Managing Your Practice
Dimensional Fund Advisors
Managing Your Practice is dedicated to providing financial professionals with best practices in key areas such as driving growth, business efficiency, and the client experience. Dimensional Fund Advisors delivers insights based on our history of industry-leading financial advisor benchmark studies and client surveys. We help advisors leverage those insights when making the critical business decisions successful firms face every day.
The information is provided in good faith without any warranty and is intended for informational purposes only. It does not constitute investment advice, recommendation, or an offer of any services or products for sale and is not intended to provide a sufficient basis on which to make an investment decision.
All expressions of opinion are subject to change.
Dimensional Fund Advisors LP is an investment advisor registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The information is provided in good faith without any warranty and is intended for informational purposes only. It does not constitute investment advice, recommendation, or an offer of any services or products for sale and is not intended to provide a sufficient basis on which to make an investment decision.
All expressions of opinion are subject to change.
Dimensional Fund Advisors LP is an investment advisor registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Episodes
Mentioned books
Dec 8, 2021 • 47min
From Intern to CEO: The Roadmap for a Successful Internal Succession Plan
Every founder of a financial advisory firm will at some point face the question of succession. If looking internally, who is the heir apparent and when should they begin handing over the reins? The process can take years and may be difficult to navigate for the founder and successor. Catherine Williams, Dimensional's Head of Practice Management, is joined by Eric Hehman, CEO of Austin Asset, to talk about his journey from intern to CEO and the successful succession plan he helped develop along the way.
Nov 9, 2021 • 1h 2min
When Less Is More: Getting Clear on Your Strategic Vision and Target Market
Michael Kitces, Head of Planning Strategy for Buckingham Wealth Partners and co-founder of the XY Planning Network, shares his insights on steering a successful advisory firm. He discusses the importance of having a clear vision and how focusing on a specific niche can help advisors stand out in a competitive landscape. Kitces emphasizes building meaningful client relationships and overcoming hesitations to engage for better feedback. He also explores the journey of transitioning leadership effectively and how resilience shapes a firm’s growth.
Oct 12, 2021 • 52min
What Three Personality Types Does Your Firm Need to Grow?
It can take a range of skill sets to start and build a successful financial advisory firm. But whether that firm remains a smaller, lifestyle practice or grows into a larger self-sustaining enterprise can depend on the culture and the right mix of personality types. Catherine Williams, Dimensional's Head of Practice Management, is joined by Jon Jones, co-founder and CEO of the wealth management firm Brighton Jones, to explore how you can identify, hire, and align the right personalities with the goals of your firm.
Sep 15, 2021 • 41min
Keeping an Eye on the Bottom Line: How Your P&L Statement Can Help Guide Your Business Decisions
Most advisors are excellent at evaluating investment options for clients but can fall short in assessing their own financial statements and what they are saying about the health of their businesses. Catherine Williams, Dimensional's Head of Practice Management, is joined by Philip Palaveev, founder and CEO of The Ensemble Practice, to explore how assessing a firm's profit and loss (P&L) statement and other financials could possibly be the key to growing faster, achieving greater profitability, and creating more opportunities for advisors and their teams.
Aug 17, 2021 • 36min
What Makes Diamond Teams Shine?
Many advisory practices use the popular "diamond team" structure to expand their capacity, add more clients, and effectively service those clients. But how do you implement a diamond team, and is it right for your organization? Catherine Williams, Dimensional's Head of Practice Management, is joined by Angie Herbers, founder and managing partner of Herbers and Company and originator of the diamond team concept. They discuss how having the right people in the right roles can create a high-functioning team that benefits both the organization and its clients.
Jul 20, 2021 • 35min
Gold Medal Advice on Finding Your Niche and Engaging with Your Ideal Clients
How do you differentiate yourself in a competitive market and build a profitable practice working with the types of clients that you want to help? Catherine Williams, Dimensional's Head of Practice Management, is joined by four-time Olympian Lauryn Williams of Worth Winning to discuss her path from gold medal-winning athlete to financial planner focused on offering advice and education to an underserved market segment.
Jun 14, 2021 • 28min
Retaining and Rewarding Talent Through Internal Equity Transactions
Sharing equity can help attract and retain talented team members, create a clear succession plan, and help de-risk ownership for advisory firms. But what's the best way to price and distribute equity to meet a firm's strategic objectives? John Furey of Advisor Growth Strategies joins Catherine Williams, Dimensional's Head of Practice Management, to discuss current trends in compensation and equity planning.
Apr 19, 2021 • 38min
Four Strategies for Becoming an Elite Financial Advisor
As founder and CEO of CEG Worldwide, John Bowen has spent decades coaching thousands of elite advisors. So what separates top financial advisors from the rest? In this conversation with Catherine Williams, Dimensional's Head of Practice Management, John shares the four business development strategies that he believes all elite advisors should follow. As an added bonus, you can visit www.cegworldwide.com/fasttrack to receive a complimentary copy of John's book "Become the Expert the Wealthy Want," and to arrange a business development strategy call with his team.
Mar 15, 2021 • 46min
Applying Lessons from 2020 to Grow Your Business Today
In 2020, we learned the importance of developing a team that can deliver value to your clients while implementing a systematic growth plan to guide the future of your business. Catherine Williams, Dimensional's Head of Practice Management, is joined by Stacy Francis of Francis Financial and Dave Welty of Avier Wealth Advisors to discuss how they approach their unique market niches and use social media and other tools to drive growth in their businesses.
Feb 16, 2021 • 43min
Creating Long-Term Value in Your Business Through Human Capital
Managing the culture and shared values of your organization is a key element of driving employee development and ultimately the long-term value of your business. In a virtual environment, goals-based management can help you deepen engagement with your teams and prioritize the values that create results. Catherine Williams, Dimensional's Head of Practice Management, is joined by J.D. Bruce of Abacus Wealth and Stacey McKinnon of Morton Capital to discuss how they successfully manage human capital at their firms.
