PracticeLab

How can financial advisors turn AI buzz into measurable efficiency? Aneet Deshpande, CIO at $50 billion RIA Clearstead Advisors, shares the blueprint he uses. Discover why your AI journey must start with a clear business strategy, how to identify the parts of your practice where you should consider using AI, questions you should ask when selecting tools and how to successfully implement AI. Listen now to craft an AI roadmap that's about serving your clients and making your practice more efficient — not about new shiny objects.

Do you have a defined referral plan? Do you get as many referrals from CPAs and attorneys as you send to them? Have you segmented your book by how likely clients are to refer people to you, not just their net worth? Molly Bennard is the president of international operations at Focus Financial, a firm with over $400B in AUM (as of December 2024). She joins Capital Group practice management consultants Jon Wainman and Max McQuiston to help advisors create, improve and execute their client and center of influence (COI) referral plans.

Are you considering buying another advisor's book or selling your own? Lloyd Sprague is an advisor at True Wealth Advisors with LPL in Colorado. Since joining True Wealth in 2017, Sprague has acquired seven other practices. In this episode, he shares about how to find a book that makes sense for you to buy, engage with a selling advisor, transition new clients over and position your own practice for acquisition. For more, visit PracticeLab.com.

Where do you turn for help in managing your practice? One resource that should be near the top of your list: a study group. Advisor study groups are among the top five most effective practice management resources, according to Cerulli Associates' 2023 US Advisor Metrics report. John Stadtmueller, Founder and CEO of advisor network Good Advisors Finish First, has spent over 20 years in the industry as an advisor, consultant and wholesaler at firms including LPL Financial and Charles Schwab. He dispels some common myths about study groups and details the steps to forming an effective one that can help all its members better manage their practices and serve their clients. For more, visit PracticeLab.com.

What happens if your succession plan falls through? Good succession planning requires more than just identifying someone to take over your practice. It's about investing in the next generation. Sometimes, they're your own children. That's the story of Legacy Financial, an independent firm with Raymond James in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Bruce Dunbar, Mark Dunbar and Caroline Andrews describe how a culture of transparency, openness and willingness to learn (on both sides) has set the firm up for smooth succession. For more, visit PracticeLab.com.

Why do top advisors who have a niche get 67% more take-home income than those who don't have a niche? Kristen Luke is the founder of Kaleido Creative Studio, a marketing firm dedicated to helping advisors with their marketing and client acquisition strategies. She is also the author of the Amazon bestseller, “Uncomparable: The Financial Advisor's Guide to Standing Out through Niche Marketing.” She describes how niche marketing strategies have helped advisors streamline their operations, service more clients with fewer staff, increase their revenue and even reduce their need to continue doing marketing over time. For more, visit PracticeLab.com.

Eliot Weissberg is the president of The Investors Center, a financial and longevity planning practice with $280 million in assets under management. Weissberg talks about how he carved out a niche in longevity planning, including partnerships with the MIT AgeLab and a patented, rules-based system for retirement income. He also shares about going from a 100-hour workweek to a more sustainable approach. For more, visit PracticeLab.com.

Pat Hinton is a co-founder and senior partner at Boston Wealth Strategies, a fee-only financial planning firm under Commonwealth with over $1 billion in assets under management. Hinton describes how he and his partners create a collaborative culture at the firm, engage the next generation of advisors and build a succession and exit plan into their day-to-day operations. For more, visit PracticeLab.

There are many ways for financial advisors to carve out niches for themselves. In this episode, Scott Oeth of Cahill Financial Advisors in Minneapolis recounts how he carved out his: by recognizing how poorly understood executive compensation was and developing technical expertise in that area, leaning into personal affinities like volleyball and wilderness exploration, servicing 17 clients who worked at the same company, forming study groups with other professionals working with his target clients and creating a robust content marketing engine. Since Oeth joined Cahill in 2008, the firm's assets under management have grown from $70 million to over $1.2 billion, of which he manages $230 million. Listen to his episode to learn about how to acquire new clients and grow your practice. For more, visit Capital Ideas.

While a lot of advisors may say they offer financial planning, not all manage to offer dynamic customized plans to clients. For advisors Bart Zandbergen and Letitia Berbaum with The Zandbergen group, a DBA* of Axxcess Wealth Management in Laguna Beach, California, making planning a priority not only helps them stand out, it makes them essential. They are often the first ones called when clients are facing an emergency.   In this episode, you'll hear about their planning process, and how it's enabled by technology and smart teaming. They also explain why they family wealth conversations early and often, and how to have that conversation with clients.   For more, visit PracticeLab. *DBA stands for does business as another firm name.

