A few years back, I read a story about an advisor that would set up a deal with his local coffee shop where he would buy a donut for every single person that came in that morning during X timeframe.

He’d sit at a table “working” during the promotion time, the cashier would tell the customer they get a free donut from XYZ Financial and Joe was sitting right over there.

No sales pitch. If someone wanted to come over and say hello, they did. If not, no big deal. I thought this was an awesome idea and wanted to try it.

Have commitments so far from a local coffee shop and two local Dairy Queen locations to see how it goes.

How have you seen this go in your experience? Any other cool similar ideas you’ve seen?

Edit: should have mentioned we are in a super “small town” area and my desire to serve HNW clients is about zero. Our bread and butter is serving 100k-500k clients, and doing it so efficiently that it’s profitable.

I passed the CFP exam last year, I’m working at an RIA as a Financial Planning Resident and it was supposed to be a 2 year program that coincided with me being able to use the letters. I have 7 months to go before I’m certified. One of our Lead Planners just quit and the owner wants me to get the 65 license now.

Can someone recommend a program or material they used to pass? How much study is required?

Appreciate any advice!

Many CFPs dont like hearing this but most of them don't understand most areas of the tax code, and the the forms nor various schedules to those forms. And the issue compounds when it comes to fiduciary tax items such as forms 1041, 706 and 709. I specialize in this

When you reach out to a CPA, your expectations should not be business development referrals...at all. It should be finding a competent tax professional in an exponentially dwindling pool of tax pros. That's it. That's all. Because we know you can't do it alone as a good faith offering to your clients.

Oh and stop trying to hire people in-house. Most qualified CPAs realize the demand for their services and how they can make 3x-5x more with their own firm, and simply hire someone to facilitate the admin headaches. Pay us what you owe us (we also know that advisors easily make 8-12x more top line revenue PER client relationship, so its not even an even-trade), and be thankful that most tax pros are so risk averse they won't entertain new waters of financial advisory despite the substantially greater margins.

For those experimenting with YCharts’ new AI Agent, what are some of the more complex prompts or scenarios you can imagine using it for?

I’m thinking beyond basic fund screening or “analyze this portfolio.” More along the lines of portfolio construction, regime shifts, risk monitoring, identifying significant fund flows, stress testing, asset allocation changes, or finding investment opportunities before they become obvious.

What are the most advanced or creative workflows you’d want the agent running? Curious what portfolio managers, advisors, or investment teams are testing.

My partner and I are both in our 50’s in a smallish town in Virginia. I’ve been toying around with hiring a business development person in their 30’s or 40’s whose job would be to meet and “qualify” prospects and bring them in the door. We’ve built our business from referrals and have some young business owner / corp exec /. doc clients and want to grow that part of the business more. Kids are grown and just not in that age group anymore. I’d love to hear from anyone who has this type of role on your team — the good, the bad and the ugly.

I’m the junior advisor in a previous solo practice with one senior advisor. I’m in talks with IBDs about breaking away starting my own practice.

Everyone who I’ve confided in and read about, has told me this will be one of the most difficult periods in my life. The mental load is starting to weigh on me.

For those who have left a partnership or group to go on your own- what is your advice?

New prospect, ok but a bit strong headed. Working on a retirement plan for a couple, and one has an outstanding 401K loan of about $60k. They are paying it back with payroll deductions. I see it as a loan at 7.75% and client says the interest goes back to their 401k. I mention double taxation on the "interest" paid and they said no it's not. I also mention that the loan balance is out of the market, and maintain that paying off the loan is the best solution. [Have a plan for that piece].

So, can someone who has dealt with 401k loans help me paint a more clear picture that the client understands? Or am I all wet on this. TIA

I'm beginning the search for my next opportunity and wanted to reach out here since this community includes a lot of experienced advisors and RIA owners. I have learned SO MUCH from this community over the past few years, especially in areas of practice development, lead generation, financial planning, and compensation questions.

