Podcasts about advisors

"When something becomes a measurement, it stops becoming a good target." In a world obsessed with digital efficiency and quick fixes, the real currency of a meaningful life remains independent thought, presence, and intentional effort. In this episode of Gratitude Through Hard Times, host Chris Schembra sits down with Nishat Mehta, CEO of Lexitas. A Harvard-trained mathematician and computer scientist turned executive, Nishat breaks down how leaders can navigate rapid change by embracing dialectical thinking—holding two seemingly competing truths at the same time. From balancing bottom-line performance with human empathy to shifting parenting styles as children grow, Nishat shares key insights on Goodhart's Law, confident humility, and finding extraordinary meaning in ordinary moments. 10 Memorable Quotes: "The new normal is that it will just keep changing. It really comes down to the ability to accept the change yourself and then lead the change amongst those around you." — Nishat Mehta "Confident humility balances high confidence in one's ability to figure things out with low ego regarding one's own current knowledge." — Chris Schembra "When something becomes a measurement, it stops becoming a good target." — Nishat Mehta "Always find the extraordinary in the ordinary." — Chris Schembra "Everything is on a spectrum... the edges of the spectrum are rarely the right answer." — Nishat Mehta "Efficiency increases consumption if you're not careful." — Chris Schembra "The journey is far more important than the destination... if we are constantly changing, it's because we are succeeding at the things we needed to do before." — Nishat Mehta "We must step out of the tyranny of the 'or' and into the genius of the 'and'." — Chris Schembra "Great work is something you're supposed to do, but recognizing what might seem ordinary is worthy of extraordinary gratitude." — Nishat Mehta "Gratitude doesn't change your circumstances; it changes your capacity to carry them." — Chris Schembra 10 Key Takeaways: Practicing Confident Humility: Balancing low ego regarding current knowledge with high confidence in a team's adaptability to solve complex, unfamiliar problems. Overcoming Goodhart's Law: Why single metrics distort business outcomes, and how pairing competing targets (like quantity vs. quality) maintains operational integrity. The "Genius of the 'And'": Replacing rigid "either/or" tradeoffs with dialectical thinking that unites radical acceptance with proactive change. Navigating Shifts in Family & Parenting: Transitioning from physical, hands-on care for young children to emotional, social mentorship as they grow into independence. Understanding Jevons Paradox in Modern Work: Recognizing how efficiency gains from AI can be swallowed by routine busyness unless leaders intentionally safeguard time for human connection. Harnessing "Collective Effervescence": Leveraging physical experiences, shared sports, and community gatherings to foster genuine human harmony and connection. Lowering Barriers to Access Justice: Applying technology and low-level AI guidance to make legal support more affordable, equitable, and fair. Change Management as a Core Leadership Skill: Shifting focus from day-to-day tactical execution toward building organizational consensus and motivating teams through continuous evolution. Finding Extraordinary Meaning in Ordinary Moments: Cultivating daily awareness to appreciate quiet family routines and ordinary acts of care that are often taken for granted. Embracing the Business Journey Over Destinations: Accepting that strategic goals evolve naturally as progress is made, making the growth process the ultimate measure of success. About our Guest: Nishat Mehta is the Chief Executive Officer of Lexitas, a leading national provider of technology-enabled litigation services and an Apax portfolio company based in Houston, Texas. He stepped into the CEO seat on January 1, 2025, having originally joined the company as President and Chief Operating Officer in March 2024. Under his leadership, Lexitas is launching AI-enabled deposition analysis, expanding its eLaw case-tracking platform, and continuing to serve law firms, insurance companies, and corporations across all 50 states. Nishat brings more than two decades of leadership across data, analytics, and enterprise technology. He most recently served as President of Global Products and Solutions and Chief Product Officer at Circana (formed from the merger of IRI and The NPD Group), where he ran the firm's global media, analytics, e-commerce, software, and consulting divisions. Prior to Circana, he led the customer communications team at 84.51° (Kroger's data-science and personalization arm), directed strategic partnerships at dunnhumby, and spent 15 years at MicroStrategy. He also serves on the Board of Directors of The E.W. Scripps Company (NASDAQ: SSP) and on the Board of Advisors of Adelaide Metrics. Nishat holds a Bachelor's degree in Applied Mathematics and a Master's degree in Computer Science, both from Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife, Shalini, and their three children. His guiding quote, from John Wooden: ability may get you to the top, but it takes character to keep you there.

Why isn't Fixed Ops saving dealerships while vehicle sales and front-end gross are falling? In Service Drive Revolution #374, Chris, Hogi and Adam examine why service and parts departments are remaining flat when they should be carrying dealership overhead. Customers are keeping vehicles longer and driving more, yet many stores are booked out for weeks, losing customer-pay work and allowing independent shops to capture market share. The team identifies technician capacity as the primary constraint. When warranty repair orders begin matching or exceeding customer-pay ROs, it may reveal that customers who have a choice are going elsewhere. Chris explains why dealers must add technicians before the shop feels ready, price labor correctly and stop waiting for the mythical "unicorn" tech. They also challenge leaders to mystery-shop their own appointment process, reinvest in customer experience and replace systems that have barely evolved in a century. Plus: Is the AI bubble finally popping? The crew discusses failed AI phone systems, advisor kiosks and why AI works best as a tool that amplifies expertise—not as a replacement for human relationships. KEY TAKEAWAYS * Fixed Ops Should Carry the Store: When sales decline, service and parts should protect dealership profitability. * Capacity Is the Constraint: Being booked out sends urgent customer-pay work to competitors. * Watch the RO Mix: Warranty ROs exceeding customer-pay ROs can reveal technician shortages and lost retention. * Hire Before It Feels Comfortable: More technicians can improve work distribution, efficiency and available capacity. * Price Labor for Reality: Labor rates should reflect technician compensation, demand and the cost of timely service. * AI Should Amplify Talent: It can accelerate research, coding & internal systems, but cannot replace customer connection.  * Mystery-Shop the Process: Leaders often don't know how difficult their own BDC & appointment experience has become. FAQ Q: Why isn't Fixed Ops saving struggling dealerships? A: Many departments lack technician capacity, lose customer-pay work, use outdated systems and underinvest in retention and customer experience. Q: What does it mean when warranty ROs exceed customer-pay ROs? A: Warranty customers must return to the brand, while customer-pay clients can leave. A rising warranty mix may mean customers with choices are defecting. Q: Should a dealership hire technicians before its current techs are fully efficient? A: Yes. Additional capacity can improve workflow and efficiency while allowing the dealership to capture more work. Q: Should higher technician pay reduce service gross? A: It does not have to. Labor rates can be adjusted to reflect technician wages, market demand and the cost of timely service. Q: Can AI replace Service Advisors or the BDC? A: The team says current AI is better used as support. Advisors create trust, validation and relationships that automation cannot reproduce. Chapters 0:00 Live From Indiana 1:45 Why Isn't Fixed Ops Saving Dealerships? 2:35 Summer, Boats and Power-Sports Dealers 8:30 Buying Without a Test Drive 9:25 The Power-Sports Technician Shortage 1 0:20 Seasonal Service and Motorcycle Storage 17:55 Power-Sports Absorption 19:20 Parts and Service Between Two Flames 22:35 Is the AI Bubble Popping? 24:00 Tablets, Kiosks and Digital Inspection Hype 26:35 Why AI Phone Systems Are Failing 27:20 Where AI Actually Saves Time 30:40 AI vs. Human Customer Service 33:20 Use AI to Amplify Expertise 36:50 AI Is Changing Search 37:50 Why Fixed Ops Historically Carried Dealerships 40:55 Falling Sales and Flat Fixed Ops 44:00 Technician Capacity Is the First Problem 44:30 Warranty vs. Customer-Pay ROs 46:00 Add Capacity Before the Constraint 47:00 Why Independents Are Gaining Market Share 48:40 Mystery-Shop Your Dealership 50:40 Paying More for Technicians 53:25 Antiquated Dealership Systems 54:00 Consolidation and Customer Experience 57:20 Fixed Ops as a Force Multiplier 59:00 Dealership Leadership Needs Fixed Ops Experience 1:00:40 Final Thoughts

MeidasTouch host Ben Meiselas reports on Donald Trump's own White House advisors sounding the alarm about what could be coming in the November midterms, as they privately warn that Trump's behavior and deeply unpopular agenda could spell disaster for Republicans and cost them badly in the elections. Remember to subscribe to ALL the MeidasTouch Network Podcasts: MeidasTouch: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/meidastouch-podcast Legal AF: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/legal-af MissTrial: https://meidasnews.com/tag/miss-trial The PoliticsGirl Podcast: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-politicsgirl-podcast Cult Conversations: The Influence Continuum with Dr. Steve Hassan: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-influence-continuum-with-dr-steven-hassan The Weekend Show: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-weekend-show The Ken Harbaugh Show: https://meidasnews.com/tag/the-ken-harbaugh-show Majority 54: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/majority-54 On Democracy with FP Wellman: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/on-democracy-with-fpwellman Uncovered: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/maga-uncovered Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What happens when someone spends decades helping people navigate both financial challenges and life's deepest spiritual questions? In this episode of The Suffering Podcast, we sit down with Daniel Burrus—a husband, father of four, Enrolled Agent, ordained minister, author, and educator whose unique journey bridges the worlds of accounting, theology, and leadership. Daniel holds both a Master of Arts (MA) and a Master of Theology (ThM) and brings more than 23 years of experience in public and private accounting, along with 15 years serving as a pastor. Today, he works with Atlas CPAs & Advisors while also serving with Equipping Leaders International, where he helps train and equip under-resourced Christian leaders throughout Asia, Africa, and South America. Our conversation explores faith, suffering, leadership, purpose, and the timeless lessons found in the biblical story of Job. Daniel also shares insights from his book, Wisdom in Suffering: Lessons from Job, offering practical wisdom for anyone facing adversity or searching for hope in difficult seasons. When he isn't teaching, writing, or serving others, Daniel enjoys spending time with his family, reading, watching great movies, playing golf, and taking his Jeep Wrangler out with the top down. If you've ever wrestled with suffering, questioned God's purpose during hardship, or wanted to grow stronger through life's trials, this episode is for you. Connect with Daniel Burrus Website: https://www.danielburrus.org Book: Wisdom in Suffering: Lessons from Job Atlas CPAs & Advisors: https://www.atlascpas.com Equipping Leaders International: https://equippingleadersinternational.org   Find The Suffering Podcast The Suffering Podcast Website  The Suffering Podcast Instagram  Kevin Donaldson Instagram  Apple Podcast  Spotify Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Although the next decade presents a significant wealth transfer opportunity, many business owners lack a formal exit or succession plan to capture the full value of their life's work. Host John Bryson welcomes Kathleen to discuss how financial advisors can help business owners maximize value, identify growth opportunities, and navigate the complexities of a successful transition. Here's a snippet of their conversation. 1 How big is this opportunity for financial advisors? In the United States, there are approximately 390,000 privately held businesses with annual revenue between $5 million and $100 million; we consider that the mid-market. There are another 5.5 million businesses with annual revenue under $5 million. We call that the micro market, and it also represents a significant opportunity for financial advisors. According to the Exit Planning Institute's “state of owner readiness” research conducted at the end of 2024, 48% of business owners plan to transition their businesses within the next three years, while another 26% expect to do so within the next four to eight years. About 74% plan to exit within the next eight years, and that translates into a $14 trillion opportunity. 2 How can advisors support business owners? Advisors generally focus on what we call the four intangible capitals of the business. The first is human capital, the value of the company's talent. All things being equal, the greater the value of the talent, the greater the value of the business. The second area is customer capital. Ideally, you want tenured, contractual, recurring customers and revenue. The third is structural capital, which is the business's know-how. And finally, there's social capital, which is really the culture of the company. 3 What do we offer financial advisors to support business owners? We see ourselves as providing two critical functions. One is educating financial advisors on this space, helping them with their practices, helping them position themselves to pursue this in a meaningful way, and helping to educate their clients. The other piece is connecting them to the relationships they might need to build out their team, whether it's value growth advisors or M&A advisors.

Episode 365 of the Independent Advisors Podcast. Aaron Cramer and Nick Whitaker cover a lot of ground this week, including the bond market, Treasury yields, and the Treasury Department's decision to double its bond buyback program after 30-year yields hit their highest level since 2007.Also covered: why more companies raising guidance than lowering it is a bullish signal, how 2026 compares to past midterm election years, and whether the "US debt crisis" headlines are overblown.Plus, a look back at the history of the 401(k), including how stock ownership among Americans has grown from less than 20% in 1983 to over 60% today, and proposed IRS and Treasury guidance that could modernize retirement account rollovers.If you've been enjoying The Independent Advisors podcast for a while now and want to take the next step in your financial journey, I'd encourage you to head to our website, jessupwealthmanagement.com. Matt offers a 15-minute initial call where you can discuss your financial goals and see if JWM is a good fit for your needs.Scheduling is easy, once you land at jessupwealthmanagement.com just click "Schedule Initial Call" and select a time that works best for you! There's a quick survey to fill out that will help guide the conversation and ensure your time is used efficiently.If you're ready to learn more, visit jessupwealthmanagement.com and book your call today!Blog Post from Charlie Vilello on August 18th - https://bilello.blog/2026/the-week-in-charts-8-18-26Post on X from Ben Carlson on August 19th - https://x.com/awealthofcs/status/2090190352745447726?s=12&t=Godkt5FzuqWcmpmvo2G5JgPost on X from Astra Insights on August 13th - https://x.com/AstraInsights/status/2087985036348059822?s=20Saving for RetirementThe Thrift Savings Plan

