Knowing Me, Knowing You

Tim Hamilton has spent nearly two decades helping builders - entrepreneurs, founders, and high-growth professionals - navigate the complex side of wealth. From managing concentrated assets to life-changing events like home purchases, new children, or business exits, Tim helps clients align their financial decisions with their values, psychology, and long-term goals. In this conversation, Marla and...

Shaun Williams started his career in one of the fastest environments in finance, trading options on the Chicago Board of Options Exchange. Then he did something a little off script for someone in that world: he stepped away from the trading floor and went out to see the world, eventually reaching all seven continents…without flying! His travel changed his beliefs about money. He paid attention to...

Most firms assume advisors leave for a bigger payout. That assumption is costing them. In this conversation, Shelby Nicholl shares what actually pushes advisors to make a move. Sometimes it’s compensation, but more often than not it is a slow drift from belonging, a lack of clarity about the future, or feeling undervalued despite driving revenue. Shelby sits at the intersection of where advisors a...

You cannot “move fast and break things” when you’re responsible for someone’s retirement, their kids’ education, or the business they built over 30 years. So why are so many advisors still borrowing playbooks from tech without asking what actually fits our industry? In this conversation, Jason Pereira pushes past the surface-level AI hype and gets honest about what changes and what doesn’t. Yes, l...

Advisors are trained to solve technical problems, but most client relationships don’t strain at the technical layer, but at the emotional one. In this conversation, Marla sits down with behavioral finance expert Meghaan Lurtz, Ph. D., to explore the subtle difference between doing what’s efficient and doing what’s effective. Rules of thumb like the 4% withdrawal rate or six months of savings help...

Clients walk into meetings informed now. They’ve read articles, run scenarios, and heard opinions from everywhere, yet many still leave unsure about what actually fits their life. That moment reveals where advice either deepens or flattens. In this conversation, Marla talks with Alex Potts, visionary CEO who scaled Loring Ward and Buckingham Strategic Partners to over $50B in assets, all while kee...

Think about how often growth introduces distance in the client-advisor relationships. More clients, more systems, more noise, and suddenly the conversations feel thinner even when the service is strong on paper. Advisors rarely lose clients because of performance, but they often lose them if context slips through the cracks. In this episode, Marla speaks with Jim Roth, a longtime leader in wealth...

Whether you're acquiring a firm, merging teams, or preparing for succession, the thing that tends to crack first is trust. In this solo episode, Marla unpacks what really causes client relationships to weaken during transitions, even when deals are clean, teams are capable, and the messaging is polished. The first signs? Diminished engagement. Missed growth targets. Clients saying they’re fin...

Every year brings new tools, new language, and new promises about growth, and last year was no different. Advisors adopted AI, expanded their services, and refined their processes, but many firms still felt a sense of sameness creeping in. The question became harder to avoid. If the offerings look similar, where does differentiation actually come from? In this solo episode, Marla shares a simple t...

After an exit, money stops behaving like a simple scorecard and starts to carry a different weight, one that brings freedom and pressure at the same time. That tension runs through this conversation with Sriram Gollapalli, as he reflects on what it means to suddenly hold responsibility for capital, choice, and long-term consequences all at once. I That experience is exactly why he founded Long Ang...

This episode will challenge everything you've been taught about pitching your services. It’s not about what you offer, but about how clients feel. If you’re still leading with your planning process, it’s time you realize that your clients don’t care…until you speak to their emotions first. If you've ever fumbled through the “what do you do?” question or watched a prospect's eyes gla...

Emily Rassam has spent nearly two decades listening to people talk about their money, their fears, their dreams, and the hidden stories that shape their decisions. Over time, she began to notice something: the most transformative part of planning had nothing to do with the spreadsheets or the calculation, but with the moment someone felt understood. That moment changed their comfort, their clarity...

