“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.
This edition of Weekend Content for New Financial Planners begins on the theme of developing your professional brand. A Twitter thread from MetaLab founder and investor Andrew Wilkinson provides some thought-provoking analysis on the benefits and competitive advantages of developing your brand. Next, Barron’s Steve Garmhausen’s conducts an interview with one of the industry’s most well-known “personal brands” in Ric Edelman, covering what it takes to establish and maintain your brand. Finally, if you have any reservations about the potential for negative feedback from “trolls” while developing your brand online, investor Paul Graham provides a nice piece on how to think about “haters.”
Next, we look at a few pieces of content on the topic of remote work. This week the FPA announced the launch of their virtual externship program (coming after XY Planning Network’s recent announcement of a virtual internship program), available for free to FPA members. The 8-week program will allow participants to earn 160 hours towards the CFP® experience requirement. (NAPFA is also facilitating virtual internships as well.) Following, we have a tweet from industry expert Michael Kitces highlighting workers’ preference to have remote work as an option. Finally, we have another article from Investment News featuring stories of financial service firms embracing the move to remote work.
We wrap up with Samantha Russell of Twenty Over Ten covering the various social platforms most relevant to each generation. Finally, we watch a new segment from CNBC that looks to focus on financial planning and advice featuring advisors Josh Brown and Nina O’Neill.
I hope you enjoy.
Building a Personal Brand Moat (Andrew Wilkinson, Twitter)
1/ Warren Buffett loves moats 🏰
— Andrew Wilkinson (@awilkinson) April 30, 2020
Qualities that make a business difficult to compete with.
The ULTIMATE moat, aside from network effect (Facebook/Visa/LinkedIn), is a BRAND moat 💎
Coke can sell a cheap commodity product (cola) at a premium price by slapping a label on it 🥤
Ric Edelman: Lessons From a Walking Brand (Steve Garmhausen, Barron’s)
“Barron’s Advisor: What would you tell advisors looking to create a marketing presence?
Ric Edelman: Don’t attempt it unless you plan to see it through. Building a brand, which is what they tell me I’ve become, is something that takes a committed effort on a sustained basis. It requires substantial investment of both time and money in order to create that brand and have it deliver on your expectations. Very often I have seen advisors poke at it, test it, try it out, and they invariably fail.”
Haters (Paul Graham, PaulGraham.com)
“Knowing that haters are just fanboys with the sign bit flipped makes it much easier to deal with them. We don’t need a separate theory of haters. We can just use existing techniques for dealing with obsessive fans.”
FPA Externship (Financial Planning Association, FPAExternship.org)
“FPA’s Virtual externship is perfect for financial planning students whose in-person internships were put on hold due to current circumstances. It’s also perfect for those who’ve recently lost their job, want to explore a career change, or who want to dive deeper into the art and practice of financial planning.”
Whew. 54% of all workers want Remote Work to remain as their PRIMARY mode of work even after the pandemic ends. 70% want it to at least remain an option. #NewNormal
— MichaelKitces (@MichaelKitces) May 7, 2020
“Workers Don’t Want to Return to Offices. Start Preparing Now” https://t.co/qwv5WJMkdV
Financial Services Embraces Technology in Adapting to Remote Work (Jeff Benjamin, InvestmentNews.com)
“‘It’s working for us; we’re not in a hurry to get back to the office,’ he added. ‘The first two weeks were a little awkward but now this is normal for us, and in our minds we’re probably going to slowly get back to the office, but we might never get to 50% capacity in our offices again.'”
Marketing to Different Generations on Social Media (Samantha Russell, AdvisorPerspectives.com)
“With the coronavirus outbreak, being present on social media is critical for advisors. When used correctly, it is a great tool for impactful connections with current and prospective clients and establishing yourself as a thought leader within your niche. That being said, you may not need to be active on every social media platform. It depends on the niche you target. Identify which platforms your target audience uses and what content they want to see to effectively connect with them and make a lasting impact.”
The Path Forward: Your Money (21:21-mark) (Josh Brown and Nina O’Neill, CNBC.com)
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