Financial Planner Search

In this episode of Financial Planner Search, John Llodra, CFP®, co-founder of New Harbor Financial Group in Worcester, Massachusetts, explains why he refuses to hand his clients' money off to a third-party manager. He spent the first decade of his career in the energy industry the last stretch of it at Enron. He watched good, ethical coworkers lose their life savings to somebody else's fraud, then took a severance, read a book called Do What You Are, and walked away from several hundred thousand dollars a year of guaranteed income to start over at essentially zero.

That experience shows up in how he runs the firm today. John and his founding partner Mike Preston are both engineers by training, and they bring what John calls "healthy skepticism" to markets — show me the data, where are we in the cycle, what does market history actually say. They'll tell a prospective client that US stock valuations look richer today than at any point in history, including 1929, and that the honest read on the next decade isn't a comfortable one. John's line for people who have already built the nest egg: your biggest risk is screwing it up, not missing out on late-stage gains.

He also talks about what he never expected to enjoy most — teaching. His dad was a teacher and the math never worked out for John to become one, so instead he built a YouTube channel approaching 10,000 subscribers, with monthly unscripted live Q&As where clients can put him on the spot. He and Mike stay personally reachable for investment conversations, because "the buck stops with us."

Takeaways

* Healthy Skepticism, Backed by Data

* Defense Before Offense for People Who Already Won

* Teaching as the Growth Engine

* Direct Access to the People Making the Decisions

* No-Pressure Conversations, No Arm-Twisting

Chapters

* 00:00 New Harbor Financial Group and hands-on money management

* 01:41 Engineering, Cornell, and the road to Enron

* 03:19 What Enron actually felt like from the inside

* 05:15 Founding New Harbor in 2005 with Mike Preston

* 06:29 Why engineers keep becoming advisors

* 07:52 Clients nationwide and why they leave their last advisor

* 09:21 Valuations, market history, and your real risk

* 12:20 Conversations with no pressure to close

* 13:38 The YouTube channel and monthly live Q&As

* 16:43 The questions people actually ask

* 17:42 "Your job is to gather assets" — and why he rejected it

* 18:50 Vision: $830 million today, and hiring humans over AI bots

* 22:39 Onboarding, fiduciary duty, and Schwab as custodian

* 24:54 Transferring in kind and protecting clients from tax surprises

* 26:50 Accessibility, quarterly reviews, and open-door access

* 30:01 How to get in touch

You can find them at: https://www.newharborfinancial.com

If you are a financial advisor looking to grow your business you can find out more about Wilnau Design at https://www.wilnaudesign.com/

#financialplanning #finance #financialplannersearch #riskmanagement #retirement

In this episode of Financial Planner Search, Mikey Manghum, Vice President and Financial Advisor at Regent Private Wealth in Tulsa, Oklahoma, discusses bringing a family-office style of planning to households that aren't yet worth $30 million. Born in the UK to a professional basketball player father, Mikey stumbled into financial planning as a college freshman and built a practice around the conviction that the people who most need a coordinated team of advisors are the ones who haven't yet "arrived."

Regent Private Wealth launched less than two years ago as a spin-off from a fast-growing community bank, and Mikey walks through the three client avatars his team serves best: HENRYs (high earners, not rich yet) juggling a business and a young family, empty-nesters preparing to pass on wealth without ruining the next generation, and nonprofits needing professional stewardship of donated funds. His team plays the role of "personal CFO" — pulling tax, estate, investment, and insurance voices around one table, then reverse-engineering the financial plan from the life the client says they want to live, not from a retirement "number" on a pedestal.

Takeaways

* A family office shouldn't be reserved for $30M+ households — the people who need it most haven't gotten there yet

* The plan starts with the life you want, not the number you're chasing

* Three clear client avatars: HENRYs, transitioning empty nesters, and mission-driven nonprofits

* A "personal CFO" model brings tax, estate, investment, and insurance voices into one aligned conversation

* Quarterly meetings, value-add webinars, and a manageable book let advisors go deep instead of wide