What if the greatest benefit of financial advice isn't simply what happens to your portfolio, but knowing your financial decisions reflect what matters most? New research from Kingdom Advisors and Pinkston Group suggests that when financial counsel aligns with a person's faith and values, the benefits can extend well beyond investment performance. Clients report deeper trust, reduced financial anxiety, and a broader definition of financial success. Sharon Epps, President of Kingdom Advisors, joined the show today to unpack what the findings reveal about values-aligned investing, long-term advisor relationships, generosity, and the future of Christian financial advice. The Gap Between Interest and Action One of the study's most striking findings involves values-based investing. While 81% of Certified Kingdom Advisors® offer values-based investment options, only 15% of their clients currently use them. Why the gap? Epps believes several factors may be involved. Some investors still assume that aligning their investments with their values necessarily means accepting lower returns. Others may simply be unaware that faith-aligned options are available because they've never brought it up with their advisor. There may also be a natural progression in a person's stewardship journey. Christians often begin by thinking about giving as the primary way their faith intersects with money. Only later do they begin considering whether their saving and investing decisions can also reflect their convictions. That makes education essential. Advisors can help clients understand how values-based screening works, compare investment options, and evaluate them as part of a disciplined and diversified strategy. For hesitant investors, Epps suggests starting with a smaller portion of a portfolio rather than changing everything at once. The larger principle is simple: stewardship begins by asking what matters to us before asking how our investments are performing. Why Peace May Grow Over Time The research also found that the benefits of working with a Certified Kingdom Advisor® appear to deepen over time. Among CKA® clients who had worked with their advisor for more than five years, 66% reported a reduction in financial anxiety, compared with 49% among those in shorter advisor relationships. That may be partly because trust is cumulative. Over time, an advisor gets to know not only a client's financial situation but also their family, priorities, goals, and convictions. The relationship becomes less transactional and more of a long-term partnership. A sound financial plan can also provide perspective during difficult markets. Rather than reacting to every rise and fall, investors can return to a strategy built around long-term goals. For Christians, there is an even deeper source of peace. Biblical financial counsel continually reminds us that God owns everything and that we are His stewards. That changes the central question from, “How do I protect everything I have?” to, “Lord, how would You have me manage what You have entrusted to me?” That perspective cannot eliminate financial uncertainty, but it can keep uncertainty from becoming the foundation of our decisions. More Than Finding the Lowest Fee Another revealing finding involved the way clients choose advisors. Only 20% of CKA® clients said fees were the primary factor in selecting an advisor. Epps emphasized that fees still matter. Wise stewardship means understanding what you are paying and ensuring those costs are reasonable and transparent.  But financial advice is about more than purchasing a commodity at the lowest possible price. When an advisor understands a client's values, the relationship can encompass far more than investment returns. It can include planning, accountability, generosity, family decisions, and a shared understanding of what money is ultimately for. That changes the scorecard. The question becomes not simply, “Did my investments outperform?” but also, “Am I becoming more faithful with what God has entrusted to me?” Younger Investors Want Their Money and Values to Tell the Same Story The study offered encouraging insight into the next generation as well. Among adults ages 18 to 41, 52% said shared values are extremely important when choosing financial advice. Epps sees that as an important shift. Younger Christians often want greater consistency between what they believe and the decisions they make in every area of life—including their finances. Rather than viewing money as a separate, purely financial category, many see it as another tool that should reflect their convictions. That creates both an opportunity and a responsibility for financial advisors. The next generation is likely to expect conversations about purpose, values, generosity, and stewardship rather than treating those subjects as unrelated to financial planning. For Christian advisors, that opens the door to something deeper than portfolio management: helping clients understand biblical wisdom and their role as stewards. A Bigger Definition of Success Perhaps one of the clearest differences the research reveals is how Certified Kingdom Advisors® think about success. Investment performance still matters. But the scorecard can be broader. Epps pointed to outcomes such as greater peace, increased generosity, and helping clients faithfully pursue the purposes God has placed before them. The research found, for example, that CKA® clients were twice as likely to report that their giving had “significantly increased” since beginning work with their advisor. That is particularly noteworthy because many financial advisors are compensated, in some way, based on the assets they manage. Encouraging clients to give generously may reduce those assets, yet a Kingdom-minded advisor can celebrate that generosity because the goal is not merely accumulation. The goal is faithful stewardship. What to Look for in a Financial Advisor If you are looking for financial counsel that incorporates your Christian faith, the first meeting can tell you a great deal. Notice whether the advisor is asking questions only about your numbers or also about your values. Do they want to understand what matters to you? Are they comfortable discussing how faith influences financial decisions? Can they explain how biblical wisdom shapes the counsel they provide? Epps also encourages believers to pray about the decision and seek the Lord's wisdom as they choose whom to trust with such an important relationship. Proverbs 19:20 says, “Listen to advice and accept instruction, that you may gain wisdom in the future.” Financial advice at its best should help us do more than grow wealth. It should help us grow in wisdom, make thoughtful decisions, and faithfully steward everything God has placed in our hands. If you'd like to find a Certified Kingdom Advisor® in your area, visit FindACKA.com. On Today's Program, Rob Answers Listener Questions: I'm 53, our home is paid off, and my husband and I have about $50,000 in checking but no retirement savings. We live simply, and both still work. How should we start putting this money toward retirement? I'm 33 and own an S corp law practice earning about $40,000 to $60,000 a month. I'm already tithing, using tax strategies, and funding retirement accounts, but I still have significant taxable income. How should I think about deploying the excess beyond simply growing the business? Resources Mentioned: Faithful Steward: FaithFi's Quarterly Magazine (Become a FaithFi Partner) Fidelity Go | Schwab Intelligent Portfolios® AdelFi Christian Banking FaithFi Field Guide: How Much Money is Enough?  Our Ultimate Treasure: A 21-Day Journey to Faithful Stewardship by Rob West Wisdom Over Wealth: 12 Lessons from Ecclesiastes on Money Look At The Sparrows: A 21-Day Devotional on Financial Fear and Anxiety Rich Toward God: A Study on the Parable of the Rich Fool Find a Certified Kingdom Advisor® (CKA) FaithFi App Remember, you can call in to ask your questions every weekday at (800) 525-7000. Faith & Finance is also available on Moody Radio Network and American Family Radio. You can also visit FaithFi.com to connect with our online community and partner with us as we help more people live as faithful stewards of God's resources. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

What happens when you reach a certain level of success and realize the financial strategies you've been using may no longer fit where you are today?In this episode of Capability Amplifier, I sit down with Dana Cornell, founder of Cornell Capital Holdings, for a fascinating conversation about how successful business owners can think differently about taxes, investing, income, risk, and protecting what they've built.Dana has seen both sides of the financial world.He managed more than $1.4 billion at Morgan Stanley, served hundreds of clients, and eventually gained access to the advanced planning strategies being used with families at a very different level of wealth.What he saw changed the direction of his career.Dana realized there was an enormous difference between traditional wealth management and the coordinated approach available to ultra-wealthy families. Eventually, that gap became big enough that he decided to leave and build something different.Dana and I dug into what he learned behind the scenes, the mistakes successful founders often make with their own money, and why your financial strategy needs to evolve as your business and wealth become more complex.In this episode, Dana and I break down:Why Dana walked away from a $1.4 billion practice at Morgan Stanley?The 1% advisory fee that may actually be costing you closer to 20%Why do the ultra-wealthy keep most of their liquid capital out of stocks and bonds?What founders should understand about private and pre-IPO investing?Why the tax planning on a business or real estate sale has to happen before you sell?The risk most wealthy families overlook, and it isn't the marketEveryone has a CPA, an attorney, and an advisor. Almost nobody has a quarterbackOne of my biggest takeaways from this conversation is that financial complexity requires coordination.You can have a great CPA, a great attorney, and a great financial advisor. But if nobody is looking at the entire picture and taking responsibility for how all those pieces work together, opportunities can easily get missed.For successful founders and business owners, this is an important conversation about making sure the wealth you've worked so hard to create is being managed with the same level of intention you bring to your businessTake Dana's free financial diagnostic quiz (10 questions or less — get your wealth score and freedom score): https://cchquiz.comWant Dana's tax calculator? Email info@cornellcapitalholdings.com and he'll send it to you personally. Take the report to your CPA.DISCLAIMER: This episode is for educational and informational purposes only and is not financial, tax, investment, or legal advice. Dana Cornell is affiliated with Cornell Capital Holdings LLC. Nothing here is an offer or solicitation to buy or sell any security. Certain investments discussed may only be available to accredited investors. Consult your own CPA, attorney, and financial advisor before making any decisions.TIME STAMPS[00:00:00] Why Dana Cornell Left Traditional Wealth Management[00:03:42] Building a Career From Door-to-Door Prospecting[00:06:46] The Moment That Changed Dana's Career[00:09:31] How the Ultra-Wealthy Approach Financial Planning[00:12:04] Three Strategies That Move the Needle[00:14:10] Preserve, Produce, Protect, and Pass[00:17:21] Understanding the Real Cost of Advisory Fees[00:20:31] Alternative Investments and the Family-Office Model[00:25:08] Private and Pre-IPO Investing[00:29:47] Planning Around Business and Real Estate Sales[00:32:21] Building a Coordinated Team of Advisors[00:35:47] The Financial Diagnostic and Next Steps PS – When you're ready, here's how I can help: Want to find the hidden revenue in your business? Grab a Cup of Coffee with me: AiAccelerator.com/1kReady to reinvent yourself, your business, and your brand, and create “Your Next Act”? Watch this.Discover More

Send us Fan MailLisa Hanna, former Miss World, longtime Jamaican cabinet minister, and founder of Lisa Hanna Beauty, joins Skin Anarchy to talk about rejecting the language of correction, building a science led luxury line in Italy, and the activist mission behind her brand.Who is Lisa Hanna?An "accidental beauty queen" who won Miss World in 1993 at 18, then built a two decade political career as one of Jamaica's youngest female members of parliament and a cabinet minister before retiring last year to enter beauty. "I think leadership has an obligation to give other people an opportunity to present their ideas."Why did she move from politics into beauty?Because she rejected how the industry talks about age. As she aged in demanding field work, actives like retinol and vitamin C stopped suiting her skin. "If we're constantly told that the evidence of time is something to correct, eventually we see ourselves and believe that time has diminished us."What does aging intelligently mean?Working with skin rather than fighting it. Hanna reframes skin as an organ deserving support, not correction. "Remember your skin is at its best when it's supported... when you're working in harmony with it." She sees longevity as overused and prefers accumulating knowledge over reversing time.How are women in politics judged on their appearance?Constantly, and before they speak. Hanna recalls being heckled entering parliament, then facing formal motions over sleeveless outfits and a national debate over a swimsuit photo at 51. "There's an ageist component to the beauty," she says, noting the judgment arrived "way before you open your mouth.Why did she make her line in Italy?For innovation and EU standards. She wanted regulated formulas that push boundaries without breaking the skin barrier. "I wanted my products to be EU regulated and to pass EU standards," working with a lab using mastic resin to stimulate the skin's own collagen rather than forcing change from the top down.What is the science behind Lisa Hanna Beauty?A proprietary quantum RECP delivery system across every product. It pairs mastic resin, protected vitamin C that activates only on the skin, green grape extract for inflammation, and matrikine peptides. "Skin must recognize what it already knows," she says, which is why the formulas absorb rather than sit on top.Is Lisa Hanna Beauty only for certain skin tones?No, and she resisted pressure to position it that way. Advisors pushed her to build a brand for people of color; she refused. "I want to do skincare for all skin types." The formulas are clinically tested to work across skin tones, and she argues luxury was wrongly withheld from many women for too long.What is the fade bomb?The line's breakout hero product, a hydrating balm for hyperpigmentation that doubles as a healing product. Built after visiting bleaching factories worldwide, it avoids harsh correctives. "That fade bomb is amazing," used on scarring, bikini line, and underarms across every skin tone.Can luxury skincare be affordable?That was the point. Watching post COVID economic pressure on women, Hanna built a premium seven product line meant to feel special without breaking budgets. "Every woman deserves when they go home to feel luxury," with glass bottles worthy of a vanity and formulas that are clinically tested.What is the brand's activist mission?Five percent of everything funds support for women and children with neurodivergence, especially in Jamaica, where child mental health resources are scarce. Drawing on her own son's experience and her time as minister of youth, she calls it an activist beauty brand. "Skincare can transform skin, but it can also transform lives."Listen to the full episode with Lisa Hanna on Skin Anarchy, available wherever you get your podcasts.Shop Lisa Hanna BeautyDon't forget to subscribe to Skin Anarchy on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your preferred platform.Reach out to us through email with any questions.Sign up for our newsletter!Shop all our episodes and products mentioned through our ShopMy Shelf!Support the show

How can travel advisors create partnerships with DMCs that feel more like collaborations and less like transactions? Joining Whitney for Part 2 of a two-part convo are seasoned travel advisor Kate Sullivan and newer advisor Anna Tretter to explore the intricacies of working with DMCs. They talk about the role DMCs play in the travel industry, especially in crafting experiences that go beyond the traditional "greatest hits." And they share tips on effective communication with DMCs, the benefits of using technology and collaborative platforms,. and pursuing transparency that builds trust with both the DMC partner and clients.For the next several weeks, enjoy this replay of a listener favorite episode. We'll be back soon with new content!

You do not need a massive PR budget to earn meaningful media coverage, but you do need to give journalists the right response at the right time. In this episode of Sharkpreneur, Seth Greene interviews Dan Simon, CEO and Co-Founder of Qwoted, who explains how Qwoted connects journalists, podcast producers, writers, and other media professionals with credible expert sources. He also explains how business owners and professionals can improve their chances of securing media coverage by responding quickly, building complete profiles, offering authentic insights, and providing concise, usable quotes. Dan also discusses how the platform is democratizing media access while helping journalists verify sources and find perspectives they may not encounter through traditional PR agencies. Key Takeaways:→ Qwoted was created to give journalists access to a much broader and more diverse range of potential sources. → Experience in a particular profession, industry, location, or life situation can offer a valuable perspective for a story. → Sometimes journalists need personal experience and authentic opinions rather than formal credentials or advanced expertise. → Speed is one of the strongest predictors of whether a journalist will use a source's response. → Concise, memorable quotes and unique perspectives are more useful to journalists than lengthy explanations or full white papers. Dan Simon is the founder and CEO of Qwoted, an online network connecting journalists with expert sources and used by reporters across major newsrooms. He serves on the U.S. Board of Advisors for Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and has built Qwoted's work around press freedom, newsroom economics, and journalists' working conditions. Dan is also the founder and Chairman of Vested, one of the largest financial communications firms in the world. He is the author of The Money Hackers (HarperCollins, 2020), which explores how technology has transformed our relationship with money. The book was named the best small-business book by the Axiom Awards. He has been a regular columnist for Forbes, Markets Media, and CoinTelegraph, and he co-chairs the Communications Advisory Board of the Museum of American Finance. Connect With Dan:Website: https://www.qwoted.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dansimon/

50+ Years Advising Powerful Leaders: Start With the Truth | James LukaszewskiJames E. Lukaszewski has spent more than five decades advising executives and major organizations through crisis, leadership problems, reputation threats, and difficult decisions. In this episode of Diversified Game, James explains why leaders keep repeating the same mistakes, why wisdom comes from recognizing patterns, and why the best advisors sometimes have to tell powerful clients what they do not want to hear.We also discuss his “Seeking Forgiveness” framework, when to walk away from money, why truth has to come first in a crisis, how he tripled his rates and kept his clients, his return to college as an older student, and his concerns about AI safety and regulation.James says many leadership failures follow familiar patterns. His job as an advisor is not to rescue people from consequences, but to help them face reality, tell the truth, take responsibility, and repair damage. He breaks down his nine-part “Seeking Forgiveness” process and explains why he refuses clients who will not do the work.He also shares a major business lesson: after realizing he and his wife were undercharging, they tripled their rates. Their clients stayed, and one told him he was still charging below the value of his expertise.The episode closes with lessons on education, giving back, longevity, and AI. James' core message is simple: start with the truth and stay with the truth.03:30 James introduces himself and Influencing Leaders07:08 Official Diversified Game introduction08:07 What leaders still get wrong12:06 Advisors as option finders12:53 His test before accepting crisis clients22:22 When to walk away from money32:34 Powerful leaders and the “mom” question35:17 Pattern recognition and wisdom48:14 Why crisis response starts with truth51:31 The “Seeking Forgiveness” framework55:58 How consultants should price themselves56:44 James tripled his rates1:02:07 Graduating college at 321:07:22 Final lesson: start with the truth1:08:24 James on AI safety and regulation1:12:16 Why he still takes callsLearn the mindset and moves that lead to real results. Please visit my website to get more information: http://diversifiedgame.com/

WATCH 'The Dick & Paul Show' on YouTube: https://youtu.be/LtLBhBp5T40 This episode is sponsored by Fidelity Investments and the all-new Fidelity Trader+ platform. Try Fidelity's most powerful trading experience yet: https://Fidelity.com/TraderPlus Fidelity Investments and MRKT Call are not affiliated. Views, opinions, products, services, and strategies discussed are not endorsed or promoted by Fidelity Investments. Fidelity Brokerage Services LLC, Member NYSE, SIPC. Dan Nathan sits down with Paul Costolo, former CEO of Twitter and current VC. They start with Dick's early comedy days (Second City alongside Steve Carell, two SNL auditions that didn't pan out) and his stint writing for HBO's Silicon Valley, before diving into his path from founding FeedBurner to running Twitter through its IPO — including candid stories about the culture shift from private to public company life, and a surreal late-night run-in with Jack Dorsey in Paris in the middle of Elon Musk's takeover drama. From there they get into Dick's venture firm, 01 Advisors, and his thesis on investing in the AI "enablement layer" (the infrastructure sitting above the models) rather than chasing the flashiest apps. Dick shares his read on today's eye-popping valuations — including Stripe's $7 billion acquisition of OpenRouter and a leaked investor letter claiming "the singularity happened on New Year's Day" — and gives his predictions for the coming wave of AI IPOs, arguing Anthropic and SpaceX are well positioned while OpenAI could face a tougher road given its executive turnover and messaging challenges. They close by talking about prediction markets (and the striking gap between how well people think they're doing on platforms like Kalshi versus reality), before wrapping up with a plug for Dick's own podcast, the Dick and Paul Show. —FOLLOW USYouTube: @RiskReversalMediaInstagram: @riskreversalmediaTwitter: @RiskReversalLinkedIn: RiskReversal Media The financial opinions expressed in Risk Reversal content are for information purposes only. The opinions expressed by the hosts and participants are not an attempt to influence specific trading behavior, investments, or strategies. Past performance does not necessarily predict future outcomes. No specific results or profits are assured when relying on Risk Reversal. Before making any investment or trade, evaluate its suitability for your circumstances and consider consulting your own financial or investment advisor. The financial products discussed in Risk Reversal carry a high level of risk and may not be appropriate for many investors. If you have uncertainties, it's advisable to seek professional advice. Remember that trading involves a risk to your capital, so only invest money that you can afford to lose. Derivatives are not suitable for all investors and involve the risk of losing more than the amount originally deposited and any profit you might have made. This communication is not a recommendation or offer to buy, sell or retain any specific investment or service.

