

What does the future of FinTech look like? It was on display recently in Park City, UT at the 3^rd Annual Fuse Event sponsored by Orion Advisor.

Fuse is a three-day coding event that brings together dozens of programmers from FinTech companies around the world who band as a community and solve advisor problems. It’s part hackathon, part relationship-building all wrapped up in a spirit of making the industry better.

Eric Clarke, the founder of Orion Advisor, (see my podcast convo with him) is the mastermind behind the event along with his crack team of technologists including Brad Burgess and Joe Leyboldt. Leading advisors and technologists including Joel Bruckenstein, Michael Kitces, J.D. Bruce, Bill Winterberg, Tina Powell, Billy Oliverio, Ryan Beach, and yours truly were also on hand to lend a hand.

I spent three days hanging with the cool people and created two podcasts to chronicle the event.

Do you know where your new revenue will come from in 2016? When I coach financial advisors, I often find they have a goal to generate a certain amount of new assets under management. What's frequently missing, though, is a detailed breakdown of where those new assets will come from and a specific plan on how they will be generated.

In this episode, I discuss how to specifically identify where your new revenue will come from and how to ensure you achieve your new AUM goal. Plus, I share two other ideas and leave you with a key insight from Jim Rohn.

The AUM pricing model is prevalent in our industry but in many cases, the pricing is significantly disconnected from the real value being delivered.

Depending on your expertise and your client base, you might add value through tax management or estate planning advice. You might add value by fostering a positive attitude in your clients about investing, talking clients down from the ledge and helping them avoid a bad decision when volatility shakes the market.  If you're working in the life-centered planning space, you might create value by forging life-long relationships that make you indispensable to your clients. 

And that's the rub for our industry: we're pricing based on investing, and less so on the real value we're adding. Clients and prospects think they're paying for portfolio performance, so it's almost like we're giving away the planning and advice piece of the pie for free!

So how do we change this backwards structure? How do we price our value?

Matthew Jackson is a director in the financial services division of the pricing consultancy firm Simon Kucher & Partners. He specializes in the area of the psychology of value communication and digital presentment. He also has a Master of Arts degree in classics from Oxford University and holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation.

In this conversation, Matthew Jackson and I discuss eight different pricing models and how to determine which one is right for you and your clients.

Guest: Eric Brotman, CFP®, AEP®, CPWA®, is a Principal and the Chief Executive Officer of BFG Financial Advisors. Eric began his financial planning practice in Baltimore in 1994, and founded Brotman Financial Group in 2003, which later became BFG Financial Advisors. He and his team focus on supporting families and individuals by providing comprehensive financial planning and wealth management services.

Eric is also the author of Don't Retire... Graduate!: Building a Path to Financial Freedom and Retirement at Any Age.

In a Nutshell: As a founder/advisor, how does your role evolve over time?

I frequently have these conversations with my coaching clients where we discuss what does the advisor want their role to be.

In the early stages of your career, you have to do everything, but as the business grows, you have to decide what you're going to double down on and what you're going to let go of. There's no one answer that fits every advisor. Some advisors naturally and easily segue into a leadership role and give up most, if not all of their lead advisor client relationships. Other advisors do not enjoy the management role of running the business, managing people, and they prefer the relationship side of the business and business development.

Regardless of which route you want to go, you have to figure out how to build the team and the infrastructure around you so that every function within the organization is getting taken care of at a high level such that you can focus on what you do best, what you enjoy the most, and that moves the needle for the company.

On today's show, Eric Brotman and I have a wide-ranging conversation that touches on evolving your role over time, succession planning, transitioning clients, teamwork, scalable processes, and how to accelerate organic growth without losing a human touch.

In a Nutshell: To stand out from all the fake news and clickbait cluttering your audience's inboxes, you have to produce content that's authentic, entertaining, interesting, and above all, human.

Guest: Brooke Southall, the founder of RIABiz. Back in 2009, Brooke built his online-only news publication on traditional journalistic values like using multiple sources and editorial analysis. Brooke and his team captured the rise of new models for providing client-first financial advice against the backdrop of Wall Street's decline during the Great Recession. Today, RIABiz is one of the go-to sources for deep, sophisticated analysis of the most important issues affecting the RIA business.

My Key Takeaways: To create engaging, authentic content:

• Don't be boring. Before you even start writing, ask yourself, "Is this an article I would click on or swipe past?"
• Slow down. Brooke believes that the race to be first has really hurt online journalism. Working important news into your regular communication rhythm will result in better content than a rushed newsletter.
• Keep your eyes open. Brooke says the key to writing good articles isn't great writing ability, it's curiosity about the world and other people.

Also Learn:

• Why hiking with his dogs is an integral part of Brooke's writing  process.
• How to use other people's stories as a jumping-off point for your next blog or newsletter.
• What separates a compelling headline from pure clickbait.
• Why Brooke believes showing weakness is more important to good writing than demonstrating success.

Today’s guest, millennial Alan Moore, started out working for a traditional RIA firm, then started his own “location independent” RIA while concurrently developing other entrepreneurial sources of income. Alan and I discuss how millennial advisors think, act and make money differently than traditional financial advisors and what that means for the future of the financial advisory profession. Traditional RIAs can benefit from hiring a millennial advisor and injecting some “millennial thinking” in their business.

Guest: Scott Holsopple, the Chief Growth Officer at Hightower, one of the top RIA firms in the country with well over $100 billion in assets under management.

In a Nutshell: How do you think about your personal and professional growth?

If you could come up with 3 words for this year, that would drive your actions and keep you on track to make this your best year ever, what would those 3 words be?

For several years now, I’ve begun the year by identifying 3 words that will set the course, give me direction, and totally excite me as I move through the year. I write these words at the top of my Daily Focus sheet and look at them daily throughout the year.

The premise is simple. Pick 3 words that motivate you, remind you, and guide you on your road to making 2018 your best year ever.

I encourage all of my clients and I encourage all of you to do this same exercise as it will help you stay focused on the most important outcomes for the year.

In today’s post and podcast, I discuss my 3 words for 2018 as well as review my 3 words for 2017 and discuss how well I executed on them.

People often times know what they need to do to reach their goal, or know what the “right decision" is, but they still don’t do it. It’s that old knowing-doing gap idea. And much of the popular literature about how to create better habits and change your behavior, are, unfortunately, based on weak science.

The good news is, there is solid scientific research on how to change behavior and stick with this new behavior...and we're going to discuss it in today's podcast.

My guest, Sean Young, is on the leading edge of this research. Sean is Associate Professor at the School of Medicine at UCLA, a Wall Street Journal best-selling author, and Executive Director of the University of California Institute for Prediction Technology and the UCLA Center for Digital Behavior. Sean's new book, "Stick With It," details a "scientifically proven method for changing your life -- for good."

Guest: Jason Pereira, Partner & Senior Financial Consultant at Woodgate Financial Inc. in Toronto. Jason is a financial planner, writer, speaker, teacher, and podcast host with 20 years of experience in finance, practice management, and fintech.

In a Nutshell: The rise of generative AI like ChatGPT, Bard, Midjourney, and Dall-E is creating a new series of challenges and opportunities for advisors. First-mover advisors, like Jason, are integrating this fast-moving technology into their practices so they can grow more profitably and free up more time for human-to-human interaction that no technology can ever replicate. Listen in as Jason and I discuss how you can take advantage of AI instead of being taken advantage of by AI.

Guest: Kendra Wright, owner of Rebel Media Agency, a marketing company specializing in financial professionals. In her prior life, Kendra worked in rock ‘n roll marketing for some of the biggest names in music (Willie Nelson, Motley Crue, Matchbox Twenty, and more).

In a Nutshell: Great copy means you'll never experience a failure to communicate. Great copy is simple. Great copy is found and it comes from the mouths of your clients and prospects. Your job is to transfer what you find to your website and client communication.

As important as social media, podcasting, YouTube, and email have become, your marketing plan is incomplete if you don't have a professional homepage that tells prospects who you are, who you serve, and what outcomes people can achieve by working with you.

And let's not forget, people come to you because they have a problem, a question, and they want help. How clearly does your website show that you know their questions, you know their pain, and you know how to solve their problems?

On today's show, Kendra Wright and I do a deep dive on finding and communicating great copy and we put several financial advisor websites under the microscope and discuss what they did well and where they could improve.

This one is best watched on the YouTube video.

What separates the merely good from the absolute best of the best? Is mastery an end that we can achieve, or is it a lifelong process of continual evaluation and improvement?

I've been fascinated by these questions for a long time, particularly as they relate to what drives peak athletic performance and how those concepts might be applicable in other disciplines as well.

Like, say, going from being a competitive long distance runner as a kid to running a successful life-centered planning practice! After all, you and I won't ever stand on an Olympic podium. But we do have to excel in the high-stakes sport that is business so that we can deliver the best results for our clients.

So I googled "top sports psychologists in the US," and it turns out that one of the best in the country was right down the road from me.

