Today we want to get into something that’s been a big part of our practice and should be an excellent opportunity for advisors in the future, especially if you’re in your 30s or 40s. What we’re talking about in this episode is buying a practice, which we believe is the quickest way to have instant revenue. But it’s not without problems, which we will also discuss. So we’re going to share with you how the process works and breakdown our approach to buying another practice. There are plenty of financial considerations to sort through and weigh, and this episode will give you an idea of what we’r ..read more

Are you a financial advisor dreaming of the day you can step back from the daily hustle and still ensure your practice prospers? Succession planning can be a challenge for advisors because few of us can really articulate what it is that we do on a daily basis that would allow someone to run the operation for us, and that makes it hard to step away.  This is something I’ve had to do recently with my son, Wes, and we’ve identified seven areas that he has to be a master in before the torch can be passed effectively. That’s what we want to share with you in this episode. Let’s go through thes ..read more

The very nature of the weather has always been like an investment portfolio in terms of unpredictability, and all the cold weather we’ve been dealing with to start 2024 has us thing about that. You could very easily use the weather to explain how a client’s portfolio is going to work over time and how you can prepare for that. That’s the basis of today’s discussion, which is about a habit that many advisors have. They sell off their software using products like Riskalyze, which seems to work very well up front but presents challenges with long-term retention. I’ve been asked why I don’t use so ..read more

As we turn the page on another new year, we hope you are excited about the start 2024 and focusing on hitting new milestones in your practice. Now, we know that people like making resolutions to start January, but resolutions are a bit silly when you think about it. If you want to make improvements personally or professionally, why wait for a new year to begin. But we all go through these exercises and the results are almost always the same. Unless you truly want to make a change in your life, you’ll abandon these resolutions each and every time. The reason so many people fail to accomplish th ..read more

Women are different than men and what they value is different as well. That’s particularly true when it comes to financial services. For a long time, our industry has done a poor job at addressing the needs of women and have catered to men (and still do to a large extent). What can you do to change that and become an effective marketer to women? Let’s talk about target marketing and developing your strategy around a certain audience. It’s not earth-shattering to hear that it works, but enough people don’t do it well and we want to help you change that. We’ve discussed the reasons for focusing ..read more

Today we’re going to dive into a common dilemma faced by many financial advisors. What should you do when clients notice that cash is outperforming their portfolios? Do you give in to temptation? Do you shift everything to a guaranteed fix like an annuity, park it in cash, or adopt a market-timing attitude? The choices are numerous, and the pressure is real. Listen in as we explore the complex terrain of client expectations, market unpredictability, and the timeless wisdom found in historical market patterns. Dan will share his approach to communicating openly with clients, acknowledging their ..read more

As technology continues to improve and the next generations get more comfortable with doing their own planning, the financial advisor profession will likely begin to shrink in the coming years. That doesn’t mean there’s not a future in the industry, because those who remain standing will likely be very successful.    What it does mean, however, is that people will need a good reason to work with an advisor instead of doing it on their own, and that’s where finding a market niche comes into play. We continue to hammer home this message because of how strongly we feel about industry sh ..read more

When you work with a number of advisors around the country, you get to see some of the common mistakes that people often make in this profession. As we spend time with some younger advisors, we’ve found that there are a few things that we keep pushing because of how important it is for the business.   Today we’re going to share these three key mistakes and explain why we feel so strongly about each of these strategies. We’ll talk about investment philosophies, having the conviction to ask for 100% of your client’s money, and picking a target niche like we’re shifting towards for our busin ..read more

If you listen to this show enough or read a lot of what we write, you know that we believe strongly in advisors striving to be the go-to for their given niche. If you’re not doing that, you’re going to be competing against larger corporations with a lot more money, and they’re going to own the generalist market.    This is something that will continue to become a bigger and bigger issue, which is why we emphasize this time and time again. We’ve been rolling out guests on this show to get inside the minds of advisors who have found their niche and created a successful business around ..read more

The centers of influence model for advisors is great in theory but we’ve found that it’s often a one-way referral relationship. The idea of going after accountants and CPAs to bolster your business isn’t as beneficial as you might believe. That’s why we’ve been strong proponents of finding a target market niche and becoming your own center of influence.    Whenever we’ve found someone who does this well, we’re quick to reach out to them and try to interview them to learn more about their process. That’s why we’re introducing you to Jessica Goedtel, CFP®, EA today. Don’t pay as much a ..read more