May 15, 2026 • 49 mins
Human object side of planning
Annual Planning – do the planning process
Entrepreneur & Family business transition
Brad is a second-generation owner of Bestgen Wealth Management, a boutique firm dedicated to a small group of business owners, entrepreneurs and families. Their approach is highly personal, centered on truly understanding each client’s story, values, and vision for what their wealth is meant to support.
Rather than focusing solely on investments, Brad and his team look at the full landscape of a client’s life. They thoughtfully coordinate with other trusted advisors to ensure every piece is working together with purpose and intention.
The end goal isn’t just stronger financial outcomes—it’s helping clients create a life that feels aligned and meaningful. Through a deliberate, guided process, BWM brings clarity to the decisions surrounding wealth, legacy, and the transitions that shape each chapter along the way.
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Take some zany and serious journeys with The Pipeman aka Dean K. Piper, CST on The Adventures of Pipeman also known as Pipeman Radio syndicated globally “Where Who Knows And Anything Goes.”
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Download, Rate & Review the Podcast at The Adventures of Pipeman, Pipeman Radio, Talk 4 Media, iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, YouTube & All Podcast Apps.
Annual Planning – do the planning process
Entrepreneur & Family business transition
Brad is a second-generation owner of Bestgen Wealth Management, a boutique firm dedicated to a small group of business owners, entrepreneurs and families. Their approach is highly personal, centered on truly understanding each client’s story, values, and vision for what their wealth is meant to support.
Rather than focusing solely on investments, Brad and his team look at the full landscape of a client’s life. They thoughtfully coordinate with other trusted advisors to ensure every piece is working together with purpose and intention.
The end goal isn’t just stronger financial outcomes—it’s helping clients create a life that feels aligned and meaningful. Through a deliberate, guided process, BWM brings clarity to the decisions surrounding wealth, legacy, and the transitions that shape each chapter along the way.
Click Here to Subscribe to The Adventures of Pipeman for PERKS, BONUS Content & FREE GIVEWAYS!
Take some zany and serious journeys with The Pipeman aka Dean K. Piper, CST on The Adventures of Pipeman also known as Pipeman Radio syndicated globally “Where Who Knows And Anything Goes.”
Would you like to be a sponsor of the show?
Would you like to have your business, products, services, merch, programs, books, music or any other professional or artistic endeavors promoted on the show?
Would you like interviewed as a professional or music guest on The Adventures of Pipeman, Positively Pipeman and/or Pipeman in the Pit?
Would you like to host your own Radio Show, Streaming TV Show, or Podcast?
PipemanRadio Podcasts are heard on Pipeman Radio, Talk 4 Media, iHeartRadio, Pandora, Amazon Music, Audible, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and over 100 other podcast outlets where you listen to Podcasts.
The following are the different podcasts to Follow, Listen, Download, Subscribe:
- The Adventures of Pipeman
- Pipeman Radio
- Pipeman in the Pit – Music Interviews & Festivals
- Pipeman – The Wandering Jew
- Positively Pipeman – Empowerment, Inspiration, Motivation, Self-Help, Business, Spiritual & Health & Wellness
Click Here to Subscribe for PERKS, BONUS Content & FREE GIVEWAYS!
Follow @pipemanradio on all socials & Pipeman Radio Requests & Info at www.linktr.ee/pipemanradio
Stream The Adventures of Pipeman daily & live Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays at 1PM ET on W4CY Radio & Talk 4 TV.
Download, Rate & Review the Podcast at The Adventures of Pipeman, Pipeman Radio, Talk 4 Media, iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, YouTube & All Podcast Apps.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
Hi, you live done to the censure.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Fore wow for you.
Speaker 3 (00:12):
Young, it's the pipe Man here on the Adventures pipe
Man W four c Y Radio. I'm very excited about
this segment and our next guest because it's like ghost
of Christmas past for me, for all of you listeners
(00:32):
that know that I used to be in the financial business.
So now we have one of our sponsors here at
the network who is in the financial business. So we're
gonna chat, especially with how things are going nowadays, and
this guest will definitely give you some great advice and
great information that will not only be apropos for your
(00:56):
family but for the timing of the times that we're
living here and twenty six.
Speaker 4 (01:01):
So welcome to the show. Brad, Best John, how are
you hey.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
I'm good, Teams, thanks for having me man, Yeah, excited too.
Speaker 3 (01:08):
Excited to join you, Excited to have you and one
thing I love. Okay, so your company is Best Gen
Wealth Management, and you know my time in the business,
usually that was just somebody's ego putting their name on it,
and it was wasn't really a family affair. But for
you it makes sense because this has been a family
(01:30):
affair for a long time.
Speaker 4 (01:31):
Hasn't it been.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
Yeah, that's exactly correct, and we're pretty proud of that.
You know, my dad and I work together for over
fifteen years, and I'm in the process of purchasing or
buying out his share of the business. He's mostly retired
at this point, but was in the financial services industry for.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
Over forty years.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
And you know, I started in the financial service industry
back in like two thousand and four and worked in
other places for a few years before him and I
decided we should join up and start our own start
our own firm. So felt great, and it's you know,
I think we all know the statistics on family businesses
(02:20):
that transition from one generation to the next is very small,
and even getting from G two and G three is
even smaller. So hopefully there'll be an opportunity for that someday.
But yeah, we're we're a family business and enjoy that
very much.
Speaker 3 (02:35):
I think it's even smaller for the financial business from
what I know and from my opinion, because generally a
lot of people that entered the financial business are trying
to get away from the family business.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
Yeah, yeah, well exactly, there's definitely which we help, you know,
given our experience, and you know, there's certainly a lot
of pros and cons working with family and sometimes conversations
spill over to the you know, Thanksgiving table and things
like that, so you do have to and you have
(03:07):
to have difficult conversations that you might otherwise not have
if you weren't working together and things like that. But
it's it is great, and it's one of the reasons
we love working with business owners and family businesses because
you're right, there's a lot of nuances there, you know,
with people trying to decide whether they want to come
(03:27):
into the family business or if they don't. It's definitely
a lot more barriers to entry than people think, especially
when you know, if you're the starting generation, you don't
want to create any form of entitlement, and it's not
just a birthright that you could walk in here. And
if you've had employees working for you for fifteen twenty
(03:48):
years and then you just hand the reins over to
your kids out of nowhere, can be a lot of
resentment there from existing employees, so it has to be
done carefully.
Speaker 3 (03:59):
You know, you should mention that because I have two
examples that popped in my head immediately. One of which
was when I was before I was ever in the
financial business. When I was really young, I was in
the pool and spa business, and I managed a store
called Harrows that was a big chain in New York
and New Jersey and had been around for sixty years.
Speaker 4 (04:22):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
And the owners handed it over to their entitled kids
and it's gone.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
Imagine that sixty year old business gone in one generation.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
Yeah, And it's all because the kids were handed it
and they didn't really know what to do with it.
Speaker 4 (04:45):
They had all these fancy ideas.
Speaker 3 (04:47):
But those fancy ideas I kind of relate to the
person that has no kids telling the person with kids
how the parent Yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
Yeah, well exactly, it's it is to you know, there
has to be some level of stewardship, you know, when
it comes to a family, and especially if it's a
family of wealth and transition, and if you want your
kids to come in the business, there should be the
protocol of you know, do they have to work somewhere
(05:18):
else to get experience before they come in here. Once
they are in here, what departments do they have to
work in? Like, what do they have to do?
Speaker 2 (05:26):
You know, are there certain you know hurdles that they
should jump over.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
Do they have to get any continuing education or you know, what,
what is it that we need to do to foster
our children learning about this business and what it is
and what it took to get it there, especially if
it's successful. The kids grow up seeing that they have
a good lifestyle and you know, things are okay, but
they don't see what mom and dad, our grandparents did
(05:51):
to you know, get the business to a level that
it actually is successful and profitable. And it's not easy
to run a business. As you will, oh, you've had
a lot of experience with it, so you can't just
hand it over to somebody that has no idea what is.
Speaker 3 (06:08):
Going on or the appreciation like I have both sides
of defense.
Speaker 4 (06:13):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (06:14):
I got into that pulling spa business because that was
my dad was a man. He when I was like
from the time I was like twelve, he had me
work for him like a slave, and I did every
part of the business, even parts he didn't do, so
like he made me. I didn't like it then, but
he made me learn every aspect in the business. And
(06:36):
I think it's so important because if you are going
to take over the family business, and especially you talked
about employees. Okay, they have to respect that, you know,
how to do their job as good or better than
they do.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
Yeah, one hundred.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
It's because if you're going to come into a leadership role,
as you said, you have to earn the respect of
the people you're trying to lead. They have to respect you.
You have to respect them. That's to be mutual understanding that. Like,
you know, you're not just flying in out of left
field because you just graduated, you know, from graduate school
with an NBA and now you like can just come
(07:19):
in and run a business, you know, at twenty five
years old.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
But there's a lot more to that.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
And you know, employees need to realize and understand where
you're coming from and what your goals are, and you
know that you're going to maintain the culture and you
know things like that that you know, people want to
see as a transition is occurring.
Speaker 3 (07:41):
And you know you mentioned respect and stuff like that.
