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Navigating Succession Planning That Doesn’t Turn Out As Expected (Even When You’re Doing Everything Right): #FASuccess Ep 501 With Rick Kahler

August 4, 2026 07:01 am 0 Comments CATEGORY: Financial Advisor Success Podcast

Welcome everyone! Welcome to the 501st episode of the Financial Advisor Success Podcast!

My guest on today's podcast is Rick Kahler. Rick is the founder of Kahler Financial Group, an RIA based in Rapid City, South Dakota, that oversees approximately $300 million in assets under management for 130 client households.

What's unique about Rick, though, is how he, despite taking all of the 'right' steps when it comes to succession planning, ended up having multiple false starts before eventually completing a deal with an external buyer.

In this episode, we talk in-depth about how Rick started succession planning more than a decade before he planned to transition his firm (including by identifying a potential successor, meeting with valuation consultants, and gathering the experiences of others in the advisory community), why Rick thought it was important to closely discuss the terms of the partnership agreement to ensure that he and his chosen successor were on the same page in terms of what would happen if plans went awry, and how Rick's planned successor after several years ultimately chose not to pursue this succession path, leaving him left to start over again.

We also talk about how Rick's second attempt at an internal succession was thwarted when a long-time employee (and planned successor) was headhunted away by an attractive salary offer, how Rick then worked with consultants to rank his succession preferences and widened his aperture for different types of potential partners, and how Rick ultimately decided on a deal with a local accounting firm he knew well.

And be certain to listen to the end, where Rick shares the challenges he's experienced following the deal (including managing cultural differences between his firm and the buyer as well as his personal adjustment to no longer being in charge of the business), how Rick has found great value from maintaining a support network (including study groups, therapists, and business coaches) during this challenging period, and how Rick has ultimately accepted the unexpected turns that came his way on his succession path and doesn't have regrets about the decisions that he made along the way.

So, whether you're interested in learning about the unexpected bumps that can arise during a seemingly well-planned succession, how firm personnel (and their own career aspirations) play an important role in a founder's succession plan, or how to build a support network that can prove valuable when times get tough, then we hope you enjoy this episode of the Financial Advisor Success podcast, with Rick Kahler.

YCharts Acquires Zephyr To Include More SMA Data In Its Analysis And Proposal Tools (And More Of The Latest In Financial #AdvisorTech – August 2026)

August 3, 2026 07:02 am 0 Comments CATEGORY: Technology & Advisor FinTech

Welcome to the August 2026 issue of the Latest News in Financial #AdvisorTech – where we look at the big news, announcements, and underlying trends and developments that are emerging in the world of technology solutions for financial advisors!

This month's edition kicks off with the news that the all-in-one platform Advyzon has rolled out a suite of new AI features within its platform, exemplifying how AI tools for advisors are approaching mainstream adoption by being incorporated by big incumbent platforms (who have been able to pick and choose which features and use cases to include based on what's proven popular among the early standalone tools in the marketplace)

From there, the latest highlights also feature a number of other interesting advisor technology announcements, including:

YCharts has acquired Zephyr, which owns one of the industry's largest sources of separately managed account (SMA) data – allowing YCharts to capitalize on the growing popularity of SMA strategies (both by incorporating it into its own analytics and proposal generation tools and by owning the data itself, which could be highly in demand if the use of SMAs continues to rise)
The digital onboarding and workflow automation tool Feathery has announced a $30 million Series A fundraising round – but although slow and manual account opening processes are still a problem for some advisors (particularly in the insurance and broker-dealer channels), the history of similar digital onboarding tools suggests that most advisors aren't willing to pay for a third party tool to fix it (rather than expecting their custodian or CRM to provide a better onboarding experience for them)
The AI-powered RIA compliance solutions Hadrius and Greenboard each closed Series A funding rounds, showing how even though other AI use cases such as meeting notes saw quicker adoption among advisors, there are signs that AI compliance tools are gaining traction as well (particularly since RIA regulators will likely have access to similar AI tools to do their own examinations!)

