Financial Advisor Success

Andy Schwartz is a partner at Bleakley Financial Group, a hybrid advisory firm based out of New Jersey that nearly tripled in size to over $9-billion in assets after breaking away from a major insurance company. Andy and his partners have built their firm into a platform that allows advisors the opportunity to leverage centralized large firm support services while maintaining the freedom and flexibility to run their own investment book of business. Listen in as Andy shares how he and his partners have structured their firm as a cooperative with advisors sharing resources and services, and provide advisors with the space, capacity, and flexibility to grow and scale their own practices. We also discuss why they choose to reinvest money generated by the firm back into the business to provide more services that advisors can then leverage, why Andy walked away from a 30-year career with a large insurance broker dealer and a $3-billion practice to start his own firm, and why he believes that the combination of building credibility and having financial resources are the keys to truly make an impact as a financial advisor. For show notes and more visit: https://www.kitces.com/284

Seth Streeter is the Founder and CIO of Mission Wealth, an independent RIA based out of Santa Barbara that oversees nearly $5-billion in AUM for over 2,000 client households. Seth has uniquely grown Mission Wealth through mergers and acquisitions, essentially hiring by acquisition as a means of acquiring the talent needed to scale the firm. Listen in as Seth shares how he uses a "Mergers and Integrations" approach to acquire top talent and how he leverages Diamond Teams, dedicated departments, internal succession plans, and partnership equity opportunities to attract entrepreneurial talent into employee roles. We also discuss how the firm uses an 11-dimension happiness framework to guide more holistic wealth discussions with clients, why they segmented their clients into four tiers and vary the services offered to each, and why Seth believes that forming referral partnerships is the key for advisors to scale their firm. For show notes and more visit: https://www.kitces.com/283

Allison Felix is a managing partner and COO for Cassaday & Company, a hybrid advisory firm based in McLean, Virginia that oversees more than $4 billion in assets for nearly 2,500 client households. Allison has a unique story in that she has made the journey from executive assistant all the way to COO, helping the firm scale to 3X its size over the past decade alone. Today she joins the show to discuss the restructuring of the firm that ultimately pushed Allison to be chosen as the COO and the events leading up to this switch in the firm's succession plan. Listen in as Allison shares how Cassaday & Company developed its unique compensation structure, as well as how her firm has propelled its growth with weekly seminars that were honed by hiring coaches to give constructive criticism. You will learn why her firm has been expanding its service offerings, why she believes it's important for future generations (especially young women) to understand the wealth of opportunities in financial planning, and why she feels that stepping into the role of COO was pivotal to create representation for women at her firm and in the financial industry. For show notes and more visit: https://www.kitces.com/282

Duncan Kelm is a managing partner for Arrow Point Wealth Management, a hybrid advisory firm based in Santa Rosa, California that oversees $163 million in assets under management for 142 client households. Today Duncan joins the show to discuss how he leverages owning and operating his own tax firm, in addition to his advisory firm, to offer more integrated tax planning and wealth management services to his small business owner clientele. Listen in as he shares how he leveraged his tax expertise and years as a business consultant to build his own tax firm to offer full suite tax and financial planning to his clients, as well as how he created what he calls "character insurance" with his clients to help them define who they are and document their ethos for future generations. You will learn how Duncan struggled to accept becoming his father's successor, what mental toughness means to him, and why he chooses to no longer be outcome-focused. For show notes and more visit: https://www.kitces.com/281

Brian Carney is the co-founder of RiversEdge Advisors, an independent RIA based out of Delaware that oversees over $400 million in assets under management for 300 client households. Brian's firm doubled in only 18 months, causing burnout, staff turnover, and the need to completely re-build their infrastructure to be able to sustainably scale to the next level, and he joins the podcast today to talk about how he was able to get the firm back on track to success. Listen in as Brian shares how his firm's massive growth actually turned out to be a nightmare in disguise, as well as how he was able to turn things around. You'll learn how they have made operations a key focus of the firm and the lessons that Brian learned that will allow him to scale his firm to the next level in a sustainable and healthy way. For show notes and more visit: https://www.kitces.com/280

