Between Now and Success

There are few things more detrimental to our wealth than the negative money stories we pickup in our youth that haunt us as adults. And there are few things more impactful you can do as an advisor than to understand your client's money stories and work with them as you engage in your planning relationship. Let's face it, we all grow up with hang-ups around money. In those formative years of our up...

Are your multi-millionaire clients any happier than your merely millionaire clients? As your clients' net worth increases, have you seen a direct rise in their level of happiness? Have you ever felt frustrated that all your hard work on the financial side of your client relationships didn't move the needle in their sense of well-being? Helping clients save, grow, and protect their money is a servi...

Have you ever seen an advisor on TV or read a quote from an advisor and thought, "They should be talking to me; I'm just as smart as that advisor." The fact is, that advisor may not be any smarter than you from a technical standpoint, but they may be more media savvy than you are. Now more than ever, money is news, twenty-four-seven. Baby boomers are retiring. Millennials have major money issues....

Michael Chasnoff   discusses how he grew Truepoint Wealth Counsel, his fee-only wealth management firm, to $3 billion in AUM and 750 households without any mergers or acquisitions.

Barron's recently wrapped up the 2018 edition of the Barron's Top Independent Advisors Summit in Orlando. Whether you were in attendance or are looking to catch up on what you missed, today's episode will give you an insightful snapshot of one of the most valuable get-togethers in our industry. My guests today are Bill Keen and Matt Wilson of Keen Wealth Advisors, a fast-growing RIA with more than...

John Hyland was unhappy. Fresh out of college, the big firm lifestyle of late nights and steak dinners had taken a physical toll. John felt unhealthy and out of shape.  At a tailgate party he heard some friends talking about Ironman races, how impossible they seemed, how no average person could complete one.  "I just had this a-ha moment in my mind," John told me on a recent podcast. "I just had t...

Historically, the financial advisory business has been about a story of numbers. Today, it's about a number of stories, say Mitch Anthony. Of course, good advisors always knew that viewing our industry as a matter of number-crunching was just a fairy tale. And today, revolutions in technology and an aggressive marketplace have made that fairy tale ancient history. Instead, pioneers in life-centere...

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, rebala...

I've long said that there are many ways to be successful as a financial advisor. My guest today, Steve Cassaday, founder and CEO of Cassaday and Company, Inc., is a perfect example. His main marketing plan is a throwback to the 1990s. He spends hundreds of thousands of dollars per year doing high-end dinner seminars for a carefully selected group of people. And when they become a client, he create...

My guest today, Dr. Elliot 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...

With the accelerating pace of technological change, how can you be sure you are making the right technology choices? What should your tech stack look like? One of the biggest changes in the financial advisory business over the past 10 years or so has been the rise of technology. Now, of course, technology has always been a part of the business -- as anyone who, like me, struggled with Advent Acces...

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 Be...

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 dai...

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 wit...

Can I interest you in my new cryptocurrency, BelayCoin? You can use BelayCoin to pay for the services of my company, and every transaction is verified and recorded in the Ethereum blockchain. And over time, the value of BelayCoin may rise to reflect how in-demand my services are. Now, don't go running for your credit cards – I'm just kidding. I haven't actually set up a system like this. But if I...

In the last 35 year, we've seen the following happen in the financial markets. The beginning of the great bull market in August 1982. The stock market crash on October 19, 1987. The technology bubble of 1995 – 2000. The bear market of 2000 – 2002. The real estate bubble of 2002 – 2007. The Great Recession of 2007 – 2009. The amazing, low-volatility bull market of 2009 – today. Two leading financia...

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-...

Financial advisors have a unique opportunity to make a real, immediate impact on people's lives -- if they're willing to break away from the old model that's only interested in improving return on investments. On today's show, RIA leader Seth Streeter explains how his firm not only delivers a first-class planning experience, but also helps their top clients "redefine wealth" and develop their "ins...

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 an...

"Compassionate" isn't necessarily the first word that springs to mind when you think about the traditional financial planning model. But that's just another way that the old model is outdated. The shift in our industry from Return on Investment to Return on Life requires a new conversation between advisors and clients. Understanding your clients as people -- their goals, their fears, their perspec...

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 add...

Curiosity. The best advisors have it. Hannah Moore's curiosity has led her down many roads and in today's podcast, she shares what she's learned about structuring the client meeting process, creating client personas, blogging to "just one person," using three words to define your business, succession planning, and much more. My guest today, Investment News "40 under 40" honoree Hannah Moore, is an...

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," challe...

By rethinking every aspect of how to price and deliver wealth management, AdvicePeriod has gone from a startup just a few years ago, to more than $6 billion in assets under advisement. We go under the hood to learn exactly how they did it. They're not shy about stating their take on the financial advisory business. " We're reinventing wealth management. The old model is totally outdated, " says th...

The latest RIA Benchmarking Study from Charles Schwab contains surprising insights and contradicts some common industry beliefs. I always look forward to Schwab's annual Benchmarking Study because it's full of data that I enjoy digging into to uncover the health of our industry. This year's report is no exception as it contains some nuggets that may surprise you. On today's show, Jon Betty, Charle...