Getting Your Financial Business Featured in the Media with Allie Zendrian of AtoZ Communications

There is a version of PR that almost every financial advisory firm and fintech company has tried at least once. It starts with a junior employee — or a well-meaning founder — sitting down to write a press release. They run it through an AI tool to clean it up. They paste it into an email, pull a list of journalist contacts from a database, and hit send. A week later, nothing. They assume the press didn't care, and they move on.

Here's what they don't know: the reporters on the other end knew exactly what they were looking at. They spotted the AI polish, scanned for the hook that wasn't there, and moved on in about twelve seconds.

In this episode of the Modern Financial Advisor Podcast, recorded live at the Nitrogen Fearless Investing Summit in Denver, Colorado, Mike Langford sits down with Allie Zendrian — founder of AtoZ Communications and a former financial reporter who covered wealth management and fintech for Forbes, Institutional Investor, and TheStreet. Allie brings the rarest possible credential to the communications space: she spent years on the other side of the pitch email, deciding what was worth covering. Now she helps advisors and fintech companies get their stories told.

"Doing your own PR is penny wise and pound foolish."

~ Allie Zendrian, Founder, AtoZ Communications

Connect with Allie Zendrian on LinkedIn

What You’ll Learn in This Episode

• Why AI-generated press releases are quietly killing your credibility — and what reporters actually think the moment they land in their inbox

• The single most important question to ask before you pitch any story, any reporter, or any media outlet — and why it has nothing to do with your product features or your latest announcement

• Why advisors and fintech companies doing their own PR is "penny wise and pound foolish" — and what a more realistic, cost-effective approach actually looks like

• How Allie built one of the most connected networks in the wealth management and fintech space in under two years — starting from her days covering the industry at Forbes

• What it was like going from the Forbes newsroom to the "dark side" of PR — and why she has no regrets about making the switch

Why This Matters for Financial Advisors

There is an uncomfortable truth about the way most financial advisory firms and fintech companies approach their public presence: they either do nothing, or they do something that actively works against them.

The "do nothing" camp is easy to understand. Media outreach feels unpredictable, the payoff is hard to measure, and advisors already have more things competing for their attention than they can handle. So PR becomes the thing that gets pushed to next quarter, and then the quarter after that, until eventually it becomes the thing the firm just doesn't do.

The "do something badly" camp is trickier, because it often involves genuine effort. The press release gets written. The media list gets assembled. The emails go out. But the result is the same as doing nothing — or sometimes worse, because now there's a reporter out there who has mentally filed your firm under "people who don't know what makes a story." That association is hard to undo.

Allie Zendrian is one of the few people in the financial services PR space who can speak to both sides of this equation from direct personal experience. As a reporter at Forbes, Institutional Investor, and TheStreet, she received hundreds of pitches a week. She developed very fast, very accurate instincts for what was genuinely interesting and what was noise dressed up in press-release formatting. And the single fastest way to end up in the latter category, she explains in this conversation, is to send something that was clearly generated by AI and never seriously interrogated for whether it had a reason to exist.

The AI press release problem is more specific than it might sound. It's not just about tone or prose quality — experienced journalists can spot the pattern regardless of how polished the writing is. The real issue is what the AI polish signals: that the company hasn't done the hard work of asking whether their story is actually worth telling. That question — why would a reporter's readers care about this? — is the one most pitches never answer. It's not about your new feature, your funding round, your rebrand, or your award. It's about what changes in the world of the person reading the article. Allie walks through exactly how to think about that question in a way that's genuinely useful rather than just conceptually correct.

The conversation also gets into the economics of communications — specifically, why advisors and fintech founders who try to do their own PR almost always underinvest in it, get disappointing results, conclude that PR doesn't work for them, and move on. Allie calls this penny wise and pound foolish, and she's right. The cost of a meaningful media mention in the right outlet — the kind that builds credibility with exactly the clients or partners you're trying to reach — is difficult to calculate in advance, but it compounds in ways that almost no other marketing investment does. The advisor who gets the right coverage in the right place doesn't just get a short-term traffic bump. They get a permanent reference point that future clients and partners can find years later.

Resources Mentioned:

• AtoZ Communications — Allie's PR and communications firm for financial advisors and fintech companies

• Brand News — Allie's newsletter covering the business of wealth management and fintech

• Nitrogen Fearless Investing Summit — Where this episode was recorded live in Denver, Colorado

Related Episodes You May Like

If you enjoyed this conversation, you'll love these episodes too:

• The AI Paradox: How a Notetaking App Is Making Financial Advisors More Human featuring Matt Halloran, Co-Founder of Zocks Matt Halloran has spent his career helping financial advisors communicate better — first as a coach, now through the Zocks AI platform that frees advisors from note-taking so they can be fully present in client conversations. His perspective on the relationship between technology, authenticity, and advisor communication connects directly to what Allie discusses about how the best stories come from advisors who are genuinely engaged with their clients' lives. 🎧 Listen to the Matt Halloran / Zocks episode

• How Financial Advisors Can Create Gravity to Attract Clients vs Fighting Time and Scale Constraints featuring Michael Kitces, Co-Founder of XYPN Michael Kitces is one of the most recognized thought leaders in financial planning — a standing he built almost entirely through relentless, consistent content creation and media presence over many years. His conversation about how advisors can create "gravity" to attract clients rather than constantly chasing them is the strategic framework that sits behind everything Allie talks about tactically. If you want to understand why media coverage matters at a business-model level, this is the episode to pair with it. 🎧 Listen to the Michael Kitces / XYPN episode

• "How Much Have You Got?" — Why the AUM Model Is on Borrowed Time featuring Bob Veres, Publisher of Inside Information Bob Veres has been one of the most important media voices in the financial planning industry for decades. His Inside Information newsletter has shaped how advisors think about their profession longer than most advisors have been in business. Listening to Bob talk about where the industry is headed — and the business model pressures that are forcing advisors to rethink everything — gives important context for why advisors who build a public profile now are positioning themselves well for what comes next. 🎧 Listen to the Bob Veres / Inside Information episode

How Financial Advisors Can Win More Business Owner Clients with Cal Parker of BizEquity

Between 40 and 55% of millionaires in the United States are business owners. That's one of the biggest organic growth opportunities in wealth management today — and most advisors are barely scratching the surface of it.

In this episode of the Modern Financial Advisor Podcast, recorded live and in person at the Fearless Investing Summit in Denver, Colorado, Mike Langford sits down with Cal Parker, Managing Director at BizEquity, to talk about why now is the perfect time for financial advisors to level up their game when it comes to serving business owner clients.

Cal drops some genuinely eye-opening stats and insights — including the fact that 60% of business owners have never even discussed their exit plans with their spouse. If you're not having the business valuation conversation with your clients, someone else eventually will.

"If you're not doing that, why wouldn't they go to an advisor that is?"

— Cal Parker, VP of Sales and Strategy, BizEquity

Connect with Cal Parker on LinkedIn

What You’ll Learn in This Episode

• Why advisors have struggled for over a decade to provide meaningful, directional advice to business owner clients — and what BizEquity is doing to close that gap

• How offering a free business valuation can become one of the most powerful client acquisition tools in an advisor's arsenal — and why it's not as hard as most advisors think

• What BizEquity's new Exit Valuation Module does and how it helps advisors move from reactive to proactive in their planning conversations

• What "exit readiness" really means — and why it covers everything from the emotional side of leaving a business to the health of the company's documentation and systems

• How the brand new Private Company Valuation Index, launched in partnership with the American City Business Journals, gives advisors real-time market intelligence they can use to prospect smarter

• Why the Great Wealth Transfer means business owners are about to become the top organic growth driver for advisory firms over the next two to five years

Why This Matters for Financial Advisors

There is a gap that sits at the center of most advisory relationships with business owner clients — and almost nobody talks about it directly.

Advisors know that business owners represent an outsized share of high-net-worth wealth in this country. They actively seek out business owner clients. And yet, when it comes to the business itself — the thing that is almost certainly the client's largest single asset — most advisors have very little to offer beyond plugging a rough number into eMoney or RightCapital and hoping it's in the ballpark.

Cal Parker puts it plainly: that's been a problem for over ten years. And it's a problem with a real cost. If your client's business is worth $10 million but you've been planning around $5 million, the retirement plan you've built together is built on a foundation of sand. And if your client is worth $2 million when they thought they were worth $10 million... that's a conversation you absolutely should be having with them now — not after a buyer walks away from the table.

BizEquity was built to solve exactly this problem. The platform gives advisors the tools to value a client's business accurately, model what that business could be worth at different growth rates over the next five or ten years, and assess how ready that business actually is for an eventual sale or transfer.

That last piece — exit readiness — is one of the most interesting parts of this conversation. Most advisors think about a business valuation as a number. But Cal walks through how BizEquity's upcoming exit readiness module approaches it as a scorecard. Is the business financially sound? Are the books clean and well-documented? Is there a successor identified? How strong is the marketing presence? How systematized are the operations?

A buyer isn't just buying a number. They're buying a business they'll have to run. And every weak area in that scorecard is either a discount on the purchase price or a reason to walk away entirely. The advisors who can help their clients understand and improve that scorecard — years before an exit — are the ones who will earn the deepest trust and the longest-lasting relationships.

The conversation also digs into something that doesn't get nearly enough attention: the emotional dimension of business exit planning. Cal shares a striking statistic — 60% of business owners have never even discussed their exit plans with their spouse. That means the most financially significant decision of a family's life is, in most cases, a conversation that hasn't happened yet. The advisor who opens that door is not just providing a financial service. They're doing something much more meaningful.

And then there's the prospecting angle. The new Private Company Valuation Index that BizEquity launched in partnership with the American City Business Journals is a genuinely fascinating tool — not just for understanding what your current clients' businesses are worth in context, but for identifying opportunities. What does a dental practice in your metro area typically sell for? What are the revenue and EBITDA benchmarks for manufacturing businesses in your state? What industries are seeing valuation compression because of tariffs or economic headwinds right now? That's the kind of intelligence that used to be available only to investment bankers and M&A advisors. BizEquity is putting it in the hands of financial advisors.

The timing, as Cal points out, could not be better. The Great Wealth Transfer is no longer a future event — it's happening now. Advisors who build the skills, the conversations, and the tools to serve business owners today are positioning themselves to capture an enormous share of that wealth as it moves.

