Podcasts about Hightower

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit jimhightower.substack.comIn 1982, the Dallas Morning News editorial page had a name for a guy who wanted to bring back farmers markets in Texas: socialist.Not Medicare for All. Not a wealth tax. Farmers markets. The kind with watermelons and a guy selling tomatoes off a folding table.Hightower ran for Texas Agriculture Commissioner with the idea as a key part of his platform anyway. He won. And in his first year in office, he and a staff of six built a hundred of them across the state.Forty-some years later, Democratic strategists are still having the same panic attack about socialism. Turns out the “radical” thing was never the label itself; it was whether the guy delivered on campaign promises.Here, Hightower tells the story himself: the watermelon stand outside Weatherford that started it all, how Hightower's staff created the market access for the farmers, and the line he used to shut the haters up for good — “the word ‘free' in ‘free enterprise' is not an adjective. It is a verb.”

Diana and Sam break down House of the Dragon Season 3, Episode 6 as Rhaenyra faces a major turning point when the Iron Throne draws blood, forcing her to question the queen she is becoming. They discuss her changing approach to power, Alicent's impossible choice to protect Helaena, and the emotional final stand of Ser Criston Cole. They also explore Aemond and Alys Rivers' mysterious connection, the growing division within the Hightower family, Daemon's reaction to the Gold Cloaks, and the shocking cliffhanger involving Corlys Velaryon. Plus, they share predictions for what's next and wrap things up with their latest TV and movie recommendations. 00:00 – Introduction & Question of the Day 02:00 – The Iron Throne Cuts Rhaenyra 03:28 – Is Rhaenyra Changing? 05:22 – Helaena, Alicent & Impossible Choices 09:34 – Alicent Gives Up Aemond 11:50 – Ser Criston Cole's Final Stand 14:57 – Tully's Perfect Quote & Who Is Black Aly? 20:37 – Rhaenyra Discovers Helaena Is a Dreamer 26:40 – Aemond, Alys & the Dragon Eggs 31:40 – Daeron, Ormund & Ser Gwayne: A Family Divided 38:37 – Corlys Velaryon's Cliffhanger 42:20 – Daemon & the Gold Cloaks 44:20 – Aegon, Larys & Tyland 46:50 – Rhaena & Lady Jeyne Arryn 49:25 – Baela & Alyn | Hugh & Ulf 55:40 – Rapid Fire 101:33 – Question of the Day & Wrap Up 104:30 – TV & Movie Recommendations Website: www.screensinfocus.comEmail: screensinfocus@gmail.com Instagram: @screensinfocusFacebook: Screens in FocusTikTok: Screens in FocusYouTube: Screens in Focus Feedback and TV/Movie Recommendations: Google Voice: (669) 223-8542 Free background music from JewelBeat.com: www.jewelbeat.com  

In this week's Legal Speak episode, Law.com reporter Alex Anteau and Cox Enterprises Executive Vice President and Chief Legal Officer Jennifer Hightower discuss how Cox Enterprises' legal department is navigating technological disruptions and regulatory changes. Hightower reveals how encouraging her team to embrace AI as a core part of its strategy has helped improve efficiency, reduced reliance on outside counsel and freed attorneys to focus on higher-value legal work. In addition to pinpointing her preferred AI tools, Hightower details how company-wide training and budget expectations factored into the technology adoption. Anteau and Hightower also discuss how the executive VP leads her legal team through political polarization to maintain a workplace respectful of diverse viewpoints.   Hosts: Cedra Mayfield & Patrick Smith Reporter: Alex Anteau Guest: Jennifer Hightower Producer: Charles Garnar  

We've got a Hightower of mail to get through this week for House of the Dragon, Season Three, Episode Six, “Faceless Men”. King Jimhaerys and Ser A.Ron hear the concerns of the realm, from the fate of Corlys to the history of Alys Rivers to Rhaenyra's romantic entanglements. And as always, if you're a book reader (or simply not averse to spoilers), stick around for Maester's Corner—our spoiler section—where Acolyte Max joins Ser A.Ron to compare the ancient scrolls of GRRM with what Ryan Condal and company have cooked up this season. Theme song: Game of Thrones (80's TV Theme) by Highway Superstar Support Bald Move:  Club Bald Move Leave Us A Review on Apple Podcasts Join the discussion:  Email  |  Discord  |  Reddit  |  Forums Follow us: Twitch | YouTube | Twitter  |  Instagram  |  Facebook Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We've got a Hightower of mail to get through this week for House of the Dragon, Season Three, Episode Six, “Faceless Men”. King Jimhaerys and Ser A.Ron hear the concerns of the realm, from the fate of Corlys to the history of Alys Rivers to Rhaenyra's romantic entanglements. And as always, if you're a book reader (or simply not averse to spoilers), stick around for Maester's Corner—our spoiler section—where Acolyte Max joins Ser A.Ron to compare the ancient scrolls of GRRM with what Ryan Condal and company have cooked up this season. Theme song: ⁠Game of Thrones (80's TV Theme)⁠ by ⁠Highway Superstar⁠ Support Bald Move:  ⁠Club Bald Move⁠ ⁠Leave Us A Review on Apple Podcasts⁠ Join the discussion:  ⁠Email⁠  |  Discord  |  Reddit  |  ⁠Forums⁠ Follow us: ⁠Twitch⁠ | ⁠YouTube⁠ | ⁠Twitter⁠  |  ⁠Instagram⁠  |  ⁠Facebook⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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

Daeron isn't just being raised by Ormund Hightower — he's being molded into one. On this episode of Scene N Nerd, Sarah and Will break down HOTD 3x06 ("Faceless Men") from the shocking cold open all the way through the Harrenhal seduction, and there's a lot to get through. We open with Ser Criston Cole's genuinely unceremonious death — ambushed by the "dead" river lords in a moment that plays almost like a Robb Stark callback — before digging into the episode's real gut-punch: Daeron's cousin Ormund grooming him into a puppet king while teaching him to see his own Targaryen blood as the "tainted" half of who he is. We also get his actual uncle, Gwayne, showing up as a completely different kind of family — and a much-needed reality check for both of them. Timestamps: 00:00 – Intro 01:49 – Cold open: Ser Criston Cole's unceremonious death 07:43 – Ormund & Daeron: the abuse subtext nobody's talking about 10:14 – Molding Daeron into the "puppet king" 11:02 – Hightower cousins: the friction behind the throne 12:31 – Does Daeron actually know he's being played? 13:24 – "Closest and farthest thing from a Targaryen" 14:39 – The assassins, the "stink" payoff, and Gwayne's hero moment 18:07 – Corlys, Alyn, and the fight over the Velaryon name 21:45 – Baela, Addam, and the "very dutiful" line 25:12 – Aegon & Larys: a villain with humor, finally hearing the truth 27:48 – Team Alicent: caught, punished, and the pregnancy reveal 29:48 – Helena's visions pay off — Aemond found at Harrenhal 34:33 – Team "Cursed": Alys Rivers, dragon eggs, and Harrenhal's history 37:25 – Hugh's disguised visit to his wife in Tumbleton 39:45 – Alyn, Hugh, and Team Black's shaky dragonriders 41:48 – Rhaenyra, the throne, and the self-inflicted theme 43:53 – Daemon's indigestion joke and his impulsive streak in King's Landing 45:37 – Closing out: the Valyrian bloodline and the family tree jokes. Follow Sarah on social media at @sjbelmont and Will at @willmpolk. Follow Scene N Nerd on X, Blue Sky, Facebook, Instagram, and Threads, and visit SceneNNerdPodcast.com. Rate, follow, and leave a comment on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you listen to podcasts.  