That's so true, and that brings me now to the
other end. You know, I had a daughter that worked
for me for several years at the radio station, but
she was young at the time. She would probably be
better now, you know, but at the time she was young,
so it was a different attitude, and it was that
(08:02):
entitled attitude. It was that nepotism attitude. And you know,
on top of it, I remember one day there was
somebody that worked for me that I've been radio for years,
but also knew my daughter very well, you know, because
her daughter and their door were.
Speaker 4 (08:17):
Like best friends and stuff. So she knew.
Speaker 3 (08:19):
My door for years, and my door was talking about
inheriting the business once I was gone, and she said, like,
unless you start doing every part of business and doing
it differently than you are now, you'll be out of
business in a couple of months, you know, and basically said,
(08:41):
your dad is the business. So if you want to
take over the business and have it actually continue, then
you need to start really shadowing your dad and doing
and learning every aspect of the business and not enacting
more like the employer than the employee. And I use
that as that's a mentality. I always call that mentality.
(09:02):
There's the employer mentality and the employee mentality, you know,
and that doesn't mean you're the employer.
Speaker 4 (09:08):
That doesn't mean you're an employee. It's how you think.
Speaker 3 (09:11):
Are you the one punching a time clock, and as
soon as five o'clock hits, you're out of there, no
matter whether you got your job done or no matter
what's happening in the business. Or are you somebody that
understands that the business doesn't punch a time clock.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
Yeah, exactly, it's a and that kind of goes without
I mean, that is a key tenant for even I say,
like now, like we're very lucky in our business where
we have employees that have that owner's mentality.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
Even though they're not owners.
Speaker 1 (09:47):
And you know, we're in a service business and you know,
there are things that you have to do. You know,
we don't make it expected, but we have employees that
will do that. And especially if you're in the owner's
family and you want to come in and be the
owner or a leader in the executive suite, you have
(10:07):
to have that ownership mentality that you know, yeah, you
want to have some balance in life, and you need
to have your personal time and clients need to respect
that too. But there's always something to be done to
work on the business, to you know, growth strategies, marketing,
you know, looking at the books, you know, how do
we improve our processes, our tech stack, you know what,
(10:30):
more than just being a financial advisor. You know, you've
got to do these other things. And it might be
on a night, it might be on weekends, like you
might be on your laptop while you know you're waiting
for your kids practice to be over at night. You know,
there are things that there's also there's obviously a lot
of pros to being a business owner, and there's a
lot of nice things to come on with that, but
(10:52):
there's also a lot of sacrifice and things that you
have to do. And if you're trying to bring children
into the business that might not necessarily have that attitude,
or they just want to punch the clock and they
don't really want to learn anything about this department, or
if you call them at five point.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
Thirty, they don't pick up.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
You know, there's things that you want to look for
to make sure the business is going to succeed. If
you're in your standpoint as the owner or the founder saying, well,
I'm you know, Jesus, I don't I want to retire,
but you know, my kids aren't showing the qualities that
I would like in a transition or success and succession plan.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
You know, what am I going to do? How am
I going to deal with that?
Speaker 1 (11:35):
And that's stuff you've got to start working on years
in advance if you're thinking of transitioning.
Speaker 4 (11:40):
Out exactly, And that is one thing, you know.
Speaker 3 (11:47):
I went to your best gend wealth management site and
one thing I saw that I think you correct me
if I'm wrong. What works for you and your dad
and your family businesses. He has his specialty, you have yours.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
Yeah, exactly, that is and I think that goes a
long way in a lot.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
Of businesses, right, you know, I think a lot of
times we have a hard time, whether it's delegating.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
Or we think we're the only ones that can do it.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
That way is working with people and putting people around
you that have strengths that are different than your strengths,
and then you make a great team. You know, there's
a ton of sports analogies that would fit that description
as well. Sometimes the teams that win don't necessarily have
all the all stars. They just play together better, and
(12:37):
they believe in each other as a team, and they
utilize each other's strengths.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
It's almost like finding your unique.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
Brilliance right as a key tenant that I've learned in
a lot of coaching I've done and becoming a business leader,
it's like, what are you best at that you love doing? Okay,
let's narrow that down. Everything else you either spend a
lot less time on or you delegate.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
You hire somebody to do that.
Speaker 1 (13:03):
Because when you start spending time on stuff that either
you're not good at, or you don't want to do,
or you shouldn't be doing, that's when things start bottlenecking.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
And Yeah, I think my dad and I.
Speaker 1 (13:15):
Have done a good job of We've always kind of
had a key focus on business owners and that marketplace
for our planning, but definitely have had different strengths within
that sphere that helps sort of give a holistic approach
for people.
Speaker 3 (13:33):
Yeah, and you're right because I live by that here
with people that work with me, I'll get out in
the beginning when they first come on. I'll give them
all different types of tasks because I want to see
what they have passion for, and because what they have
passion for, it'll probably be good at and they'll get
(13:53):
it done the right way and they'll care about doing it,
not to mention. Also, for me, it's like, if they're
really good at this.
Speaker 4 (14:05):
Task that I don't have to do anymore.
Speaker 3 (14:08):
That frees up my time to do what I do
best because a lot of business owners they do a
lot of tasks that take up their time of things
they don't like to do, don't want to do, maybe
even aren't best at, and then have no time to
do what their best at that will grow the business.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
Yeah, well exactly.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
And there's a lot because we do a lot of
planning with business owners and that can evolve into like
exit planning conversations or you know, what they want to
do as a approach retirement, and you know, that's a
key tenant is kind of diving into the human side
(14:47):
of it. And we've had situations where you know, client
things they want to sell or exit their company, and
we try and get to the why why do you want?
Why now? What's important to you about that? And all, well,
multiple highs are ever going to be well maybe maybe not,
But like I'm burnt out, It's like, well, let's separate
this out. Are you burnt out on the company or
(15:09):
are you burnt out on your job? And that gets
to your point, like you are probably doing eighty percent
of the tasks you're doing. We could farm out to
somebody else. In your company or hire somebody. And if
we did that and your time was just focused on
these three or four things, would you still want to
work for that? Would you still want to run the
business and run the company? And a lot of times
(15:31):
it's like, yeah, I actually would, Well, so okay, so
we're really not having an exit selling conversation just yet.
We're having a conversation on how to make the business
a little more efficient and have you sort of live
the life that you don't need to take a vacation from, right,
like living your best life while you're still owning the business,
(15:51):
not just like I'm going to run myself into the
ground until this business is worth enough that i can
sell it and retire, and I'm not going to enjoy
life until I'm sixty five or sixty. It's like, well,
let's try and create a life that you can enjoy
the whole way and not just wait until the end
of the day. And there's a lot of other nuance
(16:11):
that goes into that and the planning and for an exit.
But you know, that is one of the big things
that people end up doing a lot of stuff that
they either shouldn't be doing or they're overqualified doing and
they just haven't taken the time to delegate or hire
the right people to take some stuff off their plate.
Speaker 3 (16:33):
I also think that sometimes people of business owners or
entrepreneurs more so than most business owners, they don't want
to delegate because they want to save money and they
don't even realize that they're costing themselves money like that.
You know, they're like, oh, well, I wouldn't want to
hire somebody to do this job because then I'd have
to pay them and that'd be less money for me. No,
(16:56):
it would be more money. You'd have to pay out
more time to generate more revenue to where you put
more money in your pocket.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
Yeah, exactly. I think you mentioned a moment ago.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
If you're focused on the tasks that you're best at,
then that's going to be more beneficial for your business.
Speaker 2 (17:13):
Your employees, your clients, and not.
Speaker 1 (17:17):
To mention, if you are moving to a point where
you want to have an exit someday, whether that's to
a third party or to a family member, or to
an internal transition to another employee, and you want to
create enterprise value for your company, the business.
Speaker 2 (17:34):
Can't revolve around you one hundred percent, because then you
leeve what is.
Speaker 1 (17:38):
A buyer buying, right, if you do everything and you're
responsible for all the new revenue and new clients and
you know, whatever the case may be, whoever your business
is structured, you want to try and separate yourself from
as much of that stuff as you can. And that's
one thing that buyers will look at if you're trying
to exit the business for any reasonable.
Speaker 3 (18:01):
Valuation, of course, and that goes back to what I
was saying in the beginning about that person telling my daughter, like,
there is no business without your father, you know, And
that's also you know, that was way back in the beginning,
but that also was kind of a wake up call
to me hearing that, because I'm like, yeah, that's right,
(18:21):
you know, like it wouldn't have any value and then
you're just working for the rest of your life, you know,
because you know the saying you don't own a business,
the business owns you, you know. So I mean, if
you're the one doing everything, you're gonna be doing everything
for the rest of your life and it won't have
value to go to anybody else, whether it's a family
(18:43):
member or trying to sell the business.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
Yeah, well exactly, And that's one of the a big
problem we see in that space. You know, business owners
just they put all their discretion at dollars back into
the business, which for sometimes for good reason, especially if
you're getting it off the ground and starting, you have
to do that to grow it and get it past
(19:07):
a certain break even point. But a they probably do
it because they it's what they know the most. It's
probably where they're going to get better returns on their
investment if it's put back into the company.
Speaker 2 (19:20):
But they don't.
Speaker 1 (19:21):
Really pay attention to anything else with regards to coordinating
their personal planning and business planning, and they just think
they're going to get to.
