The Wealth Consigliere

Rather than joining the 2021 predictions clogging your email box I will say goodbye to 2020 instead.  In 2020 we learned what doesn’t work, but we also learned a few items that worked well. This week we will stick to the positive. The positive doesn’t attract as many clicks, but 2020 taught us several items that will improve our wealth advisory businesses in the future.   Don’t fight the Fed This lesson has been around for years, but it now has a Hall of Fame worthy batting average. When the Fed shared that they would keep rates at zero for years we should have increased our equity allocation.     The other asset class that has benefited is residential real estate. Stock prices and home prices have increased during 2020. I missed this increase but  will keep this mantra on my laptop near my Apple sticker.  Platforms One of my smartest friends is always looking for platforms to buy. This year the platforms of Facebook, Google and Airbnb proved to be great i...

The pandemic has given us a chance to update our wealth advisory business starting with a clean sheet of paper. We will talk about unique areas that we should start from scratch. The pandemic was a stress test that has hurt people and proved many of our corporate policies like Just-In-Time inventory fail the test. The areas we hope you will consider post pandemic are ones we didn’t consider until we had time to think about their veracity.   Same Planet  Black Lives Matter and equal pay have dominated social media. There seems to be a consensus that racism and patriarchy are long in the tooth and need to be changed to meet our current beliefs. We are all from the same planet and should realize that there is no difference between black or white and men and women. The business facts prove this and many facts prove that clients prefer working with someone who thinks and looks like they look. We need to have the courage to embrace this reality. A clean sheet of paper will help...

  Our monthly podcast summary will adjust to meet the positive items surrounding the new vaccines.  The changes will be organized around our new normal.  New  Favorite Podcasts  Fight Night   https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-fight-night-72737532/ Prof G Show   https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1E1SVcVyU3ntWMSQEp38Yw The Book Review   https://www.nytimes.com/column/book-review-podcast My daily Podcast Routine  (some repeats) Smartless   https://smartless.simplecast.com/ Science Vs   https://gimletmedia.com/shows/science-vs Deep Background    https://www.pushkin.fm/show/deep-background/ Robinhood Snacks   https://snacks.robinhood.com/ I’m not an epidemiologist, but I choose to be optimistic with the 90% efficacy. 

  The pandemic has caused many of us to to hope things to will go back to the way it was before soon.  This week’s blog will summarize why our memories might be too selective. Our challenge is to identify which items should be left behind. Everything doesn’t need to be discarded, but we need to honestly assess what we need after the vaccine. We will share what isn’t as great as the marketing firms tell us. The three areas are essential items we need to identify as a reality or just selective recall? Memories   Our lizard brain remembers how to survive.  We need to understand that most of our memories are based on selective recall.  The memories either worked or the failed.  The pandemic has provided us time to consider items that might not have been as great as we remember.  Our list starts with office meetings and ends with conferences.  Most are not as bad or as great as we remember neither will kill us, but if we don’t evaluate them they might ...

  The popular Netflix series on chess  reminded me of my brilliant Dad who loved Chess. This week I’ll discuss how we can play our own game of Chess.  Hopefully, the three strategies will help your independent wealth advisory business win your game. They won’t need to be memorized, but it should be implemented. The strategies work in our post pandemic world. The pandemic has accelerated the need to change. This reality embraces some old beliefs, but the new strategies will help us win.  Social Media   Our clients use Social Media.  We should communicate our unique message using Social Media too. The business tools we need to become expert are LinkedIn and Twitter.  If our clients don’t know how to use either we should teach them.  The good news is both are free and are embraced by compliance.  I check my LinkedIn and Twitter feed several times each day. Firewall   Our clients and our regulators require we have a Firewall protecting ...

  Our world has changed and the impact is causing gridlock.  This week we will examine the gridlock in the independent wealth advisory business. Unfortunately,  political pollsters missed these changes too. We hope we can help avoid similar mistakes. The areas our blog will examine are essential to our industry’s evolution. We will begin with with predictions and end with the effective checks and balances established by our forefathers.  Predictions We yearn for someone to predict the future. Our older clients believe there are analysts that can help qualitatively. Millennials demand a process that is more quantitative. These two different opinions have supported Passive and Active funds. We need to accept we won’t change minds and need to move forward. The current older clients believe they are correct and the younger generation “doesn’t get it”. This is gridlock and only time will solve these differences. It wasn’t that long ago we believed that a woman would never...

