Zebra Smash - Real Financial Planners | Real Conversations

Every 10 episodes or so, we take a moment to reflect on what we've learned doing this podcast.  We call this meta-episode the Metasode.  Our third installment of the Metasode series was particularly special, in that we were joined by members of our Zebra study group. Take a peek behind the curtain to see how the sausage gets made...

ZebraSmash has deliberately shied away from practice management episodes, with the thought that there are plenty of other good podcasts that specialize in that area. But we made an exception on this episode, and we're glad we did. Chad Smith of Financial Symmetry in Raleigh, NC, joins us to talk about the successful multi-pronged marketing approach his firm has taken, and we've got a lot of great takeaways. Chad and the folks at Financial Symmetry worked with a local marketing firm that didn't specialize in financial advisors, and came away with an approach targeting five categories: The Financial Symmetry website: the firm's face to the world. Check out their site to see a "Contact Us" section on every page.  Advertising: not traditional commercials, but things like pay-per-click ads and Facebook ads that drive people to their website Developing a firm-wide podcast, starting first by just reading blog posts the firm's advisors were already publishing Leveraging current clients: do they belong to communities

ZebraSmash turns 30 (episodes)! And for our 30th, we've got a special treat: Carolyn McClanahan of Life Plan Partners walks Ben through Whealthcareplan.com, her new software program that helps advisors put together financial caretaking plans, assess financial decision making capacity, and build long-term care plans for clients.  Ben took all three assessments as if he was a client, so listen to Carolyn explain to Ben why his life expectancy is a mere 78 years old (spoiler: it's too much sitting!) and the things he should be doing to make life easier for a potential financial caretaker.  There's a lot here, but some neat takeways included: A FINRA requirement starting in 2018 will result in advisors needing to have Trusted Contact Information for clients The critical role advisors play in spotting financial fraud and abuse People without advanced directives spend $18,000 more at the end of life compared to those that do It bears repeating: Ben's life expectancy is just 78 years old. Check out Whealthcareplan

All three items mentioned in this episode's title are terrifying in their own way. And you'd better make sure you have some sort of business continuity plan in case your firm is impacted by any of them, especially the Rodents of Unusual Size. Compliance expert Cindi Hill of Hill Compliance Advisors walks us through some important considerations for business continuity and disaster recovery in light of Roger's recent experience with Hurricane Irma.  In this episode, we touch on: Establishing policies for when the office will close. Consider following the lead of a local institution, like a nearby university Regulatory requirements for business continuity and disaster recovery plans, including the death or disability of the owner or other key employees Important questions to cover in such plans, including: Who will wind down the business? Who will reimburse clients (if necessary)? How will clients be notified?  How will your office be up and running within 48 hours of any shutdown? What supplies would you nee

We've got another Investment News "40 Under 40" member on the show! Friend of the podcast Bethany Griffith from Abacus Planning Group in Columbia, SC, joins Roger and Ben to provide a recap of the 2017 Bob Veres Insider's Forum conference.  As with our other conference recap episodes, Bethany wasn't able to attend every session. But she took great notes and came away with some key insights from a number of sessions, including: Structuring Internal Equity Transitions (Roy Ballentine) Bob Veres peering into the future of the planning profession G2: Developing Your Firm's Next Generation Leaders (Philip Palaveev) Designing Processes for Growing your Firm (Cheryl Holland, Bethany Griffith and Scotty Scott, all from Abacus). This led to another ZebraSmash first - a conference recap from someone who actually presented at the conference.  Creative & Effective Recruiting, Vetting & Hiring for your Human Talent (Luke Dean, Utah Valley University; Ginny Hudgens, The Strategic Implementer; Hunter Judson, Jr, T

Stephen Craffen of Stonegate Wealth Management in Oakland, NJ joins Roger and Ben to discuss Modern Portfolio Theory, from its humble origins as a scrappy idea cooked up in a back room at the University of Chicago through its ascendancy and eventual dominance on every CFP and CFA multiple choice exam. And you thought you were done with this stuff! We touch on a number of critical concepts, including: The creation and important takeaways of Modern Portfolio Theory (MPT) Thenecessary assumptions that make MPT "work" and the limitations thereof Possible updates to Modern Portfolio Theory, including the Black-Litterman approach of portfolio allocation and making use of concepts like Conditional Value at Risk Fat tails, extreme events (like 2008) and the challenge of serial correlation Roger riffing on the Gaussian distribution Links to Neat Things We Talk About Stephen mentions the seminal work of Roger Ibbotsen and asset allocation. His regularly updated book on the returns of asset classes over time is a

