Between Now and Success

What if you cut your AUM advisor fee in half and made up the difference by charging a retainer fee? That's what multi-billion dollar RIA firm Abacus Wealth Partners is experimenting with. With the DOL rule and increasing pressure on firms to be more transparent with their pricing, we're starting to see firms experiment with their advisor fee. In an earlier episode, I talked to Scott MacKillop who founded third-party investment firm First Ascent Asset Management. His firm capped its advisor fee at $1,500 for accounts larger than $300,000. In today’s show, I talk to J.D. Bruce, president of Abacus Wealth Partners and Billy Oliverio, vice president of United Planners. We had a lively conversation about alternative pricing strategies from the RIA and broker/dealer perspective.

It doesn’t cost twice as much to manage a $1 million portfolio as it does a $500,000 portfolio so why do clients have to pay twice as much? That question is getting asked more frequently and we are starting to see advisors and money managers move to a flat-fee pricing model in response. Long-time industry veteran Scott MacKillop is today’s podcast guest and he recently launched a new third-party money management firm called First Ascent Asset Management that charges a maximum fee of $1,500 to manage a client’s account. In today’s show, we explore the industry standard AUM pricing model and discuss if it still makes sense in a world where technology and competitive pressures are forcing advisors to re-think how they do business.

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.

Today’s podcast guest, Alex Tapscott, is the co-author of an important new book called, Blockchain Revolution: How the Technology Behind Bitcoin is Changing Money, Business, and the World. Alex describes blockchain as a vast, global distributed ledger where digital assets can be moved, stored, and managed securely and privately and where trust doesn’t need to be established by a third-party or an intermediary, but rather can be established in collaboration, cryptography and clever code. Bitcoin, which we’ve all heard about, is the largest and most used blockchain in the world. Now, why am I talking about blockchain and why should you care as a financial advisor? One simple reason…blockchain could fundamentally alter the way financial advisors interact with and connect to consumers. And it could cut billions of dollars out of the intermediary cost structure of the financial services industry.

How do you build and manage a fast-growing billion-dollar RIA? What is the role of the CEO in this type of company? As the financial advice industry continues to evolve at a rapidly increasing pace, the role of the CEO becomes even more critical. Yet, as a business coach, I often see advisory firms struggle with making the shift from being an advisor-led firm to one run by professional management. Over the past few years, I’ve worked with and had dozens of conversations with leading advisors and CEOs of some of the industry’s fastest-growing and best run companies. While the group is diverse, I discovered seven common threads in terms of how they built and run their businesses. As an advisor, if you ever hope to make the jump from several hundred million in AUM to a billion or more, either you or a hired CEO have to step in and become—in title and in practice—the CEO. If it’s you as the advisor, then you’re no longer an advisor. You need to become a professional manager. Listen to the show to learn the 7 characteristics shared by leading CEOs of RIA firms.  

Financial education is hot and it’s a great way to build your business. Investopedia generates more than 20 million monthly unique visitors to its website by offering the public (and financial advisors) educational articles, Q&As, and videos. Ric Edelman built a $16 billion RIA by educating the public through books, seminars, radio and TV shows, podcasts, and newsletters. And I’m using the same concept to build Belay Advisor by educating financial advisors through my podcast, blog, webinars, and speaking. What are the strategies and tactics behind using financial education as a way to grow your business? How can you piggyback on Investopedia’s trailblazing digital marketing success to build your business? Today’s guest is Investopedia CEO David Siegel. David is one of the country’s leading digital media executives and has spent 18 years leading organizations through innovative product development, rapid revenue growth and traffic acceleration.

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...

If you want to succeed in digital marketing, you can’t use yesterday’s strategies. Today’s most successful digital marketers take full advantage of the major digital networks and are creating content that is relevant, engaging, and share worthy. In today’s episode, I chat with Mitch Joel. Mitch is President of Mirum - a global digital marketing agency with over 2000 employees. Marketing Magazine dubbed him the "Rock Star of Digital Marketing" and called him, "one of North America's leading digital visionaries." He is also an author, blogger, podcaster, and passionate speaker who shares his innovation insights on digital marketing and business transformation to audiences around the world. Mitch and I discuss the strategies used by the country's most successful digital marketers.  

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.

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.