Podcasts about dynasty financial partners

Jason Fertitta – CEO & Partner, Americana Partners Jason Fertitta shares how Americana Partners grew from a $2.6B breakaway team to a $13B+ enterprise by focusing on ownership, enterprise value, strategic acquisitions, and long-term growth. In Summary Many advisors view independence as the ultimate objective: a chance to gain control, improve economics, and build a business on their own terms. For Jason Fertitta, independence was only the beginning. Louis Diamond speaks with the CEO and Founding Partner of Americana Partners about the firm's evolution from a $2.6 billion breakaway team in 2019 to a national enterprise managing more than $13 billion today. The conversation explores the decisions that fueled that growth, the mindset required to build long-term enterprise value, and why Jason believes advisors should evaluate success through the lens of net worth rather than annual income. Along the way, they discuss recruiting, acquisitions, private equity, professional management, and the tradeoffs that come with building something intended to outlast its founders. The Storyline The independent channel has matured. A decade ago, many advisors pursued independence primarily for greater autonomy, higher payouts, and control over the client experience. Today, a growing number are approaching the decision differently—viewing independence as a platform for building enterprise value, attracting capital, completing acquisitions, and creating businesses that can scale beyond the founders themselves. Jason Fertitta's journey reflects that evolution. When he and his partners left Morgan Stanley in 2019, Americana launched with approximately $2.6B in client assets and a vision to build a nationally recognized wealth management firm. Seven years later, the firm oversees more than $13B, employs roughly 100 people, operates across multiple markets, has completed several acquisitions, and brought on Lovell Minnick Partners as its first institutional investor. Throughout the conversation, Jason offers a transparent look at the realities of enterprise building. That includes reinvesting profits rather than maximizing income, hiring professional management long before it feels necessary, embracing acquisitions as a growth strategy, and making decisions based on long-term value creation rather than short-term economics. For advisors considering what comes after independence, the episode provides a practical framework for thinking about ownership, scale, capital, and the future value of their business. About the Build, Grow & Transact Series for Advisors Build, Grow & Transact explores what happens after independence. The series features advisors and firm leaders who viewed independence not as a destination, but as the foundation for building something larger. Some launched firms from scratch. Others scaled through recruiting, acquisitions, or strategic partnerships. Many eventually faced decisions around capital, ownership, succession, or liquidity. While every story is different, they share a common thread: a willingness to think beyond the transition itself and focus on creating long-term enterprise value. Through candid conversations with founders, builders, and industry leaders, the series examines the decisions, tradeoffs, and lessons that come with growing an advisory business into an enduring enterprise. For advisors contemplating independence, actively building a firm, or considering what comes next, Build, Grow & Transact offers a look at the paths others have taken—and what they've learned along the way. > Download a transcript of this episode… Listen and Learn Highlights for Advisors Why did Americana grow from $2.6 billion to more than $13 billion? (06:16)Jason explains how a combination of organic growth, advisor recruiting, acquisitions, and long-term strategic planning helped accelerate the firm's expansion. Why do clients often do more business with independent advisors? (12:17)Jason shares his perspective on why clients frequently deepen relationships after an advisor leaves a wirehouse environment. What role have alternatives played in Americana's growth strategy? (14:40)The discussion explores how differentiated investment access can help advisors stand apart in an increasingly commoditized marketplace. When is it time to build a professional management team? (18:36)Jason explains why Americana invested heavily in leadership, operations, and infrastructure from the very beginning. Why did Americana bring in private equity capital? (25:16)A candid discussion about growth capital, M&A opportunities, and the decision to partner with Lovell Minnick Partners. How do you evaluate enterprise value versus annual income? (20:16)Jason offers one of the episode's most important lessons: building wealth through ownership can look very different than maximizing current compensation. What makes a successful acquisition target? (39:51)Jason outlines how Americana evaluates M&A opportunities and how acquisitions fit into the broader client experience. Is it better to build your own firm or join an existing platform? (45:40)The conversation closes with Jason's perspective on the trade-offs between launching independently and joining a scaled independent enterprise. Topics Covered Enterprise value creation Independence and ownership Organic growth strategies Advisor recruiting RIA acquisitions Private equity partnerships Professional management teams Alternative investments Family office services Building a national wealth management firm Key Takeaways Independence can be a starting point for building an enterprise rather than the final objective. Long-term wealth creation often stems from ownership and equity appreciation, not from maximizing annual income. Reinvesting profits into leadership, infrastructure, and talent can accelerate enterprise value. Organic growth and acquisitions can complement one another when supported by a clear strategy. Outside capital can be a growth catalyst when aligned with management's long-term vision. The most scalable firms are often built around client needs rather than predefined acquisition targets. Advisors have more options than ever before, ranging from building independently to joining established platforms. https://youtu.be/_12jZJFsi4U Quotable Moments “Even to this day, I don't make anywhere near the amount of income that I made when I was on Wall Street. But my net worth is up tenfold.” “If you want to create value for yourself and your partners and grow your balance sheet, you can do it in a much more tax-efficient way in the independent world.” “I've never thought about how much of the company I own. I've thought about what my slice is worth.” “We want to build something our children would be proud to say we helped create.” FAQs Why are more advisors viewing independence as a business-building opportunity? The independent channel increasingly offers opportunities to create enterprise value, pursue acquisitions, attract capital, and build scalable businesses beyond a traditional advisory practice. How can advisors increase the enterprise value of their firms? Enterprise value is often driven by factors such as growth, profitability, leadership depth, recurring revenue, client demographics, infrastructure, and scalability. What role does private equity play in wealth management firms? Private equity can provide capital, strategic guidance, operational expertise, and acquisition support while helping firms accelerate growth initiatives. How do RIAs use acquisitions to grow? Many firms use acquisitions to expand geographically, add specialized capabilities, deepen client services, and accelerate asset growth. Why are professional management teams becoming more common among RIAs? As firms scale, dedicated leadership across operations, finance, compliance, and business management enables advisors to focus more effectively on clients and growth. Is launching an independent firm always the best path? Not necessarily. Some advisors prefer to build their own enterprise, while others may achieve their goals more effectively by joining an established independent platform that already provides scale and infrastructure. The independent channel increasingly offers opportunities to create enterprise value, pursue acquisitions, attract capital, and build scalable businesses beyond a traditional advisory practice. Enterprise value is often driven by factors such as growth, profitability, leadership depth, recurring revenue, client demographics, infrastructure, and scalability. Private equity can provide capital, strategic guidance, operational expertise, and acquisition support while helping firms accelerate growth initiatives. Many firms use acquisitions to expand geographically, add specialized capabilities, deepen client services, and accelerate asset growth. As firms scale, dedicated leadership across operations, finance, compliance, and business management enables advisors to focus more effectively on clients and growth. Not necessarily. Some advisors prefer to build their own enterprise, while others may achieve their goals more effectively by joining an established independent platform that already provides scale and infrastructure. Related Resources From Ex-Morgan Stanley Advisor to One of the Biggest Breakaway Stories of 2019 with Jason Fertitta (Podcast Episode) Intentional Growth: How Top Advisors Build Businesses That Last (Article) M&A Readiness Assessment (Tool) Guest Bio Jason Fertitta Jason is currently Chief Executive Officer / Founding Partner of Americana Partners. Jason was a Managing Director in Morgan Stanley's Private Wealth Division for eleven years. He joined Morgan Stanley in 2008 after six years with Lehman Brothers High Net Worth Division. Prior to joining Lehman Brothers, Jason worked six years for Texas Direct. Jason serves on the Board of The Good Samaritan Foundation and Endowment and the Houston Museum of Natural Science. Jason attended St. Edwards University in Austin. 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… Build, Grow & Transact: Americana's $12B Path from Breakaway to Enterprise A conversation with Louis Diamond and Jason Fertitta, CEO & Partner at Americana Partners.      Louis Diamond: Welcome to the latest episode of our podcast series for financial advisors. Today’s episode is Build, Grow & Transact: Americana's $12B Path from Breakaway to Enterprise. It's a conversation with Jason Fertitta, CEO and partner of Americana Partners. 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: Independence is often viewed as the finish line. Break away, gain control, own the business, and enjoy the economics that come with it. But, for some advisors, going independent is just the beginning. That’s the idea behind this new series called Build, Grow, and Transact, featuring advisors who saw independence not as a destination, but as the first chapter of a business building story. And there will be some familiar names along the way, including our first guest who was on our show back in 2020, talking about what was at the time, one of the industry’s breakaway moves. That’s Jason Fertitta, CEO and founding partner of Americana Partners. When Jason and his partners left Morgan Stanley in 2019, they started Americana with approximately 2.6 billion in client assets, and a vision that extended well beyond becoming a successful independent firm. Today, Americana oversees more than 12 billion, has expanded nationally, completed multiple acquisitions, built out a professional management team, and brought on institutional capital to support its next phase of growth. What makes Jason’s perspective valuable that he’s now experienced independence through several different lenses as a breakaway advisor, as a founder, as a builder of enterprise value, and now as the leader of a firm, actively pursuing acquisitions and recruiting talent from across the industry. We talk about the decisions that fueled Americana’s growth, why Jason has always viewed the business through a long-term lens, what changed when private equity entered the picture, and why maximizing enterprise value often requires a very different mindset than maximizing current income. For advisors who think independence is a destination, Jason’s story offers a look at what can happen when it’s treated as a starting point instead, so let’s get to it. Jason, thanks for coming back on our show today. Jason Fertitta: Pleasure to be here. Thanks for inviting me. Louis Diamond: You got it. Yeah, you’re our first guest in our new subseries, so you should feel honored. And I’m honored too, because the last time we had you on the show, Americana was about a year old, you’re navigating COVID, and all those challenges. But, for listeners who may not remember the episode, can you give us a quick version of the origin story of Americana, and what the firm looked like when you first launched it? Jason Fertitta: Yeah, I believe if I’m remembering correctly, I was in Colorado talking to you guys, and it was right after we launched, so that was a fun but stressful time. I think at the time that we launched, it was certainly the road less traveled. Most teams go from one wirehouse to another. We had an entrepreneurial itch. There was 11 of us that started the firm. We actually launched the firm from this exact building that we’re in here, but all of this was under construction. We were in temporary space one floor below on card tables, and pizza boxes, and all the things that you can envision when you think of a startup. But, yeah, we weighed all of our options in terms of going from one firm to another, staying where we were, and had a lot of talks with ourselves, and our spouses, and they were all very supportive. When you do something like this, you’re certainly scratching the entrepreneurial itch that I think is required for somebody that wants to try and build their own company. And I think we’re all satisfying that itch in different ways. We all had a lot of other outside business interests. I’m passionate about the restaurant industry, because it’s what I grew up in as a kid. And so, had opened some restaurants with some chefs that I really admire, and were doing things like that to scratch the itch, but there’s no other way to do it than doing that in your profession. And so, we decided to launch the firm. We also just felt like Texas being such a wealthy state, there really wasn’t a regionally dominant RIA from here. There’s a lot of big RIAs in the Northeast, and the Northwest, and the West Coast. And we just felt like Texas was ready to hopefully be able to support the concept of launching it from the state, and then expanding it out regionally and nationally from here. Those are all thoughts in our heads and dreams and we’ve worked really hard to get to where we are, but I think we’re in a great spot right now for another leg of growth. Louis Diamond: Amazing. I would say that plan has certainly worked out. When you were on our show last in 2019, the firm was at about 2.6 billion at time of launch. And now, I saw in news articles and your ADV, it’s north of 12 billion, but I’m sure it’s even larger now. Can you walk through just what’s the makeup of the firm today? How many partners and advisors? What’s the profile of the end client? What markets are you in, in and around Texas or around the country? Jason Fertitta: Yeah, so today we’re roughly a hundred employees, right at 13 billion in AUM. I would say we have six offices, Houston, Austin, Dallas, Midland, Beverly Hills, and Nashville. We have about 30 advisors, 30 financial advisors, and our average account size I would say is right around $20 million. That’s not a rule, it’s just the way it is. We have some wonderful accounts that are two or three million, and we have some great accounts that are well over a billion. And in terms of the makeup of the firm, since the time we’ve spoken, and we’ll get into this later, but we have run in private equity, we have about nine families that are owners of the firm with us. It’s really families, private equity, and employees. That’s the cap table currently. Louis Diamond: Very cool. As far as building the firm geographically, for the offices of Texas, that makes sense to your earlier comment about wanting to build a Texas dominant or a regionally dominant firm. But, how’d you land in Beverly Hills and Nashville? That’s a little bit different. Jason Fertitta: Yeah, it is. I think so much of where we’re going is secondary to who we’re partnering with. I think we would go anywhere in the country if we had the right partner in that city. We’re not necessarily saying we have to be in Atlanta. Let’s find the right partners in Atlanta. It’s more about, we found the right partners in Atlanta, so we’re going to Atlanta. And you meet these people everywhere. Everyone has their own Rolodex inside of our firm. Sometimes it’s an employee here that has a relationship with someone that wants to break away and be part of an independent firm. Sometimes it’s me. There’s a lot of golf DNA in our firm, so we’ve met a ton of people through the incredible game of golf. In fact, last weekend we just hosted our first Americana Cub Golf Tournament where we took over an entire club, and invited 40 strategic invitations to people that could be helpful to our firm. I would say it’s really just networking, trying to find like-minded advisors that were very big at putting the client at the center of every decision you make. A lot of times you’ll come across of an advisor that financially looks really good on paper, but they’re maybe not always doing what’s right by the client. We run from those situations. We’d rather have a financial advisor that perhaps statistically is inferior to that other one on paper from a P&L perspective, but we feel like it’s doing what’s right by the client in the decisions. And that’s usually the main factor for us in seeking out the right partners. Louis Diamond: I love that. And one of the premises of this new subseries of ours is about growing, and then, of course, recognizing that value through some sort of monetization. To me, the star of your show is your insanely impressive growth, which I would assume comes from both organic means, and also from inorganic, whether through M&A, or recruiting teams from your predecessor firms, or from other wirehouses. Can you talk a little bit about the breakdown of the two growth channels, and how you pursue both, organic and then inorganic growth? Jason Fertitta: Yeah. Well, I think organic growth, the preference for anyone that’s in our sea, because you don’t have to pay for organic growth. It’s just you have to expose your platform to potential clients, and it has to be differentiated enough for them to move assets from another firm to yours. And I would tell you, I think we do a really good job at that. We’ve built an incredible platform that has, and enables a financial advisor to have all the same arrows in the quiver that a big firm has. We’ve got an incredible alts department. We’ve got an incredible CIO that produces great research. We got incredible in-house portfolio managers, both in the core equity space, but then also the municipal bond space. We have an incredible external manager platform that has everything from cash management on steroids, to venture capital investing, to co-investing, to direct investments into companies. We have this really great platform. We also recognize that we want to grow through M&A as well, because there’s only so much time in the day you’re not willing to add more employees and more like-minded advisors to grow. We do both, to your point, we absolutely do both, and they’re both equally as important. On the M&A side, I would say it’s been responsible for half of our AUM growth over the last seven years, and the other half has been organic. And I think as we get bigger and bigger, that number’s going to not stay consistent. I would say that if we could grow our AUM organically by 10% per year, and then do five to seven acquisitions a year, combination of RIAs and Wall Street lift outs, I think those are good goals for us, and we’re off to a good start in trying to achieve those goals. Louis Diamond: I think if you pull off even half of that, I think your private equity sponsors, and investors, and employees would be very happy. Can we double click into the organic growth side? How do you view whether your growth rate changing organically since leaving Morgan to start the RIA? And if it has changed, what do you think are the things that are responsible for the faster growth, or slower growth if it’s slower than when you’re at Morgan? Jason Fertitta: One of the interesting secrets about being independent versus inside of a big bank is I think your clients will actually do more business with you if you’re independent. I didn’t realize that until we went independent. I had heard that before, but I was like, that may or may not be true. But, when we went independent, and every time we recruit a team from a big bank, the same thing happens. It’s like the clients are like, “What took you so long?” They’ve very much, for the most part … Now, that’s not every client, but most clients, I think prefer to be serviced by an advisor that’s conflict bringing the independent channel. There are other clients that might have a big investment banking relationship with a big bank, or something like that, like a business reason for not leaving. But, in terms of just being able to service the client from an independent channel where you’re a legal fiduciary, I think all the interest is aligned from client to service provider, and I just think it’s easier to raise money in this channel than it is at a bank. Louis Diamond: And you really think the types of clients you work with or just clients in general, the difference maker is really the conflict-free advice. Obviously, it sounds good, but I would argue that when you were at Morgan Stanley, your team was one of the top teams in the country, you had an amazing reputation, you’re probably giving similar quality advice then than you were today. How has that really manifested itself? Jason Fertitta: I always say I think you can have a great experience at a firm that is perhaps not the most prestigious, great firm in the country if you’re with the right team. And I think you can also have a horrible experience at a firm with a great reputation if you’re with the wrong team. It is my belief the most important thing from the customer’s perspective is who you’re working with. I appreciate your comments about our team, and we work very hard to deserve the reputation that you’re talking about. But, I also think that when you’re in the independent world, some of the things the banks do very well is they have great investment platforms, and a lot of due diligence in their products. I think when you’re an independent firm, you’re obviously, you don’t immediately have all of those same intangibles that a big bank has. I think it was very important for us to invest heavily into those departments inside of our firm to where we could be on some equal footing with Wall Street firms, and we have been. We have raised a lot of money for alternative managers. I think alternatives are a huge secret sauce that an independent advisor needs to have access to, because in a world where the public markets are getting more efficient and more commoditized, it’s very challenging to grow organically the way that we have without some secret sauce. And I think the secret sauce lies within the alternatives, because it’s very hard to differentiate yourself if you’re just trying to optimize someone’s public equity portfolio, and improve where they sit on the efficient frontier. I think that’s just a tough challenge. But, if you can mix in some truly differentiated alternatives where access is a big component of the value proposition, then all of a sudden, you’re bringing your clients something special, and something that’s unique. Louis Diamond: I really like that perspective. I think you’re completely right. I’ve always heard people say investments are commoditized, and it’s all about advice and planning, but I think the way you framed it about the ALFA essentially being worked out of it, so it’s the access, and it’s what you’re doing different on the investment side outside of the more basic or commoditized stuff that’s a difference maker. When you launched the firm, and I believe still today, Americana hired Dynasty Financial Partners as your infrastructure partner. Now that you’re significantly larger, you’re seven years into your independent journey, how does the relationship with Dynasty change, if at all? What do they do for you that you benefit from differently today than when you first launched? Jason Fertitta: Yeah, it would’ve been impossible for us to do what we did without Dynasty’s help. Dynasty has delivered for us in a meaningful way and they continue to. They’re a great partner. We definitely are developing our own sea legs as well, just because you have to just by virtue of the size that you get to. But, Dynasty, I think, has been incredibly innovative in terms of launching an investment bank and bringing … Dynasty’s brought us deals, which is incredible. Just in addition to being an infrastructure partner, they’ve actually provided us deal flow. They’re also, because they’re working with so many firms, you get in all sorts of situations as an independent firm, and to have someone to pick up the phone and say, “Here’s what we’re dealing with.” And they’ll say, “Oh, here are the three things you need to do. You either need to do it like this or this.” Just a lot of experience within Dynasty. I don’t know if we’re Dynasty’s biggest client or not, but I would say we’re certainly in their top three. We are looking to continue that relationship, and always having a relationship with Dynasty, but I would describe it as evolving, because our revenue is up 6X in the last six years. Louis Diamond: Amazing. That makes complete sense. The needs of the business when you are leaving a big firm is got to get the clients over, got to build the plane before it can fly, and understand how to do X, Y, and Z, to now, it’s enterprise building, and optimizing, and growing inorganically, so that makes complete sense, and very cool to hear that Dynasty has evolved or morphed the relationship to meet you where you are now. And to me, I think a big part of that is hiring professional management. That’s always a question we get. When am I big enough? When’s the right time to hire professional management, whether it’s a full-time CEO, a CFO, a COO, et cetera. I know in your case, fairly early on you hired Ron Thacker who was a regional manager from Morgan Stanley. I saw recently you hired a CFO, so you’re really professionalizing the leadership ranks. When did you know it was the right time to build a professional management team, and how did you think about that evolution? Jason Fertitta: We knew from day one that’s what we wanted to do. I think when you go independent, there’s a couple of different schools of thought. One school of thought is I can go independent. I’m not going to really have a boss. I’ll be my own boss. I may or may not grow the business. I’m going to run it in a way that’s lean. I might be able to have a little bit more of a take home because there’s not a third hand in the cookie jar in terms of the bank, and it’s a great lifestyle. I think that’s one school of thought and I think that’s great. That was not our school of thought. Our school of thought is we had a belief that in this country, there’s going to emerge five to 10 regionally dominant RIAs, and these regionally dominant RIAs were going to enjoy economies of scale, and they were going to compete with Wall Street. And in order to do that, we had to reinvest a lot of our profit into our business through building this management team that you’re referencing. Even to this day, I don’t make anywhere near the amount of income that I made when I was on Wall Street, but I’m not, and it’s because we’re building equity value, and we’re building something that will last, and we reinvest a lot of our cash flow into professionalizing the management team, and then being able to deliver on that promise to the financial advisors that are here that you’re going to have a platform, that when you walk in the room, you’re going to be able to compete with Wall Street. And so, that’s always been our goal, which is not necessarily everybody’s goal when they go independent, because it’s a lifestyle decision really. I work way harder today than I worked when I was at a Wall Street firm. Louis Diamond: It’s so interesting. Two threads I want to tug on from what you said. The first one is I think just the comment you made that you’re making less today when the business is significantly larger than it was when you’re at Morgan Stanley, you’re working harder. I think even that dynamic is going to feel like a shock to a lot of people, right? If you’re working harder, the business is doing six times more revenue than it was at Morgan Stanley, that doesn’t seem like a fair trade. How do you think about that relative to the equity value that you’re amassing? Was that always the plan, or is that just something you’ve leaned into as the firm has grown and scaled? Jason Fertitta: Well, the third component you left out is my net worth is up 10X- Louis Diamond: There you go. Jason Fertitta: … whereas if I would’ve stayed at a Wall Street firm, and so are all