Tools & Technology Archives | Retainer Based Academy

Why do Financial Advisors need tools?

Financial advisors need tools to be extraordinary. Tools include knowledge, skills, resources, and physical instruments. When I made the move to retainer-based, I questioned everything.

I found tools along the way to help me run a better practice. I think they can help you, too. Whether you are on commission, AUM, or retainer, all financial advisors have the same basic needs.

I could say I came up with all of it on my own, but the truth is I did, and still do, use different tools to help me in various ways. Some of these you may think of, others may surprise you. Some were tools that helped me focus while others helped me further my ideas to become more concrete.

I hope they help!

Books for Financial Advisors

I believe books are the best tools for financial advisors because they help us to quickly grow our number one asset – our minds!

Traction: Get a Grip on Your Business

The entrepreneurial operating system is a framework for you to take your practice to the next level. I never hired an EOS coach, but I got what I needed from this excellent book.

Do you have a grip on your business, or does your business have a grip on you?

All entrepreneurs and business leaders face similar frustrations—personnel conflict, profit woes, and inadequate growth. Decisions never seem to get made, or, once made, fail to be properly implemented. But there is a solution. It’s not complicated or theoretical. Based on years of real-world implementation in more than 100 companies, the Entrepreneurial Operating System® is a practical method for achieving the business success you have always envisioned.

In Traction, you’ll learn the secrets of strengthening the six key components of your business. You’ll discover simple yet powerful ways to run your company that will give you and your leadership team more focus, more growth, and more enjoyment. Successful companies are applying Traction every day to run profitable, frustration-free businesses—and you can too.

The ONE Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results

People think multitasking and having multiple projects is the key to success. That could not be further from the truth.

Focus wins. Always.

Ask Apple. Ask any winning team. Ask any billionaire. They focus on something and then move to the next thing. This book shows you how to do that.

The ONE Thing has made more than 350 appearances on national bestseller lists, including #1 Wall Street Journal, NewYork Times, and USA Today. It won 12 book awards, has been translated into 27 languages, chosen as one of the Top 5 Business Books of 2013 by Hudson’s Booksellers and one of Top 30 Business Books of 2013 by Executive Book Summaries. Voted one of Top 100 Business Books of All Time on Goodreads.

People are using this simple, powerful concept to focus on what matters most in their personal and work lives.

Companies are helping their employees be more productive with study groups, training, and coaching. Sales teams are boosting sales. Churches are conducting classes and recommending for their members. By focusing their energy on one thing at a time people are living more rewarding lives by building their careers, strengthening their finances, losing weight and getting in shape, deepening their faith, and nurturing stronger marriages and personal relationships.

Self-Awareness for Advisors

Conative Connection: Uncovering the Link Between Who you are and How your Perform

Kolbe provides insight into one’s natural instincts and strengths. Conative Connection, written by Kathy Kolbe, gives you methods to take your Kolbe results and turn them into action to better not only your work, but also you yourself.

We use kolbe to make sure we are all in the right seat on the bus. Everyone who works for my wealth management firm has a kolbe and before they are hired, they take a kolbe to ensure that there is a fit. I won’t hire another associate with a Kolbe report that compliments the team. In the Retainer Based Academy course, we provide a free Kolbe to any person who takes the course.

Technological Tools for Advisors

VariDesk

Sitting behind a desk all day can be tiring, especially if you’re working more than eight hours a day with little to no movement. I became tired of sitting for eight plus hours five days a week only to get in a car, go home, and sit more at home. After doing some research, I discovered standing desks.

Now I know there are various standing desks; there are some are full desks that would replace your existing one and there are ones that turn your current desk into a standing desk.

I decided to go for one that converts my current desk and absolutely love it. Since I converted I find myself more focused and moving more than I did before; and no I don’t count refilling my coffee cup as movement. While it may not seem like it, moving to a standing desk can change how you’re currently working for the better.

The Apple iPad

I use this all day, everyday. It is always by my side. I’ll do a future blog on how I use Apple Notes but suffice it to say, I would never give up my iPad. The neat thing is instead of bringing home a briefcase, I just need to carry my iPad.