Dr. Barbara Meyer is a professor and director of the Laboratory for Sports Psychology and Performance Excellence at the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee.  Dr. Meyer is not only an academic, she's also a sports psychology coach who works with professional and Olympic athletes on the mental side of the game. In fact, Dr. Meyer has trained athletes at every Winter Olympics since the 2002 Salt Lake City games, where her client won a gold medal.

In this conversation, Dr. Meyer and I discuss how to prepare mentally for a peak performance in any profession, striking a balance between sticking to the process of mastery while still achieving your desired outcomes, and how the concepts of self-regulation and visualization can help you monitor your behavior and alter it based on the demands of the situation you're facing.

If you're serious about personal improvement and growth you're going to love this episode.

You could be a highly competent financial advisor but if few people know about you, you’ll starve for new business.
 
There are two main ways to become known to your ideal audience.

1. Develop the audience yourself through marketing.
2. Show up in the middle of somebody else’s audience and display your value.

I can assure you, the second option is by far the most effective both in terms of time and money if done correctly.
 
In today’s episode, we discuss the mechanics of how to show up in the middle of a media outlet’s audience and share your voice, your opinion, and your insights to a large group of ideal prospects who are hungry for your wisdom.
 
My special guests are Jim Pavia, senior editor-at-large at CNBC Digital and Fred Gabriel, editor at InvestmentNews.
 
Jim and Fred are two of the financial industry’s top journalists and they share an incredible number of tips and insights on how to work with the media to get your message out. 

Visit www.belayadvisor.com/media-marketing to read 9 tips from today's episode.

If you are in the “inform” business, and not the “transform” business, you won’t be long for this business.

Technology services are quickly chipping away at the value-stack financial advisors offer to clients. There may come a time when, “I turn on my phone and I say, ‘Hi, Alexa. Tell me what my bank account is today. Transfer $10,000 from Bank A to Bank B. Open a 529 plan for my kid. Then, rebalance my brokerage account.’ And tell me how I'm doing against my goal of buying this house,” said Lex Sokolin, Global Director of Fintech Strategy and Partner at Autonomous.

In this near future world, you won’t need MoneyGuidePro, e-Money, or Advicent. Instead, “You have a more modern architecture, so you don't have a UI. You might have APIs that allow machines to talk to each other. Then, you can plug that into all sorts of chatbots for conversational interfaces,” said Lex.

Lex isn’t describing some crazy sci-fi dystopia. Rapid advancements in AI, algorithms, chatbots and a host of other technologies is bringing planning services to your favorite digital friend faster than you may think. And if Amazon, Google or some other behemoth decides to get into our business in a big way, well, you can forget about competing by using technology as a differentiator.

There is only one ultimate differentiator; it is your ability to help transform people’s lives.

Guest: Dr. Preston Cherry, AFC®, CFT-I™, CFP®, Ph.D., the Founder and President of Concurrent Financial Planning, a comprehensive financial planning firm serving households and business owners across generations. Dr. Cherry is also Head of the Financial Planning Program and Director of the Charles Schwab Center for Personal Financial Planning at the University of Wisconsin–Green Bay. On top of that, he's a co-founder and Chief Evangelist at Practice Intel.

In a Nutshell: There's a significant disconnect in our industry between what folks say they want from an advisor and what advisors are actually delivering. To close that gap, advisors may need to start quantifying their relationships to clients so that they can track, measure, and manage more than just return on investment.

On today's show, Dr. Preston Cherry returns to discuss Practice Intel's "Relationship Quality Index" and how he's helping the next generation of advisors prepare to deliver comprehensive planning.

For advisors who want to grow their audience – and hopefully, their client base – content and distribution is King, Queen, and Jack. But how do you build your audience? What is going to set you apart from the crowd and make your blog post or newsletter a must-read, your video channel a must-watch, your next podcast a must-listen?

Caleb Silver, the editor-in-chief of Investopedia, discussed these hot topics at the recent FPA Annual Conference in Chicago. After his presentation, “Building an Audience: Top Strategies for Exponential Audience Growth,” Caleb sat down with me to discuss the 10 ways he believes advisors can improve their online presence and create content followers won’t swipe past.

If you’re not learning faster than the world is changing, then you are going to fall behind very quickly. And businesses that fall too far behind usually don’t get a second chance to catch up.

A big challenge for financial advisors is, how do you stay on top of everything that’s required to run a successful advisory business?

As Josh Brown put it at the recent Wealth/Stack Conference, “A good advisor is both coach and quarterback, on-demand psychologist and personal friend, historian and futurist.” That’s an awful lot of ground for us to cover in our personal and professional learning. Plus, we have to track technological advances that are impacting our industry, while also adapting to best practices that help our businesses stay ahead of the competition.

If you haven’t made a commitment to learning one of your top responsibilities as a CEO advisor, today’s episode will help you get with the program.

My guest today is financial planner, author, podcast host, and speaker Taylor Schulte. Taylor is the founder of Define Financial, a financial planning firm headquartered in San Diego, CA. He’s also the co-founder of Advisor Growth Community, a place for financial advisors to connect with and learn from each other, and the host of two excellent podcasts, Stay Wealthy and Experiments in Advisor Marketing.

Taylor and I talked about why all financial advisors need to be lifelong learners, our sources for learning, and we share a few marketing ideas too.

Guest: Mark Hurley, founder of Fiduciary Network and now CEO of Digital Privacy & Protection LLC, a cybersecurity company.

In a Nutshell: Back in 1999, Mark Hurley dropped a bombshell white paper that predicted the wealth management industry would be consolidated into less than 100 firms, there would be a huge amount of M&A, and the small RIAs would fall by the wayside. The first part of Mark's prediction definitely came true. And as we exit the era of cheap money and roaring markets, the fate of smaller RIAs that aren't growing organically is certainly up in the air. With tailwinds turning into headwinds, the financial services industry is about to get a lot more competitive and, for some smaller firms, potentially less profitable. But there's also a lot of opportunity for growth-minded RIAs to differentiate themselves with a higher quality of service and a more human touch.

On today's show, Mark Hurley discusses his latest whitepaper, Welcome to the Jungle: The Next Phase of the Evolution of the Wealth Management Industry.

Guest: Matt Reiner, a CFA® Charterholder, CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ , and partner at Capital Investment Advisors, a $4.3B RIA in Atlanta, Georgia. Additionally, Matt is the managing partner of Wela Strategies, an RIA that deals with the investment needs of the mass affluent.

In a Nutshell: Nobody likes to fail, nobody likes to admit they failed, and nobody likes to publicly discuss their failure.

That’s why I have huge respect for Matt Reiner.

In early 2020, Matt made his first appearance on Between Now and Success to talk about Benjamin, his AI startup. Benjamin supplemented a traditional tech stack with workflow automation that took care of menial tasks so that advisors and support staff would have more time to work directly with clients.

Today, that company is dead. And, on today's show, Matt is back to talk about what happened.

Matt is candid and real in this conversation, and his perspective on his entrepreneurial journey is something that I think you’ll relate to. We also discuss the broader implications of technology and AI in financial advising and a question I've been asking for a couple years now: Is technology actually increasing advisor productivity by a significant amount?

Gail Graham is one of those rare people who have worked in the top echelon of two major companies--Fidelity Investments and United Capital--and helped shaped their strategies that led to massive growth and industry accolades.

Today, Gail is the founder of Graham Strategy, and works with companies to figure out where the gaps are between their strategy and how they're running their company.

On today’s show, Gail and I discuss the evolution of advisor marketing and offer some advice on how to fill the gaps in your marketing, content, and advisory strategies to grow your business. It’s going to be more and more important that advisors build not just a practice, but a distinct brand that communicates who they are and what kind of services they offer (i.e., messaging). Gail’s tips will help you stand out in the crowd, generate more leads, and endear clients to your firm.

Providing great customer service is no longer good enough. Today’s consumers are grading you on the “client experience” you deliver and how your client experience makes them feel.

Customer service is just one aspect of the client experience and if you do not intentionally create a client experience that “wows” your clients, your business will quickly fall behind the national RIAs who are leading the way in creating national brands with consistent experiences.

I recently moderated a panel at the FPA of Massachusetts annual conference and while the topic was ostensibly about Robo Advisors, it was actually about how to use Silicon Valley thinking to deliver an extraordinary client experience.

This podcast is a recording of the session with Eric Roberge, Alex Benke, and Lex Sokolin that was moderated by me. By listening to this podcast, you’ll gain a deep understanding of Robo Advisors, the different ways to use them, and how advisors are using technology to enhance the client experience.

In this fourth and final episode in the millennial advisor series, we discuss an area that was not addressed with our previous guests.

The other guests were all running their own independent RIAs and generally targeting other young professionals with non-traditional business and pricing models.

But what about millennial advisors who are pursuing a traditional career within a well-established RIA? What’s their story? How are the established RIAs finding, managing, and retaining talented young advisors in their business?

To find out, I dialed up my friends at United Capital, one of the country’s largest RIAs, and had a great conversation with Jarrod Upton and Brandon Moss. Jarrod and Brandon are two of the firm’s leaders and they work with their young, up and coming advisors.

