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Weekend Reading for Financial Planners (Oct 6-7)

October 5, 2018 02:54 pm 0 Comments CATEGORY: Weekend Reading

Enjoy the current installment of "weekend reading for financial planners" – this week's edition kicks off with a beautiful write-up of the winners of the Invest In Others foundation awards, which recognizes financial advisors who have not only been successful in their advisory firms but also in giving back to their communities in various charitable and non-profit endeavors... an inspiration to any/all advisors that the helping profession of financial planning can extend beyond just the work we do directly with clients (and in fact, many financial advisors' community giving efforts extend far beyond the financial services industry altogether).

From there, we have several articles around spending and savings advice, from a study that shows the popular "spend money on experiences, not goods" happiness research may only apply for those with above-average socioeconomic status (and that for the rest, there really is happiness to be derived from spending on good, solid, useful material goods), to another study that finds our tendencies with money towards being either a "tightwad" or a "spendthrift" may be evident as early as age 5 (when, in theory, new/healthier habits can still be learned), a discussion of how some of the most successful wealth creators ostensibly begin the process as a means to provide for their families (during life and as an inheritance after death) but then never stop to re-assess their motives once their wealth compounds beyond a "prudent" inheritance, and an interesting look at some of the most "undervalued" financial advice (which is less about spending tips like being frugal and cutting back on lattes, and more about getting off the hedonic treadmill and simply learning better gratitude for what we already have).

We also have a number of practice management articles this week, including: the "wobble" theory of growing an advisory firm (that advisory firms grow in stages, and the key to success is not navigating each phase, but the transition moments when the firm begins to "wobble" and has to evolve to the next stage); how despite the "uncertainty" about smaller advisory firms in today's environment, a look at the established professions of law and accounting suggests that small firms will survive and thrive far longer than commonly believed; a study on the benefits of outsourcing back-office tasks to more easily scale an advisory firm; and the rise of "virtual" advisory firms that leverage technology (especially screen-sharing and video conferencing tools) to build a location-independent advisory firm.

We wrap up with three interesting articles, all around the theme of leveraging the benefits of compounding (not just in a portfolio, but in your personal/business life as well): the first explores how long-term compounding takes a strong base, but once the foundation is laid, it's mostly a function of compounding (as evidenced by the fact that $80.7B of Warren Buffett's $81B net worth came after he was 50 years old!); the second raises the simple question of considering what, exactly, you're doing (even in a tiny way) to contribute to the compounding growth of an asset every day; and the last provides a powerful reminder that while we tend to celebrate the business leaders who are "consistently heroic" in taking big bold leaps to move their firms forward, for most the key to success is being "heroically consistent" instead, making small efforts every day and week and simply allowing time to compounding them in your favor!

Enjoy the "light" reading!

Transitioning Part-Time Into Financial Planning As A Career Changer

October 4, 2018 02:30 pm 0 Comments CATEGORY: Personal/Career Development

Notwithstanding all the the talk in recent years about the challenges facing the financial planning industry, from including rising competition to “robo” fee compression, the financial advisor career path remains quite appealing. Not only can advisors make meaningful, life-changing impacts on their clients’ lives, but with experienced advisors making 2-3X or more than the median household income in the US, it’s also a potentially lucrative career choice as well. And, with a possible shortage of new talent to replace the wave of ageing advisors who are expected to start retiring in droves in the next decade or so, it’s little wonder why the profession holds so much appeal, particularly for those who are mid-career and looking for a more rewarding opportunity. The caveat, however, is that it still takes a lot of time to succeed and grow your income as a financial advisor, which presents a major roadblock for those who want to career-change into the industry and just don’t have a lot of “income flexibility” to take a pay cut in order to get their proverbial foot in the door. Which leads many to wonder if it’s possible to transition into a career as a financial advisor on a part-time basis.

In this week’s #OfficeHours with @MichaelKitces, my Tuesday 1PM EST broadcast via Periscope, we look at the challenges facing the part-time transition for career changers, discuss why many consider simply opening their own RIA given the lack of part-time job opportunities, and offer some practical ideas for transitioning into the industry as a career-changer without going the (not-actually-recommended) part-time route.

