Today’s guest is the founder of Workable Wealth, a virtual financial planning firm that has built more than $200,000 in recurring financial planning fees in just its first four years. As if that weren’t impressive enough, Mary Beth Storjohann built the firm while also raising two small children—now two and a half years and three months old.

In this episode, Mary Beth shares details about her personal journey to success, including valuable insight on a subject that hasn’t been touched on much in this podcast: the very real challenge of balancing life at home with young children while also starting and/or running an advisory firm. Listen in to hear how she managed client relationships and her marketing and growth momentum through her maternity leave, as well as her advice for female advisors on handling the balancing act of starting your own firm when you also want to start a family.

For show notes and more visit: https://www.kitces.com/61 

What works early on when a firm is just starting out does not tend to work as well once the business starts to grow. Many financial advisors are not prepared for managing a large practice so when it starts to scale and grow, it’s important to re-evaluate how things are structured. Kelli Cruz joins us on the show to share her expertise in human resources management for mid-size to large financial advisory firms. She has a truly unique and effective method to assessing and adjusting the way businesses compensate and incentivize their employees.

For show notes and more visit: https://www.kitces.com/60

Carol Anderson is the founder of Money Quotient, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that provides financial life planning training to advisors. She has spent many years working in financial life planning, and in contrast to the typical criticism of the field, her company has managed to systematize their process.

In this episode, Carol discusses Money Quotient’s unique approach, as well as the psychology and sociology research behind it. Listen in to hear how their tactics set a more holistic tone to financial planning engagement and why Carol says financial life planning isn’t an alternative to traditional financial planning, but rather a better way to help clients develop the self-awareness they need to truly identify what their goals are in the first place.

For show notes and more visit: https://www.kitces.com/59

My guest on today’s podcast has followed an uncommon career path leading to financial services, and has quite a unique story when it comes to business evolution, as well. The co-founder of Monument Wealth Management—a hybrid RIA that serves about 120 families and oversees nearly $300 million of assets under management with a team of 11 people—David Armstrong built his early career under a broker-dealer before shifting to a hybrid arrangement with an outside SEC-registered RIA. From there, he is steadily dialing down his amount of broker-dealer business over time as he shifts increasingly toward an AUM-based wealth management model.

In this episode, David shares the story of building and developing his firm, as well as how Monument has systematized everything from financial planning deliverables to their path to partnership to using an engagement letter before taking on a client. Listen in to hear how the team makes the firm’s hybrid model such a success and why their approach to data gathering just might have other firms reconsidering their methods.

For show notes and more visit: https://www.kitces.com/58