the employees here. If it’s about that, I can tell you that we checked that box. Americana is very valuable, and we’re happy about that. It’s really just about how you want to create that, right? If you want to create it through income, and pay a lot of taxes along the way, stay at the Wall Street firm. But, if you want to create value for yourself and your partners, and grow your balance sheet, you can do it in a much more tax efficient way in the independent world. And I’m light years ahead of where I would’ve been if I would’ve stayed at a Wall Street firm. Louis Diamond: I think that’s the coolest realization I think someone can have, right? We always say it’s like, what do you value more? Is it the short-term liquidity, or certainty of getting a big upfront recruiting deal at ordinary income, or staying where you are and keep making your 50% payout, take advantage of your firm’s retire in place program? And for many people, that’s what they value. But, for you, I think you very clearly and transparently articulated that, yeah, I might make less, but what really matters is my net worth. It’s how much I’m actually netting for my family in the long run. For people who want to play the long game, really buy into that concept, it sounds like following your path would be ideal, but it may not be for everyone. Jason Fertitta: It’s a much better path, and I’m living proof of it, and not only am I living proof of it, all of my partners are here, and everybody that owns equity in Americana is living proof of it. Louis Diamond: Amazing. You said you’re working more now than when you’re at Morgan. How has your day-to-day, or day in the life changed? What types of activities are you doing more or less of, and how do you balance everything? Jason Fertitta: Yeah, it’s hard to balance everything, it is. But, I would say that one of the unique things about Americana is the founders are all financial advisors. We aren’t consultants that came out of the consulting world, we’re financial advisors. I’m still a financial advisor. I still cover clients. I would say a third of my time is actually covering the house accounts here with some of my original partners. A third of my time is firm related stuff, and then, a third of my time is M&A, and that’s not only M&A, but helping the advisors that are here grow their business also. And so, I come across a lot of leads and opportunities. I’m not really taking them for the house account book or myself. I’m finding the right advisors that I feel I could service the clients the best, and then I’m flipping them to them and sitting second chair and I’ve seen some amazing growth to their businesses by just being able to send them leads. Louis Diamond: Yeah. I think that’s always like the tug of war for … I think most founders of RIAs in this industry, they were advisors themselves. They were the rainmakers, or they still are, but there’s definitely some folks who, whether because of lack of time, or lose the spark or passion for working with clients, that they pivot to being full-time CEO, or we’ve even seen people go the other way where they say, “I was the CEO. I really just want to be an advisor, or just do M&A, and I’m going to hire a CEO.” It’s really cool to hear how you split up your time, and you’re able to do it all. And I’m sure it’s not perfect. I’m sure your family wishes they saw you more, and et cetera, but it sounds like you’re able to really pursue your different passions. Jason Fertitta: All those three activities are very fun, and they keep everyday interesting, and you don’t necessarily know at what points in the day you’re going to be working on which bucket, and there’s a lot of blend and overlap, but we spend a lot of time here working on behalf of our clients, and the firm, and every day is an adventure, but it's fun. It’s a blast. Louis Diamond: Absolutely. Well, let’s spend some time talking about your fairly recent capital raise. In October of 2024, Americana announced that PE firm Lovell Minnick Partners, the firm’s first outside institutional investor was coming in to take a majority stake in the firm. Can you take us back to that decision? I’m sure it’s still clearly vivid. Maybe talk through it, and when did you first start to think seriously about bringing in capital? Jason Fertitta: Yeah, so probably at the end of ’23, we looked down, and there was $100 million worth of potential M&A that was fairly actionable that we could do. And the other M&A events we did were small deals, 10, $20 million sometimes, but firms with three, 400 in AUM to 600 million in AUM. We were doing deals that size, and we’re just passing the hat, and saying, okay, to the families that were in our cap table and to ourselves, who wants to write a check? The cap table was changing all the time based on people’s buy-in and M&A transaction. But then, when you sit down, and you look at potentially $100 million of M&A, if every deal came through that you’re in conversations around, and we owned at the time 75% of the firm, the families owned 25. If all of that M&A were to have happened, we didn’t have $75 million as employees. We were facing dilution. And then, we went to the families and said, “Hey, we don’t mind being diluted, but we got to know that if all of these came through, you guys want to invest another 100 million into this business.” And that’s when they said, “Well, we can. All the deals that you’ve done so far have been accretive and great. But, our value add to you is not M&A. It’s not underwriting. It’s not how to take this firm from four billion to 12 billion or customers. Why don’t you contemplate bringing in an institutional partner to help you round first base and go to second and third?” And so, I called a good friend, a gentleman by the name of Jimmy Dunne, who’s legendary in the world of golf and business. He’s a vice chair at Piper Sandler. I explained the situation, and he said, “Well, this is going to sound self-serving, but I think you should hire me and my firm to run a process to find your partner.” Louis Diamond: Classic investment banker. Jason Fertitta: And we did, and he worked on a very small retainer, and a contingency fee, and they helped us get ready to show the firm to the institutional world, and that took nine to 12 months of hard work to get ready. They ran the process. I think we had 30 firms sign the NDA in the October of ’24 month that you mentioned. I think we had 20 offers. And during that year, we were getting to know a lot of the people that were going to be bidding on us, and we frankly were incredibly impressed by Lovell Minnick and their success that they have had in investing in the wealth space. We were always pulling for Lovell Minnick to compete and compete well, got to run an honest process and Lovell Minnick was not the high bid, but they were a very good and well-thought-out bid that was easy for us to understand on why they were where they were. And for us, it was about how can we create value from this point forward with the right partner to really grow the firm and scale it to where we wanted it to be? And so, that was the more important driving factor in our decision to sell to Lovell Minnick. Now, of course, we wanted to sell a minority piece, but the reality is, given the activity that we had in our M&A pipeline at the time, they were going to eventually get to majority anyway. And so, I may be skipping ahead a little bit in the podcast, but I know what some of the questions are going to contemplate, and our thought was, you’re in a better position to negotiate minority rights before the transaction than later. And so, we got all of that out on the table in our negotiations with our private equity partner, and then just got married immediately instead of had this weird period of where they ultimately were going to get to majority control through M&A, and then, you have this awkward moment where that shift happens after you’re already partners. Louis Diamond: Very interesting. Was it a hard decision to give up majority control over your baby? Jason Fertitta: Definitely a lot of self-reflecting on behalf of our team and everything, but I think where we came out with it, and I’m a big believer in this, is the people that really control the business are the people that control the relationships with the clients. Lovell Minnick knows that, and we’ve never had a decision in a year and a half that we don’t all arrive at the same place. We negotiate, we study, but they know that it’s not in their best interest to try and force the management team to do something that the management team is not in agreement on, because at the end of the day, we’re servicing all of these accounts. Look, we don’t see eye to eye exactly on everything, no partners do. But, we’re generally in the same zip code on everything, and we talk things through until we all arrive at the same place that this is in the best interest of the company. And I think a big part of why that works so well for us in Lovell Minnick, and I think this is very unique in the industry, it all goes back to we all own the same share class. We’re all in the foxhole together. We all sink or swim together. There’s no way one group can win and another group can lose. We all own the exact same security. Not only do we all own the exact same security, but our employees own it. The families that are in our cap table own it. And so, every decision comes from the standpoint of how do we make decisions to benefit that security? Louis Diamond: Makes sense. It’s still a tough decision, but you lay it out, make it seem like an easy decision with the conviction you have, I think the very pure motivation to make that leap. Aside from capital to fuel M&A, what are the other things that Lovell Minnick is doing for your business to help it? Jason Fertitta: Well, Lovell Minnick, and this is another thing that was impressive to us, they’re always the first institutional capital until what’s otherwise an entrepreneurial family-owned business. They’re not afraid of building the things that you have to build to get ready to scale. They’ve seen it in every investment they’ve made. And so, that was very refreshing to us, because frankly, we wanted the help. We wanted the expertise. We’re financial advisors at heart. Like a lot of private equity firms, LMP has this third party advisory relationships with industry people, and they’ve brought those people into our firm, several sit on the board of the firm today, and they’ve just been fantastic to work with. Some have more experience with FinTech, some have more experience with HR, some have more experience with actual investment platforms and product. Some have more experience in how to help clients optimize from a tax perspective. Some have family office experience. And so, we’ve really benefited from this group of people. And I would tell you that, since they came into our world, which is about 18 months ago, we have been building a lot of things that are about to be unveiled to not only our financial advisors, but our clients. And I think that the experience is just going to continue to get better for both of those segments. Louis Diamond: Very cool. Yeah, it seems like a great fit. And I meant to ask you before, because it’s such a cool, and I think still a fairly novel concept, but what was the thinking behind having nine families, their customers or clients come in, and buy some equity in the firm? Why’d you do that? And then what’s been the outcome of that? Jason Fertitta: It was more their idea than us after we launched the firm. And this goes back to my original comments about the clients want to do more business with you when you’re independent than when you’re inside the bank. And we have a lot of clients that are entrepreneurial. And so, I think when we explained to them the reasons why we were doing this, and the reasons why we’re so excited about it, they got excited about it too, some clients, most clients. And so, what they said was, “Yeah, we’re going to move our money to it, we’re excited about it, but if there’s an opportunity, we’d also like to own a piece of the firm.” And originally, when they said that, I didn’t know if they meant that they wanted us to give them, but they wrote a check. They all wrote checks. We set an arbitrary value of the firm in the first year after we launched it. And that wasn’t a whole lot of science behind the value. It’s basically what we would’ve been paid by walking across the street, and that was the original value. And they bought into the firm, and then, Lovell Minnick really thought it was a nice novel concept that they hadn’t seen before, and they’ve embraced it. When they invested, we brought another round of clients into the firm at that valuation. I think it’s really powerful, because what’s important for us in these families is that they’re all pillars of their respective communities and they’re spread across all over the country and Mexico. We have some incredibly good reputation, great business people in Mexico City, and Monterrey, and Los Angeles, and Midland, and Dallas, and Austin, and Houston. And we’re open to the concept of when we come into new markets, finding that pillar of the community, finding that family who people ask, “Well, what do you do with your money?” We want them to say, “Well, we own our own wealth management firm. He wants to have them call you and they’ll show you what we do with our money.” And that’s a powerful part of the organic growth and the flywheel. Louis Diamond: I absolutely love that. I oftentimes have clients, especially breakaway clients talk about how cool it would be to have a client or set of clients invest in their business. But, the reasons why, I love that as part of a very consistent, repeatable strategy of identifying key influencers essentially in different markets, and then having them come into the cap table. I would assume too, the dynamic of, “Oh, you should call Jason, he’s my financial advisor, he’s great,” to, “Hey, you should come in and meet my firm.” And I feel like clients are probably much more incentivized naturally to refer friends, family, et cetera. And just the power and dynamic of that referral is probably that much better than a referral from another happy customer who’s not an investor. Jason Fertitta: Exactly. When we’re looking at coming into a new city with a new partner, to the extent they have those clients in that community, and when they join us, we have a private equity partner that embraces that strategy and concept. When we’re talking to that Wall Street advisor, and they’re interested in our business model and our plan, I think that particular part of our business model is very differentiated and intriguing to them. Louis Diamond: Amazing. You mentioned in your last answer that you have, it sounds like you have some investors in Mexico, and that you’re serving families in Mexico and Latin America as well. Can you talk about adding that capability or the openness to go international? That’s clearly a big decision. It’s a different risk profile, different client needs. What was the thought process behind taking Americana, I guess, still in the Americas, but outside of America? Jason Fertitta: Yeah. Well, I think a lot of it is growing up in Texas, there’s a lot of wonderful families from Mexico whose kids and grandkids have moved here, and our children are going to school with their children, and they’re part of our community, and I think they’re a great part of our community. And so, I just started to notice how Wall Street treated this community as just one, right? And what we were able to do is cherry-pick a few families that we knew very well that are incredibly good reputations in the cities that they’re from, and their origins are from. And there’s a high desire on behalf of not only those families, but their friends to invest into the United States into our economy. And given that a lot of their children and grandchildren live in the US, these are families that have citizens and their family inside of the US and back home in Mexico. Most of these families, they’ve been going to our colleges. A lot of these families sit on the boards of Fortune 500 companies inside of the United States. These are families that are very easy to do due diligence on, and frankly, we have learned a lot from them. They’re very sophisticated families, and so, they’ve been amazing partners, and we use Bank of New York Pershing to custody a lot of these assets, and I think they’re increasingly becoming more interested in alternatives as part of their portfolios, because I think going back 15, 20 years ago, these families were mostly stocks, bonds, and cash. But, as they continue to build out their own family offices, they’re becoming more sophisticated and interested in alternatives, so it’s really been an exciting part of our firm. Louis Diamond: Did this expansion, does it scratch the itch to go into different Latin American countries in Europe and Asia, or is that not really part of the roadmap? Jason Fertitta: Well, it’s open to the concept. Like I said, the genesis of this for us was the fact that our children go to school with their children, and we got to know several families just through our social circles here in Texas. But, I don’t think that same phenomenon would exist in Europe, other Latin American countries per se, but we’re certainly open to it, and there’s a lot going on in Latin America. There’s a lot going on and a lot of potential, so we’re open to anything that increases the footprint in the right way for Americana. Louis Diamond: Great answer. Let’s go back a little bit to talk a little bit more about your M&A strategy. You merged with or acquired Boulevard Family Wealth, which was Matt Celenza’s firm. I think Matt was the first breakaway guest on our show, and an amazing advisor. You bought Goodpasture Gray in Nashville, and more recently you bought NRT Consulting. I think from my read, three different types of firms, different geographies. How do you think about the M&A strategy? Jason Fertitta: I feel like we’re building out a firm and departments in the firm, and each of those acquisitions goes into a different department of our firm. I think Matt Celenza and Boulevard are fantastic, and they’re really good at tax optimization strategies for families, and they’re really innovative there. That is a very hot topic with all of our clients. More and more families are getting smart about the fact that not only does it matter what your returns look like. What really matters is how much of those returns you get to keep. And so, Matt and his team are incredibly sophisticated and cutting edge on tax optimization, and that's proliferating throughout our firm right now, which is I think making us even better at what we can advise and provide to our clients. I would say that’s more in the family office service and tax planning part of our firm. Goodpasture Gray’s fantastic. WL who runs that firm, or did prior to the merger, I’ve known him for 30 years. He’s a longtime family friend. His clients are in Nashville, Santa Fe, and Texas. He and my father actually used to office together. And then, ironically, he hired Dynasty to represent him to find the right partner. That’s an example where full circle Dynasty brought him back and I hadn’t talked to him for decades, but we shared a bunch of fun stories about how I used to go up in college, and hang out with he and my dad in their office. That was a great full circle experience, but WL’s just a fantastic financial advisor that does what we’ve always done. He’s just a natural fit inside of our firm. And then NRT, Chris Ginsbach and his team, they’re unbelievable. They do bookkeeping services for families. They’re not signing tax returns, but the more sophisticated these families get, some of these families have 35, to 45, to 55 different LLCs that require bookkeeping services. He’s an accountant by training, so is everyone that works there. And I think that there’s a lot of cross-pollinating with our client base that wants bookkeeping services for their needs. With all of these different M&A events, it’s trying to meet or have the ability to meet your client at wherever their pain points are. And some of your client’s pain points are in bookkeeping and accounting. Some are in tax optimization, and some are just good old-fashioned financial advice and access. And all three of those acquisitions that you described are meeting that client in a different pain point, but they’re all pain points, and they’re all important. Louis Diamond: When you’re thinking about M&A, is it like you have, these are the three areas that we want to add to the firm? Next one, making it up, we want to add tax preparation. Are you then going out to find a firm that fits the bill, or is it more so just you’re selective with who you take on, and you look for a new capability, or just like an extreme alignment with how you’re already serving clients, and then, that’s what makes a compelling deal for you? Jason Fertitta: Yeah. Most of the time, we’re getting feedback from our clients on where they need help, and that is usually the spark that starts the fire on, okay, what if we added this? It’s really I would say more based on client feedback. We don’t have estate planning attorneys inside of Americana per se. We don’t have accountants that are signing people’s tax returns inside of Americana. We get a lot of interesting opportunities from accounting firms and estate planning firms. And so, I like how we have this great referral network in place with those industries. And so, I think we’d have to think long and hard about getting into those businesses per se. Louis Diamond: Makes sense. I feel like there’s probably a version of this story, your story, where you break away, you plot along, you’re happy to not have a boss anymore, clients are happy, maybe you get to like four or five billion in assets, and you call it a win, and just throw in coast mode, but clearly you didn’t do that. You went the opposite direction. What do you think drove the ambition to keep building towards something larger? What’s really sparking you and motivating you today maybe differently, or in a more defined way than it was when you first broke? Jason Fertitta: Yeah, I would say it’s not just me, it’s all the founders, and I think all the employees. I share this and not to sound corny about it. I think everyone here wants to try and build something that his or her children would say, “My parent was one of the founders and employees of Americana Partners.” It’s like, I think when you work at a bank, you definitely care about your brand that you’re building, but this is a whole next level of care about your brand. We really care about this brand, and we want it to outlast all of us. Louis Diamond: Love that. For a successful wirehouse advisor or team that’s sitting on a really nice practice maybe similar in size or in the same realm that you had back where you were in that world, and they’re thinking about maximizing their value, what advice would you offer? Do you think your story is an outlier, or do you think it’s doable by others if they follow certain advice or principles? Jason Fertitta: I would have a two-word answer. Call us. I’m kidding. I have a much longer answer. One of the things I really respected about a certain advisor, and if he’s listening to this, he’ll know exactly who he is, but I feel awkward saying his name. When I was contemplating going independent, I talked to an entrepreneur I really admire, and I called him, and I said, “Hey, we’re thinking about doing this.” And he said, “Look, I’m going to try and convince you to join our firm, and if you don’t end up doing that, it’s fine. There’ll be no hard feelings, because we ended up launching our own firm and I would never fault you for the decision if you wanted to do that with your team.” And we thought long and hard, we almost joined his firm. It was in a very different geography so we ended up launching our own firm. I would say that if you want to do it yourself, we would respond the same way. We would give you a high five, and wish you well, and say you’ve made a great decision, and we’d be pulling for you. If you want to spend more time with your clients, and less time in building the firm, we have the firm built, and it’s fantastic, and it wasn’t without blood, sweat and tears for seven years, and we can create a transaction that is economically the same or better as launching your own firm, and you have a voice, and you have a seat at the table, because we’re still small enough to where you can help shape the direction of this firm, and we want your input. The difference is that instead of spending a third of your time interacting with financial advisors the way I do, you could spend 90% of your time interacting with your clients, instead of a third, and be part of a firm that I think has great national prospects. But, I would never fault someone for doing it themselves, because that’s what we did, and that would be hypocritical. But, I really do think that this is a better path, even if you did it yourself, or if you did it with someone like us. I think you’re choosing two better options than what you currently have. Louis Diamond: I think it’s a great perspective, and I think it’s balanced and fair too. There’s plenty of people that I speak to where their passion is building. They want to be the next Americana, right? That’s what’s going to spark them and get them out of bed. They want to do M&A, they want to be the CEO, they want to really make their mark on the industry, and that’s fine. But, I do think there’s probably more advisors out there that would love to be part of something, and they’d love equity, and they’re passionate about different things than you were passionate about when you launched the firm. And the theory of a rising tide lifts all boats, it’s like, you can do this yourself or let’s just build something bigger and better together. And just getting comfortable with the theory of you’ll own a smaller piece of the pie, but the pie is much more valuable than owning 100% or 80% of something that’s less valuable, and is going to take you in a different direction personally. I always say we’re not in the business of making judgments for people. It’s up to them to define their goals, and then, we’ll help them execute on it. But, I really like that perspective. I agree, it’s not for everyone. What you did is extremely hard, it’s a risk, it’s a big swing. But, if you have the stomach for it, and you want to take the swing, to me there’s no better time to pursue that path than today. Jason Fertitta: I agree. And I could totally see a world over the next five years where some of these advisors that join us are bigger shareholders in this firm than me, and that would be great. Louis Diamond: Interesting. Jason Fertitta: I’m with you, not only do I agree with what you’re saying, to me, I’ve never thought about how much of this company do I own? I’ve thought about what is the percentage of the company that I own, and what is it worth? I could care less if it was 25%, 12.5%, 5%. What I care is, what is that slice worth? Louis Diamond: That’s a fun way to look at it. Jason, this has been really fun. This new series Build, Grow, and Transact, this is proof of concept, but we’re going to have to do a ton of these, because the richness of detail, and whenever we have breakaway guests, we’re talking to them in the beginning when they’re still finding their feet, everything’s new and fresh. They haven’t thought about or executed on M&A and taking on capital partners. But, I feel like this is the missing ingredient where it’s a playbook for how others can be better themselves, something to shoot towards. And I really appreciate your candor and transparency, and I’m very serious, we’ll have to do this again when you’re at 25 billion, and you have even more lessons, and I’m sure battle scars to share. Jason Fertitta: No doubt. I’m for sure open to doing that. And maybe in the meantime, I see the pictures behind your head there. I’d love to come visit you in Park City and hang out and ski, or play golf, or- Louis Diamond: You got it. Jason Fertitta: All right. Thanks for your time and thank you for having me. Louis Diamond: Thanks, Jason. 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 responsibility 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. Build, Grow & Transact: Americana's $12B Path from Breakaway to Enterprise A conversation with Louis Diamond and Jason Fertitta, CEO & Partner at Americana Partners.      Louis Diamond: Welcome to the latest episode of our podcast series for financial advisors. Today’s episode is Build, Grow & Transact: Americana's $12B Path from Breakaway to Enterprise. It's a conversation with Jason Fertitta, CEO and partner of Americana Partners. 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: Independence is often viewed as the finish line. Break away, gain control, own the business, and enjoy the economics that come with it. But, for some advisors, going independent is just the beginning. That’s the idea behind this new series called Build, Grow, and Transact, featuring advisors who saw independence not as a destination, but as the first chapter of a business building story. And there will be some familiar names along the way, including our first guest who was on our show back in 2020, talking about what was at the time, one of the industry’s breakaway moves. That’s Jason Fertitta, CEO and foun

