So called robo-advisors are not something to fear, but instead something that is giving us the opportunity to optimize for what is uniquely human: empathy and trust. Listening time: 5:58

Confirmation bias is super hard do deal with...and as financial advisor it is critical that we are at least aware of our own tendency to fall prey to it. Listening time: 12:03

Instead of learning how to justify the fee you charge a client, get so good at your craft that your value isn't a question.

This is Carl and you are listening to The Podcast for Real Financial Advisors all over the world and I want to talk about that statement, real financial advisors, there. I get asked about this like, "What does that mean? What does real financial advisor mean?" There are some really important things that it means and then there's a bunch of supporting stuff that I feel really strongly about, but isn't critical. I want to separate the two for a minute.

I am recording this in India as part of my tour of India, meeting financial advisors. I've met with hundreds of them in India. It's been amazing. I'm here to tell you that real financial advisors do indeed exist all over the world. I have met them in India, and they're amazing.

One of the things that I have been thinking a lot about today and talked with a good friend here in India on walk today, we walked through a section of Mumbai, and while we were walking, we were talking about the role of money and happiness. This hopefully will just serve as a reminder to all of you, but money does not equal happiness, right.

I'm on day, I think three or four in India and it has been amazing and I wish I knew exactly how to frame my thoughts around it. Other than just to say, if you've got a chance to come to India, take it, come. You need to come and see this place. The warmth of the people, the energy, the contradictions that you're sort of faced with each day, amazing, amazing. One of the things that I had a really interesting conversation last night, my event that I was speaking up wrapped up at about ... I was done talking at about, I think it was maybe 9:15 or 9:30 at night and then there was dinner afterwards. I was like, "It's 9:30 wait, we're having dinner?" Everybody there, there's somewhere around 100-150 people there and everybody had dinner. I was like, "Wow isn't it a little late for dinner?" They said, "No, no, no, this is what time we eat."

I am on a trip, a business trip to India. On my way, I had a all day layover in Singapore. I left the airport and went to visit some of the communities in the city on a recommendation from a good friend of mine. I went and visited what was referred to as the Arab Quarter, Chinatown and Little India. In the Little India, I had an amazing conversation outside a Hindu temple. I don't know much about the Hindu religion, but I was blown away by the warmth, and energy, and light at the Hindu temple. It was described to me as a Southern India Hindu temple. Again, I'm not exactly sure what that means exactly, but that was how it was described to me. I went in and I was just blown away by the energy there and all the things going on. It was amazing. I was trying to figure it out and super curious.

This is a field report, if you will. I am on a trip to India, a work trip so none of my family came along with me, and I'm here as a guest of some really incredible people doing some amazing work in the financial services industry, speaking broadly. This trip has reminded me of what I've learned, I don't know if it's a hundred times, but maybe it's more than a hundred times over the last couple of years. I'm reminded of it in New Zealand, and I'm reminded of it in Australia, and I've been reminded all over Europe and South Africa, and that is that real financial advisors are struggling with the same things all over the world, and also enjoying the same huge, massive opportunity with the changes that are going on in our industry.

In Defense Of Luck by Carl Richards: Human Behavior, Creativity, Behavioral Finance