Resources Mentioned:

• BizEquity — Business valuation and exit planning platform for financial advisors

• BizEquity Exit Valuation Module — Model future business value and support proactive exit planning conversations

• Private Company Valuation Index — The first real-time index of private company valuations, launched in partnership with the American City Business Journals

• Fearless Investing Summit — Hosted by Nitrogen Wealth

Related Episodes You May Like

If you enjoyed this conversation, you'll love these episodes too:

• Why Serving Business Owners is the Secret Sauce to Building a Vibrant Wealth Management Firm featuring Jason Early, CEO of RISR Jason Early and Cal Parker are singing from the same hymnal on the business owner opportunity. If this episode got you thinking about how to build your practice around business owner clients, Jason's deep dive into the RISR platform and the "riches in niches" strategy for advisors is the perfect next listen. 🎧 Listen to the Jason Early / RISR episode

• Why Financial Advisors Who Embrace New Business Models and Adopt AI Today Will Be the Last Ones Standing featuring Steve Lockshin, Founder of AdvicePeriod and Vanilla Cal talks about the value of getting ahead of the exit conversation with business owner clients — and Steve Lockshin has been making that same case for estate planning for years. His perspective on why advisors who tackle the big, complex problems win the deepest client relationships connects directly to everything Cal discusses in this episode. 🎧 Listen to the Steve Lockshin / Vanilla episode

• How VRGL Is Turning Prospecting Into a Scalable Growth Engine for Financial Advisors featuring Kyle Zasky, CEO of VRGL Cal's discussion of the Private Company Valuation Index as a prospecting tool pairs naturally with Kyle Zasky's conversation about how advisors can use data and analytics to walk into a prospect meeting with a clear, compelling value proposition. Two different tools, the same fundamental insight: the advisors who show up prepared with meaningful intelligence win more clients. 🎧 Listen to the Kyle Zasky / VRGL episode

Why Your Clients Don't Need a 75-Page Report (And What to Give Them Instead)

What if the most powerful thing you could hand a client after a meeting wasn't a detailed report — but something their spouse could actually pick up off the kitchen counter and understand?

That's the question at the heart of this conversation with Alison Susko, VP of Community at Asset-Map. Recorded live at the Fearless Investing Summit in Denver, this episode is a refreshingly honest look at why simplicity might be the most underrated competitive advantage in financial planning today.

Alison has spent nearly 20 years in the industry — including close to a decade at eMoney Advisor before joining Asset-Map — and she brings a practitioner's perspective to a discussion that every advisor working in a complex, report-heavy environment needs to hear.

"Clients aren't shopping for another advisor because of a rate of return. They're potentially shopping around because they never got to know their spouse's advisor — or they never felt that connection where they really knew what was going on."

— Alison Susko, VP of Community, Asset-Map

Connect with Alison Susko on LinkedIn

What You’ll Learn in This Episode

• Why most financial planning reports are essentially useless without the advisor in the room to explain them — and why that's a bigger problem than most advisors realize

• Who the "non-CFO spouse" is, why they matter enormously to your client relationships, and what it looks like when they finally see their finances on one visual page

• How Asset-Map's new integration with eMoney became their fastest-growing integration of all time — and what that says about where the industry is headed

• How JUMP AI can listen to a client meeting and automatically build an Asset-Map report in real time — and what that means for advisor efficiency

• Why clients don't leave advisors over rates of return — and what they actually leave over

• How Relationship Maps are helping advisors keep track of blended families, gray divorces, step-grandchildren, and three-generation households

• The broader industry trend Alison sees clearly: a shift away from complexity and toward relationship-first, visually-driven financial planning

• Why the old "husband, wife, and 2.5 kids" planning model simply doesn't reflect the families advisors are serving today

Why This Matters for Financial Advisors

There is a tension that sits at the center of most advisory relationships that almost nobody talks about directly. Advisors are trained to be thorough. Comprehensive. Detailed. And there's real value in that. Nobody is arguing that deep financial analysis doesn't matter.

But there's a difference between the analysis you do for a client and the communication you share with a client. And for too long, the industry has handed clients the former when what they needed was the latter.

Alison puts it plainly: when clients are confused, they can't make good decisions. And a client who can't make good decisions with you will eventually make them without you.

Asset-Map was built on the insight that a single visual page — showing a household's key people, income sources, assets, liabilities, and insurance — does more for client engagement than a detailed report that requires professional translation. Not because the detail isn't valuable, but because the visual opens the conversation in a way that complexity never can.

One of the most striking moments in this episode comes when Alison describes what advisors tell her they hear from clients who see an Asset-Map report for the first time: "This is the first time I've ever seen my finances in a way I could actually consume it." And then: "This is what I've always wanted. I just didn't know how to ask for it."

That's not a technology story. That's a relationship story. And it points to something bigger happening across the industry right now.

The same open architecture trend that has made broker-dealers more flexible about the tools their advisors use is also changing what clients expect from their planning experience. They want to be engaged — not just informed. They want a financial plan that feels like it belongs to them, not one that requires an expert to decode.

This episode also spends time on a topic that's showing up in more and more conversations on the show: multi-generational planning. The traditional model of serving a primary client couple and maybe flagging their heirs is giving way to something much more complex — blended families, late-in-life divorces, grandparents whose priorities have shifted entirely to grandchildren, and younger clients who are now bringing their parents to the table instead of the other way around.

Asset-Map's new Relationship Maps feature is a direct response to that complexity. It gives advisors a way to visually map the whole family — assign assets, flag relationships, track who belongs to whom — so they can walk into every meeting fully oriented to the household as it actually exists. Not as a tidy nuclear family unit, but as the beautiful, messy, ever-changing human reality it is.

That's what client-centered planning actually looks like in practice. And it's exactly the kind of thinking that keeps clients around for decades.

Resources Mentioned:

• Fearless Investing Summit 2026 — Hosted by Nitrogen Wealth

• Adam Holt’s Podcast Appearance with Mike Langford and John Prendergast of Blueleaf.

Related Episodes You May Like

If you enjoyed this conversation, you'll love these episodes too:

• The AI Paradox: How a Notetaking App Is Making Financial Advisors More Human featuring Matt Halloran, Chief Evangelist at Zocks The JUMP AI integration Alison discusses in this episode has a natural companion in the conversation Mike had with Matt Halloran about AI note-taking for advisors. If you want to go deeper on how AI tools are freeing advisors to focus on relationships rather than administrative tasks, this is the episode to queue up next. 🎧 Listen to the Matt Halloran / Zocks episode

• SUMA Wealth and the Power of Serving a Specific Community featuring Beatriz Acevedo, CEO & Co-Founder of SUMA Wealth When Alison talks about the younger generation bringing their parents to the financial planning table — especially in immigrant families — it points to something Beatriz Acevedo identified long ago at SUMA Wealth. Beatriz's discovery that young clients on the platform manage an average of three accounts for older family members is one of the most important data points about multi-generational planning in the industry. This episode will change how you think about who the gateway client really is. 🎧 Listen to the Beatriz Acevedo / SUMA Wealth episode

• "How Much Have You Got?" — The Awkward Present and Bold Future of Financial Planning featuring Bob Veres, Publisher of Inside Information This one has a special connection — Mike sat down with Bob at the exact same conference, earlier that same day, and Alison actually references the conversation in this episode. Bob has been watching this industry evolve for over 40 years, and his take on the shift away from complexity and toward relationship-first planning runs in the same direction as everything Alison describes. If this episode got you thinking about where the industry is headed, Bob's episode is the next conversation to have. 🎧 Listen to the Bob Veres / Inside Information episode

"How Much Have You Got?" — Bob Veres on the Awkward Present and Bold Future of Financial Planning

Some conversations are comfortable. This is not one of them.

Recorded live at the Fearless Investing Summit in front of a room full of financial professionals, I sat down with Bob Veres — veteran industry journalist, consultant, and publisher of the widely read Inside Information newsletter — for one of the most candid conversations about the financial planning profession I've had in 144 episodes of this show.

Bob has been watching this industry evolve since before most advisors reading this post were in the business. He's seen the transitions, the extinction events, the inertia, and the pockets of genuine progress. And right now, he sees a profession that is stuck in what he calls an "awkward present" — caught between where it came from and where it needs to go.

If you are comfortable with how things are running in your practice, this episode might make you a little uncomfortable. That's probably a good thing.

Connect with Bob Veres on LinkedIn

What You’ll Learn in This Episode

• Why Bob believes financial planning is not yet a true profession — and what it would take to become one

• The single biggest structural flaw in the AUM model, explained in one devastating sentence

• Why the next generation of clients and advisors will reject the status quo — and what that means for established firms

• How "inertia" is the silent killer of advisory businesses that are otherwise thriving today

• Bob's avalanche theory — why you won't see the disruption coming until it's already arrived

• How AI will help advisors serve twice as many clients without losing the relationship quality that defines great advice

• Bob's vision for a future financial planning ecosystem built around specialization and a "fiduciary superconductor" referral network

Why the Present Is So Awkward

I opened the conversation by asking Bob about a phrase he'd used in a recent interview that stuck with me: "the present is awkward."

His answer cut right to the heart of the identity problem this profession has been wrestling with for decades.

The core issue, Bob argues, is that financial planning calls itself an industry when the people he most respects think of it as a profession. And the two have very different standards. A profession has a common language, a shared ethos, and a clear value proposition that consumers can understand at a glance.

Right now, financial planning has none of those things in a consistent way. You've got the NAPFA people, the FPA people, the broker-dealer folks, the wirehouse advisors — and within each group, sub-tribes with entirely different philosophies about how they charge, what they offer, and who they serve.

The result? Consumers don't really know what a financial advisor does. And that's a problem that goes far deeper than a marketing challenge.

"If you go to a doctor, you're pretty sure you know what a doctor does. If you go to a lawyer, you know what the lawyer does. When you go to a financial planner — well, do you sell insurance? Do you take commissions? Do you take an asset management fee, and how much of that is hidden?"

~ Bob Veres

Resources Mentioned:

• Fearless Investing Summit 2026 — Hosted by Nitrogen Wealth

• Inside Information Newsletter — Bob's monthly newsletter and research publication

Related Episodes You May Like

If you enjoyed this conversation, you'll love these episodes too:

• The RIA Fee-for-Service Revolution with Alan Moore, Co-Founder of XYPN

  Listen to the episode

  Alan makes the case that fee-for-service models don't just serve younger clients better — they unlock an entirely new growth engine for advisors willing to make the shift.