Speaker 2 (19:29):
The end of the road.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
There's going to be some you know, someone's going to
come along and offer them ten million dollars for their
company and they'll retire, and then they come to find out, oh,
it's only worth three million, and you didn't save any
money outside the company for the last twenty years. And
so you either have to keep working to get the
value to where you want it to be at a
(19:51):
point in your life where you thought you were going
to start slowing.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
Down, and you know that usually doesn't work.
Speaker 1 (19:58):
You know, it's unfortunate lot of business owners don't think
about exit planning until they want to exit, and you
should start thinking about it like a decade in.
Speaker 3 (20:08):
Advance, No doubt. I think it's the same like retirement planning.
I remember being in my young twenties doing financial needs
analysis and telling people about putting them for retirement. But
the same token in my own head was like I
got plenty of time, and then I woke up and
(20:29):
now I'm fifty nine, and really that that what forty
years went really quick?
Speaker 2 (20:36):
Yeah? Right by? Yeah, And that's exactly what happens, you know.
Speaker 1 (20:42):
So we all have busy lives and things going on,
and maybe sometimes the days seem long, but the year
seem to go by pretty quick, which you know is
happens to all of us.
Speaker 3 (20:54):
Which is why you have to prepare as soon as possible,
you know, because if you say, ah, I got time,
that preparation day is going to be a lot harder
than if you started right from the get go.
Speaker 2 (21:08):
Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1 (21:09):
And there's, you know, there's so many things when you
have time on your side. There's it opens up the
door to so many other planning techniques and things you
could do to you know, what can we do to
increase the value of the company. What can we do
to you know, save money outside the business? How can
we be more efficient? How can we save taxes? Like,
(21:30):
how can we structure this? You know, what entity structure
should I be looking at besides what I'm doing. It's
so many things to discuss with people. But if you say,
like I want to sell in six months or twelve months,
all right, well we really that eliminates a lot of
different planning techniques that you might be able to use
to save taxes on the exit or you know, position
(21:51):
the next generation to be in the best position possible and.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
Retain the culture of the company or whatever it is.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
And I know we've sort of circled around talking about
exit planning here, but this goes even if you think
you might not have an exit or you're not really
building your business to do that, There's still so many
things that you can do when you look at things
in advance. And I know most people you know want
to retire at some point. But if you can get
(22:22):
in and go through a process early on, you know,
you can live a great life. I mentioned earlier that
you don't have to take a vacation from like enjoy
the journey right, How can I get the most out
of my experiences that I'm having now and not just
saying I'm planning for everything and then when I'm sixty
I'll be in great shape. How can I be in
(22:44):
great shape when I'm forty and fifty and still get
to the destination.
Speaker 2 (22:49):
I want to get to?
Speaker 3 (22:51):
There you go, and like, we don't know how long
we're on this earth, so maybe you don't make it
to sixty five.
Speaker 2 (22:58):
That's the other thing too.
Speaker 1 (22:59):
Yeah, you have all this long range planning, which you
have to do some long range planning, of course, but
you also live your life today and do what you
can do, because, like you said, all of a sudden,
you have a health scare at sixty and you thought
you were going to retire at sixty.
Speaker 2 (23:13):
Two, and now you know you might not make.
Speaker 1 (23:17):
It to sixty two, and so those unfortunate things happen,
and so you want to make sure you're getting the
best of.
Speaker 2 (23:26):
Your life now.
Speaker 3 (23:28):
And I wanted to ask a question too, I was
thinking about before. When you're talking about exit strategies and
selling the business, you know, I get it. I'm sure
a lot of business owners get it all the time.
I can't tell you how many emails I get about, oh,
people are looking at your business and we could have
buyers for him. Those people, those people that are email
(23:51):
what's your opinion on those people?
Speaker 4 (23:53):
Post to what you do for people?
Speaker 1 (23:56):
So nine out of ten times I would avoid those situations, right,
I mean they are just sending those out to a
lists serve of business owners and hoping they get a
couple of people to catch on. And in nine out
of ten times it is not advantageous to you.
Speaker 2 (24:16):
It's not, Oh, I got a guy, just sign the
letter of intent. Here, we'll grab a dinner.
Speaker 1 (24:21):
He's going to offer this much for the business, and
we'll sign the LOI and then we'll start.
Speaker 2 (24:26):
Doing some due diligence.
Speaker 1 (24:27):
And you know, once you sign an LOI or something
like that, then it's very binding and you don't have
as much leverage and the buyer holds leverage, and like, oh,
we noticed this about your books, and our offer is
dropping and we notice that and this, and versus doing
it the opposite. And if you thought you wanted to
start going through a sale process or entertaining it, okay,
(24:49):
let me get let me get a deal attorney. The
deal attorney's going to review everything and all these dot
all lois all offers, then we're going to get maybe
we need an M and A, we need.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
A business valuation person, you know, we need.
Speaker 1 (25:03):
So those are all things that we quarterback and would
put together for somebody in the right order to try
and let's evaluate the offers that are coming across, and
we would even if it got to that point, we
even dial it back a level to talk about the
human aspect of it, at which I mentioned a moment ago,
like what's important to you about this company? What is
(25:27):
life going to look like for you? Picture yourself the
day after the sale. Maybe you have enough money that
you're never going to outlive the money that you have.
It's generational wealth. How are you going to feel Are
you going to be in a position to start to
live your life's purpose or have you just sold your
life's purpose?
Speaker 2 (25:46):
Right?
Speaker 1 (25:46):
A lot of business owners, their entire self esteem, their
net worth is built into the business, especially if they
started it or founded it, and you need to work
through that and make sure people are going to be
emotionally ready as well as financially ready for a transaction,
because it can take a long time. There's a lot
to be considered, and so I would encourage if anybody
(26:08):
is potentially thinking like that and they got an offer,
you know, in an email, you know.
Speaker 2 (26:16):
I would not respond to it.
Speaker 1 (26:18):
I would contact an advisor and attorney that specializes in
those types of transactions and you know, see what your
proper steps should be before entertaining something like that, because
you can get stuck in a tough situation. You know,
there's a lot of unscruptless people out there unfortunately just
trying to find you know, sending out thousands of emails
(26:40):
a week, hoping a couple of people.
Speaker 3 (26:41):
Respond, Yeah, no doubt. And so also, like you're a
financial planner and you have a financial firm, but when
you work with clients, it's not just about the finances.
You know, the end goal isn't just stronger financial outcomes.
Speaker 4 (27:01):
What else is it? Then? For people that don't know,
So it's.
Speaker 2 (27:07):
A great question.
Speaker 1 (27:08):
And of course being financial advisors and financial planners, we
have to be very proficient in the numbers and the
projections and using the planning software, using tax analysis is
a lot of stuff that goes into it. But on
the other side of that coin, there is the human side.
(27:29):
And I subscribe to a program that I've been dealing with,
you know, it's called the Wealth Integration System for Entrepreneurs.
It was founded by another advisor and I've gone through
the program and it talks about two main points, where
one is ROI return on investment and the other is
(27:50):
return on life experience and really helping people understand the
why behind decisions and getting into sort of their history
with money. If it's a business owner, you know, tell
me how you got started in this business, what's your story.
It's one of the things I love about doing what
we're doing is get the stories behind how business started,
(28:13):
how it transitioned, you know, how it got from A
to B, and really just getting into people's lives and
what is important to them about them, their.
Speaker 2 (28:22):
Family, charity, what do they want.
Speaker 1 (28:25):
To see out of their money as a legacy as
you know, Let's get to like a values conversation and
then try and wrap some of your.
Speaker 2 (28:34):
Financial goals around how.
Speaker 1 (28:36):
That ties into your values and you know what you
see your life looking like three years, five years, ten
years down the line. A lot of conversations like that
that frankly, most advisors don't have in our industry. A
lot of people want to us get to you know,
finding a problem.
Speaker 2 (28:54):
And giving them a solution.
Speaker 1 (28:56):
Here's a product, or we can manage your money and
do better than the other guys there.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
We could sell you this thing that's going to.
Speaker 1 (29:02):
Help you here, but really not diving into it's why
it's important to them. And that's frankly, I think where
really the rubber meets the road a lot for people.
Speaker 3 (29:14):
I think that's the difference between financial planning but in
and of itself and actual wealth management.
Speaker 2 (29:22):
Mm.
Speaker 1 (29:23):
Yeah, well it's I agree, it's and it's a blend
of all that's you're almost like a coach, you're.
Speaker 2 (29:30):
An advisor, you're a guide.
Speaker 1 (29:32):
You know, there's a lot of circumstances where you know,
we the decision is yours, right, it's your money, it's
your business, your family. We're not going to tell you
exactly what to do, but we're going to put you
in a position to have all the information so that
you can make a great decision. There are times where
(29:52):
like yeah, we're we are going to tell you this
is what you should do, like this is a no brainers.
But other times just putting people in a position to
have all the information and look at things from a
couple of different perspectives to be able to make the
best decision they can for themselves and their family is,
in my opinion, adds a lot of value. It's not
(30:13):
just about what the Excel spreadsheet says, you know, or
what that's important, But the financial answer isn't always the
right answer. You know, Let's look at the other sides
of the coin here and your history with money and
your family's history, and you know how that's guiding some
of the decisions you're making, and you know, we have
(30:34):
to take that into account when making recommendations. So it's
frankly not done that often in our industry from what
I've seen.