Dynasty Financial Partners' Pat Nerney explains how his firm is managing expectations during the A.I. boom, including trimming semiconductor exposure while maintaining upside participation. He outlines his timeline for potential OpenAI and Anthropic IPOs and the role of midterms in shaping market dynamics. Nerney also discusses market volatility, noting the VIX's surprising calm ahead of a key Fed meeting.======== Schwab Network ========Empowering every investor and trader, every market day.Subscribe to the Market Minute newsletter - https://schwabnetwork.com/subscribeDownload the iOS app - https://apps.apple.com/us/app/schwab-network/id1460719185Download the Amazon Fire Tv App - https://www.amazon.com/TD-Ameritrade-Network/dp/B07KRD76C7Watch on Sling - https://watch.sling.com/1/asset/191928615bd8d47686f94682aefaa007/watchWatch on Vizio - https://www.vizio.com/en/watchfreeplus-exploreWatch on DistroTV - https://www.distro.tv/live/schwab-network/Follow us on X – https://twitter.com/schwabnetworkFollow us on Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/schwabnetworkFollow us on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/schwab-network/About Schwab Network - https://schwabnetwork.com/about

The founder and CEO of Dynasty Financial Partners describes five things that buyers and sellers of RIAs each need to do before engaging in a transaction. Host: Greg Bartalos.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With Rafael Loureiro, Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Wealth.com Rafael Loureiro on why estate planning is shifting from a static legal exercise to an AI-powered, advisor-led planning process. In Summary Estate planning has traditionally operated outside the core advisor workflow—handled through attorneys, revisited infrequently, and often disconnected from the broader client relationship. Louis speaks with Rafael Loureiro, Co-Founder and CEO of Wealth.com, about how AI is beginning to change that model. The conversation explores how advisors can use tools like Ester to surface planning gaps, stay ahead of client changes, and deliver a more continuous planning experience. For advisors, the broader implication is strategic: as investment management becomes increasingly commoditized, integrated planning and ongoing coordination may become a far more meaningful differentiator. The Storyline Most advisors already discuss estate planning with clients. The challenge is what happens next. In many cases, the process still moves outside the advisor relationship: clients are referred to an attorney, documents are created, and the estate plan becomes something revisited only after a major life event or liquidity event forces an update. Louis and Rafael explore why that structure is starting to break down. Rafael's own estate planning experience following the sale of Emailage to LexisNexis exposed how fragmented the process could feel, even for highly engaged clients working with sophisticated advisors. That experience ultimately became the foundation for Wealth.com and its AI-powered planning platform, Ester. The discussion focuses less on AI as a headline topic and more on how it changes advisor workflow in practice—from document interpretation and planning summaries to surfacing next actions and helping advisors stay proactively engaged as client circumstances evolve. For advisors thinking about the future of planning, the conversation raises a larger question: if financial planning itself becomes increasingly standardized, where does the next layer of differentiation come from? Topics Covered Continuous estate planning AI-powered advisor workflows com and Ester Advisor-led estate planning Family office-style client service Trust and estate attorney collaboration Estate planning for mass affluent clients AI agents in wealth management Dynasty Financial Partners integration Advisor differentiation beyond investment management > Download a transcript of this episode… Listen and Learn Highlights for Advisors Why did Rafael decide to build Wealth.com? (06:04) Rafael explains how his own estate planning experience after a liquidity event exposed major disconnects between advisors, attorneys, and clients. Why did Wealth.com choose an advisor-led model instead of direct-to-consumer? (14:28) The platform was designed around the belief that advisors (not marketing campaigns) are best positioned to initiate estate planning conversations with clients. What does “continuous estate planning” actually mean? (20:13) Rafael describes a system where client life changes, tax events, and asset activity can trigger proactive advisor engagement rather than periodic document reviews. How does Ester move beyond document summarization? (32:30) The platform now identifies planning opportunities, prepares tasks and reports, and increasingly helps advisors automate portions of the planning workflow. Why are enterprise firms and large banks adopting platforms like Wealth.com? (24:57) Many firms were already producing estate planning summaries manually for ultra-high-net-worth clients. AI allows those capabilities to scale much more efficiently. How should advisors think about the role of trust and estate attorneys going forward? (26:50) Rafael argues that AI enhances – not replaces – the attorney relationship by improving efficiency and reserving more sophisticated matters for specialized legal expertise. What may differentiate advisory firms as planning becomes more commoditized? (38:02) The discussion points toward responsiveness, coordination, personalization, and deeper client integration as the next major competitive layer for advisors. Key Takeaways Rafael believes estate planning is shifting from a one-time legal exercise to a continuous planning process supported by AI and advisor engagement. Wealth.com was intentionally built as an advisor-first platform rather than a direct-to-consumer business. Ester's AI capabilities now extend beyond summarization into identifying planning gaps, surfacing opportunities, and preparing advisor workflows. Many firms are using estate planning as a way to deepen relationships and expand into more family-office-style service models. AI may allow advisors to serve more clients while maintaining a higher level of personalization and responsiveness. Trust and estate attorneys remain critical for complex situations, but AI can improve efficiency and help clients arrive better prepared. Advisors who fail to expand beyond investment management risk competing in an increasingly commoditized landscape. https://youtu.be/BDI6XbEz_4E Quotable Moments “When AI moves from simply organizing information to helping drive decisions, estate planning stops being a periodic task.” “Investment management is becoming table stakes. Financial planning is becoming table stakes.” “Why does it have to be that way? Now with AI, why can we not have continuous estate planning?” “It is the intangibles.” “My goal is to empower the advisor.” Related Resources Human Intelligence in the Age of AI: Why Recruiters Still MatterArtificial intelligence can analyze firms and deals. It can't replace the insight and advocacy that help advisors make the right move. The Future of Prospecting: How AI Is Powering the Next Era of Advisor GrowthFINNY Co-Founder Eden Ovadia shares how AI is transforming advisor prospecting: automating outreach, matching advisors with ideal clients, and freeing time for deeper human connection. A forward-looking conversation on what growth will look like in the next era of wealth management. Rafael LoureiroCo-Founder and CEO Rafael Loureiro is a technology entrepreneur and product-focused executive with more than 20 years of experience across startups, growth-stage companies, and Fortune 500 organizations. He is Co-Founder and CEO of Wealth.com, a leading estate and tax planning platform powered by proprietary AI and purpose-built for financial institutions. Under his leadership, Wealth.com has expanded into a comprehensive planning platform, embedding deterministic AI to deliver precise, auditable outcomes across estate and tax workflows. Prior to founding Wealth.com, Rafael served as Chief Technology Officer at Emailage, a global fraud prevention SaaS company acquired by RELX in 2020. He is a member of the Forbes Finance Council and has been recognized across the industry, including CEO of the Year honors and Forbes' Top AI Founders to Watch. Originally from France and raised in Brazil, Rafael now resides with his family in the Phoenix metro area. 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… Why AI Matters Now: Filling the Estate Planning Gap with Wealth.com A conversation with Louis Diamond and Rafael Loureiro, Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer at Wealth.com. Louis Diamond: Welcome to the latest episode of our podcast series for financial advisors. Today’s episode is Why AI Matters Now: Filling the Estate Planning Gap with Wealth.com. It’s a conversation with Rafael Loureiro, the firm’s Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer. 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 wire house, 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: In the wealth management world, estate planning has largely lived in a separate lane. It’s a topic advisors may raise with clients then hand off to an attorney and eventually a set of documents come back, filed away, rarely revisited, and often disconnected from the rest of the planning process. That structure has been in place for a long time and for the most part, it’s gotten unquestioned, but when you step back, it creates a gap between what do clients expect from their advisor and what actually gets delivered when it comes to estate planning. Rafael Loureiro, co-founder and CEO of Wealth.com, ran straight into the gap after a planning event of his own which should have been a coordinated process, felt fragmented, manual, and surprisingly opaque. And likewise, I recall the same type of disjointed experience in my own estate planning process. It’s experiences like these that became the starting point for building Wealth.com. What makes this story interesting isn’t just that they’re using AI but how they’re using it inside the estate planning process, and it’s how AI allows the model itself to change from a one-time legal event to something that evolves alongside the client, from static documents to a system that can actually interpret, update, and surface what matters, from a disconnected handoff to something the advisor can actively lead. In my conversation with Rafael, we get into how that plays out in practice, how tools like Ester move from summarizing estate documents to identifying gaps, to prompting next steps, and eventually preparing action on behalf of the advisor, because when AI moves from simply organizing information to helping drive decisions, estate planning stops being a periodic task and starts to look more like a continuous part of the advice process. So let’s dive in. Rafael, thank you for coming on our show today. Rafael Loureiro: My pleasure, Louis. Thank you for having me here. Louis Diamond: Of course. Let’s jump in and in researching you and speaking to you in the past, I got to admit, you had a very different path into the wealth management industry probably than anyone I’ve ever interviewed. So can you walk us through your background briefly and early professional endeavors? Rafael Loureiro: Absolutely. The accent that you hear is Brazilian. So I’ve been in the US for 25 years. I’m a software engineer by trade, came here as a HMB, been involved with different companies over the years and then most recently before Wealth.com. I was a chief technology officer with a fraud prevention company, nothing to do with wealth management, but by selling that company, it’s how the Wealth.com story started. Louis Diamond: Perfect. And I was referring to also some of your early career endeavors even before founding your last company, if you’re comfortable sharing that. Rafael Loureiro: Yeah, absolutely. I’ve been involved with four different startups in different spaces. One of them was in, if you remember all the way back to 2008, the real estate prices, the first startup with foreclosures. So when houses went into foreclosures, me and my partner, we created a system to index that. I also had work on a photo album company. It became a lifetime business. It’s still running. I was the CTO and I did my share of consulting. I used to work for Accenture, Avanade, and then a home builder Fortune 500 companies. So I have a ton of experience in the technology space before Wealth.com. Louis Diamond: Perfect. And you mentioned the last business that you started that I believe sold to LexisNexis. Can you walk through what that business was? Rafael Loureiro: Yeah. So I did not start the business. I joined the business before Series A. The person that started the business, Rei Carvalho, he’s actually Wealth.com chairman. So the team is still together. The US, San Francisco, New York, offices in Sydney, Singapore, London. We serve clients like Coinbase, grew very fast and then got acquired by LexisNexis in 2020 during peak COVID. Think about, we literally signed the documents, popped the champagne on March 2020. No vaccine. Louis Diamond: Oh, my God. Rafael Loureiro: We literally popped the champagne and we all went back home to work from home because that was the guy that’s from LexisNexis. Through that experience, selling a company, one thing you usually do, it’s a big liquidity event and estate planning is always related to big moments. You get married, someone in your family die, you have a new kid, you have a liquidated event. So I work with a financial advisor. They’re amazing. They helped me with financial planning, wealth management, saved me a lot of money insurance. But when it was time to do the estate planning, Louis, my experience was, “Hey, Rafael, we always work with this lawyer, go talk to the lawyer.” And then it was a completely broken process. First, because it was COVID and I had to go see the lawyer face-to-face. That was weird right there. Second, because I was expecting the lawyer to know everything about me because my advisor knows everything about me, know about my life situation, know about liquid event, know about my kids, rental houses, everything and then the engineer. I know what I told the lawyer, but do I know for sure that everything I told the lawyer end up in the document? No, I don’t. Long story short, otherwise it is a long story, we’re having a virtual coffee. I don’t know if you remember everyone, big beard, long hair, everyone working from home, and then somehow all the Emailage C-level team and founders, the co-founders, we start complaining about state plan. Even another example, my chairman, the Wealth.com chairman, Emailage CEO, Rei Carvalho, he was like, “Hey, Rafael, I’m done with the summer heat in Arizona. I’m moving to Denver. I’m going for cooler weathers.” Literally the moment he moved to Denver, he gets a call from his estate planning lawyer, welcome him to Denver and saying, “Hey, we need to update your documents. “But I just spent thousands of dollars creating my documents.” “Yeah, but you live in a new state, you have to optimize your documents.” At that moment, Louis, we’re like, “Where there’s a problem, there is an opportunity,” and the company was born. Louis Diamond: I find the best company origin stories, it’s you have that, you have a personal experience or a moment where you have a realization that there’s a problem that you have that others might have as well, so let’s create a business around solving this problem. It was legitimately at that point, it wasn’t a long burn, we’re going to research, we’re really going to think about this, it was just all of the core team that was fortunate enough to have a big liquidity event were complaining and commiserating about a similar problem on estate planning and then that launched into, let’s build a company, let’s build a platform, a product to solve this problem? Rafael Loureiro: Yes and no. We saw the opportunity. We had just finished selling a company. It takes a lot from you and your family to create a company and to sell a company. Before we started a new company, we said, “Hey, look, we feel like there is something here, but let’s do the proper groundwork, make sure that the market is right, that there is a need that it’s not only us complaining about these.” I’m going to say that we spend a good three month, we have vision document together, doing a market research and then we got excited. Literally my wife who was not super excited in the beginning said, “You guys just sold a company. You’ve been racing 100 miles an hour for the last seven, eight years and you guys going to do this again.” But I love it. It’s part of my DNA. I love the challenge. I love to build and it is a big problem. When you look at the US market, 67% of the population don’t have estate planning. You have to ask yourself, why? Is that because it costs too much money? Is that because people don’t know enough about estate planning that they don’t do it? Is that because people don’t have to think about that? So the opportunity is there. We did the groundwork. We got the team together, at least some of our eight players. We went to Altus Capital, that’s the same venture firm that led the Emailage series B and we said, “Look, we have a vision, we have a team and we believe the market is ready for it. There is no dominant player and it is blue ocean.” And then they gave us the initial funding, them and my chairman, and then we went from having an idea to launching the product in May 2022. Louis Diamond: Wow, that’s amazing. Before we dive into the rapid growth and what the platform looks like, et cetera, can you just give us a quick overview of what Wealth.com looks like today? Who are you serving? Who are you selling to and where does it fit into an advisor’s value proposition or their advice stack, if you will? Rafael Loureiro: Absolutely. So Wealth.com we empower financial advisors to provide a family office experience to their clients starting with estate planning and tax planning. What I’m trying to solve, Louis, is my situation. I want my financial advisor to be the hub of my needs. So if the need is financial planning, wealth management, insurance, estate planning, tax planning, I need my financial advisor to be aware of all these verticals, right? Because I know if something happens to one of us, my financial advisor is my person. He or she’s going to get my call from my wife and say, “Hey, am I all right?” I want to empower the financial advisor with all the tools to provide that family office experience to their client. So that’s first, we started by providing doc migration. So think of this, you are mass affluent client, between half a million dollars all the way to 10 million dollars. You don’t have your revocable trust, your will, your power of attorney, your advanced healthcare directive, your guardianship documents. We do that. We create those documents. You go to the workflow on the Wealth.com platform if you have an advisor, I need to make that clear, we’re not direct to consumer business. You have to have an advisor. So you go to that workflow and at the end of the workflow, you get the documents. Those are legally optimized, all the documents. The document you get in California is going to be completely different from the document you get in New York, from the document you get in Florida. I just want to make that point clear. What we noticed, Louis, working with these advisors is if you look at the average advisor, if you look at his or her book of business, 80% is mass affluent. So think lawyers, doctors, firemen, 20% high net worth. Usually the high net worth clients, ultra-high network clients, they already have the documents. They already paid $20,000 to have those documents draft and we were not doing anything for them. So in 2022, we had that light bulb moment even before LLMs. OpenAI launched in 2022, we actually used the Bertha model before OpenAI, but I know I’m digressing. Let me get back here. So I was not doing anything for these high net worth, ultra-high net worth clients. So we had this idea, what if we use AI to read their existing plans, all their grants, LATs, all this sophisticated irrevocable trust, connect to all their assets and then provide a summary of everything they have in place? So that was the idea in 2022. Can we do it? And we did it and that became Ester and that became our family office experience. So just to summarize, we help the advisor clients regardless where they fall in the wealthy spectrum. They don’t have the estate planning documents, we create them. If they already have the estate planning documents, we use AI to read this documents, summarize them and provide insight and observations. “Hey, here are ways that you can optimize these documents.” That’s what we do. Louis Diamond: It’s so valuable. I wish I met you a month ago because I went through a very expensive estate planning exercise with an estate planning attorney and my own personal experience is exactly the same that you had. It’s expensive. I have no idea what I was signing. It was a long questionnaire and it wasn’t driven necessarily by my advisor. They gave me the idea to get updated estate plans, but it was a disconnected process. So this makes a ton of sense. I think let’s pull on the thread of being a direct to advisor company rather than trying to pull an end around the advisor and going directly to a consumer. Why was that an important design decision for you? Because I would assume the total adjustable market might be a little bit bigger if you’re going direct to a retail client that may or may not have an advisor versus going directly to a business, an RIA, a wealth management firm, et cetera. Rafael Loureiro: Yeah. What we notice working within these spaces, something triggers you to do your estate planning. I’m not going to ask why you decide to do yours now, but usually it’s related to death in the family, a kid going to college, you buy a new house, you have a new baby, you’re getting married, you get a divorce. Direct to consumer, you have to find the client at that moment for them to consider estate planning as an important thing to do. There’s actually surveys. I think Fidelity put a survey out, that says family is the main reason why people do estate planning. And the second reason is the advisor. So if you work with a financial advisor, most likely he or she’s going to make you do your estate planning. So we did not want to be on the direct to consumer place spending millions and millions of dollars in marketing. We’d rather spend millions and millions of dollars in AI and technology and serve the advisor and empower the advisor to have this conversation and go to you and say, “Hey, Louis, how is it possible that you don’t have your estate planning document? Let’s do this now.” And I know this is uncomfortable. There’s another survey that came out recently saying that some of the advisors don’t want to talk about that. It’s still a hard subject to approach, but we have to have this conversation. Louis Diamond: I would say it almost sounds like an advisor not wanting to talk about their fees. Let’s not talk about that because it’s uncomfortable and no one wants to hear about it. Rafael Loureiro: Oh, you have to have it because they saw a huge lack of education. For example, one thing that we come across all the time, and I know it’s minor, is kids going to college. “Oh yeah, my daughter’s going to college. I don’t have to do anything.” Yeah, you do. She needs an advanced healthcare directive because if you don’t have one and something happens to her, you cannot just go to the hospital and ask for information. They won’t give it to you. We need to educate our clients. We need to do a better job. And I think advisors play that role and we want to empower them to talk about estate planning and tax planning. Louis Diamond: It makes sense. It’s a brilliant strategy because instead of advisors selling against Wealth.com as like, “I can do better and I have a estate planning guy I can refer you to,” it’s you’re working alongside them and you rely upon the advisor to provide the education to be the trigger moment. And I know again, from personal experience, if my advisor didn’t suggest that I should update my estate planning documents because I moved states, I wouldn’t have done it. It’s not like a fun thing to do. It’s an expense, et cetera. So that makes a ton of sense. You’re partnering with the hub or the influencers, if you will, of who’s driving estate planning in this country. It’s a great strategy. Rafael Loureiro: And you said something very important and I want to highlight, the world is very different after COVID. Before COVID, some of these advisors, all their clients were in the same city. I had one estate planning lawyer to help my clients, right? But now with after COVID or during COVID, people moved. “Oh yeah, I’m not living in a farm. Oh, I moved to Montana. Montana is beautiful. I saw Landman or Yellowstone. Now I’m leaving Montana. Landman is in Texas.” How? Now you don’t have estate planning lawyer in Texas. You don’t have estate planning lawyer in Montana. With the right partnership with Wealth.com, now you can serve all your clients regardless where they are in the US because we are present in every jurisdiction and we have lawyers in every jurisdiction. So we empower you to serve clients regardless where they are in the US. Louis Diamond: Very cool. And how about the pricing model? You don’t have to say what it costs, but is it one license that a firm is buying on behalf of their entire client base or is there an incremental cost for each client? And I’m throwing a lot at you. And then third part of the question is, are you seeing advisors charge directly for the Wealth.com estate planning output or are folks wrapping it into their fee as just a value added service as part of their planning and comprehensive wealth management process? Rafael Loureiro: Very good question. My goal, our goal, has always been we want to make estate planning available, democratized estate planning, make it more accessible to the population. So the way we charge is we charge the advisor annual recurring fee. We do not charge per document. I want you to provide estate planning to all your clients. That’s our goal. I don’t want you to think, oh, but that’s going to cost me money. No, all your clients set them all up with estate planning. Are they charging? It depends. So the way I’m going to say this is, I’m going to say that 60% of my advisors are charging not for the documents because they’re not lawyers, they’re charging to help educate you on estate planning. You as a client, you have to go to the process yourself to get the documents. So that’s where an advisor would send an invitation to Wealth.com. You and your wife or your partner, you’re going to go to the workflow and you’re going to get the document at the end. But the advisor is going to set up a call with you, the advisor is going to help you collect the documents. The advisor is going to educate you why estate planning is important. And some of them are charging for this. Some of our advisors, more on the high net worth, alternate high net worth space, you already charge a very good fee to provide your service so they probably provide Ester output, I should say, as a value added service. It depends on the use case. Louis Diamond: Makes sense. So I’ve heard you talk in interviews about a major gap in estate planning between client expectations and what a client is expecting, hoping to get with estate planning, especially when it comes to interacting with their financial advisor and what is actually fundamentally delivered by advisors. So I’m curious, why is there a gap and why do you think that gap has existed for so long? Is it as simple as people don’t like talking about death and it’s expensive or is there a deeper answer? Rafael Loureiro: I think it’s all of the above and your experience is amazing. You pretty much, you are the typical client. You took long to do it. It costs you a lot of money. You’re now like, next time you have to do an update, you’re going to wait five to 10 years to do it because we spend thousands of dollars to get it updated. Why does it have to be like that? And now with AI, and that’s what I think is going to change a lot in the next five years, is why can we not have continuous estate planning? What I mean by that is work with your advisor. I have connection to all your assets. I have connection to CRM. I have connection to your bank account. If you give me access, I don’t need password, but you can actually connect all your assets, I have connection to the portfolio management platform. So as you live your life, as you get married, as you buy a property… You finally decide to buy a property in Tahoe, I get these pings and then I can empower your advisors to say, “Hey, go talk to Louis and say, hey, it’s time to update your estate plan.” Or a rental property outside your home state in California, you need to update your… Or he has just crossed a tax threshold or he just got married or he just had a new beneficiary. My goal is to empower the financial advisor to provide more and more value to this relationship. I’m not trying to replace the financial advisor, but I’m trying to empower him or her to give you more value so him or her becomes more critical for your relationship. Why people haven’t done estate planning I think is a lack of education, is the fear of the cost. “Oh, I have to talk to a lawyer. Oh my gosh, that’s going to cost me $5,000.” I want to make this easier. I want to make this simple. I want to empower the advisor to demystify estate planning and tax planning, make it more accessible, bring the estate planning more to the middle. What I mean by that is why is this estate planning exclusive to the high net worth, ultra-high net worth? Because in that space, 90% of the people have estate planning, 90% of the people. It’s the fear of the cost, I think, and then people don’t want to think about that. Louis Diamond: Yeah. I think that’s exactly right. Yeah. It very much sounds like it’s a win-win. It’s like a next best action type event where you’re giving an advisor on a silver platter a way to add value, which is what I think every advisor wants to do and then it’s a massive value