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Larry Miles is a Principal at AdvicePeriod, whose mission is to reinvent wealth management. Their approach, which includes extensive use of technology in delivering a planning-focused experience, has taken the firm from start-up to over $2 billion in just a few years. His book, It’s That Simple, discusses how to build the service firm of the future using the AdvicePeriod philosophy and approach. His teams have been recognized as Inc. Magazine’s “Best Workplaces”, and he served as the youngest regional president of BNY Mellon Wealth Management. He is also a member of Young Presidents Organization.
Takeaway Quote:
“The consumer of the future is going to demand proof of value.”
Show Timeline:
3:05 How AdvicePeriod works to bring something new to an outdated wealth management model
5:07 Why advisors need to see technology as an investment, not an expense
11:50 How thinking about what clients want changed Larry’s business model
14:18 The firm’s philosophy on fees
18:46 How clients will inform advisors’ fee structures in the years to come
21:18: What’s contributed to the success of AdvicePeriod, and Larry’s vision for the future
24:19 The details of their unique hiring process
29:40 How they keep the culture consistent across several offices and teams
31:47 The connection between the way AdvicePeriod conducts business, and referrals
37:16 The power asking ‘could things be different?’
Links:
Website: https://www.adviceperiod.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/larry-miles-67a04221/
Blog: https://www.adviceperiod.com/blog/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/adviceperiod
Advisory Board program: napfa.advisoryboard.solutions
Want more?
Stephen Wershing: www.TheClientDrivenPractice.com/checklistblog
Julie Littlechild: www.absoluteengagement.com/blog
Episode Transcript:
Steve:
Welcome to Becoming Referable, the podcast that shows you how to become the kind of advisor people can’t stop talking about. I’m Steve Wershing. On this episode we interview Larry Miles, Principle at AdvicePeriod, a firm with the audacious goal of reinventing wealth management. AdvicePeriod has gone from a start-up to managing almost two and a half billion dollars in less than five years. Larry says the current model of wealth management is broken, that investment management is largely commoditized, and lays out his plan to create a new model to replace it. He talks about how new technology creates the opportunity to create a whole new kind of client experience. He describes how assembling a championship team with a shared mission is critical. We also discuss his new book, It’s That Simple, that describes how to build the service firm of the future. If you want to build a firm that will thrive in the 21st century you’ll want to hear this episode. Let’s hear our conversation with Larry Miles.
Speaker 2:
Learn everything you need to know to form and benefit from a successful client advisory board, from the man who has lead more client advisory board meetings than anyone in the financial services industry. Steven Wershing, CFP, has been helping financially advisory firms create and utilize client advisory boards as a business building strategy for over seven years. And now you can get his best advice for a small fraction of the cost by attending this one day program held just before the NAPFA 2018 conference on October 15th in Philadelphia. By the end of this one day program you will have a complete and thoughtful plan to make your client advisory board a reality, or make a bigger success of the one you already have. What you’ll learn includes, how to choose the right participants for your board, creating an effective board meeting agenda, choosing a venue, what restaurants won’t tell you, choosing the right person to run your meetings, and upgrading the client experience with your board’s guidance.
The program also includes guest speaker Marie Swift, President and CEO of Impact Communications, a thought leader for thought leaders. She is known for bringing some of the industries best and brightest voices together for dialogue and debate. She’ll teach you how to leverage your advisory board and your marketing. You’ll walk out with a complete action plan for getting your advisory board together, or to make your current board a bigger success.
Go to NAPFA.advisoryboard.solutions. One day, October 15th, in Philadelphia can show you how to deepen your client relationships and engage them like never before. Having a conversation with some of your best clients may be the fastest way to referrals and more clients. Don’t miss this opportunity. Go to NAPFA.advisoryboard.solutions to sign up for this event today. That’s NAPFA.advisoryboard.solutions. Now, Becoming Referable.
Steve:
Larry Miles welcome to the Becoming Referable Podcast, thanks for joining us.
Larry:
Thank you for having me.
Julie:
Yeah, great to have you here.
Steve:
So, I’m really fascinated. You know your company AdvicePeriod says on its homepage that the current model of wealth management is outdated, and you’re going to bring something new. That’s a pretty big claim. Can you tell us what that’s all about?
Larry:
Absolutely. Our mission is to reinvent wealth management and there are two big things that we saw, or opportunities or things were wrong with the old model. The first is that it seems as though the historical model of wealth management doesn’t really focus on what matters most to clients. So many wealth management companies are still trying to sell that my asset allocation is better than yours, or I have a strategic asset allocation with a tactile overlay, or I have special managers that you can only get from me in my company, and we just don’t believe that. We think that much of the investment part of the client service has been commoditized, and that you should instead focus on planning.
The second big theme that we saw missing from the old model of a wealth management firm is the lack of focus on technology. It almost seems as though the more successful your firm has been the more outdated your technology is. You almost become a victim of your own success. So, it was a huge advantage to us to start from scratch four years ago, no legacy systems, no legacy technology, we could just focus on what we thought mattered most to our clients. And the trend that we see, and to answer your question about the future model, we see an integrated professional service firm, a firm that can deliver to its clients not just the wealth management services of planning, and investing, and financial advice, but integrated with tax planning, legal advice, but all from the same firm or the same family of firms that makes for a more efficient and more holistic client experience.
Steve:
It’s interesting and there are two things that I’d like to pick up on what you said, let me take the minor one first and that’s the technology thing. How much of it is just advisors who have been doing this for a long time not keeping current with stuff, versus just a belief that this is what built this business, and therefore that’s what clients want?
Larry:
We’ve heard both from the advisors that we’ve talked to in terms of why the technology is in the state that it is. Most advisors that we have met want great technology, they want a great client experience levered by technology, but the advisors aren’t necessarily either interested or have the wherewithal to find the best technology, and implement it in their business. Even if they wanted to or even if it was their own business, it just may not be their area of expertise. And so, there seems to be a desire for better technology, but not necessarily the skillset to go out and find it and implement it, which if you think about it much like running a wealth management business, may not necessarily be the skillset of the top advisors.
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