Speaker 3 (30:44):
So true, which brings me something else that maybe is
not done so often in your business that you do
is annual planning, which I don't Can you even tell
me why any financial planner would not do an annual
planning and more importantly, why do you do it?
Speaker 4 (31:04):
And what does that consist of?
Speaker 1 (31:08):
So we did this, we've so there's a couple of
different definitions.
Speaker 2 (31:13):
So there's a lot of advisors that do.
Speaker 1 (31:15):
Annual planning, but it is very basic. It's sort of
a means to an end where hey, we'll do a plan,
we'll do a retirement projection, and then we're just trying
to get you to move your assets from wherever they
are now to have us manage them.
Speaker 2 (31:31):
And they might charge a nominal fee that.
Speaker 1 (31:34):
May cover the costs or not, but it's not really
like in depth planning. It's just like a way to
you know, let's get your money to manage, because that's
how I make most of my money, and we manage
money as well, not you know, full disclosure, we do.
Speaker 2 (31:47):
Manage money for clients.
Speaker 1 (31:49):
But we started doing an annual planning engagement for folks
because we were coming across so that frankly, they were
business owners or they own a lot of real estate,
they had a high net work, but they didn't have
a lot of liquidity, and a lot of firms would say, oh,
you need a million to work with us, you need
(32:10):
five million to work with us, And frankly, we were
seeing a gap in the marketplace where we're going to
charge an annual planning fee for you. You don't have
to manage any money with us, but that is going
to cover a bunch of areas in terms of you know,
tax planning, you know, asset management review, balance sheet review,
(32:33):
which includes the value of your company, like all your assets,
all your liabilities, you know, asset protection strategies, estate planning,
you know, philanthropy and gifting, you.
Speaker 2 (32:46):
Know, a whole bunch of stuff.
Speaker 1 (32:48):
Will review your business agreements, We'll review your insurances and
put It's a process we take clients through that takes
several months and multiple meetings of gathering in depth data.
Once we see some gaps in planning. Usually you see people,
especially higher end Yeah, maybe they have an investment guy,
or maybe they did in this date plan a few
(33:09):
years ago, but nobody talks to each other. Like the
account doesn't talk to the attorney, and the attorney doesn't
talk to the insurance guy, and no one is really
working together. Where we come in and say, here's a
process we're going to take you through, and we're going
to quarterback this. We're going to find the gaps in
your planning. We're going to go and do a joint
meeting with the accounts. The attorneys, talk to them about
(33:31):
what we've seen, talk together to find mutuals so we're
not trying to replace them. Like we don't do taxes,
I don't draw up legal documents, but we would want
to have everybody in the room talking about what are
some of the gaps in the planning, what are some
of the solutions based on the goals that mister and
missus Smith had told us they had and their values
(33:52):
and their family which we are very much in touch
with as part of our due diligence, and how do
we get them from A to B in this situation.
And so that's where we do planning. It's an annual engagement.
If you end up side and yeah, we want to
have our money managed by you as well, we would
charge a separate assets under management fee. We discount that
(34:15):
if you're a consultant client. But a lot of times
the planning and the consulting gets renewed year after year.
And it's especially relevant for you know, maybe it's a
business that thinks they want to sell in three years
and we do all this planning and bring people together
to help them in a myriad of areas get.
Speaker 2 (34:37):
Ready for that.
Speaker 1 (34:38):
And most advisors won't do it, you know, they want
to just manage the money. And then a business sells
and they get fifty five phone calls because it was
just a liquidity event. Everyone wanting to manage the money
they got out of the transaction and where in there
years and years in advance, whether it's a business owner
or not. We offer those planning consulting services because we
(35:02):
found it was a gap in the marketplace.
Speaker 2 (35:05):
And frankly, a lot of people need a lot of planning.
Speaker 4 (35:09):
Yeah, they certainly do.
Speaker 3 (35:11):
And what I think is really important too is whoever
you're going to talk to about your planning is their credentials,
because as somebody that was formerly in the business, you
don't realize the difference between the credential planners and the
people that just call themselves financial advisors or that are
(35:32):
just brokers or or any of the different names, because
there's different trading, different training, certification, education that makes you
above the rest. You know, Listen, I started in the business,
and you know, you were told at Prudential when I
started Prudential brand new, like one day in okay, we're
(35:55):
going to we put financial advisor on your business card.
You're a financial advisor. And I found out later that
that doesn't mean crap, and like, so that's why I
think somebody like you that first of all, you're a
certified financial planner, as somebody that went through that same program,
I'm here to tell you people, I sat in for
(36:16):
the CFP with lawyers and accountants that failed it because
they said it was the hardest test they ever had
to take, and you have to take these might be
different now when I did it five modules, pass all
five and then this final exam.
Speaker 4 (36:31):
That was a bear.
Speaker 3 (36:33):
Yeah, yeah, and you learn a lot that I would
have never known before that if I never got that
CFP and I was handling people's money, you know, Like
I want to explain that to the listeners from my perspective,
like you can be an investment broker at brokerage firm
(36:54):
and people and you're managing people's money. Doesn't mean you're
doing a good job of It doesn't mean you're planning.
You may even be, you know, just selling product. But
somebody like yourself that has a CFP, you also have
a couple other letters after your name, like a credited
(37:15):
investment advisor or a credited investment fiduciary, which is to
me extremely important, and you can explain to.
Speaker 4 (37:23):
People what that is.
Speaker 3 (37:25):
And you know, the fact that the matter is that
when you have all these credentials, it means you have
the proper training, experience, education to really be able to
analyze their needs and give advice that's not based on
a product but based on a customized plan for that
(37:50):
business or that individual.
Speaker 1 (37:53):
Yeah, well exactly, and thank you for mentioning that, because, Yeah,
the CFP was very difficult exam to pass and go through.
And like you said, there are people that can call
themselves a financial advisor who have never taken the CFP.
They've just taken the basic like securities licensing exam to
get licensed to sell mutual funds or annuities or you know, stocks,
(38:17):
whatever it is. And so there is a big difference,
and they hold you to a higher standard that with ethics,
and you've got to you know, his all background checks,
and you have to do continuing education every year to
make sure you're staying up to speed on tax laws
and regulations and those in the last number of years,
those seem to change, you know, every twelve months there's
(38:40):
a new tax law, and you know, if you're not
up to speed on that, it can really impact people's plannings.
Speaker 2 (38:45):
But the AIF for.
Speaker 1 (38:47):
The incredited investment fiduciary, I mean, I think it's just
being an investment fiduciary in its simplest.
Speaker 2 (38:55):
Form means that you obligate you put the.
Speaker 1 (38:58):
Client's interest first at all times and your your objective
as an advisor with them. And you know, like us,
we're independent. There's no proprietary products, there's no you know,
there's no sales quote is it's we're a fiduciary that
acts in our client's best interest at all times and
puts their interests ahead of all else. So that to
(39:20):
me is is extremely important. You know, I shouldn't I
took the designation. I you know, was acted as a
fiduciary before I had the designation. Obviously I think, uh,
you know, it's a character trait to you know, put
clients before yourself. You shouldn't need designation to do that,
but it does help you know, client see that you
(39:43):
have that. And the other one that you mentioned was
a CPWA, which was Certified Private Wealth Advisor, which was
a program I took through University of Chicago Booth School
of Business, which is just.
Speaker 2 (39:57):
An elevated sort of CFP.
Speaker 1 (40:01):
That is geared towards working with high net worth basically
clients that have a.
Speaker 2 (40:08):
Five million or more net worth.
Speaker 1 (40:10):
And is focused specifically on like family business, family transition
planning for closely held business owners, planning for executives, you know,
stock options, charitable giving, tech, you know, complicated estate and
tax issues.
Speaker 2 (40:27):
So whereas the CP is a little more.
Speaker 1 (40:29):
Broad with you know, you have a state income tax,
insurance planning, and it's like kind of broad on all
those topics, this was very narrow. It goes really deep
on a couple of small topics geared towards like high end,
higher net worth clients and the issues that they go
through that are different than you know, your average investor,
(40:52):
and so we have a deal with a lot of
those types of clients, and I thought it would be
it was very interesting going through the course because there's
actually stuff that applies directly to clients.
Speaker 2 (41:03):
We were working with at the time.
Speaker 1 (41:05):
Nice and you're doing some complicated planning for them, and
you know, I'm always trying to you know, learn and grow.
Speaker 2 (41:14):
I think if you're not growing, you know, if you're.
Speaker 1 (41:16):
Not learning, you're not growing, I should say, And trying
to always stay up on, you know, what's happening in
our industry and the regulations and the new tax laws,
new everything all the time, which is one of the things.
Speaker 2 (41:30):
I love about it. I don't know.
Speaker 1 (41:32):
You're dealing with different people, but there's always something new
to learn, which is exciting.
Speaker 3 (41:38):
And I love that part there because things move faster
than ever nowadays with technology and political climates and everything.
And it's so funny you're talking now sitting and thinking
about just recently I moved my studios, and moving my studios,
I was going through all I still have all of
my books from all of my licenses, from CFP, from CFS,
(42:05):
l utcf books, fifteen different licensing books, and I was
looking through all of them and I'm like, I wonder
how non educational these books are now because they're from
the nineties.