Dogman Encounters, Government Silencing, and High Strangeness: Inside Lance Hightower's Monster FilesIn this episode, we sit down with Lance Hightower—renowned cryptozoologist, host of the acclaimed Monster 911 podcast, content creator, and investigator with over a decade in the field. Lance has appeared on Travel Channel's The Alaska Triangle and collaborated with Wild Dream Films in the UK. A former healthcare professional with deep roots as an outdoorsman, hunter, and survivalist, he brings a grounded, compassionate approach to some of the world's most terrifying unexplained encounters.Through his nationwide Creature Report Hotline and Monster 911 (formerly Cryptid Brothers Investigations), Lance has documented thousands of eyewitness reports of Dogman, Bigfoot/Sasquatch, and other high strangeness phenomena from across the US and beyond. Today, he shares some of the most incredible, firsthand accounts from witnesses he's personally interviewed.A disturbing pattern emerges in many Dogman cases: witnesses and researchers are often visited by mysterious “government-type” officials who deliver stark warnings to stop talking about what they've seen. Are these representatives of known government agencies, a shadow government, or something even more unknown? In one chilling account, officials reportedly referred to these creatures as an “asset”—raising profound questions about what that could imply.Lance also opens up about his own extraordinary experiences, including a close encounter with a group of Dogmen and a recent paranormal event while staying in one of the UK's most haunted locations. With his trauma-informed interviewing style, Lance emphasizes support for witnesses, reminding them they are not alone.Whether you're a longtime cryptid enthusiast or new to these mysteries, this episode dives deep into eyewitness testimony, cover-up allegations, and the blurred lines between the natural and supernatural. Tune in for stories that will challenge everything you think you know about what lurks in the shadows.Gear up and get freaky with official Let's Get Freaky merchandise! Our spooky-cool collection features hoodies, t-shirts, mugs, stickers, and more—perfect for showing your love of the paranormal while staying comfy and stylish. Dive into the full range now: https://tee.pub/lic/wX4lEJj3DMIGot a mind-blowing paranormal encounter, cryptid sighting, UFO experience, or any high-strangeness story that still gives you chills? We want to hear it—and we want YOU on the show! Become a guest on Let's Get Freaky and share your true story with our growing freaky community. Drop us a line at: letsgetfreakypodcast@mail.com Or slide into our DMs on socials: Facebook, Instagram, X, TikTok, or YouTube → @tcletsgetfreakypodcast.

Doug Bucshon of Orange & Blue News joins The Drive to discuss why Illinois Football could be poised for another successful season in 2026, highlighting the Illini's biggest strengths heading into training camp. He also shares his thoughts on Athletic Director Josh Whitman's contract extension, what it means for the future of Illinois athletics, and early impressions of Illinois basketball's talented freshman class. Plus, the guys preview the Cardinals' against the Angels as St. Louis looks to bounce back on the West Coast, and what the Cardinals need to do to get back on track. Follow The Drive on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

#houseofthedragon #gameofthronesuniverse Chaos continues in King's Landing as threats and opposition to Rhaenyra's reign continue to grow. Daemon's trip to the Vale results in more than collecting gold from Lady Arryn. Corlys shifts some of his responsibilities in order to put distance between himself and the Queen. The Hightower host in Tumbleton causes tension and places a particular family in harm's way. Aegon's pride continues to place him and Larys in unnecessary danger. Ormund makes a bold declaration regarding the Throne.

As we reach the mid-point of Season 3 of House of the Dragon, the plot has thickened across multiple fronts. Ormund Hightower has seized control of Tumbleton. As Rhaenyra weighs her options, Aegon's journey hits rock bottom, Cole decides to fight on without the aid of any dragons, Daeron wrestles with being a Targaryen molded through Hightower upbringing, Daemon makes a stunning discovery (as well as a massive decision), and Alicent makes a shocking discovery of her own. All of it has the potential to make the back half of Season 3 even more explosive than the first half was...and that is saying something. For all of the details, tune in to this week's installment of Game Gone Wrong?Chairshot Radio NetworkLaunched in 2017, the Chairshot Radio Network presents you with the best in sports, entertainment, and sports entertainment. Wrestling and wrestling crossover podcasts + the most interesting content + the most engaging hosts = the most entertaining podcasts you'll find! MONDAY - Bandwagon Nerds (entertainment & popular culture)TUESDAY - 4 Corners Podcast (sports)WEDNESDAY - The Greg DeMarco Show (wrestling) THURSDAY - Nefarious MeansFRIDAY - DWI Podcast (Drunk Wrestling Intellect)SATURDAY - The Mindless Wrestling PodcastSUNDAY - 30 Mindless MinutesCHAIRSHOT RADIO NETWORK PODCAST SPECIALSAttitude Of Aggression Podcast: The Big Five Project (chronologically exploring WWE's PPV/PLE history) Unidentified History (Ufology) & Game Gone Wrong (Game of Thrones Universe)Chairshot Radio Network Launched in 2017, the Chairshot Radio Network presents you with the best in sports, entertainment, and sports entertainment. Wrestling and wrestling crossover podcasts + the most interesting content + the most engaging hosts = the most entertaining podcasts you'll find! MONDAY - Bandwagon Nerds (entertainment & popular culture) TUESDAY - 4 Corners Podcast (sports) WEDNESDAY - The Greg DeMarco Show (wrestling) THURSDAY - Nefarious Means FRIDAY - DWI Podcast (Drunk Wrestling Intellect) SATURDAY - The Mindless Wrestling Podcast SUNDAY - 30 Mindless Minutes CHAIRSHOT RADIO NETWORK PODCAST SPECIALS Attitude Of Aggression Podcast: The Big Five Project (chronologically exploring WWE's PPV/PLE history), Unidentified History (Ufology), & Game Gone Wrong (Game of Thrones Universe) Chairshot Radio Network Your home for the hardest hitting podcasts... Sports, Entertainment and Sports Entertainment! All Shows On DemandAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Wolverine confronts the ghosts of Weapon X while Daeron steps into the fire at Tumbleton. This week on the podcast, Brian and Darryl are digging into two episodes packed with old enemies, buried secrets, questionable alliances, and families that probably should have tried therapy. Episode Index Intro: 0:07 DC Studios Chat: 9:06 X-Men ’97 Season 2 Episode 5: House of the Dragon Season 3 Episode 4: X-Men '97 (Disney+) X-Men '97, Season 2 Episode 5 Title: Weapon X, Lies, and DVDs Air date: July 15, 2026 Director: Chase Conley Writers: Anthony Sellitti, Brian Ford Sullivan, and JB Ballard Summary: Wolverine and Morph assemble a volatile team of former Weapon X subjects and enemies to destroy the program's latest experiment. Their mission quickly turns into a mutant horror story involving the Brood, Omega Red, mutated wildlife, and the lingering damage caused by Dr. Cornelius. As the team fights to survive, Morph discovers Logan has been hiding his true objective: finding a way to restore the adamantium Magneto ripped from his body. The episode blends Weapon X nostalgia, science-fiction horror, and Wolverine's habit of manipulating the people closest to him. Ration out of 5, Full Metal Logan is Here Too Soon Brian: 4/5 Darryl: 4/5 House of the Dragon (HBO Max) House of the Dragon, Season 3 Episode 4 Title: Tumbleton Air date: July 12, 2026 Director: Clare Kilner Writer: David Hancock Summary: Ormund Hightower occupies Tumbleton and begins shaping the real Daeron Targaryen into a potential Hightower-controlled king. In King's Landing, Rhaenyra faces growing unrest, financial problems, and graffiti branding her the “Queen of Bastards,” while her response becomes increasingly authoritarian. Daemon discovers that Rhaena is Sheepstealer's rider and returns with a lie designed to protect his daughter. Elsewhere, Aegon searches for Sunfyre, Aemond remains missing, and Alicent learns that Helaena is pregnant. The episode establishes Ormund as a major threat while forcing Daeron to take his first brutal step toward becoming the man Ormund wants him to be. Rating out of 5, Secret Targaryen Are Always All the Rage in Westeros Brian: 3.35/5 Darry: 3.7/5 Contact Us The Infamous Podcast can be found wherever podcasts are found on the Interwebs, feel free to subscribe and follow along on social media. And don't be shy about helping out the show with a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts to help us move up in the ratings. @infamouspodcast facebook/infamouspodcast instagram/infamouspodcast stitcher Apple Podcasts Spotify Google Play iHeart Radio contact@infamouspodcast.com Our theme music is ‘Skate Beat’ provided by Michael Henry, with additional music provided by Michael Henry. Find more at MeetMichaelHenry.com. The Infamous Podcast is hosted by Brian Tudor and Darryl Jasper, is recorded in Cincinnati, Ohio. The show is produced and edited by Brian Tudor. Subscribe today!

