The Complete Advisor

Every retirement plan you build for a couple eventually becomes a single-survivor plan. Are you actually planning for it?

On this episode of The Complete Advisor, we sit down with a practicing financial advisor to talk about something too many advisors avoid: what really happens the day a spouse passes. His firm helps a surviving spouse through it several times a year. He walks through the widow tax penalty, Social Security survivor benefits, Roth conversions as survivor planning, beneficiary audits, and the step-by-step process his team uses in the first 90 days.

You'll learn:

• How to run a "survivor stress test" in your planning software

• Why a surviving spouse can pay far more in taxes on the same income

• How Social Security claiming strategy affects survivor benefits

• Why Roth conversions matter for the couple, the survivor, AND the kids

• What to cover (and not cover) in the first meeting after a death

• How to bring up the topic with healthy clients without it feeling morbid

• How to train your staff to make a grieving client the #1 priority

How do you explain fixed index annuities so clients actually get it, and when should you talk a client OUT of one? In this Quick Takes episode of The Complete Advisor we sit down full-service investment advisor who uses FIAs as a core tool in her practice.

She shares how she reframes annuities as "assurance, not insurance," why income riders can be explained "with a 99-cent calculator," and why the most important skill in annuity sales has nothing to do with the product: listening more than you talk.

In this episode:

• The biggest mistakes advisors make when explaining fixed index annuities
• The #1 client misconception about FIAs
• A simple way to explain index annuities to a nervous prospect
• How to keep clients from feeling blindsided by an income annuity down the road
• Who should NOT buy a fixed index annuity
• Why an FIA is a minivan, not a Lamborghini
• "If somebody can be sold, they can be unsold"

The Complete Advisor is a podcast for financial professionals: real advisors talking about what's working in their practices. Subscribe so you never miss an episode, and drop a comment with the topic you want us to tackle next.

For financial professional use; not investment advice. Annuity guarantees are backed by the financial strength and claims-paying ability of the issuing insurance company. Surrender charges may apply.

Special needs planning is one of the most misunderstood corners of financial services — and few advisors do it well. On this episode of The Complete Advisor, we sit down with Michael and Chris, a father-son advisory team from outside Philadelphia who built a thriving practice almost entirely around serving families raising a child with special needs.

They break down the hidden traps that can cost families their benefits overnight — like how a single joint bank account can push a child over Social Security's resource limit — and why advisors who dabble in this space without real expertise can do serious harm. You'll hear how life insurance can fund a special needs trust without touching a parent's own retirement savings, why finding the right specialized attorney matters more than almost anything else, and how they position themselves as advocates before families even reach a special needs attorney.

Michael holds an undergraduate degree in special education and has spent more than 40 years building his practice around this community, inspired by a childhood friendship that changed the course of his life. His son Chris joined the practice after college and has been immersed in it ever since. Together, they've become a go-to resource for advisors and attorneys navigating special needs cases.

If you're an advisor thinking about specializing — or you just want to understand what these families actually face — this conversation is worth your time.

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#SpecialNeedsPlanning #FinancialAdvisor #SpecialNeedsTrust #EstatePlanning #FinancialPlanning #AdvisorNiche #SocialSecurity #WealthManagement

Every advisor has more to do than hours in the day — but not all of those hours are worth the same amount.

In this episode of The Complete Advisor, we sit down with advisor and coach Erik Bowman to talk about Praxis, his coaching program for financial advisors, and the "activity pyramid" framework that changes how advisors spend their time.

Erik breaks down why an advisor doing a $25-an-hour task isn't just "saving" $25 — they're giving up whatever a high-value hour is actually worth, sometimes thousands of dollars in lost revenue-generating activity. He shares his own rule of thumb: if a task costs less than $500 an hour to have done, offload it.

Erik also tells the story of hiring an admin before he had a single client when he went independent, and explains why building processes proactively — instead of scrambling once they're needed — is what actually lets a practice scale into something multi-generational instead of a one-person grind.

Eric Bowman runs a full-service AUM practice in Colorado and coaches other advisors through Praxis (formerly known as Rainmaker), a program built around turning theory into action in both the sales process and the day-to-day business of running a firm.

If you've ever felt buried in busywork that doesn't move the needle, this conversation will change how you look at your calendar.

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Registered index-linked annuities, or RILAs, have grown from a niche product into a market poised to top $100 billion — but many advisors still don't fully understand how they work.

In this episode we sit down with Drew McDermitt, a wholesaling veteran with 13 years of experience helping broker-dealers and advisors build out RILA strategies, to break down exactly what these products are and when they belong in a client's portfolio.

We'll unpack:

• The real differences between buffer and floor strategies,
• Why RILAs have surged in popularity, T
• he biggest misconceptions advisors & clients have about them.

We'll also dig into:

• Case-design mistakes that create headaches down the road,
• Which client profiles are — and aren't — a fit for RILAs,
• The mistakes Drew sees wholesalers and advisors make most often

Whether you're brand new to RILAs or have been writing them for years, this conversation will sharpen how you talk about downside protection, fees, and fit with clients.

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The 2026 midterms are coming, and what happens in Washington doesn't stay there — it shows up in your clients' tax bills.

In this episode we sit down with returning guest Becky Swansberg, a Washington insider and tax expert who spent years working on Capitol Hill, to unpack what advisors actually need to watch heading into this election cycle.

Becky walks through why redistricting has created "safe" congressional districts where the real contest happens in the primary — pulling candidates further from the middle on both sides — and shares her read on how the House and Senate are likely to shake out.

But the real takeaway for advisors is IRMA: the income-related Medicare surcharge that has quietly risen through an administrative process that never requires a vote in Congress.

