feed - Part 70

#FASuccess Ep 029: Attracting Baby Boomers Digitally To A True Retirement Decumulation Specialty with Dana Anspach

July 18, 2017 07:01 am 14 Comments CATEGORY: Financial Advisor Success Podcast

Welcome back to the twenty-ninth episode of the Financial Advisor Success podcast!

My guest on today's podcast is Dana Anspach. Dana is a financial advisor and the founder of Sensible Money, an advisory firm based in Scottsdale, Arizona, that oversees more than $130 million of investment assets for retired - or nearly-retired - Baby Boomer clients.

What's unique about Dana's advisory business, though, is that while the industry has been focused on the idea that younger Gen X and Gen Y clients will want to work with financial advisors virtually, Dana has built a firm where all of her 110 virtual clients – from as far away as Hawaii and Alaska – are Baby Boomers, not Millennials. And Dana attracts those virtual Baby Boomer clients to her specialized retirement planning solutions through her online writing on platforms like About.com's Money Over 55 section, Marketwatch's RetireMentors, and her own book "Control Your Retirement Destiny", which collectively are generating over 100 online prospects every year. And those virtual Baby Boomer prospects start by filling out a 40-question pre-meeting data gathering form, just to have the opportunity to talk to someone on Dana’s team about potentially working with the firm!

In this episode, Dana talks in depth about how she attracts prospects, screens them, presents her services to them, and onboards them, all without ever meeting them in person. She also shares the exact 3-meeting financial planning process she uses to generate a nearly-$7,000 average financial planning fee (without needing a separate data-gathering meeting), and why she chose to use a TAMP – a third-party asset management platform – to implement her client portfolios, while charging an overall 1.25% AUM fee for ongoing investment and retirement planning services.

We also talk about what technology tools Dana uses to deliver her services to her fully virtual clients, how she has systematized large portions of her practice – to the point that she's been able to hand off most her prospects and clients to employee advisors she's hired into the firm – and why she compensates the advisors in her firm with a base salary plus bonuses instead of the more "traditional" payment of a percentage of client revenue.

And be certain to listen to the end, where Dana talks about how she's leveraged the value of outside coaches to work through the inevitable challenges that have arisen in her practice, and how she structures her week to allow for the time she needs for client meetings, staff management, and still being able to do all the writing that continues to bring in new virtual Baby Boomer clients to the firm.

So whether you’re trying to have more success getting new clients through online and digital marketing, or simply want some perspective on how a retirement planning niche advisor has built her business, I hope you enjoy this latest episode of the Financial Advisor Success podcast!

Weekend Reading for Financial Planners (July 15-16)

July 14, 2017 02:50 pm 0 Comments CATEGORY: Weekend Reading

Enjoy the current installment of "weekend reading for financial planners" – this week's edition kicks off with a new Schwab RIA Benchmarking study, that finds despite the hubbub of robo- and other competitive threats, the independent RIA community has continued to grow assets at 10%/year over the past 5 years, although the fastest-growing firms are increasingly combining referral-based marketing with other forms of marketing and business development beyond referrals alone. Also in the news this week is a Boston Consulting Group study finding that in the aggregate, gross revenues of the asset management industry declined in 2016 (for the first time since 2008), even though total industry assets were up by 7% to $69 trillion, as the shift to low-cost products continues to take its toll. And the SEC has approved the FINRA proposal to revamp its traditional "Series" licensing exams, and roll out a new Securities Industry Essentials (SIA) exam that prospective new brokers can take, even if they're not yet sponsored with a broker-dealer.

From there, we have several articles on the theme of health insurance and Medicare, including a look at how uncertainty over health care policy in Washington is making it harder for advisors to craft effective recommendations for clients considering early retirement (who are uncertain whether they will still be able to access cost-effective health insurance without being limited for pre-existing conditions in the future), how the Social Security COLA is likely to be 2% this year but will be mostly consumed by the unwind of 2015's "Hold Harmless" provisions on Medicare Part B premiums, and proactive planning strategies and talking points for (prospective or current) retirees who are approaching age 65 and need to make decisions about Medicare.