• Why Advisors Who Embrace AI and New Business Models Will Be the Last Ones Standing with Steve Lockshin, Founder of AdvicePeriod and Vanilla

  Listen to the episode

  Steve and Bob are singing from the same hymnal on the AUM model — here's another bold take on what the future of pricing and technology looks like for advisors who are willing to move first.

• How Financial Advisors Can Create Gravity to Attract Clients with Michael Kitces

  Listen to the episode

  Bob and Michael Kitces famously disagree on a few things — including whether technology actually makes advisors more productive. Hear Michael's side of the argument here and decide for yourself.

Banks Are Stealing Your Clients. Here’s How to Fight Back.

Guest: Bob Clare, Founder & CEO at Fispoke

What if the big banks are already running a strategy to take your clients — and most advisors have no idea it’s happening?

What if being a true fiduciary means managing your client’s full balance sheet — not just their investment portfolio?

That’s the uncomfortable reality at the center of this episode of the Modern Financial Advisor Podcast, where host Mike Langford sits down with Bob Clare, Founder and CEO of Fispoke, for a conversation that challenges the way most independent advisors think about their role, their risk, and their opportunity.

Bob spent 25 years inside Bank of America and Merrill Lynch. He watched from the inside as those institutions built highly efficient cross-selling machines, deliberately moving clients from banking relationships into wealth management. He saw it so clearly that when he left to build something of his own, he named his first LLC “Unbroken Wealth” — because he believed, in his core, that the wealth management industry was broken. (He eventually landed on a better name.)

The result is Fispoke: a complete, advisor-branded embedded banking and lending platform that gives independent RIAs and broker-dealer affiliated advisors access to the same banking toolkit that the wirehouses have always had — high-yield savings, mortgages, securities-backed lending, credit cards, advisor financing, and more. All integrated into the advisor’s existing workflow. All with no platform fee.

This is one of those episodes that reframes how you think about your practice. The gap Bob is closing isn’t just a product gap. It’s a fiduciary gap.

Connect with Bob Clare on LinkedIn

What You’ll Learn in This Episode

• Why the big banks are your biggest competitive threat right now — Bank of America’s CFO publicly stated that more than two-thirds of Merrill Lynch clients also have a bank relationship with BofA — and the bank’s explicit strategy is to convert retail banking clients into wealth management clients. Bob spent 25 years watching this machine operate. Every time your client walks into a major bank for a mortgage or savings account, your relationship is at risk.

• The offensive AND defensive case for integrating banking — It’s not just about protecting what you have. Advisors who incorporate cash management, lending, and credit solutions gain greater control of the client’s full balance sheet, deepen wallet share, increase client stickiness, and create recurring revenue streams that aren’t correlated to market performance.

• Why calling yourself a fiduciary while ignoring banking is a contradiction — Bob makes a pointed argument: if you’re a fiduciary and you’re not actively managing both sides of your client’s balance sheet, you’re leaving a $4 trillion gap unaddressed. Complete financial advice means assets and liabilities together — not siloed.

• $20.5 million in FDIC insurance: the sleep-at-night conversation advisors can now have — Through Fispoke’s partnership with Bell Bank and ModernFi, advisors can offer clients up to $20.5 million in FDIC-insured coverage — spread automatically across approximately 250 program banks — alongside a 3.56% APY high-yield savings rate. In a period of market volatility, this is a powerful conversation to be able to have.

• From portfolio manager to capital architect — Bob introduces the concept of the “capital architect” — an advisor who manages the full range of capital, banking, and lending solutions for clients, functioning essentially as a complete family office for every client at every wealth level. It’s the next step on the advisor’s evolutionary continuum.

• The 81% problem and what banking has to do with it — According to the Capgemini World Wealth Report, 81% of heirs switch advisors after inheriting wealth. Advisors who build multi-generational banking relationships — engaging clients’ children with high-yield savings accounts, mortgages, and other products — are far better positioned to retain that wealth when it transfers.

• Getting started: no platform fees, no contract negotiation — Fispoke charges advisors no platform fee. Advisors sign a standard agreement, complete onboarding, and are up and running with a fully advisor-branded banking platform integrated with their CRM. Bob’s team provides training materials, marketing collateral, and a dedicated service team. Start at fispoke.com or sales@fispoke.com.

Why It Matters

The financial advisory industry has spent decades talking about “comprehensive financial planning.” But for most of that time, comprehensive has really meant comprehensive on the asset side. Investments. Retirement projections. Tax efficiency. Insurance.

What it has rarely included — because the infrastructure simply didn’t exist for independent advisors — is the other half of the client’s financial life. Cash. Credit. Loans. Mortgages. The stuff that happens at the bank.

Fispoke changes that equation. And the timing couldn’t be more relevant. With market volatility running high, clients are asking harder questions about the safety of their cash. With the great wealth transfer accelerating, advisors face an 81% attrition risk on inherited assets. With the big banks running explicit cross-sell strategies, independent advisors are playing defense without knowing it.

Bob Clare has lived all three of those dynamics from the inside. What he’s built is a direct response to all three — a platform that lets every independent advisor compete with the banking capabilities of the wirehouses, without giving up their independence.

As Mike puts it in the episode, this is a genuine first-mover opportunity. The advisors who integrate banking now will be having conversations that their competitors simply cannot have. That’s a differentiation story that doesn’t require a better pitch deck or a new marketing campaign. It just requires showing up with the right tools.

“If your client is an affluent client and they apply for a mortgage, or if they go to a bank for a savings solution, and the advisor is not part of that conversation — your entire relationship is jeopardized. Flat out. That’s the reality of the market today.”

~ Bob Clare, Founder & CEO, Fispoke

Resources Mentioned:

• •       Fispoke — The complete embedded banking and lending platform for independent financial advisors

  •       Bell Bank — Fispoke’s flagship banking partner; one of the largest privately owned banks in the U.S.

  •       Sage Home Loans — Fispoke’s mortgage partner; rates averaging ~40 bps below national average

  •       ModernFi — The technology that enables Fispoke’s $20.5M FDIC insurance coverage across ~250 program banks

  •       Capgemini World Wealth Report — Source of the 81% heir advisor-switching statistic

Related Episodes You May Like

If you enjoyed this conversation, you'll love these episodes too:

• Why RIAs and Independent Financial Advisors Who Add Banking Services Are Poised for Rapid Growth — Terry Mullen, Fispoke

  Terry Mullen, Chief Revenue Officer of Fispoke, joined Mike for the “coming soon” episode that set the stage for this one. If you haven’t heard it, start there — Terry lays out the vision, the market opportunity, and why the timing is right for embedded banking in the RIA ecosystem.

• How Advisors Can Tap the Hidden Growth Potential in Their Clients’ Communities — Beatriz Acevedo, SUMA Wealth

  Beatriz Acevedo, CEO of SUMA Wealth, explores how financial advisors can engage underserved communities by meeting clients where they are — including through banking relationships. Her insight that younger clients are often the gateway to older generations mirrors Bob’s multi-generational banking strategy almost exactly.

Love Your Customer or Quit: The 4 Pillars of Client Experience That Actually Matter

Guest: Rich Walker, Co-Founder & CEO at Quik!

What if AI could actually make you more human with your clients?

What if the secret to extraordinary client service was simpler—and harder—than you think?

That's the question at the heart of this episode of the Modern Financial Advisor Podcast, where host Mike Langford sits down with Rich Walker, co-founder and CEO of Quik!, to explore the four essential pillars of creating exceptional client experiences in wealth management.

Rich shares a story that most business owners would never admit: He and his wife shut down a profitable business after just four months. The reason? They didn't love their customers. It was a weight-loss business his wife (a nurse) had built to break-even profitability in record time. But when she realized she fundamentally didn't enjoy working with clients who didn't enjoy solving their own problem, they made the hard call to walk away.

That moment crystallized the first—and most important—pillar of client experience: Love your customer. If you don't, how can you possibly give them the best experience?

This episode isn't about surface-level customer service tactics. It's about the foundational principles that separate advisors who build thriving, sustainable practices from those who burn out trying to serve everyone.

Connect with Rich Walker on LinkedIn

What You’ll Learn in This Episode

• The 4 pillars of exceptional client experience—and why most advisors get them wrong
  Rich breaks down his framework for building genuine, lasting client relationships: (1) Love your customer, (2) Be your first customer, (3) Be on your customer's team, and (4) Know and enforce your boundaries. These aren't fluffy concepts—they're actionable principles backed by decades of experience.

• Why a 99% customer satisfaction score might actually be a red flag
  Rich's company maintained a 99-100% satisfaction score for three years straight. Sounds perfect, right? Wrong. Rich explains how that score revealed they weren't setting proper boundaries, were training clients to be dependent instead of empowered, and were putting unsustainable stress on their team.

• The Alamo Drafthouse principle: How boundaries create better experiences
  Discover why one of Austin's most beloved businesses succeeds by being willing to kick customers out—and what that teaches advisors about setting clear expectations that make clients feel more secure, not less.

• Why children feel love when they know the boundaries (and so do clients)
  Rich shares wisdom from his mother about parenting that translates directly to client relationships: boundaries don't diminish love—they create the framework for it. Learn how to set professional boundaries that actually strengthen client trust.

• How to treat AI as a colleague instead of a tool
  Rich reveals his breakthrough approach to working with AI: stop prompting it like a robot and start collaborating with it like a human coworker. He shares the story of how he asked ChatGPT why it kept using em-dashes—and the answer completely changed how he uses AI.

• The TurboTax approach to forms that could save advisors months of onboarding time
  Rich unveils Quik!'s revolutionary new product, Formstream, which dynamically generates software from forms on the fly. Instead of spending months building digital account opening workflows that break every time compliance changes, advisors will soon be able to adapt instantly.

• Why only 30% of companies are actually using AI—and why you haven't missed the boat
  Despite all the hype, the vast majority of businesses still aren't doing anything meaningful with AI. Rich explains why we're still in the early days and what that means for advisors who feel overwhelmed by the pace of change.

• The collaborative AI approach that produces better prompts than you could ever write
  Instead of trying to craft the perfect prompt, Rich has a conversation with AI about the problem he's trying to solve, then asks the AI to write the prompt itself. The results? Highly technical, perfectly structured prompts he could never have created on his own.