Notably, the challenge of finding good part-time work to grow and develop as a financial advisor is a relatively recent phenomenon. Historically, there wasn’t much need for new “advisors” to have much professional knowledge or experience because, in reality, they weren’t providing actual advice, but were rather being paid to sell insurance or investment products (which simply requires some product and sales training). For career changers, it was often quite feasible to make the transition into such a sales role on a part-time basis, soliciting their existing friends and family and former co-workers for product sales for a few hours a week. However, for those who want to provide comprehensive advice, and get paid for it on an ongoing basis, the reality is that it’s really hard to gain the requisite experience in anything but a full-time setting.

Which is why there just aren’t many part-time job opportunities with real financial planning firms in the first place. As an alternative, some career-changers explore the option of simply launching their own RIA, which on the surface makes sense, because the raw startup costs to create your own advisory firm are very low, and it’s very possible to be up and running in a few months’ time on a shoestring budget. Unfortunately, the problem remains that giving people advice about how to handle their life savings is a sacred duty, so just because you can hang your shingle and open your own financial planning practice doesn’t mean that it’s the responsible thing to do! Not to mention the fact that it’s really hard to gain credibility as a professional, to be paid for your advice services, if you’re part-time anyway.

Accordingly, for career-changers who are looking for a practical (and responsible) path to a career as a financial advisor, the best thing to do on a part-time basis is start your education to become a CFP certificant. Because, by taking and passing the CFP exam, you’ll be in a much better position to get a better paying full-time job at a real financial planning firm. The next best thing to do is to take the Series 65, because while most states offer a waiver for the Series 65 exam for CFP certificants, the reality is that you’ll still need to meet the experience requirement before you can earn your marks. Also, start building your professional network by joining your local FPA chapter or NAPFA study group, because at some point, you’ll be looking for a full-time opportunity, and it’s a good idea to get in front of the folks who might someday hire you. Finally, simply recognize the fact that you are changing careers and that it’s just not realistic to think that you can do that without taking a step down in salary in order to (literally) pay your dues. So make yourself your first financial planning client, and figure out how to build up the savings necessary to take one step back in the short-term, so you can take two big steps forward in your new financial advisor career in the long run.

The bottom line, though, is simply that there are some very real challenges when transitioning into a career as a financial advisor on a part-time basis. However, those who are willing to do hard work of studying for (and passing!) the CFP exam, getting the Series 65 license, and building a professional network will have the best options. But rather than trying to be a financial advisor on a part-time basis, do those things on a part-time basis instead… which also allows you to stay in your current job a little longer in order to save up enough so that, when the time is right, you can make the transition to a full-time role as a financial advisor in a way that makes sense financially and professionally!

How Birth Year Shapes A Generational Experience In Stock Market Investing

October 3, 2018 07:03 am 1 Comment CATEGORY: Investments

Social Image The Generational Experience Of Wealth Creation

One of the fundamental principles of long-term investing is the recognition that, while markets may go up and down and be volatile in the short-term, eventually the volatility tends to average out into favorable long-term growth rates. Accordingly, the conventional wisdom in the face of market volatility is simply to keep invested and stay the course. Of course, those who are approaching or transitioning into retirement need to be cognizant not to draw down the portfolio too much waiting for those returns to average out – a phenomenon known as sequence of return risk – but as long as investors stay a little flexible on their retirement goals, and spend reasonably conservatively, that sequence of return risk can generally be managed.

However, the fact that investors will for the most part simply have to accept whatever returns the market gives – and in whatever sequence it provides them – means that different generations of investors may have substantively different experiences with long-term investing simply based on whatever happens to occur during their particular investment sequence and the "investment cards" they're dealt.

In turn, this effect is further amplified by the fact that early investment experiences often shape a lifetime of investment behavior – from Baby Boomers that experienced favorable market returns coinciding with the rise of the 401(k) and have stuck with markets during their difficult years, to late Gen X’ers and Millennials who have had to wait as much as a decade or more simply to see the markets recover to where they started when they first begin investing (hearkening back to the experience of a Lost Generation of investors after the Great Depression who never returned to stocks after the scarring experience of the crash of 1929 and its slow recovery during the Great Depression). And in fact, a growing volume of data on investor behavior is suggesting that younger investors are indeed far more skeptical of stock markets and long-term investing… a challenge that may not necessarily reverse itself even as the market improves (just as the bull market of the 1950s and 60s didn’t necessarily win back Depression-era investors).