How long could your business survive without you?

For financial advisors, I think that’s really two questions in one. Part one is a question of scale. Part two is a question of how you want to connect with your clients, build a sense of community, and run a modern advisory practice.

Brighton Jones is one of the top fee-only wealth management companies in the country, and one of Washington’s 100 Best Companies to Work For seven years in a row. Brighton Jones also placed on Barron’s List of the Top 100 Independent Financial Advisors, and Forbes’ List of the Top 50 Wealth Advisors.

And they racked up these accolades, in part, while the CEO was on a year-long jaunt with his family that covered 35 countries.

My guest today, Jon Jones, is the CEO of Brighton Jones. We talked about how he prepared his company to run without him for a year, why financial advisors should put more focus on revenue and less on AUM, and how his firm divides up responsibilities between business development and advising clients to achieve scale without sacrificing the Life-Centered Planning experience.

I just finished my second year of podcasting and the numbers are in. Here are my 10 most popular podcasts for 2016 based on downloads along with a key idea shared on each episode. Grab some coffee and a notepad. It'll spark some ideas.

Miguel Sosa is a research and product strategist at Bluerock Capital Markets, which has $15 billion in AUM.

At the 2022 CAIS Alternative Investment Summit in Beverly Hills, Miguel and I discussed a paper he wrote on Advanced Diversification, where he used modern portfolio theory to deconstruct the three elements of diversification to quantify the benefits of each of those elements. We then discussed how to apply those three elements to build a more efficient portfolio. We get a little technical in this one but I think you’ll really appreciate how this type of knowledge can help you build higher performing risk-adjusted portfolios.

Mark Casady had a front row seat on the massive changes hitting our industry over the past 15 years of his tenure at LPL. Now that he's "retired," we discuss his career and the lessons he learned.

During his 30-plus years in financial services, Mark likes to think his job was to be a classic "change agent." As chairman of the board and CEO for LPL Financial, Mark led the company through its IPO and grew it into the fifth largest brokerage firm in the United States. Today, you might say Mark is "retired," but he prefers to think he's in the middle of "Life 2.0," which includes working as General Partner and Advisory Board Chairman for Vestigo Ventures, a fintech-focused venture capital firm.

Are you feeling too busy? Not enough hours in the day? The problem may not be your level of productivity. The problem may be you’re doing way too many activities that bear little fruit.

Instead, in today’s show I share one question you can ask yourself that will force you to zero in on the leading activities you need to do to get the results you want.

In addition, I discuss a simple three-step framework you can use to bring about behavior change in you–and in your clients–and I share a key insight from an earlier podcast with Hollie Fagan of Blackrock.

I end the show with a quote from Aristotle and challenge you to put your “real” self out there even if some people disagree with you.

STEVE MOELLER SHARES HIS BEST STRATEGIES, TIPS, AND TOOLS on how to incorporate his concept of Endorphinomics into your life so you can maximize your emotional, physical, and financial well-being. As a long time consultant and coach, Steve details how you can use these principles to build your business and help you and your clients live their best possible life.

Guest: Terry Foxworth CFP®, CLU, and his daughter, Morgan. Terry is the Managing Partner at Foxworth Advisors in Asheville, NC. Morgan is a student-athlete at Oregon State University where she is a member of the women's rowing team.

In a Nutshell: To quote Terry's firm, "Life's an adventure. Plan for it." The TransAmerica biking adventure that Terry and Morgan planned (more or less) for Morgan's last summer before college brought them closer together and taught them just how much they're capable of achieving.

How would you answer these three questions about exploring advice?

1. What is the definition of good advice?
2. What is the definition of a quality financial plan?
3. What does it mean to be a fiduciary?

Kevin Knull, the president of PIEtech^SM, Inc., (parent company of MoneyGuidePro financial planning software) asked those three questions to an audience of financial and wealth management leaders and basically got blank stares in response.

Dismayed, he decided to reach out to thought leaders and experts around the country to get their answers.

He collected their thoughts and published them in a remarkable new book called, Exploring Advice: What You Need to Know About Good Financial Advice, a Quality Financial Plan and the Role of a Fiduciary.

I was one of the 36 leaders who contributed a chapter to the book.

In today's show, I'm joined by Kevin Knull and two other contributors to the book, Tricia Rothschild, Head of Global Advisor and Wealth Management Solutions for Morningstar, and Frank McAleer, Director, Retirement Solutions for Raymond James.

We discuss these three questions and point the way toward how you can add value in an increasingly commoditized industry.

Guest: Josh Self, CLU, ChFC, CFP®, Managing Partner of Ridgeline Wealth Advisors in Raleigh, NC.

In a Nutshell: Do you serve your business or does it serve you? Josh Self decided to do a complete rebrand and design his business around his personal passion of being an everyday explorer. He wanted to attract other like-minded outdoor enthusiasts so his website and podcast are 100% geared toward that specific demographic. If you share your passions with your audience and tie them into a holistic approach to Life-Centered Planning, you're going to grow something more valuable and durable than a client base. You're going to create a real community around your practice.

On today's show, Josh Self explains how "Financial life planning for the explorer living out their bucket list" became the organizing principle of his firm, especially on the branding and marketing side of the business.

Well, it's been an ugly start to the New Year in the stock market. And in today's episode, I share three things financial advisors can do right now to prepare for the next bear market. Whether what's happening now is the start of one, nobody knows, but the top advisors are doing a "bear market drill."

I also share an idea on how to move beyond the "overwhelming tasks" that probably are lining your "to do" list this time of year. You'll also learn what golfers Phil Mickelson and Roger Sloan can teach us about the big difference small incremental improvements can make in your business.

I end the show with a quote from Ralph Waldon Emerson.

You’re not going to reach the top of this profession without having a competitive streak in you. And when you channel that competitiveness into “winning” for your clients and “winning” in the growth of your business, that’s a dynamite combo.

Today’s guest, Michael Bapis, is a competitor who played golf for the University of Utah, then collegiate-level basketball while studying abroad in Greece for two years. After finishing school, he moved to Phoenix and ran Jim Flick's Golf School at Desert Mountain. Once he decided to follow his father into finance, Michael kept learning and achieving at a very high level, first at Morgan Stanley, then at HighTower. In 2018, he opened Vios Advisors under the umbrella of Rockefeller Capital Management, working with high-net worth individuals, pro athletes, and entertainers.

We connected in person at the 2019 SALT Conference and discussed a wide range of topics including two key lessons he learned from his early mentor Jim Flick. These lessons became foundational cornerstones for how he built his advisory firm to more than $1 billion in AUM.

Guest: Amy Koenig, a financial advisor coach and the Chief of Operations at ROL Advisor.

In a Nutshell: Amy Koenig was the first coach I hired back in 2004 when I was running Peak Advisor Alliance-now Carson Coaching. She coached advisors, operations leaders, and she developed the entire systems manual that was a key part of our coaching offering back in the Peak days.

Now, Amy coaches with me and heads up operations for my other company, ROL Advisor. Nobody knows systems like Amy.

On today's show, Amy and I discuss how financial advisors can integrate systems into their practices, from identifying a strategy to some practical nuts-and-bolts checklists and tech solutions that will put that strategy into action.

Guest: Tom Rieman, the Founding Partner and CEO of Practice Intel, a company dedicated to empowering advisors to deliver truly impactful advice. Tom has held leadership roles at J. D. Power and Associates, Brinker Capital, and J. P. Morgan Asset Management.

In a Nutshell: Tom and I explore three themes that are crucial to all advisors' success: organic growth; bridging the advice-experience gap between what your clients want and what you're delivering; and what an ideal advice experience looks like from the client's perspective. Our conversation is filled with actionable insights that challenge conventional wisdom about client satisfaction and business growth. And Tom's perspective and experience offer a powerful roadmap for you to make a real difference in your clients' lives.

The Covid-19 pandemic has forced financial advisors to shift the way you market your services. In person marketing and networking is severely restricted for the near future and if you want to succeed in this new world, you have to adapt to the new virtual reality.

Even before the pandemic, our industry was already making a shift towards digital marketing combined with digital events. Things like pay-per-click advertising, newsletters, podcasts, video, and virtual events like webinars, panels, and summits have been gaining steam for years. But now, the pandemic has accelerated that trend to light speed.

The most successful firms have jumped all over the virtual marketing trend and are crushing those firms who haven’t.

To help you succeed in virtual marketing, I hosted a virtual panel with two experts. Bill Keen is the founder and CEO of Keen Wealth Advisors, which is an RIA in the greater Kansas City area with half a billion dollars in assets under management. Lisa Salvi is Vice President, Business Consulting and Field Experience at Charles Schwab, where she oversees the advisor consulting group and produces the industry’s gold standard annual benchmarking report.

Today's guest is Brent Kessel. Brent is founder of Abacus Wealth Partners, which has more than 50 employees and more than $2 billion in assets under management.