We invited not one, but two academics in the field of financial planning to a panel discussion.  Drs. Nathan Harness and Michael Guillemette joined us to talk about a paper Dr. Guillemette just finished up on the subject of aging clients.  There's a lot of research on the subject of how client behavior changes as they reach more advanced years, and Michael took on the herculean task of trying to make sense of it all. In this episode, we walk through the sections of the paper, with Ben and Roger offering up examples from everyday practice in the field of financial planning.  Some elements of the research rung true, while other elements got a little pushback.  That's right!  This wasn't one of those panel discussions where everybody just agrees with each other. If you're interested in checking out the paper we discussed, here is a copy.  NOTE - This was not the final draft that went to print!  We discussed a version that was not quite final. Risks in Advanced Age - Michael Guillemette (We'll link the final vers

Bob Veres is one of the most easily recognized writers and commentators in the financial advisory world, and we were lucky to chat with him on the evolution, current state and (dare I say it?) future of financial journalism.  Bob tells us his story, from when he was a freelance writer in Atlanta known as the "writer of last resort," to his ascendancy to editing and resurrecting both Air Cargo and then The Financial Planner (known now as simply Financial Planning), and then finally to the creation of his Inside Information newsletter and other services.  Stay tuned to the end, when Bob Veres definitely says that Ben and Roger are, "...not doofuses." From your lips to God's ears, Bob! Learn more about Inside Information and Bob's annual conference (Insider's Forum) at www.bobveres.com and the Insider's Forum website, and follow Bob on Twitter (@BobVeres).   

Our first ever "by request" episode! Dave O'Brien from Evolution Advisers challenged us some months ago to do an episode on required minimum distributions from qualified accounts, and after hemming and hawing we finally ran out of excuses. So here it is! Join us on a whirlwind tour of the exciting world of RMDs, as we touch on:  How to calculate RMDs, including rules about determining account balances and participant ages Different rules on when RMDs start, depending on employment status and type of qualified account Qualified Longevity Annuity Contracts (QLACs) and Qualified Charitable Donations (QCDs).  Rules on post-death RMDs for a variety of beneficiaries Challenges faced by beneficiaries who inherit Inherited IRAs Neat Links: Natalie Choate's Life and Death Planning for Retirement Benefits (7th Edition) is the end-all/be-all of all things RMD related. You can order it at Ataxplan Publications.  The IRS provides a shockingly good reference website document for RMDs: Michael Kitces has written on a n

The Department of Labor Fiduciary Rule is a mere 2 months old.  But like any 2 month old, it causes anyone around it to lose quite a bit of sleep.  And it tends to smell sometimes.  And in particularly stressful moments, it makes you wonder if you have any idea what you're doing. Well we found someone who knows what she's doing.  Cindi Hill is the rare CFP(R) practitioner that liked compliance so much that she made it her primary business! Cindi has been following the rule, and she's got some updates and best practices to share with us.  Hurry up and listen before they change all the rules again and we have to record an entirely new episode. Links: Cindi Hill - Hill Compliance Advisors Fred Reish - He has 55 articles on the DOL as of 7/26/17! Places You Might Live If You've Never Heard of the DOL Rule Mariana Trench Possibly Nonexistent Planet X Tristan da Cunha - The most remote inhabited island on Earth

Ann Gugle of Alpha Financial Advisors in Charlotte, NC joins Ben and Roger to recap her experience at 2017 AICPA Engage Conference.   Do you constantly dream of being surrounded by 4,000 CPAs and financial advisors who live and breathe for the latest tax planning strategies and exotic step-up in basis techniques...IN LAS VEGAS?!? Then this conference was for you.  Find out why the AICPA conference is considered to be at the top of most people's lists for the conference with the Best Technical Content lists. And hear the challenge of networking with 4,000 people in the cozy confines of the MGM Grand.  And for those who want to hear more from Bob Keebler - who presented a keynote session at the AICPA conference - consider registering for the 2017 NAPFA National Conference in beautiful Orlando, FL. Bob will be conducing a three-hour session on Tax Planning and IRAs at the pre-conference, as well as a breakout session during the regular conference. 

If you're a regular listener to this podcast,  there's a good chance that you're the one at the beach wearing khakis and a sensible button-up, with a solid business/self-help business book in hand. And have we got the book for you! Exceptional Service, Exceptional Profit: The Secrets of Building a Five-Star Customer Service Organization isn't a long book, clocking in at just 144 pages. But as authors Leonardo Inghilleri and Micah Solomon suggest in Chapter Three (Language Engineering): "Every. Word. Counts." This book has made an impact on both of us, so much so that it's required reading for new employees at both of our firms. In this episode, we provide a brief tour, with extended stops at favorite parts along the way: Anticipatory Service The Four Elements of Excellent Customer Service Creating a Preferred Language Lexicon Turning Service Failures Around/The Perfect Apology  Client Feedback/Seeing Your Firm Through the Eyes of a Client We could easily have spent another hour talking about the book, but h

We promised our faithful listeners that every 10 episodes, we would do a "metasode" to check in to see if we were accomplishing the goals we set for ourselves, share some lessons learned, and talk about what the Zebra Smash of the future might look like. And after 20 mostly glitch-free episodes, we finally experienced the coming-of-age ritual of every podcast: completing an episode, only to discover that one of us hadn't recorded properly. Based on minutes of research, we're fairly confident that we made it farther than any podcast in the history of the universe before our first major recording snafu. So we've got that going for us.  We buckled our chinstraps, laced up our boots, did some more sports preparation thingies and tried again. Frankly, this recording is 10 times better than the first one. That one was terrible. But this one? Pure gold.  In this episode, we talk about: Stats that show that, yes, people are listening.   Stats that show that, no, people aren't taking as many CE quizzes as we thought.