The U.S. Treasury is taking steps that could help suppress long-term interest rates as exploding government debt and interest costs put increasing pressure on the financial system. We break down what this shift means for bonds, the U.S. dollar, commodities, Canadian housing and global markets. We also touch on Canada-U.S. trade, the Churchill Falls energy deal, rising diesel prices, Argentina, various speculative assets like crypto and Bitcoin skyrocketing, and the worsening economic slowdown in China.Start an investment portfolio that's built to perform with Neighbourhood Holdings! For Mortgage Brokers: https://www.neighbourhood.com/looniehour-brokersFor Investors and Advisors: https://www.neighbourhood.com/looniehourCheck out Saily at https://www.saily.com/looniehour and use our promo code 'LOONIEHOUR' to get 15% off your first purchase!Schedule an exploration call with IceCap Asset Management: https://icecapassetmanagement.com/contact/✉️ Media & Real Estate Inquiries: steve@stevesaretsky.comStay up to date with our information -

If you've been enjoying The Independent Advisors podcast for a while now and want to take the next step in your financial journey, I'd encourage you to head to our website, jessupwealthmanagement.com (https://www.jessupwealthmanagement.com/) . Matt offers a 15-minute initial call where you can discuss your financial goals and see if JWM is a good fit for your needs. Scheduling is easy—once you land at jessupwealthmanagement.com (https://www.jessupwealthmanagement.com/) just click “Schedule Initial Call” and select a time that works best for you! There's a quick survey to fill out that will help guide the conversation and ensure your time is used efficiently. If you're ready to learn more, visit jessupwealthmanagement.com (https://www.jessupwealthmanagement.com/) and book your call today! Take advantage of our partnership with LifeLock and get discounts using our link: https://lifelock.norton.com/offers?expid=LLONEYEAR&promocode= JSPW24&VENDORID= _JESSUPWM&om_ext_cid=ext_partner_ JSPW24_Productpage $) Episode #364 Topics• Founding and Early Growth Challenges — 02:40, 05:29, 07:40, 19:53 • Firm Culture and Leadership Philosophy — 11:26, 37:39, 39:15, 14:21 • Family Dynamics and Entrepreneurial Parenting — 17:04, 18:29, 33:15 • Community Engagement and Nonprofit Leadership — 22:37, 25:14, 21:16, 26:33 • Financial Management and Role Delegation — 29:09, 30:32 • Entrepreneurial Advice and Reflections — 33:15, 34:44, 37:39, 39:47Hosts: Mark McEvily - Chief Investment Officer and Managing Partner Matthew Jessup – Chief Executive Officer, Chief Compliance Officer, and Managing Partner Address: 35 Park Ave. Dayton, OH 45419 Phone: 937-938-9105 https://www.jessupwealthmanagement.com/ Social Media: Facebook: @JessupWealthManagement LinkedIn: @JessupWealthManagement Twitter: @jessupwealth Instagram: @jessupwealth https://www.jessupwealthmanagement.com/disclosures-page

Recorded live at Auto Tech 2026, this episode features AutoMobility Advisors' Chip Goetzinger discussing the rise of software-defined vehicles, embedded connectivity, and changing OEM-supplier relationships. He also explores emerging automotive trends like vehicle commerce and digital identity, along with insights from his background as an amateur race car driver.

Sometimes you love them, sometimes they drive you crazy...this week, we're talking all about Destination Management Companies (DMCs)! Seasoned advisor Kate Sullivan and newer advisor Anna Tretter join Whitney to share their personal experiences, frustrations, and strategies when working with DMCs. Plus, they talk about the importance of transparency, effective communication, and how to build strong partnerships with DMCs to enhance client experiences. This is Part 1 of a two part conversation!For the next several weeks, enjoy this replay of a listener favorite episode. We'll be back soon with new content!

Why Clients Ghost Travel Advisors (And What Psychology Says About It) | Psychology of Selling Travel (Part 3) Have you ever poured hours into researching the perfect vacation, crafted a personalized proposal, hit send...and then heard absolutely nothing? You're not alone. Ghosting is one of the most frustrating parts of being a travel advisor, but here's the good news: it's usually not personal. In Part 3 of my Psychology of Selling Travel series, we're diving into the behavioral psychology behind why potential clients disappear—and what you can do to reduce ghosting without becoming pushy or feeling like you're constantly chasing people. We'll explore how decision fatigue, choice overload, fear of making the wrong decision, and simple human psychology all influence whether someone moves forward with booking their trip. If you've ever wondered why excited leads suddenly go silent or questioned whether you did something wrong, this episode will give you a fresh perspective and practical strategies you can start using immediately. In this episode, you'll learn: Why ghosting is usually a psychology problem—not a personal oneThe real reasons potential travel clients stop respondingHow decision fatigue impacts booking behaviorWhy offering too many vacation options can actually hurt your salesThe psychology of loss aversion and fear of making the wrong decisionHow to simplify your proposals to make saying "yes" easierWhy small commitments help move clients toward bookingThe right way to follow up without sounding desperate or pushyHow CRM workflows and follow-up systems can improve your booking rateWhy building relationships is more effective than chasing sales Whether you're planning Disney vacations, cruises, all-inclusive resorts, luxury travel, or custom international itineraries, understanding why clients ghost can help you create a smoother booking process, build more confidence, and close more sales. Resources & Links ✨ Interested in becoming a travel advisor? I'd love to chat about joining my agency. ✨ Follow me for weekly tips on travel advisor marketing, business systems, and client psychology. Website to get on my email list: https://www.lindsaydollinger.com and find me on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lindsay.dollinger ✨ Subscribe to Passports, Profits & Pixie Dust so you don't miss the next episode in the Psychology of Selling Travel series. If this episode encouraged you, I'd love for you to leave a review and share it with another travel advisor who's ever stared at an inbox wondering why a promising lead suddenly disappeared. Remember: Your job isn't to convince clients to book. It's to reduce friction, build confidence, and make it easy for them to say yes. why clients ghost travel advisorstravel advisor salestravel advisor marketingpsychology of selling traveltravel advisor follow-uptravel advisor CRMreducing client ghostingtravel sales psychologytravel business coachingtravel advisor booking processdecision fatiguechoice overloadclient communicationhow to book more travel clientstravel advisor podcast

The Credibility Gap Most Advisors Never Close Coach Joe Lukacs welcomes Natalie Hales of Hales Advisor Consulting to the Magellan Network Show for a deep dive into branding, marketing, and positioning for financial advisors. Natalie shares the personal story behind her path into the industry, sparked by her father's health crisis and her own experience with a financial advisor, and then unpacks her "niche authority" framework. The conversation covers why niching feels scary to advisors (and why it doesn't mean turning away clients), the difference between marketing, branding, and positioning, her "four Cs" branding framework (claim, clarify, codify, consistency), how AI and platforms like LinkedIn's algorithm are reshaping credibility and social proof, and realistic timelines for seeing results from a long-term positioning strategy (roughly 12 to 15 months). They close out discussing who Natalie works best with and who she turns away.

This episode is a little different. Instead of another tactical strategy or productivity hack, Libby shares three hard truths that may be the very things holding talented financial advisors back from building the business they truly want. Drawing from more than 25 years in the industry, her own experience investing in high-level coaching, and years of working with hundreds of advisors, she challenges listeners to stop searching for more information and start becoming the kind of leaders who consistently execute. If you're ready for an honest conversation about what's really standing in your way, this episode is for you.In this episode, you'll learn:Why your biggest challenge probably isn't a lack of information, but a lack of consistent implementation—and how to finally bridge that gap.The difference between buying information and investing in accountability, proximity, and environments that create lasting transformation.Why many advisors unknowingly try to solve million-dollar business problems with transactional solutions, and what it takes to break that cycle.How shifting your identity from someone who starts to someone who finishes can completely change your business, your leadership, and your results.If you've been feeling stuck despite reading the books, attending the conferences, and buying the courses, this episode offers a refreshing perspective on what actually creates lasting change. Sometimes the next breakthrough isn't found in learning something new—it's found in finally implementing what you already know.Check out The First 100 Days Course: The Advisor's Blueprint for a Remarkable Client Experience HERE!Learn more about T2MWorks HERE! Learn more about Asset-Map financial planning software HERE! Learn more about our sponsor Beemo Automation HERE!   Check out the Efficient Advisor YouTube Channel HERE!Connect with Libby on LinkedIn HERE!Successful businesses don't get built alone. You need community! You need collaboration! Join us in The Efficient Advisor Community on Facebook.

We sit down with Jim Thorne, Chief Market Strategist at Wellington-Altus Private Wealth, where he believes that we are setting up for a Secular Bull Market coming up. We go through the global debt problem, and why AI could fuel a massive new investment cycle. Lastly, we'll touch on falling rates, explosive earnings growth, Bitcoin's generational opportunity, and whether today's technology boom ultimately ends like the dot-com bubble. We also discuss Canada's economic challenges, a country deserving to be one of wealthiest in the world, yet decades of poor policy and underinvestment have left us falling behind. Start an investment portfolio that's built to perform with Neighbourhood Holdings! For Mortgage Brokers: https://www.neighbourhood.com/looniehour-brokersFor Investors and Advisors: https://www.neighbourhood.com/looniehourCheck out Saily at https://www.saily.com/looniehour and use our promo code 'LOONIEHOUR' to get 15% off your first purchase!Schedule an exploration call with IceCap Asset Management: https://icecapassetmanagement.com/contact/✉️ Media & Real Estate Inquiries: steve@stevesaretsky.comStay up to date with our information -

Listener Q&A where Andy talks about: How to sell and rebalance positions in a brokerage account when they have unrealized gains and you're trying to be tax-efficient about it ( 7:06 )His thoughts on a few different variable portfolio withdrawal strategies, namely Amortization Based Withdrawals ("ABW"), Total Portfolio Allocation Withdrawals ("TPAW") and Big ERN's CAPE-based approach ( 14:10 )Converting to a Roth IRA money you plan on spending in the near-term, instead of outright distributing it to your bank or brokerage account to be spent from there ( 23:18 )Whether doing Roth conversions or backdoor Roth contributions are ultimately the same thing from a tax planning perspective ( 28:02 )His thoughts on deciding which type of advisor and/or advisory fee model might make the most sense for you when considering the potential fees to be paid to an advisor over a lifetime ( 33:41 )At what point should you just take out unused 529 funds and pay tax and penalty on the gains, assuming you have no expectation they'll eventually get to be used for qualified education expenses ( 40:15 )Potential ideas for small or solo advisory firms to establish a succession plan in the event of the death or incapacitation of the advisor ( 45:26 )What to look for in an advisory relationship to help minimize the risk of the advisory committing fraud with your money ( 50:50 )Whether to live off cash for multiple years - assuming you have saved that much cash - or instead pull from your investment accounts ( 56:53 )His thoughts on Securities Backed Lines of Credit, or SBLOCs, from brokerage firms ( 1:00:35 )To send Andy questions to be addressed on future Q&A episodes, email andy@andypanko.comAndy's LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andypanko/Links in this episode:Tenon Financial monthly newsletter/blog - Retirement Planning InsightsYouTube channel - Retirement Planning Education (formerly Retirement Planning Demystified)Retirement Planning Education website - www.RetirementPlanningEducation.com

If you've been enjoying The Independent Advisors podcast for a while now and want to take the next step in your financial journey, I'd encourage you to head to our website, jessupwealthmanagement.com (https://www.jessupwealthmanagement.com/) . Matt offers a 15-minute initial call where you can discuss your financial goals and see if JWM is a good fit for your needs.Scheduling is easy—once you land at jessupwealthmanagement.com (https://www.jessupwealthmanagement.com/) just click “Schedule Initial Call” and select a time that works best for you! There's a quick survey to fill out that will help guide the conversation and ensure your time is used efficiently.If you're ready to learn more, visit jessupwealthmanagement.com (https://www.jessupwealthmanagement.com/) and book your call today!Take advantage of our partnership with LifeLock and get discounts using our link: https://lifelock.norton.com/offers?expid=LLONEYEAR&promocode= JSPW24&VENDORID= _JESSUPWM&om_ext_cid=ext_partner_ JSPW24_Productpage $)Episode #363 Topics·       Market Performance and Sentiment — 03:14, 05:18, 11:07·       Bull Market Dynamics and Insider Activity — 07:36, 13:28·       Housing Market and Interest Rate Outlook — 14:55, 15:17, 18:53·       Corporate Fundamentals and Valuation Trends — 20:32, 23:36, 27:05·       Income Trends and Socioeconomic Shifts — 30:26·       Retirement Planning and Risk Management — 32:04Show Notes:Post on X from Ryan Detrick on August 4th - https://x.com/RyanDetrick/status/2084662139361395176?s=20 Post on X from Jay Kaeppel on July 21st - https://x.com/jaykaeppel/status/2079624731943162251?s=20 Post on X from Charlie Bilello on August 11th - https://x.com/charliebilello/status/2087177215398084782?s=20 Article on Morningstar written by Amy Arnott, CFA on June 30th - https://www.morningstar.com/retirement/retirees-dont-need-fear-lost-decade-they-need-plan Hosts:Mark McEvily - Chief Investment Officer and Managing PartnerMatthew Jessup – Chief Executive Officer, Chief Compliance Officer, and Managing PartnerAddress: 35 Park Ave. Dayton, OH 45419Phone: 937-938-9105 https://www.jessupwealthmanagement.com/Social Media: Facebook: @JessupWealthManagement LinkedIn: @JessupWealthManagement Twitter: @jessupwealth Instagram: @jessupwealthhttps://www.jessupwealthmanagement.com/disclosures-page

Eric Johnston, Chief Equity and Macro Strategist at Cantor Fitzgerald, explains why rising forward earnings estimates should continue to support stocks and why he expects tech to lead despite potential headwinds over the next two months. Earnings from Cisco and Cerebras, including reaction from Wedbush's Matt Bryson. David Snyder, Managing Principal and Chief Investment Officer at Journey 1 Advisors, explains why he remains heavily invested but has added hedges as he prepares for the possibility of a correction or bear market. He identifies a potential oil price spike as a key risk that could tighten financial conditions. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In this episode, Frank talks with Nick D'Andrea, owner of AMDG Advisors in Moosic, about helping founder- and family-owned businesses prepare for and execute sell-side M&A. They cover how owners should think about legacy vs. cash goals, what buyers focus on (EBITDA, margins, trailing 12 months), common financial red flags like accounts receivable and messy P&Ls, and why it's best to engage an advisor before signing an LOI. Nick outlines his end-to-end sales process from CIM creation and buyer outreach to management presentations, LOIs, due diligence, and closing, plus typical deal structures like owners staying on, rolling equity, or bonuses for employees. Nick shares his background in big accounting and transactions, his move back from Philadelphia, and how to contact him at amdgadvisors.com.To learn more, visit their website or LinkedIn.If you or someone you know wants to be featured on our podcast, visit our website! 

