Financial Advisor Success

Today’s guest is the founder of Workable Wealth, a virtual financial planning firm that has built more than $200,000 in recurring financial planning fees in just its first four years. As if that weren’t impressive enough, Mary Beth Storjohann built the firm while also raising two small children—now two and a half years and three months old. In this episode, Mary Beth shares details about her personal journey to success, including valuable insight on a subject that hasn’t been touched on much in this podcast: the very real challenge of balancing life at home with young children while also starting and/or running an advisory firm. Listen in to hear how she managed client relationships and her marketing and growth momentum through her maternity leave, as well as her advice for female advisors on handling the balancing act of starting your own firm when you also want to start a family. For show notes and more visit: https://www.kitces.com/61 

What works early on when a firm is just starting out does not tend to work as well once the business starts to grow. Many financial advisors are not prepared for managing a large practice so when it starts to scale and grow, it’s important to re-evaluate how things are structured. Kelli Cruz joins us on the show to share her expertise in human resources management for mid-size to large financial advisory firms. She has a truly unique and effective method to assessing and adjusting the way businesses compensate and incentivize their employees. For show notes and more visit: https://www.kitces.com/60

Carol Anderson is the founder of Money Quotient, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that provides financial life planning training to advisors. She has spent many years working in financial life planning, and in contrast to the typical criticism of the field, her company has managed to systematize their process. In this episode, Carol discusses Money Quotient’s unique approach, as well as the psychology and sociology research behind it. Listen in to hear how their tactics set a more holistic tone to financial planning engagement and why Carol says financial life planning isn’t an alternative to traditional financial planning, but rather a better way to help clients develop the self-awareness they need to truly identify what their goals are in the first place. For show notes and more visit: https://www.kitces.com/59

My guest on today’s podcast has followed an uncommon career path leading to financial services, and has quite a unique story when it comes to business evolution, as well. The co-founder of Monument Wealth Management—a hybrid RIA that serves about 120 families and oversees nearly $300 million of assets under management with a team of 11 people—David Armstrong built his early career under a broker-dealer before shifting to a hybrid arrangement with an outside SEC-registered RIA. From there, he is steadily dialing down his amount of broker-dealer business over time as he shifts increasingly toward an AUM-based wealth management model. In this episode, David shares the story of building and developing his firm, as well as how Monument has systematized everything from financial planning deliverables to their path to partnership to using an engagement letter before taking on a client. Listen in to hear how the team makes the firm’s hybrid model such a success and why their approach to data gathering just might have other firms reconsidering their methods. For show notes and more visit: https://www.kitces.com/58

Today’s guest has a unique business in the advisory world that has managed the kind of growth many dream of achieving. Co-founder of oXYGen Financial, one of the first firms to focus on Gen X and Gen Y clients as their target clientele, Ted Jenkin saw his company go from zero to over 1500 clients in just ten years. Today, his company manages nearly $1 billion of client assets. In this episode, Ted shares the surprising strategies he used to generate leads and grow his company, as well as what he considers the best ways to use marketing dollars. Listen in to hear what he’s learned along his journey to success, as well as his advice for making the leap to go out on your own. For show notes and more visit: https://www.kitces.com/57

My guest on today's podcast has followed a unusual path to success in the financial planning industry. Sheryl Garrett is the founder of the Garrett Planning Network—a financial advisor support network for fee-only RIA’s with a focus on bringing financial planning to the middle market by making it available on an hourly as-needed basis. After starting her firm with what started out as a very unique business model in the late 1990s, Sheryl’s approach to financial planning became so popular that it attracted other financial advisors who wanted to emulate the model. Eventually, what Sheryl wanted to do for her own clients turned into a network of several hundred advisors, all delivering the same hourly model in their own local markets. In this episode, Sheryl shares her journey through the financial planning industry, going from struggling early on in a broker-dealer that required her to cold call and sell products to the successful business owner she is today. She talks about the valuable lessons she learned along the way and what ultimately led her to finally start her own firm—a full 10 plus years into her career. For show notes and more visit: https://www.kitces.com/56

Today’s guest is Tim Kochis, the co-founder of Aspiriant, one of the first independent RIA’s to have reached $1 billion of assets under management in the early 2000s. Today the company is one of the industry’s few independent RIA’s focused on comprehensive wealth management to have reached a whopping $10 billion AUM threshold. In this episode, Tim shares how he was able to grow the company so quickly to become one of the leading RIA’s with a niche focus on working with corporate executives, as well as how he attracted and retained top-notch talent to manage that growth. Listen in to learn how he differentiated his firm and gained credibility even without having a big corporate name on his business card, the insights he has gleaned over the years, and more. For show notes and more visit: https://www.kitces.com/55

Today’s guest has been in the financial services industry for over 25 years. The co-founder of Private Ocean—an independent RIA in Northern California that manages nearly $1.2 billion of assets under management—Greg Friedman has not only been an advisor, but he also founded the country’s leading practice improvement firm for financial advisors, Junxure. In this episode, Greg shares the unique niche that helped Private Ocean gain its initial traction, as well as how he got started in technology despite not intending to do so. He also shares valuable lessons he learned when he decided to merge his successful advisory firm with a larger one, what he would do differently if he had it to do all over again, and advice for advisors who are just starting out. For show notes and more visit: https://www.kitces.com/54

It is so hard to know what to say to or what to do for a grieving person. The awkwardness fills us up and makes it hard to give grieving people what they need to feel comfort and cared-for. Amy Florian is a thanatologist and expert in grief, death and loss. She joins us on the show to give some incredibly valuable and actionable advice on how to deal with clients, coworkers, friends and family who are grieving. For show notes and more visit: https://www.kitces.com/53

Today's guest is one of the industry’s leading advisor technology gurus. The publisher of the Technology Tools for Today newsletter, Joel Bruckenstein has a nearly 20-year history of writing about advisor technology trends, from publishing regular columns in Horsesmouth, Morningstar Advisor, Financial Advisor, and Financial Planning magazines, to his own newsletter, and now his latest platform, the t3 Technology Hub. In this episode, Joel discusses recent trends in advisor technology, the results of the latest advisor software survey that he administers along with Bob Veres, and why he says that today is the “golden age” of advisor technology. He also shares the real-world challenges of implementing advisor technology in a typical firm, as well as the biggest areas where advisors can get better ROI from their technology, particularly when it comes to better utilizing CRM software for business intelligence purposes. For show notes and more visit: https://www.kitces.com/52