Financial Advisor Success

Latest Episodes:

Ep 130: From Cold-Calling To Cold-Knocking And Growing An Advisory Firm Through Two Maternity Leaves with Ashley Micciche Jun 25, 2019

Show notes

Ashley Micciche is the CEO of True North Retirement Advisors, a firm she founded with her father. Today she joins the show to discuss how she achieved work-life satisfaction while growing a business and starting a family. Ashley will delve deep into the arrangement she made with her father to be the backup advisor for her clients and how she communicated the news to her clients that she was going to take time off for maternity leave.

Listen in to learn how Ashley built her career in the early years, going from cold-calling to cold-knocking to build up a client base, as well as how she opened up the conversation with small business owners to quickly get their interest for a follow-up meeting. If you are looking to start a family while running a business or start a new firm (or both), this is the episode for you.

For show notes and more visit: https://www.kitces.com/130

Ep 129: Building The Lifestyle Practice Of Your Dreams By Selling Your Firm And Starting Over with Donna Skeels Cygan Jun 18, 2019

Show notes

Donna Skeels Cygan, the President of Sage Future Financial, joins the show to discuss how she runs a firm overseeing nearly $90 million in assets under management and still maintains a work-life balance. After building her first successful firm, Donna decided to sell it and come back three years later to start over again, this time building a much more deliberately-crafted schedule that's intended to only ever have 40 affluent clients.

In this episode, Donna shares her journey in building her first and second advisory firms, as well as how she decided which clients she wanted to bring to her second firm when starting up again. You'll learn about her process and the tools she uses, how she employs a virtual assistant to maximize her time with her clients, and why she has no concerns about her ability to remain competitive as a stand-alone solo advisor.

For show notes and more visit: https://www.kitces.com/129

Ep 128: Advising Small Business Owners By Helping Them Increase Their Own Enterprise Value with Justin Goodbread Jun 11, 2019

Show notes

After starting his first of five businesses at the age of 15, there aren't many business activities Justin Goodbread hasn't experienced. In 2009, he founded Heritage Investors, an independent RIA based in Knoxville, Tennessee, in hopes of helping individuals, business owners, and retirees attain their financial goals. Today, Justin joins the show to discuss how his firm has crafted a niche in working with small business owners and how they track how each owner's net worth increases over time.

In this episode, we talk about why Justin finds it more effective to break his advisory fee—which can sometimes be as much as $20,000 a year—into a more cash flow friendly monthly subscription fee. Listen in to learn how he has focused his marketing toward these small business owners and how doing so has ironically brought him more prospects outside his niche. You'll also hear which five business books he reads every year to run his own advisory business more efficiently.

For show notes and more visit: https://www.kitces.com/128

Ep 127: Creating A Stewardship Report To Show Your Ongoing Value To [401(k) Or Other] Clients with Jania Stout Jun 04, 2019

Show notes

Jania Stout is the Managing Director and Co-Founder of Fiduciary Plan Advisors at HighTower Advisors, an advisory firm that is focused on 401(k) planning. Her team is responsible for nearly $4 billion in assets across almost 120 businesses. In this episode, we discuss how Jania was able to rapidly grow her business entirely from scratch over the past 5 years, as well as how she built her own personal brand and reputation as a trusted fiduciary advisor. Listen in to hear Jania share what it takes to service and support mid to large size 401(k) plans and detail the fee structure for her business. You'll learn why she built and automated a report in her CRM that shows her clients all of the behind-the-scenes work that the firm does on their behalf, how she used LinkedIn to help her business grow, and the challenges she faced when going independent.

For show notes and more visit: https://www.kitces.com/127

Ep 126: Climbing The Path Of Personal Development To Partnership At A Large RIA with Martine Lellis May 28, 2019

Show notes

Martine Lellis has had a unique career with Sullivan Bruyette Speros & Blayney (SBSB). She started out as an associate advisor, and after seeing the firm sold to a bank, she later moved into a mid-level management role and continued climbing all the way up to become the firm's Chief Operating Officer and Principal. She then joined four other principals to buy the firm back from the bank, making it private again.

In this episode, Martine shares the process of selling and buying back the firm and how her role has changed throughout the years with SBSB. We also discuss the company's model for serving affluent clients and why they offer tax preparation services on top of financial planning and investment management. Listen in to find out the challenges that surprised Martine the most and her biggest breakthrough in her career.