We also feature several articles specifically focused on financial advisor marketing, from advice on how to sharpen up your core marketing messages to prospective clients (without needing to spend money on a marketing expert), to a series of marketing tips from a wide-ranging interview of advisor marketing experts, and a look at the concept of a "marketing nest" and how it differs from a "marketing niche" as a way to accelerate near-term growth for the firm (though while the nest may be best in the short term, the niche is still best strategically in the long run).

We wrap up with three interesting articles, all looking at the ongoing evolution of the "soft skills" of financial planners, and what it takes to be successful: the first is a Journal of Financial Planning study, looking at how "behavioral finance" and financial therapy techniques can be incorporated into the 6-step financial planning process; the second is a discussion of "active listening" and how developing the skill (yes, it is a skill) can improve your communication (with clients, and even with your spouse!); and the last is a look at what it takes to gain more confidence as a financial advisor, recognizing that if you don't truly believe in what you do and that you can help your clients, that lack of confidence means your clients probably won't believe in your value, either, so building personal confidence is crucial for business success (whether that means finding support at home, joining a study group, gaining education or experience, or whatever else it takes!)!

Enjoy the "light" reading!

Weekend Reading for Financial Planners (July 8-9)

July 7, 2017 02:55 pm 0 Comments CATEGORY: Weekend Reading

Enjoy the current installment of "weekend reading for financial planners" – this week's edition kicks off with the latest of DoL fiduciary news, including the revelation that the Justice Department does not intend to defend the "class action lawsuit" provision of the fiduciary rule in the current Appeals lawsuit that fiduciary opponents have filed, a memo from LPL that indicates it expects the DoL fiduciary rule to stick and will be limiting the ability of its brokers (but not those on its RIA platform) to solicit 401(k) rollovers (suggesting that LPL may be pivoting its entire business to be more RIA-centric), and an announcement from Raymond James that it will be converting the payout grid for its independent channel to be entirely "product-neutral" with just a straight revenue-based payout (starting at 81% and rising as high as 90% for top producers).

From there, we have a few practice management articles this week, including a look at when to think about using debt proactively as a business management tool in advisory firms (especially since private equity investors often demand more in dividend payments than lenders demand in interest payments!), when you consider soliciting input from clients when making a potentially significant business decision, and how to create a "Client Retreat" event to deepen the relationship (and the breadth of solutions) for your clients.

We also feature several articles specifically focused on finding work-life balance, whether as an advisory firm owner or an advisor employee, including how to approach the work-life balance question as an employer (it's all about setting clear expectations of what it takes to succeed in the firm), how to change your situation if you're an employee unhappy with your balance (it's all about starting the conversation with your firm/supervisor about what you want to change, and discussing ways to make it work for both parties), and how financially successful "lifestyle practices" can actually be (the idea that a lifestyle practice with good work/life balance can't also be profitable is a myth... at least when done right!).

We wrap up with three interesting articles, all from people who have experienced early retirement or extended sabbaticals, talking about what they learned that surprised them about retirement (or a "faux retirement" sabbatical) in their first year. Key points included that more time at home makes it far easier to eat healthy and exercise more, but that the "best" days are still the ones where there's something to "do" when you wake up, that you may find even more opportunities coming to you once you're retired (which means you need to be careful to figure out what filters you will use to decide whether to say "yes" or "no" when they come along!), and that while you'll have more time to deepen spousal and other family relationships, don't underestimate how much you may miss the social environment and camaraderie of your "work family" as well!

Enjoy the "light" reading!

Weekend Reading for Financial Planners (July 1-2)

June 30, 2017 02:54 pm 1 Comment CATEGORY: Weekend Reading

Enjoy the current installment of "weekend reading for financial planners" – this week's edition kicks off with the news that, as predicted previously on this blog, the DoL fiduciary debate is open once again, as the Department of Labor has issued a new Request For Information (RFI) about potential modifications to the DoL fiduciary rule (including whether full applicability and enforcement should be delayed even further past January 1st of 2018, and whether a new streamlined exemption should be added for the use of clean shares). Also in the news this week were several notable industry studies, including one from PriceMetrix showing the rapid growth of fee-based accounts in brokerage firms (which in the near term are generating lower fees and less revenue as firms switch from upfront commissions to ongoing AUM fees), and a Fidelity white paper showing how tech-savvy "eAdvisors" continue to outpace all other advisors in everything from AUM to success getting HNW clients, and even take-home profits and job satisfaction!