Creating a memorable brand may not come easy to financial advisors, but it can be worth the effort. That's according to Bart Zandbergen and Tish Berbaum, the team behind The Zandbergen Group, a DBA* of Axxcess Wealth Management in Laguna Beach, California. Over time, the firm built a specialty serving ultra high net worth clients, and their brand evolved to match. Combining notions of transparency, a philosophy about “true wealth” beyond investments, and a general love of food, wine and fashion, the Zandbergen Group delivers what can only be described as a luxury experience.  In this episode, you'll hear about Bart and Tish's journey and learn how the two demonstrate their brand at every client touchpoint — from the office space, to the digital space, to client conversations.  For more, visit PracticeLab. *DBA stands for does business as another firm name.

Sometimes financial planning is about more than investing toward goals. For Lynne Knox, a private wealth manager at Capital Group Private Client Services, that often means helping people move from fragility to strength. This is particularly true for women age 65 and older going through “gray divorce” after spending decades in a traditional homemaker role.  These women may have high net worth but little experience making their own financial decisions. They need guidance, but they also want allies they can trust and lean on during a time of great uncertainty.  In this episode, Knox describes the financial advice she gives them, a technique for better client conversations, and how she nurtures these client relationships after the divorce is finalized.  For more, visit PracticeLab.

Sometimes financial planning is about more than investing toward goals. For Lynne Knox, a private wealth manager at Capital Group Private Client Services, that often means helping people move from fragility to strength. This is particularly true for women age 65 and older going through “gray divorce” after spending decades in a traditional homemaker role.   These women may have high net worth but little experience making their own financial decisions. They need guidance, but they also want allies they can trust and lean on during a time of great uncertainty.  In this episode, Knox describes the financial advice she gives them, a technique for better client conversations, and how she nurtures these client relationships after the divorce is finalized.  For more, visit PracticeLab.

To truly provide optimal service, Mary Beth Storjohann and her team at Abacus Wealth Partners aim to forge emotional connections with clients. “How do you speak to what's on their hearts and minds?” she asks. “That's how you get to know about where your clients spend their time and what they're worried about.”  This more-emotional-than-financial approach is not new for Abacus, which was founded nearly 30 years ago by Buddhists seeking to incorporate religious principles into financial services. But the appeal is stronger than ever.  In this episode, Storjohann describes adapting client service to better connect with women and next-generation clients. She also shares how her firm seeks organic growth by expanding its network of entrepreneurial advisors to share skills and best practices for success.  For more, visit PracticeLab.

Abacus Wealth Partners was founded by two Buddhists in 1996 with the idea to incorporate their religious principles into financial services. Last year, they stepped away from the daily management of the firm, passing the reins to two women co-CEOs. The money-and-mindfulness ethos remains at the forefront of the firm's mission and values, says Mary Beth Storjohann, one of those co-CEOs. Like many financial advisors, Abacus seeks to help clients connect money with their life goals. But the firm also aims to help clients experience what it calls a “sense of enough here and now, not just in the future.” Abacus aims to show that a spiritual focus is not inconsistent with material success. The Southern California-based firm has about $3 billion in assets under management. For more, visit PracticeLab.

Can digital marketing drive leads? Yes, says James Comblo of FSC Wealth Advisors in Fishkill, New York. A third-generation advisor with nearly $250 million in assets under management, Comblo is focused on providing holistic planning to clients he calls “blue-collar millionaires.” Finding and attracting these clients to the firm's website, however, has been a process he's spent nearly a decade building and refining. Today, his website and the content he creates help garner thousands of qualified leads. In this episode, Comblo describes his trial-and-error process to digital marketing — from updating his website (which, he admits, he has done three times), to becoming a thought leader, to Facebook ad campaigns — and shares what he's learned along the way.  For more, visit PracticeLab.

Before advisor Ben Wong sold and consolidated his billion-dollar advisor business with Mariner Wealth Advisors in 2022, he did a lot of careful thinking about his exit strategy. His ensemble team had a big impact on his decision. He wasn't merely selling a book of business, but an operation. He wanted a way for his team to benefit and continue to grow. And he wanted to make himself happy in the coming years. In part two of our discussion, Ben describes his path to succession and why it works so well for his ensemble practice. You'll also hear about how this self-described workflow nerd thinks about staffing and hiring, along with tips for how other advisors can future-proof their practices. For more, visit PracticeLab.

