The Human Side of Money

Most Advisors are not lacking discipline. They are lacking capacity.

In this episode, Brendan Frazier explores a common frustration inside advisory businesses. You know what needs to get done. You have clear priorities. But by the end of the day, the most important work is still unfinished. Instead, your time gets consumed by emails, meetings, and unexpected requests.

That pattern is not a personal failure. It is a structural issue. Brendan reframes the challenge by showing that this is not really a time management problem. It is a design problem. If your business is built to react, your growth will stay reactive too.

In this episode, Brendan covers:

Download the From Reactive to Intentional: Playbook for Sustainable Growth to build a time operating system that creates more capacity, control, and consistency in your business → https://grow.rfgadvisory.com/reactive-to-intentional

Subscribe to the Wired Advisor newsletter packed with behavioral-backed resources to help you grow your business → https://rfgadvisory.com/newsletters/

Connect With Brendan: @RFGAdvisory https://www.rfgadvisory.com
LinkedIn: Brendan Frazier https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendan-frazier/

Most financial decisions aren’t math problems. They’re emotional. 

In this episode, Brendan Frazier sits down with Parul Somani to break down why traditional decision-making frameworks fail when uncertainty is high and emotions are involved. 

Parul shares her personal story of navigating a cancer diagnosis just days after giving birth and how that experience forced her to rethink how decisions are made. Instead of relying only on data and logic, she introduces the “Path of Least Regret” framework, a practical approach to making decisions when outcomes are unknown. 

If you work with clients facing big life decisions, this conversation will help you guide them more effectively. 

You’ll learn how to: 

Subscribe to the Wired Advisor newsletter packed with behavioral-backed resources to help you grow your business → Click Here

Connect With Brendan:

RFG Advisory

LinkedIn: Brendan Frazier

Most Advisors don’t struggle because they aren’t working hard enough; they struggle because their business hasn’t been intentionally designed to scale.

In this episode, Brendan Frazier shares a powerful lesson from Ray Kroc, the visionary behind McDonald’s expansion, and how his approach to business transformation applies directly to Advisory firms. Kroc didn’t grow the business by improving the product; he transformed it by simplifying operations, creating consistency, and building systems that could scale.

That same challenge exists in many advisory businesses today. Advisors are often stuck in reactive mode, responding to emails, handling client requests, and relying on memory to deliver value, while questioning whether they’re doing enough.

Brendan walks through a practical framework to shift from that reactive cycle to a structured, systematized client experience. By segmenting clients, mapping out a clear service model, and standardizing workflows, Advisors can create consistency, free up time, and build a business that grows without breaking.

The result isn’t just operational efficiency; it’s a better client experience, greater confidence in your process, and a firm that increases in both profitability and long-term value

Download the profitability workbook here → https://rfgadvisory.com/podcast/client-service-calendar-financial-advisors/

Connect with Brendan Frazier on LinkedIn: Brendan Frazier

Most financial planning is built around goals. 

Goals like: 

But there’s a structural flaw in that model: human beings are notoriously poor predictors of their future preferences. What we think will make us happy at 60 often looks very different once we get there. 

Yet as Advisors, we routinely ask clients to define long-term goals without fully pressure-testing the assumptions behind them.  

In this episode, Meghaan Lurtz explains how we can shift away from the shortcomings of goals-based planning by focusing on the power of experiments. 

Instead of asking our clients to commit to big, static goals, we can help them design small, intentional experiments. 

Help them test the retirement, test the travel, and test the hobbies they “think” they’ll enjoy one day. 

Because a client who has tried something knows what they want. And an Advisor who helps them get there becomes indispensable. 

If you want deeper conversations, more engaged retirees, and clients who actually use their money in ways that improve their lives, then this episode offers a practical framework you can implement immediately. 

You’ll Learn: 

Subscribe to the Wired Advisor newsletter packed with behavioral-backed resources to help you grow your business → Click Here   

Links To Resources Mentioned: 

“Helping Underspenders and Savers Understand They Can Spend More With 4 Stages Of Experiments” 

Connect With Brendan: 

RFG Advisory 

LinkedIn: Brendan Frazier 

About Our Guest: 

Meghaan Lurtz, Ph.D., FBS™ is a globally recognized expert on the psychology of financial planning and the human dynamics of money. She is a partner at Beyond The Plan®. 

Dr. Lurtz is also a Professor of Practice at Kansas State University, teaching in the Advanced Financial Planning and Financial Therapy Certificate Programs, and a Lecturer at Columbia University, where she teaches Financial Psychology. Her academic and professional contributions include published research in Journal of Financial Planning, Journal of Consumer Affairs, and Financial Planning Review, as well as regular columns on Kitces.com. 

Her expertise has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, BBC, Million Dollar Roundtable, New York Magazine, and more. She has co-authored chapters in the CFP Board’s textbook Client Psychology and serves on multiple fintech boards bridging financial advice with mental health. Meghaan is a past President of the Financial Therapy Association.

When you’re thinking about making a move to a new firm, there’s always a lingering question: 

“Will my clients come with me?” 

You think they will, but there’s no way to know for sure. 

In this episode, Brendan Frazier shares a practical four step framework to help Financial Advisors confidently communicate a firm transition while maximizing client retention. 