From there, we have a few technical articles on retirement strategies, including Wade Pfau on what he calls the "Four Ls" of retirement planning goals (Longevity, Lifestyle, Legacy, and Liquidity), a look at how the HEART Act of 2008 allows widow(ers) of military servicemembers to roll over up to $500,000 of SGLI and related death benefits into a Roth IRA (but with a limited 1-year time window), and how managing retirement liquidations from a blend of traditional and Roth IRA accounts is superior to the "traditional" approach of simply liquidating all pre-tax retirement accounts first and the Roth accounts last.

We also feature several articles specifically on wirehouse trends this week, from a look at what wirehouse advisors should consider when thinking about whether to break away, the intense flurry of phone calls (150 client calls in 48 hours!) it takes to successfully break away, and how wirehouses are now reinvesting into new-advisor training programs as wirehouse-to-wirehouse recruiting continues to slow.

We wrap up with three interesting articles, all focused around personal productivity and business success: the first examines the concept of a "Mastermind Group", what it takes to form one, and best practices for running one; the second explores the research on what it takes to have moments of inspiration and creativity (either artistic, or for your business), and that the key is finding time to relax and step away; and the last looks at the growing base of personal productivity research finding that the best way to increase your results is to say "no" more often... recognizing that whenever you say "yes", you're just closer to running out of time and being forced to say "no" to something else later anyway, so you may as well be more proactive about saying "no" so that you still have the room to say "yes" to the right and best opportunities when they come along!

Enjoy the "light" reading!

#FASuccess Ep 026: Stop Asking For Referrals And Improve Your Referrability Index Instead with Steve Wershing

June 27, 2017 07:01 am 3 Comments CATEGORY: Financial Advisor Success Podcast

Welcome back to the twenty-sixth episode of the Financial Advisor Success podcast!

This weeks’ podcast guest is Steve Wershing. Steve is a practice management and marketing consultant for financial advisors, with a particular focus on how to generate more referrals to grow your business.

But what's unique about Steve, though, is his approach to referral marketing, which starts with a simple statement: Stop. Asking. For. Referrals. And instead of asking for referrals, focus on how to make yourself more referraBLE in the first place - by having a clear niche. Because as Steve puts it, "a Niche is simply a need", and if you can fulfill a clear need, then people with that need will be referred to you... without even asking for it. Or viewed another way, Steve finds that the best way to get more referrals is not to hunt for them one at a time, but to plant the seeds for a large number of them, and then harvest them over time.

In this episode, Steve talks about the 6 different types of niches that financial advisors can form - including technical, educational, experiential, psychosocial, affinity, and values niches - with great examples of each. And based on his own experience as a financial advisor and former broker-dealer executive, Steve talks about how advisory firms can interview their clients and leverage a client advisory board to better understand what they're most valued for and then formulate a niche around that value over time. Because the reality is that, while it's not required, it's still usually easiest to build into a niche where you already have some initial connections or solution.

And be certain to listen to the end, where Steve talks about how to manage a niche practice over time, and why it's OK that your clients may eventually move on from or outgrow your niche - because even if they came and picked you in the first place for your niche, once they're working with you, they'll stay for the service and the relationship they have with you as their financial advisor.

So whether you’re struggling to figure out what niche you should go for, are looking for ideas on how to create a greater focus on your niche, or are simply looking to better understand how to get more referrals (without just asking for them more often), I hope you enjoy this latest episode of the Financial Advisor Success podcast!

CFP Board Commission On Standards Expands CFP Fiduciary Duties… But Can It Enforce Them?