Speaker 2 (42:22):
Yeah, it's exactly.
Speaker 1 (42:24):
It's funny. I had a similar experience. I was, you know,
at my parents' house not that long ago, and I
was going through, you know, my bedroom and cleaning out
a book and there was, you know, a book about
you know, there was something like how to be a
financial Advisor and the topics you should get and it
(42:45):
was written like twenty five years ago, and you start
going through some of it and it's when like the
estate tax exemption was a million dollars and you know,
the maximum IRA contribution was like fifteen hundred bucks, you know,
and some products that.
Speaker 2 (42:59):
We had now weren't even invented.
Speaker 1 (43:02):
And you know, as you know now is the Estates
tax exemption is thirty million for a married couple. So
you know you've started looking at some of those books
and say, geez, like this, this does not even apply
at all anymore, right, how much these things change over time.
Speaker 4 (43:19):
And it's interesting too. You made me think of like
I did.
Speaker 3 (43:23):
The CFP before there was a such thing as an RIA,
which I ended up being an RIA, But I remember
when that first started and I ready had a CFP.
So it's like even letters nowadays being a whole different
thing than they did then, and how the business is.
So I think it's very important. My point is is
(43:44):
the deal with somebody like you that is up on it,
that takes continuing education. And that's why that annual you know, planning,
it's so important because anything can change in a given year.
Whatever you recommended in twenty twenty five, maybe in twenty
twenty six needs to be adjusted.
Speaker 1 (44:07):
Yeah, yeah, exactly. And you know, for those clients that
are doing the annual planning, you know, we're we have
several meetings a year, you know, just to let's get
caught up on where you're at. You know, how's the business,
how's the family? You know, where we you know, is
this new laws going into effect next year? Do we
(44:28):
need to take care of anything now that we can't
do next year? Or you know, where are we at
with your income with gifting? You know, there's a lot
of stuff that can be impacted with these changes in
tax laws, and a lot of people, especially a you know,
a business owner or a family running around with kids
and all obligations, is not paying attention to that stuff.
Speaker 2 (44:50):
And you know, there can be a lot of.
Speaker 1 (44:55):
Misses if you aren't paying attention and looking at ways
to improve the situation.
Speaker 2 (45:01):
So it's uh, it's it's good.
Speaker 4 (45:04):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (45:04):
I think the annual planning is is great.
Speaker 1 (45:07):
And excuse me, so we're all our clients several times
a year.
Speaker 3 (45:15):
And for anybody that's listening, isn't a client. Now you
do offer a free additional consultation. Tell them a little
bit about that and how they would set that up.
Speaker 2 (45:27):
Yeah, so you can.
Speaker 1 (45:29):
You can go to our website which is Bestionwealthmanagement dot
com and.
Speaker 2 (45:34):
That's Bestion is b E S T G E N
Wealth Manage.
Speaker 1 (45:39):
Dot com and on the contact us page, you know,
you can fill it out and email will come to
us that you want to you know, you want to
chat and where Yeah, we are happy to do an
initial consultation.
Speaker 2 (45:50):
Uh, you know, learn a little about your.
Speaker 1 (45:52):
Situation, what you what you're looking for, tell you about
our practice, you know, our fees, everything, and then just
kind of see if it's a good fit for everybody.
And then you know, we would go down the road
of gathering enough information from you to put together a
proposal to say, here's what our fees would be to
(46:15):
do the work, and here's what we think the complexities are,
here's what we think we can add value. And you know,
if you decide yeah, we want to move forward, here's
what the fee is. Then we would get like deep
dive on and go through like a couple meeting process
where we're deep diving on a number of topics and
coordinating with your other advisors and putting together plans and recommendations.
(46:40):
So it is like a multiple meeting process, but the
initial phone call or zoom meeting. We have clients all
over the country. I know we're based out of Massachusetts,
but we have clients in a number of different states
all over the country, so it's not just a local
business anymore.
Speaker 4 (47:02):
Well, there you go.
Speaker 3 (47:03):
Well you've been a wealth of information. Is there anything
else you want to leave the listeners with that we
haven't covered yet?
Speaker 2 (47:13):
It's a good question, but no, I think we covered
a lot.
Speaker 1 (47:16):
All I would say is, you know, if we take
on a lot of new clients that came to us
having existing advisors already. So if you're asking yourself, you know,
you know, m I al set like does my account
coordinate with my advisor?
Speaker 2 (47:35):
Does my advisor know who my estate planning attorney is?
Speaker 1 (47:38):
And do they actually coordinate and have a plan together,
Not just like they call each other once a year
to get a copy of the tax return and that's
all the communication that they have with an accountant.
Speaker 2 (47:49):
But are actually doing planning together.
Speaker 1 (47:53):
You know, we we'd be happy to chat and you know,
can't hurt to get a second opinion out there, So
would love to do it and get a better return
on life experience.
Speaker 2 (48:04):
You know, that's the main goal.
Speaker 3 (48:06):
There it is, And even if you find get confirmed
that you're doing the right thing, it's worth getting a
second opinion always.
Speaker 1 (48:14):
Yeah, Well exactly, you know, if you were if you
needed to have Arthur knee surgery or heart surgery, you'd
probably talk to a couple of surgeons first.
Speaker 2 (48:24):
And you know, especially if you have doubts.
Speaker 1 (48:27):
And you know, or you're looking towards a big life
transition and you know, want to get a second opinion
on what's going on, reach out to us.
Speaker 2 (48:36):
We're happy to have a call.
Speaker 3 (48:38):
Well, it's been amazing having you on and helping our listeners,
and I urge everybody to at least reach out and
get that free initial consultation. You never know, it might
change your life. And thank you Brad for being on
the Adventures of Pipe Man.
Speaker 2 (48:54):
You're welcome. Dean, thanks for having me. It's a pleasure
and he enjoy the rest of the day. It up alright,
thanks man.
Speaker 1 (49:05):
Thank you for listening to the Adventures of Pipeman on
w fur CUI Radio
Hi, you live done to the censure.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Fore wow for you.
Speaker 3 (00:12):
Young, it's the pipe Man here on the Adventures pipe
Man W four c Y Radio. I'm very excited about
this segment and our next guest because it's like ghost
of Christmas past for me, for all of you listeners
(00:32):
that know that I used to be in the financial business.
So now we have one of our sponsors here at
the network who is in the financial business. So we're
gonna chat, especially with how things are going nowadays, and
this guest will definitely give you some great advice and
great information that will not only be apropos for your
(00:56):
family but for the timing of the times that we're
living here and twenty six.
Speaker 4 (01:01):
So welcome to the show. Brad, Best John, how are
you hey.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
I'm good, Teams, thanks for having me man, Yeah, excited too.
Speaker 3 (01:08):
Excited to join you, Excited to have you and one
thing I love. Okay, so your company is Best Gen
Wealth Management, and you know my time in the business,
usually that was just somebody's ego putting their name on it,
and it was wasn't really a family affair. But for
you it makes sense because this has been a family
(01:30):
affair for a long time.
Speaker 4 (01:31):
Hasn't it been.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
Yeah, that's exactly correct, and we're pretty proud of that.
You know, my dad and I work together for over
fifteen years, and I'm in the process of purchasing or
buying out his share of the business. He's mostly retired
at this point, but was in the financial services industry for.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
Over forty years.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
And you know, I started in the financial service industry
back in like two thousand and four and worked in
other places for a few years before him and I
decided we should join up and start our own start
our own firm. So felt great, and it's you know,
I think we all know the statistics on family businesses
(02:20):
that transition from one generation to the next is very small,
and even getting from G two and G three is
even smaller. So hopefully there'll be an opportunity for that someday.
But yeah, we're we're a family business and enjoy that
very much.
Speaker 3 (02:35):
I think it's even smaller for the financial business from
what I know and from my opinion, because generally a
lot of people that entered the financial business are trying
to get away from the family business.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
Yeah, yeah, well exactly, there's definitely which we help, you know,
given our experience, and you know, there's certainly a lot
of pros and cons working with family and sometimes conversations
spill over to the you know, Thanksgiving table and things
like that, so you do have to and you have
(03:07):
to have difficult conversations that you might otherwise not have
if you weren't working together and things like that. But
it's it is great, and it's one of the reasons
we love working with business owners and family businesses because
you're right, there's a lot of nuances there, you know,
with people trying to decide whether they want to come
(03:27):
into the family business or if they don't. It's definitely
a lot more barriers to entry than people think, especially
when you know, if you're the starting generation, you don't
want to create any form of entitlement, and it's not
just a birthright that you could walk in here. And
if you've had employees working for you for fifteen twenty
(03:48):
years and then you just hand the reins over to
your kids out of nowhere, can be a lot of
resentment there from existing employees, so it has to be
done carefully.
Speaker 3 (03:59):
You know, you should mention that because I have two
examples that popped in my head immediately. One of which
was when I was before I was ever in the
financial business. When I was really young, I was in
the pool and spa business, and I managed a store
called Harrows that was a big chain in New York
and New Jersey and had been around for sixty years.
