Duncan MacPherson is joined by Pareto coach and team dynamics specialist Elaine Christakos for a practical conversation on one of the most overlooked drivers of growth in financial advisory businesses: building and leading a high-performing team.

Together, they explore the shift from advisor to CEO, where leadership, delegation, and structure become the real drivers of scale. As firms grow more complex, Elaine shares how intentional team design, clear roles, and aligned communication create consistency in the client experience while freeing up capacity.

The conversation also dives into hiring, retention, and team cohesion, highlighting why behavioral alignment often matters more than technical skill, and how the wrong hires can quietly erode culture, trust, and enterprise value. Elaine breaks down the mindset shift required to let go, empower the right people, and build a business that can grow beyond the advisor.

Key highlights include:

This is a practical discussion for financial advisors looking to build a more scalable, self-sustaining business and lead with greater clarity and control.

Tune in for actionable insights on leadership, team structure, and scaling the right way.

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Connect With Elaine Christakos:

Elaine Christakos is a senior level results-oriented professional and strategist with two decades of management and coaching experience in the financial services sector. She has designed and implemented successful and proven practice management and relationship management training programs.

Elaine is also a behavioral strategist and high-performance team coach who helps financial advisory teams hire the right people, build strong team dynamics, and retain top talent. Her expertise in behavioral profiling, especially DISC, Emotional Intelligence, and Driving Forces, gives her clients a clear competitive edge in attracting and developing cohesive, high-functioning teams.

A Certified DISC Specialist and trainer, Elaine uses a practical, science-based approach to decode human behavior in a way that’s immediately applicable to hiring decisions, communication strategies, and leadership development. She works with elite advisors and their teams to build intentional cultures where each person operates in alignment with their natural strengths, leading to better fit, faster trust, and longer-term engagement.

Elaine’s foundation in practice management was shaped by early exposure to structured, client-centric systems, which ignited her passion for coaching and optimizing team performance. Today, as a coach with the Pareto Systems network, she blends behavioral insights with strategic consulting to help advisory teams grow with clarity and confidence.

What does it look like when a financial advisor builds a practice around purpose, not just profit?

Join host Duncan MacPherson as he sits down with Kimberly Safoyan, founder of Anchor Wealth Management Group in Palm Desert, California, and a seasoned advisor within The Wealth Consulting Group (WCG), affiliated with LPL Financial. Kimberly shares how she has built a values-driven wealth management practice focused on philanthropy, community involvement, and purpose-driven financial planning to strengthen client relationships and drive long-term retention. From launching the American Heroes UIT with First Trust to guiding clients through complex life transitions, Kim brings a practical, client-centric approach to modern advisory firms.

Key Takeaways for Financial Advisors:

Kimberly Safoyan demonstrates how top financial advisors go beyond portfolio management by aligning wealth with purpose and delivering a more meaningful client experience.

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About Our Guest:

Kimberly Safoyan is President and founder of Anchor Wealth Management Group, LLC and has over 30 years of financial services experience. She has served her clients as an independent wealth advisor since 1991. Her focus is to serve as your personal CFO, seeking to bring a full spectrum of wealth management capabilities and resources necessary to address your complex financial needs.

Some of Kim’s achievements include: Five Star Wealth Manager Award as featured in Palm Springs Life Magazine for years 2012, 2013, 2016 – 2021. She holds the Series 7, 24, and 63 securities registrations with LPL Financial, the Series 65 securities registration with WCG Wealth Advisors, and is registered to transact securities business with residents of the following states: AR, AZ, CA, CO, FL, ID, MI, NV, NY, TX, and WA. She also holds a California insurance license. Kim earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Communication Studies with an emphasis in business from California State University Northridge.

Raised in Michigan, Kim moved to the desert in 1982 and graduated from Indio High School. Kim is a strong community services advocate. She serves as an advisory board member for the Cathedral City Salvation Army Corp, is a past board member for the Palm Desert High School PTO and PDHS Foundation board member.

Most financial advisors are really good at their job, and that might be exactly what’s holding them back!

Duncan MacPherson is joined by Pareto coaches Jason Westover and Mike “Cy” Cajthaml Jr. for a candid, high-level conversation on what the best financial advisors are doing right now to stay ahead in a rapidly evolving industry.

Together, they unpack what it truly means to become the “advisor of the future”,  from growing up-market and attracting ideal clients, to making the pivotal shift from technician to CEO. As disruption accelerates and AI reshapes workflows, the discussion centers on how top-performing advisors are leveraging both technology and human insight to build scalable, enterprise-value businesses.

