The Wealth Consigliere

Don’t worry this will not be another blog on The Schwab/TD “merger”.  I will link to several of my favorite posts on the deal, but my focus will be on the impact the deal will have on clients and independent wealth management firms. Hopefully this time will be different but looking at old playbooks can help. I’ll look at the most popular plays and close with how we can write a new playbook chapter. Cost Cutting  Corporate legacies are made through consolidation and the ensuing cost cuts that are identified in the ivory tower board rooms. The redundant costs seem too easy to reduce. I can still remember Chainsaw Al and the press’ love affair with his “genius’. The benefits were short-lived because the beneficiaries were narrow. There was definitely fat that needed to be cut. Time has shown the fat was the benefits of corporate executives. Since they were in charge of the cost cutting they didn’t cut their friends until it was too late. Sounds like income inequality. 

The public impeachment hearings have made me think. How will me make a final decision?  My blog this week will examine how we make big decisions. It isn’t easy but the old school titles confuse more than they help. This blog focuses on Wealth Advisory decisions we all need to make. Thankfully we are not making the impeachment decision but we can learn something from the process.   We will start our journey on the numerous business models and end with an opinion I learned from my children. Business Models Each business model requires different titles to work at their firm. A CPA or a CFP can be table stakes for wealth advisory firms. A degree from an elite university gets you in the door on Wall Street and firms like Facebook or Google. The degrees can open the door and agitate friends who don’t want to hear again that you went to HBS. Few successful firms make decisions exclusively on your title. They will require a face to face interview. Bad news for Singer and prep schools

The California Fires have been brutal.  This month's Podcast review will look at what we can do with the helpful information we receive from Podcasts.  Will we listen and implement the ideas in our business or will we disregard the advice and keep doing business as usual?  My recommendations are broken into two categories.  Hopefully we will take the podcast host's advice and evacuate our old business models. Free My favorite new free podcast is Creative Processing with the actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt.  His questions could be applied to either Acting or Wealth Management.  I learn something new from the guests and the host that help me every week. Payment If I seem to be talking out of both sides of my mouth - I am!  Recently I decided to pay for the   Luminary  podcast portal so I could listen to Making a Killing with Bethany McLean .  I LOVE the way Bethany thinks which makes me willing to pay to listen to her thoughts.  When my payment cleared I w