June 26, 2017 07:01 am 10 Comments CATEGORY: Regulation & Compliance

After a nearly 18-month process of working to update its Standards of Professional Conduct, the CFP Board’s Commission on Standards has released newly proposed Conduct Standards for CFP professionals, expanding the breadth of when CFP professionals will be subject to a fiduciary duty, and the depth of the disclosures that must be provided to prospects and clients.

In fact, the new CFP Board Standards of Conduct would require all CFP professionals to provide a written “Introductory Information” document to prospects before becoming clients, and a more in-depth Terms of Engagement written agreement upon becoming a client. In addition, the new rules also refine the compensation definitions for CFP professionals to more clearly define fee-only, limit the use of the term fee-based, and updates the 6-step “EGADIM” financial planning process to a new 7-step process instead.

Overall, the new Standards of Conduct appear to be a positive step to advance financial planning as a profession, more clearly recognizing the importance of a fiduciary duty, the need to manage conflicts of interest, and formalizing how CFP professionals define their scope of engagement with the client.

Ironically, though, the CFP Board’s greatest challenge in issuing its new Standards of Conduct is that the organization still only has limited means to actually enforce them, as the CFP Board can only make public admonishments or choose to suspend or revoke the CFP marks, but cannot actually fine practitioners or limit their ability to practice. And because the CFP Board is not a government-sanctioned regulator, it is still limited in its ability to even gather information to investigate complaints in the first place, especially in instances where the complaint is not from a client but instead comes from a third party (e.g., a fellow CFP professional who identifies an instance of wrong-doing).

In addition, the CFP Board’s new Standards of Conduct rely heavily on evaluating whether the CFP professional’s actions were “reasonable” compared to common practices of other CFP certificants… which is an appropriate peer-based standard for professional conduct, but difficult to assess when the CFP Board’s disciplinary proceedings themselves are private, which means CFP professionals lack access to “case law” and disciplinary precedents that can help guide what is and is not recognized as “acceptable” behavior of professionals. At least until/unless the CFP Board greatly expands the depth and accessibility/indexing of its Anonymous Case Histories database.

Nonetheless, for those who want to see financial planning continue to advance towards becoming a recognized profession, the CFP Board’s refinement of its Standards of Conduct do appear to be a positive step forward. And fortunately, the organization is engaging in a public comment process to gather feedback from CFP certificants to help further refine the proposed rules before becoming final… which means there’s still time, through August 21^st, to submit your own public comments for feedback!

Weekend Reading for Financial Planners (Jun 24-25)

June 23, 2017 12:12 pm 0 Comments CATEGORY: Weekend Reading

Enjoy the current installment of "weekend reading for financial planners" – this week's edition kicks off with the release of the CFP Board's newly proposed Code of Ethics and Standards of Conduct for CFP professionals, which would further expand their scope of fiduciary duty to virtually all forms of financial advice.

Also in the regulatory news this week was an interesting public comment letter from the CFA Institute about the SEC's potential consideration of fiduciary rulemaking, suggesting that the starting point would simply be to regain control of advisor titles and labels (and require anyone who even holds out as a financial advisor to be subject to the Investment Advisers Act of 1940). And in the meantime, the state of Nevada just passed a "surprise" piece of legislation that, in just over a week, will suddenly require all financial advisors in Nevada - including those at RIAs and broker-dealers - to be subject to a fiduciary duty when working with clients, regardless of whether it's a retirement account or not.

From there, we have a few practice management articles this week, including: how developing "Core Values" for your firm can help you figure out how to filter out who are the right clients, the right employees, and the right opportunities for the business to pursue; why it's so crucial to have a personal support network as a financial advisor that can keep you positive and motivated when the inevitable business challenges come; and why it's crucial for advisory firm owners and the entire leadership team to establish a clear and consistent vision for where the business is going (and then work to keep aligned on that vision).

We also cover a few articles about the intersection of financial planning and cash flow/spending behavior, from why it's important to not just analyze a client's household cash flow but examine the underlying financial habits they represent (e.g., how the client makes decisions about large purchases, and whether they save intermittently or automatically), to the reason why behavioral biases mean in practice consumers tend to fare better contributing to a Roth 401(k) than a traditional 401(k), and how the tendency for one member of a couple to be a "spender" can trigger marital strife (though notably, being married to a "tightwad" does not typically trigger marital conflict!).