add to the end client. My guess is you don’t have much friction in delivering those sorts of insights to advisors that they can then deliver to their clients. Rafael Loureiro: I would say if you’re not doing it, there is a big risk. You’re going to lose your clients to people that are doing it and they are providing the family office experience. Yeah. Louis Diamond: Yeah. What about the competitive landscape for Wealth.com, whether it’s other FinTechs that are attempting to do something in the space or even just the legacy advisor, the estate planning attorney in town or an advisor’s preferred T&E attorney. How do you think about the competitive landscape in the trust and estate world today? Rafael Loureiro: There are competitors. From day zero when we came in, there were competitors. I don’t see an incumbent. I think now we have became the incumbent. I think there is a segment of the market, just to paint a picture, one third of the advisors are going to retire in the next 10 years. So there is a segment in the market where to your point, they already work with a estate planning lawyer. That’s not a bad thing. They’re like, “Oh yeah, I get leads from this lawyer. My clients are all located in my neighborhood. I don’t need to provide out of state estate planning,” then we’re not going to get there.” But at the same time, if you look at our growth, we’ve been growing and that’s why we just raised a series B, our growth is out there to prove it, we’ve been tripling the company size every year. There’s a need, there’s a demand. Financial advisors are waking up. They are in a very competitive market. They need to provide more to the clients because I feel like investment management, it is becoming table stakes. Financial planning, it is table stakes. So what else can I offer my clients? And that’s why you see some advisory firms offering BillPay. I file your taxes. I’ll get your estate planning done. You got to differentiate yourself. We’re seeing the need. If you look at our penetration, we have now 2,000 firms on the platform and the firms go from independent, a small SMB advisor with one or two advisors in the office, all the way to the top three, three out of the top five banks in the US. We are there, right? Louis Diamond: Wow. It’s interesting. Let’s talk about that. So on the bank side, it’s typically not a segment that is ripe for technological disruption or external tools like this to come in and make a dent. How are banks and very large platforms thinking about Wealth.com? Is it a similar kind of buying journey or decision that an individual RIA or an individual advisor would make or is it a little bit different? Rafael Loureiro: It’s a little bit different. So without mentioning names, these banks, some of these banks that work with high net worth, ultra-high net worth clients, they were providing this summary report that Ester put together, they were, before Esther, but it was taking them 30 to 50 hours. All human labor to put one together, Excel, Visa, PowerPoint, 30 to 50 hours. Even to these very expensive, very wealthy clients, they were only doing once a year. “Hey, here’s your report.” “Oh yeah, but I just sold the house in St. Barts. Can I get a new update?” “No. Next year you’re going to get the update.” I’m not even kidding. It was serious. So they were doing the work, but it was all labor-intensive. Now with Wealth, a much better output, I should say, it’s take minutes. And instead of only reserving these to the very, very wealthy clients, now they can go downstream and offer this to their mass affluent clients and then high net worth clients. They’re all seeing the need. They’re all waking up because they were doing the work, but it was all labor-intensive, like I said, all manual before and they want to automate. Louis Diamond: Very interesting. I definitely want to spend some time talking about Ester. You mentioned it a few times, but before that, I’d say two very real strategic areas that a firm might take on when it comes to estate planning. The first one is a lot of very successful advisors, they cultivate amazing COI referral relationships with attorneys and usually the attorneys are T&E attorneys for obvious reasons. Have you gotten pushback or have you seen that because of Wealth.com, these advisors now are referring less business to these high-powered trust and estates attorneys and then they’re not able to grow their business as much in return. That’s one question if you can weigh in. Rafael Loureiro: I have not heard that. And just to clarify, I think with Wealth, having Wealth as part of your tool framework, you’re going to be able to serve more clients and still leverage your trust estate attorney. And I’ll explain how. For example, we know how to stay our lane. So let’s say you go into the workflow and as part of the workflow, you say, “Hey, I have a special needs child.” At that moment we say, “Stop. Let me put you in touch with a lawyer.” You can decide to use your own lawyer or you can use one of in our network. We have lawyers in every jurisdiction, but it’s up to you. We focus on the revocable trusts and the wealth. If your client requires something more sophisticated, you can still use Wealth.com to map out the client’s situation using Ester. You’re going to be able to see everything they have in place at that moment and then use your relationship, your trust and estate lawyer to make the document update. So I think what we are doing is reserving the most complex case for the trust and estate lawyer if a document needs update, but I don’t think you are breaking that relationship. That relationship will stay there and you’re still going to have that lead exchange, but I don’t have any numbers to answer your question. Louis Diamond: I think that makes sense. It’s not like with Wealth.com, at least not yet. It’s not like there isn’t a role for a T&E attorney and especially for more complex esoteric type situations, an advisor could still refer some of their relationships to a T&E attorney, but they’ll come armed with better information. And also with more clients getting involved with estate planning, there’s also conceivably more opportunities that they can refer out to an estate planning attorney in turn. Rafael Loureiro: Can I use that? You did a much better job than I did. Exactly. Exactly what you said. The difference is now your advisor, your clients are going to be much better informed, that they know exactly what they need from the lawyer. So yeah, 100%. Louis Diamond: Perfect. And then the other one, which is I’d say less commonplace, but it’s a trend. The trend, and you hit on it, that as investments are becoming commoditized or not as differentiated, advisors are being called on to offer more and more services, whether it’s tax preparation in-house or bill pay or picking up clients’ dry cleaning, et cetera. But I think a big area that I’ve seen firms invest in is an in -house trust and estate attorney. Do you think Wealth.com is taking some of the sizzle out of that in-house service or is it just different? Is it two different use cases? Rafael Loureiro: It’s two different uses cases and we actually sell to that use case where if you have your trust estate attorneys in-house, we actually leverage them and they become users on the platform. Going back to my previous answer, now with Wealth.com, you’re going to be able to serve more clients with estate planning. You can actually route some of the use cases back to your trust estate team through Wealth.com. They do whatever they have to do and then you’re able to serve more clients. An example, trust and estate lawyers, they had to read the documents before Wealth.com. They would spend countless hours reading a hundred-page documents. Now with Esther, we do the summarization. We show your trust estate team where all the information was extracted. So instead of reading one document per hour, you’re going to be able to read three documents per hour and visualize the client estate plan and be able to optimize it because we’ve provided insights and suggestions and then the trust and estate lawyer can provide their own and say, “Hey, no, I agree with this one,” or “I think we should also do this.” I think you’re going to optimize the use of your trust estate team. You’re not going to get rid of them. No. Louis Diamond: It’s more so you’re automating the high value differentiated work. It also kind of sounds like, I don’t know when eMoney or MoneyGuidePro came into the mainstream, but it’s almost a difference between a paraplanner for a firm, manually creating pie charts in Excel and PowerPoint and analyzing a bunch of stuff and then eMoney and MoneyGuidePro and NaviPlan and all these companies come about and all of a sudden a lot of the work is automated. And it’s not like a paraplanner is out of work. They just become the experts, the users of the platform and they can allocate their attention to higher value, more bespoke work rather than we’ll say more of the factory kind of below the line things that was taking up a lot of their time. Rafael Loureiro: Absolutely. I like to use the analogy of the shoemaker. In the past, the shoemaker would make one shoe. It would be a beautiful shoe, but he would make one shoe a week or every two days. Now you have specialized agents. All that agent does is read estate planning documents. All that agent does is enriching the documents with insight and observations and looking to all the legal law changes that happened recently. So now you’re able to still make the same high quality shoe, but just at a higher volume. And you have a lot of dedicated workers doing one thing and doing one thing extremely well. So my goal is to empower the shoemaker. My goal is to empower the advisor and with a thousand analysts, a thousand paraplanners. So just making my job more efficient. Louis Diamond: I love it. You fit in Ester a good bit. It seems fairly clear what Ester’s doing. Sounds like an amazing value add. Just given the pace of AI innovation and I don’t think anyone knows where it’s going, but what are you most excited about Ester being able to do either now or in the future and what’s the vision if you can project out a year, which seems like an eternity in AI time, what’s on the dream board for what Ester’s going to be able to do for your Wealth.com clients? Rafael Loureiro: As a technologist, I love this question. I see AI in three distinct phases. You had the first phase of Ester in 2022, 2023 when we launched, which was summaries. It was amazing summarizing data. Some of these clients, Louis, think about this, some of these clients, they have 13 documents in place. They had every type of irrevocable trust you can imagine plus a revocable trust in place. They had very complicated assets, very complex assets. So Ester was amazing in summarizing. That was phase number one. Phase number two is now being able to augment. You read the data, you see an opportunity and you create a task that’s right there in front of the advisor saying, “Hey, I think you should reach out to this client and include this report with some of these observations. Click this button if you agree.” You still involve the advisor, the human is still in the loop. And that’s what we are with Ester right now. We do that. We assess the data, we see the opportunity, we involve the advisor, advisor get involved and say, “Yes, let’s do this,” and click a button, an email is triggered, our report is attached. Here we go. The third phase and that’s coming next and very soon is now you have an agent acting on the behalf of the advisor. I still want to make sure, and I want to make this very clear, I don’t want to get myself in trouble, the devices always evolve, but you have all these specific agents, that’s tax planning agent, that’s the estate planning agent, work independently, connected to the world, extremely well-trained with thousands and thousands of documents that we’ve seen over the years, finding opportunities, creating the tasks, creating the emails, creating the report, having everything ready to go, just waiting for the advisor to say, “Do it.” And we do this enough to the point where the advisor is going to say, “All right, you don’t need my permission anymore to do this specific task. Go.” You connect to the IRS, you download the text transcript, you crunch to this data, you create a report and it’s ready to go. The other thing too is I want to be able, my goal in the next year, a year and a half, is I want to continue estate planning. Up to this point, estate planning has been exactly like you described. You go to a lawyer, you pay thousands and thousands of dollars and those documents start collecting dust in a shelf somewhere while you live your life. And being from this space, that’s not how it works. There is new legislation being passed OBBA became like you crossed tax threshold, you have liquidated events, you get married, you get divorced, you buy real estate property, so on and so forth and that document is already stale. Why does it have to be that way? Now with AI, now with the technology we have in place, it won’t be. I promise you. Louis Diamond: Very cool. That’s exciting. That sounds like the perfect evolution of AI from summary, just here’s something you can read quickly to suggesting action, to then taking action. It does seem like the flow that it’s been and I’m sure there’s 15 other flows from here that we don’t even know yet. Or you probably do because you’re in this, but for me, I can’t even imagine what phase four and five are going to look like for you. Rafael Loureiro: Yes, it’s exciting. Louis Diamond: Definitely is. I saw, when I was doing some research for this that Wealth.com announced a fairly major strategic partnership with Dynasty Financial Partners, embedding Ester into their Dynasty desktop. What do you think this partnership says about where the business is going and how do you expect advisors to really take advantage of this in practice? Rafael Loureiro: It was a new development. We’re super excited about the Dynasty Financial Partnership. Before, if you look at before this partnership, we would have to empower advisor one by one with a Wealth.com license. With this partnership with Dynasty, every advisor in the Dynasty family or using the Dynasty desktop is going to be able to use Ester. So they’re going to be furnished with an AI intelligence that they can ask any estate planning questions, they can get tax planning questions answered. They’re going to be able to upload their clients’ estate planning documents and get a summary with opportunities, with everything that they can do for those estate planning documents. I think it fits perfectly well for enterprise IRAs, wire houses, this solution. Instead of doing one by one, you can actually have AI for all your advisors at once answering their most basic questions and taking action. That’s literally like the agents I was trying to describe. So that’s just the first step in that direction and we’re super excited about this. Louis Diamond: Very cool. Let me ask you another one. So you said earlier that as investment management becomes more commoditized that advisors not only have to offer more services and provide more value, but they also have to differentiate from the advisor or the firm across the street to provide more family office services, if you will. But let’s say, and this will be great for you, Wealth.com becomes like air that everyone’s breathing. It almost becomes like financial planning tool, e-Money. It’s commonplace. Now it’s commoditized across the space, it’s not a differentiator anymore to offer financial planning. As Wealth.com expands more firms work with the platform, what do you think is the next layer or next level of differentiation that your clients then can point to if it’s no longer maybe a couple of years from now that we use Wealth.com that we help with estate planning? Rafael Loureiro: Wow, that’s an interesting one, and approach my wife and bring ideas and suggestions. For me, if I can make that happen where the financial advisor is helping with my taxes, so when it’s tax time, we just have to have a one-hour meeting and we’re ready to click a button and have everything done, that can help me with BillPay. And think about like high net worth and ultra-high net worth people where it becomes extremely complicated to do BillPay properly because you have to pay from the right account, from the right trust. If they can take this off my plate so I can focus 100% in my business and my family, it’s mission accomplished. If that means that they’re going to walk my dog to make this happen, I know I’m exaggerating here, but pick up my laundry like the example you use, I think you’re going to have to do this. That in my mind is how these financial advisors survive the AI revolution. It is that personal relationship. It’s knowing me well. It’s spending more time with me than once a quarter. And with AI, with the right AI, and I know AI, there’s a lot of smoke in this space and very little fire, but with the right agents, with the right workflows, one advisor is going to be able to serve more than a hundred clients. Because right now the ratio is a hundred clients per advisor, maybe you’re going to be able to serve like 200, 250 well. Serve them well, knowing them well, knowing them personally. I think that’s going to happen in the next couple of years. Louis Diamond: I think that’s right. It’s more so like the intangibles that an advisor has. Their secret sauce isn’t going to be necessarily we offer these seven things. It’s going to be, I really get you. I understand you. It’s the advisor’s personal relationship and empathy with that client and all the years that they’ve known them. And then it’s just using all these different tools to aid that relationship. It kind of sounds like that’s what you’re saying. It’s all the other stuff that advisors do that might be different today, over time, people catch up and that becomes commoditized similar to we offer financial planning and that’s a differentiator. Now it’s, if they don’t offer financial planning, it’s a problem. Rafael Loureiro: Yeah, 100%. You got it. Yes, it is the intangibles. That’s perfect. Louis Diamond: Okay. I got two more questions for you. What’s one thing you wish more advisors understood about estate planning that they still miss today? Rafael Loureiro: I think there is an education component. Just deploying Wealth.com and expecting is going to work with your clients. It’s not like that. You need to be willing to have the conversation like your advisor did it with you. You need to have the tough call and say, “Hey, are you ready? Do you have estate planning in place? Why not?” And then having that conversation. Louis Diamond: And I would imagine too, it’s also cool, I got all these documents so instead of it getting locked in the safe or locked in the drawer, it’s also incumbent on the advisor to explain the documents. “Hey, these are a bunch of stuff in here that whatever, we don’t have to get into, but here’s the four key things about this document that you should understand. The power of attorney we’ve nominated is your father-in-law. Your proceeds are going to get distributed one-third to your son, a quarter to your daughter,” et cetera. It’s going to be those things and translating the documents into real words that clients are going to understand. Rafael Loureiro: 100%. That is critical because I’m a software engineer, I’m not equipped to be reading a hundred pages document and trying to understand everything that’s there without … Now with AI, you can actually ask Claude to summarize and Gemini to summarize it, but that was not the case three years ago. So that education component is critical. And some of my advisors are actually very successful, I should say. A smaller firm in this case, I’m not going to say the names, I don’t have that permission to say their name, but they are actually doing these estate planning webinars as a lead generation. Because clients are curious about this. Sometimes if you don’t ask them, you’re never going to know, but they’re probably very curious about estate planning. They’re probably very concerned they don’t have the documents in place. Even the ones that have the documents, they’re probably concerned that they need an update and they haven’t done it. So by doing this webinar, they feel more comfortable just going to the event. They know they’re not going to be the center of attention and then asking a question or hear people asking questions. Some of my most successful clients are actually using webinar as a lead generation to explain state planning. Louis Diamond: It’s a great idea. It’s like you’re empowering the advisor to talk more about estate planning. It’s no longer this bugaboo that was too complex or not in their swim lane. It’s empowering them to lead with, it sounds like. Rafael Loureiro: 100% Louis Diamond: Amazing. And last question, if you were an ambitious advisor building a new firm from scratch today, what would you tell them to focus on to create a more durable, harder to replicate future-proof business? Rafael Loureiro: That’s a great question because the factory floor of a hundred years ago, is no longer work. If you have a chance to start from the beginning, it’s a new world. It’s a new world for companies like ours. Even for companies like ours that are in the bleeding edge of technology, everything is changing with AI. How I organize my teams is changing with AI. So I would say select Wealth.com. No, that’s … I’m kidding. I’m kidding, but yes, I’ll say select the right tools, use AI properly, it’s no longer a headcount game. I’m not saying you’re not going to need help, you’re going to need help, but make sure the tools are talking to each other because it is a new age. It’s an agent about speed, about being able to offer more service quicker, about increasing the relationship, the intangibles, to your point. It’s no longer once a quarter call to your clients. So if I had the chance to do everything again, if I had a chance even to start Wealth.com again, it’s different how you organize your team in this age of AI. AI is going to be bigger than the industrial revolution. Trust me, the shockwave is huge. To your point earlier in this call, we’re getting a big jump every month. It’s no longer every year, every month there is something new coming from AI. So if you start your firm again, select the right partners, select the right tools and then hit the ground running. Louis Diamond: Perfect. That’s amazing. Rafael, this has been so fun. I learned a ton from you. You just have a way of storytelling and I absolutely love the why behind Wealth.com, the personal experience that probably a lot of listeners have had as the light bulb moment. And instead of just complaining about it, you actually took action and now are creating the future of estate planning, empowering advisors to offer estate planning to their clients, getting more folks in this country set up with trust and estates and wills, et cetera. So I think it’s amazing what you’re doing and I’m very excited to continue to watch your success. Rafael Loureiro: Thank you. Thank you for the opportunities and just to do a final plug, estate planning, tax planning, stay tuned. There is more coming. Louis Diamond: There we go. Thanks so much. Rafael Loureiro: Thank you. 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 responsibility 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. Why AI Matters Now: Filling the Estate Planning Gap with Wealth.com A conversation with Louis Diamond and Rafael Loureiro, Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer at Wealth.com. Louis Diamond: Welcome to the latest episode of our podcast series for financial advisors. Today’s episode is Why AI Matters Now: Filling the Estate Planning Gap with Wealth.com. It’s a conversation with Rafael Loureiro, the firm’s Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer. 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 wire house, 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: In the wealth management world, estate planning has largely lived in a separate lane. It’s a topic advisors may raise with clients then hand off to an attorney and eventually a set of documents come back, filed away, rarely revisited, and often disconnected from the rest of the planning process. That structure has been in place for a long time and for the most part, it’s gotten unquestioned, but when you step back, it creates a gap between what do clients expect from their advisor and what actually gets delivered when it comes to estate planning. Rafael Loureiro, co-founder and CEO of Wealth.com, ran straight into the gap after a planning event of his own which should have been a coordinated process, felt fragmented, manual, and surprisingly opaque. And likewise, I recall the same type of disjointed experience in my own estate planning process. It’s experiences like these that became the starting point for building Wealth.com. What makes this story interesting isn’t just that they’re using AI but how they’re using it inside the estate planning process, and it’s how AI allows the model itself to change from a one-time legal event to something that evolves alongside the client, from static documents to a system that can actually interpret, update, and surface what matters, from a disconnected handoff to something the advisor can actively lead. In my conversation with Rafael, we get into how that plays out in practice, how tools like Ester move from summarizing estate documents to identifying gaps, to prompting next steps, and eventually preparing action on behalf of the advisor, because when AI moves from simply organizing information to helping drive decisions, estate planning stops being a periodic task and starts to look more like a continuous part of the advice process. So let’s dive in. Rafael, thank you for coming on our show today. Rafael Loureiro: My pleasure, Louis. Thank you for having me here. Louis Diamond: Of course. Let’s jump in and in researching you and speaking to you in the past, I got to admit, you had a very different path into the wealth management industry probably than anyone I’ve ever interviewed. So can you walk us through your background briefly and early professional endeavors? Rafael Loureiro: Absolutely. The accent that you hear is Brazilian. So I’ve been in the US for 25 years. I’m a software engineer by trade, came here as a HMB, been involved with different companies over the years and then most recently before Wealth.com. I was a chief technology officer with a fraud prevention company, nothing to do with wealth management, but by selling that company, it’s how the Wealth.com story started. Louis Diamond: Perfect. And I was referring to also some of your early career endeavors even before founding your last company, if you’re comfortable sharing that. Rafael Loureiro: Yeah, absolutely. I’ve been involved with four different startups in different spaces. One of them was in, if you remember all the way back to 2008, the real estate prices, the first startup with foreclosures. So when houses went into foreclosures, me and my partner, we created a system to index that. I also had work on a photo album company. It became a lifetime business. It’s still running. I was the CTO and I did my share of consulting. I used to work for Accenture, Avanade, and then a home builder Fortune 500 companies. So I have a ton of experience in the technology space before Wealth.com. Louis Diamond: Perfect. And you mentioned the last business that you started that I believe sold to LexisNexis. Can you walk through what that business was? Rafael Loureiro: Yeah. So I did not start the business. I joined the business before Series A. The person that started the business, Rei Carvalho, he’s actually Wealth.com chairman. So the team is still together. The US, San Francisco, New York, offices in Sydney, Singapore, London. We serve clients like Coinbase, grew very fast and then got acquired by LexisNexis in 2020 during peak COVID. Think about, we literally signed the documents, popped the champagne on March 2020. No vaccine. Louis Diamond: Oh, my God. Rafael Loureiro: We literally popped the champagne and we all went back home to work from home because that was the guy that’s from LexisNexis. Through that experience, selling a company, one thing you usually do, it’s a big liquidity event and estate planning is always related to big moments. You get married, someone in your family die, you have a new kid, you have a liquidated event. So I work with a financial advisor. They’re amazing. They helped me with financial planning, wealth management, saved me a lot of money insurance. But when it was time to do the estate planning, Louis, my experience was, “Hey, Rafael, we always work with this lawyer, go talk to the lawyer.” And then it was a completely broken process. First, because it was COVID and I had to go see the lawyer face-to-face. That was weird right there. Second, because I was expecting the lawyer to know everything about me because my advisor knows everything about me, know about my life situation, know about liquid event, know about my kids, rental houses, everything and then the engineer. I know what I told the lawyer, but do I know for sure that everything I told the lawyer end up in the document? No, I don’t. Long story short, otherwise it is a long story, we’re having a virtual coffee. I don’t know if you remember everyone, big beard, long hair, everyone working from home, and then somehow all the Emailage C-level team and founders, the co-founders, we start complaining about state plan. Even another example, my chairman, the Wealth.com chairman, Emailage CEO, Rei Carvalho, he was like, “Hey, Rafael, I’m done with the summer heat in Arizona. I’m moving to Denver. I’m going for cooler weathers.” Literally the moment he moved to Denver, he gets a call from his estate planning lawyer, welcome him to Denver and saying, “Hey, we need to update your documents. “But I just spent thousands of dollars creating my documents.” “Yeah, but you live in a new state, you have to optimize your documents.” At that moment, Louis, we’re like, “Where there’s a problem, there is an opportunity,” and the company was born. Louis Diamond: I find the best company origin stories, it’s you have that, you have a personal experience or a moment where you have a realization that t