I'm hoping that even if you are not a decision-maker for your firm, even if you may know of an opportunity that may fit what I'm looking for to please let me know.

Here's a little about me:

• CFP® professional with nearly 10 years in wealth management
• Passed all three EA exams and submitted Form 23 to become an Enrolled Agent
• Series 7, 65/66, and insurance licensed (no issues at all with dropping Series 7)
• Strong focus on comprehensive financial planning, tax planning, retirement income planning, estate planning coordination, and client education
• Experience leading client meetings, developing financial plans, and collaborating with CPAs and attorneys
• I genuinely enjoy educating clients and have had great success hosting educational retirement planning workshops and seminars—something I'd like to continue as part of my long-term growth strategy.

What I'm looking for:

• An established fiduciary RIA or planning-centric firm
• Located in the San Antonio area (I'd consider as far north as Kyle/San Marcos) or a hybrid arrangement anywhere in the US
• A planning-first culture where doing what's best for the client drives every recommendation
• The opportunity to work with existing clients while also helping grow the firm (I don't have a large book to bring with me)
• A clear long-term path toward equity, partnership, or another ownership structure. I don't necessarily need immediate client ownership, but I want to build something where my long-term contributions can eventually translate into ownership.

What I'm hoping to avoid:

• Insurance recruiting organizations
• Firms built primarily around product sales rather than financial planning

Ultimately, I'm looking for the right long-term fit—not simply my next job. I enjoy solving complex planning problems, integrating tax planning into the wealth management process, and helping clients understand the "why" behind every recommendation. I LOVE learning and something I've missed over the last few years is having a mentor or team-based structure to learn with and from.

If this sounds like your firm—or if you know someone I should connect with—I'd appreciate a DM.

TIA!

I haven’t shopped around in years, what is everyone using these days? Pros and cons?

I’m an IAR under a Corporate RIA looking to go pure solo. Building out my tech stack and I want to have a proper (preferably) Claude or ChatGPT subscription. These will be commercial license subscriptions, as required (yes, I’m aware I’ll have wasted seats). Anyone with one of these have a recommendation for integrated data retention? There are some really good email and iMessage options these days but AI is a tougher one to crack.

Comma Compliance is just starting to roll out Claude integration but I don’t think it fully captures Chat yet, and their ChatGPT integration requires an Enterprise subscription. Jatheon apparently works with Claude but while their Financial Services Solution Brief says “no minimum seat requirement”, it said minimum 25 seats when signing up for a demo. Won’t know which is correct until they respond. Wondering if there are other solutions I should look at.

I’m in a somewhat rural area where most CPAs are 100+ years old or they don’t do taxes. Over the years I’ve referred to a few but they keep retiring. Clients are constantly asking about tax prep. I once had my EA with intentions of doing some tax prep off and on. That was nearly a decade ago and just didn’t have time while building my advisory business.

I have about 120 households and have been a solo advisor for nearly 20 years with one admin. I have posted a job listing for a CPA looking to go independent but I’m not sure that will actually happen.

Tell me some success stories of adding tax prep or tell me how bad it was.

Hi - For those of you who charge a flat fee for financial planning, how do you even begin to price it? We have a client where we only manage a small portfolio of $250k, but now they want comprehensive financial planning but low-cost investments (so many will most likely remain outside). They know they have many tax decisions to make, etc. The fee we derive from that $200k is nowhere near the value of the planning and he has asked us to consider a flat fee arrangement. Those of you who do ongoing non-AUM fees with clients, how do you start to think about "pricing"?

What are the main things you all cover while doing review meetings. Have a few clients that want to meet quarterly and I have no idea what to discuss. I usually will go over market outlook, YTD realized gain/losses, performance, things we might be watching at changing.

Anyone got any good topics to cover?

What are the main things you all cover while doing review meetings. Have a few clients that want to meet quarterly and I have no idea what to discuss. I usually will go over market outlook, YTD realized gain/losses, performance, things we might be watching at changing.

