This week, Steven is joined on the show by TJ Bruce, an advisor who set out to grow his practice through acquisition and ended up preparing taxes. TJ shares his experience with buying a book of business that happened to be doing tax prep, and his journey learning how to prepare taxes himself, and the value that clients see in that service. There are always bumps to learning something new, but TJ's clients are so thrilled with having their taxes prepared in-house that he is pursuing his EA designation and is committed to tax prep being a big part of the firms future.

https://zurl.co/rRRp4

We make claims in life that might be more believable if there were pictures, but there typically isn't that option when it comes to tax planning and financial planning...until now. Steven is joined this week by Parker Ence, CEO and co-founder of JumpAI, to discuss how Jump is setting themselves apart by providing an AI-driven tool that is helping advisors take action. To some, Jump may seem like "just" a meeting notetaker, but it goes so far beyond that, allowing advisors to get real insights on how they can level up their client and prospect meetings to deliver more powerful outcomes. Parker shares the origin story of Jump, their rapid growth, and where they see the biggest impact for advisors on their platform, including improving outcomes and execution around tax planning. Jump allows advisors to have the "pictures" to know what they are really doing, saying, and accomplishing in their client meetings.

https://zurl.co/s3dbv

In this episode, Steven delves once again into the frequently asked question of "what would it look like to offer tax prep in-house?" His guest this week is Knight Coleman, an advisor working in a firm offering both tax prep and financial planning, but they've integrated the two for decades and have seen the value it consistently delivers to clients. Knight shares his experience with learning how to prep taxes and get comfortable with the quality of the work that is getting done, as well as the glowing feedback they get from clients and prospects because of their all-in-one approach.

https://zurl.co/AUIm3

In this episode, Steven is joined by Tushar Kumar, a financial advisor who decided a virtual assistant was a key resource to accomplish his goal to grow his firm by 20-30% annually. Steven and Tushar share their experiences with adding VAs to their teams and how delegating has helped them elevate both personally and professionally. Tushar and Steven also discuss their experiences using BELAY as their partner to find, train, and optimize their VAs. There are of course, logistics to be figured ou,t including how to find top talent and ensure client confidentiality, but BELAY makes all of that seamless. Listen to the end as Steven and Tushar share why they would happily recommend BELAY to any advisor looking to expand their team and reclaim their time

In this episode, Steven is joined by fellow Spokane native and tax pro turned financial advisor, Mary McDirmid. Mary has extensive experience both doing tax preparation and in her current role as a financial advisor. Mary shares what she learned and how she is a better financial planner because of the time she spent preparing taxes early in her career. Steven and Mary both discuss some of the things that can only be learned from getting your hands "dirty" and doing the hard work of preparing tax returns and how that knowledge can help all financial advisors. Mary's area of focus now is on helping families who are supporting loved ones with rare diseases and disabilities navigate the financial and emotional challenges that can bring (this is also a service she provides to other financial advisors).

https://zurl.co/5HmUJ

This week, Steven Jarvis, CPA, and Matthew Jarvis, CFP®, delve into the world of mergers and acquisitions (M&A), examining the role of audits, the intricacies of EBITDA, and the potential red flags that can emerge during the due diligence process. Steven emphasizes the importance of financial advisors maintaining clean books and being transparent about their financials, as this can significantly impact the valuation of their practice during a sale. The conversation also touches on the buyer’s perspective, the consequences of misleading information, and best practices for running a business effectively.

https://zurl.co/CBQ5y

This week, Steven is joined by Steven Lee, an educator and expert witness with an extensive background in the financial services world. They discuss why advisors need to focus on quality client outcomes instead of just clever marketing and why someone might call an expert witness when those lines get blurred. Steven and Steven share some of their favorite analogies for explaining tax concepts and the importance of prioritizing effective communication with clients, especially on tax topics.

https://zurl.co/MVWsS

This week, Steven is joined by Shelby Nicholl, founder of Muriel Consulting, to provide insight on how advisors can think about the firm structure they find themselves in and the key factors to consider when confronted with the question "should I stay or should I go". Like so many other areas, taxes is "a" consideration, not "the" consideration, so Shelby and Steven discuss the realities of tax planning in different-sized firms and what advisors can do to advocate for change without making a move. Shelby is also a sponsor for the 2025 Summit and has generously offered all of our listeners a free self-evaluation that can help identify the pros and cons of their current setup, which can be downloaded at retirementtaxservices.com/shelby.

https://zurl.co/Lga3r

This week, we take a break from technical tax and dive into a question that Steven gets all the time: "How do I use tax topics to get new clients?". Joining Steven to cover this topic is Hilary Gale, founder of Moneta Copy, a marketing agency focused on helping financial advisors. Steven and Hilary discuss how their own marketing efforts produce results and give tangible suggestions that advisors can put into practice to accelerate growth and get stuff done in the real world.

We are all about consistently applying the simple things over time, but that doesn't stop clients from asking, "What else"? In this episode, Steven is joined by Steve Blackwell, CEO of Invito Energy Partners, who shares his experience and expertise in the oil and gas industry and the investment and tax planning opportunities that the industry presents. This discussion is a combination of technical learning on an important topic, along with the ever-important piece: "How do I explain this to a client?" Listen to the end as Steve provides opportunities to learn more and get resources on this important topic.

https://zurl.co/0k473