Between Now and Success

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 hav...

In a Nutshell: If you want to grow your business, you need to build out a systematic, repeatable action plan that will reach your ideal prospects and motivate them to make some positive changes in their lives — including working with you. Guest: Jeremy Keil is a CFP, CFA, CIMA, and founder of Keil Financial Partners in New Berlin, WI. My Key Takeaways: Be specific. Jeremy's firm is laser-focused o...

Listen to this episode to learn about the change I'm making to Between Now and Success. The second announcement is the launch of my new podcast. You can subscribe to it here: https://stevesanduski.com/dma/  

In a Nutshell: The next wave of fintech and wealthtech will offer dramatic efficiency upgrades for advisors. Prepare your team to spend less time shuffling papers and more time having meaningful conversations with clients that will create real value. Guest: Marty Bicknell, Founder and CEO of the $35 billion AUM behemoth Mariner Wealth Advisors. My Key Takeaways: We need a true advisor desktop plat...

Words have power, especially when you pick three of them at the beginning of the year and use them as a guide for the next 12 months. Life is filled with distractions and it's so easy to let the "stuff" of life knock us off the path we planned to follow at the beginning of the year. But an exercise I picked up from Chris Brogan called My 3 Words helps me stay on that path regardless of what life t...

Barron's Advisor is the gold standard when it comes to advisor conferences, rankings, education, and practice management. I've had a longstanding relationship with them and am thrilled to announce our new collaboration. Learn all the details in today's short episode. And be sure to visit:  https://stevesanduski.com/barronspodcast/

In a Nutshell: Learn the basics and dispel the myths around Bitcoin so that you can provide advice that's in your clients' best interests. Guest: Adam Blumberg, CFP, co-founder of Interaxis,  a company that provides research and education to advisors and companies in the cryptocurrency, digital assets, blockchain, and DeFi space.  My Key Takeaways: Money is complicated. Money's been called many th...

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, exchan...

In a Nutshell: As our industry evolves beyond money management, engaging with clients on their money-life issues and formative experiences surrounding money will be one of your most valuable services. Guest: Dr. Preston Cherry, the Founder and President of Concurrent Financial Planning, a comprehensive financial planning firm serving households and business owners across generations. Dr. Cherry is...

Mindy Diamond is the President and CEO of Diamond Consultants in Morristown, NJ. Recently, Mindy invited me to be a guest on her podcast, Mindy Diamond on Independence, and I appreciate her allowing me to share our conversation with you here. Some of the topics Mindy and I discussed include: Why discipline and focus are two essential traits of a financial advisor, especially an RIA CEO who wants t...

In a Nutshell: In this era of "fake news" and deep divisions between people, understanding the context behind dominant narratives can help build bridges, stimulate new ideas, and push us all forward. Guests: Nathaniel Whittemore, a strategy and communications consultant for leading crypto companies as well as the host of The Breakdown, which is my favorite podcast in the crypto world. Nathaniel wa...

In a Nutshell: The top 20% of RIAs aren't just the biggest. They're the firms whose best practices lead to sustained growth, high valuation, and an enduring business. Guests: Lisa Salvi, Vice President, Advisor Services, Charles Schwab and Catharine Aguilar, Chief Marketing Officer, CornerCap Wealth Advisors.  My Key Takeaway: To prepare your firm to make a big leap in 2021: Standardize your workf...

In a Nutshell: Computers are for number crunching. When it comes to managing people, leaders have to nurture the qualitative if they want to drive quantitative results. Guest: Walter Booker, the Chief Operating Officer of MarketCounsel , the premier business and regulatory consulting firm focused exclusively on the RIA sector, along with its affiliate, The Hamburger Law Firm. My Key Takeaway: To t...

Dennis Morton, Jr. CFP,® CHFC® is a Founder and Principal at Morton Brown Family Wealth in Allentown, PA. I've known Dennis for several years and he and his co-founder and business partner, Kathryn Brown, have built a really outstanding firm. He also hosts one of my favorite podcasts, "Leading with Purpose." Dennis was kind enough to let me share this outstanding episode on developing versatile le...

Imagine you've just given a fantastic presentation to a roomful of executives. You're pumped because you know all your preparation and rehearsal paid off. And you can tell from the energy in the room that your audience was knocked out too. Then, as you're shaking hands, one of the execs "compliments" you by saying they were amazed by your intelligence because given your ethnicity, it had predestin...

Is the key to growing your business narrowing your niche? I know that sounds contradictory. And I know many advisors worry about the "Million-Dollar Prospect" who swipes past your firm because she's a pediatrician and you specialize in orthodontists. But if you're one of 10 advisors in town that offer the same services, you have a 10% chance of winning a prospect. If your specialization, your mark...

Due to advances in technology and the rise of centralized systems that limit privacy, the very nature of how we think about money and the government's role in it is evolving. The clearest manifestation of this is the rise of cryptocurrencies, of which bitcoin is the most prominent. In today's conversation, we go back 5,000 years to explore the beginning of money and then trace how the way we think...

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 an...

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.

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 g...

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...

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 p...

In a Nutshell:  There's no "silver bullet" marketing strategy that's going to turn your blogs and tweets into clients. But if you identify a niche and develop a consistent media presence that's appealing and engaging, you can reach your ideal clients where they're more likely to see and hear you. Guest: Wes Moss, the chief investment strategist of Capital Investment Advisors, which is a multibilli...

In a Nutshell:  It's human nature to want to be part of a community. Hosting and participating in live events is essential to maintaining a connection with your client and prospect base and to furthering your own personal development -- even during quarantine. Guest: Alison Rooney, Global Managing Director, Wealth Management, Barron's Group. Alison's team oversees the underwriting, membership, and...

In a Nutshell: Growing your business -- especially during a crisis -- depends less on your ability to manage money that it does on your ability to become an important part of your client's story. Guests: Arthur Ambarik CFP® is the CEO of  Perigon Wealth Management, which currently has $1.8 billion in AUM. Rachel Elson has recently transitioned from a career as a personal finance journalist to work...