Becky also shares the messaging framework she teaches advisors for talking to clients about elections without ever taking a political side: the risk isn't who wins, it's that everything in Washington can be undone every two years — which is exactly why tax-free asset diversification matters regardless of outcome.

Becky Swansberg has worked in the White House and on Capitol Hill, including during the 2003 passage of the Medicare Modernization Act that created IRMA, and now trains financial advisors on tax policy and tax-risk strategy.

Whether or not you talk politics with clients, this episode gives you a way to talk about election-year uncertainty that stays completely nonpartisan.

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Thinking about growing your financial advisory practice beyond one office?

In this episode we sit down with a financial advisor who scaled her holistic planning firm to five offices across North Dakota (plus a remote base in Florida) with clients in over 40 states.

She breaks down what it actually takes to scale a financial advisory business: building a collaborative team with CPAs and attorneys, hiring advisors who fit your culture, holding teammates and outside partners accountable, running a multi-office practice on consistent systems, and leading with vulnerability instead of ego.

In this episode:

• Building a collaborative "surgical team" of CPAs, attorneys, and advisors around every client
• Vetting and onboarding outside professionals without creating adversaries
• What actually motivates a CPA vs. an attorney to work with you
• A five-word framework for accountability: roles, goals, timelines, deadlines, expectations
• Building systems and processes so every office delivers the same client experience
• Having hard conversations with underperforming team members and partners
• One advisor's journey from a one-woman shop in her basement to a multi-state holistic planning firm

Whether you're a solo advisor considering your first hire or already running multiple locations, this conversation is packed with practical frameworks for scaling leadership, team culture, and client experience without losing what makes your firm yours.

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Real Advisors | Real Talk

They're less than two weeks from flipping the switch. In Part 1 ("Here's WHY we switched Broker-Dealers"), two advisors explained why they left their broker-dealer after a consolidation made it too big, too slow, and too conservative. In this episode, they cover the how — the parts of a broker-dealer transition most advisors never talk about.

We get into the mechanics: using a third-party vendor to hold client data until the exact day of transition (and why that sidesteps non-compete headaches), how they're telling clients the news, which accounts made the cut and which didn't, and the advice they'd give their past selves seven months ago — including the eye-watering signing bonuses they turned down along the way.

𝐈𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐞𝐩𝐢𝐬𝐨𝐝𝐞:

🟠 Using a third-party data vendor so the new broker-dealer doesn't receive client data until the switch actually happens

🟠 How they're navigating non-compete concerns during the transition

🟠 Telling clients: personal outreach, a recorded video, and a "sign your paperwork soon" push

🟠 Deciding which clients make the transition — and which don't

🟠 Why most clients don't know or care who the back-office broker-dealer actually is

🟠 The recruiting offers and signing bonuses they turned down, and why

🟠 What they'd tell themselves seven months ago, before the search started

This is Part 2 of a two-part conversation. Catch Part 1 ("Here's WHY we switched Broker-Dealers") first for the full story on why they made the move.

Subscribe for more conversations on the decisions that shape independent advisory practices — like or follow if this was useful, and drop a comment with topics you want covered next.

Consolidation changed their firm. Service declined. Flexibility shrank. And two advisors with a thriving practice realized that if they wanted to keep growing, they couldn't stay where they were.

In this episode of The Complete Advisor, two advisors walk through their decision to switch broker-dealer affiliations — what triggered the search, how they evaluated new firms, and the moment they knew it was time to go. If you're a registered advisor questioning whether your current broker-dealer still fits where you're headed, this conversation is for you.

In this episode:

• What changed when their firm got folded into a larger broker-dealer

• Why "bigger" often means "more conservative" — and what that cost them

• How wholesalers and industry contacts shaped their short list of firms

• The non-negotiables they screened for (platform capabilities, eSign/DocuSign, flexibility on annuity/IMO business)

• Why they were wary of smaller firms at risk of being acquired

• The specific policy change that finally pushed them to commit

• Building a succession plan into the transition

This is Part 1 of a two-part conversation. Part 2 covers the logistics of the move itself.

Key Takeaways:

• Growth and firm size can pull in opposite directions — as broker-dealers scale, back-office friction and approval bottlenecks often increase.

• A due-diligence period of six months or more is reasonable when vetting a new broker-dealer.

• Platform fit matters less than capabilities — confirm the new firm supports how you already do business (eSign, product flexibility) rather than picking based on proprietary tech.

• Smaller, more flexible firms carry acquisition risk — ask where they see themselves in three to five years.

• Bring your succession plan into the conversation early.

𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐞𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐰 𝐚 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐚𝐝𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐩𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐩 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐫𝐬 — 𝒊𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖'𝒓𝒆 𝒅𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒈.

In this episode we sit down with two advisors out of Amarillo, Texas who have built their entire practice around seminars and group events. They share everything — the full process from start to finish, what works, and what cost them seven thousand dollars to learn the hard way.

In this episode:

☑ How to choose the right venue — and why a library nearly destroyed one seminar

☑ Why prequalified rooms of 15 beat unqualified rooms of 40 every time

☑ The three-touch marketing system that fills seats with the right prospects

☑ Why pizza at an educational event outperformed three steak dinners

☑ How to use a seating chart to place high net worth prospects next to your best clients

☑ The feedback form strategy — mention it at least four times or leave money on the table

☑ Why no product pitching in your presentation leads to more appointments

☑ How to use video and storytelling to keep a room engaged for two hours

☑ The post-seminar follow-up process that captures the prospects who didn't book

Who this is for: →

☑ Financial advisors running seminars or thinking about starting

☑ Advisors doing dinner events or educational workshops

☑ Anyone who wants a complete seminar system from two advisors who've tested everything

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