How does one go from financial struggle to creating a platform worth nearly $100 billion?  This question encapsulates the extraordinary journey of Shirl Penney, founder, president, and CEO of Dynasty Financial Partners. Beginning in rural Maine where financial stability was difficult to come by, his story is one of grit and determination.  Although Shirl had to overcome early hardships, his desire for education and self-improvement led him to prestigious institutions and eventually to the competitive world of finance. Having navigated and overcome numerous obstacles led to the establishment of Dynasty Financial Partners, a firm he founded with resilience and an innovative mindset.  In this episode of The Greatness Machine, Darius is joined by Shirl Penney to share his compelling journey from the financial struggles of his upbringing in rural Maine to building a financial empire managing nearly $100 billion in assets. The conversation delves into the challenges he faced, the pivotal moments that shaped his career, and the innovative strategies he employed to revolutionize the wealth management industry. Shirl also discusses the importance of resilience, leadership, and maintaining a clear vision in the pursuit of success.  Topics include: Shirl looks back at being homeless to founding Dynasty Financial Partners Improving financial literacy and providing independent financial advice  The origin and motivation behind the creation of Dynasty Financial Partners The impact of Shirl's upbringing and experiences on his approach to business The value of maintaining a strong corporate culture and significant growth And other topics… Connect with Shirl: Website: https://dynastyfinancialpartners.com/  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shirlpenney Connect with Darius: Website: https://therealdarius.com/ Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dariusmirshahzadeh/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/imthedarius/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Thegreatnessmachine  Book: The Core Value Equation https://www.amazon.com/Core-Value-Equation-Framework-Limitless/dp/1544506708 Write a review for The Greatness Machine using this link: https://ratethispodcast.com/spreadinggreatness.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Abacus Global Management CEO Jay Jackson joined Steve Darling from Proactive to announce record quarterly earnings and an upgraded 2025 earnings outlook, driven by surging demand for the company's life solutions offerings and the expansion of its asset management platform. For the quarter ending June 2025, total revenue soared 93% year-over-year to $56.2 million, while adjusted net income climbed 87% to $21.9 million. On the back of this strong performance, Abacus raised its 2025 adjusted earnings forecast to $74 million–$80 million, up from its previous range of $70 million–$78 million. Origination capital deployment reached $121.8 million, up from $104.7 million in the prior-year period, and the number of life insurance policies held increased from 458 to 600. Adjusted EBITDA rose 89% to $31.5 million, maintaining a robust 56.1% margin, while return on invested capital stood at 22% and return on equity at 21%. As of quarter-end, Abacus held $74.8 million in cash and $387.3 million in balance sheet policy assets, providing a solid foundation for continued growth. Additionally, the company announced a minority investment in Dynasty Financial Partners, a leading provider of technology-enabled wealth management solutions for independent financial advisors. As a member of Dynasty's network, Abacus gains access to integrated technology, services, asset management programs, capital solutions, and investment banking support. Dynasty currently has 57 network partner firms with more than $105 billion in platform assets. #proactiveinvestors #abacusglobalmanagement #nasdaq #abl #JayJackson #EarningsBeat #FinancialGrowth #LifeSettlements #InvestorDemand #CashFlow #AssetManagement #2025Outlook #ProactiveInvestors