We wrap up with three interesting articles, all focused around broader industry trends: the first looks at how the rise of no-load funds and increased transparency were associated with an explosion in the adoption of mutual funds (and ETFs), while the still-commission-based and still-transparent insurance industry has seen its sales drop by almost 50% in the past 30 years, and whether a new company called Assurance (which aims to be the Morningstar of life insurance policies) can help to change the trend; the second examines how, despite an incredible 8-year bull market, most of the financial services industry is not very exuberant, or is outright gloomy, which appears to be a result of the fact that almost all the gains of the bull market have gone to just Vanguard, while the rest of the asset management industry has failed to participate in the rally; and the last is an investigative report from Reuters, which finds that FINRA is struggling to rein in a subset of broker-dealers who continue to actively hire brokers with problematic disciplinary records, raising the question of whether FINRA is even capable of fully executing on its investor-protection mandate, and whether state securities regulators may try to expand their oversight of broker-dealers to fill the void.

Enjoy the "light" reading!

How Financial Counseling Laboratories Will Change Financial Planning

June 21, 2017 07:01 am 2 Comments CATEGORY: Planning Profession

It is widely acknowledged that there is both an ‘art’ and a ‘science’ to financial planning. Technical knowledge – the “science” – is crucial to delivering the technically accurate advice to clients. But the best advice in the world is meaningless if the financial advisor can’t master the “art” of delivering it in a skillful manner – leading a client to actually take action and improve their financial well-being. Yet despite its label as "art", the reality is that how best to deliver financial advice advice can itself be subjected to scientific scrutiny. Which is beginning to happen, with the emergence of several "financial counseling laboratories" in educational institutions across the country.

In this guest post, Derek Tharp – our new Research Associate at Kitces.com, and a Ph.D. candidate in the financial planning program at Kansas State University – examines what a financial counseling laboratory is, and how researchers are using financial counseling laboratories to subject the 'art' of financial planning to scientific investigation.

A financial counseling laboratory is an environment in which financial planning, counseling, or therapy research can be conducted. The space itself is akin to the kind of office with tables and chairs that financial advisors might use to meet with their clients. However, the key feature of a financial counseling lab is that it contains some unobtrusive means of observation, such as one-way mirrors or cameras, allowing the interactions between a financial advisor and their client to be scientifically measured and tested (and sometimes also monitored by students who may be gaining practical observational training, or even engage in the supervised practice of their financial planning skills).

The existence of financial counseling laboratories is important given how conducive they are to conducting highly relevant research for practitioners about how to actually be better financial planners, and get clients to engage their financial advice. In fact, some of this research is already beginning to emerge, delving into topics such as how the physical office environment influences client stress, how coaching techniques can help clients save more, and how measurements of brain activity suggest receiving counseling from an advisor with a CFP designation (relative to a non-credentialed advisor) may actually reduce stress during market declines! In essence, laboratory research – in a financial setting, examining questions relevant to advisors – may soon begin to shape the future of how financial planners interact with their clients!

Advisors who are interested in supporting or assistance with the research process have several options, from getting involved with organizations like the Financial Therapy Association (where many of the Financial Counseling laboratory researchers are engaged), collaborating with researchers themselves on future projects, contributing financially to organizations such as the CFP Board's Center for Financial Planning, or contributing directly to the handful of universities which already have permanent on-campus financial counseling laboratories.

But the bottom line is that, for the first time ever, the "art" of financial planning itself is beginning to be subjected to scientific scrutiny, with the potential to yield important insights into the practice of financial planning, and how advisors can better get clients to actually adopt their advice!

#FASuccess Ep 025: Leveraging A TAMP To Roll Out Wealth Management Services In A CPA Firm with Tim Delaney

June 20, 2017 07:01 am 6 Comments CATEGORY: Financial Advisor Success Podcast

Welcome back to the twenty-fifth episode of the Financial Advisor Success podcast!

My guest for this week’s podcast is Tim Delaney. Tim is the co-founder of JDH Wealth Management, an independent RIA in northern California that oversees nearly $200 million of assets for 120 affluent clients.

