Financial Advisor Success

My guest today has built her practice to more than $250,000/year of recurring financial planning fees in just her first three years—and she did it while also starting a family. The founder of FIT Advisors, Anjali Jariwala provides financial investment and tax planning advice for young physicians and small business owners in their thirties for an annual retainer fee that starts at $10,000/year. Working entirely virtually with clients, her firm has achieved impressive growth, due in major part to focusing in on a niche from the start, which allowed the firm to pursue unique marketing channels that most other financial advisors don't use.

In this episode, Anjali shares how she positioned her advisory firm squarely in the niche of serving independent physicians and similar small business owners by leveraging her background as a CPA and a CFP certificate, as well as how she iterated her business model very rapidly in the first few years until she eventually eliminated all the upfront fees and just raised her ongoing retainer instead. Listen in to learn how she structures her upfront and ongoing planning meetings with clients, how she balanced her work life with her home life after having her first baby barely a year after the launch of the firm, and how she reinvested into and restructured her staff support to be able to continue serving her clients during her time off.

For show notes and more visit: https://www.kitces.com/79

My guest today brings a unique discussion to the podcast, as well as a fascinating history with an organization that a lot of advisors aren't necessarily familiar with, but can surely learn from when it comes to really listening to the clients you're serving. Charlotte Beyer is the founder and former CEO of the Institute for Private Investors, a private networking organization for ultra-high-net-worth investors and advisors who serve them. After building a new category of community group twenty-five years ago—in a space where people said it couldn't be done—Charlotte now has a highly successful business and an in-depth understanding of the unique challenges and concerns of her particular client base.

In this episode, she shares her impressive professional journey as she built a series of conferences and networking events in an online community for ultra-high-net-worth individuals before the world of social media and online communities, as well as insights from her recently updated book, Wealth Management Unwrapped. Listen in to learn how the needs and concerns for people of high net worth differ from those of other clients advisors serve, what Charlotte sees as the future of working with ultra-high-net-worth investors, and lessons any advisor can draw from regarding the importance of adapting what you offer to fit what your specific clients really want and need.

For show notes and more visit: https://www.kitces.com/78

Tanya Rapacz is the co-founder of The Partnership Resource, a unique business in the industry that does facilitation and mediation for advisory firm partners. Given her own experience working as a financial advisor—as well as her experience with a partnership merger that didn't work out—Tanya understood the challenges that can arise from partnerships even before she was trained in dispute resolution mediation.

In this episode, she talks in depth about what it takes for a partnership to work. Listen in to hear details about Tanya's process for working with financial advisor partners to facilitate healthy communication and conflict resolution, the surprising truth about what kinds of people make the best business partners, and key areas that should be worked out early on for a partnership to be successful.

For show notes and more visit: https://www.kitces.com/77

My guest today brings a truly unique perspective to the financial planning world. In addition to being an associate professor in the financial planning program at Kansas State University, Kristy Archuleta is a licensed marriage and family therapist. Her background as a trained psychologist means she understands how to help clients improve their financial behaviors in a way that isn't typically seen with advisors.

In this episode, Kristy shares the details of the work she does at the intersection of financial planning and financial therapy, as well as why—according to the best practices research of therapists themselves—the typical advisor approach is actually not a good way to get people to change their financial behaviors for the better. Listen in to hear what she says makes clients more likely to implement financial planning advice, why she anticipates that financial therapy will eventually become a specialization path for financial planners, and more.

For show notes and more visit: https://www.kitces.com/76

Kathy Longo is the president and founder of Flourish Wealth Management, an advisory firm in the Minneapolis area that oversees nearly $130 million of AUM for 61 affluent clients. Surprisingly, Kathy chose to start this firm after successfully climbing the partnership track ladder to become one of the next generation successor owners of an independent RIA worth over $1 billion.

In this episode, Kathy shares what led to her choosing to leave a successful firm to pursue her own entrepreneurial goals, as well as the challenges she faced in doing so. Listen in to hear how she has grown her business, why it's so important to find study groups of peers and colleagues, and the crucial philosophy she says all small business owners should embrace.

For show notes and more visit: https://www.kitces.com/75

Today's guest brings a unique perspective to the show. Not many financial advisor coaches have experience actually being an advisor, but Diane MacPhee is one of the few who understands both sides of the divide. Now the founder of DMAC Consulting Services—a financial advisor coaching and practice management consulting firm—Diane spent over fifteen years as a fee-only financial advisor herself.

In this episode, Diane shares the common challenges of being a successful solo financial advisor, as well as the self-limiting beliefs we sometimes inflict on ourselves that prevent us from growing and being as successful as we could be. Listen in to hear her tips for how to deal with the feeling of overwhelm that can come with growing your business, how to avoid becoming a bottleneck in your own practice, and what she says is the key to financial advisors achieving continued success.

For show notes and more visit: https://www.kitces.com/74

My guest today is well known in the financial services industry as a true creative force. Sheri Fitts is the founder of ShoeFitts Marketing—a marketing consulting firm for financial advisors—and the Chief Marketing Officer for Sheridan Road Advisors—a Chicago-area advisory firm with nearly $13 billion in AUM. With more than 25 years of industry experience, Sheri specializes in crafting unforgettable marketing strategies that really stand out.

In this episode, she shares her journey from working a traditional corporate job to going out on her own as an independent consultant, as well as the key marketing concepts that have helped her get to where she is today. Listen in to hear Sheri's take on how to leverage and maximize marketing ideas, the fundamental difference between sales and marketing, and what advisory firms need to cultivate in order to succeed.

For show notes and more visit: https://www.kitces.com/73

Today's guest lives in a very interesting space that is becoming a bit of a hot trend in the industry these days. Dave DeVoe is the founder of DeVoe & Co., a practice management consulting firm for RIAs with a focus on business valuation succession planning and facilitating mergers and acquisitions of advisory firms. After his time leading the Schwab Advisor Services Mergers & Acquisitions program—and now working as an independent consultant who runs one of the industry's leading deal book tracking studies on financial advisor M & A activity—Dave has a deep history in consulting on and tracking the trends of advisory firm mergers and acquisitions and the value of firms themselves.

In this episode, Dave talks about the mechanics of advisory firm deals from the buyer's perspective, including the main considerations that go into valuation. Listen in to hear his expert perspective on the buyer and seller trends in the industry, the flaws in the traditional 2x revenue valuation estimate for a firm, and why he sees it as both a buyer's market and a seller's market right now.

For show notes and more visit: https://www.kitces.com/72

Peggy Ruhlin, CFP board member and CEO of Budros, Ruhlin and Roe, joins us on the show to share her experience and financial planning journey. She goes into depth about her firms unique process that ensures all clients get the same treatment and experience. Peggy gives us the details of what they offer regarding planning and investment services and talks about how their clients actually requested they get more involved in the investment area.

For show notes and more visit: https://www.kitces.com/71

My guest on today's podcast has had what I consider one of the most fascinating journeys into the financial services industry. After making several major shifts in her career—which she began as a freelance and professional cellist who played in the Chicago Symphony Orchestra— Sue Stevens founded Stevens Wealth Management, an advisory firm in the Chicago area that serves 150 clients with nearly $350 million in AUM.

In this episode, Sue shares how her unique ability to take leaps of faith led to her leadership roles at Morningstar, Vanguard, Arthur Andersen, and now Buckingham Strategic Wealth. Listen in to hear how she navigated multiple career changes, what she did to craft her own dream job description as the owner of an advisory firm, and her advice for tuning in to your own intuition on your path to success.

For show notes and more visit: https://www.kitces.com/70