Como os dragões se tornam selvagens? Qual é a relação dos Hightower com a Cidadela? E onde estão as coroas e espadas Targaryen na época de Game of Thrones? No CAROL RESPONDE de hoje eu resolvi essas e outras dúvidas de vocês sobre House of the Dragon e o universo do George R. R. Martin como um todo! Comenta aí sua pergunta pra eu responder no próximo vídeo!!Coleção de acessórios de HOTD: https://www.anilu.com.br/collections/colecao-carol-moreiraAnálise do episódio 4: https://youtu.be/tDcUWOIw_O8?si=wjRhz7h8xnKAr4JjFé dos Sete: https://youtu.be/zFZPJ5wqxww?si=v-LitemJiJ4F0Go3Rebelião Blackfyre: https://youtu.be/2L8JWsqevq8?si=gC4Id3ZLawZR2MHJPlaylist completa de HOTD: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0AHYOvtm6roL6jivR1GS6h-0hhzmEfTZINSTAGRAM - http://www.instagram.com/carolmoreira3

SPOILER WARNING Aegon has gone from the Iron Throne to the latrine. This week on Thumb War, we're breaking down House of the Dragon Season 3 Episode 4, where Ormond Hightower takes over Tumbleton from a bathtub, sniffs his perfume ball, flashes the room, and apparently starts setting up a holy war against the Targaryens. Meanwhile, Aegon and Larys stumble upon Sunfire — who may or may not be dead — before Aegon gets assigned the worst job in Westeros: scraping shit out of latrines with a guy named Tangled Tongue. We also get into Rhaenyra's very tiny council, Allyn's “what about cats?” promotion, Ulf trying to cash in favors for his drinking buddies, Daemon finding Rhaena and Sheepstealer, Hugh's family being trapped in Tumbleton, and why Aegon might somehow be the most qualified ruler left. Full spoiler recap is up now. Available on YouTube, Apple Podcasts & Spotify Support the show on Patreon for ad-free episodes & bonus content : http://bit.ly/44Mo8xU Like & Subscribe Leave a 5-star review if you're enjoying Thumb War Email us: ThumbWarPod@gmail.com Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

En este episodio hablamos del cap. 4 de la T3, "Tumbleton": un Hightower berrinchudo, Lady Kilo de Ayuda vive en una cueva, Ramira vuelve a nerfearse y a echarse encima a toda la corte y, una vez más, no pasa nada en el castillo embrujado.Puedes ver y escuchar este episodio en ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠,⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ o lo puedes escuchar en ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Desbloquea contenido solo para miembros en ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Patreon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ y ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube Memberships⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.¡Únete a la comunidad fandaloriana en ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Discord⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠!--⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠El entusiasmo por las ñoñadas ha reunido a Mareo Flores, Andrés "Boludo" Durán y Dani Forlann en un podcast que, además de hablar sobre el universo de Star Wars, también se clava en otras series, películas, cómics, videojuegos y nerdeces. This is the way.

#whyimgeeked #hotd #podcast In this episode, AJ and ChrisyLite talk about the state of House Of The Dragon as of season 3 episode 4. They discuss and debate all the different boss moves Rhaenyra and Ormund are making in the wake of Rhaenyra taking King's Landing. Like, Comment & Subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTHs9WUL0wLGhhZWZyKfEtgListen to the Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/1R2tJhYvI5xepvaQsz0Rxh?si=e8805c80ec0e4c80

A Fé dos Sete é a religião predominante de Westeros, mas qual é o poder político deles no universo do George R. R. Martin? No vídeo de hoje, eu conto como eles se estabeleceram nos Sete Reinos e qual é a relação deles com a Casa Hightower e o reinado dos Targaryen! Vem enteder mais a fundo!Coleção de acessórios de HOTD: https://www.anilu.com.br/collections/colecao-carol-moreiraAnálise do episódio 4: https://youtu.be/tDcUWOIw_O8?si=wDrjnAbdZ52EqO7cReinado de Maegor, o Cruel: https://youtu.be/UMKAnFwqTyw?si=mWDPV0pvdMZedGowDeuses Antigos: https://youtu.be/qB8Kxgn5tig?si=nw2FqSnXGg4MAVOqDeus Afogado e religião nas Ilhas de Ferro: https://youtu.be/1sHPG6QzsD0?si=qWJtBxxjMntPdudzPlaylist completa de HOTD: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0AHYOvtm6roL6jivR1GS6h-0hhzmEfTZINSTAGRAM - http://www.instagram.com/carolmoreira3

It's a big episode for the lore Maesters. Ser A.Ron and King Jimherys discuss the differences between raising a Hightower and raising a Targaryen. And people should be feeling more confident about the inclusion of Nettles into the show. Tune into this episode of HOTD to get the update on the latest happenings in Westeros.  Theme song: Game of Thrones (80's TV Theme) by Highway Superstar Support Bald Move:  Club Bald Move Leave Us A Review on Apple Podcasts Join the discussion:  Email  |  Discord  |  Reddit  |  Forums Follow us: Twitch | YouTube | Twitter  |  Instagram  |  Facebook Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Joanna Robinson, Mallory Rubin, and special guest Van Lathan are excited to give you all of their thoughts on the newest episode of ‘House of the Dragon'! They start off with Joanna's Chris Ryan impression, get into the universal love for Daeron Targaryen, and wrap up with Team Black's interesting choice of small council.(00:00) Intro(02:51) CR's recap(05:48) Favorite moment of the episode(12:43) 'GoT' communion ritual(14:14) Ormund and Daeron's relationship(15:55) Cult of Hightower(17:30) Daeron Hightower vs. Daeron Targaryen(22:06) Ormund and the Faith(26:42) Villains in the 'Thrones' universe(30:56) Ormund Hightower vs. Tywin Lannister(35:53) Alys, the witch and queen of Harrenhal?(40:23) Criston Cole's self-reflection(47:24) Big reveal: Helaena is pregnant(52:57) Undercover boss: Aegon and Larys at Rook's Rest(54:55) Relationship between riders and dragons in this episode(59:38) Team Black's small council(01:02:46) Orwyle's character progressionHosts: Joanna Robinson, Mallory Rubin, and Van LathanProducers: Aleya Zenieris, Carlos Chiriboga, and Scott LeeSocial: Jomi AdeniranSet Production: Jonathan Ratliff and Gitu MehraAdditional Production Support: Arjuna Ramgopowell Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It's a big episode for the lore Maesters. Ser A.Ron and King Jimherys discuss the differences between raising a Hightower and raising a Targaryen. And people should be feeling more confident about the inclusion of Nettles into the show. Tune into this episode of HOTD to get the update on the latest happenings in Westeros.  Theme song: Game of Thrones (80's TV Theme) by Highway Superstar Support Bald Move:  Club Bald Move Leave Us A Review on Apple Podcasts Join the discussion:  Email  |  Discord  |  Reddit  |  Forums Follow us: Twitch | YouTube | Twitter  |  Instagram  |  Facebook Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit jimhightower.substack.comGreetings, Lowdowners! When I was down visiting with Hightower in May, I asked him a question that I've always wanted to know the answer to, but never put directly to him: Why did he decide to run for office? Before he became Agriculture Commissioner, he had been a legislative aide to Sen. Ralph Yarborough in Washington, the founder and co-director of the Agribusiness Accountability Project (which produced Hard Tomatoes, Hard Times), then a journalist and editor at the Texas Observer. What brought on the desire to become an elected official? And why this office?His answer took us through an adventure of what activism can look like when you take the outside inside, and you run a real grassroots campaign based on the values of the people you're hoping to represent.Transcript:Well, for me, I was born a populist. I didn't know it. And I was taught about populism.The essential political essence of populism is that too few people control too much of the money and power, and they use that control against the rest of us to get more money and power for themselves. So that's the great fight of American politics, in the big scale, but also in the very local scale.