  Our monthly podcast summary will not write about the President. I’m an auditory learner anyway.  Our favorite podcasts are organized in two categories. Short and no election narratives. Education   The Memo by Howard Marks  Reimagine with Eric True Crime ESPN Investigates Brainwashed   Please use your new-found knowledge to vote! Thanks

It is important we convey our unique values.  The old approach of advertising and commercials doesn’t work as well as the new technology solutions.  This week we will examine the old and new approaches.  Each continues to work in their target demographic.  Don’t throw out the baby.  Old Media It is easy to have a knee-jerk reaction during traumatic times. Our belief is that we can improve, but all of our old beliefs are NOT wrong. We just need to examine old beliefs with an open mind. Our thought is that they have survived this long for a good reason.  Book I am currently writing a book. Why? is a question I ask myself daily. The reason I write is to memorialize my observations. Observations are difficult to argue but I wish someone had done the same for me. My mentors did and their thoughts still resonate. I’m hoping my book will do the same for young professionals.  Gutenberg  invented the printing press in the 1400s. Seems like books are surviv...

The COVID pandemic has encouraged us to find new approaches.  Many celebrities have decided to use their skills on Social Media platforms.  The best person we need to emulate is The Rock .  We all know professional wrestling is fake, but we still watch.  This week we will summarize what many celebrities and pro wrestlers are doing.  Our belief is that their approach can work in the wealth advisory industry.  Wrestling is not as stupid as you think.   200,000 followers   Social media metrics are seductive. The Seth Godin idea of MVA works for our industry because customized solutions and good customer service takes time. Followers work for a mass market solution but fail for wealth advisors and our children. Congratulations to The Rock for surpassing 200,000 followers. The metric works for movie stars and pro wrestling.  Start Now Technology makes it easier for us to convey our message but it also makes it easier to see what others are doing....

  Many Independent Wealth Management websites have a link for people to request an appointment to discuss their personal financial information. We all can do better.  This week I’ll explain how we can use AI to help.  I’m using an AI tool called gamification to help us in three important areas. We often outsource these three needs to expensive professionals. I will propose that a computer can help, complemented with human professionals.  Computers can identify our tendencies and mistakes, but humans deliver empathy.   Recruiting   Recruiting is on the top of most firms wish list. The recruiting game has standard questions that all recruiters have asked for years. Our game will include those questions, but also ask our colleagues what questions resonated for them. The other aspect of recruiting that can be improved is references. All of our current clients should be randomly chosen by the computer to eliminate using our Mom as a reference. The new recruitin...

We all need to listen more and talk less. Our blog this week will cover the podcasts we listen to without guidance from The Presidential Debate Commission .   We also remember the Gloria Evestefan song .  True Crime Whistleblower   Broken: Seeking Justice Piketon Masecre Education   Amended   Masters of Scale Take 15 I promise I’ll be quiet and follow the rules. 

During the pandemic I have had a lot of downtime in the 200+ days. During this time I have decided to write a book using the guidance of Soren Kierkegaard . One of his many famous thoughts was “Life must be lived forward, but only can be understood backwards”. This week I’ll summarize three of the chapters in my upcoming book.  A Coke a Day In many sales jobs we use a script to insure we discuss all of the features our firm wants us to sell. My first sales job was selling new cars. We learned many sales quips to sell the car. My favorite script was to share that it looks like we are down to a Coke a Day to make the final decision. I would end the script with a question. Do you need anyone else’s permission to buy a Coke?  The answer to this rhetorical question was No.  I would close the sale by saying since we don’t need anyone’s permission. Let’s sign the contract  for your new car!  The script also taught me what I didn’t want use a script  in my next job...

The pandemic has showed us several items in our business and our economy that need to be improved. This week we will share components that need to be reduced and several new ideas we should add with the money we save. Cuts and changes are never easy but we will offset the cost savings with an equal amount of new professionals. Take a deep breath because none of our cost cutting ideas will be the from the founders. Hopefully, our recommendations will allow us all to make more after we have a vaccine.  Experts The complexity of a credible wealth advisory solution requires numerous experts.  Historically we have outsourced this need and created a “my client” argument.  The top independent firms have all of the experts under one roof.  Many experts are being pushed out of their current firms and are looking for a new team.  Our industry has  experienced professionals being displaced in the accounting and brokerage businesses before.  The next experts we ne...

  This week I was thrilled to read No Rules, Rules . It reminded me of the great professionals I have worked with that didn’t want to be told what to do. They could figure out their own superior solution to the Ivory Tower. This week I will summarize how we can apply Netflix’s ideas to the independent wealth advisory business.  We don’t have any movies, but we now have technology and a an advisor mindset that we can apply.  Brady Belichick Kraft Netflix reminds us that we are not family, we are a team. This speaks to me as a man, apologies to Kenzie Grant, and to my wife and two daughters . As a team we must hold all of our teammates to a high standard. If they can’t make the grade we need to replace them. If they do make the grade we need to pay them a free agent wage. Our teammates want to be a part of our team because we win and our success will trickle down to them and help attract great advisors and clients.  Tools Great teams have the money to spend on great ...