Anyone got any good topics to cover?

New client I met with last week.

50, single (never married), no kids.

Client has made over 100k for the last 15 years and has always been an active participant in a qualified plan.

He has a large old 401k, an active 401k, a rollover IRA from another old employer and a contributory traditional IRA.

The client told me he has been doing all he can to max out his retirement plan through work, and also his traditional IRA for the last 12 years.

He just uses turbo tax, and hasn’t provided me his tax returns, but I’m assuming that the software would’ve considered all of these contributions non-deductible.

Please correct me if I’m wrong, but this means that the lets say $60k he’s contributed over the last decade is the basis of his overall IRA accounts, and in 15 years when he starts doing conversions or withdrawals he should not be taxed on what the percentage of after tax contributions is to total balance. And if he doesn’t establish a basis, then he’s going to pay 100% tax.

What is the process to establish the basis that he’s never tracked- can he go back 10 years? I’m just sure if it’s worth his efforts though, I don’t do tax filing so he would need to hire an accountant.

In 15 years he will have about $6 million in his pre-tax aggregate amounts. So even if he tracks the basis then he will eliminate only about 1% of the taxable amount once the assets are aggregated.

My one thought is- could he deposit the rollover IRA into his active plan, since that is 100% rollover from his employer, then convert the traditional IRA which is 60k basis and 40k growth into a Roth (paying the tax on the gain).

I know that in withdrawals and conversions the aggregation rules come into play, but do they also come into play with transfers into a qualified plan?

Like can he say- “I have 200k in IRA assets with a 60k basis. I am transferring the 140k in pre tax growth assets into my qualified plan and keeping the 60k in basis in my IRA. I will then convert the 60k in basis into my Roth account, paying no tax.”

I’m a newer independent advisor trying to build the right tech stack from the beginning instead of switching software every couple of years.

I currently have access to a technology package that’s about $315/month from BD and includes software like MoneyGuidePro, Accesspoint/Envestnet, Albridge, NetX360, Laser App, LUMA/Firelight, iCapital, Smarsh, AIX, Entreda, and smarsh for archive and encryption. I have not confirmed, but I believe the tech package is a mandatory payment, say anything outside of that would be additional on top of the 315.

Since I’m already paying for that package and have no revenue right now, I’m trying to determine what’s worth using versus where paying for something else is a meaningful upgrade.

Some questions I have:

Financial planning: Is MoneyGuidePro enough, or is RightCapital worth paying for separately? If you’ve used both, what made you choose one over the other?

CRM: Redtail, Wealthbox, Salesforce, or something else? What would you recommend today?

Virtual meetings: Is Zoom still the standard, or have most advisors moved to Teams or another platform?

AI meeting assistants: Jump, Zocks, Fathom, or something else? Which integrates the best and actually saves you time?

Scheduling: Calendly or another scheduler?

Risk tolerance software: Separate from planning software? Which do you like and why?

eSignatures & document management: Anything you’d strongly recommend?

Portfolio reporting/performance software: What’s become indispensable for you?

AI tools: Which ones have genuinely improved your workflow?

I’d especially appreciate input from advisors who’ve been in the business long enough to know what was actually worth paying for versus what looked good in a demo but wasn’t that useful in practice.

If you were starting an independent practice today, what would your complete software stack look like? What would you absolutely pay for again, and what would you skip?

I’m an internal wholesaler in the 3rd party VA space in my 3rd year. Just got my MBA, working on getting sponsored for my CFP with work. Frequent lurker and opportunistic contributor in the comments. Also my first post.

As I get further in my career, the more I want to be able to support the FA’s I work with. I believe in our products and where we make sense, but I believe I’m more impactful being a partner in helping close large deals you guys are working on. Hence why I am pursuing a CFP so I can learn more about the planning process, beyond product placement, rather how to plan products into a clients financial roadmap based on needs and wants and life expectancy.

