The Wealth Consigliere

  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...