Eric Roberge is the Founder and CEO of Beyond Your Hammock, an independent RIA based out of Boston that oversees $47 million in assets under management for more than 80 households. Despite his firm’s impressive progress and consistent expansion over a decade, Eric faced a capacity wall as a solo advisor, experiencing setbacks when a $4-million client relocated and market volatility led to the departure of other clients, requiring him to spend a year rebuilding various components of his business to recover.

In this episode, Eric shares how he implemented several strategies to address capacity constraints and meet the firm's needs, first by ramping up part-time outsourced assistance, and additionally by making the strategic decision to change the firm's meeting cadence from three times a year to a surge meeting structure, allowing him to allocate more time to focus on the overall growth of the business. We also discuss how securing a valuation for the firm provided Eric with a fresh perspective, why he has enlisted the expertise of a PR firm to secure guest podcast appearances and drive traffic to his website, and why he is grateful for the opportunities brought by the challenges he faced.

For show notes and more visit: https://www.kitces.com/339

Tony Hixon is the Co-Founder and COO for Hixon Zuercher Capital Management, an independent RIA based out of Ohio that oversees more than $300 million in assets under management for 330 client households. The tragic loss of Tony's mother just six months post-retirement led him to realize retirees' mental unpreparedness for this new phase and inspired a change in his financial planning approach, prompting him to write a book, drawing on his mother's experience to guide and honor his clients and other retirees.

Listen in as Tony shares his personal experience of his mother's depression and suicide post-retirement, underscoring the importance of mental preparation for retirement and how he subsequently incorporated retirement transition coaching into his practice. We also discuss the firm's active portfolio management approach, the renaming of the firm to Hixon Zuercher Capital Management for legacy and recognition, and Tony's belief that life fulfillment starts with finding one's 'why.'

For show notes and more visit: https://www.kitces.com/338

Danika Waddell is the President and Founder for Xena Financial Planning, a virtual advisory firm that advises 40 client households of women in tech, and supports more than $275k of ongoing revenue. Danika's unique path involved launching her own independent RIA not as an entrepreneurial endeavor, but as a result of an IAR registration filing error by her previous firm that left her unable to be compensated for her work with clients, and which consequently led her to start her own firm and register herself in order to resume working promptly.

Listen in as we delve into Danika's experience with a state regulator audit that led to an investigation at her former firm, preventing her from working with clients and cutting her revenue by 50%, and which ultimately led to her choosing to launch her own firm to regain control. We also discuss Danika’s inspiration to work with women in tech, strategies she used for the rapid growth of her firm, and methods for building relationships as a solo advisor to overcome loneliness that often comes with the territory.

For show notes and more visit: https://www.kitces.com/337

Adam Holt is a principal with RubinGoldman and Associates, and the Founder and CEO of Asset-Map, a financial planning tool that helps financial advisors create a visual representation of their clients' financial situations and reaches over 1.25 million users. Adam's uniqueness lies in his ability to blend his background in geographic information systems, which he acquired during his early career, with his role as a financial advisor catering to ultra-high-net-worth clients, and devising a novel approach by using “mind maps” to visually capture the intricate details of complex financial situations.

Listen in as Adam shares his story and the evolution of Asset-Map, why he turned to mind maps as a powerful tool when working with ultra-high-net-worth clients (enabling him to effectively capture and convey complex financial information), and how he strategically structures Asset Maps by focusing on five key components. We also discuss the strategic hiring practices that propelled Adam to his current position, advice for advisors aspiring to launch their own fintech companies, and what he believes is the key to success for newer advisors.

For show notes and more visit: https://www.kitces.com/336