The conversation explores the widening gap between complacency and ambition, the power of intentional practice management, and why relationship excellence, not technical expertise alone, remains the ultimate differentiator. Jason and Mike also share real-world observations from coaching some of the most sophisticated advisory teams in North America, highlighting the habits, structures, and mindset shifts that separate sustainable firms from stalled practices.

Key highlights include:

This is a practical, forward-looking discussion for financial advisors who want to avoid plateauing, build enterprise value, and design a business that ultimately serves their life, not the other way around.

Tune in for strategic insight, tactical ideas, and a clear roadmap for what’s next in advisory leadership.

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Connect With Mike “Cy” Cajthaml Jr.:

About Our Guests:

Jason Westover has spent over 20 years helping financial advisors, sales teams, and wholesalers perform at their best. After discovering Pareto Systems 15 years ago, he became one of its strongest advocates, using its proven coaching methods to help top performers elevate their businesses. Today he’s also leading conversations on how AI tools can transform advisor effectiveness and client outcomes across the industry.

Jason lives near Kansas City with his wife and three children. Outside of work he’s a competition BBQ cook and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu competitor.

Mike “Cy” Cajthaml Jr. brings 17 years of financial services experience to his role as a Pareto coach. His background spans insurance marketing, nationwide advisor consulting, and working alongside his father as a financial advisor in Overland Park, KS. That blend of wholesale and retail experience gives Mike a unique perspective in helping advisory firms integrate the Pareto Process and build toward their ideal practice.

Mike lives in Overland Park with his wife Ashley and their two sons, Cameron and Carson. Outside of work he enjoys golf, a good cigar, and cheering on the Chicago Bears.

Listen on Apple Podcasts

What will separate the advisors who thrive over the next decade from those who get left behind?

Join Duncan as he sits down with Brad Johnson, co-founder of Triad Partners and host of the Do Business. Do Life. podcast, for a wide-ranging conversation on what it truly takes to build a sustainable, future-ready advisory business. Together, they explore how innovation, long-term thinking, and human-centered planning are redefining success in financial services. As demographic shifts accelerate and complexity increases for both advisors and clients, Brad shares insights on why advisors must evolve beyond portfolio management and toward holistic planning that balances growth, protection, income, and purpose.

The conversation also dives into the importance of resilience, perspective, and values, drawing on lessons from entrepreneurship, market cycles, and life itself. Brad outlines why the next decade may be the greatest opportunity Financial Advisors have ever seen, provided they embrace process, patience, and genuine service.

Key highlights include:

Tune in for a thoughtful, practical discussion on becoming a trusted, long-term partner to clients while building a business, and a life, that endures through every season.

Promotions:

Connect With Brad Johnson:

About Our Guest:

Brad Johnson is co-founder of Triad Partners and the host of the transformative “Do Business. Do Life.” podcast. Embodying a humble upbringing in rural Minneapolis, KS, on a farm alongside his parents and brother, Brad’s roots instilled unwavering values of hard work and treating others with respect.

With a profound belief in the power of the “and” approach to life and business, Brad has revolutionized the financial advisory landscape. At Triad Partners, he forges an intimate and carefully curated community, redefining partnerships. Guided by his enduring principles, Brad empowers advisors to embrace growth, freedom, and joy in their professional and personal lives.

Prior to founding Triad, Brad was a Vice President of Advisor Development for over 13 years at Advisors Excel, one of the country’s largest Field Marketing Organizations.  In that role, Brad coached a group of independent advisors who gather more than $1 billion of assets annually. Before joining Advisors Excel to work closely with advisors, Brad was an analyst at Payless Shoe Source for three years.

Brad received his Bachelor of Science in Computer Information Systems from Emporia State University, where he played football. Brad currently lives in Silver Lake, Kansas with his wife, Sarah, and their three children.

What if your client could sell a highly appreciated asset without triggering capital gains tax? And what if you were the advisor who made that possible?

In this episode of the “Always On Podcast,” host Duncan McPherson sits down with Roger Silk, the CEO and co-founder of Sterling Foundation Management. They discuss the evolving role of financial advisors and the increasingly complex needs of high-net-worth clients. As financial landscapes shift, advisors must adapt to new challenges and opportunities, particularly when it comes to managing significant liquidity events.

Roger Silk shares his expertise on asset diversification trusts, a powerful tool that allows clients to sell appreciated assets without incurring capital gains tax. This episode highlights the importance of proactive planning and the strategic value of long-term partnerships between financial advisors and their clients.

Key highlights include:

Tune in and discover the insights needed to become trusted partners in their clients’ financial journeys, ensuring both immediate and long-term success.