Journalists often say, “Follow the money.” But what if we said, “Follow billions of dollars to understand who controls this country's political policy, technology and culture” instead?Tesla CEO, Elon Musk dropped $200 million on the 2024 election and later headed up the now defunct Department of Government Efficiency.Amazon Founder Jeff Bezos's company paid $48 million to license and distribute first lady Melania Trump's documentary. And Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg donated $1 million to the president's inaugural fund and was appointed to the Trump's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology to help shape national innovation and AI policy.Could the key to understanding the economic and political tides in the U.S. today come down to understanding the wealthiest among us?Find more of our programs online. Listen to 1A sponsor-free by signing up for 1A+ at plus.npr.org/the1a.See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

This week, I welcome McLean Robbins, owner of Lily Pond Luxury, to first discuss the latest trending news in travel, including big issues with European travel, a toddler canceling a whole flight, and more. Later, Robbins shares her thoughts on why travel advisors should embrace AI. She offers her top do's and don'ts when it comes to working with AI tools as well as key advice for getting the most out of it. The discussion on AI begins after the 13-minute mark. Today's episode sponsor: Travel Insured International At Travel Insured International, we believe that power lies in partnership. And that means giving you the tools to streamline your workflow and help protect your reputation. Gain more control over your business (and its bottom line) with a custom Advisor Dashboard featuring a quote manager, commission and conversion tracking, and payment alerts. Plus, our Certified Specialist Program gives you the confidence to offer premium protection as a standard offering. Your clients aren’t alone. Now, neither are you. Visit TravelInsured.com. Where our people become your people. Have any feedback or questions? Want to sponsor the show? Contact us at Podcast@TravelPulse.com and follow us on social media @TravelPulse.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode of Bliss to Abundance, Cyndi welcomes Rhonda from Strategic Taxes, a certified travel professional and certified travel agency owner, for an in-depth conversation about accounting, tax planning, and financial strategies for travel advisors.Rhonda and Cyndi break down what new business owners need to know when setting up their travel business, from choosing the right business entity and separating personal and business finances to maintaining accurate records and working with qualified tax professionals. They also explore common deductions travel advisors may be able to take, including home office expenses, business travel, mileage, equipment, healthcare, and other costs associated with running a travel business.The conversation goes beyond deductions to explore the importance of thinking like a business owner. Rhonda shares how proper financial planning can support business growth, future purchases, and long-term financial goals while helping advisors become better stewards of their businesses.Resources Mentioned:Wanderlust CampusWander Beyond AfricaKey Topics Covered:Choosing the right business entity for your travel businessWhy separating personal and business finances mattersRecord keeping and staying organized for tax timeThe difference between being a contractor and operating as a business ownerCommon business deductions for travel advisorsHome office and business-use-of-home deductionsUnderstanding business travel deductionsHealthcare expenses and business structure considerationsPlanning deductions around major financial goalsWhy showing a profit can matter when preparing for major purchasesHow to use financial numbers to plan for the rest of the yearBuilding better financial habits and business-owner mindsetWorking with accountants, CPAs, tax professionals, and other financial professionals

This episode tackles one of the most dangerous blind spots in an advisor's career: the habit of thinking only about today. Ken explores why so many advisors stay trapped in tactical mode—responding to client needs, chasing new prospects, and managing the urgent—while neglecting the strategic questions that determine the future of their business. With Baby Boomers turning 80 and 81% of heirs leaving their parents' advisor, the cost of short‑term thinking has never been higher. Ken lays out why legacy planning with client families is no longer optional, how to build relationships with the next generation before the wealth transfers, and why the advisors who act now will own the future. If you want a business worth running—and worth handing off—this conversation is your wake‑up call. DISCLAIMER Note to All Readers: The information contained here reflects the views of AllianceBernstein L.P. or its affiliates and sources it believes are reliable as of the date of this podcast. AllianceBernstein L.P. makes no representations or warranties concerning the accuracy of any data. There is no guarantee that any projection, forecast or opinion in this material will be realized. Past performance does not guarantee future results. The views expressed here may change at any time after the date of this podcast. This podcast is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice. AllianceBernstein L.P. does not provide tax, legal or accounting advice. It does not take an investor's personal investment objectives or financial situation into account; investors should discuss their individual circumstances with appropriate professionals before making any decisions. This information should not be construed as sales or marketing material or an offer or solicitation for the purchase or sale of any financial instrument, product or service sponsored by AllianceBernstein or its affiliates.

The physician turned financial planner describes how health decisions, family dynamics, and medical uncertainty can reshape a client's financial life. Host: Steve Sanduski, CFP. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In this episode of For Advisors By Advisors, host Evan J. Mayer sits down with Oscar Castellanos and Melvin Perez, who joined the Fortuna Wealth family in April, for an unfiltered conversation about a career where almost every firm change was somebody else's decision, the FDIC knocking on the door the week their bank went under, why leaving the employee side was taboo inside the branch, and why the answer was always Raymond James.Oscar Castellanos and Melvin Perez's participation in the For Advisors By Advisors podcast is independent of their activity as financial advisors with Raymond James.

How has the mortgage market shifted over the past year? Looking beyond the last year, the industry has taken a hit since the mini-budget, and there hasn't been much true stability since. Rates spiked and have been coming back down since, and going into 2026 most clients were feeling genuinely optimistic. Then geopolitics and the conflict in Iran did untold damage to the industry. At one point, around day 31 of the conflict, 20% of all mortgage products were withdrawn from the market in one go. It's a strange place to navigate right now. But whatever the wider market is doing, people always end up moving, upsizing, downsizing, relocating, so there are always deals to be done. Advisors are simply having to work a lot harder to get them across the line, and we're seeing more remortgages than purchases at the moment. What does that mean for homeowners refinancing in 2026? Around 1.8 million UK homeowners have mortgages coming up for renewal in 2026. Many locked in deals below 2.5%, and they're likely to be looking at something closer to double that now. This tracks with UK Finance's latest mortgage lending forecast, which confirms 1.8 million fixed-rate mortgages are due to end in 2026 and forecasts a 10% rise in external remortgaging as a result. How is all this feeding into hiring? It really varies from client to client. Some have big accounts and introducers that keep them hiring regardless of the wider noise, but across the industry as a whole, clients have become more cautious and selectiveabout who they take on. That said, people still want to work in mortgages, everyone's trying to stay as optimistic as possible, and it remains a fantastic industry to be in once the market's playing ball again. What makes a mortgage role compelling enough to make someone move? Businesses need to tell a real story about who they are, where they are now, and where they're heading, and what that actually means for someone joining. It's very easy in this industry to stay surface-level and never get into the depth of what a business actually offers, and that's exactly how companies end up blending into the same pool as everyone else and losing out on the right people. Commission structures matter here too, particularly on the self-employed side, where I'm increasingly seeing businesses put together genuinely exciting, competitive structures. If two similar clients are fighting over the same candidate, especially one with their own client book, that candidate is going to the business with the better commission offer almost every time. Is it better to hire self-employed or employed mortgage advisors? There's a real split across the industry. Right now, businesses are more willing to take on a self-employed hire because there's less risk and less cost exposure for the business owner. If someone's already self-employed, moving to another self-employed role tends to be an easy decision, usually driven by better commission or a stronger lead source. Where I see real hesitation is employed advisors considering a move into a self-employed role. It takes three to four months to build up a pipeline before any income starts coming in, and that's a genuine risk, especially with cost-of-living pressures front of mind. But the upside and the flexibility are far greater, and on the whole, the brokers earning the most in this industry are self-employed. It takes a certain personality type to make that leap. What are the best firms doing to attract the strongest candidates? One of the biggest factors, and one that's a lot easier said than done to fix, is lead source. I'm currently working with one client who has a huge resource behind them and generates around 500 leads a week. That's put them in a lucky position where I'm helping them grow headcount by roughly 30 to 35 people over the next four months alone. A strong lead source opens the door to a far wider pool of candidates. Beyond that, most businesses are looking for people with four or five years' experience who already have their own client book, and who can top that up with a few extra deals along the way. What's the outlook for mortgage recruitment over the next 12 months? A lot is riding on what happens with Iran, and even if that stopped tomorrow, it would still take time for inflation and interest rates to properly come down. All being well, I'd hope the market is in a noticeably better position by the end of next year, but I wouldn't want to be quoted on that. On hiring specifically, I expect it to look much like it does now, cautiously cautious. Clients are likely to stay selective about who they bring into their business, and candidates will need to tick most of the boxes before a client is willing to take a chance on them. About the Podcast Guests Hugh van Grutten – Head of Mortgages, deverellsmith Hugh leads deverellsmith's Mortgages, Debt & Equity desk, specialising in connecting brokerages and financial services firms with experienced self-employed and employed mortgage professionals. He draws on years of market experience and an extensive industry network to identify exactly what hiring businesses need, even for hard-to-fill, senior or high-volume mortgage broker searches. Connect with Hugh on LinkedIn or email hugh.vangrutten@deverellsmith.com. Hannah Taylor – Manager, Investment and Build to Rent, deverellsmith Hannah manages deverellsmith's Investment and Build to Rent team and places senior investment candidates across the real estate space. With 10 years of experience in the industry, she's known for understanding a client's specific requirements and culture in depth, and for being an excellent communicator throughout the hiring process. Connect with Hannah on LinkedIn or email hannah.taylor@deverellsmith.com.

Kate Connor, Chief Operating Officer at Moxie Communications Group, joined us on The Modern People Leader. We talked about how Moxie is adopting AI safely, why leaders should automate low-judgment work first, and how to embed AI into the culture without replacing human creativity, judgment, and relationships. ----  Sponsor Links:

Advisors on This Week's Show Mike Hoelzl John Sandstrom Kyle Tetting Engineered by Jason Scuglik Market Closings for the Week Nasdaq – 26691, up 1317 points or 5.2% S&P 500 – 7758, up 268 points or 3.6% Dow Jones Industrial Average – 54037, up 1551 points or 3.0% 10-year U.S. Treasury Note – 4.55%, down 0.02 point On this week’s episode: The US workforce has shed 2.1M workers since November 2025, yet unemployment rate is in decline, making for a very unique labor market situation Bond vigilantes are doing the Fed’s dirty work How a few hot stocks can make “twin” funds act like strangers And more!

Find us on social media: Facebook & InstagramEmail us: hello@thetinlounge.comDiscussion:Is All-Inclusive Luxury or a Budget Label? It Depends on Who's Selling ItExpert Advice and Hacks for Combatting Rising Travel Costs Amid InflationAs heard on Excess Baggage:Delta Air Lines Raises Ticket Cancellation Fees Up to $500 on Unbundled Premium ‘Basic' FaresRiviera Travel River Cruises Adds Chief Customer Experience Officer, Dedicated Onboard Cruise HostsDemand for Jordan Is Returning — Here's What Advisors Need to KnowMarriott's Second Quarter Results Marred by International DeclineState Department Issues Fresh Middle East Travel AdvisoryRiver authority says Portugal's Douro has reached its ship limitASTA Launches Tool for Advisors to Report Supplier ConcernsRoyal Caribbean: Cruise Demand Powers Through Global Headwinds

If you've been enjoying The Independent Advisors podcast for a while now and want to take the next step in your financial journey, I'd encourage you to head to our website, jessupwealthmanagement.com (https://www.jessupwealthmanagement.com/) . Matt offers a 15-minute initial call where you can discuss your financial goals and see if JWM is a good fit for your needs. Scheduling is easy—once you land at jessupwealthmanagement.com (https://www.jessupwealthmanagement.com/) just click “Schedule Initial Call” and select a time that works best for you! There's a quick survey to fill out that will help guide the conversation and ensure your time is used efficiently. If you're ready to learn more, visit jessupwealthmanagement.com (https://www.jessupwealthmanagement.com/) and book your call today! Take advantage of our partnership with LifeLock and get discounts using our link: https://lifelock.norton.com/offers?expid=LLONEYEAR&promocode= JSPW24&VENDORID= _JESSUPWM&om_ext_cid=ext_partner_ JSPW24_Productpage $) Episode #362 Topics·       Market performance & macro updates — 01:40·       Financial planning & client engagement — 02:10·       Leverage risks & hedge fund blowup — 03:16·       Market outlook & risk perspective — 09:34·       IPO market volatility & SpaceX update — 11:03·       Credit spreads as sentiment gauge — 15:39Hosts: Mark McEvily - Chief Investment Officer and Managing Partner Matthew Jessup – Chief Executive Officer, Chief Compliance Officer, and Managing Partner Address: 35 Park Ave. Dayton, OH 45419 Phone: 937-938-9105 https://www.jessupwealthmanagement.com/ Social Media: Facebook: @JessupWealthManagement LinkedIn: @JessupWealthManagement Twitter: @jessupwealth Instagram: @jessupwealth https://www.jessupwealthmanagement.com/disclosures-page

In this episode of Poised for Exit, Kari Voorhees, founder and president of Voorhees Law Group, estate planning attorney, and fellow CEPA, explains why estate planning must be integrated into the broader exit planning process. Kari shares how her father's brain cancer diagnosis led him to sell his successful trucking company in a panic, without a valuation or a qualified advisory team, and how the poorly structured transaction left him facing significant legal and financial consequences.Kari discusses how exit advisors can help business owners identify gaps between their estate plans, corporate documents, and long-term transition goals. She explains why advisors should review trusts, buy-sell agreements, operating agreements, stock ownership, and business real estate together, while also considering how family members, trustees, and business partners will work together if the owner dies or becomes incapacitated.The conversation also explores the risks of delaying these decisions until a health crisis or unexpected death forces action. Through real client examples, Kari illustrates why business owners need plans for incapacity, access to company finances, leadership continuity, and the eventual transfer or sale of the business. She emphasizes that effective estate planning is not simply about creating documents. It requires thoughtful conversations and coordination among the owner's trusted advisors.Connect with Kari Voorhees hereLearn more about Voorhees Law Group hereConnect with Julie Keyes, Keyestrategies LLCFounder, Consultant, Author, Pod-caster and Instructor

No one wants to talk about the "legal" parts of business, but in this episode, Glenda got to speak with Gunes Hopson, a travel lawyer and travel advisor. The biggest mistake a travel advisor can make in their business is not understanding their contract, or believing that their host is always going to do right by them. This is a business and you need to be sure that you're taking the right steps to know what you can and can't do. What leaving looks like long before you ever decide to leave and why ChatGPT is not your friend with legal advice. We talked about red flags in agency contracts, when you should consider walking away and why having an exit strategy from your first day is so important. Connect with Gunes: https://www.gfhlawplc.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/gfhlawplc/ https://www.youtube.com/@GFHLawPLC https://substack.com/@guneshopson Additional Links: Our Building An Audience Workshop: Marketing Workshop Download the Essential Lessons PDF: Essential Lessons PDF Join the priority list for our upcoming groups workshop: Groups Workshop Join the priority list for upcoming sales workshops: Workshop Priority List Join the Facebook Group: Facebook Group Connect with Glenda on Facebook or Instagram

AMDG. Today, Kolbe Advisors Michelle Koechle, Jennifer Thomas and Sarah Turley join the Kolbecast to discuss approaches to homeschooling and what a day of homeschooling might look like.   From schedules and spaces to adjusting to moves and when the unexpected comes up, our guests give us some models for what this can look like and some wisdom on how we can adjust.  Links mentioned & relevant:  Kolbe Academy's Family Advising Services  Kolbe Academy's Student Support Services  Related Kolbecast episodes:  Advisor series:  313 Preparing for a Stellar School Year  319 Tapestry in the Making  320 College Considerations  321 Building a Strong Extracurricular Profile  197 Tools in a Toolbox: Kolbe Student Support Services  232 Part of the Family: Parents & Advisors as Partners  269 Resources and Roadmaps  203 Guided Freedom (Classical Composition)  256 An Education that Reflects God's Beauty with Nicole O'Connor and Maggie Hayden  Have questions or suggestions for future episodes or a story of your own experience that you'd like to share? We'd love to hear from you! Send your thoughts to podcast@kolbe.org and be a part of the Kolbecast odyssey.   We'd be grateful for your feedback! Please share your thoughts with us via this Kolbecast survey!  The Kolbecast is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and most podcast apps. By leaving a rating and review in your podcast app of choice, you can help the Kolbecast reach more listeners. The Kolbecast is also on Kolbe's YouTube channel (audio only with subtitles).  Using the filters on our website, you can sort through the episodes to find just what you're looking for. However you listen, spread the word about the Kolbecast! 

