“Weekend Content for New Financial Planners” is a collection of articles, podcasts, videos, etc. that I’ve been consuming regarding breaking into financial planning, industry trends, career development, and more.
ICYMI: Michael Kitces shares his thoughts on A.I.’s impact on the profession including what he sees advisors doing in the future, the types of clients who will continue to hire advisors, and the obstacles consumers face to fully embrace A.I. [Podcast or Article]:
“First of all, at a high level, I’m a tech nerd at heart. I love my tech. I like playing with my tech. I’m bullish on tech in the way that tech plays out in positive ways. But, I fundamentally don’t think you’re going to see any foreseeable future where A.I. is directly competing against financial advisors for the people who hire financial advisors.
There are a couple of reasons for that. In at least the intermediate term, there’s a phenomenon that I’ve taken to start calling the ‘A.I. Trust Penalty’ in what we actually expect from A.I. to be willing to follow it or trust it or adhere to it.”
AI And The Evolution Of Financial Advice With Michael Kitces [Peter Lazaroff, The Long Term Investor]
Brendan Frazier with ten of the easiest behavioral finance best practices that you can implement tomorrow to get the most impact [Podcast]:
“What we know is that when you talk, it lights up the reward centers of the brain. So, you walk away thinking, ‘That was a great conversation. That person was great. I really like them.’ And they didn’t even have to say that much—they just showed a genuine interest in you.
I talk a lot about trust being the foundation of success in financial advice and how you’re not going anywhere in this business if you can’t establish trust. Well, listening is a skill that accelerates trust. (and likability, along with asking questions). So, that’s why it’s so important. And if you want to look at data, Dr. Moira Summers, who wrote ‘Advice That Sticks,’ says that the number one predictor of success in an initial meeting with somebody is the amount of airtime they get.”
10 Rules For Human-First Financial Advice [Daniel Crosby, Standard Deviations]
Jason Wenk with 3 areas to focus on to make the most of today’s opportunities [Article]:
“Demand and need for RIAs is at an all-time high. Factors such as record inflation, rising interest rates, regional bank failures, and the pandemic retirement surge have created an environment in which more people are seeking the fiduciary standard that distinguishes RIAs from other financial services. For independent advisors eager to meet this demand, I encourage you to scrutinize three key areas of your firm: go-to-market strategy, technology and talent.“
How Can Financial Advisors Best Leverage The Opportunities In Front Of Them? [Jason Wenk, WealthManagement.com]
Root Financial founder James Conole recounts the story of his impressive growth from YouTube after experimenting with a number of content strategies—and advice on how to get started [Podcast]:
“One of my closest friends, he was the Creative Director for GoPro, he said ‘Why don’t you take this and put this on YouTube? YouTube is where people are finding content. This is where there’s maybe a huge opportunity for you.’ So, he said just film yourself doing the podcast and put it on YouTube. This was two years ago, maybe early 2021. I said okay, let’s give this a shot.
So, I set up my iPhone camera and I recorded myself. I did 4 or 5 episodes. It was horrible. It took so long to sync the audio to the video and the editing. It was literally taking an entire day just to make one video because I had no idea what I was doing. It just wasn’t sustainable. I posted and there’s literally 2 views or 3 views. I just can’t justify 20% of my workweek going towards 2 views on YouTube. So, I gave up and that was at the beginning of 2021. Five episodes in.
Did nothing for 6, 7, 8 months and then all of a sudden I started getting emails in my inbox. Saying ‘Hey, so-and-so commented on your video.’ And ‘hey, so-and-so subscribed to your channel.’ It just kept building. I was like what is going on here. Then all of a sudden it went to 100 views, then 500 views. Then 1,000. Everything is relative, that could be a large number, that could be an insignificant number. For me, it was a significant number because this thing was doing nothing for so long is now starting to get some traction. What I realized is YouTube is this awesome platform that you just don’t stick content there and it goes there to die. Well, maybe it does if it sucks, but if it’s good content YouTube’s trying to push that in front of the right people. So, it took 6 or 7 months, but all of a sudden this video racked up several thousand views. At that point, I was like okay, there’s something to this YouTube thing; that’s the moment I decided I needed to go all in on this…”
How Optimizing YouTube Led To $220M In AUM With James Conole [Jason Wenk & Dasarte Yarnway, The Advisor Journey]
And a few ideas on how to get through the “flat end” of the growth curve to give your content marketing a chance to get traction and compound [Video]:
Why Having A Tiny Audience Is Good News [Carl Richards, The Society Of Advice]
Morgan Housel with a few stories illustrating the importance of helping manage client expectations regarding markets, careers, and more [Article]:
“So here’s the question: What do you call the top-of-the-world status Amazon had in 2021? Was it a gift? A reward for hard work? The natural swings of capitalism?
Yes, all of those.
But there’s another way to look at it: An expectations debt.
Expectations were so high in 2021 that investors and employees had to achieve extraordinary things just to break even. When results were merely good, they felt terrible.
Expectations are like a debt that must be repaid before you get any joy out of what you’re doing.”
Expectations Debt [Morgan Housel, Collaborative Fund]
Which was your favorite takeaway? Comment below!
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