Chapters

* 00:00 Introduction to Regent Private Wealth

* 00:50 From Basketball to Financial Planning

* 02:02 How Regent Private Wealth Came to Be

* 03:48 Three Client Avatars: HENRYs, Empty Nesters, Nonprofits

* 07:07 What Keeps Clients Up at Night

* 11:43 How Clients Find the Practice

* 13:53 Vision: Advisory Teams in New Markets

* 17:23 The Family Office Approach and Process

* 21:02 Beyond the Number: Casting Vision Across Life

* 24:30 Working Together Through the Year

* 26:58 Where to Find Mikey

You can find them at: https://RegentPrivateWealth.com

If you are a financial advisor looking to grow your business you can find out more about Wilnau Design at https://www.wilnaudesign.com/

#financialplanning #finance #financialplannersearch #familyoffice #HENRYs #legacyplanning

In this episode of Financial Planner Search, Steven Jarvis CPA and founder of Retirement Tax Services makes a case most accountants would find heretical: the most valuable thing a CPA can do is say no.

Steven jokes that he's "the least boring CPA you know," and he's got the race medals (and one hard-earned skull) on his office wall to prove it. But the real story is why he walked away from partner track at a big national firm. After a decade on giant corporate projects, he was tired of shipping a PDF and never knowing if he'd actually helped a single human being. So he started over with one narrow focus: sitting beside financial advisors and their clients to make sure the tax side of someone's life is handled right and nothing else. No international tax. No trying to be everything to everyone. He turns away business every year to protect the quality of the work. Greg and Steven get into why that discipline earns trust, how being blunt and consistent online lets the right clients pick themselves, and the small scheduling change that quietly ended the most stressful part of tax season.

Takeaways

* Why saying "no" wins better clients

* Taxes handled with your advisor, not around them

* The scheduling fix that ends the tax-season silence

* Specialize in people, not just paperwork

Chapters

* 00:00 Meet the Least Boring CPA

* 01:49 From Big Firm to Real Impact

* 08:11 Who Steven Serves and the Right-Fit Client

* 13:15 Why Being Blunt Attracts the Right People

* 16:23 The Bigger Vision

* 19:06 Peers, Partners, and Shout-Outs

* 21:22 What It's Like to Work Together

* 25:15 The Story Behind the Medals and the Skull

You can find them at: retirementtaxservices.com

If you are a financial advisor looking to grow your business you can find out more about Wilnau Design at https://www.wilnaudesign.com/

#financialplanning #finance #financialplannersearch #cpa #taxes

In this episode of Financial Planner Search, Steve Ankerstar, founder of Ankerstar Wealth and a retired Air Force fighter pilot, discusses how "getting angry" at the finance industry led him to build a flat-fee, fiduciary firm for the mass affluent.

Frustrated by the "we're smart, you're dumb, just hand us your money" mentality and by mutual funds that quietly overexposed him to a single stock while charging nearly 1%, Steve set out to do it better. Today his eight-person team (six of whom are former military or teachers) serves over 300 clients with a service-first, "we're just like your neighbor" approach.

Steve breaks down his core-and-satellite investment philosophy: a big-box-style core portfolio paired with a satellite sleeve built around themes clients actually get excited about cybersecurity, quantum computing, humanoids, space, and crypto. He also shares his contrarian service model (he rarely holds scheduled review meetings, opting instead for fast, on-demand answers via email and text), his efficient two-to-three-day digital onboarding, and how a partnership with Autopilot created a second, fully digital revenue stream for the next generation of investors.

Takeaways

* Flat-Fee, Fiduciary, and Proud of It

* Core-and-Satellite Investing Built Around Client Interests

* A Service Model That Respects Your Time

* Building for the Next Generation of Investors

Chapters

* 00:00 Meet Steve Ankerstar & Ankerstar Wealth

* 00:53 Why He Started: Getting "Angry" at the Industry

* 03:29 Who He Serves: The Mass Affluent

* 05:59 Common Client Situations (Inheritances)

* 07:57 The Three Fee Questions Everyone Asks

* 09:33 How Clients Find Him: Website, Word of Mouth & YouTube

* 12:53 Vision & Growing Without Losing the Culture

* 15:06 Crypto, Autopilot & a New Digital Offering

* 18:56 The Onboarding Process: Core & Satellite

* 22:21 What Working Together Looks Like Ongoing

* 24:45 How to Get Started

You can find them at: https://www.ankerstarwealth.com/

If you are a financial advisor looking to grow your business you can find out more about Wilnau Design at https://www.wilnaudesign.com/

#financialplanning #finance #financialplannersearch #flatfee #fiduciary #investing

In this episode of Financial Planner Search, Michael Bellody, founder and CEO of Imperia Wealth Management in Braintree, Massachusetts, discusses bringing institutional-level portfolio management to clients who traditionally wouldn't have access to it. Inspired by his upbringing in Hartford and a desire to give people like his parents the same white-glove advice wealthy institutions receive, Michael built a practice grounded in deep portfolio management expertise a discipline he's practiced since age 25.