Why It Matters

The financial advisory industry has spent decades telling advisors to "put the client first" and "deliver exceptional service." But what does that actually mean in practice?

Rich Walker has distilled it down to four concrete, actionable pillars. And here's what makes them so powerful: they're not about doing more. They're about being more intentional.

When you love your customers, you naturally want to serve them better. When you solve your own problems first, you deeply understand what your clients need. When you position yourself as a guide instead of a hero, you create collaborative relationships. And when you set clear boundaries, you create the structure that allows trust to flourish.

These principles apply whether you're a solo RIA with 50 clients or a wirehouse advisor managing 300 relationships. They work in bull markets and bear markets. They're timeless.

As Rich puts it:

"If you don't love your customer, how can you possibly think that you'll give them the best experience? But when you love your customer, you just naturally emote to them. You naturally want to do the things that they need done."

Resources Mentioned:

• Quik! Forms – Automating paperwork for financial advisors for 24 years

1. Formstream (launching soon) – Dynamic software generation from forms

2. The Customer Wins Podcast – Rich's podcast about customer success and experience

3. Building a StoryBrand by Donald Miller – The book that inspired Rich's "be on your customer's team" principle

4. Sarah Vogelsanger, United Planners – The client who gave Rich honest feedback about phone response times

5. Thomas Gold Solutions – Retirement planning software that prioritizes answering the phone

6. Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas – The Austin theater that sets boundaries and kicks people out

Related Episodes You May Like

If you enjoyed this conversation, you'll love these episodes too:

• The AI Paradox: How a Notetaking App Is Making Financial Advisors More Human
  Matt Halloran of Zocks shares how AI-powered notetaking is helping advisors be more present with clients by capturing the details they might otherwise miss.

• Michael Kitces Explains How Financial Advisors Can Create Gravity to Attract Clients
  Michael Kitces breaks down why time-based marketing doesn't scale, the "Tyranny of the Denominator," and how building gravity around a clear niche can multiply your growth—connecting directly to Rich's principle of "be your first customer" and solving problems you deeply understand.

• Alan Moore from XYPN Live on Entrepreneurship, Escape Velocity, and the RIA Fee-For-Service Revolution
  Alan Moore, CEO of XYPN, shares how advisors can grow stronger businesses by thinking like entrepreneurs and setting proper boundaries—echoing Rich's framework on knowing and enforcing boundaries to create sustainable client relationships.

The AI Paradox: How a Notetaking App Is Making Financial Advisors More Human

Guest: Matt Halloran, Chief Evangelist at Zocks

What if AI could actually make you more human with your clients?

That's the counterintuitive promise at the heart of this episode of the Modern Financial Advisor Podcast, where host Mike Langford sits down with Matt Halloran, Chief Evangelist at Zocks, to explore how AI-powered notetaking is transforming the advisor-client relationship.

Matt shares a powerful story that every advisor needs to hear: an advisor who nearly missed a critical health issue his client's spouse mentioned during a meeting—because she got quiet, and he couldn't hear her. But Zocks did. The AI captured what the human ear missed, giving the advisor crucial information that would have otherwise slipped through the cracks.

This episode isn't about replacing advisors with robots. It's about how technology can free advisors from the "tyranny of minutiae" and help them be fully present in the moments that matter most.

Chat with MattGPT Today

What You’ll Learn in This Episode

• Why AI has "no baggage"—and why that makes it the perfect listener
  Matt explains how AI doesn't get distracted by bad days, biases, or personal triggers. It listens with "the purest form of listening," capturing details that even the best advisors might miss.

• The health issue story every advisor should hear
  Discover how one advisor's AI notetaker caught a serious health concern that he physically couldn't hear during a client meeting—and why this moment illustrates the power of AI to make you more human, not less.

• How to reclaim 10+ hours per week
  Based on data from 2 million meetings, Zocks users are saving massive amounts of time on meeting prep, note-taking, and follow-up emails. Learn how advisors are using that time to actually serve clients.

• The follow-up email that's closing more business
  Matt shares how a simple, AI-generated follow-up email—personalized and prompt—helped one advisor win a prospect over three competitors. It's proof that being present and responsive matters more than ever.

• Why 95% of Zocks users use it every single day
  Most software gets bought and forgotten. Zocks has a 95% daily adoption rate. Matt breaks down why this tool has become indispensable for advisors.

• The compliance advantage: transcription vs. recording
  Unlike competitors that record meetings (requiring storage of millions of hours of audio), Zocks uses real-time transcription. No recordings to store. No massive compliance headaches. Just clean, searchable text.

• Why adoption rates are skyrocketing from 10% to 90% in 18 months
  When Matt first started speaking about AI at industry conferences 18 months ago, only 10% of advisors were using it. Now? 90% at top producer conferences like MDRT Edge. The train has left the station—and advisors who don't get on will be left behind.

Why It Matters

The financial advisory industry is at an inflection point.

Clients expect faster, more personalized service. Younger advisors expect modern technology. Compliance requirements are only getting more complex. And the competition for talent and clients is fiercer than ever.

Advisors who embrace AI tools like Zocks aren't just working smarter—they're positioning themselves to thrive in the next decade of this business.

As Matt puts it:

"This isn't the future. This is today. And if you're not on this train, you're going to lose business. You're going to lose clients. Because this is what clients expect now.

Resources Mentioned:

Related Episodes You May Like

If you enjoyed this conversation, you'll love these episodes too:

• Michael Kitces Explains How Financial Advisors Can Create Gravity to Attract Clients vs Fighting Time and Scale Constraints
  Michael Kitces breaks down why time-based marketing doesn't scale, the "Tyranny of the Denominator," and how building gravity around a clear niche can multiply your growth—plus why separating sales from service is essential for scaling firms.

• Steve Lockshin on AI and the Future of Wealth Management
  Steve Lockshin, founder of AdvicePeriod and Vanilla, discusses how AI and tokenization will transform the industry—and why advisors who don't adapt will be left behind.

• Dan Zitting on Removing Friction from the Advisor Workflow
  Dan Zitting, CEO of Nitrogen, shares how reducing technology friction enables advisors to spend more time with clients and less time fighting their software.

Alan Moore from XYPN Live on Entrepreneurship, Escape Velocity, and the RIA Fee-For-Service Revolution

Alan Moore on Building Advisor Businesses That Scale with Purpose

On this episode of the Modern Financial Advisor Podcast, I sat down in person with Alan Moore, CEO and Co-Founder of XY Planning Network (XYPN) and AdvicePay, during the XYPN LIVE Conference in Austin, Texas.

If you’ve ever wondered how to grow a financial advisory business that thrives without losing your soul—or your sanity—this conversation with Alan is a must-listen.

Over the last decade, Alan and his co-founder Michael Kitces have built XYPN into a community of more than 2,000 independent advisors who are redefining what it means to deliver financial planning. They’ve done it by empowering advisors to serve clients the way they want to be served—with flexible fee-for-service models, subscription pricing, and a focus on helping younger clients earlier in their financial journey.

Connect with XYPN

What You’ll Learn in This Episode

From Picking Up the Phone to Building a Movement

Alan shared how XYPN began with a simple idea… help advisors like himself who wanted to serve younger clients and build sustainable, fee-only businesses.

Alan credits Jude Boudreaux of The Planning Network, for inspiring him to "be the guy who picks up the phone” because Jude answered Alan’s call and was open to helping him when he was starting out.

When he launched his firm in 2012, few 25-year-old advisors were striking out on their own. But Alan’s willingness to share what he was learning quickly created demand. Within a year, he’d fielded 100 calls from other advisors asking for help.

That insight led to an email exchange with Michael Kitces, and by 2014, the two launched XYPN with a goal of onboarding 20 founding members in four months. They had 31 in the first week.

Today, more than 2,000 member firms later, XYPN continues to expand its impact on the profession.

Learning to Lead at Scale

One of the most powerful parts of our conversation was Alan’s honesty about how much he has had to grow as a leader.

“I learned very early on that I am an awful people manager,” Alan said with a laugh. “So I surrounded myself with people who complement my weaknesses.”

That self-awareness led him to adopt the EOS (Entrepreneurial Operating System) framework, giving his teams clarity and structure as XYPN and AdvicePay scaled to more than 100 employees combined.

Alan also credits the Working Genius framework for helping him and Michael Kitces understand where each of them adds the most value—and where they should delegate.

Treating Advisors as Entrepreneurs

At XYPN LIVE, Alan and Michael took the stage together for a live recording of the Behind the Advisor podcast, walking attendees through the Launching, Building, and Scaling phases of an advisory business.

It’s an entrepreneurial lens rarely applied to financial advisors, but Alan believes it’s essential.

“Running a financial planning firm isn’t a formula—it’s art,” he said. “You get to paint the picture however you want. The key is being intentional about what you’re building and why.”

Alan encourages advisors to think in phases, to expect those early years to be hard, and to make sure they have the financial and emotional runway to persevere until they hit “escape velocity.”

Why Fee-for-Service Models Unlock Growth

A core focus of XYPN and AdvicePay has been helping advisors adopt subscription and fee-for-service models.

Alan explained that most Americans don’t have enough investable assets to fit the traditional AUM model—and that’s a business-model problem, not a client problem.

“Fee-for-service unlocks the other 48% of Americans who make a solid income but don’t have a million dollars to invest yet,” he said. “It allows advisors to profitably serve clients they couldn’t have before.”

That insight led directly to the creation of AdvicePay, the compliant payment platform built by Alan and Michael to make subscription billing and one-time payments easy—and regulator-approved—for advisors.

Building Gravity as a Founder

Toward the end of the episode, Alan and I talked about influence—how leaders like him and Michael Kitces have created “gravity” that attracts advisors, partners, and opportunities to their orbit.

Alan shared that his secret isn’t self-promotion—it’s partnership.

“Michael and I have completely different Working Geniuses,” Alan explained. “He thrives on being out front and connecting with people. I thrive on running the business. Together, we create balance.”

It’s a reminder that building influence in this industry isn’t about being loud—it’s about being authentic and playing to your strengths.

