Ep 373: Transitioning To Launch A New RIA By Taking On Passive Investors For Startup Capital With Ben Hockema
Release Date: 02/20/2024
Ep 417: Establishing Your Authority As An Expert By Following A Short Book Formula For Authorship with Paul G McManus
Financial Advisor Success
Paul G McManus is the CEO of More Clients More Fun, a marketing company that helps financial advisors conceptualize and publish their own book in a consolidated 6-week process. Paul advises financial advisors to write books not for potential royalties, but rather to establish their authority, differentiate themselves from competitors, and enhance client engagement. In this episode, he talks about how even a short book can achieve these goals, as well as how advisors can use books they've written to foster initial trust with prospects. Listen in as Paul shares how he assists advisors in...
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Ep 416: Avoiding The Compliance Headaches When Going RIA By Choosing A ‘Supported Independence’ Corporate RIA Platform with Fran Toler
Financial Advisor Success
Fran Toler is the CEO of Toler Financial Group, a DBA firm under the RIA Rossby Financial, that oversees nearly $200 million in assets under management for 280 households. Fran discusses how she transitioned from an independent broker-dealer model to a 'supported independence' corporate RIA platform to reduce her compliance burdens while paying lower platform fees by partnering with a service provider that doesn't charge for functions her staff already performs. This strategic move enables her to have greater autonomy without the full list of compliance responsibilities associated with...
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Ep 415: Systematizing A Firm-Wide Planning Process By Leveraging Centralized Teams And A Ticketing Workflow System with Erika Wood
Financial Advisor Success
Erika Wood is the Director of Wealth Management of VisionPoint Advisory Group, a hybrid advisory firm based in Dallas that oversees approximately $3 billion in assets under advisement for both 780 client households and retirement plans. Erika’s firm stands out for its use of centralized financial planning and service teams, along with a ticketing workflow system, to streamline a firm-wide planning process, efficiently serving a private wealth client base with $600M in assets under management. Listen in as Erika shares how her firm streamlines client meetings and task completion, ensuring...
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Ep 414: Narrowing Down The Focus To Byte-Sized Planning For Tech Employees To 10X To $50M AUM In Just 3 Years with Eric Franklin
Financial Advisor Success
Eric Franklin is the Managing Partner of Prospero Wealth, an RIA based out of Seattle that oversees $52 million in assets under management for 80 households. Eric uniquely grew his assets under management to $50 million in just three years by targeting employees at big tech firms and adapting his planning process into smaller, manageable segments. This approach, which spreads out financial planning over time, proved more valuable for his busy clients, preventing them from feeling overwhelmed. Listen in as Eric shares how he enhances client engagement by focusing on a few planning priorities at...
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Ep 413: Building An Internal Advisor Training Program To Solve The Talent Pipeline As A Growing $4B Advisory Firm with Kevin Leahy
Financial Advisor Success
Kevin Leahy is the CEO of Connecticut Wealth Management, an RIA based out of Connecticut that oversees approximately $4 billion in assets under management for 1,100 households. Kevin's firm stands out for its systematized training program designed to onboard and develop young talent straight out of college, effectively maintaining a robust advisory talent pipeline. This approach has supported the firm through organic growth and strategic acquisitions, ensuring a smooth transition of clients from retiring advisors to new ones, all while keeping a low client-to-advisor ratio of 35-to-1. Listen...
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Ep 412: 3X’ing The Business With No More Than 50 Great Clients By Hyperfocusing On Who You Can Add The Most Value For with Anjali Jariwala
Financial Advisor Success
Anjali Jariwala is the Founder of FIT Advisors, a California-based RIA that operates virtually nationwide, managing $65 million in assets for 45 client households. Over the past six years, Anjali has tripled her annual revenue from $250,000 to $750,000 while only adding a net of 10 client households by focusing on physicians with complex tax needs and small business owners with revenues of $5M-$20M. She achieved this growth by enhancing her service offerings with advanced financial planning and CFO services, while raising her fees to reflect the increased value. Listen in as Anjali shares how...
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Ep 411: Getting Clients Comfortable With Market Risk Using A More (Options-Based) Measured Risk Approach with Larry Kriesmer
Financial Advisor Success
Larry Kriesmer is the Chairman of Measured Risk Portfolios, an RIA based out of San Diego that oversees $350 million in assets under management for a combination of internal retail clients and external financial advisor clients. What's unique about Larry, though, is how he is able to get clients comfortable with taking equity market risk using an approach that actually puts 85% or more of client funds in Treasuries (effectively creating a floor on potential losses) while investing the rest into options on equity indexes to offer potential upside that still can approximate the returns of a...
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Ep 410: Delivering Financial Planning Profitably To Every Client With A Focus On Accountability Over ‘Just’ Meetings with Emily Biehler
Financial Advisor Success
Emily Biehler is the co-founder of TrailWise Financial Partners, an RIA based out of Colorado that oversees approximately $80 million in assets under management for 200 client households. What's unique about Emily, though, is how her firm ensures every client can be served profitably through a combination of a complexity-based minimum fee arrangement, coupleed with a strucutred data gathering, plan delivery, and client communication processes that encourage client accountability and follow-through on action items recommended by their advisor severy client really sees the value they receive for...
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Ep 409: Adding 1,400 New Clients in a Year as an Extension of Doing (Profitable) Student Loan Consulting at Scale with Travis Hornsby
Financial Advisor Success
Travis Hornsby is the founder of Student Loan Planner, an RIA and student loan consulting company based out of North Carolina that serves nearly 1,400 households with ongoing financial planning and has consulted with over 15,000 clients on student loan debt. Travis quickly expanded his financial planning client base to 1,400 in just over a year by leveraging his extensive pool of student loan consulting clients, which had significantly grown over the past decade. Listen in as Travis shares how he carved out a niche in student loan planning, which laid the groundwork for transitioning into...
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Ep 408: Merging Into A Mid-Sized Firm To Grow Something Together (And Have A Real Piece Of It) with Maddi Keegan
Financial Advisor Success
Maddi Keegan is a financial advisor and the Director of Operations at Frazier Financial Advisors, an RIA based out of Ohio that oversees $860 million in assets under management for 650 client households. After building a successful solo advisory firm, Maddi merged her business with Frazier Financial Advisors, where she secured a stake and stepped into both advisory and operational roles to help scale the business. Listen in as Maddi shares how her strategic merger with Frazier Financial Advisors allowed her to expand her impact, blending her expertise with the firm's resources to enhance...
info_outlineBen Hockema is the Founder of Illuminate Wealth Management, an RIA based out of Illinois that oversees $100 million in assets under management for 55 households. Ben's unique journey in the advisory world saw him rise from intern to partner over 13 years at a growing firm, only to discover a cultural mismatch. He navigated this challenge by engaging passive equity investors for his new startup RIA, enabling him to acquire a portion of his client base and establish the business he truly envisioned.
Listen in as Ben shares his strategic journey in the financial advisory world and details his rapid growth from $16M to $100M in assets under management in three years. You'll also hear about his evolution from intern to partner, his realization of a misalignment with his firm's vision, and how he navigated the emotional challenges of leaving long-standing business relationships, finding invaluable support in a peer advisor study group and learning the power of asking 'dumb' questions for career growth.
For show notes and more visit: https://www.kitces.com/373