I got the version with the Apple pencil so even if I feel like “writing something out” I can still use my iPad. All my books are purchased on Kindle or iBooks and are in my library, anytime, anywhere. I use the ipad as my “digital repository” so I always kind find whatever I need.

One side effect of using the ipad vs. a laptop or desktop is that while on the iPad it doesn’t feel like work. For some reason, checking and writing emails (or blogs) on the iPad seems less like work than doing the same thing in the office.

Yeti microphone

For my in-office videos (and client virtual meetings) I use the Yeti blue microphone. Easy to set up, portable and just works. It can be focused on where I’m speaking or pick up the entire room if you are in a group conference.

Enjoy the Tools for Financial Advisors

There you have it, the most important “tech” I use to manage my retainer based firm (ccwmg.com), my coaching business (retainerbasedacademy.com), and 5 non-profit boards.

Hope these tools help you as much as they have helped me.

Enjoy!

Mr. Retainer

You decided that this is the year to make changes to live your dreams. Now what? Most of us have been there. Retainer-based planning is the way to make it happen.

You meant well, you wanted to help people with their finances and maybe you worked for a “big firm” before you decided to go out on your own. But it’s lonely on your own. You have to think about and decide about EVERYTHING. From the basic stuff of logo’s and company name all the way to deciding if you lease or purchase your next piece of office equipment.

The truth is, you spend A LOT of time thinking and managing things that your clients don’t care about. You should be focusing on the outcomes that are important to the CLIENT. But no one said life was fair.

Independent financial advisors are up against it. Let me count the ways…

Ways independent financial advisors have it rough:

We want to be different; compliance wants to keep us in the box, under control. This limits our solutions, they like us to stick with “traditional planning” and normal investments and strategies. I.E. they want us to get in line and be like “everyone else.” Kinda hard to differentiate when we all look the same.

The more money a prospect has, the more likely they can’t “take a chance” on an independent firm or team. They have too much to lose. So they go with the “Insert local, old trust company here”. They know they probably should have more than traditional stocks/bonds (especially with the length of this stock market expansion). But they need to be “conservative” and usually pick the older firm with name recognition. Usually not you.

But there is hope!

So how do I create a profitable business that adds real value to my clients and if I’m being brutally honest, I don’t want to work too hard?

Common sense is not common practice.

Pretend you are a high net-worth prospect. What do you want? I think at a basic level you want advice to help make smart choices about money. You want someone whose answer is not tied to a commissioned product and you want to be able to leverage low-cost platforms but still have an advisor to talk to you. And if you (as the prospect) are also being brutally honest, you want value. You are willing to pay for it, but you want value. Save you time, give you more than the stocks/bonds you’ll get at the brand name trust company or low-cost fund company.

Retainer-based planning checks all of these boxes.

So we have the outcomes we are trying to accomplish. Add value to the client, have a profitable business, and work less.

Advice – A Game Changer

The game-changer is coming. What if there is a simple change in your practice and mindset that could do all three? Add value, make a profit, work less…..

Charge for what you give away now. If you make your practice a financial advising firm, not just wealth management or asset management, or financial planning type of firm.

Honestly, I did it, and I regret not doing it sooner. Although I think if I tried this any earlier I would have been stopped by many factors and this current time is perfect for this change.

Once you decided to be advice-driven you need to create a repeatable process to deliver the right advice to the right client at the right time. You create the process once and use it often. No more “one-offs” which never work. Retainer-based planning is scalable.

When is the last time you made an exception that actually worked out long term?

I had a client who wanted to choose what we put into his portfolio (this would never happen again). He wanted certain funds, and I went along. His portfolio didn’t do as well as the one I would have put him into and he fired us. He should have fired himself.

I digress, bottom line, the time is right for you to change your practice to an advice lead practice and really, truly help your clients.

I did and it has made all the difference…

Make sure to check our Youtube channel!

Category: Tools & Technology

Tools for Financial Advisors to Run the Perfect Practice