About ten years ago I was reading a Buddhist magazine and did a double-take when I saw an ad for a financial advisory firm on its back cover. Abacus Wealth has been on my radar ever since.

"I have been a student of different kinds of Eastern traditions, mostly yoga and mindfulness meditation, for over 25 years," Brent says. "As your listeners probably know, the abacus is a Chinese mathematical computational instrument. What I liked about that name is that it felt like it brought in Eastern tradition and history along with computational dexterity, just the ability to really think, figure things out precisely."

Brent's unique path through life and personal passions have had a big influence on how he runs his firm. We discussed how that confluence has helped to make Abacus stand out from the crowd while also offering its clients a mind-opening perspective on what the wealth they're building is really for.

If you're still stuffing mailers, making cold calls, and tweeting the occasional Warren Buffet interview to a handful of followers, it's time to upgrade your marketing strategy and let data driven content drive some foot traffic through your front door.

On today's show, Justin Wisz, the co-founder and CEO of Vestorly, talks about how automated content and advanced AI can provide "delightful digital experiences" that will engage your client base beyond their balance sheets and, potentially, streamline your entire practice.

Guest: Gayle Colman, Certified Financial Planner®, Master Integral Coach®, and author of the new book The Body of Money.

In a Nutshell: Financial decisions are often framed as a tug of war between the head and the heart. But by paying attention to how the whole body expresses feelings around money, advisors can guide clients past their fears and towards a fulfilling sense of sufficiency and inner knowing.

Should RIAs offer an automated investing Robo-Advisor service? What are the pros and cons? How should you price the service? Will it cannibalize your existing clients?

In today's show, Tina Powell and I discuss how she launched automated investing Robo-Advisor SheCapital and why they kept it separately branded from the large RIA that she was affiliated with. We also discuss the difficulties in gaining traction with a Robo-Advisor and how that led to her shutting down SheCapital after just about one year in business.

How do you influence people to take action? How do you get people to follow you, rally behind you, and take your advice?

Robert Cialdini wrote the seminal book on influence and I encourage you to read it (or checkout the highlights here). But in today's show, I want to share a few more tips that come from an article written by United Capital founder Joe Duran (see my earlier interview with him here), a conversation I had with one of my coaching clients, a podcast I did with professional speaker Michael Port, and from a book by Robert McKee called, "Story."

We all want to be more influential so we can help people take positive action to improve their situation. The good news is there are specific ways to do that and I share them with you in today's show.

If you have any questions or comments, please email me. I'd love to hear what you like and what you'd like to see improved about the podcast. Thanks!

Capitalism is taking a beating right now. Rising wealth inequality and low social mobility have been festering for decades. The median income of Americans hasn’t budged in 30 years. The overall share of GDP accruing to capital has risen significantly relative to labor. And I could go on.

So is capitalism the problem? No. We don’t need to ditch capitalism, we just need to evolve it so more people can benefit from it.

But how do we do that?

For some answers, I reached out to Anthony “the Mooch” Scaramucci. You may know him as the short-lived communications director in the White House. But he’s also the founder of a multi-billion dollar alternative fund, organizer of the SALT Forum (BTW, I'll be podcasting from the SALT Forum so register to attend and I'll see you there), and a fun guy to talk to.

In today’s show, we talk about capitalism. We discuss what works, what’s not working, and what would it take for our country to evolve capitalism so it helps all Americans live the American dream.I hope you enjoy today’s show.

Andrew Kaye-Skinner is a Senior Product Trainer for Advisor Group, which is one of the country's largest independent broker dealers.

Andrew and I discussed how he taps into his theater and linguistics background to deliver effective training to financial advisors. We also touch on some adult learning theory topics that will help you get your message across whether you're training your team of advisors or preparing to speak at an event.

Guest: Cheryl Strauss Einhorn. Cheryl is the creator of The AREA Method, an evidence-based decision making system that uniquely controls for and counters cognitive bias to expand knowledge while improving judgment. She developed AREA during her two decades as an award-winning investigative journalist, writing for publications including The New York Times, Foreign Policy Magazine, Barron's, and Harvard Business Review. She's also the author of three books, including Problem Solver: Maximizing Your Strengths to Make Better Decisions.

In a Nutshell: Rather than making decisions by gut feel or pure instinct, Cheryl presents a well-researched framework that helps you make better decisions when the stakes are high.

On today's show, Cheryl Strauss Einhorn explains the AREA Method and the five "problem solver profiles" that will help you determine your most effective course of action when making big decisions.

Should you allocate to alternative investments?

For decades, advisors to the wealthiest strata of investors offered offered access to investments beyond the traditional stocks, bonds, and real estate. And for decades, there were significant barriers to entry in the alternative space that made it difficult for independent advisors to access the best money managers in the alt space. That’s now changed.

Firms like CAIS have democratized access to some of the best money managers available and streamlined what has historically been a time-consuming process to “complete the paperwork” when using alternative managers.

In today’s episode, we explore the alt space and how independent financial advisors can access an asset class that was previously reserved for the big banks and wirehouses and their well-heeled clients.

Guest: Matt Brown, Founder of CAIS, the leading alternative investment platform for financial advisors who seek improved access to and education about alternative investment funds and products.

Matt and I discuss:

• Why should advisors consider adding alternative investments to their allocations.
• The biggest reasons why advisors have been reluctant to allocate to alternatives.
• What are the most popular alternative investment asset classes.
• What’s the profile of a typical client who is going to be receptive to an allocation to alternative investments.
• Whether advisors use a buy and hold strategy with their alternative assets or do they actively switch managers over time.
• What role CAIS plays in facilitating advisors making an allocation to alternative investments.
• What role education plays in expanding access to alternative investments.
• The best investment Matt ever made.

Resources:

Attend the CAIS Alternative Investment Summit on Oct 17 – 19, 2022 in Beverly Hills, CA. Learn more here.

Matt Brown on LinkedIn

In a Nutshell: Whether you're writing website copy, sending email newsletters, social media posts, physical mailers, or a combination, you have to master the psychology of engagement to turn your prospects into clients and keep your business growing. 

Guest: Adam Bensman. Adam is one of the top direct response copywriters and consultants in the country, and he has a particular expertise in helping financial advisors improve their marketing.

My Key Takeaway: If you want win more business from your copywriting, you need to craft a compelling offer that:

1. Differentiates your firm.
2. Reaches your ideal client right where they are.
3. Addresses the questions that are going in their mind.
4. Provides a high level of perceived value. 

Also Learn

1.  Why you should delete your glossy headshot from the top of your emails, open with an ellipsis (...),  and always end with a PS.

2. How to address your prospect's pain by appealing to the "search trigger" that brought them to you in the first place. 

3. What 4 quadrants Adam says your marketing needs to hit in order to set yourself apart and demonstrate your value to your audience. 

Paul Tudor Jones did it for hedge fund managers. Michael Saylor and Jack Dorsey did it for publicly traded companies.
 
Now, Marty Bicknell is doing it for RIAs and he discusses it with me on my new podcast.
 
Once called “rat poison squared” by Warren Buffett, bitcoin is now going mainstream. After a tumultuous 12-year existence punctuated by head-spinning bull markets, devasting declines, exchange hacks, and its use in criminal activities, bitcoin has grown into adulthood.
 
Bicknell recently announced that his firm, the $35 billion AUM behemoth Mariner Wealth Advisors, will offer bitcoin to its clients through a separately managed account run by Eaglebrook Advisors.
 
To date, only a small number of intrepid advisors including Morgen Rochard, Jackson Wood, Adam Pokornicky, Tyrone Ross, Adam Blumberg, and Isaiah Douglas have done the pioneering work of understanding bitcoin, figuring out the compliance and operational details of offering it, and presenting it to their clients as part of a thoughtful asset allocation.

Welcome to 2016! This is the perfect time to look back on the past year and forward to the New Year.

In today’s show, I cover three topics related to looking back and forward.

1. Three key questions to ask yourself as you reflect on 2015. Yes, it’s important to look back so you can use the year’s experience to propel you in the New Year.
2. Use the year ahead to “risk walking new ground.”
3. Three important steps to take that will make 2016 your best year yet.

I end the show with a quote from a daily email I receive called “Our Daily Bread.”

What's it like to climb Mt. Shasta with a hard-charging group of financial industry executives? What goes on behind the scenes to prepare for the climb and who made it to the top? And how do you deal with a major accident before the climb even starts?

In today’s episode, I take you behind the scenes in the Skip and Chip Excellent Adventure 5.0. Skip Schweiss of TD Ameritrade and Chip Roame of Tiburon Strategic Advisors organize an adventure trip each year and this year's destination was Mt. Shasta in northern California.

I participated last year and completed the 27-mile, 15-hour hike through four 12,500-foot high passes in the Rocky Mountains near Aspen, Colorado. This year, well, you'll have to listen to the story...

I just got back from the TD Ameritrade National Conference and in today's show, I'll share a few quick comments from the event.

Yes, the conference covered the usual slew of technology sessions dedicated to robo advisors and scaling your business. But what I found most interesting was the theme of putting the "human" into finance.

