Adviser 2.0

Our guest on this episode is George Kinder. Internationally recognised as the father of the life planning movement, it's fair to say that George has helped to revolutionise the financial advice profession. He founded the Kinder Institute of Life Planning in 2003 after three decades as a practising financial planner. He has trained more than 3,000 professionals in 30 countries in the field of financial life planning. In this episode, Robin Powell speaks to George Kinder about Reflections on Spectacle Pond, which is a collection of George's poetry, photographs and his thoughts on life, nature, mindfulness and spirituality.

Robin Powell's guest on this episode is Sam Adams. Sam spent 17 years with Dimensional Fund Advisors — and much of that time in London, where he set up DFA's European operation. In 2014 he founded Vert Asset Management in California. Vert designs and builds sustainable portfolios, educates investors and financial advisers about ESG investing, and helps advice firms to engage with clients and prospects about sustainability and values-based advice. Sam and Robin discuss the growth of ESG investing on both sides of the Atlantic, how to combine ESG with an evidence-based approach, and how advice firms can best integrate sustainability into their value proposition. Wherever your firm is on this particular journey, you'll find what Sam has to say on this subject both interesting and useful.

Our guest on this episode is Rohan Sivajoti. Rohan is one of the movers and shakers in UK financial advice. He founded the financial planning firm Postcard Planning, and is also one of the founders of NextGen Planners — a community for best practice in the profession. Whether you’re just starting out or you’re looking to take your firm to the next level, there’s something in this interview for everyone. We also tackle one of the profession’s elephants in the room: Why, in 2021, is financial planning still dominated by white, middle aged-men?

Alan Smith, co-founder of Capital Asset Management in London, talks about how he and his business partner Donald Fraser built the firm into the success it is today. He also discusses the UK's changing advice landscape and why his firm charges fixed fees.

Over a 20 year career in the retail financial services profession, financial planner Martin Bamford found that he was enjoying the marketing side of his business more and more. So, he launched his own agency, Bamford Media, in 2017. Now a prolific personal finance writer and commentator, he has received multiple awards for his work, including Best Blogger of the Year and Best Social Media Adviser. In this podcast, Martin tells us what's most important for an adviser to get right when it comes to their website, and what kinds of content have been most effective during the Coronavirus crisis.

Faith Liversedge has been helping financial advice firms to clarify their message and connect with their clients since she set up on her own agency last year. Before that, Faith spent 15 years in marketing working at Nucleus, Royal London, Prudential, and Standard Life. In this podcast, Faith explains the importance of advisers telling their brand story effectively, something that sadly, far to few advisers are doing. Although Faith concedes that producing content and marketing your own firm well has its challenges, she believes that it's still something that's within the reach of every adviser.

Barry LaValley is a consultant to financial advice firms around the world. In this interview he explains how the advice profession is woefully unprepared for the demographic trends expected over the next 20 or 30 years. By 2045, the Office for National Statistics predicts that nearly a quarter of the UK population will be over the age of 65. It's a similar situation in other Western Countries. Advice firms need to prepare themselves for people spending longer in retirement, says Barry, and they need to feel more comfortable addressing sensitive issues such as dementia and end-of-life care.

Robin Powell interviews Anthony Morrow, CEO of OpenMoney, an online investment provider based in Manchester. OpenMoney, which has the financial backing of Duncan Cameron, co-founder of the comparison site Moneysupermarket.com, doesn’t just offer investment solutions for people across the UK, but also financial advice. Anthony explains why, in his view, the term robo-adviser is a misnomer, and why robo firms need to offer more than they do in order to be successful.

In this in-depth interview, Carolyn Gowen, Branch Principal at the London-based financial planning firm Bloomsbury Wealth, explains how she became converted to an evidence-based investment approach, and why financial education is a key component of what an advice firm should be doing. She also gives her thoughts on how the financial advice profession in the UK is developing and the changes she expects to see in the future. One of the biggest changes over the next ten years, she says, will be the rise of social media as the biggest source of new clients for firms.

Robin Powell interviews Harry Chemay, co-founder of Clover, a robo-adviser based in Melbourne, Australia. Harry talks about his career in that financial industry and how he came to realise that traditional asset management and financial advice were failing consumers. Harry says: “The investor takes the risk, the investor puts all the money down, and the investor should get the lion’s share of the return from the market. But it just doesn’t happen. I thought there’s something fundamentally wrong here.” Harry talks about robo-advice and how it will never replace face-to-face advice from a good adviser. He also discusses the shocking revelations that came out of the Royal Commission into Australian financial services.

Robin Powell interviews Mark Hebner, founder and President of Index Fund Advisors, about how his interest in evidence-based investing, and how he set out to change the way world invests. Mark also discusses his investment in educational content. “From the beginning," he says," every time I was asked a question by a client, and I didn’t have the answer on my website, I would put it there. We just kept adding them.” Mark's firm, which is based in Irvine, California, now has $3.6 billion under management.

Robin Powell interviews Larry Swedroe, a Principal and Director of Research for Buckingham Strategic Wealth, an independent member of the BAM Alliance, best known for his books and articles on investing. In the interview, Larry talks about his long career and his passion for evidence-based investing. He also discusses his latest book, Your Complete Guide to a Successful and Secure Retirement, which he has co-authored with Kevin Grogan and other colleagues at Buckingham. Unlike his previous books, which have very much focussed on investing, the new book is much more holistic. Planning for a successful life in retirement, says Larry, is every bit as important as planning to have enough money.

Robin Powell interviews Matt Halloran, a marketing consultant specialising in the financial advice and planning sector. The company he co-founded, Top Advisor Marketing, works with advisers across the US and Canada on their branding, content and social media. In this interview, Matt discusses the value of having a niche and producing content specifically aimed at that particular section of the market. He also stresses the importance of perseverance, and explains how many advice firms fail to build an audience because they give up far too soon.