Michael walks through the three client types he serves, pre-retirees, business owners (with a focus on exit planning), and nonprofits and explains why most portfolios he sees were "pulled off a shelf" rather than built for the current market cycle. He shares his dynamic, tactical, style-agnostic approach to investing, the tax-efficiency gaps he finds in retirement distributions, and the educational workshops that consistently fill rooms of 40–60 people. He also outlines his vision for a one-stop firm with in-house CPAs and attorneys, so portfolio, tax, and estate advice coordinate instead of falling through the cracks.

Takeaways

* Institutional-level portfolio management made accessible to everyday investors

* Dynamic, tactical portfolio construction versus off-the-shelf models

* Tax-efficient structuring for the retirement distribution years

* Running a nonprofit like a for-profit so it can better fund its mission

* A white-glove, systemized client experience from onboarding through annual reviews

Chapters

* 00:00 Meet Michael Bellody & Imperia Wealth Management

* 01:00 Why He Got Into the Business

* 03:31 Institutional Portfolio Management Background

* 05:03 Three Client Types: Pre-Retirees, Business Owners, Nonprofits

* 08:16 Pre-Retiree Planning & Tax-Efficient Retirement

* 10:43 Ongoing Client Questions & Having a "Take"

* 13:04 Educational Workshops as a Growth Engine

* 16:14 Vision: A One-Stop Firm with In-House CPAs & Attorneys

* 20:18 Shout-Outs: John Rodriguez & Dr. Rick Jensen

* 22:19 The Onboarding Process

* 28:29 Annual Review Cadence

* 33:09 Where to Learn More

You can find them at: https://imperiawealth.com

If you are a financial advisor looking to grow your business you can find out more about Wilnau Design at https://www.wilnaudesign.com/

#financialplanning #finance #financialplannersearch #portfoliomanagement #retirementplanning #exitplanning

In this episode of Financial Planner Search, John Browning, founder of Guardian Rock Wealth, discusses his mission to turn "miserable rich people" into "happy rich people."

After 28 years on Wall Street including being on Morgan Stanley's trading desk on 9/11, John walked away to build a fiercely independent, fiduciary RIA that takes no outside money or marketing dollars and answers only to its clients.

John's philosophy is simple: money is a tool to build the life you want, not the goal itself the theme of his book, Build a Life Not a Portfolio. Instead of handing clients a "collection of investments," he assembles a wealth management system where portfolios, taxes, insurance, and estate planning work together like gears in a machine. He works best with business owners and blue-collar professionals builders, plumbers, electricians, dentists who are excellent in their zone of genius and want to truly understand what's being done with their money. We also dig into why he believes over 90% of family wealth disappears by the third generation, and how he coaches families to prevent it through written family trust plans, family board meetings, and kids as young as five learning to participate.

Takeaways

* Build a Life, Not a Portfolio — money is the tool, not the goal

* A wealth management system beats a collection of investments

* Income and tax strategy are the top two questions worth answering

* Legacy is taught — include the kids or watch the wealth vanish by generation three

* Independence and fiduciary duty are worth fighting for

Chapters

* 00:00 Welcome & Guardian Rock Wealth

* 01:55 The 9/11 Origin Story

* 05:10 Happy Rich People & "Build a Life Not a Portfolio"

* 06:40 Who John Works With

* 11:22 Top Questions: Income & Taxes

* 13:44 How Clients Find Him

* 15:22 Vision & the Challenge of Mistrust in the Profession

* 18:36 Mentors & Shout-Outs

* 20:48 The Wealth Management System Process

* 25:19 Legacy & Why 90% of Family Wealth Vanishes by Generation Three

* 28:07 Family Meetings & the Family Bank

* 31:47 How to Get in Touch

You can find them at: https://guardianrockwealth.com

If you are a financial advisor looking to grow your business you can find out more about Wilnau Design at https://www.wilnaudesign.com/

#financialplanning #finance #financialplannersearch #wealthmanagement #legacyplanning #independentadvisor

In this episode of Financial Planner Search, Marcel V. Quiroga, founder of TQM Wealth Partners, discusses adding a human element to financial planning and acting as her clients' personal CFO. TQM stands for Total Quality Management a business philosophy of quality at every level but, as Marcel explains, it also echoes "te quiero mucho" ("I love you very much"), reflecting her belief that the best results come from putting your heart into the work.