TD Ameritrade clearly understands the importance of the "human" in the financial planning process and the importance of using story to connect with others.

I start the podcast by discussing an important insight from keynote speaker Sally Hogshead and then wrap up with on-site conversations I had with Matt Brinker of United Capital, Spencer Segal of ActifFi, and Matt Ackermann of Investment News.

Guest: Leslie Y. Tabor, Director of Business Consulting and Education at Charles Schwab Advisor Services.

In a Nutshell: Most successful RIA leaders have been very intentional about hiring top talent in this competitive jobs market. But the best of the best are now being just as intentional about diversifying their talent to create a more dynamic culture capable of delivering more value to clients.

Leslie Tabor explains how Charles Schwab is helping RIAs build diverse cultures based on four pillars:

1. Cultivating an inclusive workplace culture.
2. Attracting, developing. and retaining a diverse workforce.
3. Serving the needs of a diverse marketplace.
4. Supporting diverse communities.

Guest: Manisha Thakor, MBA, CFA, CFP®, a national thought leader and personal finance expert with more than 25 years of experience working in the worlds of personal finance and investing. She's also the author of a great new book, MoneyZen: The Secret to Finding Your "Enough."

In a Nutshell: Society trains us to believe that the answer to all of our problems is More: more stuff, more clicks, more Likes, and, of course, more money. But financial advisors know that the connection between true happiness and money is a lot more complicated than that. Shifting your focus from improving clients' return on investment to improving their Return on Life can help folks find that healthy balance between what they have, what they want, and what's really important.

On today's show, Manisha Thakor and I have a wide-ranging conversation about the meaning of money in our life and how it can evolve over time, Manisha's personal journey to "enough," and how to find joy in living simply.

Guest: Erin Scannell, Chief Executive Officer of Heritage Wealth Advisors.

In a Nutshell: When I talked to Erin Scannell in 2020, he was directing 50 team members, 18 advisors, and about $2 billion in AUM. Four years later, Heritage has doubled to $4 billion in AUM, and Erin is in charge of over 80 team members, including 20 advisors and a robust support team.

On today's show, Erin shares the secrets behind his firm's explosive growth, including their innovative approach to organic marketing, the power of virtual events, and the strategic acquisition that brought them into the high-net-worth space. We also discuss how Erin's role has evolved from lead advisor to CEO, as well as leveraging tech to help advisors move up the value stack and address client's higher-level advice and life needs.

In a Nutshell: Technology is going to absorb most of the technical aspects of our work, so we have to become experts at what it means to be human. And advisors who embrace and further develop their "human" side of advising will thrive no matter how technology evolves.

Guest: Clare Ciervo, CFP®, Advisor & Financial Planner at Balanced Rock Investment Advisors.

You don’t reach the summit of 14,000 foot mountains more than 150 times without learning a few things along the way about life, health, and adventure.

In today’s adventure episode, I talk to financial pros Skip Schweiss and Scott MacKillop. Between them, they’ve climbed mountains all over the world and lived a life of adventure while building thriving careers as executives in financial services.

I’ve had the pleasure of joining them on several trips and can attest to their skill and wisdom, but more importantly, to their sense of team and community. They’ll be the first people on the mountain to help someone in distress and they pack “extras” just in case someone besides themselves needs help (and I know because I was on the receiving end of their help!).

When your clients sell their business, are you frustrated that you don't always add the resulting windfall to your AUM? There's a simple way to insert yourself in the sales process, add more value to your clients, and ensure you get your fair share of the proceeds to manage.

One of the objectives of my podcast is to help advisors figure out ways to add more value to their client relationships that goes beyond money management.

Today, we'll discuss how you can add tremendous value to your clients by helping them get top dollar for their company by selling to strategic investors.

My guest is Rob Follows, Founding Chairman and CEO of STS Capital Partners.

Rob is one of the world's leading mergers and acquisitions experts and his firm specializes in helping mid-market private businesses get maximum value for their companies by selling their business to a strategic--as opposed to financial--investor.

If you have clients who own a successful private business, you'll want to listen to this podcast and read the show notes.

Imagine you’re sitting down with a potential new client for the initial discovery meeting. What do you see sitting across from you?

Unfortunately, many advisors see a “prospect,” “dollar signs,” or perhaps “a million-dollar account.” The philosopher Martin Buber called this an “I-It Relationship,” in which one person objectifies the other.

On today's show, Ross Levin explains the importance of "I-You" relationships, how to master the "slow things," and the story behind building one of the industry's most iconic firms.

Ross Levin is the CEO and Founder of Accredited Investors Wealth Management, which is an RIA based in Minnesota, with approximately $2 billion in assets under management. Ross was the first recipient of the Financial Planning Association's Heart of Financial Planning Award, and the inaugural recipient of Financial Planning Magazine's Lifetime Achievement Award. He is truly an icon in our industry.

Today’s podcast with Steve Sanduski is all about understanding the concept of exponential technology and how you can incorporate it in your business to accelerate your growth, your profitability, and keep you relevant for years to come.
 
In this episode, you’ll discover:

• Why your mindset is a more important asset than time.
• How a deep understanding of the "6 D’s of Exponentials" will prepare you for explosive business success.
• Why the marginal cost of sales and marketing is heading toward zero and what that means to you.
• How a simple exercise called “Add a Zero” can completely change your thinking.
• Why you can’t just redesign your process, you have to reimagine the entire client experience.
• Why radical pricing transparency is critical to your future success.

Get ready for a wild ride as Steve takes you on a tour of the future of financial planning. It's very bright for those who are ready to embrace exponential technology and Steve lays out a roadmap on how to do it. 

Most advisors effectively handle the money question. Few are adept at handling the emotion question.

In this discussion, retirement expert Mitch Anthony and Steve Sanduski, CFP® show how you can become your client’s retirement coach and help them navigate this tricky transition to retirement.

For the full presentation, please register for our free webinar on June 29 at 2:00 ET. 

To register, visit: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_bkodSXOASbyT0eTyIBH4wg  

This program has been accepted for one hour of CE credit from the CFP Board and for one CE hour toward the CIMA/CIMC/CPWA designations.

Guest: Shannon Warwick, Certified Personal Trainer, Yoga Teacher, & Sports Nutritionist.

In a Nutshell: There's a profound connection between our physical health and the stress that we carry around with us every day.

Today's show is a bit different from my usual focus on financial advisor practice management. Shannon and I dive deep into the topic of reducing stress in our lives - something that I believe is crucial for everyone, regardless of their profession or background. We discuss the profound connection between our physical health and the stress we carry, and how practices like yoga and sound baths can help us release tension and find balance.

Shannon shares her personal journey of overcoming health challenges and discovering the transformative power of slowing down and tuning into our bodies. We explore the concept of anchors, such as breath and sound, that can help us stay present and grounded in the midst of life's chaos.

Throughout our conversation, Shannon offers practical tools and exercises that anyone can incorporate into their daily life to cultivate a sense of calm and self-compassion. From the five Tibetan rites to the importance of learning our love languages, Shannon's insights are both accessible and deeply meaningful.

Can you get a true understanding of a client's risk tolerance and place them in a portfolio with the appropriate portfolio risk by asking a few simple subjective questions? Robo Advisors Betterment (see my interview with Betterment founder Jon Stein) and Wealthfront believe they can but today's guest, Aaron Klein, co-founder of Riskalyze, believes those firms have it all wrong.

Aaron's firm tackles the risk tolerance and portfolio risk challenge from a different angle by utilizing concepts borrowed from Prospect Theory. Prospect Theory was developed by Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky and essentially says, "People value gains and losses differently and, as such, will base decisions on perceived gains rather than perceived losses. Thus, if a person were given two equal choices, one expressed in terms of possible gains and the other in possible losses, people would choose the former." Source.

We had a fascinating discussion about how investors deal with risk and we capped it off with some thoughts about the future of the financial advice business. Aaron has strong opinions and he has the smarts to back them up. Don't miss this episode with Aaron Klein of Riskalyze.

Like Miracle Mile Advisors, the path from where your firm is today to where you want it to be tomorrow is not a straight line up and to the right.

You'll face fork-in-the-road moments that will define you and your firm. Antonia Burchman shares how Miracle Mile Advisors responded to their pivot points and paints a path forward for advisory firm leaders who want to grow and deliver a great client experience.

Guest: Antonia Burchman, Senior Director of Corporate Development for Miracle Mile Advisors. Antonia was one of Miracle Mile's first team members and has been with the firm as it has grown from less than $100 million in AUM to approximately $4.5 billion.

As the co-founder of multi-billion dollar RIA Beacon Pointe in Newport Beach, CA, Matt Cooper has a unique, in the trenches view of trends that are sweeping the financial advisory industry, on both the client and advisor side.

In addition to his original, $7-billion-plus RIA, Matt founded a sister company, Beacon Point Wealth Advisors, which partners with smaller RIAs around the country so they can enjoy the benefits of working with a larger firm. Beacon Point Wealth Advisors includes eight other RIAs, representing more than $2 billion in assets under management.