Erika Karp is the Chief Impact Officer at Pathstone, an independent RIA based out of New Jersey that oversees $35 billion in assets under management for a few hundred ultra-high-net-worth client households. Erika has uniquely incorporated sustainable investing into her firm by utilizing an internal ESG analysis that aligns her clients' sizeable capital with their own values. Listen in as she shares what inspired her to start her own firm, as well as how she put up her own capital to launch and reached $25 million in AUM within 90 days to receive SEC approval. You'll learn how she overcame the struggle of wanting to be known as a trusted advisor while also having to get comfortable selling herself and her services, why she believes that it is most important for advisors to focus on work that brings them joy, and more. For show notes and more visit: https://www.kitces.com/279

Derek Gregoire is a co-owner of SHP Financial, an independent RIA based in Plymouth, Massachusetts that oversees nearly $1.2 billion of total assets for over 1,200 clients. Derek and his firm have centralized the execution of multiple marketing strategies to increase the amount of prospective client leads the firm provides to its advisors, so they in turn can concentrate more on developing client relationships, rather than chasing prospects. Today Derek joins the show to discuss how his firm has built a combination of radio programming, short interview-style television ads, seminars, and digital marketing to bring in prospects. Listen in as we talk in-depth about the simplified three-meeting sales process his firm developed that aims to avoid overwhelming prospects with choices and how his decision to centralize marketing has ultimately freed up the budget to maintain a larger service staff to ensure a more personal experience for his clients. You will learn the hard lesson Derek and his partners learned after almost reaching burnout and how he got his firm back on track for long-term growth. For show notes and more visit: https://www.kitces.com/278

Lauren Oschman is the CEO of Vestia Personal Wealth Advisors, an independent RIA based out of Nashville that oversees $600 million in assets for nearly 500 households. Lauren has epitomized what it means to niche down by not only serving a unique niche of physicians, but also serving niches within their client base and providing hyper-specialized services that allow them to truly differentiate. Listen in as Lauren shares how her firm has developed niches within their client base to better serve them, including advising on salary contract negotiations, mortgages, and disability insurance for variable incomes. You'll learn how the adversity Lauren faced in her career has shaped how she has built her firm to make a bigger impact, as well as why she believes that learning to communicate and cultivate human connections with clients is just as important as learning how to build a financial plan. For show notes and more visit: https://www.kitces.com/277

John Hagensen is the founder of Keystone Wealth Partners, an independent RIA based out of Arizona and North Dakota that oversees $650 million of assets under management for 1000 households. John is one of the first non-lawyer financial advisors in the nation who built, owns, and operates a law firm which he then leverages with his own tax firm to create an entirely one-stop shop for affluent clients. Listen in as John shares how he grew his firm to nearly 1,000 clients in a decade by leveraging his one-stop shop approach to gain more referrals from his affluent clients, as well as how he uses what some would consider "old school" marketing techniques to grow his reach and authority. We also talk about the mindset shift that happened as John's firm scaled, why he firmly believes that the key to happiness and success is helping to uplift those around us, and how a trip to Ethiopia changed his perspective on his purpose in life and the impact his money can have. For show notes and more visit: https://www.kitces.com/276

Michael Chasnoff is the founder and CEO of Truepoint Wealth Counsel, an independent fee-only RIA based out of Cincinnati that oversees $4.5 billion in assets under management for 750 households. Michael has grown his firm completely organically by focusing on working with business owners and executives—and scaling his team by offering a distributed ownership structure with a broad equity participation plan. Listen in as we explore the unique structure that he has built his firm around, becoming a one-stop shop for clients offering both financial planning and in-house tax and estate planning advice. You'll learn how he sells off his own founder shares to select team members to buy into company equity, as well as how he grew his firm entirely organically by focusing on working with business owners and executives with an average of $6 million in AUM, leveraging his expertise, establishing relationships with centers of influence, and becoming an active participant in industry organizations. For show notes and more visit: https://www.kitces.com/275