PayCLT and Scott Harkey are proud to welcome Henry Ijams, Managing Director at StreamTech Advisors to the PayCLT Payments Hub Podcast, sponsored by Endava. This season we're diving deeper into the Charlotte community to surface the payments leadership and talent in the Queen City, so we hope you enjoy the discussion!Henry's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/henryijams/Scott's LinkedIn:   / scottleeharkey  PayCLT Payments Hub Podcast on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast...PayCLT Payments Hub Podcast on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0vgsAgV...PayCLT homepage: https://www.payclt.com

In this episode, Dylan Werner, Founder & Partner at Elevate Talent Advisors, shares his approach to recruiting across industries, explains why speed is the key to winning top talent, and discusses the firm’s new advisory business helping entrepreneurs grow, merge, and transition their companies.

Mark Zoril What really drives these ideas? Podcast Episode: #18 Podcast Date: 8/3/2026 Transcript

Episode 370: Building a Team of A-Players, The System Most Advisors Miss In this episode of The Magellan Network Show, Coach Joe Lucas continues the Summer Scaling Series with a deep dive into the systems that separate thriving advisory practices from ones that stay stuck. Joe breaks down the three core systems every advisor needs to scale: ✅ CRM Mastery: Why your CRM is the central nervous system of your business, and why most advisors are barely scratching the surface of what it can do. ✅ Strategic Time Blocks: The minimum two dedicated days per month you need to work on your business (not just in it) and why this counterintuitive shift accelerates growth. ✅ Building Your A-Player Bench: How to always be recruiting, what separates a stakeholder from a job-seeker, and why five deep COI relationships beat a wide network every time. Joe also breaks down the critical difference between managing and leading and shares three powerful one-to-many client communication strategies: educational webinars, office hours, and hosted happy-hour meet-and-greets. If you are serious about scaling your practice, this episode will challenge you to stop getting through your to-do list and start building an enterprise. Subscribe, leave a review, and share this episode with a colleague in the game. Visit us at magellannetwork.net

Gen. Keith Kellogg joins us to break down Trump's Iran strategy so far, what he should do to finish the job, and to react to rumors that the US has a depleted stockpile. Dana shares the truth about the GOP establishment after the New York Times reports Ken Paxton's Senate campaign is short on cash due to a lingering primary grudge.  Rosie O'Donnell sings a song she wrote for Trump based on the Wizard of Oz.Thank you for supporting our sponsors that make The Dana Show possible…Laundry Saucehttps://LaundrySauce.comMake laundry day the best day of the week with Laundry Sauce. Get 20% off your entire order with code DANA.Byrnahttps://Byrna.com/DanaTrusted by law enforcement, security professionals, and everyday Americans—defend yourself and your family with Byrna.HumanNhttps://Humann.com/DanaGet the limited edition Watermelon Flavor and find out how to get a FREE 30-day supply before they sell out.Patriot Mobilehttp://PatriotMobile.com/DANAVisit online or call 972-PATRIOT and use promo code DANA for a FREE month of service.Relief Factorhttps://ReliefFactor.comDeclare your independence from pain with Relief Factor—start the 3-Week QuickStart for just $17.76Ghost Bedhttps://GhostBed.com/DANAGhostBed has the cooling luxury mattress you need for the best summer sleep. Use code DANA for an extra 10% off sitewide.Webroothttps://Webroot.com/DanaSave 60% off Webroot. Protect your devices. Protect your family. Protect your peace of mind. Live a better digital life with Webroot. Fast Growing Treeshttps://FastGrowingTrees.com/DanaGet an additional 20% off  your first Fast Growing Trees. Get Better Plants and better looking yard. Subscribe today and stay in the loop on all things news with The Dana Show. Follow us here for more daily clips, updates, and commentary:YoutubeFacebookInstagramXMore InfoWebsite

If you've been enjoying The Independent Advisors podcast for a while now and want to take the next step in your financial journey, I'd encourage you to head to our website, jessupwealthmanagement.com (https://www.jessupwealthmanagement.com/) . Matt offers a 15-minute initial call where you can discuss your financial goals and see if JWM is a good fit for your needs. Scheduling is easy—once you land at jessupwealthmanagement.com (https://www.jessupwealthmanagement.com/) just click “Schedule Initial Call” and select a time that works best for you! There's a quick survey to fill out that will help guide the conversation and ensure your time is used efficiently. If you're ready to learn more, visit jessupwealthmanagement.com (https://www.jessupwealthmanagement.com/) and book your call today! Take advantage of our partnership with LifeLock and get discounts using our link: https://lifelock.norton.com/offers?expid=LLONEYEAR&promocode= JSPW24&VENDORID= _JESSUPWM&om_ext_cid=ext_partner_ JSPW24_Productpage $) #361 topics:Market performance & rates (01:49)Fed pause & rate outlook (03:37)Yields & housing pressure (18:44)Retail panic selling (22:53)High beta tech losses (24:26)Microsoft earnings jump (12:35)Down payment savings crisis (28:55)Minimum wage down payment gap (30:25)Ohio housing cost trends (32:03)Insider trading bill (16:28)Politician trade transparency (18:24)Hosts: Mark McEvily - Chief Investment Officer and Managing Partner Matthew Jessup – Chief Executive Officer, Chief Compliance Officer, and Managing Partner Address: 35 Park Ave. Dayton, OH 45419 Phone: 937-938-9105 https://www.jessupwealthmanagement.com/ Social Media: Facebook: @JessupWealthManagement LinkedIn: @JessupWealthManagement Twitter: @jessupwealth Instagram: @jessupwealth https://www.jessupwealthmanagement.com/disclosures-page