Resources Mentioned:

• XY Planning Network

• AdvicePay

• Behind the Advisor Podcast (XYPN)

• Alan Moore on LinkedIn

• Pam Horack, CFP® — “Your Financial Mom”

• Carl Richards

• Jude Boudreaux, CFP® — The Planning Center

• EOS Framework

• Working Genius

Related Episodes You May Like

If you enjoyed this conversation, you’ll love these episodes too:

• Michael Kitces Explains How Financial Advisors Can Create Gravity to Attract Clients vs. Fighting Time and Scale Constraints

• Financial Advisors Who Embrace New Business Models and Adopt AI Today Will Be the Last Ones Standing — with Steve Lockshin of Vanilla

Michael Kitces Explains How Financial Advisors Can Create Gravity to Attract Clients vs Fighting Time and Scale Constraints

Guest: Michael Kitces

Organizations: XY Planning Network | AdvicePay | Kitces.com

If there’s one person whose work has shaped how financial advisors think about building modern, scalable, and values-driven firms, it’s Michael Kitces.

From the iconic Kitces Blue blog and the Financial Advisor Success podcast to co-founding XY Planning Network and AdvicePay, Michael has spent his career helping advisors professionalize the business of advice.

In this in-person episode of the Modern Financial Advisor Podcast, recorded live at XYPN Live 2025 in Austin, Michael joins host Mike Langford to talk about how advisors can build gravity—that powerful pull that attracts your ideal clients and team members—by focusing on a clearly defined market and scalable systems.

Connect with XYPN

What You’ll Learn in This Episode

• Why “time-based” marketing doesn’t scale

  Michael breaks down why prospecting models that rely on your time—networking, referrals, cold outreach—inevitably anti-scale as your firm grows.

• The “Tyranny of the Denominator”

  Michael Kitces revisits one of his most enduring ideas, explaining why maintaining high growth rates gets harder as your AUM base expands, and how strategic focus can break the cycle.

  Read the original Kitces.com post

• How to build gravity around a clear niche

  “We’re all terrified of who we’re not going to get,” Kitces says, “but you already don’t get 99.9% of the people you meet.” Focusing on one audience—like doctors in residency or young tech founders—can multiply your growth.

• Why separating sales from service is essential

  Kitces argues that the traditional model of advisors as both business developers and relationship managers is a relic of the brokerage era—and that scaling firms must rethink this structure.

• How XY Planning Network and AdvicePay empower advisor independence

  Learn how XYPN helps advisors launch and run their own RIAs, providing full compliance, tech stack, and community support—so they can focus on serving their clients, not paperwork.

• The “Advicer” Mindset
  Kitces also shares the inspiration behind the Financial Advicer Manifesto, a seven-point statement of values that defines what it means to be an independent, advice-centric fiduciary in today’s landscape.

  Read The Advicer Manifesto

  “Advisors who thrive are the ones who get clear on who they serve, what problems they solve, and why it matters,” he says. “That’s what creates gravity. That’s what scales.”

Why It Matters

As Michael reminds us, “Scaling isn’t about doing more—it’s about doing less, better.”

Whether you’re running a solo firm or leading an enterprise, the lesson is the same: pick a niche, build systems that serve it, and let the gravity of your reputation do the heavy lifting.

Resources Mentioned:

• Kitces.com – Research, CE, and industry insights

• XY Planning Network – Launch your own RIA with full compliance and tech support

• XYPN Compliance Services – Support for RIAs handling registration, filings, and ongoing requirements

• AdvicePay – Payment processing platform for fee-for-service advisors

• Vocatus LLC – Thanks to Ray Hennessey, Lisa Aldape, and team for the introduction

• Michael Kitces on LinkedIn

Related Episodes You May Like

If you enjoyed this conversation, you’ll love these episodes too:

• Redefining Growth for Advisors — Dan Zitting of Nitrogen Wealth

• AI Advertising for RIAs — Ian Karnell of VastAdvisor

• Building Advisor Workflows That Scale — Louis Retief of Hubly

Building the Back Office of the Future: AI Agents and Operations Tech That Will Transform Advisory Businesses

What if the most powerful lever for growth in your advisory business isn’t marketing or client service… but operations?

That’s the message from David Knoch, CEO of Docupace, in this episode of the Modern Financial Advisor Podcast hosted by Mike Langford.

David and Mike dive into the operational backbone of wealth management: the systems, processes, and people that make it possible for financial advisors to deliver on the promises they make to clients.

While most of the industry’s innovation has focused on the client experience, David argues that the real transformation (and the biggest inefficiencies) still live behind the scenes. As he puts it, “The industry is still pretty archaic in its operation.”

He estimates it’s a $50 billion problem, with error rates on paper-based workflows as high as 60% and compliance alerts that produce 95% false positives. All of that friction costs advisors time, money, and credibility.

Talk to Docupace Today

What You’ll Learn in This Episode

• Why operations are the lifeblood of your firm.

  The client-facing work may be the “tip of the iceberg,” but underneath lies the machinery that determines scale, client satisfaction, and profitability.

• How Docupace is reimagining the advisor back office.

  David explains how the company is building a “purpose-built universal operations platform” to help advisors maximize the value of their tech stack—regardless of size, channel, or custodian.

• The growing role of AI in advisory operations.

  Learn how Docupace is developing “intelligent automation”—a network of digital agents designed to handle repetitive, complex operational tasks so advisors can focus on higher-value client work.

• Lessons on leadership and acquisition strategy.

  David shares how Docupace’s recent acquisitions—Hubly and PreciseFP—fit into a broader strategy of building a cohesive operational ecosystem without stifling innovation or culture.

• A fresh perspective on the advisor profession.

  Having spent decades across channels, David believes the industry’s best people are motivated by service, not sales—and that operations excellence is central to honoring the promises advisors make to clients.

Why It Matters

As advisory firms consolidate, and as technology options continue to explode, operations have become the differentiator.

Firms that master efficiency and consistency at scale are the ones that will win the “battle for talent,” deliver superior client experiences, and sustain margins even as the industry evolves.

Docupace’s approach, connecting systems, automating manual work, and removing friction, offers a blueprint for what the next generation of advisory operations will look like: invisible, intelligent, and indispensable.

Related Episodes You May Like

• How Financial Advisors Can Reduce Paperwork and Supercharge Their Productivity - Ryan George, CMO of Docupace joined Mike Langford for an episode of the show a few years ago. It’s a fascinating conversation that forecasted many of the innovations we see today for back office professionals.

• Why RIAs That Take Workflow Management Seriously Are Growing 33% Faster Than Their Peers - Mike and Louis Retief, Co-Founder of Hubly sat down for an extensive conversation about his experience joining Docupace and his shared vision for the future of the industry.

• How AI Will Power a New Era of Hyper-Growth for Financial Advisors and Wealth Management Firms - Ian Karnell, CEO of VastAdvisor shares how AI is set to transform client acquisition.

Why RIAs That Take Workflow Management Seriously Are Growing 33% Faster Than Their Peers

What if your firm could grow 33% faster simply by running more efficiently?

That’s not a hypothetical—according to Louis Retief, Co-Founder of Hubly, that’s the reality for firms leveraging Hubly’s workflow automation platform. In this week’s episode of the Modern Financial Advisor Podcast, host Mike Langford sits down with Louis to explore his journey from founding Hubly straight out of college to scaling the company and leading it through its recent acquisition by Docupace.

The conversation digs into the challenges financial advisors face as “accidental business owners,” why back-office efficiency is just as critical as client-facing tools, and how workflows can transform a practice from barely keeping up to thriving.

Book a demo for Hubly

What You’ll Learn in This Episode

• How Hubly helps advisory firms scale by eliminating inefficiency.

• Why many advisors struggle as accidental business owners—and how workflows can help.

• The importance of educating teams about process management (and avoiding “workflow shaming”).

• Insights into the current wave of wealthtech consolidation and acquisitions.

• How Docupace, Hubly, and PreciseFP are working together to create a more powerful advisor back-office ecosystem.

Why Workflows Matter for Financial Advisors

Many advisors excel at building client relationships but struggle with the operational side of running a business. As Louis explains, that’s where workflows come in:

• Client onboarding → Streamline every step from paperwork to funding accounts.

• Money movement processes → Create accountability for transfers, contributions, disbursements, and conversions.

• Client reviews → Systematize annual or quarterly check-ins to ensure nothing falls through the cracks.

Hubly takes the familiar concepts behind project management tools like Trello or Asana and makes them purpose-built for regulated wealth management firms. The result: less time spent on repetitive admin tasks and more time serving clients.

The Entrepreneurial Journey Behind Hubly

Louis shares the story of how a passion for efficiency and personal finance led him to cold-call over 100 advisors while still in college—discovering firsthand the operational pain points that became Hubly’s foundation.

The conversation also covers:

• The unique role of the “process and automation influencer” in advisory firms—and why Hubly builds for them as much as for advisors.

• Lessons learned from early mistakes in go-to-market strategy.

• Why Louis believes consolidation in wealthtech is just getting started.

• What it was like to evaluate and ultimately join forces with Docupace.

Related Episodes You May Like

• How Financial Advisors Can Reduce Paperwork and Supercharge Their Productivity - Ryan George, CMO of Docupace joined Mike Langford for an episode of the show a few years ago. It’s a fascinating conversation that forecasted many of the innovations we see today for back office professionals.

• How Financial Advisors Can Grow Beyond Accidental Business Owners - Mike mentioned this episode with Robert Russo, CEO of Independent Advisor Alliance during his conversation with Louis Retief.

Why Financial Advisors Who Embrace New Business Models and Adopt AI Today Will Be the Ones Still Standing Tomorrow

If you are not already questioning the core assumptions behind your advisory practice, this episode may give you the push you need.

In this episode, Mike Langford welcomes Steve Lockshin, founder of AdvicePeriod and Vanilla, for a wide-ranging conversation about how financial advisors can and should evolve their practices. Steve challenges long-held industry beliefs and offers a bold perspective on how estate planning, AI, tokenization, and new pricing models are shaping the future of wealth management.

While Steve is widely known for his success as an advisor and entrepreneur, it is his passion for solving real problems that stands out. His focus on estate planning, for example, began as a differentiator but has become a defining element of the value he brings to clients and the tools he builds.

Whether you are a financial advisor, a fintech executive, or someone thinking about where this industry is headed, this conversation will challenge your thinking and help you reimagine what great advice looks like.