Speaker 4 (04:22):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
And the owners handed it over to their entitled kids
and it's gone.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
Imagine that sixty year old business gone in one generation.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
Yeah, And it's all because the kids were handed it
and they didn't really know what to do with it.
Speaker 4 (04:45):
They had all these fancy ideas.
Speaker 3 (04:47):
But those fancy ideas I kind of relate to the
person that has no kids telling the person with kids
how the parent Yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
Yeah, well exactly, it's it is to you know, there
has to be some level of stewardship, you know, when
it comes to a family, and especially if it's a
family of wealth and transition, and if you want your
kids to come in the business, there should be the
protocol of you know, do they have to work somewhere
(05:18):
else to get experience before they come in here. Once
they are in here, what departments do they have to
work in? Like, what do they have to do?
Speaker 2 (05:26):
You know, are there certain you know hurdles that they
should jump over.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
Do they have to get any continuing education or you know, what,
what is it that we need to do to foster
our children learning about this business and what it is
and what it took to get it there, especially if
it's successful. The kids grow up seeing that they have
a good lifestyle and you know, things are okay, but
they don't see what mom and dad, our grandparents did
(05:51):
to you know, get the business to a level that
it actually is successful and profitable. And it's not easy
to run a business. As you will, oh, you've had
a lot of experience with it, so you can't just
hand it over to somebody that has no idea what is.
Speaker 3 (06:08):
Going on or the appreciation like I have both sides
of defense.
Speaker 4 (06:13):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (06:14):
I got into that pulling spa business because that was
my dad was a man. He when I was like
from the time I was like twelve, he had me
work for him like a slave, and I did every
part of the business, even parts he didn't do, so
like he made me. I didn't like it then, but
he made me learn every aspect in the business. And
(06:36):
I think it's so important because if you are going
to take over the family business, and especially you talked
about employees. Okay, they have to respect that, you know,
how to do their job as good or better than
they do.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
Yeah, one hundred.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
It's because if you're going to come into a leadership role,
as you said, you have to earn the respect of
the people you're trying to lead. They have to respect you.
You have to respect them. That's to be mutual understanding that. Like,
you know, you're not just flying in out of left
field because you just graduated, you know, from graduate school
with an NBA and now you like can just come
(07:19):
in and run a business, you know, at twenty five
years old.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
But there's a lot more to that.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
And you know, employees need to realize and understand where
you're coming from and what your goals are, and you
know that you're going to maintain the culture and you
know things like that that you know, people want to
see as a transition is occurring.
Speaker 3 (07:41):
And you know you mentioned respect and stuff like that.
That's so true, and that brings me now to the
other end. You know, I had a daughter that worked
for me for several years at the radio station, but
she was young at the time. She would probably be
better now, you know, but at the time she was young,
so it was a different attitude, and it was that
(08:02):
entitled attitude. It was that nepotism attitude. And you know,
on top of it, I remember one day there was
somebody that worked for me that I've been radio for years,
but also knew my daughter very well, you know, because
her daughter and their door were.
Speaker 4 (08:17):
Like best friends and stuff. So she knew.
Speaker 3 (08:19):
My door for years, and my door was talking about
inheriting the business once I was gone, and she said, like,
unless you start doing every part of business and doing
it differently than you are now, you'll be out of
business in a couple of months, you know, and basically said,
(08:41):
your dad is the business. So if you want to
take over the business and have it actually continue, then
you need to start really shadowing your dad and doing
and learning every aspect of the business and not enacting
more like the employer than the employee. And I use
that as that's a mentality. I always call that mentality.
(09:02):
There's the employer mentality and the employee mentality, you know,
and that doesn't mean you're the employer.
Speaker 4 (09:08):
That doesn't mean you're an employee. It's how you think.
Speaker 3 (09:11):
Are you the one punching a time clock, and as
soon as five o'clock hits, you're out of there, no
matter whether you got your job done or no matter
what's happening in the business. Or are you somebody that
understands that the business doesn't punch a time clock.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
Yeah, exactly, it's a and that kind of goes without
I mean, that is a key tenant for even I say,
like now, like we're very lucky in our business where
we have employees that have that owner's mentality.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
Even though they're not owners.
Speaker 1 (09:47):
And you know, we're in a service business and you know,
there are things that you have to do. You know,
we don't make it expected, but we have employees that
will do that. And especially if you're in the owner's
family and you want to come in and be the
owner or a leader in the executive suite, you have
(10:07):
to have that ownership mentality that you know, yeah, you
want to have some balance in life, and you need
to have your personal time and clients need to respect
that too. But there's always something to be done to
work on the business, to you know, growth strategies, marketing,
you know, looking at the books, you know, how do
we improve our processes, our tech stack, you know what,
(10:30):
more than just being a financial advisor. You know, you've
got to do these other things. And it might be
on a night, it might be on weekends, like you
might be on your laptop while you know you're waiting
for your kids practice to be over at night. You know,
there are things that there's also there's obviously a lot
of pros to being a business owner, and there's a
lot of nice things to come on with that, but
(10:52):
there's also a lot of sacrifice and things that you
have to do. And if you're trying to bring children
into the business that might not necessarily have that attitude,
or they just want to punch the clock and they
don't really want to learn anything about this department, or
if you call them at five point.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
Thirty, they don't pick up.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
You know, there's things that you want to look for
to make sure the business is going to succeed. If
you're in your standpoint as the owner or the founder saying, well,
I'm you know, Jesus, I don't I want to retire,
but you know, my kids aren't showing the qualities that
I would like in a transition or success and succession plan.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
You know, what am I going to do? How am
I going to deal with that?
Speaker 1 (11:35):
And that's stuff you've got to start working on years
in advance if you're thinking of transitioning.
Speaker 4 (11:40):
Out exactly, And that is one thing, you know.
Speaker 3 (11:47):
I went to your best gend wealth management site and
one thing I saw that I think you correct me
if I'm wrong. What works for you and your dad
and your family businesses. He has his specialty, you have yours.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
Yeah, exactly, that is and I think that goes a
long way in a lot.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
Of businesses, right, you know, I think a lot of
times we have a hard time, whether it's delegating.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
Or we think we're the only ones that can do it.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
That way is working with people and putting people around
you that have strengths that are different than your strengths,
and then you make a great team. You know, there's
a ton of sports analogies that would fit that description
as well. Sometimes the teams that win don't necessarily have
all the all stars. They just play together better, and
(12:37):
they believe in each other as a team, and they
utilize each other's strengths.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
It's almost like finding your unique.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
Brilliance right as a key tenant that I've learned in
a lot of coaching I've done and becoming a business leader,
it's like, what are you best at that you love doing? Okay,
let's narrow that down. Everything else you either spend a
lot less time on or you delegate.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
You hire somebody to do that.
Speaker 1 (13:03):
Because when you start spending time on stuff that either
you're not good at, or you don't want to do,
or you shouldn't be doing, that's when things start bottlenecking.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
And Yeah, I think my dad and I.
Speaker 1 (13:15):
Have done a good job of We've always kind of
had a key focus on business owners and that marketplace
for our planning, but definitely have had different strengths within
that sphere that helps sort of give a holistic approach
for people.
Speaker 3 (13:33):
Yeah, and you're right because I live by that here
with people that work with me, I'll get out in
the beginning when they first come on. I'll give them
all different types of tasks because I want to see
what they have passion for, and because what they have
passion for, it'll probably be good at and they'll get
(13:53):
it done the right way and they'll care about doing it,
not to mention. Also, for me, it's like, if they're
really good at this.
Speaker 4 (14:05):
Task that I don't have to do anymore.
Speaker 3 (14:08):
That frees up my time to do what I do
best because a lot of business owners they do a
lot of tasks that take up their time of things
they don't like to do, don't want to do, maybe
even aren't best at, and then have no time to
do what their best at that will grow the business.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
Yeah, well exactly.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
And there's a lot because we do a lot of
planning with business owners and that can evolve into like
exit planning conversations or you know, what they want to
do as a approach retirement, and you know, that's a
key tenant is kind of diving into the human side
(14:47):
of it. And we've had situations where you know, client
things they want to sell or exit their company, and
we try and get to the why why do you want?
Why now? What's important to you about that? And all, well,
multiple highs are ever going to be well maybe maybe not,
But like I'm burnt out, It's like, well, let's separate
this out. Are you burnt out on the company or
(15:09):
are you burnt out on your job? And that gets
to your point, like you are probably doing eighty percent
of the tasks you're doing. We could farm out to
somebody else. In your company or hire somebody. And if
we did that and your time was just focused on
these three or four things, would you still want to
work for that? Would you still want to run the
business and run the company? And a lot of times
(15:31):
it's like, yeah, I actually would, Well, so okay, so
we're really not having an exit selling conversation just yet.
We're having a conversation on how to make the business
a little more efficient and have you sort of live
the life that you don't need to take a vacation from, right,
like living your best life while you're still owning the business,
(15:51):
not just like I'm going to run myself into the
ground until this business is worth enough that i can
sell it and retire, and I'm not going to enjoy
life until I'm sixty five or sixty. It's like, well,
let's try and create a life that you can enjoy
the whole way and not just wait until the end
of the day. And there's a lot of other nuance
(16:11):
that goes into that and the planning and for an exit.
But you know, that is one of the big things
that people end up doing a lot of stuff that
they either shouldn't be doing or they're overqualified doing and
they just haven't taken the time to delegate or hire
the right people to take some stuff off their plate.