The fact that the generational timing of young adulthood – and the market returns that coincide with it – may have such a long-term behavioral influence notably also extends to financial advisors themselves, as Baby Boomer advisors in their early 60s today saw a raging bull market for the first 20 years of building their careers, while younger Gen X and older Millennial advisors have had to wait 10-15 years just to see the markets recover to where they invested their first clients! Which raises the question of whether advisor attitudes about the value of providing investment management, and the active vs. passive debate, may also be heavily shaped by the advisor’s generational experience and the timing of when they happened to launch their advisor career?

Ultimately, though, the key point is simply to recognize that mere birth year may actually be responsible for a far more outsized portion of our lifetime investment behavior and experience than is commonly acknowledged. As even if a long-term portfolio can mathematically recover from almost any sequence of returns, it doesn’t mean that certain generations of investors – and advisors – will behaviorally do so themselves, based on whatever early-years' experience the market happens to give them during their formative years?

#FASuccess Ep 092: Taking More Vacation Time By Standardizing Workflows And Processes In Your Advisor CRM with Jennifer Goldman

October 2, 2018 07:08 am 3 Comments CATEGORY: Financial Advisor Success Podcast

Welcome back to the 91st episode of the Financial Advisor Success podcast!

This week's guest is Jennifer Goldman. Jennifer runs an eponymous practice management consulting firm based in Boston that works intimately with half a dozen advisory firms at a time on their operations, technology, workflows, and processes.

What's unique about Jennifer, though, is that, before she began working as a practice management consultant on operations issues, she had a career as a financial advisor herself and then transitioned to operations leadership roles at two more advisory firms before eventually deciding to go out on her own as a consultant to work with even more advisory firms and operations.

In this episode, we talk in depth about what it really means to adopt and implement workflows and processes in your advisory firm. Why an advisor CRM system should operate as the central hub of the advisory business, the 100-client capacity and 5 employee capacity in multi-advisory firms that eventually forces every growing advisory business to start formally adopting standardized processes and procedures, and why exactly it's so important to do so in order to sustainably grow and scale an advisory business, or simply to finally find the time to take a vacation as an advisory firm founder.

We also talk about Jennifer's operation consulting process with firms, that starts with formalizing the roles and responsibilities of everyone in the firm, and then goes to a technology audit of all the tools the advisory firm already has, and only then begins to focus on how to better integrate the available technology tools, recognizing that in today's environment, the real blocking point for most firms on technology is not a need to get better tech tools, but simply a need to adopt better systems and processes to use the technology the firm already has.

And be certain to listen to the end, where Jennifer shares her own journey of building a consulting practice into a multi-consultant business, and why she ultimately decided to scale the business back to his solo consulting firm, not because it wasn't feasible to scale the consulting business, but simply because in the end, she wanted to right-size the business to let her spend less time managing people and more time working with the advisory firm clients that she wanted to work with in the first place. A lesson I think that is particularly relevant for any advisor who finds themselves unhappy in a successful business because they're spending more time in management and less time with clients than they ever expected when they first launched the firm.
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The Latest In Financial Advisor #FinTech (October 2018)

October 1, 2018 07:03 am 0 Comments CATEGORY: Technology & Advisor FinTech

Welcome to the October 2018 issue of the Latest News in Financial Advisor #FinTech – 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 and wealth management!

This month's edition kicks off with the big news that private equity firm Warburg Pincus is investing a whopping $33M into Facet Wealth, a new advisory firm upstart that aims not to build “robo” tools to compete with advisory firms, but a tech-savvy advisor platform to service “smaller” mass affluent clientele that they buy from existing advisory firms who may want to sell a portion of their book of clients to free up space (and/or to generate additional capital) to grow further upmarket. At least, if the clients will actually be willing to convert from an in-person advisor to one of Facet’s virtual CFP professionals, and from an industry-standard AUM fee to Facet’s complexity-based monthly retainer fee instead.