Join host David Armstrong, fresh off the Wealth Management Edge Conference in Boca Raton, Fla., as he interviews Michael Henley, founder and chief executive officer of Brandywine Oak Private Wealth. Michael talks about the firm's rapid growth since leaving Merrill Lynch in 2018 with the help of Dynasty Financial Partners and the focus that helped … Read More Read More

Scott Welch of Certuity joins Tony in episode 17 of the Alternative Allocations podcast to provide his perspective on allocating to alternative investments. They discuss the growth of evergreen products, the importance of due diligence when selecting a private fund manager, and the evolution of the alternative investment industry. Scott also provides insight into how he thinks about portfolio construction and where private funds and alternatives fit into an overall portfolio.  Scott Welch, CIMA®, Chief Investment Officer & Partner, Certuity. As the head of Certuity's investment strategy team and member of the firm's risk management team, he is actively involved in all facets of the firm's investment program and works with Certuity's advisors, investment analysts and directly with clients on portfolio architecture, asset allocation, investment due diligence and selection.  Prior to joining Certuity, Mr. Welch was a member of the WisdomTree Asset Allocation and Investment Committees and was the Chief Investment Officer of their model portfolios. Prior to WisdomTree, Mr. Welch was the Chief Investment Officer of Dynasty Financial Partners, as well as the Co-Founder and Chief Investment Officer of Fortigent, LLC, a provider of outsourced investment research, technology, and practice management solutions to RIAs and banks that was purchased by LPL Financial. Prior to joining Fortigent and its predecessor RIA in 1998, Mr. Welch spent more than 12 years on Wall Street. Mr. Welch holds the Certified Investment Management Analyst (CIMA®) designation, as well as the Investment Strategist, Advanced Investment Strategist, and Alternative Investments Certificates from the Investments & Wealth Institute (IWI). He has served on the Board of Directors of IWI, the Advisory Board of the ABA Wealth Management & Trust Conference, and the Editorial Advisory Boards of the Journal of Wealth Management and the IWI Investments & Wealth Monitor. In 2024, Mr. Welch was awarded the Wealth Management Impact Award from IWI in recognition of his significant contributions to the wealth management industry over the course of his career. Mr. Welch earned a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics from the University of California at Irvine and an MBA with a concentration in Finance from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Scott Welch, CIMA® | LinkedInAlternatives by Franklin TempletonTony Davidow, CIMA® | LinkedIn

Gordon “Gordy” Abel from Dynasty Financial Partners offers perspectives on why marketing matters, how to create and leverage a brand, the key aspects of an effective value proposition, and more for employees of an established firm or someone just launching a new independent entity.

How does one go from financial struggle to creating a platform worth nearly $100 billion?  This question encapsulates the extraordinary journey of Shirl Penney, founder, president, and CEO of Dynasty Financial Partners. Beginning in rural Maine where financial stability was difficult to come by, his story is one of grit and determination.  Although Shirl had to overcome early hardships, his desire for education and self-improvement led him to prestigious institutions and eventually to the competitive world of finance. Having navigated and overcome numerous obstacles led to the establishment of Dynasty Financial Partners, a firm he founded with resilience and an innovative mindset.  In this episode of The Greatness Machine, Darius is joined by Shirl Penney to share his compelling journey from the financial struggles of his upbringing in rural Maine to building a financial empire managing nearly $100 billion in assets. The conversation delves into the challenges he faced, the pivotal moments that shaped his career, and the innovative strategies he employed to revolutionize the wealth management industry. Shirl also discusses the importance of resilience, leadership, and maintaining a clear vision in the pursuit of success.  Topics include: Shirl looks back at being homeless to founding Dynasty Financial Partners Improving financial literacy and providing independent financial advice  The origin and motivation behind the creation of Dynasty Financial Partners The impact of Shirl's upbringing and experiences on his approach to business The value of maintaining a strong corporate culture and significant growth And other topics… Connect with Shirl: Website: https://dynastyfinancialpartners.com/  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shirlpenney Connect with Darius: Website: https://therealdarius.com/ Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dariusmirshahzadeh/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/imthedarius/ YouTube: https://therealdarius.com/youtube Book: The Core Value Equation https://www.amazon.com/Core-Value-Equation-Framework-Limitless/dp/1544506708 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As the leader of Dynasty Financial Partners' Investment Banking division, Harris brings over 15 years of financial services experience to the table. His career journey is marked by significant achievements, including a successful stint at UBS Investment Bank, where he played a pivotal role as an Executive Director in the Financial Institutions Group. During his time at UBS, he was instrumental in originating, leading, and executing strategic M&A and capital market transactions exceeding $10 billion, specifically focusing on the asset and wealth management industry. I'm excited to share Harris' expertise with you, while discussing the evolving landscape of RIA M&A, as well as discussing equity, industry skepticisms, and what the future looks to have in store for the space. THE SHIFT TO INORGANIC GROWTH STRATEGIESThere is an important mindset shift necessary for advisors moving from organic to inorganic growth strategies. This shift often happens internally, for example, when an advisor excels and seeks equity in the firm, leading CEOs to seek valuation guidance. Other times, it's about friendly deals between neighboring RIAs or advisors seeking to join a former colleague's firm. Organic growth, characterized by internally driven expansion such as acquiring new clients or increasing assets under management, is a familiar terrain for most advisors. The shift to inorganic growth, however, such as mergers and acquisitions (M&A), requires a different strategic approach and mindset. Inorganic growth often involves complex negotiations, valuations, and integration processes that aren't typically encountered in organic expansion. THE VALUE OF EQUITY IN M&A TRANSACTIONSHarris also touched on the critical role of equity in M&A transactions. In a high interest rate market, cash is king, but equity can be an even more valuable currency. This is especially true when smaller firms merge with larger ones, allowing for a 'second transaction' opportunity as the larger entity grows and scales. The successful realization of value from equity stakes in M&A transactions relies not only on the timing and execution of the initial deal, but determining whether these equity stakes can be monetized profitable also relies on: The ongoing performance and strategic direction of the merged entity The overall health of the industry Market conditions The strategic decisions made post-merger INDUSTRY SKEPTICISMWhile optimistic about the future, Harris also acknowledged the skepticism surrounding the industry, citing examples like Focus Financial and United Capital. The success or failure of equity models in the RIA space will largely depend on how these transactions are structured and the strategic decisions of the firms involved. He suggests that a careful approach, focusing on long-term value rather than short-term gains, will be crucial for the success of these equity plays. Harris' insights into the RIA market highlight the importance of strategic thinking and adaptability in a rapidly evolving industry. His emphasis on the psychological aspects of deal-making, the strategic use of equity, and the need for disciplined underwriting underscores the complexity of modern investment banking in the RIA space. As the industry moves forward into 2024 and beyond, the lessons shared by Harris will undoubtedly play a critical role in shaping the future of RIA mergers and acquisitions. • • • For my full discussion with Harris, and more on this topic and topics not featured on this blog post:Listen to the Full DealQuest Podcast Episode Here• • • FOR MORE ON HARRIS BALTCH:https://dynastyinvestmentbank.com/team/harris-b/https://www.linkedin.com/in/harrisbaltch/ Corey Kupfer is an expert strategist, negotiator, and dealmaker. He has more than 35 years of professional deal-making and negotiating experience. Corey is a successful entrepreneur, attorney, consultant, author, and professional speaker. He is deeply passionate about deal-driven growth. He is also the creator and host of the DealQuest Podcast. Get deal-ready with the DealQuest Podcast with Corey Kupfer, where like-minded entrepreneurs and business leaders converge, share insights and challenges, and success stories. Equip yourself with the tools, resources, and support necessary to navigate the complex yet rewarding world of dealmaking. Dive into the world of deal-driven growth today!

On this special July 4th episode of The Compound and Friends, Michael Batnick and Downtown Josh Brown are joined by Scott Neil (Founder, Horse Soldier Bourbon) and Shirl Penney (CEO of Dynasty Financial Partners) to discuss the special forces sent to Afghanistan in the aftermath of 9/11 (now known as the horse soldiers), entrepreneurship, the importance of hiring the right people, and much more! This episode is presented by Jack Carr's new high-adrenaline thriller, Only the Dead. Pick up your copy at: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Only-the-Dead/Jack-Carr/Terminal-List/9781982181697?utm_source=the_compound&utm_medium=atria_display_ad&utm_content=&utm_campaign=only_the_dead_ad Check out the latest in financial blogger fashion at The Compound shop: https://www.idontshop.com Investing involves the risk of loss. This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be or regarded as personalized investment advice or relied upon for investment decisions. Michael Batnick and Josh Brown are employees of Ritholtz Wealth Management and may maintain positions in the securities discussed in this video. All opinions expressed by them are solely their own opinion and do not reflect the opinion of Ritholtz Wealth Management. Wealthcast Media, an affiliate of Ritholtz Wealth Management, receives payment from various entities for advertisements in affiliated podcasts, blogs and emails. Inclusion of such advertisements does not constitute or imply endorsement, sponsorship or recommendation thereof, or any affiliation therewith, by the Content Creator or by Ritholtz Wealth Management or any of its employees. For additional advertisement disclaimers see here https://ritholtzwealth.com/advertising-disclaimers. Investments in securities involve the risk of loss. Any mention of a particular security and related performance data is not a recommendation to buy or sell that security. The information provided on this website (including any information that may be accessed through this website) is not directed at any investor or category of investors and is provided solely as general information. Obviously nothing on this channel should be considered as personalized financial advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any securities. See our disclosures here: https://ritholtzwealth.com/podcast-youtube-disclosures/

What happens when a senior advisor is looking to sell their practice to a junior advisor, but there's a large gap between the firm's valuation and the advisor's income? On today's What Works Wednesday, Matt is joined by Harris Baltch from Dynasty Financial Partners to share his recommendations for advisors who may be considering selling their practice, as well as an advisor who may be considering buying in the future. Harris will also discuss the importance of CEOs being educated and why planning early can make all the difference in a deal going forward. http://bit.ly/3GHBj5L

Welcome back to another episode of the Independence Playbook. In today's episode, John is joined by Jon Morris, Chief Legal and Governance Officer at Dynasty Financial Partners. Jon shares some of the essential items advisors need to know from a legal perspective before breaking away.

Having more than 25 years of experience, Procyon Partners' Co-Founder, Phil Fiore, has extensive experience and expertise in the investment advisory space. In addition to being a co-founder of Procyon in 2017, Phil formerly held the positions of Senior Vice President of Wealth Management at UBS, Senior Institutional Consultant, Senior Retirement Plan Consultant, and member of the Institutional Consulting Group and its Advisory Council. 401KWire twice named Phil one of the Nation's 300 Most Influential Advisors in the Defined Contributions Arena, The Financial Times recognized him as one of their Top 400 Advisors in 2014, and Barron's named him one of their Top 1,200 Financial Advisors in 2015. Given all these accomplishments and experiences, Phil is equipped to speak with authority in the wealth management space, but, when Phil was younger, the term “wealth management” wasn't even in his lexicon. Coming from a first generation immigrant Italian family, Phil spent most of his early life believing that soccer would be what his future held. His father, a traditional Italian man, created the PAL Soccer League in his hometown in Connecticut. While his father instilled within him a go-and-get-it-yourself attitude as opposed to handing him money (a rudimentary business skill), soccer was indeed what his heart was set on. Nevertheless, professional soccer only existed in Europe at the time Phil graduated college, so he had to figure out a new path. At first, his intended path was law school, but sometimes life chooses for you what you're meant to do. In his late 20s, he was presented with an opportunity to join a business he couldn't refuse which led tohim became the highly regarded leader and dealmaker he is today. THE NEW WAVE OF BREAKAWAY Procyon Partners is a prime example of a new wave of breakaway RIA firms. Traditionally, RIA breakaways were wealth management practices run by advisors establishing their own businesses for their own reasons - mainly escaping big firm bureaucracy and limitations or the desire to be self-employed. On the other hand, a new wave of breakaways was ushered in, with Procyon being one of those to breakaway with new additional motivation: Authentic, strategic growth from the start. This is growth with intention, not growth for the sake of growth, but growth with the purpose to build a stronger organization that can service clients more fully and comprehensively. Though Phil and his fellow founding partners started out in wirehouse firms (a full-service broker-dealer), they realized that their specialty expertise in retirement consulting and other key service offerings excelled well beyond the wirehouse's “full-service” paradigm. As a result, they made the decision to leave the wirehouses. “An exciting journey, for sure,” says Phil, but certainly not without its challenges. One of the biggest hurdles faced by Phil and his new company was actually the freedom they had to operate as they pleased. They had to take a step back and evaluate their circumstances, and not act on impulse, but rather conduct their business in a manner that was best for their clients and for their business. Another decision made in 2017 by the Procyon founding partners, was to collaborate with Dynasty Financial Partners. Due to Dynasty's well-established standing, they were able to offer analytics, experienced transition, and operational support to Procyon in ways that would otherwise be inaccessible to them at their founding. This decision gives Procyon the ability to focus on transitioning their clients and providing personalized service at a high level for high-net-worth individuals, families, and business owners. In 2022, this partnership is still in place, and Procyon's founders continue to benefit from and deeply appreciate the exceptionality, support and partnership that Dynasty offers. A STRATEGIC GROWTH-DRIVEN MINDSET Procyon Partners' authentic, strategic growth-driven goal was present from the beginnng in 2017. Their start focused on organic growth by the founding partners going out and attracting business on their own; however, their inorganic growth via bringing on new advisors has been what gave them their largest leg up. It's important to note that there is no one specific way to achieve growth, what works for one business may not work for another. Depending on business model and industry, primarily organic growth may be best, inorganic growth may get you further, or a combination of the two may be where the sweet spot is. For most businesses, a balance of the two is usually preferred, but in the RIA space, inorganic growth has become a huge drive of success for most of the fastest growing firms. The model Procyon decided to use for their growth is “One Team, One Dream”. Phil explains that, for example, many M&A transactions may operate as “Corey Wealth Management, Powered by Procyon”, and while there's nothing wrong with this, Phil believes that by operating with unity, they're able to achieve more growth. Phil, alongside his Procyon founding partners, decided from the start they wanted their business to operate as one, with everyone who is coming in being in the same boat, rowing towards the same dream. That can provide some obstacles in finding the right people for your business, but in the end, when the right people come together, wonderful things will happen. Additionally, Phil emphasizes that bringing in talent who are eager to be there, people who can act as leaders in your firm will help your company run like a well-oiled machine. You can generate a lot more growth by bringing in strong, enthusiastic talent as opposed to bringing in what's available merely because it's available or who doesn't want to genuinely work with you. The latter will undoubtedly work against your growth prospects. AUTHENTICITY IN A COMPETITIVE MARKET As the RIA space grows, genuine talent becomes more difficult to find, and of course bringing on talent is paramount to growth– organic or inorganic. How does a firm set themselves apart, and attract talent to bring on board? For Phil, the answer is simple: Authenticity. Procyon's message is deliberately authentic to attract authenticity. Many – not all – firms will promise the stars, and only deliver on half the sky. For Procyon, it's imperative to: Be transparent in what his firm can offer Authentic in wanting to build a beneficial relationship Keeping expectations grounded so they can be exceeded Hiring the right people with the right motivation and incentives By keeping things transparent and authentic, and not making unrealistic promises, Phil believes Procyon gleans beyond other firms who may not practice with this type of authenticity. Furthermore, they choose to set themselves above by being proactive in their hiring, choosing people who are good at what they do, and nurturing that talent with the right motivation. Not just comp, but something tangible so they can build, create, and grow with enthusiasm. “One Team, One Dream”: It's a philosophy that's not just words for Procyon, but one that is in chronic practice. A PIVOTAL DEAL In May 2021, Procyon Partners acquired Pivotal Planning Group, whose partners became partners in Procyon. This transaction was so much more than cutting a check to add clients, it was a meaningful partnership for both Procyon and Pivotal. What Phil describes as “awesome” was the fact that neither Procyon nor Pivotal needed the other at the time of the transaction. It wasn't need-based, it was taking a curiosity of “what if?”, and actually doing it. This important deal has helped Procyon continue to expand its offerings and talent in a way that would be difficult and time consuming to create organically. By practicing authenticity and strategic growth, Phil and his founding partners have been able to build Procyon to be one of the most solid RIA firms in the U.S. They've afforded themselves the opportunity to make extremely beneficial deals such as with Dynasty and Pivotal, and grow their business to expand their services far beyond what they ever anticipated. They've done the hard work, brought in incredible leaders and partners, and built Procyon to be dynamic and unified, making the sum of Procyon extremely attractive to talent, advisors, and clients alike. • • • For my full discussion with Phil Fiore, and more on the topic:Listen to the Full DealQuest Podcast Episode Here • • • FOR MORE ON PHIL FIORE AND PROCYON PARTNERS:https://www.linkedin.com/in/fiorephil/ https://www.procyonpartners.net/ Corey Kupfer is an expert strategist, negotiator, and dealmaker. He has more than 35 years of professional deal-making and negotiating experience. Corey is a successful entrepreneur, attorney, consultant, author, and professional speaker. He is deeply passionate about deal-driven growth. He is also the creator and host of the DealQuest Podcast. If you want to find out how deal-ready you are, take the Deal-Ready Assessment today!