Marcel shares who typically comes to her people who have come into money through a business sale, stock options and RSUs, a divorce, or the loss of a spouse or parents and why what they really want is clarity: Will the money last? Am I paying too much in tax? Am I taking too much risk?

She walks through her comprehensive approach across financial, human, social, and other forms of capital, her fiduciary standard, and the conversations she has with parents about protecting children from "too much money at the wrong time." She also details her onboarding process, a collaborative "working meeting," a values questionnaire for spouses, and a draft plan presented within 10–15 business days, and her vision for enhancing the client experience as the firm grows.

Takeaways

• Acting as your personal CFO — putting the person in front of the numbers
• Comprehensive planning across financial, human, social, and other capital
• Cutting through media noise with fiduciary, tailored guidance
• Protecting children from too much money at the wrong time
• A collaborative onboarding built on a values questionnaire and a draft plan
  

Chapters

• 00:00 Welcome & Introduction
• 00:27 TQM Wealth Partners and the Human Element
• 02:04 From a UN Dream to Financial Planning
• 05:03 Who Comes to TQM and Why
• 09:29 Cutting Through the Noise of Financial Media
• 13:23 The Fiduciary Standard and Comprehensive Planning
• 15:14 Real Estate Families and Protecting Children
• 20:40 Vision: Enhancing the Client Experience
• 23:43 The Onboarding Process and Values Questionnaire
• 32:22 How to Connect with Marcel

You can find them at: https://tqmwealthpartners.com

If you are a financial advisor looking to grow your business you can find out more about Wilnau Design at https://www.wilnaudesign.com/

#financialplanning #finance #financialplannersearch #wealthmanagement #fiduciary #familylegacy

In this episode of Financial Planner Search, Pat Lonergan, founder of Vital Wealth, serves entrepreneurs taking home over a million dollars a year who are frustrated by their tax bill. Pat runs what he calls a fractional family office - pulling cash flow, tax, investment, legal, and insurance planning into one coordinated framework for business owners whose complexity only grows as their income does.

Pat traces the practice back to his own real estate background - carrying half a million dollars in debt no longer tied to assets through the 2008–2010 downturn and his realization that the advisory world wasn't built for the entrepreneur. Most of his clients already have a great CPA, attorney, and investment advisor; what they lack is a strategy that ties those pieces together. He walks through his four levels of tax planning, explains why the CPA compliance model will never produce real tax strategy, and shares his REACH framework for making sure the wealth actually supports a life worth living.

Takeaways

* A four-level tax framework built specifically for high-income entrepreneurs

* Why your CPA isn't solving your tax problem — and what a fractional family office does instead

* The REACH model: Relationships, Experiences, Advancement, Contribution, Health

* A no-risk roadmap that averages $280,000 in income tax savings per client

* A mission to put a billion dollars back into the hands of entrepreneurs

Chapters

* 00:00 From real estate to financial advisory

* 02:11 Why entrepreneurs are underserved by traditional advisors

* 05:34 Who Pat serves — the $1M+ net-income entrepreneur

* 08:00 The four levels of tax planning

* 12:42 How clients find him + the Vital Wealth Strategies podcast

* 14:25 REACH — wealth that supports a life worth living

* 19:34 Vision: a billion dollars back to entrepreneurs

* 25:15 The roadmap process and onboarding

* 32:02 How to get in touch

You can find them at: https://vitalwealth.com

If you are a financial advisor looking to grow your business you can find out more about Wilnau Design at https://www.wilnaudesign.com/

#financialplanning #finance #financialplannersearch #taxstrategy #entrepreneurs #fractionalfamilyoffice

In this episode of Financial Planner Search, R.J. Kelly, founder of Wealth Legacy Group, discusses his multidisciplinary approach to wealth management, tax mitigation, and legacy planning for accredited investors and business owners.