Read the analysis about these announcements in this month's column, and a discussion of more trends in advisor technology, including:

Despite proclamations that AI meeting notetakers would be the death of CRMs, a new crop of AI-native CRMs in FinTurk, OmegaFP, and Cadix, following in the steps of the popular startup CRM Slant, suggests that there's still a future for the CRM category
In an environment where technology providers are churning out a copious amount of AI "agents" to automate specific tasks for advisors, the technology consultancy (and Kitces AdvisorTech Map collaborator) Ezra Group has launched a new directory of "AI Agents for Advisors" which aims to help advisors evaluate and compare the capabilities of different agents (and should also reflect the shape of the AI agent landscape over time as agents play an increasing role in AdvisorTech offerings)

And be certain to read to the end, where we have provided an update to our popular "Financial AdvisorTech Solutions Map" (and also added the changes to our AdvisorTech Directory) as well!

*To submit a request for inclusion or updates on the Financial Advisor FinTech Solutions Map and AdvisorTech Directory, please share information on the solution at the AdvisorTech Map submission form.

Weekend Reading For Financial Planners (August 1–2)

July 31, 2026 02:00 pm 0 Comments CATEGORY: Weekend Reading

Enjoy the current installment of "Weekend Reading For Financial Planners" – this week's edition kicks off with the news that a recent survey of wealth management firms finds that while the number of respondents who have Artificial Intelligence (AI) as a dedicated tech budget line item increased from 14% to 67% in the past year, 65% said they have no defined AI success metric. Which suggests that while some firms might be looking to reap the potential benefits of using AI-enabled software tools, they might not be aware of the return (e.g., staff time saved that could be used for higher-value activities) they are receiving (or not) on this investment.

Also in industry news this week:

An analysis of SEC filings indicates that while RIAs saw strong AUM growth during the past year, many firms are struggling to add to their client headcount
A recent commentary calls into question CFP Board's commitment to the public, suggesting that it is focusing more on the interests of its certificants and itself as an organization, potentially inhibiting the transformation of financial planning from an industry to a profession

From there, we have several articles on retirement planning:

An analysis identifies the key variables that drive satisfaction in retirement (with non-financial factors, including health and social connectivity, often serving as more powerful drivers than financial considerations)
Recent surveys suggest that financial advisors can add significant psychological value to clients when it comes to building confidence in their retirement spending
Why aiming to hit a specific retirement savings 'number' could create unnecessary stress and ultimately be counterproductive for many individuals

We also have a number of articles on practice management:

Why the move from 'doer' to manager can be a particularly challenging transition, and how firms can help new managers succeed (as well as improve the performance of team members in the process)
How to frame questions to team members or clients in a way that better elicits responses that they might be nervous to volunteer
Why "accidental business owners" are often the unhappiest financial advisors and how this group can evaluate their options to adjust their operations going forward

We wrap up with three final articles, all about education planning:

How financial advisors can support clients by helping them evaluate which types of college scholarships might be taxable (and by strategically allocating different funding sources to their most tax-efficient uses)
Why qualifying for need-based financial aid has become easier for families that own small businesses
How many colleges are attempting to offer greater pricing transparency at a time when the ultimate price students will pay has become more confusing

Enjoy the 'light' reading!

Personalizing Lifespan Assumptions For More Accurate Social Security And Retirement Withdrawal Recommendations

July 29, 2026 07:03 am 0 Comments CATEGORY: Retirement Planning

There's a long-standing aphorism amongst financial planners about the difficulty in doing retirement planning: if the client could just tell me the precise date they will die, I'd make them the perfect retirement plan. Yet the reality is that no one knows when they are going to pass away; while life insurance companies may be remarkably effective at estimating life expectancies for whole populations based on the law of large numbers, any individual client is a sample size of one. Which means most advisors simply plug in a "reasonably conservative" assumption to their retirement planning software, and plan from there.

