Anh Tran is the Founder and Managing Partner for SageMint Wealth, a corporate LPL-affiliated RIA based out of California that oversees nearly $325 million for 195 clients. As a solo advisor, Anh differentiated her firm by leveraging the combination of a high-touch point concierge approach to client service with a unique investment management approach using very carefully chosen structured notes to differentiate her portfolio design from other advisors.
Listen in as Anh shares why her firm integrates structured notes into their client portfolios despite the extra time and work that is required to conduct extensive due diligence and analysis beforehand, and how they ladder the structured notes on a rolling quarterly basis so clients can continuously reinvest at then-current rates and features. We also discuss why Anh pivoted to become a CFP from a career as an attorney, why she remains a licensed attorney still, and how she was able to find a community that uplifts her by leveraging study groups while also helping to uplift other minorities in the financial services industry.
For show notes and more visit: https://www.kitces.com/309
Matthew Blocki is the CEO of Equilibrium Wealth Advisors, an independent RIA based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania that oversees more than $275 million in assets under management for 330 client households. Today Matthew joins the show to share why he and his firm decided to develop and then implement their pre-, during-, and post-meeting checklists as a way to create a more efficient process and better position themselves as their clients’ personal CFOs offering a more concierge experience.
Listen in as Matthew shares how he leverages one-to-many recorded videos and online FAQs to increase his communication with existing clients on key issues, what he attributes the 4x growth of his firm to, and why he made the decision to break away from a large insurance company. You will learn why he decided to go the independent RIA route, how he narrowed down the number of clients he had without losing a significant amount of revenue, and how he formulated the client capacity targets for his advisory teams that he set to determine when to hire the next new advisor.
For show notes and more visit: https://www.kitces.com/308
Stacey Hyde is the President of Envision Financial Planning, an independent RIA that oversees nearly $200 million in assets under management for 206 client households. Stacey and her partner decided to drop their FINRA licenses and launch their own RIA to gain more flexibility and independence for the firm, and in this episode, we talk about why they decided to drop their broker-dealer licenses and drop out of the corporate RIA structure.
Listen in as Stacey explains what she did to simplify language for clients and help them better understand the firm’s offerings, as well as why her firm implemented a fee schedule where the tiers have hard breakpoints after a certain threshold. You’ll learn the processes she has put in place to more easily communicate the fee schedule to clients, how she and her firm built their client base by leveraging both client referrals and an advisor network that has many connections, and what helped Stacey to realize that she had a greater impact in her clients' lives than simply being their “advisor.”
For show notes and more visit: https://www.kitces.com/307
Cean Kenefick-Rogers is the CEO and Co-Founder of Ironwood Wealth Management, an independent RIA based out of Arizona that oversees just under $550 million of assets under management for nearly 500 households. Cean and his partners inadvertently created a three-way struggle in the early days of their firm that forced them to seek third-party intervention, restructure their partnership roles and compensation, and ultimately unlock the next stage of business growth.
Listen in as Cean shares the journey that he and his partners look from brokerage firm to their own independent RIA, as well as how infighting within their firm nearly led to its dissolution—and how they ultimately managed to turn the firm around and scale the business to the next level of success. We also discuss Cean’s role as CEO, including how he navigated having sole accountability and decision-making for the firm, how he adjusted his mindset from advisor to leader, and why he measures his success beyond his own contributions to the firm.
For show notes and more visit: https://www.kitces.com/306
Mindy Crary is the owner of Creative Money, an independent RIA based out of Seattle that offers a unique 12-month financial planning engagement that has allowed her firm to work with almost 400 households this year alone. Using organic marketing and harnessing the power of Google and Yelp, Mindy has been able to attract clients who are interested in a firm that will advise them without trying to sell them on anything else—and made it possible for her to profitably scale to nearly $1 million of revenue.
Listen in as Mindy shares the journey that led her to launching her current firm and offering advice-only services with a limited-time engagement, as well as how this structure has allowed her to serve a large number of clients comfortably while scaling her business and charging lower fees than other advisors. We also discuss how Mindy has been able to attract hundreds of leads without much marketing spend, how she was able to stick to her convictions and offer financial planning in a way that made sense for her (despite the doubts of others), and why she believes that the key to enjoying a career in financial planning has more to do with staying true to your core competencies than it does with building your own practice.
For show notes and more visit: https://www.kitces.com/305