What’s unique about Tim is that, unlike most financial advisors who started out selling life insurance or mutual funds, Tim began his career as a CPA, and it wasn't until after 20 years of experience doing accounting and tax preparation that he decided for the first time to launch a wealth management firm, from within the existing accounting business, with a goal of leveraging the firm's existing relationships with its tax clients to expand into wealth management.

In this episode, Tim talks about the transition from tax preparation into wealth management, why he decided from day 1 to build his wealth management business on a TAMP platform - despite the fact that it would take a material chunk of his long-term revenue - how he structured the wealth management firm as a separate entity from the tax practice, and why he ultimately decided to buy out the wealth management division and part ways from the accounting firm after more than a decade... which, as it turned out, just accelerated the growth of his wealth management firm even further!

We also talk at length about the opportunity that CPAs have in offering wealth management services to clients, how the typical accounting firm can likely generate an additional 25% of gross revenue by offering investment management services to existing clients, and why most accounting firms still fail to capitalize on the business opportunity. Which provides some interesting insights into the opportunity – and challenges – for financial advisors seeking to generate wealth management referrals from CPAs, too.

And be certain to listen to the end, where Tim talks about how he's executing an internal succession plan, with his son who has now taken over as the managing partner, and how he structured the arrangement not to gift shares but to have his son buy into the practice over time... in large part because that's what was necessary to balance the value of the business against what his other two children, who aren't involved in the business, will also someday inherit.

So whether you’re a CPA considering whether to go into wealth management, an advisor trying to better understand the mindset of CPAs who offer (or may be considering) wealth management services, or are looking for perspective on why a TAMP can make a lot of sense when launching a planning-centric advisory firm, I hope you enjoy this latest episode of the Financial Advisor Success podcast!

#FASuccess Ep 024: How Mindset Drives Success And The 7 Freedoms Of Limitless Advisers with Stephanie Bogan

June 13, 2017 07:01 am 15 Comments CATEGORY: Financial Advisor Success Podcast

Welcome back to the twenty-fourth episode of the Financial Advisor Success podcast!

This week’s guest is Stephanie Bogan. Stephanie is a practice management consultant for financial advisors, who founded her own very successful consulting firm, Quantivus, at the age of just 24, and ultimately sold it a decade later for 7 figures to Genworth Financial, back in 2008.

What's fascinating about Stephanie, though, is the consulting work she's been doing since then. Because - as with many entrepreneurs who have successfully built and sold a business, Stephanie soon realized that what she'd built and sold hadn't really brought her the life satisfaction that she had hoped. And that in turn led her into a journey into the neuroscience of success, life satisfaction, and what helps us find purpose and meaning in our own businesses.

In this episode, Stephanie talks about the journey she went through in building her consulting practice - as a young 24-year-old woman trying to give practice management advice to advisors with multi-million-dollar firms that were more than twice her age, the mindset she had to create for herself to stay optimistic through the challenges, and key practice management areas that she consulting on with advisors, including Business Strategy and Planning, Human Capital, Operations, and Marketing & Growth.

We also talk at length about how our mindset as a financial advisor and business owner can both drive our success, and often limit it without even realizing there's a problem, leading to problems like the "Stress of Success", why most time management problems are really an "inability to say 'no'" problem, and what Stephanie calls the "7 freedoms of being a limitless adviser", to free yourself from a mindset of limiting beliefs that may be holding you back.

And be certain to listen to the end, where Stephanie talks about how she helped one advisory firm overcome the all-too-common problem of saying "yes" to too many accommodation clients, and not being able to draw the line between "investment-only" clients and full financial planning clients, but creating a simple one-page visual that broke the firm's services into 3 categories, set prices for each, and let the CLIENTS choose which tier they wanted.

So whether you’re simply looking for practice management advice and ideas from one of the industry’s leading experts, or perhaps need some help getting over a mental mindset of limiting beliefs that may be limiting your own success (without even realizing it, until now!?), I hope you enjoy this latest episode of the Financial Advisor Success podcast!