#houseofthedragon #gameofthronesuniverse Rhaenyra's reign as Queen begins awash in dilemmas and deficiencies as she realizes how Aegon's rule and defection have caused King's Landing to suffer. Corlys reacts in anger when a request is not given the attention he desires. Daemon's handling of the Hightower host (led by Ormund) has extreme consequences. Rhaenyra seeks counsel from an unlikely source, and is disturbed by the advise she received.

David returns from holiday to join Jean for a deep dive into "Rhaenyra Triumphant," the third episode of House of the Dragon Season 3. The conversation covers the Hightower capitulation at Oldtown, Ormond's treacherous gambit with a fake Daeron, and Daemon's spectacular failure of tactical judgment throughout. At the heart of the discussion is the show's richest ongoing theme: what it truly means to rule when the entire system around you was never built for you to wield it, and how the complicated bond between Rhaenyra and Alicent remains the emotional core of the Dance of Dragons.Contact UsQuestions or comments? Send emails to: hotd@thelorehounds.comOr, send us a voicemail! You can use the voicemail tool on our website, thelorehounds.com/contact OR record a note on your smartphone and email it to us at the same address.Links to Patreon, Supercast, Discord, and Network Affiliateshttps://linktr.ee/thelorehoundsAny opinions stated are ours personally and do not reflect the opinion of or belong to any employers or other entities.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

In questo video andiamo ad analizzare la seconda puntata della terza stagione di House of the Dragon, "Approdo della Regina". Analisi tecnica, easter eggs, approfondimenti da Fuoco e Sangue e molto, molto altro!Link utili:1) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jp7ptYp_jBY&t=22s House of the Dragon 3x02 - Commento a caldo2) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWt2xgwN2uY&t=34s Alys Rivers, la Strega di Harrenhal3) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIAYEJvuXig Danza dei Draghi: il "trionfo" di Rhaenyra4) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqKNgRUJ0Mk&t=470s Danza dei Draghi: parallelismi (pt. 2)00:00 Intro e premesse02:03 Analisi tecnica24:19 Easter eggs43:44 DISCLAIMER44:03 Approfondimento da Fire and Blood: Otto Hightower57:49 Nella prossima puntata59:24 ConclusioniSupportate il canale in cambio di contenuti esclusivi: https://www.patreon.com/LaCittadellaQui trovate tutti i link del canale e dei suoi host: https://linktr.ee/LaCittadella

As Chief Investment Strategist at Hightower Advisors, Stephanie Link spends her days researching the market's winners. Today, she's breaking it all down for us. Stephanie explains why the economy keeps defying the doom-and-gloom headlines, which stocks she thinks will champion the next decade, and why she believes we're only in the third inning of the AI revolution. Nicole and Stephanie get tactical fast: the difference between the Mag 7 and the "S&P 493," which stocks are not worth the hype, and Stephanie's thesis that cybersecurity stocks will end up being bigger than AI. She names her favorite tickers across cybersecurity, data centers, robotics, and quantum computing, and explains whether it's too late to buy NVIDIA. Stephanie also gets real about the so-called "AI bubble," the circular spending debate freaking out investors, and why she bought SpaceX but capped it at just 2% of her portfolio. Plus: what her 19-year-old daughter is investing in, why "FAANG" just got a 2026 update, and the one boring, unsexy ETF Stephanie says every new investor should consider. Check out Nicole's financial literacy course ⁠The Money School⁠ Find a Financial Advisor or Financial Coach from Nicole's company ⁠Private Wealth Collective⁠ Watch video clips from the pod on ⁠Money Rehab's Instagram⁠ and ⁠Nicole Lapin's Instagram⁠  Read more about Stephanie's work Here's what Nicole covers with Stephanie: 00:00 Are You Ready for Some Money Rehab? 01:12 Stephanie Link Joins Money Rehab 01:41 Why the Market Keeps Defying the Doom and Gloom 04:07 CapEx, Decoded 06:58 The K-Shaped Economy: Why the Vibes Don't Match the Numbers 09:49 Inflation, Oil Prices, and the War's Ripple Effect 11:41 Mag 7 vs. the S&P 493: Which ETF Should You Buy? 16:16 Why Stephanie Says No to Leveraged ETFs 17:32 Cybersecurity Will Be Bigger Than AI 20:16 The Best Cybersecurity Stocks on Stephanie's List 23:15 How to Vet a CEO Before You Buy the Stock 25:16 Investing Lessons from Stephanie's 19-Year-Old Daughter 28:23 What Stephanie Won't Buy: Crypto, Staples, and Energy 32:20 Inside the AI "Food Chain": Powering the Data Center Boom 35:43 Robotics and Quantum Computing: The Next Big Themes 41:00 MicroStrategy vs. Palo Alto: What "On Sale" Really Means 43:07 FAANG Is Dead, Long Live MANGOES 43:47 Why Stephanie Bought SpaceX (and Kept It to 2%) 55:40 Is It Too Late to Buy NVIDIA? 59:06 Grading the Innings: AI, Cybersecurity, and Robotics 59:50 Hot Stocks: Micron, SanDisk, and the Chips Everyone's Chasing 1:02:27 Is There an AI Bubble? 1:03:16 The Circular Spending Debate 1:08:08 Stephanie Link's Tip You Can Take Straight to the Bank All investing involves the risk of loss, including loss of principal. This podcast is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial, investment, or legal advice. Always do your own research and consult a licensed financial advisor before making any financial decisions or investments. Disclosures: Hightower invests in companies including Boeing Company, Dover Corp, General Electric, Quanta Services, Rockwell Automation, Union Pacific Corporation, Broadcom, International Business Machines Corporation, Marvell Technology Inc, ServiceNow Inc, Palo Alto Networks Inc, Snowflake Inc, Synopsys Inc, Bank of America, Capital One, Coinbase, Morgan Stanley, Truist Financial Corp, Amazon.com Inc, Meta, SpaceX, Alcoa Corp, Antofagasta PLC, Natera Inc, UnitedHealth Group Inc, iShares MSCI Brazil ETF, SLB Limited