Robin Powell interviews Edward Ware of S&P Dow Jones Indices. Ed is Senior Director in S&P's Financial Adviser Channel Management division, based in New York City. In the interview, Ed talks about the growing popularity of low-cost index investing in the United States. He explains why, in his view, it's a trend that has barely begun and why he expects passive investing to take off all around the world. He also discusses the advantages for financial advice firms of having a passive investment strategy. Primarily, he says, it gives them more time to spend on areas where they really can add value, particularly financial planning. He also says how using index funds allows advisers to focus more on business development and scaling up. Firms whose value proposition continues to revolve around beating the market, he says, are at risk of being left behind.

Robin Powell interviews Dr Moira Somers, a clinical neuropsychologist, academic and executive coach based in Winnipeg in Canada. An Associate Professor at the University of Manitoba, Dr Somers’ work is divided between direct client services on the one hand, and consulting to business and financial services on the other. In the interview, Robin asks her about her career and her new book, Advice That Sticks: How to give financial advice that people will follow. Moira discusses the negative impact that mental illness and cognitive decline can have on financial decision-making. She also he gives her views on the future of the financial advice profession, and what advisers need to do to add value as portfolio management becomes increasingly commoditised — and, crucially, how they can demonstrate that value to clients and prospects. You can find out more about Dr Somers’ work by visiting her website, moneymindandmeaning.com.

Robin Powell interviews Barry LaValley, one of the most prominent thought leaders in the global financial advice profession. Barry, who’s based in Toronto, is the founder of the Retirement Lifestyle Centre, and a leading educator and authority on the lifestyle transition to retirement for North Americans. He’s just co-authored a new book about financial planning called The Life-First Advisor: How the new financial coach connects ‘money’ with ‘meaning’. In this interview, Barry talks about his early career in investing and his background in psychology, and how he’s combined the two in recent years. Barry also discusses his new book, co-authored with David Haintz, in the context of several challenges facing financial advisers in a changing industry. Barry also highlights some areas in which he believes the vast majority of advisory firms can improve. For more information on the book, visit life-firstadvisor.com.

Hello and welcome to Episode 7 of Intelligent Adviser, the audio podcast for a new generation of financial professionals, brought to you by Regis Media. I’m Robin Powell. This time, I’m going to be speaking to Paul Armson. Based in the English Midlands, Paul is a highly experienced financial planner. He now runs Inspiring Advisers — an organisation which helps advisers to identify where they really add value. He has more than 500 advisers signed up. Most are in the UK, but they also come from Ireland, the Netherlands and other parts of continental Europe. He’s a great believer in what he calls life planning and financial planning. His view, is that it’s only when advisers have done those two things that they’ve earned the right to provide investment advice.

Hello and welcome to Episode 6 of Intelligent Adviser, the audio podcast for a new generation of financial planners. My name is Robin Powell. I’m a journalist and content marketing consultant. I blog as The Evidence-Based Investor, which you’ll find at evidenceinvestor.com. I also have a blog specifically for advisers and wealth managers; it’s called Adviser 2.0; and the URL for that is advicereinvented.com. Intelligent Adviser is brought to you by Regis Media, Connecting advisers with clients. This is the third and final episode in a seres of podcasts featuring Dan Solin. Based in Florida, Dan is the author of the Smartest series of books; they include The Smartest Sales Book You’ll Ever Read and The Smartest Money Book You’ll Ever Read. As well as blogging for The Huffington Post and Advisor Perspectives, he now works mainly as a consultant to financial advice firms works, specifically on helping them to win new business. Dan, thank you joining us. We looked at marketing, content, social media and lead generation in Episode 5. This time I want to focus on how to convert those leads into clients.

Hello and welcome to Episode 5 of Intelligent Adviser, the audio podcast for a new generation of financial planners, brought to you by Regis Media. I’m Robin Powell. If you were listening last time, you’ll recall I spoke to Dan Solin. Based in Florida, Dan has had a long and distinguished career in the financial advice profession. He now works mainly as a consultant, helping advisers to communicate their message better and to win more clients. Last time he told us he was pretty bearish about the advice profession — particularly because of growing competition, not just from robo-advisers, but from big multinational companies like Vanguard, Fidelity and Charles Schwab. He particularly fears for smaller financial advice practices. In future, he says, much larger firms will be the norm, and there’ll be fewer of them.

Welcome to Episode 4 of the Intelligent Adviser, the podcast for a new generation of financial planners. In this episode, I speak to financial author and consultant Dan Solin. After many decades working in the financial advice profession, Dan says he fears for the future of smaller advice firms. Unless they find ways to grow, he says, many firms will simply be unable to compete. Don't forget, if you're enjoying these podcasts, please share, subscribe and leave us a review.

Hello, I’m Robin Powell, and you’re listening to the third episode in a new series of podcasts called Intelligent Adviser, brought to you by Regis Media. In the first two episodes, I’ve been talking to Carl Richards, a Certified Financial Planner from Utah, now based in New Zealand. Carl is the creator of the weekly Sketch Guy column in the New York Times, and a columnist for Morningstar Advisor. He’s also the author of two books, The One-Page Financial Plan: A Simple Way to Be Smart About Your Money and The Behavior Gap: Simple Ways to Stop Doing Dumb Things with Money. As well as his writing, Carl’s focus now is mainly on training advisers about communication — both with prospects and existing clients.

Intelligent Adviser Podcast: Episode 2 by Adviser 2.0

Intelligent Adviser Podcast: Episode 1 by Adviser 2.0