In this guest post, Dr. K. Jeremy Ko of ShoreUp Retirement Solutions explores the dynamics of how advisors typically estimate a retiring client's lifespan, and the potential impact of developing more customized estimates of life expectancy, to better estimate how much clients need to save for retirement, can safely spend in retirement, or time the onset of their Social Security benefits.

The starting point is to recognize how common it is for most advisors to simply use a standardized conservative life expectancy assumption, with one recent analysis finding that nearly 90% of advisors simply use the default age-90 or age-95 assumption already built into their financial planning software. Even though the reality is that different demographics – from income to education to race – have materially different life expectancies, varying in many cases by 10-15+ years. Which means at the least, advisors would benefit by looking to more client-demographics-specific actuarial tables than just the standard population average.

At the same time, while many advisors may prefer to ask clients what their own preference is for a life expectancy assumption, research finds that consumers also systematically misjudge their own life expectancy, with a so-called "flatness bias" that younger individuals tend to underestimate life expectancy (i.e., they don't realize how long they may really live in retirement), while older individuals tend to overestimate life expectancy (i.e., they don't realize how short their remaining years may be). Which is especially problematic because these client misperceptions will systematically tilt planning recommendations towards more aggressive, rather than more conservative, assumptions early in retirement.

So what's the alternative? Using an emerging set of technology tools – from the Society of Actuaries calculator, to the University of Connecticut's Goldenson Center of Actuarial Science, or the public version of Northwestern Mutual's Lifespan Calculator – to craft more client-specific recommendations that take into account their individual income, educational, and health factors. Two otherwise similar clients can vary by as many as 20 years in life expectancy just on the basis of a select number of key health and other demographic factors, enough to very materially impact planning recommendations that might otherwise be overlooked if not discussed.

Another benefit of the emerging crop of technology tools is that it can make the conversations with clients easier, as advisors can either walk through the questionnaire with clients together, or offer them the opportunity to do it on their own (if the clients are otherwise uncomfortable to talk about specific family or health factors that may impact their longevity) and simply use the results from the software output itself. Recognizing that because advisors still have a conservative tilt – no one wants to see a client run out of money by underestimating life expectancy – advisors may still default to more conservative longevity estimates (such as a 90th percentile lifespan instead of using the 50th percentile median).

Ultimately, though, the key point is simply to recognize that lifespan in retirement can vary, quite significantly, based on individual health, demographic, and other factors. Merely using a broad-based conservative assumption about clients' life expectancy – such as assuming all clients may live to age 90 or 95 – can still result in undue conservatism for clients who really aren't in good health, and with recent medical advances may actually underestimate the life expectancy of the healthiest clients. In the end, no life expectancy tool can perfectly predict how long a client will live, but the more life expectancy assumptions are adapted to the individual client and their retirement recommendations, the more accurate the recommendations can be, even if they will never be perfect.

And if you want to go deeper on this topic, hear directly from the author on the Financial Advisor Technician podcast .

Amplifying Business Growth By Constantly Honing Your Time Towards Its Highest-And-Best Use: #FASuccess Ep 500 With Michael Kitces

July 28, 2026 01:17 pm 0 Comments CATEGORY: Financial Advisor Success Podcast

Michael Kitces Podcast Preview Image FAS

Welcome everyone! Welcome to the 500th episode of the Financial Advisor Success Podcast!

My guest on today's milestone podcast is me, interviewed by Kitces.com Financial Planning Nerd Adam Van Deusen.

In this episode, we talk in-depth about how I manage my time, starting with the exercises I undertook to better understand where my time was going (and how it might be used better), how I started delegating certain tasks to others so that I could focus on higher-value opportunities, and how I balance my responsibilities across the Kitces.com platform and other businesses I'm involved in with raising a family and still having time to get enough sleep each night.

We also talk about how I made the decision to forgo an opportunity to run a successful advisory firm to start the Kitces.com platform, how I gained the confidence to transition away from producing much of the content on the website by identifying key metrics that show whether team members who took it over are meeting our standards for quality, nerdiness, and relevance, and how I have intentionally managed the growth of my business (sometimes purposefully delaying new initiatives in order to 'digest' recent growth) to ensure it continues to operate in a sustainable manner well into the future.

