I recently joined Laura Gregg from The Flexible Advisor Podcast to discuss working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic.  As financial advisors are on the front lines of our financial health and well-being, its important, now more than ever, for firms to be operating as seamlessly as possible.  In our podcast, we chat in detail… Read more

As you’re reading this, we are already well into the first quarter of the New Year and a new decade.  Looking out to the next 10 years what do you see for yourself, your team, and your clients?  What will keep motivating and engaging your team to do their best work? I posed this same… Read more

Many of the larger firms I work with have a dedicated Chief Technology Officer (CTO) role.  These firms have found that investing in technology staff and resources has raised the quality of service for their clients.  Several of these firms such as Bartlett Wealth Management have had in-house technology support for decades.  The original founders… Read more

I believe we are at the point in the advisory industry’s evolution where we need to move beyond the kind of ad hoc career development that has previously defined the advisory career track.  In the past, advisory jobs advanced and progressed as the firm grew without any systematic management or guidance.  Historically, it has taken… Read more

Why should financial advisory firms care about employee and team engagement?  According to Gallup, in the State of Employee Engagement 2018 Study, companies with engaged teams have dramatically higher job retention rates and lower absenteeism, higher productivity, and greater profitability. For advisory firms whose business model is built on client retention, your team is what… Read more

One of the most frequent questions I hear from firm owners concerns compensation. Are they paying employees competitively? With the U.S. unemployment rate at its lowest level since 1969, the question takes on particular urgency. So how do you determine and design a fair compensation plan that satisfies you and your employees? The answer lies… Read more

Most of the successful firms I have worked with over the years have a disciplined process in place to manage employees. This can range from setting initial job expectations to developing compensation plans and guiding overall career progression. During volatile market conditions, these processes are especially important because they help reinforce that employees can trust… Read more

Have you ever calculated the cost of hiring a new employee? It’s not cheap. In fact, research from Center for American Progress, citing 11 research papers published over a 15-year period, determined that the average cost to a company of turning over a highly skilled job can be more than 200% of the annual compensation… Read more

Most financial advisory firms believe technology is critical to the success of their firm. After all, the right software and digital tools can streamline many mundane but necessary administrative tasks, thereby enabling advisors to spend more time with their current and prospective clients. That said, technology is not without its downfalls. I’ve seen many firms… Read more