What does it mean to future-proof your practice? For Ben Wong of Mariner Wealth Advisors in Pleasanton, California, it's been an evolution in service, a team transformation and a succession plan that's a win for everyone involved. After recently selling his billion-dollar advisory firm, Viewpoint Financial Network, to Mariner (a large national firm), he's already seeing the benefits of scale. Ben had much to say, so we broke the conversation into two parts. In part one, he describes how his team puts clients first with a unique level of service (or “over service”), simplifying the experience at every step. And he explains how a lack of client minimums helps his firm retain multiple generations of clients and attract more referrals. For more, visit PracticeLab.

When it comes to estate planning, advisors naturally spend time helping clients think through their legacies and how they'd like to share their estates. But it's the client's executor (or trustee) who's charged with making sure those wishes become reality. That's why it makes sense to speak to clients about this role and share important considerations and guidance that can help clients make the best decision for the role. Too often, clients make this choice using a single variable: Whom do they trust? Stacey Delich-Gould and Anne Gifford Ewing, trust and estate specialists at Capital Group's Private Client Services, share insight on factors clients should consider when appointing an executor or trustee, and ideas on how advisors can help clients prepare their fiduciaries for the role. For more, visit PracticeLab.

In just nine years, Jonathan Freeman and Brian McCarver built Stonebridge Financial Group in central Pennsylvania to $1.3 billion in assets — largely through their retirement plan business. We split this interview into two parts. In the first episode the two described how team management is the bedrock of their business, how they've leveraged centers of influence (COIs) and why spending resources on marketing helps fuel organic growth. Now let's hear how they built a corporate retirement plan business, and how its helped expand the roster of the firm's wealth management clients. They'll also speak about why they created an advisory board, and how having one helped shape their practice. For more, visit PracticeLab.

From their footprint in the Deep South, Rhonda and Scott Ferguson have developed a strong niche by focusing on employees at regional outposts of some of the country's biggest companies. Working out of a small home in downtown Columbus, Mississippi, the two serve as a bridge between those large corporations and their small-town workers. In this episode, hear how the mother-and-son duo built Financial Concepts, with $775 million in assets under management, using their local roots and hometown authenticity to win clients planning for retirement from big-name organizations. The key, they say, is understanding the benefits packages of those companies better than anyone in town — including the companies themselves. For more, visit PracticeLab.

Jonathan Freeman and Brian McCarver of Stonebridge Financial Group began their careers when cold-calling and a focus on commissions dominated financial services. When they first met 20 years ago, they agreed that the industry's future lied instead in emphasizing teams and personalized client services — important common ground between two founders with otherwise opposite personalities. Founded in 2013, their firm now has 19 people in two offices in central Pennsylvania, managing $1.3 billion in assets. In this epiode, they talk about why team management is the bedrock of their growth, how they've leveraged centers of influence (COIs) to create a robust client referral pipeline and why spending resources on marketing helps fuel organic and sustainable growth. For more, visit PracticeLab.

Financial planning is about more than money. Money is used as an exchange for feelings, but personal values get at the heart of what people really want. That's how financial advisor Jay Wheeler starts each client relationship. His team uses the principals of behavioral finance (plus a deck of cards) to help clients determine exactly what their personal values are. In this episode, hear Jay talk about how his firm, Wheeler Financial in Wilmington, Delaware, with $215 million in assets under management, serves the “millionaire next door” types with this values-first approach to planning. He also discusses the consultants he's used to help him become a better advisor and business owner. For more, visit PracticeLab.

If you want a succession plan to work, start building it years before you retire. That's the strategy of the team behind Weber Wealth Advisors in Yorba Linda, California. Founder Mark Weber has taken a whole-team approach, in which everyone has the same client and investment information, and everyone shares in the revenue. The strategy helped make Weber Wealth a top 10 firm within Woodbury Financial Services, a group with 1,500-plus offices. In this episode, we talk to Mark's son, Kyle Weber, and fellow advisor Nick John about how the team approach to succession, branding and personalized client service has helped the business grow while supporting the next generation of advisors. For more, visit PracticeLab.

