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Networking Tactics To Develop Relationships With Local Small Business Owners

July 29, 2019 07:06 am 0 Comments CATEGORY: Marketing

For years, independent financial advisors (particularly those who offered holistic and comprehensive financial planning services) had a relatively easy time differentiating themselves from the vast majority of others in the industry by emphasizing the breadth and depth of their financial planning services (as contrasted with competitors that were still primarily in the investment or insurance product distribution business). However, in recent years, the asset management and product placement facets of the business have become increasingly commoditized, and an increasing number of advisors have also come to understand that the real value that they provide for their clients isn’t in the products themselves, but in the comprehensive advice that needed to implement those products (or not). Which, ironically, means more clients than ever actually get qualified financial planning advice… and it’s harder than ever for those who give quality advice to differentiate themselves from other advisors offering essentially identical services.

Which means that, moving forward, identifying and nurturing a clear and distinct niche will only become even more of an indispensable differentiator for advisors (and eventually, might become the only real differentiator!?). Yet, for many, the real challenge isn’t in choosing a niche, but in actually reaching potential clients in a particular target market… or at least enough of them to start building a practice around. And while few advisors are naturals when it comes to networking, the good news is that it is a skill that can be learned, and that there are several proactive steps that any advisor can take in order to connect with members of their niche, which are based on the same principles of any good networking strategy.

In this guest post, practice management consultant Teresa Riccobuono of Simply Organized uses small business owners as an example niche to offer actionable tactics and steps to start building a niche-focused network and provides specific examples of ways you can deepen and expand your own web of connections in the small business owner community.

Of course, the first key in networking is to recognize that it’s all about building a relationship that establishes you as the go-to expert in the community… not necessarily to try to get business from anyone/everyone upfront. Accordingly, strategies that build valuable goodwill for you and your practice through networking include: helping the small business owners in your network connect with other small business owners (e.g., by first making a list of all the business owners in your network, and finding ways that they might be able to work together or help each other), creating an “insider’s” directory of local businesses that your clients use and trust (which can help expand your reach by giving you a great reason for introducing yourself to business owners included in that directory but who are outside your network), and hosting events such as a speaker series or even a full-fledged multi-day expo featuring (local) businesses that provide goods and services to a common target market.

Ultimately, the key point is that an effective networking strategy is based on genuinely providing others value without expecting anything in return… which, over time, builds goodwill and (eventually) trust, to the extent that small business owners (or whatever target market you decide to serve) will naturally turn to you as a resource down the road when they encounter someone who might need your help. Or even to reach out to you when they need help themselves.

Weekend Reading for Financial Planners (July 27-28)

July 26, 2019 02:56 pm 0 Comments CATEGORY: Weekend Reading

Enjoy the current installment of "weekend reading for financial planners" – this week's edition kicks off with a number of big industry shake-ups, including the sudden news that TD Ameritrade CEO Tim Hockey is out (for what may have been a failure to pay enough attention to the company's RIA channel), and a management restructuring at Schwab that elevates its Schwab Advisor Services RIA division to report directly to CEO Walt Bettinger at the top of the organization, as the RIA channel continues its rise (and even the attention and resources it commands at historically-retail-oriented brokerage firms).

From there, we have several practice management articles this week, from the latest Schwab RIA Benchmarking Study that shows RIA growth remains solid (but not huge), averaging a 5.4%/year growth rate in clients over the past 5 years, the dynamics of what happens when an advisory firm decides to close its doors to new clients after growing to be "big enough" to satisfy the owner's needs, how equity-sharing is becoming increasingly common at large advisory firms as a way to attract, but especially retain talent, and a new Risk Alert from OCIE that advisory firms are not doing enough to run their own independent background and disciplinary checks on new hires (and thus failing to properly report disclosable events to prospects and clients).