Peter Renton, fintech pioneer, founder of Fintech Nexus, and host of the industry’s longest-running fintech podcast, has seen the space grow from peer-to-peer lending experiments into a force reshaping financial lives. But it was a personal moment of uncertainty, not a business milestone, that revealed what most advisors still miss. In this episode, Peter shares why behavior remains at the core of...

Women walk into divorce with far more on their shoulders than the paperwork suggests. Many carry decades of family history, silent expectations, and an emotional weight that shapes the choices they make. Tatiana Sunik has spent nearly twenty years guiding women through some of their most vulnerable moments, and she understands how layered those decisions can be. She knows how easy it is for women...

Jackie Shoback has had a front-row seat to some of the biggest inflection points in financial services, from scaling during the explosive growth years at Staples to leading digital transformation at Fidelity and TIAA during moments that redefined how we build trust with clients. Now, as co-founder and managing director of 1414 Ventures, Jackie is investing in the next wave: technologies that use d...

Dr. Pat Boulogne has spent decades helping high-performing professionals realign their health with their purpose, because she knows it’s almost impossible to plan confidently while running on empty.  In this episode of Knowing Me, Knowing You , she and Marla explore the powerful link between physical well-being and financial clarity, including the habits that strengthen every decision-making proce...

When Patricia Lizarraga started her career on Wall Street, there were zero women CEOs in the Fortune 500. Today, there are fifty. Progress is happening, but Patricia’s mission is to make it accelerate. As the founder and Chief Investment Officer of Hypatia Capital, she built the WCEO ETF to prove what the data already shows: companies led by women outperform their peers. Her journey is focused on...

Phil Weiss never planned to become a life planner. He started his career in tax at Deloitte, helping corporations move money across borders, but after watching his own family struggle with financial hardship and loss, he realized that what most people need is support from someone who truly listens, rather than new strategies and products. Today, as founder of Apprise Wealth Management, Phil helps...

What if financial advisors approached their clients like doctors approach sick patients, with a goal of listening and understanding first, and only then moving on to diagnose and treat? It’s a movement that is catching on, and author Tony Steuer is here for it. In this episode, Tony shares why he started the Get Ready Movement, what advisors can learn from doctors, how the financial industry can b...

The perception that financial planning is “just for rich people” hurts both prospects and advisors. With the help of AI and fintech innovators like Knomee, Louis Barajas believes financial planning can help underserved communities now more than ever. Louis did his dad’s tax returns in pencil when he was 15 because his father could barely speak English and didn’t know he needed to file taxes. After...

ESG —Environmental, Social, and Governance— is a dirty word. “Socially Responsible Investing” never really caught on. It’s enough to cause socially minded advisors and investors to throw up their hands. What’s next for advisors who want to provide clients with a values-driven option?  In this episode, we sit down with Nick Flores, Partner at Capricorn Investment Group, as he explains how impact in...

“I’m not a therapist, how can I help my clients work through their issues with money?” With the rise of behavioral finance and younger generations seeking more emotional support, this question is becoming more and more common among advisors. Enter Nathan Astle, founder of the Financial Therapy Clinical Institute.  In this episode, we discuss Nate’s journey to becoming a financial therapist, why ad...

What do you get when you combine AI, the great wealth transfer, and more women controlling money than ever before? According to Molly Weiss, Group President of Wealth Management Platform at Envestnet, you get the perfect moment to transform how the financial industry operates and serves individuals.  Molly is the first to admit that the next few years may feel a little scary, but she sees plenty o...

What if larger financial firms sought to understand their advisors the way advisors seek to understand their clients? Steph Condra shares how this approach has landed Wellington-Altus the top spot on the “Top-Rated Investment Dealer in Canada” list six years in a row.  As the Chief Experience Officer at Wellington-Altus, Steph walks us through how their advisory discovery process mirrors their cli...

In 1993, Pat Sweeny decided he wanted to be a different type of advisor. Rather than focus on his commission and selling mutual funds, he founded an RIA that was focused on financial planning and helping clients understand how to be more successful investors. Little did he know that three decades later, his RIA would be managing more than $8 billion, and financial planning and behavioral finance w...