Heather Ettinger learned firsthand how the “money messages” women receive early on can impact how they view money and engage, or don't, with financial professionals. At her firm, Luma Wealth, her goal is to meet women where they are and show them the power they have to use their financial resources to build the lives they want, nurture their families and give back to their communities. In this episode, Heather discusses how she side-stepped the typical approach wealth management takes toward women — adjuncts of a husband or father — to see women as whole people whose views and priorities matter. She said Luma's “learn, connect, celebrate” model focuses on money being the tool to women's life's goals, not the goal itself. For more, visit PracticeLab.

Do one thing and do it well. For advisors Joe Schoenhardt and James Hinchsliff, that thing is retirement distribution. They partnered more than 30 years ago, aiming to become retirement specialists without a lot of prospecting. They focused outreach on a few corporations, offering to educate employees about time-release retirement funding. This model has led to strong bonds with organizations, stronger client relationships and steady practice growth without marketing. Today, their Chicago-area firm, Infinity Financial Concepts, manages more than $330 million and gets up to four referrals a week. In this episode, Joe and Jim describe their unique business model, the “aha!” moments in investor seminars, and playing retirement Santa Claus. For more, visit PracticeLab.

For Renee Wolgin, making the leap from certified public accountant to director of family office at Telemus — a registered investment advisor firm with offices in Detroit and Chicago, managing more than $3 billion — was all about adding value to clients and being more integrated with their finances. “The goal is to promote full financial-life management,” she says. In this episode, Renee talks with Wealth Strategist Leslie Geller about her role as a “virtual family CFO,” the customized services she can offer and the “one-stop shop” value that she brings to clients. Renee also explains how her team uses software that serves as a “digital vault” for client information — and why it becomes a kind of heirloom for clients. For more, visit PracticeLab.

Greg Mendoza saw the opportunity in retirement plan consulting at the start of his career 20 years ago, when he was one of more than 100 candidates in his training class. “What differentiated me is everyone else went to the phone book,” he said. “I went to business owners.” Today, Mendoza runs Integrated Wealth Management, a $5 billion practice specializing in retirement plan consulting in Hartford, Connecticut. In this episode, Mendoza shares how he got into retirement plans, how his wealth management business helps grow the retirement business (and vice versa), and how a Pink Floyd lyric describes why advisory practices need to be efficient. For more, visit PracticeLab.

Life happens … plan for it! It's the motto of Karen DeRose and DeRose Financial Planning Group, a comprehensive planning firm in Chicago, and it perfectly captures how she approaches clients, business and everything else. A passion for making connections and a strong marketing and sales background have helped DeRose become a leading voice in the industry, as well as Lincoln Financial's top female financial planner.  A second-generation financial professional, DeRose's practice has transformed in the past decade with the addition of her two sons. Learn how DeRose found a niche working with multigenerational families, and how social media marketing drives 20% of her new business. Listen, and you'll be asking yourself, “How referable am I?” For more, visit PracticeLab.

Advisors are always looking for ways to be more productive to free up time to focus on their clients. In this episode, Ray Evans of Pegasus Capital Management in Kansas City, Kansas, describes how his firm uses resources such as Pareto Systems and implements standard operating procedures to keep everyone in the firm focused on what they do best. He and his team of six associates manage just over $470 million, working with clients in the construction industry. In this episode, Evans shares his firm's team-of-teams approach, which has helped him grow and added energy and new ideas to his business. Hear how he tracks different measures of efficiency and productivity and then incorporates that into a dashboard for weekly meetings. For more, visit PracticeLab.

In an industry where everyone is looking for a client niche, Ray Evans of Pegasus Capital Management in Kansas City, Kansas, may have found one where others weren't looking. He and his team of six associates manage just over $470 million, working with clients in the construction industry. Evans has much to say, so we broke this interview into two parts. In this episode, he talks about his niche focus in construction, which happened almost by accident but has led to a large clientele of small-business owners. We'll also dig into Evans' advisory board, a group of fellow business leaders who meet quarterly to counsel Evans and each other. He'll explain how he set it up, and how you can gain the benefits of an advisory board in your own practice. For more, visit PracticeLab.

As a veteran who spent 16 years serving in the Navy Sea, Air and Land (SEAL) Forces, Jonathan Wilson knows a thing or two about making decisions in uncertain conditions. At Capital Group, where he now consults with advisors on how to grow their retirement plan business, Jonathan helps financial professionals apply the lessons he learned as a Navy SEAL to help them grow in today's fast-paced industry. In this episode, you'll hear Jonathan share his three keys to success: mission, systems and culture. In his discussion of systems, Jonathan digs into what he calls the four P's — problem, plan, perform and probe — and how to implement them in your team. And he shares insights about culture and what it takes to lead a high-performing team. For more, visit PracticeLab.