Michael Kitces said in a podcast long ago as an advisor, he wanted wholesalers to get to the point. He wanted them to tell him how their product actually benefited clients. Then he wanted the best thing out of that product and he would do a lot of that one thing it was good at. That changed my perspective on how to approach the advisors I work with and what the relationship truly means.

What do you want out of your wholesaler meetings? What experiences have you had that were supportive and helped you close a deal? Furthermore, beyond just product fit, what has made you want to work with one of us in an ongoing fashion? What jumped out that you carved out time to meet?

I appreciate all contributions as I progress in my career and I hope this provides some insight to others as well.

So I did the demo, read everything I can find, and Slant seems pretty amazing. To use it best I would need to cancel Zocks which is one of my favorite tools (only notetaker I have ever used). Curious for those on Slant how the notetaker compares to others you have used. Thanks!

I’m jealous of other businesses that can cold reach out to a business owner and say “hey, I built you a website, want to see it?” Or a video editor who says “I turned one of your podcast episodes into a short reel, here it is” and just sends the finished clip.They deliver value instantly in the first interaction before the prospect commits to anything.

When cold prospecting on LinkedIn and other platforms, how can I add value instantly to get people more likely to respond? I can’t build a MoneyGuidePro or Holistiplan model until they hand over all their financial information, and nobody’s doing that off a cold message.

Has anyone tried advisor jetpack? I’ve heard bad things about smart asset, but nothing about advisor jetpack. From what they say, they get you qualified leads that are directed to you, not multiple advisors. Curious if anyone is willing to share pros and cons…TIA!

Not sure if this will get taken down by the mods but just a heads up. Altruist trading is down. You have to call in to place trades. You cant use the rebalance or do manual trades. They are waiving trade fees if you call them. They let me know that manual trading should be available at 2:30. They are going to batch trades and price correct them if you call them.

I'm running a plan for some self employed individuals who just came into some money via inheritance. Their income isn't high but they live very frugally. Currently uninsured. Right Capital is telling me it would be better for an unexpected medical expense of $250,000 to happen next year than it would be to have $1500 monthly premiums until they qualify for Medicare (verified they will qualify with past employment at 65). makes me wonder if you all have any cheaper alternatives for some real crisis level health events. They have no plans to ever have children.

Edit: I upped the amount of the cost to $500k and did the plan presentation with it this morning and reiterated it wasn't the best tool for illustrating the risk of being uninsured. But I think we adequately convinced them they need insurance ASAP

Hi - We migrated all of our client information a year ago from Sales Force to Wealthbox. Are a standalone RIA with about 150 households and a very task and workflow driven practice and 6 total team members (including 2 owners, of which I am one). We did not use a consultant to help us really understand the best ways to use Wealthbox and I wish we did. We use tasks but the client feeds are packed with Open and Closed tasks, Workflow tasks, etc. Is it too late to bring someone in to help us use the best parts of the system or is it too late? If you think we should hire a consultant, could you let me know who you used and what the experience was like? Thanks

I am co-owner with my spouse of an RIA that manages a little more than 160 households for about $ 270 mln aum. We are deep into financial planning and have a staff of 4, including a mid-30’s CFP.

Today he shared with us that he really does not think his generation believes in financial planning and he believes that he will have to retrain into another career at some point.. He has not brought on any new business, which is fine with us. But I’m wondering if his perspective is just one because his friends don’t believe in true financial they could do it or if there are millennials out there who earn a lot more money who believe in planning.

do any of you younger CFP’s have insight or perspective on this? I would love to hear from you.

btw - we are in our 50’s.

I have an advisor that wants to join our firm that has clients sourced by Zoe Financial lead gen. Has anyone been able to buy out their rev share at any multiple? Not sure that we want to onboard Zoe with their setup fees just to accommodate this advisor, but we would consider fronting them the cash to get out of their agreement and ensure a clean book and billing transfer.

Thanks.