And be certain to listen to the end, where I share how having well-defined core values (and interview questions that explore them) has helped attract high-quality candidates to the company when we look to hire, what's coming next for Kitces.com and for my own entrepreneurial journey, and how I view advisor success after recording 500 episodes of this podcast (and asking each guest what success means to them).

So, whether you're interested in learning about how I manage my various work and personal responsibilities, how to let go of key responsibilities as a business owner, or how to create a company culture and interview process that leads to better hires and a stronger team, then we hope you enjoy this episode of the Financial Advisor Success podcast.

20 Lessons From 500 FAS Podcast Episodes: What I Learned Building An RIA From Scratch In My 20s

July 27, 2026 07:04 am 0 Comments CATEGORY: Practice Management

Building an advisory firm from scratch is extremely difficult in the best of circumstances. While CFP educational programs teach the knowledge of financial planning, they don't teach the practice of it – and there's remarkably little established training or curriculum. From figuring out how to find or attract prospects in the first place, to establishing and operationalizing your planning process, investment approach, and overall value proposition, while still finding time to not just work in the business but also work on the business – these are all challenges commonly faced by advisor-owners. Fortunately, though, we can learn from other advisors who have generously shared their experiences.

In this guest post, Jeremy Eppley of Silverstone Financial shares some of the key milestones of his growth journey, as told through the lens of lessons he gleaned and then applied to his practice while listening to all 500 episodes of the Financial Advisor Success podcast. He highlights 20 episodes as a starting point for those who want to binge on the most salient practice management lessons (and another 30 'bonus' episodes for those who want to go deeper).

Jeremy begins by underscoring the importance of key structural decisions you make about how to build the firm in the first place. The channel you choose (e.g., RIA versus broker-dealer) impacts what tools you can use or solutions you can offer to clients in the first place (Episode 192). Having a fee structure that generates enough revenue per client (by AUM, planning, or subscription fees) is essential to be able to scale in the future (Episode 244). But you don't have to get paid for everything you do, just enough to make the business work; thus the appeal of giving away parts of the initial planning process for free… because clients who really want and need your help will just ask you to implement for/with them, anyway (Episode 20)! All of which only works if you're careful in managing your own spending and lifestyle creep as an advisor (so your personal upkeep doesn't undermine the stability of the business, especially in its early years, per Episode 1).

Operationally, choosing the right platforms also matters, from selecting a tech-forward custodian (Episode 350), to truly making your CRM system the hub of the advisory business (Episode 272) – as does establishing the right team structure to leverage the lead advisor's time while deepening (and diversifying) how many different people the client has a relationship with at the firm (Episode 248). Recognizing that not every client will be the right fit for the firm, it's okay (for your business, and your personal health and sanity) to refer out the clients whose incoming phone call you're already dreading anyway (Episode 233).

This creates the space to home in on how you want to serve your particular clientele – and the more clear you are about who your ideal client is, the easier it is to create a specialized offering (Episode 173). Which in the case of Silverstone Financial, means giving clients confidence by running their numbers in two different financial planning software platforms (Episode 285), raising at least 12 months of cash each year to give them more confidence in the midst of market volatility (Episode 391), and partnering with an external tax preparation firm to offer clients a "one-stop shop", but not actually bringing the tax preparation in-house with your own CPA or EA (Episode 421)!

Ultimately, the key point is simply to recognize that while every advisory firm is different, almost every problem experienced by one advisor/founder has probably been experienced by another in a manner that is similar enough that we can all learn something by hearing each other's journey. Podcasts like the Financial Advisor Success series provide an excellent library of lessons to absorb, whether you're walking the dog, mowing the lawn, cooking in the kitchen, commuting, or exercising. Or as Jeremy puts it, "an hour and a half of walking [with the Financial Advisor Success podcast] … is a great way to pay down some of your health debt and build up some educational assets at the same time".