On today's show, Matt addresses a variety of issues including technology, demographics, minimum account sizes, competitive threats, and much more. Learn from one of the best about how you can keep pace with the trends buffeting our industry.

What are the top firms doing to outperform the rest?

How are they growing?

What’s the silver bullet that’s going to help my firm hit that 16% five-year growth CAGR I’m seeing from the best of the best?

These were hot topics at last month’s Charles Schwab IMPACT Conference in Washington, D.C. And of course, the very reason that so many of our industry’s best and brightest were gathered there to speak, learn, and network is that there isn’t one “silver bullet” that’s going to transform your practice in 2019.

But some guiding principles for advisors looking to grow did emerge at the conference, which I discussed with Lisa Salvi, Vice President of Business Consulting and Field Experience at Charles Schwab. Lisa and I were joined by Mitch Reiner, Chief Operating Officer, Managing Partner, and Senior Investment Advisor of Capital Investment Advisors, who is a graduate of Schwab’s Executive Leadership Program.

Elliot Weissbluth started $30 Billion RIA firm HighTower by asking, "If we had a blank piece of paper and a blank slate and I started with my mom as the client, what would she expect from a thoughtful financial advisor?" Working backward from that premise, he built the firm into a powerhouse. In this episode, we discuss: How he raised $65 million in institutional money before even having his first client. Why he fires himself each year. The one metric all RIAs should track. The two things their advisor do (and don't do) to grow organically at double the industry rate. The three keys to building a thriving RIA in the years ahead. Who will be disrupted by robo technology. As a founder and excellent business leader, Elliot is well worth listening to. 

Could 3 words be the difference between success and failure for you over the next 12 months?

The recent presidential election proved once again that words are powerful. The words that we use, the language that we use has the ability to move people to take action.

For several years now, I’ve taken this idea of “words are powerful’ and completed an exercise that I want to share with you. The exercise is this, “Identify 3 words that would set the course, give you direction, and totally excite you as you move through the year and look at them repeatedly for the next 12 months.”

I started doing this 3 words exercise several years ago after hearing about it from Chris Brogan.

The premise is simple. Pick 3 words that motivate you, remind you, and guide you on your road to making 2017 your best year ever.

I encourage all my coaching clients to do this same exercise as it helps them stay focused on the most important outcomes for the year.

In today’s episode, I discuss my 3 words for 2017 as well as review my 3 words for 2016 and discuss how well I executed on them.

If you want to be a better financial advisor, learn how to land a jet plane on an aircraft carrier in the middle of the ocean in the middle of the night.

Ok, maybe I’m exaggerating just a bit …

But I really do believe that the top advisors of the future will be those who are open to a wide variety of insights that come from a wide variety of experiences you and I might never have. Talking to and learning from people outside of our field can really get our gears turning. Suddenly you’re approaching challenges and opportunities from different angles and finding creative ways to deal with the stresses of running a business. You’re also equipping yourself with new ways of thinking that will help you make long-lasting, indispensable relationships with clients.

That’s why I was excited to talk to Lieutenant James Licata on a recent podcast. James is a Naval test pilot who’s often in high-pressure, high-stakes, life-or-death situations. I wanted to discuss how he handles those environments, and how those of us with two feet firmly on the ground can adapt similar strategies to perform under the pressures we face running our businesses.

If you want to accelerate your growth rate and create a consistent stream of new clients, you have to move beyond referral marketing and become a marketing machine. David Canter, EVP, Practice Management and Consulting at Fidelity leads an ace team that has been consulting with RIAs and researching how they can elevate their performance for years. 

In today's podcast, David and I discuss what the RIA Marketing Leaders are doing to grow their business 40% faster than non-marketing leaders. You'll learn...

• The percentage of revenue the Marketing Leaders invest in marketing and business development.
• The 6 key disciplines Marketing Leaders devote the most resources to.
• How to leverage the "Rule of 15" to double your business.
• Why your "About Us" page should be more like an "About You" page.
• How to generate more referrals by being a "giver," not just a "taker."
• The importance of using events to get your message out.

A relatively small number of RIA firms have grown faster and more profitably than their peers in recent years, according to research from InvestmentNews and BlackRock.

Dubbed "Elite RIAs," these firms have cracked the code and implemented strategies, tactics, and "ways of doing business" that propelled them to the top.

On average, these Elite RIAs have > $500 million in AUM, $5.8 million in revenue, 13 full-time employees, 365 active households, and revenue per client of $14,327.

In today’s episode, Hollie Fagan, head of BlackRock's RIA business, and I discuss the specifics of what these leading RIAs are doing to scoop up the lion's share of industry assets.

How will you succeed in the years ahead?

Multiple trends are shaping the industry and how advisors respond to those changes today will determine whether they thrive or just barely survive over the next few years.

Will Robos drive down pricing and push mainstream advisors out of business? Will Vanguard, Schwab, Fidelity, and TD Ameritrade grab the lion’s share of the mass affluent market with their hybrid robo offerings? Can lifestyle practices survive?

Those are just a few of the questions I discuss with today’s guest, Chip Roame. Chip is the Managing Partner of Tiburon Strategic Advisors and a leading strategic consultant to CEOs, other senior executives, & boards of directors in the banking, insurance brokerage, & investments markets.

While it’s easy to dismiss “the future” as something you don’t have to worry about today, the reality is, change is happening faster and with more ferocity than most people think. Listen to today’s show to catch up on some of the big trends and learn how to make your business “built to last.”

Guest: Mario Nardone, CFA, Founding Partner of East Bay Investment Solutions, which offers outsourced chief investment officer (OCIO) solutions for planning and relationship-focused financial advisors.

In a Nutshell: The human side of financial planning is, increasingly, where financial planners are delivering the most value to clients. Building those relationships and helping people achieve their life goals can also be incredibly rewarding. But even an expert "people person" still has to deliver on the numbers side as well. Outsourcing your investment management can be one way for advisors to spend more of their time doing what they do best while also ensuring optimal outcomes for clients.

On today's show, Mario Nardone explains what an OCIO is and how they work with advisory firms to enhance their investment offering while freeing up the advisors time for other high-value pursuits.

How do you go from a struggling, cash-strapped RIA to running a fast-growing, profitable top firm? Adopt Sten Morgan's 7 Mindsets and you'll be on your way.

As the founder of Legacy Investment Planning, Sten Morgan has lived that dream, and overcome the obstacles that go with it. Sten was recently named one of the “40 Under 40” by Investment News, and his new book, “7 Mindsets of Success,” challenges entrepreneurs to change their mindsets, and see their businesses, and the world, differently.

On today’s show, Sten explains how the mindsets that he had been developing from a young age allowed him to go from making nothing, to running a successful RIA firm in three short years.

Whatever you think about Donald Trump, it’s hard to deny his masterful use of persuasion and branding techniques to win over a specific segment of the electorate that propelled him to the White House. Here are six key strategies Donald Trump used in his campaign and how you can adapt them to your business.

Guest: Amit Dogra, President and COO of tru Independence. tru offers an open architecture platform that provides a full suite of services that advisors need to manage and grow their business effectively.

In a Nutshell: In 2022, I crunched the numbers from Charles Schwab’s 2022 RIA Benchmarking Study and spotted an alarming trend: net organic revenue growth is almost non-existent in our industry. Solving that problem isn’t just a matter of running a better marketing campaign or asking clients for more referrals. It requires an understanding that every facet of your organization is interconnected and must be thoughtfully designed to support and reinforce your ultimate aim.

Amit Dogra and I discuss:

• Six specific areas that leaders need to focus on to build a highly functional, growth-minded firm.
• The relationship between total client experience and organic growth.
• Using your Why Story to enhance your culture and deepen your connection to employees and clients.
• The question tru Independence is asking itself as it redefines its purpose.
• How leaders and entrepreneurs should think about their responsibilities when it comes to driving growth.
• Why it’s worth investing in relationships even if there isn’t a direct “dollars and cents” ROI.
• Why Amit believes advisor technology is heading toward what he calls “experience as a service” that’s part of a “single source code” instead of best of breed or integrated but separate applications.
• Building excellent service around your team’s unique skillsets.
• How Amit fosters a curious spirit that helps him see the big picture and connect some surprising dots.

Resources Related to This Episode

• Elliot Weissbluth on building $30 billion RIA HighTower Amit chuckled when I mentioned Elliot’s habit of “firing” himself at the end of every year — turns out he encouraged people who worked for him to do the same!
• Elliot Weissbluth on management: Fire yourself every year I dug into Elliot’s methods and philosophy a little deeper in this article I wrote for InvestmentNews.
• Deconstructing Amazon’s Massive Growth by Working Backwards with Bill Carr Amit is an admirer of Amazon’s leadership principles, and I talked to one of the company’s key executives about the insights, stories, and secrets that propelled Amazon to the top.
• Building an Interconnected Technology Future Ainslie Simmonds, President of Pershing X, talked to me about how an interconnected suite of financial applications could help advisors spend more time doing what they do best: delivering human-to-human interactions.
• The Digital Money Advisor Podcast Amit says you don’t have to believe in Bitcoin. But you do have to have an informed opinion when your clients come to you with questions. In this year-long podcast series, I talked to leading thinkers in the crypto space.