We also have a few marketing articles, from why it may be better to help prospective clients conduct a "fee audit" of their current advisor (before trying to convince them of your own value for the fees you charge), how trademark law works when it comes to advisory firms and the names of their businesses, and how the targeted advertising capabilities of search engines and social media is making outbound paid advertising an increasingly lucrative channel for advisory firms to pursue for getting new clients.

We wrap up with three interesting articles, all around the theme of trying to make good decisions on the path to self-improvement: the first looks at the fascinating phenomenon that successful systems are often "complex to make [but] simple to break," which means at some point in the process of success (from business to investing), the focus shifts from building the complex system to work, to simply trying to make sure it doesn't die a simple death; the second looks at how to think about potentially complex decisions not as an all-or-none "it's right" or "it's not," but on a "confidence meter" scale from 0% to 100%, with a threshold for when a bet is at least "sure enough" to be worth making (while also recognizing that the threshold cannot be 100% because virtually no decision is entirely assured); and the explores how we often try to improve by making something bigger or better, but in practice some of the best improvements can come simply by reducing the leaks and fixing the tiny errors and mistakes that take away from compounding growth along the way.

Enjoy the "light" reading!

Highlights From The 2019 In|Vest #FinTech Conference For Financial Advisors

July 25, 2019 07:08 am 1 Comment CATEGORY: Conferences

Last week, SourceMedia, publisher of “Financial Planning” magazine (and several other financial services industry publications), hosted its annual In|Vest advisor FinTech Conference in the heart of Manhattan, with over 1,000 industry executives gathered to discuss technology opportunities and challenges facing the wealth management industry as a whole.

In the guest post, Craig Iskowitz – CEO and founder of Ezra Group, a financial technology consulting firm – shares his signature Twitter-driven recap of the conference, which featured presentations and discussions on digital advice trends, RIA M&A, pricing models, custodians, and of course new FinTech itself.

Craig kicks the recap off with highlights from Shirl Penney’s presentation on running an RIA aggregator, suggesting that RIAs should use a 5-year economic model in order to time a sale (rather than being forced to sell during a downturn), and that (with the recent Goldman Sachs / United Capital deal) more custodians will be looking in the middle-market for acquisition targets. Meanwhile, panel highlights included a discussion on the pros and cons of the subscription pricing model, which is a hot topic given Schwab’s strong launch of its subscription service (as well a more recent news that Bank of America might introduce a subscription model for Merrill Edge).

From there, other conference highlights included sessions on:

Drivers of Consumer Choice, with market research firm Parameter Insights pointing out that the biggest reason that consumers aren’t using digital advice is that they think they don’t have enough money to invest in the first place;
Activating Digital Hybrid Advice, where a panel of industry executives suggested that, while digital advice is essentially useless without personal interactions, digital adoption remains a one-way street (i.e., once a digital solution to a problem is adopted, users rarely - if ever - go back to the old way of doing things);
The World Wealth Report, where Abhishek Singh from Capgemini showed how only 40% of high-net-worth individuals were satisfied with the personalization from their wealth managers, that service quality is still the most important factor when choosing a wealth management firm, and that AI has the potential to make the biggest impact on helping advisors meet their clients’ service demands; and
Modernizing Advice, with Michael Spellacy from Accenture emphasizing that, while digital advice may have disrupted the industry, personalization and customer experience remain at the heart of good financial advice.

Attention then turned towards custodians and their vision for the future. Bernie Clark from Schwab pointed out that more than a third of the $1 billion of inflows to its new subscription model came from new clients, and that integrating new tools with existing infrastructure is a major area of focus for them right now. Industry consolidation is also an ongoing trend, as the first half of 2019 saw 67 RIA deals totaling $69.5 billion, or more than a 55% increase over the same period in 2018.

Ultimately, the 2019 In|Vest Conference brought together an otherwise seemingly disparate group of presenters, each with their own perspectives on the trends shaping the ongoing evolution of the industry, yet many shared a common thread around the importance of client relationships and excellent service, the opportunities for technology to help deepen those relationships and improve overall client experience, that industry consolidation will be an ongoing driving force, and that there’s a blue ocean of potential, yet non-traditional, wealth management clients out there that need (and want) advice, and that it behooves the industry to figure out a way to reach them (e.g., through the use of new advisor business models, coupled with new advisor FinTech to serve them efficiently).