How much are financial advisors charging their clients?  How are most advisors calculating their fees?  What constitutes a reasonable fee these days?  Bob Veres put out a survey and study recently that tries to answer those questions. To learn more about Bob Veres, here's his website.  You can subscribe to his newsletter there, which will give you access to the study we discussed. Bob Veres Inside Information: www.bobveres.com

Roger is on vacation this week, but we want to provide a quick episode where we review two software programs that we've found to be helpful in our respective firms.  Remember on Reading Rainbow when kids would review books then finish with the catchphrase, "But don't take my word for it!"?  Well this is the adult financial planning version of that. But without books. Or LeVar Burton. Or rainbows. What we talked about in this episode: Keepass = keepass.info Slack = www.slack.com We wanted to put that awesome Reading Rainbow sound after each review, but chose not to due to a combination of laziness and copyright concerns. Instead, we'll link to some guy's website who evidently has no such worries: Da Da Dah!

On this week's episode, Roger and Ben are joined by John Gugle of Alpha Financial Advisors, who provides a recap of the 2017 FPA Retreat conference.  Rather than link to each speaker that John mentions, you can check out the agenda for the entire conference here. (Note the absence of the "bells and incense" portion of the first night from the conference agenda. Bait and switch!) Next year's retreat is already scheduled for April 23-26, 2018, in Phoenix, AZ, so start marking up your calendar now. 

Roger provides a recap of the 2017 NAPFA National Spring Conference in beautiful Bellevue, WA. We cover the keynote sessions, highlighted breakout sessions, and talk about the challenge of planning a conference when you try to balance new topics and voices against the draw of repeat speakers with high name recognition that get people in the door. (You can access the conference agenda by visiting the NAPFA website.) Mark your calendars now for the 2017 NAPFA National Fall Conference in Orlando, FL, which will take place from October 18 - 21. 

While attending the NAPFA National Conference in Bellevue, WA, Roger had the privilege of sitting down with Bill Bengen,  one of the true financial planning legends. (Ben had the privilege of sitting comfortably in his home.) Bengen's landmark 1994 paper in the Journal of Financial Planning introduced the world to the now-famous "4% Rule", which stated that based on historical returns for stocks and bonds, a retiree who withdrew no more than 4% (actually, 4.2%) of their initial portfolio and then adjusted future withdrawals by inflation had the greatest chance of not outliving his or her funds.  And just like Louis XV, after Bengen came the deluge of researchers - including Bengen himself - who revisited, and refined the concept of Safe Withdrawal Rates. And many a PhD was hooded... In this episode, we touch on: Bengen's motivation to research safe withdrawal rates Data sources available at the time Strengths and limitations of the 4% rule  The role that taxes and tax-deferred accounts play on Safe Withdrawa

(Ready to take the CE quiz?  Head over to www.cheetahsmash.com...) Remember that song by Alabama called "If You're Gonna Play in Texas (You Gotta Have a Fiddle in the Band"?  No?  Well we recommend it.  We're not quite sure why a band called Alabama is singing about Texas, but that's a topic for another day. In any case, it's a similar story if you're gonna be a financial advisor in Texas.  You gotta know about oil and gas.  And now that the shale boom has spread across the nation, this topic is going to be important in most other states as well. Disclaimer: This episode is 100% free of legal and tax advice.  As far as we know, there's no insurance or medical advice either. Covered In This Episode We got a ton of help from a brilliant book called Money In The Ground.  We link to it below.  If you have an office library, we recommend having a copy just in case. Mineral vs. surface rights Components of an oil lease Royalty vs. working interest Intangible drilling costs, including our nominee for the most obscu

Dr. Nathan Harness, Instructional Associate Professor and TD Ameritrade Director of Financial Planning at Texas A&M University, joins Roger and Ben to talk about the current state of academic financial planning programs.  You'll see from the get-go that Dr. Harness is a sharp cookie. And not only does he have an enviable CV (including another coveted 40 Under 40 spot), he sings a mean karaoke.  There's so much meat here that you'll hear us say multiple times that we could address a number of tangential topics in a future podcast. But we're living in the present. In the immortal words of Colonel Sanders in the historically accurate Mel Brooks classic Spaceballs, "We're at now now. Everything that's happening now is happening now." So what did we talk about? Among other things: Dr. Harness' journey into academia The benefits that thinking like a researcher can have on financial planners Teaching about comprehensive financial planning is complicated by the fact that there's no universally accepted definitio