  Many of us are still at home hoping doctors and drug companies can achieve Herd Immunity. While social media won’t solve COVID it does distract. My favorite distractions are listened below.  Education   The Bomb educates us how people helped create the atom bomb.  It also describes the conflicts on the team. Hope Through History  History shows us that this is not our first crisis. It Was Said   Great speeches stick in our heart   Amended   The struggle of women inspires  Behind The Talent   Many of us are looking for a new job.  This podcast can help.   Entertainment   Billionaire Boys Club   Recent graduates try to get rich quick. Even The Rich   Rich families are dysfunctional too.  I’m spending more time trying to educate myself for my next professional chapter.  

  The Pandemic has revealed some hidden gems in our established businesses.  Our wealth advisory business will survive as an essential business, but we should add successful services.  This week we will examine the service that saved Best Buy and helped the stock make all-time highs.  How we and our clients could use it as we live a new remote life? The service will cost our business money, but the benefits should offset any costs.  Nerds We need to hire experienced professionals to serve on the squad.  Their technical expertise is a given but they must complement their technology knowledge with an empathetic personality.  Most of us have visited an Apple Genius Bar with our “dumb” questions.  The genius always had the answer that was delivered without judgment.  Our nerds need to approach all of our clients using a similar approach.  We need to hire and train more empathetic Nerds.  The gig economy has an answer for us through Bra...

I noticed that my recent decisions during the pandemic all started with the letter “C”.  I still have the big company skill of creating memorable acronyms to guide the thousands of nationwide professionals.  Now that I have broken away I don’t need to write terms for a large group to follow.  Independent Advisors still need a new rule book for their colleagues and clients to understand what their new firm believes. This week I’ll share rules I have watched independent advisory firms successfully implement. Since you are the boss now hopefully these observations will help you use other letters.   Change The first wave was brokers breaking away from Wall Street to become independent.  The current wave was caused by the Pandemic and with gasoline from Private Equity.  The dramatic decrease in interest rates has reduced many businesses cost of capital.  The other beneficiary is consolidators who can help established independent firms purchase other firms ...

Our back to school debate has been a good civics education. Since it appears some schools are remaining remote we will continue to organize our monthly online favorites for them. We too are still at home, so our internet usage is high. Hope you can benefit from our screen time.  Education   Involved parents help make schools great schools. The podcast Nice White Parents shows us the good and the bad of parents  Take 15 is an informative discussion with top  Axios Today is a good ten minute summary to start your day  Someone should tell our President  Entertainment   The longer we stay at home the more we need to be entertained.  Our new favorite is Smartless .  Blood Ties continues to surprise  Oprah asks great questions on her Super Soul Conversations   We hope those going back to school remain safe but in the interim these podcasts should help. 

We are all in this together hoping for a vaccine. What will our new/old life look like after 85% of us take the vaccine?  Our blog this week will discuss changes we need to consider for our independent wealth advisory business. We don’t provide definite answers just three items we should consider.  Commuting  Many people live far away from the office and the shutdown has showed us all how much time we waste in our cars  or on public transportation. Time savings during the pandemic have increased our productivity. What will we do with this time after we have a vaccine? The excuse of I don’t feel safe won’t work anymore. We need to be careful what we wish for and shift our focus to what is our time worth? A house in the suburbs and a large office don’t seem as valuable as a vaccine.  Management  What does your manager do now?  Mangers were charged with “walking around” to inspire the troops and to watch what they were doing. Do you miss them and will a Z...

The crisis has given me a lot of time to think and learn. I have embarked on several items that my Silicon Valley brethren taught me at TEDx San Jose .  The item I have spent the most time learning was The Hero’s Journey. Sounds daunting, but it has inspired me and caused me to begin my journey. This week I’ll share what I have learned and how it can help you grow as an advisor and personally. I write to remind myself and to encourage you. We all have time.  Write Book   I have always wanted to write a book. My biggest concern is that a  book feels like yesterday’s news unless it is complemented by current social media tools. My book is being written with the support of writers from around the world. I’m meeting them through Seth Godin’s Writing in Community training. We are not hoping for a best seller rather we are writing for our minimum viable audience . My book is for the small group of struggling Independent Wealth Advisors who have escaped Wall Street. There ...