For show notes and more visit: https://www.kitces.com/126

Ep 125: The Upside Opportunity Of Finding Out Your Advisory Firm Is Being Sold with Sabrina Lowell May 21, 2019

Show notes

With sixteen years of experience in the wealth management industry, Sabrina Lowell is a Certified Financial Planner™ (CFP®) and a Certified Professional Co-Active Coach® (CPCC). With a focus on working with career engaged couples and clients in tech, Sabrina brings her expertise to her workplace at Private Ocean and helps clients form and achieve their goals.

In this episode, she shares the collaborative process of selling Mosaic Financial Partners, Inc. to Private Ocean and how she broke the news to her clients that a transition was going to happen. We discuss how their management team worked with an investment banker and the key filters the firm used to vet their prospective buyers. Listen in to discover the importance of communication when selling or merging a firm and the advice Sabrina wishes she'd had when she started out.

For show notes and more visit: https://www.kitces.com/125

Ep 124: Insourcing Vs Outsourcing To Manage Overhead Expense Ratios While Scaling An Advisory Firm with Shirl Penney May 14, 2019

Show notes

Shirl Penney is the co-founder and CEO of Dynasty Financial Partners, a back and middle office service provider for large independent RIAs. With more than $32 billion on their platform across the 47 advisory firms they support, Dynasty has focused itself purely on being a highly-scaled service provider, while allowing the firms it services to remain completely independent.

In this episode, Shirl opens up about his entrepreneurial journey, as well as how he maintained focus and perseverance during the two and a half years it took for him to be able to take his first paycheck from the business. Listen in to hear how he built his company from zero to 70 employees over a decade, the sacrifices he had to make to get to where he is today, and the key lessons he learned along the way.

For show notes and more visit: https://www.kitces.com/124

Ep 123: Buying Out A Retiring Founder & Funding Future Growth By Recapitalizing With Well-Aligned Patient Capital with Brent Brodeski May 07, 2019

Show notes

My guest today has one of the largest independent RIAs we've had on the podcast. Brent Brodeski is the co-founder and CEO of Savant Capital, an independent RIA that oversees more than $6 billion of assets under management for nearly 5,000 clients. With a team of 173 employees, Savant has also shared opportunities for ownership across more than 50 employees at the firm.

In this episode, Brent shares the trajectory of Savant's almost entirely organic growth to over $6 billion in AUM, as well as how the firm navigated the all-too-common challenge of buying out a co-founder. Listen in to learn how they re-capitalized the firm, the system they put in place to strategically plan for and execute the business's goals, and how they plan to 10x the firm in the next ten years.

For show notes and more visit: https://www.kitces.com/123

Ep 122: Splitting Client-Facing Duties From The Mid- And Back-Office With A 'Supported Independence' Model with Jeff Concepcion Apr 30, 2019

Show notes

My guest today built his firm as a support platform for independent advisors. Jeff Concepcion is the founder and CEO of Stratos Wealth Partners, a corporate RIA and super OSJ under the LPL platform that oversees over $13 billion of assets under advisement across nearly 300 advisors in 100 different locations.

In this episode, Jeff talks about the challenges he faced launching his firm, because while the business is undeniably successful now, he didn't take a paycheck out of it for the first three years. Listen in to learn how he got through the tough times he experienced in the beginning, the important lessons he learned about investing in your business, and how he divides up advisory firm tasks to improve efficiency.

For show notes and more visit: https://www.kitces.com/122

Ep 121: Crafting A Differentiated Investment Process By Engaging Clients And Community with Rachel Robasciotti Apr 23, 2019

Show notes

Rachel Robasciotti is the founder of Robasciotti & Phillipson, an independent RIA that oversees $140 million of assets for more than 100 individual clients. With 15 years of experience in the industry, Rachel has not only built a successful firm, but also a unique proprietary investment process (dubbed RISE, for Return on Investment and Social Equity) that goes beyond doing socially responsible investing and actually engages her local community to help with the screening process.

In this episode, Rachel shares her path through the financial services industry, including the unique challenges she faced starting a firm not only as a young advisor, but as a young black female who came from a poor upbringing. Listen in to learn how she had handled the pressure to conform to the industry standard expectations of financial advisors, her experience going out on her own at the age of 25, and the important lessons she learned along the way.

For show notes and more visit: https://www.kitces.com/121

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