How To (Correctly) Fix A Forgotten, Missed, Or Miscalculated Required Minimum Distribution (RMD)

July 24, 2019 07:04 am 18 Comments CATEGORY: Taxes

Tax-deferred accounts have long been a boon to savers, allowing them to earn additional growth on top of the growth without Uncle Sam taking a share. But tax-deferred doesn’t mean tax-free, and sooner or later, Uncle Sam will eventually take his share, since each and every retirement account is subject to Required Minimum Distribution (RMD) rules at some point (even Roth accounts, after the death of the original owner!).

Unfortunately, though, the RMD rules can be maddeningly complicated, making it easy for taxpayers to make a mistake by taking a smaller-than-required distribution, taking a distribution from the wrong account (or even the wrong type of account), or (worse yet) missing a distribution altogether. In fact, mistakes in satisfying RMD obligations are so widespread among retirees that in just 2006 and 2007, over a quarter-million individuals failed to take an RMD from their IRAs alone... not to mention all the other types of tax-preferred accounts out there. And given that RMD rules haven’t changed, it’s not a stretch to assume that the number of missed distributions hasn’t gotten any better… especially given that Baby Boomers have since been retiring in droves and reaching the age 70 ½ threshold when RMDs begin.

The problem, of course, is that, not only does a taxpayer still have to catch up on any of their distributions that were missed (which could end out having adverse tax consequences if a large enough amount has to be taken), but the IRS will impose an additional penalty of a whopping 50% of the amount that was supposed to have been distributed in the first place… even if the mistake was purely unintentional!

The good news, though, is that the IRS isn’t entirely without compassion and understanding (truly!), and has the option to decide to waive that punitive penalty for failing to take an RMD. However, it’s important to note that the onus is on the taxpayer to reach out to the IRS, explain that their mistake was the result of a “reasonable error,” and show how they are taking “reasonable steps” to remedy the shortfall.

Unfortunately, though, the bad news is that, although there is a way to waive the 50% penalty, the means for doing so can be just as confounding as the RMD rules themselves… at least if the taxpayer hopes to have their penalty abated!

The first step towards requesting a waiver for a failed RMD is to take the missed distribution(s) as soon as possible, preferably separately and without any additional taxes withheld (so that the amount deposited into a receiving account exactly matches the shortfall). From there, the taxpayer must (correctly) file the appropriate Form 5329 for each of the years that a distribution mistake was made. The caveat is that there is one line in particular - line 54 - which can easily throw a wrench in the works, as the proper way to request the penalty waiver is to not fill out the line the way it is explained on Form 5329 itself, and instead to mark a request for waiver next to that line instead. And, in addition to that, the taxpayer must also attach a letter explaining the reasonableness of both their error and their corrective measure to the IRS.

In the end, the key point is that, while RMD mistakes are common among owners (and beneficiaries) of tax-preferenced retirement accounts, it’s actually quite likely that the IRS will waive the 50% penalty… but only if the appropriate steps are taken in a timely manner to rectify the error. Because while it may be tempting to “roll the dice” and hope that the IRS doesn’t figure out that a mistake’s been made (and then feign ignorance if/when they discover the error), the reality is that it’s far less likely that the IRS will be as understanding had the taxpayer self-reported the mistake in the first place! Especially since the failure to file a Form 5329 to report (and request a waiver of) the penalty means the statute of limitations itself for the 50% penalty never begins to toll in the first place!

#FASuccess Ep 134: Positioning A Family-Owned Advisory Business For The Next Generation Of Growth, with Andrew Altfest

July 23, 2019 07:01 am 0 Comments CATEGORY: Financial Advisor Success Podcast

Welcome back to the 134th episode of Financial Advisor Success Podcast!

