PracticeLab

Before advisor Ben Wong sold and consolidated his billion-dollar advisor business with Mariner Wealth Advisors in 2022, he did a lot of careful thinking about his exit strategy. His ensemble team had a big impact on his decision. He wasn't merely selling a book of business, but an operation. He wanted a way for his team to benefit and continue to grow. And he wanted to make himself happy in the coming years.

In part two of our discussion, Ben describes his path to succession and why it works so well for his ensemble practice. You'll also hear about how this self-described workflow nerd thinks about staffing and hiring, along with tips for how other advisors can future-proof their practices.

For more, visit PracticeLab.

What does it mean to future-proof your practice? For Ben Wong of Mariner Wealth Advisors in Pleasanton, California, it's been an evolution in service, a team transformation and a succession plan that's a win for everyone involved. After recently selling his billion-dollar advisory firm, Viewpoint Financial Network, to Mariner (a large national firm), he's already seeing the benefits of scale.

Ben had much to say, so we broke the conversation into two parts. In part one, he describes how his team puts clients first with a unique level of service (or "over service"), simplifying the experience at every step. And he explains how a lack of client minimums helps his firm retain multiple generations of clients and attract more referrals.

For more, visit PracticeLab.

When it comes to estate planning, advisors naturally spend time helping clients think through their legacies and how they'd like to share their estates. But it's the client's executor (or trustee) who's charged with making sure those wishes become reality. That's why it makes sense to speak to clients about this role and share important considerations and guidance that can help clients make the best decision for the role. Too often, clients make this choice using a single variable: Whom do they trust?

Stacey Delich-Gould and Anne Gifford Ewing, trust and estate specialists at Capital Group's Private Client Services, share insight on factors clients should consider when appointing an executor or trustee, and ideas on how advisors can help clients prepare their fiduciaries for the role.

For more, visit PracticeLab.

In just nine years, Jonathan Freeman and Brian McCarver built Stonebridge Financial Group in central Pennsylvania to $1.3 billion in assets — largely through their retirement plan business.

We split this interview into two parts. In the first episode the two described how team management is the bedrock of their business, how they've leveraged centers of influence (COIs) and why spending resources on marketing helps fuel organic growth.

Now let's hear how they built a corporate retirement plan business, and how its helped expand the roster of the firm's wealth management clients. They'll also speak about why they created an advisory board, and how having one helped shape their practice. For more, visit PracticeLab.

From their footprint in the Deep South, Rhonda and Scott Ferguson have developed a strong niche by focusing on employees at regional outposts of some of the country's biggest companies. Working out of a small home in downtown Columbus, Mississippi, the two serve as a bridge between those large corporations and their small-town workers.

In this episode, hear how the mother-and-son duo built Financial Concepts, with $775 million in assets under management, using their local roots and hometown authenticity to win clients planning for retirement from big-name organizations. The key, they say, is understanding the benefits packages of those companies better than anyone in town — including the companies themselves.

For more, visit PracticeLab.

Jonathan Freeman and Brian McCarver of Stonebridge Financial Group began their careers when cold-calling and a focus on commissions dominated financial services. When they first met 20 years ago, they agreed that the industry's future lied instead in emphasizing teams and personalized client services — important common ground between two founders with otherwise opposite personalities. Founded in 2013, their firm now has 19 people in two offices in central Pennsylvania, managing $1.3 billion in assets.

In this epiode, they talk about why team management is the bedrock of their growth, how they've leveraged centers of influence (COIs) to create a robust client referral pipeline and why spending resources on marketing helps fuel organic and sustainable growth.

For more, visit PracticeLab.

Financial planning is about more than money. Money is used as an exchange for feelings, but personal values get at the heart of what people really want. That's how financial advisor Jay Wheeler starts each client relationship. His team uses the principals of behavioral finance (plus a deck of cards) to help clients determine exactly what their personal values are.

In this episode, hear Jay talk about how his firm, Wheeler Financial in Wilmington, Delaware, with $215 million in assets under management, serves the "millionaire next door" types with this values-first approach to planning. He also discusses the consultants he's used to help him become a better advisor and business owner. For more, visit PracticeLab.

If you want a succession plan to work, start building it years before you retire. That's the strategy of the team behind Weber Wealth Advisors in Yorba Linda, California. Founder Mark Weber has taken a whole-team approach, in which everyone has the same client and investment information, and everyone shares in the revenue. The strategy helped make Weber Wealth a top 10 firm within Woodbury Financial Services, a group with 1,500-plus offices.

In this episode, we talk to Mark's son, Kyle Weber, and fellow advisor Nick John about how the team approach to succession, branding and personalized client service has helped the business grow while supporting the next generation of advisors. For more, visit PracticeLab.

Heather Ettinger learned firsthand how the "money messages" women receive early on can impact how they view money and engage, or don't, with financial professionals. At her firm, Luma Wealth, her goal is to meet women where they are and show them the power they have to use their financial resources to build the lives they want, nurture their families and give back to their communities.

In this episode, Heather discusses how she side-stepped the typical approach wealth management takes toward women — adjuncts of a husband or father — to see women as whole people whose views and priorities matter. She said Luma's "learn, connect, celebrate" model focuses on money being the tool to women's life's goals, not the goal itself. For more, visit PracticeLab.

Do one thing and do it well. For advisors Joe Schoenhardt and James Hinchsliff, that thing is retirement distribution. They partnered more than 30 years ago, aiming to become retirement specialists without a lot of prospecting. They focused outreach on a few corporations, offering to educate employees about time-release retirement funding. This model has led to strong bonds with organizations, stronger client relationships and steady practice growth without marketing. Today, their Chicago-area firm, Infinity Financial Concepts, manages more than $330 million and gets up to four referrals a week.

In this episode, Joe and Jim describe their unique business model, the "aha!" moments in investor seminars, and playing retirement Santa Claus. For more, visit PracticeLab.