Book a demo for Vanilla

What You’ll Learn in This Episode

• Why Steve believes the traditional AUM model is broken, and what pricing structures better reflect true client value

• How estate planning became a key differentiator in his advisory business, and why more advisors should embrace it

• The opportunity to serve high-net-worth clients without managing their portfolios

• How AI will extend an advisor’s capabilities by automating tasks, surfacing opportunities, and personalizing service

• Why tokenization will fundamentally change how client data is accessed and shared

• How younger investors and clients will reshape the advisor-client relationship in the coming years

• What advisors can do today to stay relevant in an increasingly tech-enabled world

Related Episodes You May Like

Redefining Growth for Advisors with Dan Zitting, CEO of Nitrogen Wealth

Listen to the episode

Dan discusses how client behavior, digital engagement, and better communication skills are reshaping how firms grow.

Episode Resources

• AdvicePeriod Website

• Vanilla Website

• Vanilla YouTube Channel

• Steve Lockshin on LinkedIn

How AI Will Power a New Era of Hyper Growth for Financial Advisors and Wealth Management Firms

How can financial advisors and wealth management firms unlock true organic growth in 2025?

Ian Karnell, CEO of VastAdvisor, joins Mike Langford to unveil a game-changing platform that uses AI to create scalable, compliant digital ad campaigns—without the bloated cost of traditional agencies or lead brokers.

In this high-energy episode, Ian pulls back the curtain on VastAdvisor Enterprise and how it enables RIAs, broker-dealers, and asset managers to:

• Define ideal client profiles with psychographic precision

• Deploy niche-targeted ad campaigns across platforms like Meta, LinkedIn, and Google

• Automatically generate compliant ad copy using SEC- and FINRA-aware AI

• Measure ROI down to the dollar—with built-in campaign and compliance dashboards

If you’re tired of expensive steak dinners, unreliable lead brokers, and slow growth… this is the moment you’ve been waiting for.

Ian and Mike also explore the rise of agentic AI, why GenAI will reshape the competitive landscape in wealth management, and how firms can empower next-gen advisors with a real tech stack for growth.

Book a demo for VastAdvisor with Ian Karnell

What You’ll Learn in This Episode

• Why organic growth has stalled for many financial advisors—and how AI can reignite it

• How lead brokers like SmartAsset and Zoe make their money (and why it’s time to cut them out)

• The hidden cost of slow, manual compliance workflows—and how AI can solve it

• How VastAdvisor Enterprise builds predictable, scalable ad campaigns that convert

• Why democratizing digital ad strategy is a game-changer for mid-sized RIAs and enterprise networks

• How next-gen advisors can reach full client capacity faster—with an AI-powered lead engine

• What “agentic AI” is—and why it might be the biggest shift in FinTech since the cloud

• How niche audience targeting and platform-specific insights (e.g., Meta vs. LinkedIn) improve ROI

• Why embracing AI isn’t optional—it’s a survival strategy for the next five years

Related Episode:

Redefining Growth for Advisors: Dan Zitting on Frictionless Tech, Sales Skills, and Client Confidence

Dan Zitting, CEO of Nitrogen (formerly Riskalyze), shares how the advisor sales process is evolving—and what firms must do to keep up.

How VRGL Is Turning Prospecting Into a Scalable Growth Engine for Financial Advisors

Featuring Kyle Zasky, CEO of VRGL, on the Modern Financial Advisor Podcast with Mike Langford

Client acquisition is one of the biggest challenges facing financial advisors today — not because there’s a shortage of prospective clients, but because there’s often a gap between interest and trust. In this episode of the Modern Financial Advisor Podcast, Mike Langford is joined by Kyle Zasky, the newly appointed CEO of VRGL, to explore how advisors can use data, design, and digital empathy to turn prospects into clients faster and more confidently.

This episode is a must-listen if you’re looking to boost your organic growth without adding more friction to your already full plate.

🎧 Listen to the episode or watch the full video below.

Why Prospecting Is Broken — And How VRGL Is Fixing It

The traditional approach to financial advisor growth has long depended on referrals, word-of-mouth, and face-to-face meetings. But in today’s hyper-digital and post-pandemic environment, that model doesn’t scale. Most advisors have full calendars servicing existing clients — which leaves little time for prospecting.

Kyle Zasky, who stepped into the CEO role at VRGL just weeks before this recording, breaks down the real issue: while most advisors know they need to grow, they don’t always have the tools or processes to engage prospects meaningfully before they sign on the dotted line.

“We’re in the business of arming advisors with data and analytics about the prospect,” says Zasky. “So when they sit across the table from a lead, they’re not pitching — they’re educating.”

VRGL’s platform helps advisors quickly ingest unstructured portfolio data — even from PDFs and statements — and create personalized, white-labeled proposals that highlight risk exposures, fee inefficiencies, and opportunities for improvement. It’s a compelling way to build trust and demonstrate value before the client relationship officially begins.

🎙️ Related Episodes You Might Enjoy

One of the goals of the Modern Financial Advisor Podcast is to connect the dots between strategic conversations — and this episode with Kyle Zasky aligns perfectly with several others that explore technology, client acquisition, and the evolving role of the advisor.

If this conversation resonated with you, here are a few other episodes worth checking out:

• How Financial Advisors Can Help Clients Understand What Is Actually Happening In Their Portfolios — Justin Whitehead, Co-Founder of Pebble Finance, explores how AI-powered storytelling and data translation can help advisors strengthen client relationships and close new business with clarity and confidence.

• Exploring the End‑to‑End Digital Transformation of Wealth Management — Gauthier Vincent, Wealth Management Consulting Leader at Deloitte, breaks down how AI, data integration, and client experience are changing across every part of the advisory business — from first touch to full service.

• Solving the Biggest Tech Problem in Wealth Management by Creating True Ownership of Your Firm’s Data — Jud Mackrill of Milemarker outlines why centralized, accessible data infrastructure is critical to performance, scale, and winning new clients — much like VRGL’s proposal platform.

• The Evolving Role of a Financial Advisor in an AI‑Driven World — Dr. Emily Koochel from eMoney shares how advisors can blend data, AI, and human empathy to meet the expectations of today’s clients and prospects.

AI Isn’t the Threat — Inaction Is

Zasky also addresses a growing pain point for many financial advisors: AI-induced anxiety. Advisors are bombarded with new tools, and many feel like they’re falling behind if they’re not using the latest tech.

But here’s the truth: You don’t need to master AI. You need vendors who have and can deliver practical, easy-to-use solutions.

That’s where VRGL shines. The platform’s goal isn’t to dazzle you with complex algorithms — it’s to help you deliver smarter, faster, more confident conversations with prospects. So you can grow without feeling overwhelmed.

One Final Takeaway: Think Like a Financial Therapist

One of the most powerful moments in this episode is when Kyle draws a parallel between financial advisors and physicians.

Just like doctors use bloodwork and diagnostics to inform their advice, advisors should use portfolio analytics to diagnose client pain points. But that’s only part of the equation. The real differentiator is how well you understand your clients as people — their goals, fears, and financial behaviors.

“It’s not just about performance or fees,” Zasky says. “It’s about helping people feel seen, heard, and confident.”

That’s what today’s prospecting efforts must deliver. And that’s why tools like VRGL are fast becoming essential to modern advisory practices.

Ready to Close More Business With Less Friction?

If you’re looking to turn more leads into loyal clients — and deliver value from the first meeting — VRGL is worth a serious look.

📍Learn more about VRGL at www.vrglwealth.com

🔗 Connect with Kyle Zasky on LinkedIn

And don’t forget to subscribe to the Modern Financial Advisor Podcast for more insights from the leaders shaping the future of wealth management.

Redefining Growth for Advisors: Dan Zitting on Frictionless Tech, Sales Skills, and Client Confidence

What does it take to grow a modern financial advisory business in a world where referrals are no longer enough?

In this episode of The Modern Financial Advisor Podcast, Mike Langford is joined by Dan Zitting, CEO of Nitrogen Wealth, to explore the tools, strategies, and mindset shifts that today’s financial advisors need to succeed. From frictionless onboarding and personalized risk assessments to reviving the lost art of selling, Dan shares how Nitrogen is evolving to meet the real-world challenges advisors face every day.

Dan also opens up about what it’s like to take the reins of a legendary FinTech brand—formerly Riskalyze—and why the company’s rebrand was about more than a new name. It’s about refocusing on the advisor’s journey and the investor’s confidence.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode

• Why Friction Is the Enemy of Advisor Growth

  Dan explains how removing tedious data entry, manual workflows, and outdated interfaces is essential if advisors want to spend more time with clients—and less time wrestling with technology.

• The Power of Net Promoter Score (NPS)

  Nitrogen puts its NPS front and center, and for good reason. Dan breaks down how measuring client satisfaction is more than a vanity metric—it’s a leading indicator of trust and growth.

• Risk Isn’t About Age—It’s About Psychology

  Just because someone is 30 doesn’t mean they’re aggressive. And just because they’re 70 doesn’t mean they’re conservative. Dan makes the case for deeper, individualized risk insights that advisors can act on.

• Why Referrals Aren’t Enough Anymore

  Referrals used to be the engine of growth, but in a digital-first world, prospects need more proof before they engage. That’s a theme we’ve explored in other recent episodes:

  • Beatriz Acevedo of SUMA Wealth on expanding your reach by engaging the next generation.

  • Greg Bogich of AcquireUp on rebuilding your sales muscle through intentional prospecting.

  • Felipe Toews on why honest conversations about risk and loss are the foundation of strong advisor-client relationships.

• How AI Will Reinvent Advisor Workflows

  Dan shares a vision for AI as a co-pilot—automating meeting prep, surfacing portfolio insights, and creating client-ready reports without the advisor having to lift a finger.

🎉 Join Dan and the Nitrogen Team at the Fearless Investing Summit

Looking for more advisor growth strategies, tech insights, and high-energy inspiration? Be sure to check out the upcoming Fearless Investing Summit hosted by Nitrogen. It’s one of the most highly-rated events in the industry—and a great place to connect with forward-thinking advisors and FinTech leaders.

Final Takeaway

As Dan put it best: “Advisors want to spend less time in software—not more.” The future of advisor technology is all about simplicity, automation, and empowering confidence—both for the advisor and their clients. Whether you’re a solo advisor or leading a fast-growing RIA, this episode is a must-listen.

