Between Now and Success

The unstoppable pace of technology innovation and market competition could put you out of business unless you take steps today to add value far above and beyond traditional investment management. Robo advisors, Vanguard's Personal Advisor Services, and Schwab Intelligent Portfolios are just a few of the firms who are transforming the delivery of financial advice. And these firms have bigger brands, huge resources, and offer their services at a fraction of the cost when compared to traditional financial advisors. So here's the deal–financial advisors who want to remain relevant for years to come, who want to maintain their profit margins, and who want to offer services that clients are willing to pay dearly for, will need to completely rethink the services and type of advice they offer. Today's show with guests Alan Spector and Keith Lawrence discusses retirement coaching as one possible advice area where advisors can add value to fend off competitive attacks.

Is it a good idea to set stretch goals? Yes. Stretch goals, set and managed properly, could catapult your business 10X. Stretch goals make you realize you have to change your level of thinking. With stretch goal thinking, you have to ask yourself, “What new strategy or business model could enable me to grow 10 times bigger than I am today?”Clearly, the answer involves leverage—not financial leverage—but people and technology leverage. This is how the largest RIAs grew to billions in assets under management. In this episode, I discuss three things: 1) how to set stretch goals, 2) the need to make the shift from just managing money to managing lives, and 3) I share insights from two of my 10 most popular podcasts in 2015. I end the show with a tribute to adventurist, entrepreneur and deep ecologist Doug Tompkins who passed away this week.

Here’s a short but very powerful exercise. What three words could you come up with that would set the course, give you direction, and totally excite you as you move through 2016? In my financial advisor coaching, we dig deep to get focused on the key things that will make the desired outcomes happen. This three-word exercise is one simple way to help the focusing process. In this episode, I discuss how to come up with your own three words for 2016 as well as review my three words for 2015 and my assessment of how well (or not so well) I executed on them. Plus, I share one other idea on a one-sentence strategic plan and leave you with a meaningful insight from Roy Disney.

Do you know where your new revenue will come from in 2016? When I coach financial advisors, I often find they have a goal to generate a certain amount of new assets under management. What's frequently missing, though, is a detailed breakdown of where those new assets will come from and a specific plan on how they will be generated. In this episode, I discuss how to specifically identify where your new revenue will come from and how to ensure you achieve your new AUM goal. Plus, I share two other ideas and leave you with a key insight from Jim Rohn.

In addition to volatility in the financial markets, financial advisors have to worry about other threats to their business including regulations coming out of Washington and cyber attacks. Today’s guest, Skip Schweiss, keeps a close eye on all these non-market related issues and we go through the list and discuss simple steps you can take to mitigate the risks. Skip is responsible for TD Ameritrade Institutional’s Retirement Plan Services platform. He is also the Managing Director of Advisor Advocacy & Industry Affairs. And as I’ve witnessed firsthand (more in the podcast), Skip is a skilled and avid outdoorsman. In his spare time, he climbed all 54 of Colorado’s 14,000-foot mountains.

Four tips today about a bucket list, not settling for average, starting anew, and thinking much bigger about the impact you can make. I close with an inspirational quote that has been very meaningful to me.

Hey, welcome to my first Friday Podcast. Today, I share five ideas and tools that will help you plan better, market better, and get more profitable results from your seminars and events. For free access to the tools and links I mention in today's show, visit www.belayadvisor.com/fridaypodcast

Have you planned as effectively for the transfer of your business as you have for the financial lives of your clients? In part II in our series on succession planning, (see part I here with Tim Kochis), my guest Jay Hummel continues the conversation and we discuss the operational and financial details of making a smooth transition. Jay, along with Tim Kochis and Eric Hehman, is the co-author of a new book on succession planning titled, Success and Succession: Unlocking Value, Power, and Potential in the Professional Services and Advisory Space. As a senior VP in the corporate strategy group at Envestnet, (see podcast with Envestnet founder Jud Bergman), Jay works closely with the firms largest RIA's. Prior to Envestnet, he was president of a large RIA.

Succession planning is a critical yet woefully neglected business necessity that could cost advisors millions of dollars if not properly handled. Today’s guest, Tim Kochis, is the co-author of a new book on succession planning titled, Success and Succession, and we dive into the details of how to effectively do it. Tim is a legendary wealth advisor who co-founded Kochis Fitz, a multi-billion dollar RIA firm, and guided it through a merger to create Aspiriant, one of the country’s leading wealth managers. Along the way, he held numerous leadership positions within the industry and has been recognized with several prestigious awards including the inaugural Schwab Impact Award and FPA’s P. Kemp Fain Award.

Jud Bergman, the founder of Envestnet, has been at the nexus of every major trend happening in the financial services industry for the past 15 years. As a serial acquirer, Jud and his team have built an industry behemoth. With recent acquisitions including Yodlee for big data and analytics (pending), FinanceLogix for financial planning, and Upside for robo advisor–coupled with its many existing businesses–Envestnet has a window into almost every corner of what’s happening in the advisor space. And in today’s show, Jud and I talk about all of it and what the future holds for financial advisors. Seven Things You’ll Discover in This Episode How the value proposition of financial advisors is changing and what the successful advisor of the future looks like. The main way the advisor of the future can improve their productivity and grow their fee-based practice at 2.2 times the rate of the average advisor. The three things we can thank robo advisors for. One is they’ve set a market rate for commoditized investment advice. The second is they’ve demonstrated the value of aggregated data as a backbone to a financial plan. And the third is they’ve proved the value some investors place on 24/7 access to their account data. Specific ways the promise of “big data” and account aggregation will help advisors and clients make more money and reach better outcomes. What the implications for advisors are when Jud says, “We’re seeing lots of evolution, lots of transformation, lots of evolving towards different pricing arrangements for the advisor.” How to conquer the digital divide that separates advisors stuck in an old business model from advisors who are well-equipped to work with the digitally savvy clients of the present and future. Why having an offering for millennials that may not fit your normal account minimum is an essential ingredient for the successful advisor of the future.