Many advisors take a holistic approach to financial planning, but David and Evan Coles of WMBC Financial in Irvine, California, have gone a step further. Working alongside their father, Scott Coles, who founded WMBC in 2003, the two brothers have developed a proprietary “human wealth” planning strategy, aiming to understand not just clients' financial needs, but also their emotional relationships to money as well as their sense of overall well-being. In this episode, you will hear David and Evan share how they worked with a think tank on this so-called human wealth approach, and how they implement it in their practice. We will also discuss how this family firm has found success working with other family-owned businesses. Visit PracticeLab to read more.

What does it take to build a top team? Capital Group's Michael Schweitzer, a former financial advisor with decades of experience in the industry, believes it's all about thinking like an enterprise. “The best teams in the industry have figured out how to operate as an enterprise by building systems that allow them to operate much like some of America's most successful corporations today,” he says.   In this episode, you will hear Schweitzer detail the 10 things he thinks top teams should focus on to build an enterprise around their business and create lasting value. Much of this work involves process, but it takes the right mindset, too. “You have to believe in the opportunity for growth, and you have to commit to it,” Schweitzer says. For more, visit PracticeLab.

With more than $2 billion* in assets under management and a 95% retention rate, Ira Rapaport and his team from New England Private Wealth Advisors must be doing something right. The fee-only registered investment advisor firm based in the Boston area credits their remarkable organic growth to next-level client experience as well as a focus on the softer side of planning, developing deep, long-term relationships with client families. It takes a long-term team approach to pull it off. Hear several members of the team join the conversation to share how they work together to provide a holistic planning experience, along with examples of the types of client services that have helped them become a multibillion-dollar firm. To learn more, visit PracticeLab. *As of Nov. 2020.

Many financial professionals these days are trying to reach women. Elisabeth Cullington and Janet Acheatel may have built the success model with Women and Wealth, a specialty practice that has helped grow HoyleCohen Wealth Management, their San Diego-based registered investment advisor firm, to more than $2 billion* in assets under management. Host Leslie Geller leads the conversation as Acheatel and Cullington describe their “for women, by women” approach to helping clients tackle life transitions, such as selling a business, going through a divorce, retiring or being recently widowed. They share their “clone the client” process for acquiring new business, along with steps you can take to acquire and work more effectively with women clients. To learn more, visit PracticeLab.

Sometimes doing things differently can pay off. That's been the case for Abby Spaulding of Continuum Planner Partners in Nashville, Tennessee. A financial advisor since 2008, the rising star founded the firm in 2015 and won the Nashville Business Journal's Power Leaders in Finance award in 2017. One thing that makes Spaulding's practice different is employing a retainer fee model rather than an asset management fee model. With a focus on businessowners with high net worth but few investable assets, she recognized a need in the marketplace.  Hear about Spaulding's business model, the epiphany that changed everything and why phantom referrals are not at all scary. To learn more, visit PracticeLab.

How do you grow a practice to 160 people in nine offices managing around $4.5 billion* in less than 20 years? For Jeff Dobyns, founder of the Southwestern Investment Group in Franklin, Tennessee, it boils down to advice he heard years ago from success guru Tom Gau: “You make money by being in front of clients.” While he admits this is easier said than done, it drove Dobyns to do the difficult work of client segmentation and tenacious team building. He's turned his formula into a mentorship program designed to support young talent while providing top advisors more face time with clients. To learn more, visit PracticeLab.   *As of October 2020.

If you are a financial professional looking to grow your business, improve your practice and save valuable time, then the PracticeLab podcast is a program for and about you.    In this series, we go coast-to-coast talking to financial professionals who are doing unique and powerful things in their businesses, and who are ready to share their best practices with you. If you're interested in ways to help acquire more clients, attract high net worth prospects, turbocharge your marketing, enhance your client experience, scale your practice and more, then you'll want to tune in to these episodes and hear some of the best ideas in the business.    PracticeLab is brought to you by Capital Group, home of American Funds. You can find all our episodes and more at practicelab.com. We hope you enjoy what you hear and — more importantly, what you learn — on the PracticeLab podcast.     American Funds Distributors, Inc., member FINRA