Promotions:

Connect With Duncan MacPherson:

Connect With Roger Silk, Ph.D.:

About Our Guest:

Roger D. Silk, Ph.D. , is the CEO of Sterling Foundation Management, LLC and President of Lifetime Perspectives, Inc. Dr. Silk is widely recognized as a leading expert and innovator in the emerging field at the intersection of finance and philanthropy.

Dr. Silk has more than three decades of experience working with and advising wealthy clients, high net worth families, and the advisors who work with them on a variety of issues ranging from the use of private foundations to the integration of sophisticated charitable planning into multi-generational estate plans. He has worked with numerous investment, accounting, financial planning, and legal professionals to educate them, their firms, and their clients about the benefits and characteristics of a full suite of solutions, entities and planning tools.

Dr. Silk is the author of several books, including The Investor’s Dilemma Decoded (Wiley, 2024), Managing Foundations and Charitable Trusts (Bloomberg Press, 2011), Creating a Private Foundation (Bloomberg Press, 2003), and Politicians Spend, We Pay (Sterling Lifetime Press, 2022). He has published dozens of articles that have appeared in periodicals such as Estate Planning, Philanthropy, the Journal of Financial Planning and Trusts & Estates. He has spoken to audiences around the country on the types and uses of charitable entities, and he frequently conducts educational seminars for financial professionals focusing on integrating the full suite of charitable entities into the financial planning process.

Prior to co-founding Sterling, Dr. Silk was a Treasury officer at the World Bank, where he was responsible for a multi-billion-dollar repo portfolio.

Dr. Silk holds a Ph.D. and an M.A. in Applied Economics from Stanford University, as well as a B.A. in Economics (with distinction). He earned his CFA in 1990.

Nearly 90% of heirs leave their parents’ financial advisor. The real risk in the Great Wealth Transfer is not market volatility. It is irrelevance.

Join Duncan MacPherson as he speaks with Natasha Kennedy, Pareto-certified coach and family legacy specialist, for a timely conversation on the greatest risk facing financial advisors during the great wealth transfer.

Natasha breaks down why most heirs ultimately leave their parents’ advisor, how silence and avoidance around legacy planning erode trust, and why preparing heirs has become a critical differentiator in today’s advisory landscape.

Together, they unpack how advisors can embed continuity, succession, and family investment legacy into their value proposition in a way that deepens relationships, strengthens referability, and positions them as indispensable stewards of multi-generational wealth.

Key takeaways:

Tune into now to unlock the secrets to keeping clients for generations by addressing the blind spot most advisors overlook.

Promotions:

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About Our Guest:

Natasha Kennedy, who brings more than a decade of financial services experience, beginning her career on Wall Street and then working with First Trust Advisors, and now focused on psychology and counselling.

Today, Natasha is a consultant with Pareto Systems helping advisors to strengthen client relationships, and build purposeful businesses. With her background in both finance and psychology, Natasha is the ideal person to guide us through the human side of this great wealth transfer, specifically on adding Intergenerational Planning & Family Meetings into your process.

In this episode of the Always On podcast, Duncan speaks with Scott Danner, CEO, author, and advisor to enterprise-level leaders, for a fast-paced conversation on what every financial professional needs to know about the accelerating wave of M&A activity.

Scott breaks down why enterprise value has become the ultimate scorecard in today’s advisory landscape, how top Financial Advisory teams are preparing years in advance for transitions, and the mindset shift required to move from being the indispensable advisor to the architect of a scalable, transferable business.

Together, they unpack the leadership habits, team structure, and client experience strategies that determine whether you survive the industry’s consolidation or thrive in it.

Key takeaways:

If you are a Financial Advisor looking to strengthen your succession strategy, understand premium valuations, or future-proof your business, this episode is a must-listen.

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Connect With Scott Danner:

Scott Danner is the Host of The High Performance LIFE Podcast and Executive VP, Head of Legacy at Steward Partners

Scott Danner is a dynamic entrepreneur, performance coach, and speaker who believes success means nothing without alignment in all areas of life- health, relationships, purpose, and legacy. As host of The High Performance LIFE podcast, he sits down with world-class leaders in business, sports, and personal development to explore the habits, mindset, and values that drive true fulfillment.

Professionally, Scott is a powerhouse in the financial services industry. He currently leads the M&A Division at Steward Partners and is the former founder and CEO of Freedom Street Partners, which he scaled into a firm managing nearly $3.5 billion in AUM and spanning seven states. His reputation as an M&A strategist and advisor advocate is grounded in a passion for building your legacy, not just building wealth, but building people.

Beyond business, Scott’s life is rooted in faith, family, and service. He’s a devoted husband and father, a man who understands that achievement means little without deep, personal purpose. His commitment to giving back is reflected in the wine festival he co-founded, which has donated over $2.7 million for local charities over the past 15 years.