Speaker 3 (16:33):
I also think that sometimes people of business owners or
entrepreneurs more so than most business owners, they don't want
to delegate because they want to save money and they
don't even realize that they're costing themselves money like that.
You know, they're like, oh, well, I wouldn't want to
hire somebody to do this job because then I'd have
to pay them and that'd be less money for me. No,
(16:56):
it would be more money. You'd have to pay out
more time to generate more revenue to where you put
more money in your pocket.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
Yeah, exactly. I think you mentioned a moment ago.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
If you're focused on the tasks that you're best at,
then that's going to be more beneficial for your business.
Speaker 2 (17:13):
Your employees, your clients, and not.
Speaker 1 (17:17):
To mention, if you are moving to a point where
you want to have an exit someday, whether that's to
a third party or to a family member, or to
an internal transition to another employee, and you want to
create enterprise value for your company, the business.
Speaker 2 (17:34):
Can't revolve around you one hundred percent, because then you
leeve what is.
Speaker 1 (17:38):
A buyer buying, right, if you do everything and you're
responsible for all the new revenue and new clients and
you know, whatever the case may be, whoever your business
is structured, you want to try and separate yourself from
as much of that stuff as you can. And that's
one thing that buyers will look at if you're trying
to exit the business for any reasonable.
Speaker 3 (18:01):
Valuation, of course, and that goes back to what I
was saying in the beginning about that person telling my daughter, like,
there is no business without your father, you know, And
that's also you know, that was way back in the beginning,
but that also was kind of a wake up call
to me hearing that, because I'm like, yeah, that's right,
(18:21):
you know, like it wouldn't have any value and then
you're just working for the rest of your life, you know,
because you know the saying you don't own a business,
the business owns you, you know. So I mean, if
you're the one doing everything, you're gonna be doing everything
for the rest of your life and it won't have
value to go to anybody else, whether it's a family
(18:43):
member or trying to sell the business.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
Yeah, well exactly, And that's one of the a big
problem we see in that space. You know, business owners
just they put all their discretion at dollars back into
the business, which for sometimes for good reason, especially if
you're getting it off the ground and starting, you have
to do that to grow it and get it past
(19:07):
a certain break even point. But a they probably do
it because they it's what they know the most. It's
probably where they're going to get better returns on their
investment if it's put back into the company.
Speaker 2 (19:20):
But they don't.
Speaker 1 (19:21):
Really pay attention to anything else with regards to coordinating
their personal planning and business planning, and they just think
they're going to get to.
Speaker 2 (19:29):
The end of the road.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
There's going to be some you know, someone's going to
come along and offer them ten million dollars for their
company and they'll retire, and then they come to find out, oh,
it's only worth three million, and you didn't save any
money outside the company for the last twenty years. And
so you either have to keep working to get the
value to where you want it to be at a
(19:51):
point in your life where you thought you were going
to start slowing.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
Down, and you know that usually doesn't work.
Speaker 1 (19:58):
You know, it's unfortunate lot of business owners don't think
about exit planning until they want to exit, and you
should start thinking about it like a decade in.
Speaker 3 (20:08):
Advance, No doubt. I think it's the same like retirement planning.
I remember being in my young twenties doing financial needs
analysis and telling people about putting them for retirement. But
the same token in my own head was like I
got plenty of time, and then I woke up and
(20:29):
now I'm fifty nine, and really that that what forty
years went really quick?
Speaker 2 (20:36):
Yeah? Right by? Yeah, And that's exactly what happens, you know.
Speaker 1 (20:42):
So we all have busy lives and things going on,
and maybe sometimes the days seem long, but the year
seem to go by pretty quick, which you know is
happens to all of us.
Speaker 3 (20:54):
Which is why you have to prepare as soon as possible,
you know, because if you say, ah, I got time,
that preparation day is going to be a lot harder
than if you started right from the get go.
Speaker 2 (21:08):
Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1 (21:09):
And there's, you know, there's so many things when you
have time on your side. There's it opens up the
door to so many other planning techniques and things you
could do to you know, what can we do to
increase the value of the company. What can we do
to you know, save money outside the business? How can
we be more efficient? How can we save taxes? Like,
(21:30):
how can we structure this? You know, what entity structure
should I be looking at besides what I'm doing. It's
so many things to discuss with people. But if you say,
like I want to sell in six months or twelve months,
all right, well we really that eliminates a lot of
different planning techniques that you might be able to use
to save taxes on the exit or you know, position
(21:51):
the next generation to be in the best position possible and.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
Retain the culture of the company or whatever it is.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
And I know we've sort of circled around talking about
exit planning here, but this goes even if you think
you might not have an exit or you're not really
building your business to do that, There's still so many
things that you can do when you look at things
in advance. And I know most people you know want
to retire at some point. But if you can get
(22:22):
in and go through a process early on, you know,
you can live a great life. I mentioned earlier that
you don't have to take a vacation from like enjoy
the journey right, How can I get the most out
of my experiences that I'm having now and not just
saying I'm planning for everything and then when I'm sixty
I'll be in great shape. How can I be in
(22:44):
great shape when I'm forty and fifty and still get
to the destination.
Speaker 2 (22:49):
I want to get to?
Speaker 3 (22:51):
There you go, and like, we don't know how long
we're on this earth, so maybe you don't make it
to sixty five.
Speaker 2 (22:58):
That's the other thing too.
Speaker 1 (22:59):
Yeah, you have all this long range planning, which you
have to do some long range planning, of course, but
you also live your life today and do what you
can do, because, like you said, all of a sudden,
you have a health scare at sixty and you thought
you were going to retire at sixty.
Speaker 2 (23:13):
Two, and now you know you might not make.
Speaker 1 (23:17):
It to sixty two, and so those unfortunate things happen,
and so you want to make sure you're getting the
best of.
Speaker 2 (23:26):
Your life now.
Speaker 3 (23:28):
And I wanted to ask a question too, I was
thinking about before. When you're talking about exit strategies and
selling the business, you know, I get it. I'm sure
a lot of business owners get it all the time.
I can't tell you how many emails I get about, oh,
people are looking at your business and we could have
buyers for him. Those people, those people that are email
(23:51):
what's your opinion on those people?
Speaker 4 (23:53):
Post to what you do for people?
Speaker 1 (23:56):
So nine out of ten times I would avoid those situations, right,
I mean they are just sending those out to a
lists serve of business owners and hoping they get a
couple of people to catch on. And in nine out
of ten times it is not advantageous to you.
Speaker 2 (24:16):
It's not, Oh, I got a guy, just sign the
letter of intent. Here, we'll grab a dinner.
Speaker 1 (24:21):
He's going to offer this much for the business, and
we'll sign the LOI and then we'll start.
Speaker 2 (24:26):
Doing some due diligence.
Speaker 1 (24:27):
And you know, once you sign an LOI or something
like that, then it's very binding and you don't have
as much leverage and the buyer holds leverage, and like, oh,
we noticed this about your books, and our offer is
dropping and we notice that and this, and versus doing
it the opposite. And if you thought you wanted to
start going through a sale process or entertaining it, okay,
(24:49):
let me get let me get a deal attorney. The
deal attorney's going to review everything and all these dot
all lois all offers, then we're going to get maybe
we need an M and A, we need.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
A business valuation person, you know, we need.
Speaker 1 (25:03):
So those are all things that we quarterback and would
put together for somebody in the right order to try
and let's evaluate the offers that are coming across, and
we would even if it got to that point, we
even dial it back a level to talk about the
human aspect of it, at which I mentioned a moment ago,
like what's important to you about this company? What is
(25:27):
life going to look like for you? Picture yourself the
day after the sale. Maybe you have enough money that
you're never going to outlive the money that you have.
It's generational wealth. How are you going to feel Are
you going to be in a position to start to
live your life's purpose or have you just sold your
life's purpose?
Speaker 2 (25:46):
Right?
Speaker 1 (25:46):
A lot of business owners, their entire self esteem, their
net worth is built into the business, especially if they
started it or founded it, and you need to work
through that and make sure people are going to be
emotionally ready as well as financially ready for a transaction,
because it can take a long time. There's a lot
to be considered, and so I would encourage if anybody
(26:08):
is potentially thinking like that and they got an offer,
you know, in an email, you know.
Speaker 2 (26:16):
I would not respond to it.
Speaker 1 (26:18):
I would contact an advisor and attorney that specializes in
those types of transactions and you know, see what your
proper steps should be before entertaining something like that, because
you can get stuck in a tough situation. You know,
there's a lot of unscruptless people out there unfortunately just
trying to find you know, sending out thousands of emails
(26:40):
a week, hoping a couple of people.
Speaker 3 (26:41):
Respond, Yeah, no doubt. And so also, like you're a
financial planner and you have a financial firm, but when
you work with clients, it's not just about the finances.
You know, the end goal isn't just stronger financial outcomes.
Speaker 4 (27:01):
What else is it? Then? For people that don't know,
So it's.
Speaker 2 (27:07):
A great question.
Speaker 1 (27:08):
And of course being financial advisors and financial planners, we
have to be very proficient in the numbers and the
projections and using the planning software, using tax analysis is
a lot of stuff that goes into it. But on
the other side of that coin, there is the human side.