With Josh Tomolak, Vice President of Independent Advisor Services, Diamond Consultants Louis Diamond and Josh Tomolak unpack today's IBD vs. RIA landscape, explaining what has changed, where each model excels, and how to determine which path best supports the business you want to build. In Summary The independent wealth management landscape has changed dramatically, making the decision between an independent broker dealer (IBD) and an RIA more nuanced than ever before. Louis Diamond welcomes Diamond Consultants' Vice President of Independent Advisor Services, Josh Tomolak, for a practical discussion of how the independent space has evolved, what truly differentiates the IBD and RIA models today, and how advisors can evaluate which path best aligns with the business they want to build. The Storyline Not long ago, the decision to become independent was relatively straightforward. Advisors either remained with a traditional firm or pursued independence through one of a limited number of models. Today, the conversation is far more complex. Independent broker dealers have significantly expanded their capabilities, offering stronger technology, larger transition packages, greater flexibility, and even pathways to RIA ownership. At the same time, the RIA ecosystem has matured into a sophisticated marketplace supported by multiple custodians, outsourced service providers, institutional capital, and enterprise platforms that rival many of the industry's largest firms. As these developments have unfolded, the traditional distinctions between an IBD and an RIA have become less obvious. Advisors evaluating their options are no longer simply asking whether they should become independent—they're asking which model best supports the clients they serve, the business they envision, and the lifestyle they want to create. In this Industry Update, Louis and Josh unpack the realities behind the IBD vs. RIA decision. They discuss where the two models overlap, where meaningful differences still exist, and why factors like service, technology, economics, operational responsibility, enterprise value, and long-term optionality often matter more than labels alone. Whether you're considering changing independent firms, launching your own RIA, or simply want a better understanding of how the independent landscape has evolved, this conversation provides an objective framework for evaluating today's choices—and preparing for tomorrow's opportunities. Topics Covered Independent Broker Dealer (IBD) vs. RIA models The evolution of supportive independence Technology investments across the independent space Transition support and advisor mobility Capital solutions and recruiting economics Business formation and enterprise value Launching an independent RIA Multi-custodial platforms and open architecture Minority investments and succession planning Future trends shaping advisor independence > Download a transcript of this episode… Listen and Learn Highlights for Advisors Why are already-independent advisors reconsidering their current model? (5:27) Josh explains why service, technology, economics, and growing optionality are causing advisors to reevaluate their existing affiliations. How have independent broker dealers and RIAs become more alike? (19:28) Louis and Josh discuss the growing convergence between the two models and why the distinction is becoming less obvious than many advisors assume. What really separates an IBD from an RIA? (25:04) A practical discussion of autonomy, compliance, flexibility, custody, economics, and advisor experience. What misconceptions keep advisors from launching an RIA? (36:29) Josh outlines the “Four Pillars” of launching an RIA and explains where advisors tend to either overestimate or underestimate the operational realities. Which advisors thrive most in each model? (33:12) The conversation explores why there isn't a universally “better” model—only one that's better aligned with an advisor's goals. What trends are quietly reshaping independence? (42:13) Minority investments, enterprise value, business formation, and changing revenue models may have an even greater impact than advisors realize today. Key Takeaways Independence has evolved from a destination into an ongoing strategic decision. Independent broker dealers have significantly improved technology, transition support, economics, and flexibility. The RIA ecosystem has matured into a highly sophisticated marketplace with broad outsourcing and support options. Choosing between an IBD and an RIA should begin with long-term business objectives—not industry perceptions. Building a valuable business depends more on business structure and scalability than simply growing assets. Advisors considering independence should evaluate models with an open mind rather than relying on outdated assumptions. The next decade will likely bring continued convergence between independent business models. https://youtu.be/jHDVso2TsmQ Quotable Moments “The question is no longer, ‘Do I want to go independent?' The question is, ‘What kind of independence makes the most sense for my clients, business, and goals?'” “Business formation is far more important than assets under management.” “The way you build your business will ultimately determine how valuable that business becomes.” “Everything in an RIA is going to cost you either your time or your money.” FAQs Is there still a meaningful difference between an IBD and an RIA? Yes. While the two models increasingly overlap, they differ in areas such as flexibility, compliance structure, operational responsibility, economics, and control. Why are more independent advisors changing firms today? Improved technology, stronger transition support, evolving economics, and better service models are prompting many advisors to reassess whether their current platform still fits their business. Is launching an RIA easier than it used to be? Yes. Supportive independence, outsourced service providers, and improved custodial resources have significantly reduced many of the historical barriers. Does every entrepreneurial advisor belong in the RIA model? No. The best fit depends on an advisor's appetite for ownership, customization, operational responsibility, and long-term vision. What matters more: assets under management or how the business is built? Josh argues that scalable business formation often has a greater impact on enterprise value than AUM alone. What's the biggest mistake advisors make when evaluating independence? Starting with assumptions instead of objectives. The most effective due diligence begins by defining the business you're trying to build, then identifying the model best suited to support it. Yes. While the two models increasingly overlap, they differ in areas such as flexibility, compliance structure, operational responsibility, economics, and control. Improved technology, stronger transition support, evolving economics, and better service models are prompting many advisors to reassess whether their current platform still fits their business. Yes. Supportive independence, outsourced service providers, and improved custodial resources have significantly reduced many of the historical barriers. No. The best fit depends on an advisor's appetite for ownership, customization, operational responsibility, and long-term vision. Josh argues that scalable business formation often has a greater impact on enterprise value than AUM alone. Starting with assumptions instead of objectives. The most effective due diligence begins by defining the business you're trying to build, then identifying the model best suited to support it. Related Resources IBD vs. RIA Comparison Guide IBD vs. RIA Revisited: Two Independent Pathways for Advisors to Consider NOTE: The views and opinions expressed by the guests on this podcast are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of Diamond Consultants. Neither Diamond Consultants nor the guests on this podcast are compensated in any way for their participation. View the transcript of this episode… IBD vs. RIA: A Special Industry Update on Independence A conversation with Louis Diamond and Josh Tomolak, Vice President of Independent Advisor Services at Diamond Consultants.      Louis Diamond: Welcome to the latest episode of our podcast series for financial advisors. Today’s episode is IBD vs. RIA: A Special Industry Update on Independence. It’s a conversation with Josh Tomolak, our Vice President of Independent Advisor Services. I’m Louis Diamond, and this is the Diamond Podcast for Financial Advisors. Mindy Diamond: At Diamond Consultants, we help elite advisors identify the right environment for their businesses to thrive, whether that’s at a wirehouse, boutique, or independent firm. With nearly three decades of experience, we’ve guided thousands of advisors and represented more than a quarter of a trillion dollars in assets transitioned. And each year, one in four advisors managing a billion dollars or more who change firms are our clients. Our process is education driven and based on building relationships, starting as your strategic partner well before you’re even thinking of a move. To schedule a confidential conversation, call us at (908) 879-1002. Wondering why advisors change firms and where they’re headed? Are transition deals going up or down? Those very questions and more inspired us to create our annual advisor transition report. It’s the award-winning data-driven resource designed for advisors that connects the dots between the motivations around movement and the firm’s appetite for top talent. Arm yourself with the knowledge you need to make smart decisions. Download your copy at diamond-consultants.com/transitionreport. Louis Diamond: For a long time, going independent would suggest the destination. Today, it’s often the beginning of a different conversation. As the independent space has matured, advisors have more choices than ever before. Broker-dealers have expanded their capabilities. The RIA ecosystem has become increasingly sophisticated. Capital is more readily available and support models now exist that would’ve been difficult to imagine a decade ago. The result is that many advisors who are already independent are taking a fresh look at whether their current affiliation still aligns with what they’re trying to build. My guest is Josh Tomolak, Vice President of Independent Advisor Services here at Diamond Consultants and our resident expert on independence. Josh spends his days helping advisors evaluate independence in all its forms from independent broker dealers, the fully independent RIAs and everything in between. And his knowledge is critical because the distinction between these models is often blurred. Many broker dealers now offer pathways to greater autonomy while supported independence has made RIA ownership more accessible than ever before. So the question is no longer simply, “Do I want to go independent?” The question is, “What kind of independence makes the most sense for client, business, and goals?” Josh shares what he’s seeing across the landscape, the misconceptions that continue to shape advisor thinking and the factors that matter most when evaluating the next chapter of an independent business. There’s a lot to discuss, so let’s get to it. Josh, thanks for joining me today. Joshua Tomolak: Thanks for having me, Louis. It’s a real privilege to have come. This is a full circle moment for me going from being a student of your podcast, to working alongside you, to being a guest. So I appreciate you having me. Louis Diamond: Amazing. I’m excited for this one too, because you have a fresh and in the weeds perspective that a lot of our guests simply don’t have. So why don’t you start off, you spend your time helping advisors evaluate independence every day. So working with advisors who are already independent, for the most part. And to me, it feels like the independent space has really evolved dramatically over the last decade. I mean, this podcast is really the epicenter of that to prove that out, but give us a little background on your past roles in the space and then we can get into what you’re seeing right now. Joshua Tomolak: Yeah, I’d be happy to. So I took a very non-traditional path into wealth management. I spent a decade as a deep sea Navy diver, and upon completing my service there, I ended up working for TD Ameritrade. And in my role there, I spent about six years doing nothing but helping financial advisors explore the RIA space, whether that was to join or partner with an RIA, sell to an RIA, or in most cases, launch their own RIA. And one of the things that I ultimately came to terms with is it’s just not the right model for everybody. While I’m a huge advocate for it, we would often lose business to the major broker-dealers of the world. And at the time, I really didn’t understand why. In the last six years at Diamond Consultants has been a very interesting purview into what a lot of the broker-dealers have done and are doing to make themselves more RIA-ish and be very compelling to the right advisor. Louis Diamond: Perfect framing. Your background is incredibly germane to the folks you work with. So let’s start off with the softball here. What are you seeing right now? Joshua Tomolak: It’s not so different than the rest of the industry, the wirehouses, the regional firms, things of that nature, that if you took 10 firms, they’re all likely to go different directions, even if they were identical practices. That could be… A third would go from an independent broker-dealer to another independent broker-dealer. Certainly the supported RIA space is growing every day and has created a lot of very fun and unique solutions for advisors, very customized and curated. And then I think there’s still a lot of really great sophisticated teams and individual contributors that are making the decision to go hyper entrepreneurial and launch their own individual RIA. So the movement’s really all over the board from my perspective. Louis Diamond: It does feel like it’s no longer independence is an alternative option or it’s on the fringes. It’s very front and center whether for breakaways, which is a big topic on our podcast, but in general, the infrastructure has become much, much more sophisticated today than ever before. Advisors have way more tools in their toolbox to serve clients, whether in the private markets or through technology. And it’s no longer that if an advisor’s independent, they’re in the minor leagues where they don’t have the same ability to serve clients like they did if they’re at a big bank or a private bank or a wirehouse. Do you agree? Joshua Tomolak: I absolutely agree. And I’m reminded of a question I got one time from a great team that I worked with in New York. They asked me, “Are there really more options than ever before? Because all we see is one firm selling to another.” And I think that’s a really great point. There’s far less broker dealers on the street than there were even five years ago. But for every Commonwealth, for example, that sells to an LPL, up pops three or four really cool private equity-backed, sophisticated RIA platform firms that are built to service their own unique advisor base. Louis Diamond: I think that’s right. Sitting on the sidelines, sitting on top of everything going on in the industry, I feel like capital is always an interesting topic forever. If an advisor wanted to move within the independent world or break away from a big firm to go independent, the only way to get capital was to go to an independent broker dealer. So we still see that, but I feel like today between all these minority acquisition opportunities, we’re seeing firms acquire practices at time of transition, which is somewhat new. There’s debt solutions, recruiting deals are way up for firms that are paying forgivable loans. RIAs now would, in some cases, will pay a forgivable note. What are you seeing there as far as the availability of capital and just deals in general? Joshua Tomolak: It’s a great question and I didn’t want to take the low-hanging fruit, but capital’s been a huge innovation, I guess, in the last five years I’d say. Just to give you rough quotes, please don’t hold me to it, but traditional transition broker-dealer deals were five years ago, 40 to 60% of Trailing Twelve revenue today are somewhere between 90 and 120%, sometimes north of that for the right team. That’s really meaningful money for the team that is thinking about foregoing a wirehouse deal, for example. I’d also say a lot of these firms are getting hyper-creative in how they solve for capital. The minority investment piece that you mentioned is very interesting. We’re seeing a lot of privatized forgivable notes in the RIA space where third-party or private lenders are basically lending the money and the RIA is making the payments on that forgivable note as long as the advisor is affiliated with them. So there’s been a recognition among the RIA space to get away from the, “Oh, they just took a check” type of mantra, and to say, “Look, I understand there are capital needs. These people are taking a risk. We need to solve for that.” So we’ve seen a lot of that in the marketplace. Louis Diamond: Very interesting. I think another thing financially, and then we’ll keep the train moving, that I know I’ve seen, and maybe you can weigh in if you’ve seen the same, is the cost to an advisor or a business owner to join an independent BD or to join an RIA has come way down, probably in part because of Schwab going to zero on trading. That’s been a catalyst. But it feels like we used to say independent BDs were expensive relative to the RIA world. And in some cases, they certainly could be. And if you’re at scale, maybe you can pick up a point or two being in the RIA world versus a BD. But when you have some of these BDs that have a basis point admin fee or no admin fee at a certain size and the payouts I feel like are similar, maybe have gone up a little bit, but it’s more so like the administrator fees, the platform fees, the program fees. Anyone who’s not in that world, it’s like, “What are you talking about?” But basically the way that these broker-dealers make money, it seems like there’s been a pretty big differential in the exchange of value where advisors now get more services, better technology, get more money to join them and get it at a lower cost. Do you agree? Joshua Tomolak: I absolutely agree. I think that maybe that’s one of the larger changes that we’ve seen, and it’s probably one of the benefits from a lot of the industry consolidation on that independent broker-dealer side. The economies of scale of these folks have allowed them to increase their tech spend, increase their service capacities all while offering it to the advisors at a cheaper price. And when I was at TD Ameritrade, one of the biggest pitches was the idea of a 100% payout and you control the fixed expenses, your technology compliance, et cetera. But what’s changed is that broker-dealers are pretty darn comparable on the expenses. All of those admin fees and things you mentioned will still exist, but they’re on a much smaller scale. And I think the question a lot of advisors are asking is, “Am I getting congruent value from my broker-dealer for what I pay for?” And while that answer might’ve been no a couple years ago, today the answer is more often yes. Louis Diamond: Yeah, I would agree. A lot of times we work with advisors who are starting an RIA or affiliating with an RIA or going to a BD and they see how big the deals are in the independent BD world and the payouts are really high and the fees are relatively low. And honestly, it is a hard decision or calculus to make, like, “How does it make sense for me to turn down this extremely lucrative deal when my ongoing economics are going to be somewhat similar in the BD world versus in the RIA space?” I think it’s just an interesting dynamic and we’ll get more into that distinction. One of the stars of the show right here is we’ve seen a ton of advisor movement across the industry. Our annual advisor transition report said that in 2025, over 11,000 experienced advisors changed firms, which is a large number. A lot of those numbers are within the independent world. So advisors who are 1099 through a BD or through an RIA transitioning to another platform or organization or starting an RIA. So why do you think we’re seeing so many advisors reconsider their current firm or their platform or their broker-dealer today than in years past? Joshua Tomolak: It’s a jarring number. 11,000 is definitely a significant amount of advisor movements. To me, it comes down to a few things, but I will say that it’s almost always a conglomeration of pushes and pulls. Pushes being inherent frustrations with your status quo, pulls being the new sexy, shiny things that you see in the marketplace that could be really impactful for your business. To me, it typically comes down to one of three things, at least on the push front, that drives advisors to movement. Service being number one, technology being number two, and economics being number three. And if we were just going to unpack those, I think service being, “Can you call somebody that knows your business, that knows your name? Are you getting the correct answers? Are you being pushed through a phone tree? And even if you’re not doing it, is it taking up a meaningful amount of time of your staff’s free time?” On the technology front, there’s very significant tech spends happening in the industry right now. I think Raymond James and LPL reported, for example, they spent 500 million in 2025 on a tech spend. So advisors are going to the places that are making their life easier. People are looking for a mechanism to really scale their business without having to add staff and a lot of expenses to the bottom line. And technology is just the fastest, most efficient way to do that most times. And then economics, certainly a lot of advisors and teams have built phenomenal businesses and they’ve made a great living without really stressing out about the economics. And they eventually get to a point in their business where what they were giving up as a million dollar producer is far different than what they’re giving up as a $4 million producer. And back to the congruent value, it perhaps stops to make as much sense. Louis Diamond: Well said. I always say when the cost-to-value ratio is out of whack, that’s when advisors sit up and take notice. And not to name names of firms, but there definitely are firms that are more expensive. And even if you look at how much a wirehouse or a Ed Jones advisor paid their firm, it’s like, “What got me here is not necessarily what’s going to get me there.” And while the name on the business card, the resources were incredibly impactful, and I’m so grateful for what my firm, my broker-dealer did for me when I was just starting or when I was smaller. Now the business is bigger, I rely upon different resources or I don’t need the firm as much. So I’d rather plow the cost savings either into income for myself or invest it in areas that are most germane to my business. And it’s usually when that kind of light bulb moment goes off, that’s one of the major pushes that cause advisors to evaluate other options. So I agree with you, those are the major push factors, but then what are the pull factors? What are the major advancements or changes across the independent space that’s causing advisors to say, “Hey, okay, I might have some frustrations, but at the same time, I also need to find something that’s more than marginally better than the firm I’m at. Otherwise, why am I going to go through the hassle, take the risk, et cetera? So what are some of the pull factors that advisors are latching onto today? Joshua Tomolak: Sure. And I might say with one final push factor, there’s a straw that breaks the proverbial camel’s back when you’ve been told for however many years that this change or that change is coming down the pipeline and it never happens. And it translates well into the pull factors is do they do what they say they’re going to do? The talking points really for the pull factors are exactly the same. So the counterpoint to service is perhaps having a direct relationship with the chief compliance officer at a firm or having a dedicated service representative that knows their stuff inside and out and can get you the answer even if they don’t know it off the top of their head. Having the technology to rebalance a household in two clicks instead of two hours. In economics, I think it’s really a transparency of economics. We’ve both worked with some really significant firms that have looked at their P&Ls and said, “where the heck is the money going?” And we’ve looked at the same P&Ls and said, “I have no idea,” because it’s so convoluted. People are happy to pay for good service, good technology, good products, but they just want to know where the money’s coming from. So I think it’s a yin and yang. The same things that they’re the push are often the pull. Louis Diamond: Definitely. I’ll give you a couple other from my perspective. I’ll say first specific to the independent BD world, and then we’ll dive into the RIA, I think it’s a little bit different. But I think some other will say innovations or changes that are causing advisors to really perk up and listen and really make the case to themselves that life will be better at this new organization than the status quo or staying put. We’ve seen major advancements in transition support, whether it’s being able to do a transition without a shred of paper, being able to… I mean, we’ve seen some independent advisors move their entire book within two weeks, which never would’ve happened before. So the firms that I’d say are playing offense, the larger firms that are winning, they have insane headcount around transitions and are always investing in technology, whether now on the AI front or in general. And we’ve seen transitions, they’re never easy. So that’s not a comment to say it’s easy, but a lot of the friction, a lot of the manual work has been taken away, which is massive. You definitely mentioned the significant technology spend. I mean, just the innovations going on across the industry. There’s definitely some firms that are laggards on technology and others that are light years ahead, whether because their tech is more integrated or they’ve built out their platform to be more, we’ll say modular, to plug in different third-party softwares where an advisor can really customize and create their own tech stack. I think there’s been some changes on compliance. It used to be if you’re at an independent BD, you had to be the OSJ by yourself or you had to roll up under an OSJ. But now most BDs offer home office supervision, so a big friction or pain point is taken away. And then I’ll give you a bridge to talk about what we’re seeing on the RIA side. But we’ve also seen, I would say, a real blurring of the lines between what you would traditionally think of as an independent broker dealer versus what was an RIA. So whether it’s an internal pathway where it’s like, “Start off on our independent BD platform, get the big deal, get the support, but then you can ditch that and just use this as a custodian or you can sell the business to us when you want to retire and convert to W2.” So in that vein, transitioning internally to an RIA, give me the same points like, “What are the major advancements or changes you’re seeing on the RIA side today?” Joshua Tomolak: I love that you said that because it’s been one of the most interesting changes to watch. Independent broker dealers becoming more like RIAs, and to your point, being more flexible, having more optionality, a more curated experience in some cases. And in many cases becoming closer to independent broker dealers with some of these massive shops that we’ve seen be created over the last five years that now have hundreds, if not thousands of advisors. To your question on the internal RIA slide as we sometimes call it, this really didn’t exist many places a few years ago. And I think it’s been created as both originally a retention tool in many places for the advisors that were with a major independent broker dealer and they ultimately wanted to have their own ADV and their own RIA. And the firm didn’t want to lose all the assets to an independent custodian so they gave them the green light to… And it’s ultimately became a sales tool in many cases. Just to use a couple of examples across the industry, I mean, Raymond James has Raymond James Custody Services, which has attracted a lot of really sophisticated teams. I know Wells Fargo Finance done something similar and even the counterparts over at Cetera and Osaic are trying to do the same thing. So it’s a recognition in my view that we want to keep the best talent possible. And if these folks are ultimately going to go RIA anyway, it’s less about the money and more about the flexibility and control that it offers them. So what can we do to keep those folks on board? And rightfully so, a lot of senior management of these firms have said, “Let’s not lose these teams. It’s going to be a lower margin business for us, but at the rate that they’re growing, it’s going to pay off in the long run.” Louis Diamond: Well said. RIAs are now more mainstream. And some of these RIAs, they’re either resembling independent BDs or I would even go so far to say the valuations that are even publicly available on some RIAs is definitely having people take notice. I mean, Cerity Partners recently raised capital at an over $8 billion reported valuation. Crescent was well over a billion. Firms like Mariner, Creative Planning, Mercer, Wealth Enhancement Group, and there’s many that I’m missing, are all worth a couple billion dollars or more and growing. Do you think that’s had an impact on the legitimacy or the staying power of the RIA model? Joshua Tomolak: Oh, absolutely. There’s no doubt about it. I mean, those groups that you mentioned and many more are winning some of the biggest teams on the street. I mean, if you pull up a run-of-the-mill advisor hub article, for example, you’ll see as many of those RIAs win significant businesses as you will their broker-dealer counterparts, partially in my opinion, due to the massive valuations these firms are fetching. And it’s much more of a partnership in the sense that joining a Crescent or a Wealth Enhancement Group, as you mentioned, you’re a part of a boutique group of maybe a couple of hundred very sophisticated high-producing advisors all playing under the same banner, all rowing in the same direction, and that creates substantial growth. Louis Diamond: Exactly right. I think two other things to me that’s driving the legitimacy or the growth of the RIA segment, there’s so many different outsourcing solutions that have popped up, whether it’s more of a… We’ll say a bundled or a package outsourcing solution through firms like Dynasty and Sanctuary. LPL has done a ton with having a shared services outsourcing model. So you have those. But you also have, I mean, probably 10 different firms I could think of that can be an outsourced chief compliance officer. You have tons of marketing agencies that specialize in helping RIAs. You have all these FinTechs popping up to support the RIA space. Really, it’s like anything and everything can be outsourced now. And even the big Wall Street banks like UBS, Merrill, et cetera, they’re attempting to sell and distribute product into the RIA space. Venture funds, private equity funds, anyone you talk to is trying to get a piece of the RIA space, which means there’s more product and platform availability than ever before. And I think it’s massive because one, it’s a catalyst for teams who say, “I love everything about the RIA world. I just don’t want to do it on my own,” or, “I don’t know where to start.” But also it means that they can look their clients in the eye and say, “Hey, not only do I have the same stuff that I had for you at XYZ firm, I can actually do more for you.” And even if you look at what the custodians are doing on the lending side now, Schwab owning a bank is massive and being able to facilitate mortgages, securities-backed loans, things that didn’t really exist in the past. I think it’s a very exciting time for advisors either that are independent or are considering the independent space because you have all these choices and it’s really like, “Choose your own adventure. Give me your top five things you want.” I’m sure it exists and we can find it and make it happen. And I don’t think we’d have the same confidence in that statement 5, 7, 10 years ago. Joshua Tomolak: I couldn’t agree more. That’s such a huge development is the marketplace of third party vendors in any kind of capitalism environment. There’s problems that people encounter and there’s really smart people that are trying to make a lot of money that go to market to solve them. And we’ve seen a ton of that over the last few years. Louis Diamond: Exactly right. Yeah, it’s like also… If an advisor looks around and says, “Hey, this is what I want,” and it doesn’t exist, oftentimes that’s a light bulb moment to be like, “Okay, I’ll go build it. I’ll do it on my own.” Whether it was Stewart Partners when they launched a number of years ago or Hightower, Dynasty, et cetera. They were all started by people that said, “Hey, I see a big gap in the ecosystem. Let’s create a business and raise capital to go solve it and then deliver this service to other like-minded advisors or business owners.” Honestly, it’s a treat to be able to watch all this happen in real time. We probably should have laid the groundwork with this next question, but I think it’s an important one. What’s the difference between a independent broker-dealer and an RIA? Really basic foundational. It sounds like the lines are blurred. There’s probably a lot of similarities. Advisors are successful in both. It’s not like one’s better than the other. How would you explain the differences, if a client of ours asked, “What’s the difference between an independent broker-dealer and IBD versus an RIA”? Joshua Tomolak: Get into the core of it. Again, the lines are blurred, and I’ll stay very high level on the strategic differences, but I like to use this example. I drive a Toyota Tundra. Really like the truck, gets me from A to B. Now, if I were getting to a point where I wanted a new vehicle, if I were to go get another Toyota Tundra because I really like a lot of aspects of it, but I want the one with the bigger screen and the bigger tires and the power seats, and I have rolled down windows because I have a fear of drowning. But if I want a lot of the bells and whistles, but I want to keep the foundation, that’s what I align to a independent broker-dealer to independent broker-dealer. You like the foundation of everything all under one roof. You like a lot of the resources, but you have some meaningful frustrations and you want to see if another provider in the market can solve for those or you can upgrade. If I instead, Louis, decided that I wanted a sports car or a Jeep Wrangler or something, I would be looking at a different category altogether. That’s how I articulate the platform space. They provide the same services and support in many cases that an independent broker-dealer does, think of marketing and a tech stack and regulatory oversight and a fellowship in a community, but they’re built on an RIA TC registered chassis. They’re typically far more customized so you can shop the street to get a lot more of the things that you like, though you are walking away from maybe some of the things that you’ve liked in the independent broker-dealer model. So I guess that’s the highest level I might explain it, just a little bit more minutia in any broker-dealer is going to be a FINRA registered, FINRA member broker-dealer. So they’re subject to the FINRA rules, which basically means it’s the compliance interpretation of those rules that they have to follow. So LPL’s rules may be slightly different than Cetera’s than Ameriprise’s because it’s based on their interpretations of the rules. In the RIA space, everybody really operates on the fiduciary standard. So it’s just a different lens that from a compliance standpoint, business is looked at. And a lot of people would make the argument that it’s just easier to get things done when you’re looking at something from that lens. I might’ve gone too compliance nerd on you there, but I’d be curious what you think some of the major differences are. Louis Diamond: Yeah, I think that’s right. I mean, it sounds like if you’re in the RIA world in some capacity that you as the advisor or business owner are going to have a little bit more control and autonomy and flexibility. One, do you think that’s true? And what are the reasons why that is? Is it platform? Is it strictly just compliance is easier? What are the different ways that an RIA would have more or less flexibility than someone who’s with an independent BD? Joshua Tomolak: Yeah, I think it’s overwhelmingly true, but it certainly depends on your business. Within most RIA platforms, you’re going to be one of a couple dozen, maybe a couple hundred, where you’re going to have people within that firm that really know your business. So the experience in getting things done is much less about, “Can I do this,” or, “Can I not do this?” And it’s, “Louis, I understand you asked for this. We’re going to run into these issues, but let’s figure out how to get to yes.” So it’s far more curated by people that are not operating on black and white rules and can actually figure out how to get to yes for your business. The other thing I would say is that most significant RIA platforms have multiple custodial options. So many times you’ll see as few as two or as many as five. So if an advisor or a team is trying to bring on a new piece of business or do something creative, that might be something they can use a different custodial relationship to accomplish. It might be something that Goldman Sachs does really well but is in its infancy at Fidelity, or it might be international business that’s approved on Pershing’s platform but not Schwab’s platform. So the RIA partner that you’re with can really look at those custodians agnostically and say, “What’s the best home for this business? What’s the best way to get this done for Louis?” There’s a couple examples of where I see the flexibility in practice. Louis Diamond: Yeah, I think one more too would be the concept of being able to shop the street. I’ve heard it described as becoming a buy-side advocate for your clients versus being a professional seller. So meaning, if I’m affiliated with an RIA or I’m operating my own RIA, there’s no selling away like there is at a wirehouse or at certain BDs. So if I have a client who’s trying to get a $10 million loan for a new building that they’re breaking ground on, if I’m at UBS, Merrill, Morgan Stanley, captive to a BD, I can go to my firm and say, “Hey, this $10 million loan, here it is. What are the terms? What are the rates? Will you take on this business?” And the firm will say, “Yes. No. Yes, here are the terms. Here’s the caveats, et cetera.” But it’s a very closed market process and an advisor has to live and die by what their firm says. Versus in the RIA world, it’s, “Okay, I have relationships with nine different banks and I can go to these different banks and private credit funds and whoever and really create either an option process for my client or really just help them in a fully agnostic open way.” And we see the same thing when it comes to alternative investments. No one at a wirehouse, let’s say, is complaining that they don’t have enough alts that they can offer clients. Those firms have done an amazing job with really boiling the ocean and having tons and tons of options for private investments, hedge funds, et cetera. But if you’re in the RIA world, you can take it to the next level and say, “Hey, this $3 million startup company that my friend is starting, I’m going to help them raise capital,” or, “My client wants to get a syndicate of investors together to have a direct investment into a qualified opportunity zone fund that they’re starting. Let’s do it when we can advise on it.” So it really expands what an advisor is able to do on behalf of clients. Like to me, that’s the most interesting or exciting part of the RIA model. You can get some of that within the BD world, but to me, when an advisor’s business becomes more sophisticated as far as what their end client’s needs are, it tends to translate better to the RIA world than the BD world. Not to say there aren’t ultra-high net worth focused advisors at BDs, but because of that additional flexibility, autonomy, customization, et cetera, that speaks more RIA. So again, absolutely not down at all on the independent BDs because I think there’s a massive home for them. Josh, let me turn it back to you. I’m rambling now. Give me the pitch for an independent BD. What are the things that are misperceptions that people have? What are the advantages that an independent broker dealer like an LPL or a RayJ or a Cetera have over RIAs or over other models in general? Joshua Tomolak: Absolutely. And I’d say I’ve learned more over the last six years from some of your ramblings than most people learn in an MBA course, so keep doing what you’re doing. But it’s funny being in this position now, having spent so much time sort of selling against the IBD model within TD Ameritrade, but what I’ve learned is it’s a good home for everybody. And a lot of times the advisors that they’re entrepreneurial enough where they like having their name on the door, but they’re not so entrepreneurial where they want to build everything out themselves, that’s where the independent broker dealers absolutely kill it. Their economics have gotten to a point where they’re really competitive. They offer transition capital that isn’t even going to be comparable in the RIA space unless you’re selling a minority share of your business. And you mentioned LPL, or we could really list all of the major ones, there’s not a department that they don’t have. It could be as nuance as finding 403(b) payroll slots or it could be as mainstream as fixed income or setting up events. There are all kinds of really neat departments that these all under one roof independent broker dealers have invested in. And a lot of times they make an effort to make you very much aware of all of the support because most people don’t use it. So I would say for the advisors that are looking to get their improved Toyota Tundra, then you can get probably 70 or 80% of what you want within the independent broker-dealer world. And you can also keep 20 or 30% of the stuff, maybe more that you really liked at your previous firm. So I think that’s where it really shines. I sometimes call it an incremental change rather than a transformational change. But for many advisors, incremental is really good enough if you get to keep the familiarity of how you’ve been doing business for the last 20-some years, but you’re able to get net improvement on the things that were really bothering you. Louis Diamond: Well said. Something that I’ve seen that’s been… I guess this could be either pro or con depending upon the advisor, but with some broker dealers, letting an advisor co-brand with them or really having a real consumer-facing brand, whether it’s, “I’m a franchise owner with Ameriprise,” or, “I’m independent through Raymond James,” or, “Running my own practice through Wells Fargo FiNet,” or, “I’m independent with Northwestern Mutual.” There’s definitely some brand cache or brand familiarity with some of those firms that may or may not be the same if you’re in the RIA world. So I would agree there’s a lot to like about the independent BD world and there’s a fit for people that is absolutely better with independent BDs than on the RIA side. Even if some people would say RIA is better, we’re cleaner, I wouldn’t say that. To me, it’s all about what an advisor’s goals are and then matching that up with what these firms do. And there’s never a perfect option. I jokingly say, “If there was a perfect firm, we wouldn’t be in business.” Every firm has their advantages or disadvantages. And depending upon where an advisor’s coming from, their style of business, their pain points, that’ll match up really well with on firm or one type of firm or one model than the other. Let’s pivot a little bit to the RIA world. A lot of your comments have been more about advisors affiliating or joining RIAs, this whole supportive version of independence concept. But what about advisors who want to go and start their own RIA? Either they’re leaving a captive firm and taking the entrepreneurial route and starting their own firm, or they’re leaving an independent BD to go start their own RIA. What do you see as some of the biggest misconceptions that advisors have about that move? Joshua Tomolak: That’s probably my favorite topic because there are the most misconceptions I think in this space. Louis Diamond: I’d agree. Joshua Tomolak: And I would say there’s 9 out of 10 conversations that I have with advisors and teams, they start off with the launching an RIA in mind or at least RIA curious and they want to understand what’s out there. And probably less than half the time do these folks end up actually launching their own RIA, which is okay because the ones that do are massively successful and they know they’re dang sure that’s exactly what they want to do. I think it gets a little bit romanticized sometimes that they’ll say, “Oh, I’ll just give Schwab a call,” or, “I’ll just give the custodian a call,” as if they were shopping independent broker dealers. That’s fine. You can do that and they will help you, but there’s quite a bit more to think about. And it’s not, in my opinion, the same as evaluating independent broker dealers. If it’s all right, I was taught the four pillars of the RIA model. I can go through that with you really quickly. So the way to think about the RIA space is in four pieces. And shout out to a friend, Eli Suarez, that taught me this years ago. The first pillar… Thinking of four pillars on a bar stool, if you will. The first one being administration. And this is your compliance, this is setting up your ADV, your LLC, all of your business formation documents. The second piece being technology, what do you actually want to use? Because the benefits of the broker-dealer world and the supported independent world is they’ve already built it for you. They’ve already paid for it and scraped their knees building it. In this case, you have to. And for some people, that’s really exciting to source financial planning software and portfolio management software and your CRM and tax software, et cetera. For some people, it just sounds like a huge headache. The third pillar being custodians. I have them third because you want to make sure that the right custodian can integrate properly with the technology that you’ve sourced that you’re passionate about. And then ultimately transition. What does a transition really look like? What are my legal and regulatory requirements? How does this work? What are the timelines? Things of that nature. So I guess I would say in closing that if those four things are things that you really want to own, then you’re in a really good position to consider an RIA launch. What do you think, Louis? Louis Diamond: I think that’s a great framework to break it down. Not just be like, “Okay, I can tolerate that,” or, “My team can do it,” but I think you have to be pretty excited about rolling up your sleeves and customizing and doing it yourself because in our experience, there’s a nominal differential between the economics of running your own RIA versus affiliating with an RIA or going to an independent BD. All the extra work and responsibility, you’re not really going to make it up, at least on the front end, on a higher net payout. So it has to be more about what the model means to you and having a vision that you don’t think anyone else can accomplish other than yourself. And looking at that crazy ever-expanding Michael Kitces’ FinTech map and there’s 500 different logos on it and being like, “Yes, that’s what I want. I want to go through this. I want to pick the seven pieces of my tech stack that work for me,” rather than getting, “Here’s the tech stack, take a demo, you like it, you don’t like it, take it or leave it.” To me, the two biggest misconceptions people have about the RIA world is one, “I’m going to have to be a full-time chief compliance officer,” and just that compliance is this boogeyman, this terrible, scary thing. In some ways it is. But the reality is most, especially startup RIAs will fully outsource compliance to a firm or they’ll hire a compliance consultant or firms that are big enough even will hire a CCO or repurpose someone on their team to be CCO. But compliance is much more streamlined and simpler than BD compliance. And ultimately, it’s compliance that’s being built for your business rather than compliance that’s being built for a publicly traded multinational company that supports 20,000 financial advisors. So I think compliance is always a big misconception. It’s definitely what a lot of firms will pry upon when they’re saying like, “Oh, you’re going to own all the legal and regulatory requirements. You could, but it’s definitely not a requirement.” And then I think another one is folks sometimes underestimate and overestimate the operational burden and how much work it is to start an RIA. Sometimes people just… They’re perfect for the RIA world, that’s their goal, but they get stopped in their tracks. They don’t really know what to do. But what we’ve seen, we said it earlier with so many different outsourcing solutions and different service providers that have popped up, if you have the fire in your belly to go build something, it doesn’t mean you’re doing it by yourself. I mean, that’s what firms like ours do. The custodians are very helpful. On the flip side though, I have seen advisors chasing payouts say, “Hey, I’m just going to go start an RIA because I want to make another 1 to 3%,” or whatever it comes to and they drastically underestimate what it really takes to build a successful firm. Joshua Tomolak: Exactly right. I think that’s my favorite one, Louis, overestimating and estimating the operational burden there is you could have the same conversation with two teams and it can go the completely different direction. Louis Diamond: Josh, let’s wrap here. I got one more question for you that I think is an exciting one, but give me three key trends or storylines that most people don’t know about or aren’t talking about that you’re passionate about or that you’re sharing with advisors or counseling today. Joshua Tomolak: Sure. This is the free advice portion. And I’ll tell you what, Louis, if it’s all right with you, I’ll give you two and I would love to hear one from you as well. The first one I’ve seen in both the independent broker-dealer and RIA space is the minority investor concept. A lot of folks will talk about the idea of taking chips off a table and starting to partially monetize your business. I think that’s all important, but what I’ve found is that a lot of advisors really want their partner, whether it’s an RIA broker dealer to help them grow. And that could be with M&A opportunities, that could be with traditional recruitment of advisors, that could be building a business plan. But the minority investment part really helps accelerate that for a lot of businesses because all of a sudden, not only are you cashing out a small part of your business, but you’ve just created an ally with the parent entity, it is now much more likely to help you grow in that capacity because they’re insulated from it and they profit when you profit. So I think it’s easy to be shortsighted and say, “Well, my equity’s going to keep growing. Why would I sell you a piece of this?” But I counsel folks often to really think about what that long-term strategic partnership is and making somebody a real equity partner rather than just a vendor that provides you with technology and regulatory coverage. The other one I’d say is that… And this one’s really important to me, that business formation is far more important than your assets under management. Said a different way, the way you build your business is going to make your business far more valuable than the number of dollars underneath your name. And what I mean by that is, just to use an example, a sophisticated, well-built, centralized, scalable and repeatable business, whether it’s an RIA with a broker-dealer that is going to fetch a far higher M&A multiple than a OSJ that’s five times the size that just has a bunch of 1099 independent advisors underneath the umbrella. What we’ve seen in the M&A space is that if you’re going to shell out 50, 60, $80 million for somebody’s business, you want to know that you have this business for the long term. So I would certainly counsel people that have been around maybe far longer than me to take a look at how you’re building this and put together a business plan on what those next 10 years should look like and not necessarily fall into the trap where your only revenue source is the override that you receive from a firm and then you in turn pay to the advisors on your team. Louis Diamond: Well said. I really like that line. We’d probably do a whole episode on what are the tips and tricks for building a business with the end in mind? Like the Covey quote, “Begin with the end in mind.” Transitions are like… They’re a bear. I mean, there’s no way to sugarcoat it. Advisors, when they hear transition, if you ask them, “Don’t think about it, give me your reaction.” “Terrible, risky, a lot of work. I’ll never do it again. My friend did it and it was terrible. What if my clients don’t come?” It’s all these negative emotions. And in many cases, I don’t blame an advisor because it is a big act. But to me, if someone is weighing making a transition, whether a wholesale business model change going from being an employee to being independent, going from being an advisor at an independent BD to starting an RIA, or even going independent BD to independent BD, it’s an opportunity if you rise to the occasion to build with this next act with intentionality. So whether it’s restructuring compensation for your team, converting people from 1099 to W2, putting in place new workflows, changing how investments, instead of it being each individual advisor doing investments to more of a centralized model, cleaning up workflows, really investing in data, investing in AI. It’s something that I think, again, we can have a whole episode on it, but I think it’s a great one. Build the business the right way. And obviously, businesses that are larger, theoretically, sell for more, but we’ve certainly seen businesses that are half the size of a larger one sell for a similar amount or more because they did all the right things and the larger one did the things that really turn off a buyer or detract from a valuation. Let me give you one more and tell me if you agree, but I think we’re in this moment when Altruist, the upstart, a new kid on the block custodian, they launched a basically tokenization of cash in a way to automatically agentically source or sort cash to the highest yielding money market. And you’re like, “This is fricking wonky. Louis, why are you telling us this?” I think this is an important one just to keep a watchful eye on. I have no idea how this is going to shake out, but really the biggest way that independent BDs or even custodians like Schwab and Fidelity really make money, it’s not on their overrides from practices or the admin fee or the custody fee. It’s really on net interest margin. So how much the broker-dealer or the firm is making on client cash and brokerage accounts relative to what they’re paying out the client. It’s essentially like free margin to these firms. And this concept, I think, has massive potential for disruption for the business model. Again, I don’t know what it’s going to look like, whether it means platform fees that are instituted at all these firms, whether it means certain models would be more beneficial than others, whether it means nothing’s going to change, which is probably the right answer given this industry. But it’s something to keep a watchful eye on just if your firm institutes a new platform fee or there’s a fundamental way in which your firm can no longer make money. How are they going to make it up? Are they now going to be uncompetitive? They’re not going to have as much scale or profits to invest in the platform. Is it going to cause even more consolidation in the industry? So to me, that’s the one pretty under the radar, pretty wonky storyline that I don’t think enough people are talking about, but has the biggest possibility for disruption across their space than anything I’ve seen in a while. Joshua Tomolak: Sure. That’s the whole iceberg. Not a lot of people are talking about it. It’s not poking out of the ocean, but it’s going to be continuously brought up. I think it’s a question that a lot of advisors are going to have to ask these firms. And at the end of the day, the firms aren’t the bad guys. They have to make money too to provide a quality product. So where the money comes from matters. Louis Diamond: Exactly. Josh, this has been awesome. I learned a lot talking with you and just having your objective consulting hat on what I think are really the differences between IBD and RIA and some of the key trends and storylines to watch has been instrumental. I’ll also give a plug that on our website and we’ll link to it in the show notes, we have a really helpful one-page reference guide going through the differences between independent BDs or IBDs and RIAs. So feel free to click on it. We’ll make sure it gets in your inbox. Josh, thanks again for joining us today. Joshua Tomolak: Yeah, thanks for having me, Louis. It was a pleasure. Mindy Diamond: As a financial advisor, you hold yourself to the highest standards of integrity, honesty, and credibility. You are successful because you take your professional responsibilities seriously and are dedicated to your clients. But are you living your best business life? Are your goals aligned with your firms or could a better option exist? Should I stay or Should I Go? is a book written with you in mind. It’s a self-guided journey that walks you through the key steps that we take with our advisor clients. This strategic thought process and roadmap to professional self-discovery is designed to help you ask the right questions and think critically and objectively whether you’re considering change or not. Learn how to get your copy at diamond-consultants.com/thebook. IBD vs. RIA: A Special Industry Update on Independence A conversation with Louis Diamond and Josh Tomolak, Vice President of Independent Advisor Services at Diamond Consultants.      Louis Diamond: Welcome to the latest episode of our podcast series for financial advisors. Today’s episode is IBD vs. RIA: A Special Industry Update on Independence. It’s a conversation with Josh Tomolak, our Vice President of Independent Advisor Services. I’m Louis Diamond, and this is the Diamond Podcast for Financial Advisors. Mindy Diamond: At Diamond Consultants, we help elite advisors identify the right environment for their businesses to thrive, whether that’s at a wirehouse, boutique, or independent firm. With nearly three decades of experience, we’ve guided thousands of advisors and represented more than a quarter of a trillion dollars in assets transitioned. And each year, one in four advisors managing a billion dollars or more who change firms are our clients. Our process is education driven and based on building relationships, starting as your strategic partner well before you’re even thinking of a move. To schedule a confidential conversation, call us at (908) 879-1002. Wondering why advisors change firms and where they’re headed? Are transition deals going up or down? Those very questions and more inspired us to create our annual advisor transition report. It’s the award-winning data-driven resource designed for advisors that connects the dots between the motivations around movement and the firm’s appetite for top talent. Arm yourself with the knowledge you need to make smart decisions. Download your copy at diamond-consultants.com/transitionreport. Louis Diamond: For a long time, going independent would suggest the destination. Today, it’s often the beginning of a different conversation. As the independent space has matured, advisors have more choices than ever before. Broker-dealers have expanded their capabilities. The RIA ecosystem has become increasingly sophisticated. Capital is more readily available and support models now exist that would’ve been difficult to imagine a decade ago. The result is that many advisors who are already independent are taking a fresh look at whether their current affiliation still aligns with what they’re trying to build. My guest is Josh Tomolak, Vice President of Independent Advisor Services here at Diamond Consultants and our resident expert on independence. Josh spends his days helping advisors evaluate independence in all its forms from independent broker dealers, the fully independent RIAs and everything in between. And his knowledge is critical because the distinction between these models is often blurred. Many broker dealers now offer pathways to greater autonomy while supported independence has made RIA ownership more accessible than ever before. So the question is no longer simply, “Do I want to go independent?” The question is, “What kind of independence makes the most sense for client, business, and go

