Overview
Are you looking for a passionate speaker to educate and entertain your audience of financial advisors?
Tired of seeing boring speakers click through the same text-filled PowerPoint presentations you’ve seen over and over at previous conferences? I have one rule when booking speaking engagements – only speak on topics I am unbelievably passionate about. I promise to bring unmatched energy and passion to the stage, and will inspire and entertain the audience … just as long as they aren’t expecting an old guy in suit and tie.
Fees
Webinars: $500
Presentations: $3,000 – $5,000 plus travel and hotel
Discounts available for non-profit associations
Industry Trends
The Future of Financial Planning: 5 Trends Changing the Way You Do Business Forever
Ideal audience: Firm owners
The financial planning industry is changing at a rapid pace, and the busy professionals and entrepreneurs running firms within it tend to focus only on the day-to-day operations of their own businesses. Many of us have a tough time picking our heads up to examine how new trends will shape our industry and how we operate as we move forward.
This presentation focuses on 5 industry trends that we identify as being critical components to the future of running a successful financial planning firm. These trends include:
- Changing Demographics of Advisors
- Changing Demographics of Clients
- Technology
- Crisis of Differentiation
- Evolving Business Models
This exciting and engaging presentation focuses on the future of financial planning and leaves attendees with actionable tips on how to prepare a firm to thrive in the future.
Note: This presentation can also be a joint presentation with Michael Kitces. Please inquire if this is of interest.
Recruit, Train, and Retain: Leveraging NextGen Talent to Secure Your Firm’s Future
Ideal audience: All financial planners
Do you struggle to recruit rockstar young advisors to your firm? Do you find that even when you discover the talent, they eventually leave for other opportunities? Securing the future of your firm depends on your ability to recruit and retain next generation talent, but what can you do to bring them into your business and keep them there?
This presentation looks at how to:
- Recruit top talent to your firm
- Develop top talent into advisors
- Engage advisors to retain top talent
Attendees will leave this presentation understanding how to take action on these items, and how to make a difference to the future of their firm by attracting and retaining the best young talent in the industry. A word of warning: Be prepared to leave your assumptions about what it takes to attract NexGen advisors at the door!
Monthly Retainers: Serving the Next Generation Client
Ideal audience: All financial advisors
AUM is commonly used in financial planning, however, AUM fee structures only profitably serve 10% of the population. Many advisors are behind on reaching untapped client markets — and how to do so in a way that can increase firm revenues.
There is a solution. It is possible to engage clients outside of the AUM model in a profitable way. This presentation seeks to introduce the monthly retainer model to financial advisors as that solution, and explains how they can use a monthly retainer in their own firms.
Attendees will learn the answers to the following questions:
- What is the monthly retainer model and why does it work?
- How much should I charge?
- How can I profitably implement the monthly retainer model?
- What services do I offer on a monthly basis for my clients?
What makes this presentation truly exciting is it answers an even bigger question than the ones above: how can financial advisors profitably serve the next generation client?
Firm Within a Firm: Serving Young Clients Inside Your Existing Practice
Ideal audience: Firm owners
Most advice around serving NextGen clients suggest only two solutions: start a new financial planning firm and leave old models far behind, or serve young clients for free until they are “big enough” to be profitable. But these aren’t the only options, and current firm owners will enjoy attending this presentation that provides a profitable alternative model.
This presentation introduces firm owners to the concept of a “Firm Within a Firm.” This is a client segmentation strategy that allows existing businesses to profitably serve next generation clients without disrupting the firm’s current service model.
Existing practices can use this business structure to profitably serve young clients. We’ll walk through some of the most essential steps to designing a firm within a firm, including:
- Branding of the new firm within the existing firm
- How to staff and operate the new segment
- Tips on marketing and growing your firm within a firm
This presentation is full of actionable steps to create a business structure that will secure an existing financial planning business for the future — without requiring firm owners to create entirely new businesses to meet future needs.
Alan & Kitces Unhinged
Ideal audience: All financial advisors
Want to mix up your educational sessions and give your attendees something new? Alan Moore & Michael Kitces couldn’t be more different: Kitces is the quintessential Gen Xer, while Alan is the classic Gen Yer. These generational differences, coupled with a 5 year working relationship, makes for exciting debates and discussions about your industry questions.
This session is centered around live Q&A with the audience, leading to unhinged brutally honest answers from two speakers that aren’t afraid to share their opinions and various experiences.
Note: For examples, check out this episode of XYPN Radio.
Financial Planning: It’s not just for Boomers any more - CFP CE Approved
The financial planning profession is undergoing rapid change as members of generations X and Y, the “now” generation, join baby boomers in seeking financial advice. To properly serve this increasingly important demographic, firms must evaluate each element of their business. Join us for this exciting presentation as we evaluate:
Strategies for attracting and retaining young advisors at your firm
How to develop services that will engage and retain younger clients
Business models, marketing techniques, and technologies than can help you guide your firm into the future
Technology
25 Technologies Under $25 Per Month to Transform Your Business Today
Ideal audience: All financial advisors
Technology innovations happen daily, and it can be overwhelming to stay on top of evolving trends. This fast-paced presentation shares 25 free or inexpensive applications financial advisors can use to transform how they run their financial planning firms.
