The Wealth Consigliere

I have based my career on being able to sell and teaching others how to sell.  While these might seem opposites I will discuss in this blog why I think combining each trait can make a good wealth advisor.  Fortunately the industry is starting to believe this but they are not walking the talk yet. Social Media has given me the conch so I’ll explain why this concept should improve your life and increase you EQ. Hiring Wall Street screens client representatives based on how much revenue they generated for their last firm.  Recruiters ask candidates to provide them with a commission run and base their recruiting deals on “trailing 12” revenues.  The message sent on day one is that revenues are important. Most blogs and the established financial press demonize commission based advisors.  We believe that their leaders share some of the blame.  The leaders compensation is based on how many high revenue producing advisors they hire and how many high re...

Last week’s news cycle was filled with new candidates entering the presidential race and new independent RIAs entering the independence race. Our blog will examine the similarities of the announcements and opine on who will win. My only concern is the permanence of social media posts. They are easy to make but they never go away.  This last week saw more Democrats declaring their candidacy for president.  It also had the venerable Goldman Sachs buying its way into the independent RIA space with their $750 million purchase of United Capital.  We see more similearities in Goldman’s move and the Depomaratc Presidential candidadtes. Give us 400 words to show you why. President At this early stage in the presidential “race” it seems easy to declare you are in.  History warns that to be successful you need to identify an issue and make that a centerpiece  for your campaign.  One item?  Yes one, and repeat it it numerous times on the stump. ...

Our society and social media values winners at the expense of people behind the scenes. Our monthly blog will continue to reference winners but will also highlight undervalued contributors. Sports does a better job than financial services at recognition. We hope to change that this week.  Training  One our favorite training podcast is NPR’s Hidden Brian .  The host Shankar Vedantam shares opinions that we believe are correct but scientific facts prove that we are mistaken.  The shared beliefs can also impact our business life and the “blind spots” can cost our business and our clients.  Hidden Brain is a great reminder and it is free with your NPR donation, which I hope you are compelled to make after listening to Shankar. Under Appreciated  The NBA playoffs have reached the Conference Finals. While the stars will still make invaluable contributions they can’t win by themselves.  The supporting cast needs to contribute and their...

The IPOs just keep on coming demanding our attention. Unlike the Gold Rush this is not our first IPO Rush. What did we learn from the last cycle and where will all of this new money go?  We will examine that question in this week’s blog. I feel like Llyod Bentsen when I write I knew the last IPO Rush and you are are not an IPO Rush.  What defines an IPO Rush and how can we benefit. Money In Motion Financial advisors try to identify money in motion to increase their growth.  Money in Motion is defined by changes in liquidity caused by a corporate event like an IPO.  During the last IPO Rush the firms that underwrote IPOs provided introductions to the corporate executives.  My firm, Montgomery Securities, provided 100 IPO introductions in a single year.  These 100 introductions were mandated to be made to advisors that coordinated with the trading desk and the outsourced money management division.  The introductions benefitted the firm ...