What does a modern contact center need to deliver when the person reaching out may already feel anxious, embarrassed, and unsure where to turn? In this episode of Tech Talks Daily, I speak with Chris Lovell, service delivery lead for StepChange Debt Charity's contact center and product owner for its Genesys Cloud platform. StepChange supports hundreds of thousands of people facing financial hardship each year. Chris explains that approximately 40% of its clients receive Universal Credit, over 60% rent their homes, and many are dealing with an additional vulnerability alongside debt. That context makes the first interaction especially important. People may have delayed asking for support while their financial position became harder to manage. A failed call, long queue, unnecessary transfer, or request to repeat their story can increase stress at the moment they need reassurance and practical help. Before adopting Genesys Cloud, StepChange relied on fragmented contact center technology that experienced regular technical problems and outages. The charity also lacked detailed insight into why clients were making contact at different stages of their journey. People could enter the wrong queue, wait to speak with an advisor, and then discover they needed another team. The technology also affected employees. Chris says frontline colleagues eventually stopped proposing improvements because they did not believe the existing platform could support them. StepChange migrated to Genesys Cloud in four weeks through a three-phase delivery. The team began with lower-risk services, increased the size and complexity during the second phase, and moved the core debt advice operation during the third. Chris says the migration was completed without downtime. The initial objective was to reproduce the existing service on a stable cloud platform before introducing further capabilities. This sequencing gave the team time to correct early issues and adjust training before the largest group of advisors moved across. We discuss how improved intent capture and routing helped one team reduce misrouted calls by 60%. Clients reached the right advisor sooner, avoided repeated explanations, and could move toward a suitable debt solution faster. Advisors also began conversations in the right place instead of apologizing for delays or correcting the journey. Chris argues that contact center success cannot be judged through efficiency alone. StepChange examines whether clients understand their options, complete the advice journey, activate a sustainable plan, and continue toward becoming debt free. The circumstances remain difficult for many clients. Chris says approximately 28% are still in a negative budget after receiving advice, with an average monthly shortfall of around £600. Some conversations require time, empathy, and experienced human support. Around 85% of StepChange advice journeys now happen online. Digital access can offer privacy and flexibility, while advisors remain available for the emotional and complicated moments where a person needs reassurance. We also consider future plans for WhatsApp, web messaging, connected journeys, and AI-powered advisor support. Chris advises leaders to begin with genuine customer behavior rather than selecting a technology and searching for somewhere to use it. How can your contact center remove unnecessary effort while preserving the conversations where people most need to feel heard? Listen to the episode and share your thoughts with me.