Welcome back to the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast.Today's episode dives deep into the world of wealth management with someone whose career is emblematic of the intersection of private markets and private wealth.We sat down with Larry Restieri, the CEO of Hightower.Larry is the CEO and a member of the Board of Directors at Hightower, a national wealth management firm that empowers financial advisors to deliver sophisticated investment and financial services to clients.Larry joined the firm in June 2025 from Goldman Sachs, where he was a Partner. Larry served as the CEO of Goldman's AYCO business, which specializes in workplace financial planning and private wealth advisory services.He held a variety of leadership roles at Goldman across its wealth and asset management divisions, including heading up the Alternative Capital Markets business.Larry and I had a fascinating conversation about the continuing convergence of private markets and private wealth from someone who was at the forefront of this industry transformation. We covered:The evolution of private markets within the wealth channel.Lessons learned from Larry's time building Goldman's Alternative Capital Markets business and the AYCO business.The path to building Hightower into a $1T RIA. The build-out of Hightower's Signature Wealth brand.What does the continued buildout of private equity-backed platforms mean for the evolution of wealth management?What drives financial advisors?The benefits of the independent RIA model.How and why wealth clients should be thinking about private markets.Thanks, Larry, for sharing your wisdom, expertise, and passion at the intersection of private markets and private wealth.Show Notes00:15 Meet Larry Restieri01:22 Sponsor Message from Ultimus Fund Solutions05:37 Larry Career Journey11:21 Why Hightower12:02 Next Wealth Evolution14:37 Democratizing Alternatives17:08 Education And Expectations18:14 GPs And Distribution19:49 Big Versus Niche Managers22:09 Platform Due Diligence23:20 NEPC And Hightower One26:18 Trillion Dollar RIAs27:42 What Advisors Want28:57 Building Hightower One29:27 Signature Wealth Brand30:41 Acquiring The Bahnsen Group31:57 Why Brand Matters32:22 The Volkswagen Brand Analogy34:15 Culture and Community36:34 Hightower 3.0 Strategy37:59 Open Architecture Explained41:04 Private Equity Exits43:06 Multiples and Deal Discipline44:49 Markets and Cash Flow46:20 Private Markets Adoption49:10 GPs Serving RIAs52:33 Closing ReflectionsA Word from Our Sponsor, UltimusThis episode of Alt Goes Mainstream is brought to you by Ultimus, the full-service fund administrator and transfer agent powering asset managers in private and public markets. As alts go mainstream, you need real expertise to handle complex fund structures, connect with key distribution partners, and handle sophisticated compliance, reporting, and transparency demands.That's Ultimus: high-tech, high-touch solutions for over 450 clients and 2,500 funds with $775B in assets under administration. Backed by an expert team of over 1,200 employees, they place client service at the core of their business, helping you navigate complexity during your fund structuring or launch and then supporting you through every stage of growth. Whether you're already in the market or thinking about entering private wealth, you can trust their team's deep expertise in retail alternatives to help you reach your goals.Learn more at ultimusfundsolutions.com or email info@ultimusfundsolutions.com.We thank Ultimus for their support of alts going mainstream.Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant.

Hightower CEO Larry Restieri discusses the firm's next phase of growth, including its Hightower 3.0 strategy, the expansion of Hightower Signature Wealth, and the rollout of the Hightower One platform. He also shares how the firm is balancing scale with advisor independence, expanding its family office capabilities for ultra-high-net-worth clients, and positioning Hightower for continued growth through technology, integration, and strategic acquisitions.

Well, the madcap adventures of Team Fireball were delightful while they lasted. But there's a new sheriff in town, and their name is the First Order.The Star Wars: Resistance episodes of the week—"The High Tower" and "Children of Tehar” (Season 1, Episodes 5–6)—introduce Kylo Ren and Captain Doza, and give Captain Phasma and Major Vonreg time in the spotlight. And they pull no punches…especially when we discover The First Order is doing genocide purely to hide the bodies. Even the delightful sequences of Kaz running like a noodle with a torso don't really bring light to these dark times.In our recap, we talk about classism on the Colossus, what about the First Order, and how the relationships of the characters might blossom. Big heart eyes for the Chelidae, btw.Join us next week for Episodes 6–7, "Signal from Sector Six" and "Synara's Score.”Want more Growing Up Skywalker? This is a great time to sign up for our Patreon for bonus audio content!Timestamps:00:00:00 Who Are We?00:02:21 Plot Summary00:13:59 Classism and Economics on the Colossus00:26:00 Kylo Ren and Tehar00:28:25 The Colors of The First Order00:43:29 Bae Watch00:49:42 Closing Thoughts

Illinois basketball continues to generate recruiting buzz as the Illini host a highly touted 5-star prospect for an unofficial visit. Kurtis and Evan break down what the visit could mean for Brad Underwood's program and recap the latest headlines surrounding Illinois athletics. Later, Chris Hightower returns to the studio for another entertaining showdown, challenging Pierce the Intern in a spirited edition of "Name That Coach." Sports talk, recruiting updates, and plenty of laughs fill Hour 1 of The Drive.

Greetings, Lowdowners — Deanna here!Friday we told you what was coming: Hightower on the main stage at the Texas Democratic Party Convention, introducing Clayton Tucker, the Lampasas rancher carrying the populist torch into this year's fight for Texas Agriculture Commissioner.Well, it happened. And it's everything we hoped it would be!Listen to that crowd roar as Hightower names the “six Bs” — bosses, bankers, billionaires, big shots, b******s, and bullshitters. That clip has been tearing up social media all weekend! Here's the full five-minute speech: the introduction, the history, and Jim handing the mic to Clayton with the kind of send-off that doesn't happen unless you've been in the fight together for a long, long time.This is the kind of thing you get every week as a Lowdown subscriber: not just the clip everyone's sharing, but the full context behind it. Consider upgrading today if you can!PS—I think my personal favorite moment is watching the ASL interpreter figure out how to translate “greedheads and boneheads.” Chef's kiss!TranscriptAnnouncer: Let's welcome our former Texas Agriculture Commissioner, Jim Hightower.Hidey ho! As one former Texas Agriculture Commissioner, who came out of a progressive campaign with Ann Richards and Jim Mattox and Garry Mauro, a unity ticket. Now to the next era of victories by progressive forces, led by Clayton Tucker, James Talarico, Gina Hinojosa, right on down the line, a lineup of winners.It just makes me happier than a flea at a dog show to be standing up here, looking out at all you Democratic Party champions of economic fairness, you corporate greedwhackers, you Republican butt-kickers, as we rally to take Texas back from the GOP, from the GOP autocrats and plutocrats, so our team of grassroots Democrats can move Texas forward. We don't want to go back. We want to go forward and forward with all the people of our state, not just the rich elites. And this November fight is a landmark populist battle, putting pitting the greedheads and boneheads who are the powers that be against the powers that ought to be, the ordinary work of day people of our state, the workers, the farmers, the teachers, the consumers. The everyday Texans who do the everyday work that makes Texas work. Now you might say, well, Hightower, what do you by the powers that be? Well here's what I mean. I call ‘em the six Bs. They are the bosses, the bankers, the billionaires, the big shots, b******s and bullshitters.They've been running roughshod over us. They're thinking they're the top dog and we're just a bunch of fire hydrants out here in the countryside. That's why Clayton Tucker is so important. So important to this election, so important to the Democratic ticket, so important to Texas, a true son of Texas populism, a rancher raising goats out in Lampasas County. The very place where populism began, by the way, it was born in Lampasas County in the 1870s. He's a rancher, been a kindergarten teacher. That'll help him when he deals with the legislature.He's a grassroots organizer, battling the data center billionaires. He even puts it right on his campaign button here. “Stop AI data centers.” Clayton Tucker. He battles the monopolists and the extremists. I'm gonna tell you that Clayton Tucker is gonna drive the Republican leaders crazy. Of course, that's a pretty short drive for some of them.Most important, as Texas Agriculture Commissioner, Clayton will make us proud again, as so few office holders these days do. He comes out of West Texas. West Texas ranchers and the old cowboys out in West Texas used to have a saying. They said, “speak the truth, but ride a fast horse.”Clayton is going to speak the truth to the powers that be. And they're going to call him, just as they're calling Talarico and Gina Hinojosa and our whole Democratic lineup, they're going to call them agitators. Agitators. What the hell is wrong with being an agitator? Agitation is what built America.So I'm here to ask you to join me in welcoming the People's Agitator, Clayton Tucker, from Lampasas, Texas.Jim Hightower's Lowdown is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jimhightower.substack.com/subscribe