My guest on today's podcast is Andrew Altfest. Andrew is the president of Altfest Personal Wealth Management, an independent RIA based in New York City that oversees nearly $1.3 billion for nearly 600 affluent clients.

What's unique about Andrew, though, is that he's become the second-generation leader in a family advisory firm founded by his parents who themselves were early NAPFA fee-only pioneers, and how he's now positioning the business to grow and build upon their legacy in the decades to come.

In this episode, we talk in-depth about the dynamics of a family business. Why it's often easier to find alignment in a family business because the values of the owners and parents tend to get transmitted to the children as successors within the family from a young age, how Andrew ended up finding the path to the family business despite having not planned to pursue it originally, and the ways his parents exposed him to all aspects of the business, from operations to clients from early on to build his breadth of experience as a future leader.

We also talk about how exactly Andrew is beginning to position the firm for the future, from rolling out a next-generation client service charging a minimum planning fee to serve the children of their current clients, to increasingly leveraging technology tools to communicate with clients by a wider range of means, and how Altfest eventually decided to hire tech developers and begin to create their own technology tools to better track and find planning opportunities for clients, a solution that they eventually intend to make available for other advisory firms as well.

And be certain to listen to the end, where Andrew talks about the changes he's implemented as a leader of the firm since going back to get his MBA and participating in the Schwab Executive Leadership Program, from rolling out an annual client engagement and satisfaction survey that's tied directly to the firm's advisor compensation, the employee satisfaction surveys they do internally to evaluate their team, and the practical challenges that Andrew faced and overcame in trying to drive change in a long-standing, already-successful advisory firm.

Developing Your Advisory Firm’s New Hire Training Program With A Growth Mindset

July 22, 2019 07:06 am 0 Comments CATEGORY: Human Capital

Back when the financial services industry was focused almost exclusively on product sales, the process of “training” new employees was relatively straightforward: either new hires were able to learn to sell enough to survive and build a book of business, or they didn’t… and moved on to do something else. However, as the industry has evolved into a more sustainable, advice-centric model, advisory firms are discovering that, unlike most other professions, there aren’t many standards when it comes to training new entrants to progress down a (well-defined) career path into the profession.

And in the modern era, the stakes are higher when it comes to training new advisors. As while in decades past, firms didn’t put much into training new advisors (beyond basic sales training) and therefore didn’t have much to lose if a new advisor “didn’t make it”, modern advisory firms trying to develop a new advisor to be able to manage ongoing relationships (for ongoing revenue) have to incur far more salary expenses until that new advisor develops the necessary skillets to be a productive member of the team.

Accordingly, advisory firms that are looking at steady and ongoing growth are increasingly focusing on developing a repeatable in-house training program, or “boot camp”, to accelerate a new advisory hire’s learning curve to get them through that process faster. Where systematization reduces the cost to the firm if the hire doesn’t work out. And in the extreme, can actually make newer employees so valuable, so quickly, that the firm might even assume that participants will actually move on to another firm at the end of the program and still be successful.

Yet, while a training program is certainly better than none at all, perhaps more important is inculcating into the firm’s culture a “Growth Mindset”, which fosters an environment that encourages learning and talent development, seeks out challenges, and understands that improvement is impossible without failure. Which is especially important in the advisory profession, where new entrants into the field might have a good amount of technical knowledge, but can only learn the (arguably more) important interpersonal skills through experience.

The real key to the Growth Mindset, though, is simply recognizing that if growth is natural, employees can learn anything they need to learn to be successful, as long as they have the right attitude that they can learn it in the first place. Which means it’s crucial that the firm itself is characterized by an attitude of, “I may not be able to do that now… but I can learn how!”

Ultimately, the key point is to realize that adopting a Growth Mindset can be an invaluable step towards helping an advisory firm better educate, retain, and grow a team that sets high expectations, challenges team members throughout the firm, and gives positive reinforcement, not in the context of innate personal ability, but against a backdrop of a process fosters their long-term success and reinforces the firm’s culture.