In this episode, David Armstrong is joined by Shirl Penney, President and CEO of Dynasty Financial Partners, diving into the history and ecosystem of the independent financial advisor movement.  Shirl discusses: The problem Penney and his co-founder were looking to solve when they launched Dynasty. How technology was the great enabler fueling Dynasty's growth Replicating … Continue reading Advisor Innovations: Shirl Penney on The Modern Independent Advisor →

Dynasty Financial Partners' CEO discusses the importance of creative client engagement, establishing a five-year plan for your brand, and hiring a chief of staff.

Jeff and Bruce pull back the curtain a bit this week on how private money finds its way into RIA businesses in the form of investments. Tim Bello from Merchant Investment Management joins to share his perspective as someone whose firm makes investments and forms partnerships mainly in the wealth management space.  And no, this is not private equity. Related Article:  Fusion Family Wealth sells minority stake to MerchantRelated Article:  Allworth Financial acquires $480 million RIAGuest Bio: At Merchant, Tim Bello is engaged across all aspects of the firm, with a day to day focus on driving the company's key growth initiatives and directing the overall corporate strategy. Prior to Merchant, Tim was an early stage partner at Dynasty Financial Partners, where he was in charge of strategic implementation and advisor identification firmwide for the Dynasty Network. Prior to Dynasty, Tim was head of global platforms for New York-based alternative asset manager SkyBridge Capital, where he was in charge of building and managing the firm's global platform sales activities. Previous to SkyBridge, he was an original member of the Permal Group's Hedge Fund of Fund US Private Client Platform distribution team, where he launched and developed the firm's US distribution arm and brand. Earlier, he worked on Permal's institutional sales team, which involved interfacing with pensions, endowments, foundations and institutional consultants across the Permal product suite. Tim currently serves as special advisor to the Board for the Family Office Association in Greenwich, Conn., and is on the Membership Committee of the Core Club in New York. He is a graduate of St. Lawrence University.  

When it came to kick off Season 3 of In The Suite Podcast, I knew it was time to act bold and take risks, like so many of our guests from Seasons 1 & 2. So I abruptly canceled my December trip to Cabo, and moved by beach chair and blanket literally to Podcast Row at The MarketCounsel Summit, in the Fountainbleau in Miami Beach. And let me tell you, it was well worth it. The MarketCounsel Summit is the brainchild of Brian Hamburger, President and Chief Executive Officer of MarketCounsel and Hamburger Law Firm, and I want to dedicate this special extraordinary, first of its kind episode to him and the amazing team at MarketCounsel, to Brian's daughter Ella and to his General Manager Ryan Marcus who were instrumental to my visit and mission to support female leadership In The Suite. You're about to hear live, on-the-spot, in-person spontaneous interviews with industry leaders who continue to break the mold and shape the future of the wealth management industry: Aaron Klein - Co-Founder and CEO, RiskalyzeShirl Penny - Chief Executive Officer, Dynasty Financial PartnersJoel Bruckenstein - Financial Services FinTech Expert, Leading Industry Consultant and Producer of the Annual T3 Technology Tools for TodayShannon Spotswood - President of RFG Advisory Craig Iskowitz - Founder and CEO, Ezra GroupAllen Darby - CEO, Alaris Acquisitions Robb Baldwin - President and CEO, TradePMR George Tamer - Head of Sales, AdvisorEngineMarwa Zakharia - CEO, AssetBook Rob Sandrew - Chief Growth Officer, Integrated Partners Ryan Shanks - Co-Founder and CEO, FA Match No questions were prepared in advance nor meeting invites or fancy equipment. Just me and a mic going rogue. So ladies and gentlemen, I want you to sit back and relax as I take you into the 13th Market Counsel Summit. To hear from some of the industry's most prominent leaders. The ones making big headlines and bold moves, and redefining how the future of business gets done In The Suite. 

Episode 29: How to Find and Keep the Best Talent within Your Organization With more than 30 years of experience in Financial Services, Mason Salit, Chief Talent Officer at Dynasty Financial Partners, has a very unique vantage point on identifying and growing human capital.  Mason brings passion and joy to his day-to-day duties and discusses the importance of a strong culture of mentorship in this podcast.  Having known each other for more than 16 years, Austin and Mason share lots of stories and laughs—definitely worth a listen.

Episode 29: How to Find and Keep the Best Talent within Your Organization With more than 30 years of experience in Financial Services, Mason Salit, Chief Talent Officer at Dynasty Financial Partners, has a very unique vantage point on identifying and growing human capital.  Mason brings passion and joy to his day-to-day duties and discusses the importance of a strong culture of mentorship in this podcast.  Having known each other for more than 16 years, Austin and Mason share lots of stories and laughs—definitely worth a listen.

Today, we have a special guest from an industry leader in the wealth management space. Ed Swenson is one of the most successful entrepreneurs in the wealth management space. Ed is the Co-Founder and COO of Dynasty Financial Partners, a leading RIA technology services platform.Ed and I had a really interesting discussion about the future of the wealth management industry – and how alts will play a role in the evolution of the space. We discussed: How and why the wealth management industry is changing. How Dynasty is a champion of entrepreneurs in the wealth management space. The democratization of access and advice in wealth management. How and why wealth managers should have alternative investments in their portfolio. How VCs will soon realize that the RIA space will be a great source of LP capital for them. How advisors allocating to “alt alts” (like crypto, sports cards, collectibles, art) should be “on the table.” Ed co-founded and is the COO Dynasty Financial Partners, a leading RIA technology services platform that enables wealth advisors to become entrepreneurs and run their own businesses using Dynasty's platform and infrastructure across technology, operations, diligence, access to investments, and M&A capabilities.Ed and his Co-Founder Shirl have grown Dynasty to over $50 billion in aggregate AUM across almost 50 advisor teams. Dynasty is a leader in the fast-growing RIA space. They uniquely understand the needs of advisor teams who break away from wirehouses like UBS and Merrill Lynch and they've built out a tech stack and platform that is state of the art. Ed spearheads their technology approach by partnering with best-in-class fintech companies in various aspects of wealth management to build a tech platform that advisors love.Ed also recently co-founded the Envestnet Advisor Services Exchange by Dynasty, a platform that enables Envestnet clients to access the value-added services that Dynasty offers. Ed comes from a wealth management background, so he's in a unique position to understand the needs of independent advisors. Prior to Dynasty, he led the distribution network communications for Smith Barney's Multiple Discipline Accounts division and was a Portfolio Manager for the Legg Mason Partners Large Cap Growth Fund. I hope you enjoy.

After decades of contentedly growing at UBS, advisor Ahmie Baum realized he was no longer sure of leaving his legacy at the warehouse after his son Brian joined the firm. Learn how he chose to go independent, why he partnered with Dynasty Financial Partners and so much more.

Bloomberg Opinion columnist Barry Ritholtz speaks with Shirl Penney, who is the founder of Dynasty Financial Partners, a leading integrated platform services company for independent wealth-management advisory firms. Penney currently serves as Dynasty's president and CEO and is a member of its board of directors. The firm has over $60 billion in assets on its platform.

Forming personal and professional relationships with colleagues whose opinion you respect - and with whom you can have a candid discussion - is paramount to success in all areas. In this episode, Elite Consulting Partners CEO Frank LaRosa is joined by long-time friend and collaborator Austin Philbin, Chief Administrative Officer of Dynasty Financial Partners, for a just such a discussion which encompasses life, family, business, and the connectivity between them all. Topics which Frank and Austin dive into include:*looking to the development of our children in both mind and spirit as a guidepost to fostering our own growth mindset.*establishing productivity routines and focusing effort and energy in order to align goals and vision with activity.*physical fitness as the 'secret sauce' for mental acuity.*the dynamics of successful financial services teams and how the interplay between individual roles, group cooperation, and dynamic thinking lead to innovation and prosperity.*a behind-the scenes look into Dynasty Financial Partners and the firm's approach to leading its advisors to success.*what advisor independence actually means and the sources from which trends towards independence flow. As with any conversation between old friends, Frank and Austin cover a lot of ground. Take advantage of this opportunity to join in on a no-holds-barred conversation between two industry leaders, confidants, and forward-thinkers and learn the optimal strategies that can guide you towards achievement, fulfillment, and abundance in all areas of life.

Episode 24: Making the Uncomfortable, Comfortable: How to Discuss the Meaning of Wealth as a Financial Advisor Guest: Tobias Donath, Vice President, Fidelity's Center for Family Engagement The roles of financial advisors have morphed over the years.  With the democratization of products and most services, building deeper relationships with clients is critically important.  However, the path towards conversations about family values, the significance of wealth, and legacy can be challenging for some.  In this episode of the podcast, Tobias Donath from Fidelity's Center for Family Engagement and I discuss the importance of this discussions and how to start them.  If you are an advisor thinking about how to engage with your clients in new and meaningful ways, this podcast is for you.   Dynasty Financial Partners is an independent entity and not affiliated with Fidelity Investments. Fidelity Institutional SM(FI) provides investment products through Fidelity Distributors Company LLC; clearing, custody, or other brokerage services through National Financial Services LLC or Fidelity Brokerage Services LLC, Members NYSE, SIPC; and institutional advisory services through Fidelity Institutional Wealth Adviser LLC. 946333.1.0

Episode 24: Making the Uncomfortable, Comfortable: How to Discuss the Meaning of Wealth as a Financial Advisor Guest: Tobias Donath, Vice President, Fidelity's Center for Family Engagement The roles of financial advisors have morphed over the years.  With the democratization of products and most services, building deeper relationships with clients is critically important.  However, the path towards conversations about family values, the significance of wealth, and legacy can be challenging for some.  In this episode of the podcast, Tobias Donath from Fidelity’s Center for Family Engagement and I discuss the importance of this discussions and how to start them.  If you are an advisor thinking about how to engage with your clients in new and meaningful ways, this podcast is for you.   Dynasty Financial Partners is an independent entity and not affiliated with Fidelity Investments. Fidelity Institutional SM(FI) provides investment products through Fidelity Distributors Company LLC; clearing, custody, or other brokerage services through National Financial Services LLC or Fidelity Brokerage Services LLC, Members NYSE, SIPC; and institutional advisory services through Fidelity Institutional Wealth Adviser LLC. 946333.1.0

LISTEN TO PART 1 In this episode we explore some of the hottest topics in wealth management today with Shirl… Read More The post A Conversation with Shirl Penney, President and CEO of Dynasty Financial Partners – Part 2 appeared first on AdvisorHub.

Episode 23: Homemade Volcanoes, Zoom Calls, and Snap Filters: Managing Work-Life Integration in Today's Environment One of the most obvious impacts of COVID-19 has been the need to integrate professional and family life in a much closer way.  With many schools beginning the academic year remotely, working parents are called upon to balance many new roles and responsibilities.  A silver lining in the pandemic is that families have had the opportunity to spend more time with each other than ever before.  In this episode of the podcast, I am joined by three parents, all who share their authentic journeys around navigating the new normal.  We have some laughs and some tears and some really great stories. Guests: Alex Hansen, Senior Vice President, Chief Compliance Officer, Dynasty Financial Partners Jill Russo, Vice President, Compliance, Dynasty Financial Partners Alyssa Kamangar, Associate, Finance, Dynasty Financial Partners

Episode 23: Homemade Volcanoes, Zoom Calls, and Snap Filters: Managing Work-Life Integration in Today's Environment One of the most obvious impacts of COVID-19 has been the need to integrate professional and family life in a much closer way.  With many schools beginning the academic year remotely, working parents are called upon to balance many new roles and responsibilities.  A silver lining in the pandemic is that families have had the opportunity to spend more time with each other than ever before.  In this episode of the podcast, I am joined by three parents, all who share their authentic journeys around navigating the new normal.  We have some laughs and some tears and some really great stories. Guests: Alex Hansen, Senior Vice President, Chief Compliance Officer, Dynasty Financial Partners Jill Russo, Vice President, Compliance, Dynasty Financial Partners Alyssa Kamangar, Associate, Finance, Dynasty Financial Partners

3 “ex-wirehouse-turned-independent-industry-leaders” in a rare single forum: Shirl Penney of Dynasty Financial Partners, Jim Dickson of Sanctuary Wealth and Rich Steinmeier of LPL Financial. They join Mindy Diamond to share an “insider's view” of the wirehouse world, wealth management, independence, and more.

3 “ex-wirehouse-turned-independent-industry-leaders” in a rare single forum: Shirl Penney of Dynasty Financial Partners, Jim Dickson of Sanctuary Wealth and Rich Steinmeier of LPL Financial. They join Mindy Diamond to share an “insider’s view” of the wirehouse world, wealth management, independence, and more.

Episode 20: Into the Great Wide Open: Perspectives of the Advisor Transition Process from the Front Lines. Into the Great Wide Open was the eight studio album recorded by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers in 1991.  The title track follows Eddie as he embarks upon a music career in Hollywood.  Although perhaps a reach, there are several similarities between the protagonist of the song and the protagonists of the independent advisor movement.  First and foremost, the future is wide open, the sky is the limit, and there is often a sense of rebellion. On today's episode, I am joined by Chuck Cooper, co-founder and Managing Partner of StrongBox Wealth in Lee's Summit, Missouri and two of my colleagues, Jason Pinkham, co-founder and Managing Director at Dynasty Financial Partners and Caitlin Douglas, a Vice President and top transition specialist at Dynasty.  We will be discussing the transition process from a traditional financial institution into the independent space.  The perspective will be from the team responsible for all of the planning and execution of the move.

Episode 20: Into the Great Wide Open: Perspectives of the Advisor Transition Process from the Front Lines. Into the Great Wide Open was the eight studio album recorded by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers in 1991.  The title track follows Eddie as he embarks upon a music career in Hollywood.  Although perhaps a reach, there are several similarities between the protagonist of the song and the protagonists of the independent advisor movement.  First and foremost, the future is wide open, the sky is the limit, and there is often a sense of rebellion. On today’s episode, I am joined by Chuck Cooper, co-founder and Managing Partner of StrongBox Wealth in Lee’s Summit, Missouri and two of my colleagues, Jason Pinkham, co-founder and Managing Director at Dynasty Financial Partners and Caitlin Douglas, a Vice President and top transition specialist at Dynasty.  We will be discussing the transition process from a traditional financial institution into the independent space.  The perspective will be from the team responsible for all of the planning and execution of the move.

Joe Eschleman, president of Towerpoint Wealth, tells Louis Diamond how leaving Wells Fargo – with the help of Dynasty Financial Partners – to launch his own independent firm now allows him to fully engage with clients and prospects, freely and creatively.

Joe Eschleman, president of Towerpoint Wealth, tells Louis Diamond how leaving Wells Fargo – with the help of Dynasty Financial Partners – to launch his own independent firm now allows him to fully engage with clients and prospects, freely and creatively.

Episode 17: How Does the Math Work? Guest: Ben Bines, Senior Vice President, Network Development, Dynasty Financial Partners Compensation matters…full stop…period.  Understanding the economics of running an independent registered investment advisor is incredibly important.  The benefit in this transition from an employee to an owner is the control.  As an owner, the principals now control the decisions—how much to spend on real estate, marketing, and employee salaries. With all of the misinformation in the marketplace, it is challenging to know what is fact and what is fiction.  In today’s episode, we speak with the quantitative powerhouse Ben Bines.  Ben will walk us through the most important financial considerations when choosing the independent path and common mistakes advisors make during this process.  We’ll also spend some time dispelling myths around the cost of independence.

Episode 14: The Story of Shirl Penney and Dynasty Financial Partners From Bates College to New York City to Saint Petersburg, Florida we follow the journey of Shirl as he worked to create Dynasty Financial Partners.  We'll talk about the financial services industry, the future, family, business, and the next stage of evolution for Dynasty.

Episode 14: The Story of Shirl Penney and Dynasty Financial Partners From Bates College to New York City to Saint Petersburg, Florida we follow the journey of Shirl as he worked to create Dynasty Financial Partners.  We’ll talk about the financial services industry, the future, family, business, and the next stage of evolution for Dynasty.

Episode 10: Mapping Your Journey: Can I Really Use What I Like? Financial advisors need to ensure their clients will have access to great products and services when they transition to the independent space. Mutual funds, stocks and bonds all appear to be simple to transition, but what about things like precious metals, alternative investments, and corporate trusts? Cost of goods sold (COGS) is also important to entrepreneurs. We will investigate these topics and more as we talk about how to meet and exceed client expectations in a new environment. Joining us this episode are Louis Diamond, Executive Vice President and Senior Consultant at Diamond Consultants and Nick Gerace, Senior Vice President of Investments at Dynasty Financial Partners.