How Financial Advisors Can Help Clients Understand What is Actually Happening in Their Portfolios

“We’re not just translating numbers. We’re giving advisors the language to deliver real, human conversations at scale.” – Justin Whitehead, CEO of Pebble Finance

In this episode of the Modern Financial Advisor Podcast, Mike Langford welcomes Justin Whitehead, Co-Founder and CEO of Pebble Finance, to explore how AI is fundamentally transforming client communication in wealth management.

Forget the hype. While many firms are still slapping “AI-powered” labels onto basic automation tools, Pebble is quietly redefining one of the most important—and often overlooked—aspects of the advisor-client relationship: communication.

Justin’s story begins with a moment every investor can relate to: a well-intentioned but poorly informed decision to diversify into Chinese markets… followed by silence from his advisor and a sharp market downturn. That experience, and his background in building portfolio analytics tools at FactSet, sparked a question that now sits at the heart of Pebble:

Why is it still so hard for advisors to clearly explain what’s happening in a client’s portfolio?

Why Portfolio Conversations Are Broken (And How Pebble Fixes Them)

Modern portfolios are complex. Clients are overwhelmed by jargon. Advisors are stretched thin. And yet, the expectation for personalization and clarity has never been higher—especially among younger, self-directed investors who grew up with Robinhood, Reddit, and real-time market commentary.

Pebble Finance solves this by combining deep portfolio math with AI-powered content generation to create real-world narratives that advisors can use immediately.

Think:

✅ Contextual explanations for market shifts

✅ Client-ready commentary in plain English

✅ Custom newsletters at scale

✅ All without touching PII or raising red flags with compliance

As Justin puts it:

“We’re enabling advisors to speak their clients’ language—quickly, accurately, and at scale—without having to sacrifice compliance or credibility.”

What This Means for Financial Advisors

For financial advisors, Pebble isn’t just another dashboard. It’s a conversation engine.

Imagine being able to instantly generate timely, portfolio-specific commentary that references what your client read in the Wall Street Journal yesterday or what they just asked you about over email. Or sending a personalized newsletter that highlights what’s driving returns in their portfolio—without spending hours researching or writing.

Now you can.

More touchpoints. Better conversations. Lower churn. That’s the promise of Pebble—and it’s one that couldn’t be more timely as advisory firms face increasing pressure to scale personalization without adding headcount.

Related Episodes You Might Enjoy

🎧 Behavioral Portfolio Management with Felipe Toews

In this episode, Felipe Toews, CEO of Toews Asset Management, explores how honest communication and scenario planning can deepen client trust. A perfect companion to today’s conversation on AI and behavioral finance.

➡️ Listen & Read the Episode Recap

🎧 Arnim Holzer on Macro Risk and Client Conversations

Another great episode for advisors who want to make market risk relevant and understandable for clients. Learn how to frame global macro events in ways that actually resonate.

➡️ Browse All Episodes

Want to Stay Relevant in the AI Era of Wealth Management?

If you’re an executive at a wealth management firm or a FinTech provider looking to empower advisors with scalable, high-quality client communication—Pebble deserves a look. This is the type of innovation that will define the next generation of advisory excellence.

Why Serving Business Owners is the Secret Sauce to Building a Vibrant Wealth Management Firm

In this illuminating episode of the Modern Financial Advisor Podcast, host Mike Langford sits down with Jason Early, CEO of RISR, to discuss how targeting business owners can massively elevate a financial advisor's practice.

The discussion covers why treating a privately held business as just another asset is a missed opportunity, and how business owners, who control a significant portion of private wealth, are an untapped client segment.

Learn how RISR's technology helps advisors understand and manage the complexities of business owner clients, moving beyond typical financial advice to drive substantial assets under management and deliver significant value. Don't miss the actionable insights on succession planning, risk management, and leveraging the unique needs of business owners to grow your advisory business.

Sponsored By:

PodBox - Help your guest sound their best on your podcast, webinar, or important Zoom call with a PodBox microphone setup.

If you would like to follow up with Jason, shoot him an email.

In the world of financial advisory, standing out requires more than just competence—it demands excellence in understanding client needs and leveraging untapped markets. One such market, as highlighted by Mike Langford and Jason Early in this episode of the Modern Financial Advisor Podcast, is the business owner segment. With 66% of millionaires being business owners and 88% of those worth $30 million or more, the rationale for advisors to target this demographic becomes clear.

Understanding the Unique Needs of Business Owners

Financial advisors often treat privately held businesses like any other asset on a balance sheet. However, this approach is inadequate given the complexity and significance of such businesses in an owner's financial portfolio. As Jason Early explains, understanding these businesses deeply is critical—not just in terms of their financials, but also their operational risks, succession plans, and the personal priorities of their owners.

The Rise of Business Owners as Ideal Clients

Business owners bring complexity, but also opportunity. They offer a wider range of financial needs that advisors can address—such as business succession planning, risk management, and retirement strategies for both the owner and their employees. This complexity translates to potential for advisors, as solving larger and more complex problems can lead to increased revenues without necessarily resorting to expanding the client base dramatically.

Strategies for Engaging Business Owners

Effective engagement with business owners requires both strategic planning and the right tools. Advisors should aim to deeply understand the industries their clients operate in. This is where platforms like RISR come into play, providing insights into business valuations, wealth management strategies, and risk assessments tailored specifically to privately held businesses.

Early advises financial professionals to hone in on 'riches in niches', focusing deeply on one or two industries. This specialized knowledge allows advisors to present themselves as more than just financial planners—they become strategic partners for business owners who are navigating the complexities of growth, management, and eventual exit strategies.

Building Trust and Relationships

Trust is paramount when dealing with business owners, notoriously hard to pin down due to their packed schedules and heavy responsibilities. Part of the challenge—and opportunity—lies in advisors building trust not only with the business owner but also with related stakeholders such as key employees and family members involved in the business.

Moreover, working with business owners offers the opportunity to forge long-lasting relationships across generations, as many businesses involve family members either as future leaders or stakeholders.

Conclusion

Engaging with business owners can seem daunting due to the complexities involved, but the potential rewards are significant. Financial advisors must position themselves not only as financial stewards but as comprehensive advisors capable of supporting business owners through every stage of their journey. Equipped with the right tools and approach, such as those offered by RISR, advisors can unlock substantial growth while ensuring they meet the holistic needs of their affluent clients.

By focusing on the unique needs of business owners, advisors are not only opening new avenues for their own business growth but are also playing a crucial role in supporting the economic backbone of communities—small and medium business enterprises. The message is clear: go beyond the balance sheet, understand the wealth-driving forces of a business, and watch your advisory business soar.

Chapters:

00:00 Introduction to Financial Advisors and Business Assets

00:34 Welcome to the Modern Financial Advisor Podcast

00:38 Introducing Jason Early and RISR

02:24 Myth Busting: Business Owners and Wealth

04:25 The Complexity of Business Owners' Financial Needs

05:21 The Evolution of Financial Planning

06:34 The Importance of Comprehensive Financial Advice

07:54 Connecting with Business Owners

10:35 The Role of Financial Advisors in Business Succession Planning

13:00 Understanding the Business Owner's Perspective

16:26 The Riches in Niches Strategy

24:07 The Confidence and Competence Gap

28:49 Blue Oceans vs. Red Oceans

29:30 The Importance of Tools for Business Advisors

29:55 How RISR Works for Advisors

30:58 Financial and Qualitative Insights for Business Owners

33:02 The Growing Trend of Private Company Ownership

38:51 Advisors' Role in Business Succession and Exit Planning

47:19 The Complexity and Opportunity of Working with Business Owners

51:04 The Rise of Solopreneurs

53:56 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

Why a Financial Advisor’s CRM Choice May Be Much More Important Than Which Broker-Dealer They Choose

In this episode of the Modern Financial Advisor Podcast, host Mike Langford is joined by Adrian Johnstone, CEO of Practifi, to discuss the pivotal role of CRM systems in financial advisory firms.

They explore the debate between the importance of custodial systems versus CRMs, emphasizing the value of maintaining rich client relationships. The discussion also covers the concept of viewing technology as an investment rather than an expense, the scalability of CRM systems, and the potential future of AI in the industry.

Perfect for advisors looking to gain insights on leveraging technology to enhance their client relationships and operational efficiency.

Sponsored By:

PodBox - Help your guest sound their best on your podcast, webinar, or important Zoom call with a PodBox microphone setup.

If you would like to follow up with Adrian, shoot him an email.

Mike Langford sat down with Adrian Johnstone, CEO of Practifi, to delve into pivotal topics surrounding client relationships, the role of technology in financial advisory, and the future of the industry. This discussion offers invaluable insights for advisors seeking to adapt and thrive in an ever-evolving landscape.

Understanding the Core of Client Relationships

Johnstone eloquently touched upon the age-old debate of whether the CRM or portfolio management system serves as the core of a financial firm. Both Mike and Adrian agreed that while the financial asset record holds undeniable importance, it is the record of the client relationship that truly drives business value and compliance. As Johnstone stated, the CRM should be treated with the same sanctity as custodial platforms because the heart of a successful advisory business is the strength of its client relationships.

Technology: An Investment, Not an Expense

Adrian made a compelling case for viewing technology not just as an operational expense but as a strategic investment. He highlighted that technology, when considered an investment, prompts advisors to explore its full potential and harness its capabilities to drive business growth. Unlike the static nature of human knowledge, technology evolves rapidly, offering continuous enhancements and efficiencies. By aligning technological investments with long-term business goals, advisors can ensure sustainable growth and scalability.

The Future is Scalable

A notable vision shared during the conversation was Practifi’s goal of being the last CRM an advisor would ever need. By leveraging scalable infrastructure and robust data models, Practifi aims to cater to solo advisors as well as large multi-billion AUM firms. This scalability not only facilitates business growth but also ensures smoother succession planning and transitions, making technology an indispensable ally for future-proofing an advisory business.

Human Connection in a Tech-driven World

Despite the rapid technological advances, Johnstone reinforced the enduring importance of human connections in advisory relationships. No matter how sophisticated technology becomes, the essence of trust, understanding, and personal interaction remains irreplaceable. Technology's role should primarily focus on removing operational friction, thus allowing advisors to focus more on nurturing client relationships.

A Call for Integration and Cooperation

The conversation concluded with a thought-provoking wish: a standardized integration language across all financial technology platforms. Such a development would enhance portability and interoperability, allowing advisors to seamlessly integrate various technology solutions and ultimately deliver better client outcomes.