From online scheduling or e-signature, to time tracking or e-mail management, these apps will cover a wide range of tools that you can implement today to streamline your practice. Join us for the exciting presentation that will have you walking away ready to improve your business!
5 Technology Tools to Get Your Time Back
Ideal audience: All financial advisors
Finding ways to be more efficient is a constant struggle for financial advisors. Our time is too valuable to waste by performing unnecessary tasks, and yet most of us are guilty of it on a daily basis.
Learn how to take back your time and get more done in your day with this presentation, where we’ll cover:
- How to identify where you are spending your time
- Ways to eliminate tasks that are unnecessary
- Technology tools needed to streamline remaining tasks
Attendees will take away a step-by-step process to evaluate how to streamline their practices to increase productivity and gain more time.
Financial Planning Technology: Where Are We and Where Are We Going?
Ideal audience: Firm owners and CTOs
To keep your firm current with new technology, you need to update or move major pieces of technology (like your CRM) every 18-24 months. This process is daunting and causes many firm owners to simply keep what they already have in place.
But this quickly leads to running an inefficient practice with outdated technology. The first step to improving technology adoption in any financial planning firm is understanding the current landscape of technology in financial planning.
This presentation will provide:
- An overview of existing types of technology available to advisory
- A highlight of the leading technologies in each major tech category
- A look into the future at technology coming down the pipeline
This will be a deep into the current and emerging trends in technology for financial planners. Attendees will learn how to keep their firms relevant and efficient in the digital age.
Half Human, Half Technology: How to Leverage Robo Advisor Platforms in Your Firm
Ideal audience: Firm owners
Robo Advisors will not steal all of our clients, but we can leverage them to lead our firms into the future. It is time to take our understanding of these platforms a step further. If firm owners know how to properly leverage robo advisors, they can take advantage of powerful technology available to financial planners.
Built from the ground up with no legacy data or “but this is the way it’s always been done” baggage, robo advisors have eliminated many of the day-to-day tasks that have consumed advisors and their staff’s time.
This presentation will provide you with a better understanding and show you how to leverage new technology trends to streamline your practice, and become more efficient!
Marketing
Surviving the Crisis of Differentiation: What Makes Your Firm Different?
Ideal audience: Firm owners
If you were diagnosed with a rare disease, would you go to the general practitioner in town? Or would you find the best doctor in the country that specializes in cases like yours?
Being a fee-only, fiduciary, financial advisor that provides comprehensive financial planning was “different” in the past — but that’s no longer the case. So what makes your firm different from the firm down the street, or that advisor sitting next to you at a conference? What can you do to differentiate yourself from the crowd?
Few advisors can answer that question about what makes them different and it’s leading to a crisis of differentiation in our industry.
To help financial advisors determine their niche and understand what makes their firm unique, this presentation will explore:
- The importance of establishing a target market
- Examples of financial advisors who successfully serve a niche market
- Ways to leverage a niche to quickly grow a financial planning firm
Attendees will benefit from this deep dive into the importance of identifying a target market, and how they can survive the impending crisis of differentiation.
5 Easy Steps to Build Your Online Presence
Ideal audience: All financial advisors
If you were to Google your name, or your firm’s name, what would you find? Positive or negative information? Would you find anything at all?
Prospective clients are increasingly using the internet to research financial advisors before making initial contact, and what they find in the first 30 seconds will likely determine if you ever hear from them. Building a presence and reputation online is extremely important, and yet very few advisors take the time to do this.
This presentation will cover:
- Why building an online presence is critical for your firm
- How you can quickly lay the foundation for a positive online reputation
- Simple ways to monitor your brand online, and continue to build your presence
Attendees will leave this presentation with actionable tips for building an online presence, and laying a strong foundation for future growth.
Ditch the Lighthouse & Compass: Use Your Website to Attract Your Ideal Clients
Ideal audience: Firm owners
Your website is your firm’s digital storefront, and is the most critical component to any marketing plan you roll out. And yet so few advisors really invest the time to ensure their website is actually speaking to the clients they hope to attract.
Ignoring your website will cause you to lose ideal prospective clients, and more importantly, to attract the wrong kind of client to your firm. This presentations covers:
- The reasons most advisors ignore their website (and why they shouldn’t)
- The critical components of any firm website
- Actionable steps to improve your website immediately
And of course, you’ll learn exactly why having a compass or a lighthouse on your website means your website has a problem — and how to fix it!
Digital Marketing 2.0: Tools, Technology, and Methods You’re Missing Out On
Ideal audience: Firm owners
As technology changes at rapid speeds, so have the opportunities for new and exciting marketing techniques to attract ideal clients to your firm. While most advisors still rely on existing client referrals to grow their practice, there are a lot of opportunities to market your firm that will greatly increase your growth rate.
This presentation will cover:
- Why relying on “existing client referrals” as your #1 source of new clients is dangerous and must change
- New ways advisors are marketing their firm to attract ideal clients and increase their growth rates
- Steps you can take to leverage new marketing trends to grow
Attendees will walk away with ideas to implement in their own businesses to grow in new ways.
Note: All presentations can be offered as a panel presentation.
Have an idea for a presentation you would like to see? Contact me to see how we can make it work!