Greetings, Lowdowners—Deanna here!Last week we gave you the pesticide hearing story — Willie Nelson, Barbara Jordan, and a fight Hightower and his team won by building a movement before he ever needed the movie stars. This week, we're going back further. All the way back to where the whole populist tradition in this country actually started.Here's Hightower telling it: in the 1870s, four farmers in Lampasas, Texas, were getting squeezed out of existence. Railroads gouging them on getting crops to market. Bankers gouging them on their mortgages. So they did the only thing they could — they sat down around a kitchen table and started talking about it.That conversation didn't stay in Lampasas. It spread to neighboring counties, then across Texas, then into 43 states. It elected U.S. senators and members of Congress. It built cooperative banks and grain storage so farmers didn't have to sell at the bottom of the market just to survive. Historians call it the Populist Movement. Hightower calls it people figuring out they had to organize or get run over.We're telling you this story right now for a reason. Tonight, Hightower's on the main stage at the Texas Democratic Convention, introducing a candidate he's worked with for years: Clayton Tucker, who's running for the same office Hightower once held — Texas Agriculture Commissioner.Clayton's from Lampasas.No one planned that. Texas just keeps producing people who grow up with that kitchen table in their blood and decide to do something about the Powers That Be. Clayton's campaign is built around the same basic fight those four farmers were having: rural Texans getting run over by power they have no say in. Corporate data centers draining water and electricity from small towns that never got a say. Federal regulators sitting on tools Texas ranchers need right now to fight the New World Screwworm, leaving the state to fight it understaffed and underequipped while the threat spreads. Different villains, same basic math — somebody with more power than you, making decisions about your land and your livelihood from somewhere else.Almost a hundred and fifty years on, same county, new fights, same fight.This is the kind of connection-the-dots storytelling our paid subscribers get from us regularly — the history that explains the present, not just the outrage of the week. If you've been thinking about upgrading, this is a good week for it.Thanks for being in the fight with us, as always!Jim Hightower's Lowdown is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jimhightower.substack.com/subscribe

On Hour 2, Chris Hightower stays in studio to continue breaking down an exciting NBA Draft for Illinois basketball and what it means for the Illini moving forward. We also preview this weekend's Cardinals vs. Marlins series, discussing what's at stake as St. Louis looks to keep building momentum before a tougher stretch of the schedule. Plus, we have some fun with the news that the Chicago Bears are getting the Hallmark movie treatment, and wrap up the week with our favorite Friday Toasts. Follow The Drive on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

Former Illini forward Morez Johnson explains why he transferred, saying he "didn't feel comfortable with my future being" at Illinois, and we break down what his comments mean for the program. Plus, Chris Hightower joins us in studio to discuss a memorable NBA Draft night for Illinois basketball, the futures of the Illini draft picks, and what it says about the direction of the program. Follow The Drive on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

What does it mean to live consciously in today's fast-paced and often overwhelming world? In this inspiring episode of The ‘X' Zone, Rob McConnell welcomes author, speaker, and personal growth advocate Heather Hightower to discuss her empowering work, Conscious Girl. Heather shares her journey of self-discovery and explains how greater awareness, mindfulness, and intentional living can help people navigate life's challenges with confidence and purpose. Through the lessons and insights presented in Conscious Girl, she encourages listeners to embrace authenticity, develop self-awareness, and cultivate a deeper connection to themselves and the world around them. During this thought-provoking conversation, Heather discusses personal transformation, emotional growth, empowerment, and the importance of making conscious choices that align with one's values and goals. She also explores practical ways to increase awareness, reduce stress, and create a more balanced and meaningful life. Whether you're seeking personal growth, spiritual insight, or inspiration for living with greater intention, this episode offers valuable wisdom and encouragement for anyone looking to become more conscious and connected in their daily life.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-x-zone-radio-tv-show--1078348/support.Please note that all XZBN radio and/or television shows are Copyright © REL-MAR McConnell Meda Company, Niagara, Ontario, Canada – www.rel-mar.com. For more Episodes of this show and all shows produced, broadcasted and syndicated from REL-MAR McConell Media Company and The 'X' Zone Broadcast Network and the 'X' Zone TV Channell, visit www.xzbn.net. For programming, distribution, and syndication inquiries, email programming@xzbn.net.We are proud to announce the we have launched TWATNews.com, launched in August 2025.TWATNews.com is an independent online news platform dedicated to uncovering the truth about Donald Trump and his ongoing influence in politics, business, and society. Unlike mainstream outlets that often sanitize, soften, or ignore stories that challenge Trump and his allies, TWATNews digs deeper to deliver hard-hitting articles, investigative features, and sharp commentary that mainstream media won't touch.These are stories and articles that you will not read anywhere else.Our mission is simple: to expose corruption, lies, and authoritarian tendencies while giving voice to the perspectives and evidence that are often marginalized or buried by corporate-controlled media

The madcap adventures of the Team Fireball continue! In the third and fourth episodes of Star Wars: Resistance (The Triple Dark + Fuel for the Fire), Kaz is struggling with double duty and managing to fail forward—and sometimes backwards—on everything. In this week's episode, we talk about how fitting in is hard for Kaz, but being a good person seems to come easy. We speculate on Yeager's backstory as a Rebel hero, threats to the Colossus, and how the First Order is maneuvering to establish a foothold in the galaxy.Join us next week for episodes 4–5, "The High Tower" and "Children of Tehar.”Timestamps:00:00:00 Who Are We?00:01:57 Plot Summary00:10:29 Threats to the Colossus 00:17:03 Kaz's Struggle00:30:11 Yeager, Former Rebel Hero00:37:14 The Colossus00:51:10 Bae Watch00:59:14 Closing ThoughtsWant more Growing Up Skywalker? This is a great time to sign up for our Patreon for bonus audio content!

Greetings, Lowdowners—Deanna here!This summer, we're doing something a little different. Over the next few weeks, we're opening the gates a bit — giving free subscribers a taste of some of the exclusive stories, video, and behind-the-scenes Hightower that paid subscribers get regularly. If you've been on the fence about upgrading, consider this your invitation to see what you've been missing.To kick things off, I spent a day with Hightower in Austin last month, beer in hand at ABGB, talking with him about fifty-plus years of fighting the b******s. We've got a summer's worth of material to share with you, and I wanted to kick things off with the one that shows what organizing really looks like. Here's the setup: Hightower's Agriculture Commissioner, and he's just put forward the most progressive pesticide regulation in the country. The pesticide lobby is furious. So they get the governor to introduce legislation to gut his authority and make his office appointed instead of elected. Standard playbook—except for what happened next.The hearing room they'd booked was tiny. They had to move it to the House Chamber because Hightower's first witness was Willie Nelson. His second was Barbara Jordan. His third was the chairwoman of the Dallas Republican Women's Organization, who didn't love the idea of pesticides in her kids' food either.Not one committee member would make the motion to pass the bills. They lost without a vote.Here's the part I actually wanted to talk to him about, though: the celebrities weren't the strategy. They were the payoff. Hightower's team spent six months before that hearing building an actual coalition—farmers, farmworkers, consumers, local press. Willie and Barbara Jordan showed up because there was already a movement there to show up for. “They are the punctuation point of a movement that has already been built and is moving,” he told me. “Their presence encourages the movement,” but it doesn't replace it.It's a lesson that's aged exactly zero days in forty years: you don't win by getting a famous person to show up at your rally. You win by doing the unglamorous work first, and then the famous person shows up because there's something worth showing up for.It's your support that enables us to keep bringing the outside in, to keep sharing the ways we can fight together and have fun together. We know times are tighter than ever, and it makes your support mean even more to us. Thank you! Jim Hightower's Lowdown is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jimhightower.substack.com/subscribe

Monica Hightower is a Fortune 500 HR Insider, Speaker, and Career Strategist. With nearly two decades of experience inside major corporations, she has designed intern programs, made return offer decisions, and sat in the rooms where hiring conversations happen. She founded Ajaroe to share this insider knowledge directly with students. In episode 683 of the Fraternity Foodie Podcast, we find out what made Monica want to share these insider secrets about HR with students, some of the biggest misconceptions students have about hiring, why some students get overlooked for jobs, what recruiters are actually evaluating in interviews, how to translate your leadership roles in college to something employers value, the biggest mistake students make on their resume, when students should start preparing for recruitment season, how to approach alumni on LinkedIn, how to prepare for an interview, and how to negotiate salary for your job. Enjoy! Monica would love to offer the Greek U community 10% off through June 30th with the code GREEKU. Listeners can join the program following a 15 minute career strategy review with her at the following link: https://calendly.com/ajaroe/15min