Episode 10: Mapping Your Journey: Can I Really Use What I Like? Financial advisors need to ensure their clients will have access to great products and services when they transition to the independent space. Mutual funds, stocks and bonds all appear to be simple to transition, but what about things like precious metals, alternative investments, and corporate trusts? Cost of goods sold (COGS) is also important to entrepreneurs. We will investigate these topics and more as we talk about how to meet and exceed client expectations in a new environment. Joining us this episode are Louis Diamond, Executive Vice President and Senior Consultant at Diamond Consultants and Nick Gerace, Senior Vice President of Investments at Dynasty Financial Partners.

Episode 8: Legal, Compliance and Freedom - Making Compliance Fun Again! (Part Two)   Who would have ever thought that the topic of legal and compliance would require two episodes, but it does! Part #2 continues the discussion covering how a firm handles FINRA and the SEC when sorting through the confusion that exists when trying to satisfy both standards and how to maintain a high standard of regulatory diligence within independent wealth management firms. For this episode, we welcome back our stellar panel: Sharron Ash, Chief Litigation Counsel at Hamburger Law Firm, Leigh Emery, Chief Compliance Officer at Dynasty Financial Partners, Michael Henley, Founder and CEO of Brandywine Oak Private Wealth and Alison Brooks, Co-Founder and COO of Brandywine Oak Private Wealth.  

Episode 8: Legal, Compliance and Freedom - Making Compliance Fun Again! (Part Two)   Who would have ever thought that the topic of legal and compliance would require two episodes, but it does! Part #2 continues the discussion covering how a firm handles FINRA and the SEC when sorting through the confusion that exists when trying to satisfy both standards and how to maintain a high standard of regulatory diligence within independent wealth management firms. For this episode, we welcome back our stellar panel: Sharron Ash, Chief Litigation Counsel at Hamburger Law Firm, Leigh Emery, Chief Compliance Officer at Dynasty Financial Partners, Michael Henley, Founder and CEO of Brandywine Oak Private Wealth and Alison Brooks, Co-Founder and COO of Brandywine Oak Private Wealth.  

Once talent is acquired, it has to be retained. Learn how it works for Shirl Penney, President and CEO of Dynasty Financial Partners, and Jack Peterson, Managing Partner at Summit Trail.

Who is the most disruptive person in wealth management? It's not a robo founder. Or an index ETF CEO. Or a blogger. In fact, it is Shirl Penney, the founder of Dynasty Financial Partners, whose platform for breakaway brokers who want to become independent advisors and own their own firms has now amassed almost $40 billion in client assets over the last ten years. Shirl has changed the way wirehouse brokers and other captive financial advisors at large firms have looked at independence. He's built a machine that began under the radar but is now on the verge of pushing the incumbents into allowing a degree of entrepreneurial freedom that would have previously been unthinkable.Josh and Shirl first met during the Investment News 40 Under 40 Summit the year they both made the list. Check out this video to learn about the biggest trends in the wealth management and financial advisor business, and how Shirl is upending some of the most bedrock conventions within the industry by working harder and smarter than his competitors. You can learn more about Dynasty's solutions for breakaway brokers who want to become advisors and launch their own firms here:https://dynastyfinancialpartners.com/Shirl will be giving a keynote address to the advisors in attendance at this September's inaugural Wealth/Stack conference in Scottsdale, Arizona. Details here: https://finance.knect365.com/wealth-s...1-click play or subscribe on your favorite podcast app Subscribe to the mini podcast on iTunes or Spotify Enable our Alexa skill here - "Alexa, play the Compound show!" Talk to us about your portfolio or financial plan here:http://ritholtzwealth.com/ Obviously nothing on this channel should be considered as personalized financial advice just for you or a solicitation to buy or sell any securities. Please see this 3,000 word terms & conditions disclaimer:https://thereformedbroker.com/terms-and-conditions/ See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

EPISODE 6: The Next Generation of Advisors - Who will lead your firm's future? Who will lead your firm's future? If the answer is uncertain, then the enterprise value of your company will definitely be affected and it could even lead to clients leaving your firm. Your hosts, Gordon Ross and Ed Friedman, are joined by a panel of industry leaders to discuss how to best address these issues and attract more qualified young professionals into the industry. On the panel are David Root, CEO of DB Root & Company, and Anand Sekhar, VP of Practice Management & Consulting at Fidelity Clearing & Custody Solutions. Fidelity Clearing & Custody Solutions® provides clearing, custody or other brokerage services through National Financial Services LLC or Fidelity Brokerage Services LLC. Members NYSE, SIPC.Fidelity is not affiliated with Dynasty Financial Partners.  

EPISODE 6: The Next Generation of Advisors - Who will lead your firm’s future? Who will lead your firm’s future? If the answer is uncertain, then the enterprise value of your company will definitely be affected and it could even lead to clients leaving your firm. Your hosts, Gordon Ross and Ed Friedman, are joined by a panel of industry leaders to discuss how to best address these issues and attract more qualified young professionals into the industry. On the panel are David Root, CEO of DB Root & Company, and Anand Sekhar, VP of Practice Management & Consulting at Fidelity Clearing & Custody Solutions. Fidelity Clearing & Custody Solutions® provides clearing, custody or other brokerage services through National Financial Services LLC or Fidelity Brokerage Services LLC. Members NYSE, SIPC.Fidelity is not affiliated with Dynasty Financial Partners.  

Corey Kupfer has been working in the business of negotiations for more than 30 years, both as a successful entrepreneur and as an attorney. His goal is to help you strategize, plan for, find, and complete deals that will help your company grow rapidly. This is called “inorganic growth”, and it differs from the traditionally slow, organic growth many are familiar with. In this solo episode of Fueling Deals, Corey discusses the importance of maintaining alignment with your character and values, not only within the scope of doing deals but in all aspects of your business and life. In part one of this special two-part series covering the events and speakers of the two-day DeVoe M&A+ Succession Summit that took place on May 30-31, 2019 at The Harvard Club in New York, Corey Kupfer details the wealth of information shared by luminaries of the RIA industry. Listen to learn what's currently on the minds of Ed Swenson from Dynasty Financial Partners, Rudy Adolf of Focus Financial Partners, Mark Tibergien of BYN Mellon Pershing, David DeVoe of DeVoe & Company, and many other fascinating industry thought leaders as Corey Kupfer recaps day one of the summit! What you'll learn about in this episode: Why the trend is increasingly leaning toward growth deals, rather than deals relating to succession Why David DeVoe believes that "mega firms" will begin to appear in the landscape, and why marketing technology is an emerging trend Why firms with greater overall organic growth are also seeing a higher rate of growth via mergers and acquisitions Why DeVoe & Company weighs discounted cash flow as 85% of their valuation methodology, and why they adjust for situational factors Corey outlines a panel that featured a number of financing sources, and he discusses each of the featured members of the panel Why the marketplace is evolving to support more funding options, and why owner financing for internal successions is less necessary today Ed Swenson of Dynasty Financial Partners announced a new platform called Dynasty Connect to deliver expertise in valuation, M&A readiness, and more features Corey discusses a fireside chat between Rudy Adolf and David DeVoe, where Rudy discussed Focus Financial's commitment to never turn entrepreneurs into employees Mark Tibergien of BYN Mellon Pershing discussed why growth is a major cause of bankruptcy, why the cost of people is a major impact on profitability, and other points around the benefits of growth Why growth is one method firms use to provide a path for their top talent when the owners aren't ready to retire Why growth as a long-term strategy makes sense, but why growth for the sake of growth is evil Additional resources: Website: www.fuelingdeals.com

Corey Kupfer has been working in the business of negotiations for more than 30 years, both as a successful entrepreneur and as an attorney. His goal is to help you strategize, plan for, find, and complete deals that will help your company grow rapidly. This is called “inorganic growth”, and it differs from the traditionally slow, organic growth many are familiar with. In this solo episode of Fueling Deals, Corey discusses the importance of maintaining alignment with your character and values, not only within the scope of doing deals but in all aspects of your business and life.In part one of this special two-part series covering the events and speakers of the two-day DeVoe M&A+ Succession Summit that took place on May 30-31, 2019 at The Harvard Club in New York, Corey Kupfer details the wealth of information shared by luminaries of the RIA industry. Listen to learn what’s currently on the minds of Ed Swenson from Dynasty Financial Partners, Rudy Adolf of Focus Financial Partners, Mark Tibergien of BYN Mellon Pershing, David DeVoe of DeVoe & Company, and many other fascinating industry thought leaders as Corey Kupfer recaps day one of the summit!What you’ll learn about in this episode:Why the trend is increasingly leaning toward growth deals, rather than deals relating to successionWhy David DeVoe believes that "mega firms" will begin to appear in the landscape, and why marketing technology is an emerging trendWhy firms with greater overall organic growth are also seeing a higher rate of growth via mergers and acquisitionsWhy DeVoe & Company weighs discounted cash flow as 85% of their valuation methodology, and why they adjust for situational factorsCorey outlines a panel that featured a number of financing sources, and he discusses each of the featured members of the panelWhy the marketplace is evolving to support more funding options, and why owner financing for internal successions is less necessary todayEd Swenson of Dynasty Financial Partners announced a new platform called Dynasty Connect to deliver expertise in valuation, M&A readiness, and more featuresCorey discusses a fireside chat between Rudy Adolf and David DeVoe, where Rudy discussed Focus Financial's commitment to never turn entrepreneurs into employeesMark Tibergien of BYN Mellon Pershing discussed why growth is a major cause of bankruptcy, why the cost of people is a major impact on profitability, and other points around the benefits of growthWhy growth is one method firms use to provide a path for their top talent when the owners aren't ready to retireWhy growth as a long-term strategy makes sense, but why growth for the sake of growth is evilAdditional resources:Website: www.fuelingdeals.com See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

EPISODE 5:  Technology - Is My Stack Better Than Yours? There has never been more innovation when it comes to technology within the wealth management industry. With that, there has never been more confusion too! What is the best tech solution for my firm? How do I diagnose what my company needs? Once we adopt new technology software, how do I onboard it and drive adoption? Ed and Gordon are joined by a group of industry leaders who have had to answer these questions: Brian Schulte, Information Systems Senior Manager at Geller Advisors, and Paul Metzger, Technology Consultant at Dynasty Financial Partners.

EPISODE 5:  Technology - Is My Stack Better Than Yours? There has never been more innovation when it comes to technology within the wealth management industry. With that, there has never been more confusion too! What is the best tech solution for my firm? How do I diagnose what my company needs? Once we adopt new technology software, how do I onboard it and drive adoption? Ed and Gordon are joined by a group of industry leaders who have had to answer these questions: Brian Schulte, Information Systems Senior Manager at Geller Advisors, and Paul Metzger, Technology Consultant at Dynasty Financial Partners.

EPISODE 4:  Marketing - You Mean I Shouldn't Buy a Billboard? With new technologies and strategies constantly being developed, the approach to Marketing has seen dramatic change in recent years. RIA teams and industry leaders need guidance on how to leverage this critical channel for business growth and client engagement. How do you know if you are spending too much or too little on Marketing? How do you know you are receiving a return on your investment? To answer these questions, please join our hosts Ed Friedman - National Director of Practice Management and Gordon Ross - Director Enterprise Group, Dynasty Financial Partners and their guests, Paul Strid, Co-Founder of Concentus Wealth Advisors, Gordy Abel, Chief Marketing Officer at Dynasty Financial Partners, and Justin Barish, Vice President of Digital Marketing at Dynasty Financial Partners as they explore Marketing Masterminds.

EPISODE 4:  Marketing - You Mean I Shouldn't Buy a Billboard? With new technologies and strategies constantly being developed, the approach to Marketing has seen dramatic change in recent years. RIA teams and industry leaders need guidance on how to leverage this critical channel for business growth and client engagement. How do you know if you are spending too much or too little on Marketing? How do you know you are receiving a return on your investment? To answer these questions, please join our hosts Ed Friedman - National Director of Practice Management and Gordon Ross - Director Enterprise Group, Dynasty Financial Partners and their guests, Paul Strid, Co-Founder of Concentus Wealth Advisors, Gordy Abel, Chief Marketing Officer at Dynasty Financial Partners, and Justin Barish, Vice President of Digital Marketing at Dynasty Financial Partners as they explore Marketing Masterminds.

Shirl Penney is the co-founder and CEO of Dynasty Financial Partners, a back and middle office service provider for large independent RIAs. With more than $32 billion on their platform across the 47 advisory firms they support, Dynasty has focused itself purely on being a highly-scaled service provider, while allowing the firms it services to remain completely independent. In this episode, Shirl opens up about his entrepreneurial journey, as well as how he maintained focus and perseverance during the two and a half years it took for him to be able to take his first paycheck from the business. Listen in to hear how he built his company from zero to 70 employees over a decade, the sacrifices he had to make to get to where he is today, and the key lessons he learned along the way. For show notes and more visit: https://www.kitces.com/124 

EPISODE 3: M&A - The Power of Inorganic Growth So many firms want to grow inorganically and recruit established advisors to their firms and transfer their clients across, but what does this process actually entail? Is your firm M&A ready? How do you attract these advisors? What should the negotiation look like? Is the market too frothy right now? Ed and Gordon are joined by a panel of experts who live and breathe advisor recruitment every day: Mindy Diamond, Founder and CEO of Diamond Consultants, Justin Weinkle, Chief Financial Officer at Dynasty Financial Partners, and Phil Fiore, Partner and CEO at Procyon Partners.

EPISODE 3: M&A - The Power of Inorganic Growth So many firms want to grow inorganically and recruit established advisors to their firms and transfer their clients across, but what does this process actually entail? Is your firm M&A ready? How do you attract these advisors? What should the negotiation look like? Is the market too frothy right now? Ed and Gordon are joined by a panel of experts who live and breathe advisor recruitment every day: Mindy Diamond, Founder and CEO of Diamond Consultants, Justin Weinkle, Chief Financial Officer at Dynasty Financial Partners, and Phil Fiore, Partner and CEO at Procyon Partners.

EPISODE 1:  Women in Wall Street - When Socks Tell a Story Why have so few women joined the wealth management industry? What can the industry do to change this? What should a wealth management firm be doing to ensure it is attractive to female clients? Ed Friedman is joined by a panel of experts to discuss these questions and more: Michelle Smith, Founder and CEO of Source Financial Advisors, Penny Phillips, Founder and CEO of Thrivos Consulting, Sally Cates, Director of PR at Dynasty Financial Partners, Catherine Saunders, Head of Client Engagement Center at Putnam Investments.  

EPISODE 1:  Women in Wall Street - When Socks Tell a Story Why have so few women joined the wealth management industry? What can the industry do to change this? What should a wealth management firm be doing to ensure it is attractive to female clients? Ed Friedman is joined by a panel of experts to discuss these questions and more: Michelle Smith, Founder and CEO of Source Financial Advisors, Penny Phillips, Founder and CEO of Thrivos Consulting, Sally Cates, Director of PR at Dynasty Financial Partners, Catherine Saunders, Head of Client Engagement Center at Putnam Investments.  

It's time to establish a marketing routine that wins! Don't miss this exciting episode featuring marketing leader and strategist for both B2B and B2C channels, and VP of Digital Marketing at Dynasty Financial Partners, Justin Barish. In this episode we discuss how to get the most out of your social platforms, the benefit of digital network referrals over word-of-mouth referrals and share first-hand career advice on how to boost your professional game and become an authentic marketing influencer.   Takeaways: Remember that referrals can come in through a digital network as well as a personal network. Make sure you are testing the different ways digital marketing gets you referrals.It will help you determine what works and what doesn't. It's strategic to develop specific messages for specific audiences BUT every message must map back to your brand DNA to maintain your overall brand integrity. For marketing to work you need a value exchange; what you're giving must be of equal or greater value than what you are asking for. Avoid a misaligned value exchange. Process comes down to routinization. Commit to being consistent and disciplined with your marketing process and you'll eventually get the results you want. It's all about small wins. Don't miss out on the progress obtained from small wins by being too obsessed with the big wins. Have confidence in your ability to do things in your own style and flow. Don't be afraid to do everything in a personalized way. Practice makes progress. It's not about perfection, it's about making progress.   Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justin-barish/ Website: https://www.dynastyfinancialpartners.com/index Email: justinbarish@dynastyfp.com  

Like spring birds leaving the nest, many advisors will go out on their own over their professional lifetime.  And when it’s time to step away and create your own company, there can be a myriad of concerns you just hadn’t thought of before. Joining Matt in Vegas is the chairman of Dynasty Financial Partners, Todd Thomson, to discuss the advantages of finding a wealth management and technology provider when you break away from a previous firm. Dynasty is an integrated service provider for independent RIAs who are in need of some support to become more profitable. With several years of experience, Todd and his team understand the complexities that come with setting up your own firm, from which custodian you want to work with, to the technology you need to provide the best service. If you’re ready to break out on your own, be sure to listen with Todd and Matt to hear about some very important decisions you’ll need to be making! Links: Todd Thomson LinkedIn | Dynasty Financial Partners | MarketCounsel Summit  

Shirl Penney, President and CEO of Dynasty Financial Partners, joins Mindy in this episode to share insights from his own unique entrepreneurial mindset and vast industry knowledge and experience as the founder of Dynasty. They discuss the momentum towards independence and what it takes to get from here to there. [podcast]

Shirl Penney, President and CEO of Dynasty Financial Partners, joins Mindy in this episode to share insights from his own unique entrepreneurial mindset and vast industry knowledge and experience as the founder of Dynasty. They discuss the momentum towards independence and what it takes to get from here to there. [podcast]

Todd Thomson, Chairman of Dynasty Financial Partners, Former CEO of Wealth Management at CitiGroup, breaks down the economy in basic terms so we can all finally understand what's going on in this world!

On this episode, we gain insight into Dynasty Financial Partners through our conversation with its CEO and Co-Founder, Shirl Penney. Among other topics, Shirl and Matt discuss: Dynasty's service model * Shirl’s predictions about a Trump administration’s impact on the RIA space * Why Dynasty offers its employees equity * The biggest challenges facing Dynasty * What the best advisors are doing differently * Shirl’s charitable passions and interest in thoroughbred racing