CoinDesk's The Policy Protocol hosts Rebecca Rettig and Renato Mariotti open on the week's biggest policy news from SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce's statement on crypto vaults to the London Stock Exchange's launch of a 24/5 tokenized market. Then, Patrick Witt, Executive Director of the President's Council of Advisors for Digital Assets, joins to make the case that the CLARITY Act deserves a Senate floor vote before the August recess and argues that President Trump's agreement to subject himself to conduct restrictions is a "historic" and unprecedented ethics concession. Witt also breaks down the CFTC's expanded mission and the fight over funding and staffing. Plus, Rebecca and Renato debrief on the lessons of MiCA and the state of bipartisan compromise on the Hill, and name the state attorneys general, led by an op-ed from Montana's AG, as their Person of the Week. - This episode is brought to you by RealFi, a smarter stablecoin, backed by real-world assets. Find out more at⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ realfi.co⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. - JPEG Trading is a global proprietary trading firm specializing in cryptocurrency and decentralized finance markets. From market structure and liquidity provision to quantitative trading strategies, JPEG Trading operates across the full spectrum of blockchain-based assets. Follow @jpegtrading on X to stay ahead of the latest developments in digital asset markets:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://x.com/jpegtrading⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ - Check out CoinDesk Research's report on the evolution of crypto centralized exchanges, with a case study on Binance at: https://www.coindesk.com/research/the-evolution-of-the-crypto-cex-landscape-a-case-study-on-binance - Timecodes: 00:00 Cold Open: 'No Other President Has Done That' 01:07 Welcome to The Policy Protocol 01:59 Hester Peirce on Crypto Vaults & Onchain Lending 04:22 The LSE's 24/5 Market, LSE24 05:59 NYSE, OKX, and TradFi's Tokenization Push 06:18 The CLARITY Act & Guest Patrick Witt 06:41 Will CLARITY Pass Before the August Recess? 09:01 Inside the Bill's Historic Ethics Provision 11:06 The Tillis Ethics Compromise 12:40 Funding the CFTC's Expanded Mission 14:03 Why CLARITY Isn't a Giveaway to Crypto 17:04 Debrief: MiCA's Lessons and Market Structure 20:37 Person of the Week: State Attorneys General

Patrick Witt, the White House's executive director for digital assets policy, calls in mid-episode to give the Chopping Block crew a live read on the CLARITY market structure bill! Welcome to The Chopping Block – where crypto insiders Haseeb Qureshi, Tom Schmidt, Tarun Chitra, and Robert Leshner chop it up about the latest in crypto. This week they're joined mid-episode by Patrick Witt, Executive Director of the President's Council of Advisors for Digital Assets, who dialed in late because he was literally chasing down bill language. First, Tarun explains how Gauntlet closed its biggest raise ever, $125M from SBI Holdings, the crypto OGs of Japan and early Ripple Labs backers, and what it cost him in suits and seven straight days of staying shaved (chairman Kitao-san reportedly listens). Then the crew dissects Balaji's Network School saga, from a Forest City ghost town in Malaysia to an immigration raid, a revoked license, and a sudden MOU-fueled pivot to Kazakhstan, with Tom's dreaded 'turkey chart' making an appearance. Finally, the main event: Patrick lays out the state of play on the CLARITY market structure bill, the August 7th recess deadline, the ~46% Polymarket coin flip, and the first-of-its-kind ethics provision, including the DOJ-versus-state-AG enforcement fight and whether crypto gets a second crack after midterms. Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pods, Fountain, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform. Show highlights

In this episode, we are joined by Jean-Pierre Aubry, Associate Director of Retirement Plans and Finance at the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College, for a research-driven conversation about retirement investing, financial advice, pension fund management, and inflation. Drawing from years of empirical research, Jean-Pierre shares insights into how households actually invest, how financial advisors shape portfolio decisions, and why investors often hold asset allocations that differ from their own stated preferences.   We also examine the investment strategies of public pension plans, why their increasing reliance on alternative assets has largely failed to deliver superior performance, and the institutional forces driving those decisions. Finally, Jean-Pierre explains how inflation disproportionately affects retirees, why many households overreact during inflationary periods, and why understanding retirement risks—from market volatility to sequence of returns—is critical for long-term financial security.   Key Points From This Episode: (0:06) Introduction to Jean-Pierre Aubry and the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College. (6:29) The Center's mission: producing objective, accessible retirement policy research. (7:03) Why investors' actual stock allocations are higher than their stated ideal allocations. (9:31) Defaults and target-date funds may explain the gap between desired and actual portfolios. (10:46) Investors tend to underestimate long-term stock returns and overestimate market risk. (11:22) Financial advisors generally encourage higher equity allocations by reducing investor pessimism. (12:06) How advisor compensation can create incentives to recommend higher stock exposure. (13:42) Research showing advisor recommendations vary more across advisors than across client profiles. (16:56) The "advisor fixed effect": advisors largely recommend portfolios consistent with their own philosophy. (18:57) Why working with an advisor often leads investors to hold more equities. (20:26) How target-date funds work and why auto-enrollment is reshaping retirement investing. (22:57) Why advisors and target-date funds are generally improving retirement security. (23:57) The evolution of public pension investing from bonds to equities and then alternative assets. (30:12) The growing influence of consultants and peer effects on public pension investment decisions. (31:14) Why pension plans with greater allocations to alternatives have generally underperformed peers. (32:23) Comparing public pension performance against a simple 60/40 index benchmark. (36:43) Whether indexing may be a better long-term solution for public pension investing. (39:35) Concerns about adding private assets to default retirement plan options. (40:15) Maintaining objectivity while researching politically sensitive retirement issues. (42:58) Why investment policy remains the "final frontier" for improving public pension systems. (46:45) Why retirees are especially vulnerable to inflation. (50:06) How inflation affects retirees differently across age and wealth levels. (51:52) Why households tend to overspend during inflationary periods. (53:38) How financial advisors adjust recommendations when inflation and interest rates rise. (54:11) Why inflation ultimately reduces retirement security for many households. (54:42) Which retirees face the greatest market risk. (55:35) Why most retirees have little understanding of sequence of returns risk. (55:56) Advisors understand sequence risk, but that knowledge doesn't appear to transfer to clients. (57:23) Why declining equity exposure over time remains the canonical life-cycle investing approach. (58:25) Jean-Pierre's definition of success: purpose, meaningful relationships, and financial security. Links From Today's Episode: Meet with PWL Capital: https://calendly.com/d/3vm-t2j-h3p Rational Reminder on iTunes — https://itunes.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-rational-reminder-podcast/id1426530582. Rational Reminder on Instagram — https://www.instagram.com/rationalreminder/ Rational Reminder on YouTube — https://www.youtube.com/channel/ Benjamin Felix — https://pwlcapital.com/our-team/ Benjamin on X — https://x.com/benjaminwfelix Benjamin on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/benjaminwfelix/   Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com)