On this episode of Left of Str8 Show Interviews, Scott Fullerton welcomes Benjamin Hightower, singer/songwriter, veteran, and America's Got Talent performer, for an inspiring conversation about military service, music, identity, faith, and advocacy. Benjamin shares his transition from the Air Force to the stage, his songwriting process behind “Holy Astronaut,” and his passion for supporting LGBTQ+ youth and veterans' mental health. His AGT journey has been highlighted as part of his extraordinary move from military service into performance.Listen to the story behind the Holy Astronaut song and discover how faith and romance intersect in this latest track. Get the full inspiration behind the lyrics and hear the chorus.This video provides an intimate look at the creative process behind my new music release, Holy Astronaut. I discuss the core themes of maintaining personal conviction while fully supporting a partner's passions, even when those passions take you to the edges of the cosmos. If you are interested in the intersection of faith and love, this breakdown offers context on why I wrote these specific lines.By watching, you will gain a deeper understanding of the song meaning and the emotional weight behind the chorus. I explain the artistic choices made to capture the feeling of worthiness in a relationship. Whether you are a fan of thoughtful songwriting or curious about the inspiration behind Holy Astronaut, this discussion clarifies the narrative arc I intended for the track.Subscribe for weekly songwriting breakdowns, and comment below on which part of the song resonated with you the most.Watch Left of Str8 Interviews every week for smart, funny, and heartfelt conversations with LGBTQ creatives, straight allies, entertainers, authors, musicians, filmmakers, and changemakers. Each episode goes beyond the usual interview to uncover the stories, struggles, laughs, and lessons behind the work — with guests who inspire, entertain, and remind us why visibility matters. Subscribe and come back weekly for fresh voices, meaningful conversations, and a little bit of fabulous you will not find anywhere else.Subscribe for excellent interviews from Entertainment, Music, Books and Advocacy. Hit the little bell for weekly notifications. New Episodes drop every week. Tell your friends.Follow Us on Instagram:Scott Fullerton: @leftofstr8Benjamin Hightower: @benjaminhightower_Tik Tok:Scott Fullerton: @leftofstr8Benjamin Hightower: @benjaminhightower

On this episode of Left of Str8 Show Interviews, Scott Fullerton welcomes Benjamin Hightower, singer/songwriter, veteran, and America's Got Talent performer, for an inspiring conversation about military service, music, identity, faith, and advocacy. Benjamin shares his transition from the Air Force to the stage, his songwriting process behind “Holy Astronaut,” and his passion for supporting LGBTQ+ youth and veterans' mental health. His AGT journey has been highlighted as part of his extraordinary move from military service into performance.Listen to the story behind the Holy Astronaut song and discover how faith and romance intersect in this latest track. Get the full inspiration behind the lyrics and hear the chorus.This video provides an intimate look at the creative process behind my new music release, Holy Astronaut. I discuss the core themes of maintaining personal conviction while fully supporting a partner's passions, even when those passions take you to the edges of the cosmos. If you are interested in the intersection of faith and love, this breakdown offers context on why I wrote these specific lines.By watching, you will gain a deeper understanding of the song meaning and the emotional weight behind the chorus. I explain the artistic choices made to capture the feeling of worthiness in a relationship. Whether you are a fan of thoughtful songwriting or curious about the inspiration behind Holy Astronaut, this discussion clarifies the narrative arc I intended for the track.Subscribe for weekly songwriting breakdowns, and comment below on which part of the song resonated with you the most.Watch Left of Str8 Interviews every week for smart, funny, and heartfelt conversations with LGBTQ creatives, straight allies, entertainers, authors, musicians, filmmakers, and changemakers. Each episode goes beyond the usual interview to uncover the stories, struggles, laughs, and lessons behind the work — with guests who inspire, entertain, and remind us why visibility matters. Subscribe and come back weekly for fresh voices, meaningful conversations, and a little bit of fabulous you will not find anywhere else.Subscribe for excellent interviews from Entertainment, Music, Books and Advocacy. Hit the little bell for weekly notifications. New Episodes drop every week. Tell your friends.Follow Us on Instagram:Scott Fullerton: @leftofstr8Benjamin Hightower: @benjaminhightower_Tik Tok:Scott Fullerton: @leftofstr8Benjamin Hightower: @benjaminhightower

En este programa especial de Misión de Audaces volvemos a Poniente para preparar el regreso de La Casa del Dragón con una previa centrada en recordar cómo terminó la temporada 2 y dónde queda cada personaje antes de la temporada 3. Repasamos la situación del bando Negro y el bando Verde, la posición de Rhaenyra, Daemon, Jacaerys, Corlys, Aemond, Aegon II, Alicent, Helaena, Larys, Otto Hightower y el resto de piezas clave que llegan vivas —o bastante chamuscadas— al nuevo tablero de guerra. También recordamos los grandes acontecimientos de la segunda temporada: Sangre y Queso, la Batalla de Reposo del Grajo, la muerte de Rhaenys y Meleys, el bloqueo de Desembarco del Rey, las tensiones en Harrenhal, la aparición de las semillas de dragón, la importancia de Vermithor, Ala de Plata, Bruma, Vhagar, Fuegosueño y el nuevo equilibrio de fuerzas entre dragones. Un episodio pensado para quienes quieren llegar a la tercera temporada de House of the Dragon sin andar perdidos entre Targaryen, Velaryon, Hightower, dragones, traiciones, alianzas rotas y familias con una gestión emocional digna de denuncia. Vuelven los dragones. Vuelve la guerra. Vuelve Misión de Audaces. Besos y almuerzos

Every founder gets a version of the same advice: don't pick a fight with an entrenched industry. The incumbents have the relationships, the regulatory cover, the deep pockets - you'll bleed out trying.But some of the most interesting companies of the last decade were built ignoring that advice, winning over markets that were nearly impenetrable.In this episode, Yaniv Bernstein is joined by Brandon Weber - co-founder and CEO of Nava Benefits, a Series C-funded AI-powered health benefits brokerage. Before Nava, Brandon co-founded Hightower, a commercial real estate startup that merged with VTS and went on to run over half of all office buildings in the United States. Brandon has now done this twice in two completely different industries, and has developed a repeatable playbook for breaking into entrenched markets and using AI as a structural advantage.Yaniv and Brandon dig into what actually makes a market 'broken', why the entry point needs to be far narrower than most founders think, and how to build the conviction to keep going when a thousand people tell you it won't work. In this episode, you will:Understand the 'burning platform' signal - what makes a market 'broken', but worth spending a years breaking intoLearn why your entry point needs to be far narrower than feels comfortable, and how Brandon went from targeting 'the health insurance market' to 'employers with 50-500 employees who can't afford a dedicated benefits team'Hear why 'disrupting from within' is often smarter than disrupting head-on - and how Nava built a broker-shaped entity that the industry's immune system couldn't rejectDiscover how to design a human-AI system (what Brandon calls a 'cybernetic' service model) where agents handle 80-85% of the work and licensed professionals operate at the top of their licenseTimestamps00:00 Coming Up…00:45 On Today's Show: Brandon Weber on Fixing Broken Industries01:43 How To Spot Broken Markets03:59 Why Most Healthcare Startups Fail (Distribution)05:35 Lessons From Building Hightower and VTS08:41 How Do We Think Smaller? Finding the 'Narrow Wedge'10:57 What It Means To 'Disrupt From Within'16:53 Choosing the ICP18:35 The Innovator's Dilemma and Moving Upmarket22:57 Scaling with AI: A Business in Two Phases26:29 Service as a Software34:02 Attract and Hire Industry Insiders36:44 When to Acquire39:06 Closing AdviceResources mentioned in this episodeNava Benefits (Brandon's company): https://www.navabenefits.comGary Lo's previous TSP episode: https://youtu.be/jtMgd7Nv_HYThe Innovator's Dilemma by Clayton Christensen (framework discussed at length): https://www.amazon.com/Innovators-Dilemma-Revolutionary-Change-Business/dp/0062060244The PactHonor the Startup Podcast Pact! If you have listened to TSP and gotten value from it, please:Follow, rate, and review us in your listening appSecure your official TSP merchandise at https://shop.tsp.show/Follow us on YouTube for full-video episodes: https://www.youtube.com/@startup-podcastGive us a public shout-out on LinkedIn or anywhere you have a social media followingKey linksThis episode of the Startup Podcast is sponsored by .tech domains. Forget weird prefixes and creative misspellings; the availability for .tech domains is simply way better than .com. For a clean name that highlights your tech credentials, get a .tech domain at your favorite registrar.The Startup Podcast website: https://www.tsp.show/episodes/Learn more about Chris and YanivWork 1:1 with Chris: http://chrissaad.com/advisory/Follow Chris on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrissaad/Follow Yaniv on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ybernstein/Producer: Justin McArthur https://www.linkedin.com/in/justin-mcarthurAssistant Producer: Steph Hefferan https://www.linkedin.com/in/steph-heff/Intro Voice: Jeremiah Owyang https://web-strategist.com/