Conclusion

Adrian Johnstone’s insights offer a roadmap for advisors navigating the complexities of modern financial services. By embracing technology as a growth partner and maintaining the core human aspects of advisory services, firms can position themselves for success in an ever-evolving market. As the industry continues to change, staying informed and adaptable remains crucial for advisors aiming to lead and not just keep pace.

Chapters

00:00 The Debate: Custodial System vs. CRM

00:44 Introduction to the Podcast and Guest

01:53 The Importance of Client Relationships

04:24 The Role of CRM in Client Records

17:15 Technology Adoption in Financial Advisory

25:37 The Value of Technology in Financial Services

26:18 Technology as an Investment, Not an Expense

27:06 Maximizing Technology's Potential

32:14 The Future of Technology in Financial Advisory

34:23 Human Connection in the Age of Technology

40:41 Scalability and Integration in Financial Technology

51:44 The Importance of Standardized Integration

54:04 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

How Behavioral Portfolio Management and Honest Communication Can Transform Client Relationships

In this episode of the Modern Financial Advisor Podcast, host Mike Langford engages in a thought-provoking conversation with Felipe Toews, CEO of Toews Asset Management and author of 'The Behavioral Portfolio: Managing Portfolios and Investor Behavior in a Complex Economy.'

Delve into the intricacies of behavioral finance, market timing challenges, and the crucial role of effective advisor-client communication. Discover why Felipe believes that traditional portfolio management strategies might be leading advisors and clients astray, especially when considering unexpected market scenarios and significant losses. This episode offers valuable perspectives on educating investors and rethinking portfolio construction to better navigate a complex economic landscape. Don't miss this insightful discussion that could transform how you communicate with your clients and approach portfolio management.

Sponsored By:

PodBox - Help your guest sound their best on your podcast, webinar, or important Zoom call with a PodBox microphone setup.

If you would like to follow up with Felipe, shoot him an email.

Mike Langford sat down with Felipe Toews, CEO of Toews Asset Management, to explore the complexities of behavioral finance. This captivating conversation delved into market timing challenges, effective communication between advisors and clients, and the upcoming transformation in our understanding of investment strategies.

The Misconception of Bounded Economies

Toews starts the discussion by challenging the common perception of economies as bounded systems. He compares them instead to natural ecosystems, which lack limits and can swing to extremes. Such perspective shifts require us to question our assumptions about economic recovery and market rebounds. Toews emphasizes that these assumptions, particularly the belief that markets always bounce back, may not necessarily hold true over time.

Understanding Behavioral Finance

Behavioral finance is a crucial framework that highlights how investors often make emotionally driven, poor financial decisions. Toews reinforces the notion that many advisors, despite their extensive knowledge and experience, might not effectively prevent clients from making these detrimental decisions. The focus should be on developing strategies to address these behavioral challenges.

Building Communication Constructs

The podcast emphasizes the importance of proactive communication strategies. Toews likens the investing world without proper guidance to driving without road rules—it’s chaotic and terrifying. Advisors are urged to educate their clients about market history, portfolio designs, and actionable plans. This preparation aims to establish ‘rules of the road’ for financial decision-making, helping clients react appropriately during market extremes.

Addressing Investment Strategies

Felipe Toews suggests that the current portfolio construction is a historical accident and proposes a shift towards behavioral portfolios. These would include strategies to mitigate significant market risks, such as large downturns or persistent inflation, while also promoting growth.

Toews strongly advocates for the necessity of adaptive strategies. Whether through hedging equities or adapting fixed income approaches, creating a diversified and resilient portfolio is key. The goal is to protect against various economic downturn scenarios while maintaining the potential for substantial returns.

The Debate on Traditional Portfolio Models

Langford and Toews address the growing criticism of the traditional 60/40 portfolio model. The financial advisory industry is seeing a shift away from this outdated paradigm, recognizing that today’s economic realities demand more innovative approaches. With increasing market complexities and evolving financial products, advisors are encouraged to reconsider how they diversify portfolios and manage risks.

Preparing for Future Challenges

This episode also highlights potential economic risks on the horizon, from sovereign debt issues to demographic changes impacting GDP growth. Toews warns that current economic vulnerabilities require advisors to prepare for unconventional scenarios, including possible currency crises. However, he stresses the importance of remaining optimistic and positioning portfolios to cope with these uncertainties.

Conclusion: Challenging Advisors to Evolve

Felipe Toews challenges advisors to rethink their investment strategies, emphasizing the need for informed, proactive approaches to behavioral finance. By integrating these insights, financial advisors can provide greater value to their clients, ensuring they are not only financially secure but also prepared for the future's uncertainties.

Whether you are a financial professional or a novice investor, understanding these concepts is critical. As Toews concludes, the challenge is not just about managing wealth; it's about transforming how we think about investing for both immediate and long-term stability.

Listeners and readers interested in diving deeper into these concepts can explore Toews' new book, "The Behavioral Portfolio: Managing Portfolios and Investor Behavior in a Complex Economy." As investments and economies grow more complex, staying informed and adaptable is more important than ever.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Economic Perceptions

00:45 Welcome to the Modern Financial Advisor Podcast

00:50 Introducing Felipe Toews and His New Book

02:12 Personal Anecdotes and Light Banter

03:22 Diving into Behavioral Finance

03:50 The Importance of Client Communication

04:33 Challenges in Market Timing and Decision Making

08:37 Historical Market Events and Their Implications

14:40 Proactive Behavioral Communication Strategies

21:13 Portfolio Design and Historical Worst-Case Scenarios

27:44 Economic Growth and Inflation Challenges

29:25 Behavioral Portfolio Design

31:40 Critique of Traditional Investment Strategies

33:39 Adapting to Market Changes

36:22 Addressing Investor Behavior

44:12 Crypto and Speculative Investments

49:29 Future Economic Risks and Portfolio Strategies

55:44 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

Unlocking Growth for Financial Advisors: The Power of Seminars

Join host Mike Langford in this episode of the Modern Financial Advisor Podcast as he interviews Greg Bogich, CEO of AcquireUp. Discover how seminars can be an effective strategy for growing a financial advisory business. Greg discusses the benefits of seminars, including filling the room with qualified prospects, the psychological advantages of face-to-face interactions, and the importance of being perceived as an expert.

Learn how AcquireUp helps financial advisors target the right audience and provides coaching to deliver compelling seminars. Whether you're a solo advisor or part of a larger RIA, this episode offers valuable insights into achieving scalable growth and converting prospects into long-term clients.

Sponsored By:

PodBox - Help your guest sound their best on your podcast, webinar, or important Zoom call with a PodBox microphone setup.

If you would like to follow up with Greg, shoot him an email.

In the competitive landscape of financial advisory, many professionals are searching for effective ways to grow their business. While digital marketing and cold calling have their places, there's a traditional method that's proving to be resilient and impactful: seminars. Greg Bogich, CEO of AcquireUp, recently shared insights on the Modern Financial Advisor Podcast about how seminars are making a comeback, offering a unique blend of personal connection and business growth.

Why Seminars Work

Seminars offer financial advisors the chance to connect with prospective clients in a way that digital interactions cannot replicate. As Greg Bogich points out, having 20 to 25 households in a room allows an advisor to make multiple connections in one setting. This approach not only saves time but also increases the likelihood of establishing genuine relationships.

The success of a seminar lies in its ability to position the advisor as an expert. In a room full of motivated prospects, the advisor assumes the role of the authority figure, adding credibility and establishing trust. Moreover, the psychological principle of reciprocation often leads prospects to feel more compelled to engage further with the advisor.

Setting the Right Tone

Contrary to the common perception, not all seminars need to be held in a restaurant over dinner. Many successful events occur at libraries or community centers, which set a more educational tone. As Greg explains, it's important for advisors to select venues that align with their objectives—whether they wish to appear more academic or prefer a traditional sales setting.

The Importance of Qualified Prospects

One of the pitfalls that some advisors fall into is filling a room with just anybody rather than targeted prospects. AcquireUp’s approach focuses on ensuring the right people are in the room. They use data-driven strategies to attract prospects based on asset level, demographics, and proximity to the venue.

Navigating the Seminar Experience

For many advisors, the idea of presenting a seminar can be daunting. Despite the challenge, Greg emphasizes that one doesn't need to be Steve Jobs or Oprah Winfrey to be effective. The key is mastering the content and being genuine. AcquireUp helps clients by providing resources such as video libraries of effective presentations and coaching on how to engage audiences.

The Business Impact

Seminars are not just about immediate gains; they’re a strategic investment in long-term business growth. A well-run seminar can lead to new client relationships that last for years, providing a substantial return on investment. For advisors, it’s all about understanding that while not every attendee will convert immediately, over time, the numbers work in favor of the advisor who uses seminars consistently and strategically.

A Call to Action for Growth-minded Advisors

For those advisors who are growth-oriented, embracing seminar marketing can be a game-changer. The seminar model thrives on the law of large numbers, creating a steady funnel of new prospects while building personal connections that digital ads often miss.

The Future of Financial Advisory Growth

In summary, seminars present an opportunity to blend modern marketing insights with tried-and-true methods of client acquisition. Greg Bogich’s insights reinforce that in the world of financial advisory, seminars are not just a relic of the past but a powerful tool for the future. As the industry continues to evolve, advisors who leverage seminars will likely find themselves leading the pack in client engagement and business growth.

Chapters

00:00 The Challenge of Cold Calling in Sales

00:41 Introduction to the Modern Financial Advisor Podcast

01:59 Guest Introduction: Greg Bogich from AcquireUp

03:36 The Problem of Slow Growth in Wealth Management

05:00 The Struggles of New Financial Advisors

07:40 The Importance of Referrals and Their Limitations

11:08 The Effectiveness of Seminars for Financial Advisors

16:51 Targeting the Right Audience for Seminars

22:03 Educating Advisors on Effective Marketing

24:27 Understanding Seminar Attendance and Conversion Rates

26:11 The Importance of Re-engaging Non-Attendees

28:59 Effective Seminar Presentation Techniques

29:55 Training Advisors for Successful Seminars

37:39 The Value of Investing in Marketing

45:46 The Unique Appeal of the Financial Advisory Industry

47:56 Conclusion and Final Thoughts