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

Zoe Financial raises a $2M seed round to create a new lead generation platform for (a subset of highly vetted) advisors to reach more affluent clients;
SmartAsset reinvents the next generation of BrightScope’s controversial Advisor Pages as it aims to scale up interest in its SmartAdvisor lead generation service;
Mineral Interactive wins the XYPN FinTech competition as one of three finalists all focused on making the holistic data-gathering and onboarding process for financial planners more efficient;
ScratchWorks announces “Season 2” of its FinTech accelerator program replete with Shark-Tank-style pitch sessions to its founders (and funders).

Read the analysis about these announcements in this month's column and a discussion of more trends in advisor technology, including the launch of MoneyGuidePro’s new G5 platform (which goes even deeper into retirement income planning but conspicuously skips out on building its own PFM portal to compete with eMoney Advisor), Personal Capital’s launch of its own tax-savvy retirement income planning tool for its advisors and clients, the rise of student loan repayment planning software tools for advisors, and a look at whether Schwab’s recent launch of new Digital Account Opening tools may signal the beginning of the end of independent digital advice platforms as RIA custodians themselves finally upgrade their technology and expand to encompass more and more digital onboarding capabilities themselves.

And be certain to read to the end, where we have provided an update to our popular new “Financial Advisor FinTech Solutions Map” as well!

I hope you're continuing to find this new column on financial advisor technology to be helpful! Please share your comments at the end and let me know what you think!

*And for #AdvisorTech companies who want to submit their tech announcements for consideration in future issues, please submit to [email protected]!

Weekend Reading for Financial Planners (Sep 29-30)

September 28, 2018 02:57 pm 0 Comments CATEGORY: Weekend Reading

Enjoy the current installment of "weekend reading for financial planners" – this week's edition kicks off with the big industry news that the CFP Board has stated it will "affirmatively oppose" any states that attempt to regulate financial planning, in light of the potential cost and regulatory patchwork that could otherwise emerge with different states that have different standards... but without actually setting forth what the organization thinks the ideal Federal regulation of financial planning would look like, and setting the CFP Board at odds with the Financial Planning Association, which has spent years building and deepening its state-level advocacy relationships and capabilities.

Also in the news this week were several other articles about the CFP Board, including the kick-off of the CFP Board's public forums discussing the new Standards of Conduct to take effect next October of 2019 (and what CFP certificants want in terms of education, support, or simply clarification regarding those rules between now and then), and another article questioning whether the CFP Board has spent too much in time and resources promoting the high standards of the marks and not enough actually enforcing those standards to clean up bad actors (though the CFP Board indicates that it plans to enforce more effectively once the new standards take effect next year).

From there, we have several articles around cash flow and budgeting strategies with clients, including one on how to help clients better track and categorize their spending (based not on wants versus needs to determine what's essential and what's discretionary, but simply by helping them reflect on what they spent that actually brought them enjoyment, and what they subsequently regretted, and focusing there first to figure out what to cut), a second on how retirees might plan their retirement expenses based not on their estimated spending habits in retirement but instead based on how they plan to spend their time in retirement (and then figure out what those lifestyle activities will cost), and the last exploring what it really means to be "middle class" (and the challenges in seeing high-income households as "middle class" even though they work in a high-cost-of-living area that means their dollars really don't go very far).

We also have a few additional articles around credit cards and borrowing, including a look at whether it's worthwhile to have all clients freeze their credit reports now that it's free (by national law) from all three major credit bureaus, the prospective benefits of "credit card churning" to rack up travel points with new-card bonuses, and why parents with college-aged children should be filling out the FAFSA even if they don't think they'll be eligible for financial aid (because many discover they actually were eligible after the fact, as even some merit-based aid programs also require a FAFSA to be filed!).

We wrap up with three interesting articles, all around the theme of building relationships (with friends, or with clients): the first looks at how the single greatest driver to turning an acquaintance into a friend and then ultimately a confidant is simply spending enough time (which could amount to dozens or hundreds of hours) to really deepen the relationship; the second offers up some better questions besides "What Do You Do?" to more quickly build rapport with someone you're meeting the first time (in an effort to create more "multiplex" ties beyond just the context of work); and the last looks at what it really takes to create a powerful mentor relationship, which is about more than just finding someone who wants to mentor you, but finding someone who is just far enough ahead of you on the journey to be able to provide insight about what comes next, but is close enough to where you are now to still remember what it was like to be there, too.

Enjoy the "light" reading!