R.J.'s practice was forged in personal loss. At 18, he learned his father a visionary who had built a multi, multi-million-dollar company had died without the planning in place to survive him. Within ten years the business was bankrupt, and that experience launched R.J.'s mission: make sure the visionary's work outlives the visionary. Today his firm serves clients in 24 states through four integrated "legs of the table" estate planning, insurance, investments, and retirement with a tabletop of philanthropy and legacy, all held together by tax efficiency.

He walks through how he helps sellers of appreciated businesses and real estate reduce, defer, offset, or in some cases eliminate the tax on a liquidity event, including strategies to "unring the bell" for clients who already closed a sale. R.J. also shares the longevity math behind his new book, Radical Retirement Roadmap, co-written with COO Caitlin Taylor: half of today's 73-year-olds are projected to still be alive at age 99.5, so the plan has to fund a life that runs a lot longer than most people expect.

Takeaways

* Build the fence at the top of the cliff — plan for tax before the sale, not after

* It's not how much you make on the upside, it's how much you don't lose on the downside

* Make sure the money lasts longer than you live - plan to age 100

* Holistic planning rests on four legs: estate, insurance, investments, retirement

* You can make more money by paying less tax than by making more money

Chapters

* 00:00 Why R.J. Became a Financial Advisor

* 04:32 Ideal Clients & the Inherited IRA Case

* 11:37 Selling a Business & First-Meeting Questions

* 13:48 Independent RIA & Alternative Investments

* 15:20 The Four T's & the Apartment Exit Case

* 18:12 How Clients Find R.J.

* 20:14 Building a Fence at the Top of the Cliff

* 22:48 Public Speaking & Radical Retirement Roadmap

* 25:46 The Origin of Age 65 & Longevity to 100

* 30:45 Onboarding & the Four Legs of the Table

* 35:51 How to Reach Wealth Legacy Group

You can find them at: https://wealthlegacygroup.com

If you are a financial advisor looking to grow your business you can find out more about Wilnau Design at https://www.wilnaudesign.com/

#financialplanning #finance #financialplannersearch #taxmitigation #retirementplanning #alternatives

In this episode of Financial Planner Search, Brad Mendel of Mendel Money discusses how a second-generation, family-built practice puts financial planning first and lets that plan drive investment decisions. Brad shares his path from IT consulting and actuarial work into the firm his father started in 1989, and how they transformed a stock-picking business into full-service wealth management with an investment ethos built in from day one.

Brad talks candidly about how losing his wife to breast cancer two years ago reshaped the way he advises clients especially retirees who saved diligently for decades but struggle to spend with confidence. He explains why it often takes two to three years of repetitive reassurance before clients feel safe living their best life, his "guardrail" approach to gradual course corrections, and core values like "people over portfolios" and "meet you where you are." He also covers tiered client service models, why he won't push every dollar under management, his upcoming education initiative for widows and widowers, and the Elements program he uses to make planning tangible for younger clients and junior advisors.

Takeaways

• People over portfolios — align strategy with how clients actually want to use their money
• The guardrail approach — address overspending with a 3–5 year plan, not overnight demands
• Why it takes 2–3 years before many retirees feel comfortable spending down savings
• Meet clients where they are — tiered pricing, referrals, and client-first recommendations
• Planning-led wealth management built on a family investment legacy since 1989
  

Chapters

• 00:00 Introduction to Mendel Money
• 02:45 Who Brad Serves
• 03:08 Client Uncertainty and Market Fear
• 04:44 Spending vs. Saving — A Personal Perspective
• 06:07 The Two-to-Three-Year Spending Transition
• 09:10 First Meeting Questions and Career Risk Decisions
• 11:13 Family Succession and Buying Out Dad
• 14:56 Core Values: People Over Portfolios
• 18:30 Widows and Widowers Education Initiative
• 21:52 Elements and Training Junior Advisors
• 24:07 Onboarding and Client Service Tiers
• 28:43 How to Get in Touch
  

You can find them at: https://www.mendelmoney.com/

If you are a financial advisor looking to grow your business you can find out more about Wilnau Design at https://www.wilnaudesign.com/

#financialplanning #finance #financialplannersearch #retirementplanning #wealthmanagement