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit jimhightower.substack.comLast week, Hightower and I sat down for a couple beers with author Cory Haala, who's just released When Democrats Won the Heartland and who is a professor at the University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point. Cory has brilliantly documented how, as the national Democratic Party moved towards corporate cash in the 1980s, maverick politicians throughout the Midwest and Plains states practiced good ol' fashioned populism—and won. Not only did they win, but they also executed on the policies that they had championed while campaigning. Imagine that! With Hightower being part of the coalition of Texas populists who took the 1980s by storm, and who traveled to the northern states Cory covers to campaign, speechify and rally the grassroots, he's featured prominently throughout the book. My favorite Hightower highlight comes right in the introduction:Rather than give a handout, they believed the role of government was to give a hand up. Put more bluntly by Texas Agriculture Commissioner Jim Hightower: “If we'd have been liberals,” discussing struggling watermelon growers in Texas, “we'd have retrained them to do something else. As populists, we changed the market structure that was f***ing them over. That's the difference.”Paid subscribers can watch the whole video above, and also read an excerpt of Cory's book below. Enjoy!

What does today's weakness in tech say about the market's potential next move? We discuss with Hightower's Stephanie Link, Fundstrat's Tom Lee and Wharton School Professor Jeremy Siegel. Plus, we break down what to watch from Apple's upcoming Worldwide Developers Conference with Alex Kantrowitz from Big Technology and Wedbush's Dan Ives. And, we tell you what's behind crypto's ugly week. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Grappling All Star Josh Hightower returns with plenty of controversy. From competitor schools blocking his grand opening to breaking down frauds in the grappling world. This episode may be too hot to handle!Get our merch: https://levelupgrappling-shop.fourthwall.com/Visit our sponsors: https://spartandesigns.com/pages/spartancans (Discount Code: LUG)https://www.roadgearz.com/ (Discount Code: LUG)Neven Eyewear: https://bit.ly/3Pz8FMs#bjj #catchwrestling #wrestling #ufc #mma #judo #grapplingtechniques #bjjtechnique #levelup #levelupgrappling

Will and Jason discuss new releases by Cola, The Leaf Library, and Winston Hightower, plus a major live report and bonus songs.

Brian Szytel recaps a positive market turnaround from Miami Beach after Hightower leadership meetings, with the Dow up about 280 points, the S&P up ~15 bps, and the Nasdaq up ~10 bps; year-to-date, the Dow is up ~5%, the S&P ~9%, and the Nasdaq ~13%. Rates were little changed with the 10-year around 4.56%, and WTI oil was slightly down amid reports of a potential Saudi-linked development in the Iran conflict. He discusses persistent core inflation across CPI, PPI, and PCE as demand growth outpaces supply growth alongside rising money supply, while maintaining the thesis of a 1% real Fed funds rate but with higher inflation expectations (now ~2.5–3%) implying a higher terminal Fed funds range. Economic data included slightly better housing starts (~1.5M), in-line jobless claims (209K), strong flash manufacturing PMI (55.3), and slightly softer services PMI (50.9), and he explains why markets focus on results versus expectations. 00:00 Welcome and Updates 00:52 Market Close Recap 01:44 Inflation and Fed Outlook 03:32 Today Economic Data 04:30 How to Read Data 05:33 Wrap Up and Thanks 05:53 Disclosures Links mentioned in this episode: DividendCafe.com TheBahnsenGroup.com

From Miami Beach at a Hightower summit, Brian Szytel recaps a broad market rally (Dow +645, S&P 500 +1%, Nasdaq +1.5%) driven by falling interest rates (10-year down 8 bps to 4.58%) and oil (WTI down ~5%) amid hopes for progress in the U.S.-Iran conflict around the Strait of Hormuz. He focuses on how expectations moved from ~60 bps of Fed cuts this year to pricing closer to a potential hike, a global shift also seen in Europe, and notes the tight correlation between oil prices and rate expectations. With markets up ~7–8% and earnings up ~13–14%, multiples have compressed, and higher-rate expectations reduce the chance of re-expansion. He also addresses high profit margins, citing tech-heavy, asset-light index composition as a key driver while still expecting eventual mean reversion via economic slowing and sector rotation. 00:00 Miami Beach Intro 00:26 Market Rally Recap 00:50 Oil And Rates Link 01:16 Rate Cut Expectations Shift 02:17 Multiples And Valuation 02:52 Upcoming Economic Data 03:04 Margin Mean Reversion 03:26 Why Margins Stay High 03:56 How Reversion Happens 05:08 Wrap Up And Thanks Links mentioned in this episode: DividendCafe.com TheBahnsenGroup.com

Dr Beau Hightower and Boots in the park on News Radio KKOBSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ed Yardeni made a big call for a rate hike in July. He joins us to explain his case. Plus – President Trump says he's postponing a “scheduled attack of Iran tomorrow.” We get instant reaction to that news from Hightower's Stephanie Link and JP Morgan's Meera Pandit. And, star venture capitalist Rashaun Williams from Value Investment Group tells us which company will be the clear winner in the AI race to go public. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

What's up, dudes?  So you want to be a cop? All you do is join the farce. Laramy Wells from Moving Panels and Vinnie Brezinsky from Huey and Bax have signed up to join the "Police Academy!"After thwarting the Santa Claus burglar--so called because he breaks in through the chimney--the Police Academy squad run into a little orphan girl named Ginny.  She asks Carey Mahoney and his gang to help her friends believe in Santa Claus since the orphans never get any presents. Simultaneously, there's a robbery at I. Gottem's department store. Ginny even gets a look at the thieves.Mahoney and Jones decide to dress up as Santa for the kids not realizing their team also decides to dress up. Unfortunately, they're called to guard the department store. While the orphans are at the store, they're framed for the theft of diamonds. The cadets prove their innocence and catch the actual thieves. Jones sound effects? Got 'em. Tackleberry extreme firearms? Yep, a bazooka. Reindogs? Well, only as Commandant Lassard can provide! So grab your Santa suit, hide inside a snowman, and arrest this episode on Police Academy "Santa with a Badge!" Moving PanelsFB : @MovingPanelsTwitter: @MovingPanelsIG: @movingpanelsGive us a buzz! Send a text, dudes!Check us out on Facebook, Twitter,  Instagram,  Totally Rad Christmas Mall & Arcade, Teepublic.com, or TotallyRadChristmas.com!  Later, dudes!