Imagine for a moment if you could build a highly profitable practice that served a total of just 10 families and individuals. And through your personalized, indispensable service you could create clients for life, and perhaps even for a generation or two.

That’s exactly what David Dunn is doing at Kingsbridge Wealth Management. David describes Kingsbridge as a family office featuring a “full stack financial infrastructure” that provides high-net-worth families and individuals with everything they need to manage their wealth. That means a thorough understanding of how each client thinks about their money, offering specialized services, and incorporating some outside-the-box thinking on asset allocation (hint: it’s definitely NOT modern portfolio theory).

Even if your typical client’s net worth is in the 7-figures, as opposed to 8, 9 or 10 that David works with, you’ll gain a great appreciation of the psychological and service needs of all investors and how to apply that understanding to better meeting your client’s needs.

In a Nutshell: Clear career paths and offering a path to partnership and equity ownership are key ways to attract and retain next generation advisors and advisory firm leaders.

Guests: Lisa Salvi is Vice President of Advisor Services at Charles Schwab, where she oversees business consulting and education offerings, including their one-on-one consulting engagements, the annual RIA Benchmarking Study, and other programs that support the development of advisor talent.

Yonhee Gordon is a principal and Chief Operating Officer of JMG Financial Group just outside of Chicago, which has more than $3.0 billion in assets under management.

Building one advisory firm with billions in AUM is hard enough. Joe Duran has done it twice, most recently selling United Capital to Goldman Sachs and becoming Head of Goldman Sachs Personal Financial Management. 

We had an insightful conversation about how he did it and what he sees for the future of financial advisors and for the advice they deliver.

What's working right now in financial advisor marketing? Based on my conversation with marketing pro Abby Salameh, you'll be very surprised.

While attending the 2018 In|Vest Conference in New York, I had a chance to sit down with Abby Salameh for an in-depth conversation about the state of advisor marketing. We talked about which marketing strategies are working the best, branding, the client experience, referrals, making a good first impression with prospects, the proper role of technology in marketing, and much more.

Abby Salameh is the Chief Marketing Officer at Private Advisor Group, a RIA with 620 advisors overseeing $27 billion in AUM (See my earlier podcast with John Hyland, the co-founder of Private Advisor Group). Her sterling career as a RIA marketing expert has included stops at Sanford Bernstein, TD Waterhouse, and the Fusion Advisor Network. She was also a founding member of the team that launched Investment News.

One consistent thread among the most successful advisory firms is they know how to market. And they know how to strike the right balance between using technology to scale their marketing efforts and using the human touch to engage potential new clients. So if you're looking to improve your marketing efforts, generate more qualified leads, and position your firm for accelerated growth, you'll want to listen to today's conversation with Abby Salameh.

A top-notch tech stack is table stakes. And you won’t “out tech the tech titans” so you can’t win on technology.

So what can a financial advisor do to remain relevant and thrive in the years ahead?

You can double-down on your ability to humanize the advisor-client relationship, to understand and deliver on exactly what your clients really need, and you should do it in a technologically-enhanced way.

“You're not competing on your toolkit or the software that you deploy in your office,” says podcast guest Lex Sokolin. “You're competing on the core need, which is that most people don't have enough money. They don't know how to retire. They're super anxious. I think the smart financial advisor will shade the constructs of how they work and move towards what the human need is in this evolving world.”

Lex Sokolin is the Global Fintech Co-Head at ConsenSys, a blockchain technology company building the infrastructure, applications, and practices that enable a decentralized world. Lex is also a futurist and entrepreneur whose newsletter, Future of Finance, should be on your must-read list every week if you want to stay ahead of the curve (I read it each week).

In today’s conversation, we discuss the sweeping changes in the fintech landscape and what new skills advisors will need to thrive in an industry that’s getting more digital and more automated every day.

Erin Botsford is one of the top financial advisors in the country. She is the founder and CEO of the Botsford Financial Group, which has nearly $1 billion in assets under management. She has appeared on Barron’s list of the Top 100 Women Financial Advisors and Top 100 Independent Financial Advisors multiple times. And she’s also an author who just released her second book, “Seven Figure Firm.”

But maybe more impressive than Erin’s resume is the hardship she had to overcome to get where she is today.

Erin was only 11 when her father died of a heart attack. The small life insurance policy he left behind made life very hard for Erin, her mother, and her five siblings. A car accident in her teenage years and a bad investment with a stockbroker in her early 20s put further strain on Erin’s family life and finances. These experiences taught Erin the value of comprehensive financial planning and asset protection, lessons she continues to impart to her clients.

On today’s show, Erin discusses her compelling story, the personal and financial lessons she took away from her adversities, and how she built her own seven figure firm from scratch.

Note: This episode originally ran on July 18, 2016

Eli Broad is the billionaire founder of two Fortune 500 companies—Kaufman & Broad (now KB Home) and SunAmerica. You don’t reach that level of success by doing things just like everybody else does. Broad said ‘being unreasonable” led him to generate massive results.

Listen to the podcast to learn 7 key business insights from his autobiography, The Art of Being Unreasonable, that illustrate how you can apply “being unreasonable” to jumpstart your success. Here's the first one.

1. In order to innovate, be unreasonable enough to ask fundamental questions about unexamined assumptions.
Start by looking at the most fundamental operating principles of your business., what most people would call the basics. They represent the strongest, stickiest, and most unexamined kind of conventional wisdom. Broad said this conventional wisdom has often gone so long without scrutiny that they’re accepted as gospel. That's what makes these core assumptions the best place to look for opportunities to innovate.

Charging a fee for assets under management certainly qualifies as conventional wisdom and we are starting to see advisors innovate in this area. Podcast guest James Osborne now charges a flat annual fee of $4,500 for money management and planning services regardless of account size. Brittney Castro charges a planning fee and a monthly subscription fee. And Scott MacKillop, founder of TAMP First Ascent, is capping his asset management fee at $1,500 regardless of asset size.

If you want to quickly gain visibility and new business, find a piece of conventional wisdom and be unreasonable enough to shake it up and find a new angle that appeals to a certain segment of your target audience.

Life-centered planning, improving client behavior, the client experience, positive psychology, marketing, and technology are some of the hot topics I got to discuss with finance industry leaders and thinkers on my Between Now and Success podcast during 2018.

I think some of these topics, like a renewed emphasis on your human touch as an advisor, will continue to have a huge influence on where advisory goes in 2019.

And others, like, say, cryptocurrency ... Hmm ... Maybe not quite so much.

Let's take a look back at some key learnings from my 10 most popular podcasts of 2018.

Guest: Connor Sung, CFP®, Director, Financial Planning at eMoney Advisor.

In a Nutshell: It's been about seven months since I asked ChatGPT if I could retire without running out of money. Since then, the intersection of financial psychology and technology continues to advance rapidly -- not just in how advisors use AI, but in how they're improving their people skills and learning to meet clients and prospects where they are to deliver the advice that they need. These advancements on both the tech and human sides of financial advice are improving the client experience and coaching folks towards better financial outcomes.

On today's show, Connor Sung discusses how platforms like eMoney are evolving to support more nuanced and individualized planning conversations and redefining what "success" means for clients.

The resurgence of analog products in our digital advisor world has profound implications for both consumers and businesses, which author David Sax details in his new book, “The Revenge of Analog: Real Things and Why They Matter.”

As financial advisors get caught up in trying to “digital advisor everything,” it’s important to remember that there are many times when human to human contact is the best strategy to please the client and deliver the best client experience.

On today’s podcast, David and I discuss how digital advisor and analog technologies can both complement and disrupt one another, and how striking the right balance between digital and analog experiences is key to your future success as a financial advisor.

A growing financial advisory firm needs lots of top talent. What are you doing to deepen your roster of advisors? Do your brightest employees see a path for themselves from, say, a business or marketing degree to CFP® certification? And if so, what can both the employee and the employer expect during that process?

Well, confession time: it's been a couple years (actually decades) since I got my CFP®, so I don't think I'm the best person to answer those questions. I decided to go to a better-qualified source.

Andrew Jones is a representative in the high-net-worth area at one of the country's leading investment management firms. Andrew recently completed the CFP® program and will soon meet the work requirements to become, officially, a CFP®.

Andrew told me that one of the reasons he decided to pursue his CFP® rather than an MBA is that he saw himself as more of a people person. Your firm needs to attract and cultivate millennials like Andrew who recognize that there's more to advisory than just managing money. Advisors who are skilled communicators and who are empathetic with an ability to connect with your clients as people are vital to the future of your business.

On today's show, Andrew shares his best advice for studying and passing the CFP® exam. He also talks about the resources his company made available to him and how studying with other aspiring CFP®s created a sense of camaraderie and accountability that was critical to his success. We also hear from a special guest who was particularly instrumental in helping Andrew earn his CFP®.