Scott is also the author of Freedom Street and a recognized voice on topics including leadership, succession, and personal growth. Through his podcast, he helps listeners uncover what it means to live a High Performance LIFE, where success isn’t just measured by accomplishments, but by alignment, impact, and legacy.

Join host Duncan MacPherson and his guest Rob Montella of First Trust as they discuss moving upstream in client engagement, emphasizing the need to understand client needs and enhance services through advisory councils. Rob shares insights from his time at Goldman Sachs and First Trust, highlighting the importance of adapting strategies for high-net-worth clients.

Rob introduces “higher and fire” criteria, explaining how advisors can differentiate themselves with specialized services. The conversation also covers AI’s role in refining advisory approaches to better serve clients.

They also focus on legacy planning and engaging the next generation. Rob stresses the importance of documenting legacy wishes and adapting services based on client feedback.

Key Points:

Tune in to discover how to elevate your advisory practice, leverage AI, and create lasting client relationships. This conversation is packed with insights that will inspire you to take your financial advising to the next level!

Resources Mentioned: Pareto Systems AI Whitepaper: paretosystems.com/ai-strategies-for-financial-professionals

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Connect With Robert Montella:

About Our Guest:

Rob Montella is a Vice President and Performance Coach at First Trust. For nearly 30 years, he has assisted financial professionals, business leaders, and institutions in maximizing efficiency and business growth. Rob’s objective for every client relationship is to become so essential to their success that he becomes their “first call” for anything related to the “business of running the business.” While any topic of conversation is within scope, Rob specializes in:

Rob spent 15 years at Goldman Sachs as a Senior Strategist in their global consulting business, where he has captured and documented the practices of the elite around the world. His groundbreaking work in emotional intelligence in the financial services industry was featured in the book Educating People to be Emotionally Intelligent.

In this episode, Duncan MacPherson sits down with Frank LaRosa, CEO of Elite Consulting Partners and host of Advisor Talk with Frank LaRosa Podcast, for a powerful conversation about navigating transitions in the financial services space.

Frank shares his experience helping financial advisors make meaningful and measurable moves, whether scaling up, going independent, or rethinking their next chapter. Together, Duncan and Frank explore how to:

They also dig into the mindset behind real growth, balancing what you’re getting with who you’re becoming, and how financial advisors can think bigger about enterprise value, leadership, and personal fulfillment.

If you’re considering your next move, this episode will help you make it the right one.

Resources Mentioned:

Promotions:

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Connect With Frank LaRosa:

About Our Guest:

Frank LaRosa is the Chief Executive Officer of Elite Consulting Partners, a nationally recognized leader in financial advisor recruiting, transition consulting, and M&A advisory. With more than 25 years of experience in the wealth management industry, Frank brings a unique perspective rooted in his early career as a financial advisor and branch manager at major firms including Morgan Stanley, Smith Barney, and Prudential Securities.

Since founding Elite Consulting Partners in 2011, Frank has led the firm to complete thousands of advisor transitions, helping practices grow, scale, and realize their enterprise value. Under his leadership, Elite has become a trusted resource for financial professionals navigating the complexities of independence, firm movement, and succession planning.

Frank is also the host of the popular industry podcast Advisor Talk with Frank LaRosa, where he shares unfiltered insights on trends shaping financial services, advisor success stories, and interviews with top leaders in the space. He is a member of the Forbes Business Council and author of the book Counterpunch: How to Fight Back and Win as an Advisor, offering guidance for advisors looking to build resilient and impactful practices.

Recognized for his “advisor-first” philosophy and strategic vision, Frank continues to serve as a sought-after voice in wealth management driving meaningful conversations around growth, innovation, and the future of the advisory profession.

In this episode of the Always On Podcast, host Duncan McPherson sits down with Jeff Ambrose to discuss the “advisor flight plan.” This strategic framework is designed to help financial advisors transition smoothly to new environments. Jeff shares his expertise on the evolving financial landscape and the importance of aligning professional settings with personal and client goals.

Discover the key elements of the “advisor flight plan” for a seamless transition.

Key Takeaways:

Tune in to gain insights on navigating professional transitions with confidence and clarity.

Resources:

Connect With Duncan MacPherson:

Connect With Jeff Ambrose:

About Our Guest:

Jeff Ambrose has 20 years of experience in the financial services industry working with successful advisory teams through his wholesale relationships. He has consistently met and exceeded goals in every aspect of his career; growing revenue with existing clients, attracting new clients, and turning around failing territories resulting in consistent promotions leading up to Senior Vice President and, most recently, Partner.