You’ll Learn: 

Additional Resources & Links:  

Downloadable PDF: The 5C Framework 

Learn More About RFG: www.rfgadvisory.com

Most of your clients’ financial planning goals don’t fail because they’re unrealistic. They fail because behavior hasn’t changed. In this episode, Brendan Frazier breaks down why clients struggle to follow through and achieve their most important financial goals and what Advisors can do to change that. If you want to help your clients maximize the likelihood of accomplishing their goals, you have to understand the psychology of goals.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

At RFG Advisory, our Chief Behavioral Officer, Brendan Frazier, helps Advisors improve prospecting, communication, and client relationships using proven behavioral frameworks that lead to sustainable growth.

Subscribe to the Wired Advisor newsletter packed with behavioral-backed resources to help you grow your business → Click Here

Connect with Brendan Frazier:

Links to Additional Resources:

This year’s “Best of” episode is a highlight reel of the most impactful, yet practical

strategies discussed in this year’s Human Side of Money podcast episodes. These strategies are designed for Financial Advisors who want human-centric steps they can

implement into their business’ growth plan.

What You’ll Learn:

Learn more at www.rfgadvisory.com

Most Advisors build plans around numbers. Emily Rassam builds them around people.

In this episode of The Human Side of Money, Brendan sits down with Emily Rassam, Partner and Senior Financial Planner, to explore how she infuses purpose and emotion into every aspect of the planning process. Emily’s approach goes beyond spreadsheets and projections. It’s about helping clients clarify their values, align their decisions, and live intentionally with their wealth.

The conversation goes deeper into helping clients define “enough,” connect values to goals, and navigate trade-offs that honor what matters most. Emily offers a window into how she integrates behavioral insights and purposeful planning to make every plan a living, evolving reflection of a client’s life.

You’ll Learn:

Listen now to learn how to turn every plan into a purpose-driven partnership that reflects the human side of advice.

To sign up for Brendan’s newsletter packed with resources to master the human side of advice → Click Here

About Our Guest:

Connect with Brendan:

At 38, Rick Foerster became financially independent after helping build a healthcare startup that went public. By every external measure, he had “enough.” But internally, he felt restless, disoriented, and unsure of what came next.

In this candid conversation, Rick and Brendan Frazier explore what happens on the other side of enough, when financial freedom collides with the deeper human questions of identity, belonging, and purpose.

Rick shares how he went from chasing the next big venture to intentionally disrupting the rhythms of his life, creating the space to explore meaning, creativity, and fulfillment. He opens up about the messy middle of transition, the trap of tying self-worth to productivity, and why freedom without direction can quickly feel like emptiness.

You’ll Learn:

► Why reaching “enough” can trigger confusion instead of clarity

► How to help clients find meaning beyond achievement and accumulation

► The difference between financial independence and psychological independence

► Why true fulfillment often starts where financial independence ends

► How clients can discover identity when work is no longer their defining role

About the Guest: Rick Foerster Rick Foerster is a writer, investor, and former healthcare executive exploring the intersection of work, meaning, and identity. After helping grow a healthcare startup through an IPO and reaching financial independence at 38, Rick turned his focus toward understanding what comes after success. His writing project, The Other Side of Enough, investigates the emotional and psychological journey of people who’ve achieved financial freedom, and what it truly means to live a fulfilling life.

What happens when you chase growth, double revenue year after year, and finally realize the business you’ve built is slowly consuming your life?

Brad Johnson, Co-Founder of Triad Partners and former host of The Elite Advisor Blueprint, shares the raw story of leaving behind a secure, high-paying role to pursue a new vision of what success in financial advice can look like. From sleepless nights as a new entrepreneur to creating a culture that prioritizes family and freedom, Brad opens up about the lessons, struggles, and breakthroughs that shaped Triad’s mission: help Advisors build a business that blesses their life, not becomes their life.

If you’ve ever felt the pull between professional success and personal fulfillment, this candid conversation will challenge the way you think about growth, leadership, and the true definition of winning as an Advisor.

You’ll Learn:

To sign up for Brendan’s newsletter packed with resources to master the human side of advice → Click Here

Connect with Brendan Frazier:

About Our Guest:

He’s also the host of the Do Business. Do Life. podcast and the former host of The Elite Advisor Blueprint, where he interviewed thought leaders inside and outside of finance to bring fresh perspective to the advisory profession.

A Kansas farm kid turned industry leader, Brad is passionate about redefining what “success” looks like for Advisors—focusing not just on revenue growth, but also on family, freedom, and fulfillment.

Content here is for illustrative purposes and general information only. It is not legal, tax, or individualized financial advice; nor is it a recommendation to buy, sell, or hold any specific security, or engage in any specific trading strategy.

Information here may be provided, in part, by third-party sources. These sources are generally deemed to be reliable; however, neither our guest nor RFG Advisory guarantee the accuracy of third-party sources.

The views expressed here are those of our guest. They do not necessarily represent those of RFG Advisory, its employees, or its clients. This commentary should not be regarded as a description of advisory services provided by RFG Advisory, or performance returns of any client. The views reflected in the commentary are subject to change at any time without notice.

Securities offered by Registered Representatives of Private Client Services. Member FINRA / SIPC. Advisory services offered by Investment Advisory Representatives of RFG Advisory, LLC (“RFG Advisory or “RFG”), a registered investment advisor. Private Client Services and RFG Advisory are unaffiliated entities. Advisory services are only offered to clients or prospective clients where RFG Advisory and its representatives are properly licensed or exempt from licensure. No advisory services may be rendered by RFG Advisory unless a client agreement is in place.

RFG Advisory is an SEC-registered investment adviser. SEC registration does not constitute an endorsement of RFG by the Commission, nor does it indicate that RFG or any associated investment advisory representative has attained a particular level of skill or ability.