As you're listening to Andrew discuss this process, ask yourself what your firm could be doing to encourage young employees to pursue CFP® certification and how you could foster a workplace culture that would improve their chances of success.

In March 2020, Covid-19 lockdowns were starting, businesses were scrambling, and the markets were in a state of shock.

Despite all that, Creative Planning, Inc. had one of its best months ever.

According to President and CEO Peter Mallouk, his firm brought in $500 million in net new assets. Instead of panicking and trying to get their money out of the markets, Peter says many of his clients were giving him more money to manage – and sending more referrals as well.

The seeds that Peter’s firm planted many years ago led to his clients turning to the firm during a moment of unprecedented uncertainty. While great marketing will get you noticed, it’s the total client experience package that will get and keep clients as Peter’s firm has amply demonstrated.

Some advisors lament the chaos caused by Covid-19, but others realize there’s a tremendous opportunity to go on offense and see this as a time to reach out to people who need you now more than ever.

Covid-19 is teaching investors that there’s a big difference between auto depositing into a robo account and working with a professional who is sensitive to your unique life needs.

And, increasingly, people are willing to pay for that difference, if you can deliver it.

On a recent virtual event, Peter and I talked about how advisors at any level can develop the kind of five-star experience that underscores your value to existing clients, drives referrals, and protects your business from fee compression.

Episode: Recently I was a guest on the Wicked Pissah Podcast, where I talked to hosts Chris Boyd, CFP® and Jeff Tomaneng, CFP® about how my lifelong interest in finance and tech led me to investigate bitcoin's potential as digital money and a store of value. Today's episode is a rebroadcast of that show.

Insight: I believe that our global financial systems are at an inflection point. You don't have to agree with me about the role that Bitcoin might play in this transition. But you do need to have an informed opinion so that you can answer your clients' questions and help them make the best decisions for their future.

America's top advisors gathered in Scottsdale, AZ on March 21 - 23 for the annual Barron’s Top Independent Advisors Summit. I held a roundtable discussion with three top advisors who attended the event and our goal was to pull out the key takeaways from America's top advisors and deliver Actionable Intelligence to you.

The roundtable participants were Jack Davis of Navigation Retirement Group, and Bill Keen and Matt Wilson of Keen Wealth Advisors.

This is part I of a two-part podcast. Make sure you visit www.belayadvisor.com to read the article that goes along with this episode. 

David Copeland is a principal and co-founder of Strategic Wealth Partners, an RIA firm with approximately $3.7 billion in assets under advisement as of December 31, 2021.

He founded Strategic Wealth Partners in 2008 after serving as Senior Managing Director with Mesirow Financial for 21 years. He has also held investment positions with Merrill Lynch and commercial banking positions with Harris Bank.

I sat down with David at the 2022 CAIS Alternative Investment Summit in Beverly Hills, CA and we discussed his approach to investing and how alternatives play an important role in his clients’ portfolios.

Nobody can accurately and consistently predict the future but by observing and curating ideas, you can uncover accelerating trends, see things other people miss, and position your business to profit from these upcoming opportunities.

In 1982, John Naisbitt wrote a book called Megatrends. It became a huge bestseller and he made the term "high tech high touch" a household phrase that we still use today.

Unfortunately, Naisbitt's trends were so big and unfolded over decades that they weren't immediately actionable.

In steps Rohit Bhargava. Rohit publishes a yearly book called Non-Obvious: How to Think Different, Curate Ideas and Predict the Future.

Rohit says, "A great trend is a unique curated observation about the accelerating present. Great trends are never predictions about the world 20 years from now. Those are most often guesses or wishful thinking."

Another trend forecaster, Chris Sanderson, describes trends as “profits waiting to happen.” That's clever but to turn trends into profits, you have to act on them.

In today's show, Rohit and I discuss some of the non-obvious accelerating trends he sees happening right now. We then talk about how to apply those trends to the work financial advisors do.

Guest: Ainslie Simmonds, President of Pershing X.

In a Nutshell: For decades, technology has promised productivity boosts that would shorten work weeks and increase leisure time. But despite all the computing power at the heart of a modern financial services tech stack, I don't think the typical advisor is working any less than he or she was 10 years ago. Perhaps more importantly, I don't think tech has freed the typical advisor to focus more of their time on building client relationships and delivering human advice. Instead, what tech has done is enabled financial advisors to do more analysis and deliver more data and "what ifs" to clients while also facilitating the increase in communication. The fact remains that no technology enables two humans to increase the speed at which they’re having an in-depth conversation. And ultimately, it's the human to human conversation that generates the true value in a financial advisor-client relationship.

Technology is a means to an end and Ainslie Simmonds and her team are hard at work building an interconnected suite of financial applications that will respond to your most challenging needs, so that you can spend more time focusing on helping your clients thrive and running your business your way.

You can get the mechanics of a financial plan right, but if you miss the "life" part, you're shortchanging your clients.

A financial plan is a tool to help your clients live a happier, more fulfilling life. Consumers can easily get their money managed through the big national brands like Vanguard, Schwab, TD Ameritrade, Fidelity, and the Robo Advisors, without your help. A key value an advisor adds is in helping clients create a thoughtful financial plan, and understanding how they can use their money to live their best life possible. But you have to know the kind of life your clients want! That comes from engaging your clients in a robust discovery process like the kind offered by ROL Advisor.

We don't want our clients to feel like they're just winning at investing -- we want them to feel like their investments are helping them win at life.

My guest today, Lauryn Williams, is a four-time Olympic athlete, three-time Olympic medalist, and the first American woman to win medals in both the Winter and Summer Olympic games. After retiring from her track and field and bobsledding career, Lauryn founded her own advisory firm, Worth Winning, to help other athletes use Life-Centered Planning to transition to happy and fulfilling lives after sports.

9 months of job interviews. 27 “No’s” from top advisory firms. 33,000 cold calls.

That’s all it took for Erin Scannell to open up his independent office and land his first client back in 1999.

Few people would have powered through that long, but as Erin Scannell explains on today’s podcast, he learned some hard lessons in perseverance and resilience growing up that continue to motivate him to this day.

Erin is the founder and CEO of Heritage Wealth Advisors in the Seattle area, where he directs 50 team members, 18 advisors, and about $2 billion in assets under management. Erin is also a regular on Barron’s list of the top advisors and an inspiration to anyone who thinks the next hurdle in your business’ growth is insurmountable – even if that hurdle is a global pandemic. (June 2020)

In a Nutshell: Top-performing financial advisory firms create an employee value proposition that goes well beyond what you pay them. The firms that are attracting and retaining top talent have developed multi-faceted strategies that address team members' financial desires as well as their innate desire to connect with something bigger that inspires them to do their best work.

Guest: Anand Sekhar, Vice President, Practice Management & Consulting at Fidelity Investments.

DAVID BACH IS A BESTSELLING PERSONAL FINANCE AUTHOR, an expert on women investors, and Vice Chairman of Edelman Financial Services. Our wide-ranging discussion covers how he wrote 9 consecutive New York Times Bestsellers, how to raise billion of dollars in new assets, and why women make great clients. The podcast was recorded in San Diego and we have some interesting sound effects for your listening pleasure.   

What do you need to be a successful financial advisor?

An Ivy League degree in finance? A family practice that you can inherit? A group of wealthy connections that you can network? An "in" at one of the major firms?

Well, Rebecca Rothstein doesn't check off any of those boxes, and she's currently managing over $4.5 billion in AUM.

Without even a high school degree, Rebecca left home at age 17. She bounced through a series of odd jobs -- including walking racehorses after they'd finished running -- and by the late 1980s she was slogging through an unfulfilling sales position. She jumped to finance and earned her Series 7 just weeks before Black Monday. Anxious investors looking to take their portfolios in a new direction responded to Rebecca's curiosity and tenacity, two traits that she credits with helping her build her business brick by brick, one phone call at a time.

Today, from her office in Beverly Hills, California, Rebecca's client list includes celebrities, athletes, musicians, and top CEOs and entrepreneurs. Rebecca has appeared numerous times on Barron's List of the top financial advisors, and according to Forbes, is currently the #1 woman advisor in the United States.

In our conversation, Rebecca Rothstein and I discussed how drive and perseverance helped her to overcome the obstacles she faced early in her life and build a multi-billion-dollar AUM business.

(Notes: This is a rebroadcast from October 2018.) 

My guest today, Dr. Eliott Berkman, is a tenured Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Oregon, where he directs the Social and Effective Neuroscience Laboratory and conducts field-leading, federally-funded research on goals, motivation, and behavior change. He's also the Associate Director of the Center for Translational Neuroscience, and an author who writes about psychology and neuroscience for lay audiences, including in Psychology Today. We talk about the concept of the will and the way of goal pursuing, where the way is the set of cognitive skills, capacities, and ability that we collectively call the executive function, and the will is the motivational factors that propel the behavior. We also talk about how to increase our motivation and influence other people's behavior, the idea of flow states, and how that applies to achieving goals.