(27:29):
And I subscribe to a program that I've been dealing with,
you know, it's called the Wealth Integration System for Entrepreneurs.
It was founded by another advisor and I've gone through
the program and it talks about two main points, where
one is ROI return on investment and the other is
(27:50):
return on life experience and really helping people understand the
why behind decisions and getting into sort of their history
with money. If it's a business owner, you know, tell
me how you got started in this business, what's your story.
It's one of the things I love about doing what
we're doing is get the stories behind how business started,
(28:13):
how it transitioned, you know, how it got from A
to B, and really just getting into people's lives and
what is important to them about them, their.
Speaker 2 (28:22):
Family, charity, what do they want.
Speaker 1 (28:25):
To see out of their money as a legacy as
you know, Let's get to like a values conversation and
then try and wrap some of your.
Speaker 2 (28:34):
Financial goals around how.
Speaker 1 (28:36):
That ties into your values and you know what you
see your life looking like three years, five years, ten
years down the line. A lot of conversations like that
that frankly, most advisors don't have in our industry. A
lot of people want to us get to you know,
finding a problem.
Speaker 2 (28:54):
And giving them a solution.
Speaker 1 (28:56):
Here's a product, or we can manage your money and
do better than the other guys there.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
We could sell you this thing that's going to.
Speaker 1 (29:02):
Help you here, but really not diving into it's why
it's important to them. And that's frankly, I think where
really the rubber meets the road a lot for people.
Speaker 3 (29:14):
I think that's the difference between financial planning but in
and of itself and actual wealth management.
Speaker 2 (29:22):
Mm.
Speaker 1 (29:23):
Yeah, well it's I agree, it's and it's a blend
of all that's you're almost like a coach, you're.
Speaker 2 (29:30):
An advisor, you're a guide.
Speaker 1 (29:32):
You know, there's a lot of circumstances where you know,
we the decision is yours, right, it's your money, it's
your business, your family. We're not going to tell you
exactly what to do, but we're going to put you
in a position to have all the information so that
you can make a great decision. There are times where
(29:52):
like yeah, we're we are going to tell you this
is what you should do, like this is a no brainers.
But other times just putting people in a position to
have all the information and look at things from a
couple of different perspectives to be able to make the
best decision they can for themselves and their family is,
in my opinion, adds a lot of value. It's not
(30:13):
just about what the Excel spreadsheet says, you know, or
what that's important, But the financial answer isn't always the
right answer. You know, Let's look at the other sides
of the coin here and your history with money and
your family's history, and you know how that's guiding some
of the decisions you're making, and you know, we have
(30:34):
to take that into account when making recommendations. So it's
frankly not done that often in our industry from what
I've seen.
Speaker 3 (30:44):
So true, which brings me something else that maybe is
not done so often in your business that you do
is annual planning, which I don't Can you even tell
me why any financial planner would not do an annual
planning and more importantly, why do you do it?
Speaker 4 (31:04):
And what does that consist of?
Speaker 1 (31:08):
So we did this, we've so there's a couple of
different definitions.
Speaker 2 (31:13):
So there's a lot of advisors that do.
Speaker 1 (31:15):
Annual planning, but it is very basic. It's sort of
a means to an end where hey, we'll do a plan,
we'll do a retirement projection, and then we're just trying
to get you to move your assets from wherever they
are now to have us manage them.
Speaker 2 (31:31):
And they might charge a nominal fee that.
Speaker 1 (31:34):
May cover the costs or not, but it's not really
like in depth planning. It's just like a way to
you know, let's get your money to manage, because that's
how I make most of my money, and we manage
money as well, not you know, full disclosure, we do.
Speaker 2 (31:47):
Manage money for clients.
Speaker 1 (31:49):
But we started doing an annual planning engagement for folks
because we were coming across so that frankly, they were
business owners or they own a lot of real estate,
they had a high net work, but they didn't have
a lot of liquidity, and a lot of firms would say, oh,
you need a million to work with us, you need
(32:10):
five million to work with us, And frankly, we were
seeing a gap in the marketplace where we're going to
charge an annual planning fee for you. You don't have
to manage any money with us, but that is going
to cover a bunch of areas in terms of you know,
tax planning, you know, asset management review, balance sheet review,
(32:33):
which includes the value of your company, like all your assets,
all your liabilities, you know, asset protection strategies, estate planning,
you know, philanthropy and gifting, you.
Speaker 2 (32:46):
Know, a whole bunch of stuff.
Speaker 1 (32:48):
Will review your business agreements, We'll review your insurances and
put It's a process we take clients through that takes
several months and multiple meetings of gathering in depth data.
Once we see some gaps in planning. Usually you see people,
especially higher end Yeah, maybe they have an investment guy,
or maybe they did in this date plan a few
(33:09):
years ago, but nobody talks to each other. Like the
account doesn't talk to the attorney, and the attorney doesn't
talk to the insurance guy, and no one is really
working together. Where we come in and say, here's a
process we're going to take you through, and we're going
to quarterback this. We're going to find the gaps in
your planning. We're going to go and do a joint
meeting with the accounts. The attorneys, talk to them about
(33:31):
what we've seen, talk together to find mutuals so we're
not trying to replace them. Like we don't do taxes,
I don't draw up legal documents, but we would want
to have everybody in the room talking about what are
some of the gaps in the planning, what are some
of the solutions based on the goals that mister and
missus Smith had told us they had and their values
(33:52):
and their family which we are very much in touch
with as part of our due diligence, and how do
we get them from A to B in this situation.
And so that's where we do planning. It's an annual engagement.
If you end up side and yeah, we want to
have our money managed by you as well, we would
charge a separate assets under management fee. We discount that
(34:15):
if you're a consultant client. But a lot of times
the planning and the consulting gets renewed year after year.
And it's especially relevant for you know, maybe it's a
business that thinks they want to sell in three years
and we do all this planning and bring people together
to help them in a myriad of areas get.
Speaker 2 (34:37):
Ready for that.
Speaker 1 (34:38):
And most advisors won't do it, you know, they want
to just manage the money. And then a business sells
and they get fifty five phone calls because it was
just a liquidity event. Everyone wanting to manage the money
they got out of the transaction and where in there
years and years in advance, whether it's a business owner
or not. We offer those planning consulting services because we
(35:02):
found it was a gap in the marketplace.
Speaker 2 (35:05):
And frankly, a lot of people need a lot of planning.
Speaker 4 (35:09):
Yeah, they certainly do.
Speaker 3 (35:11):
And what I think is really important too is whoever
you're going to talk to about your planning is their credentials,
because as somebody that was formerly in the business, you
don't realize the difference between the credential planners and the
people that just call themselves financial advisors or that are
(35:32):
just brokers or or any of the different names, because
there's different trading, different training, certification, education that makes you
above the rest. You know, Listen, I started in the business,
and you know, you were told at Prudential when I
started Prudential brand new, like one day in okay, we're
(35:55):
going to we put financial advisor on your business card.
You're a financial advisor. And I found out later that
that doesn't mean crap, and like, so that's why I
think somebody like you that first of all, you're a
certified financial planner, as somebody that went through that same program,
I'm here to tell you people, I sat in for
(36:16):
the CFP with lawyers and accountants that failed it because
they said it was the hardest test they ever had
to take, and you have to take these might be
different now when I did it five modules, pass all
five and then this final exam.
Speaker 4 (36:31):
That was a bear.
Speaker 3 (36:33):
Yeah, yeah, and you learn a lot that I would
have never known before that if I never got that
CFP and I was handling people's money, you know, Like
I want to explain that to the listeners from my perspective,
like you can be an investment broker at brokerage firm
(36:54):
and people and you're managing people's money. Doesn't mean you're
doing a good job of It doesn't mean you're planning.
You may even be, you know, just selling product. But
somebody like yourself that has a CFP, you also have
a couple other letters after your name, like a credited
(37:15):
investment advisor or a credited investment fiduciary, which is to
me extremely important, and you can explain to.
Speaker 4 (37:23):
People what that is.
Speaker 3 (37:25):
And you know, the fact that the matter is that
when you have all these credentials, it means you have
the proper training, experience, education to really be able to
analyze their needs and give advice that's not based on
a product but based on a customized plan for that
(37:50):
business or that individual.
Speaker 1 (37:53):
Yeah, well exactly, and thank you for mentioning that, because, Yeah,
the CFP was very difficult exam to pass and go through.
And like you said, there are people that can call
themselves a financial advisor who have never taken the CFP.
They've just taken the basic like securities licensing exam to
get licensed to sell mutual funds or annuities or you know, stocks,
(38:17):
whatever it is. And so there is a big difference,
and they hold you to a higher standard that with ethics,
and you've got to you know, his all background checks,
and you have to do continuing education every year to
make sure you're staying up to speed on tax laws
and regulations and those in the last number of years,
those seem to change, you know, every twelve months there's
(38:40):
a new tax law, and you know, if you're not
up to speed on that, it can really impact people's plannings.
Speaker 2 (38:45):
But the AIF for.
Speaker 1 (38:47):
The incredited investment fiduciary, I mean, I think it's just
being an investment fiduciary in its simplest.
Speaker 2 (38:55):
Form means that you obligate you put the.
Speaker 1 (38:58):
Client's interest first at all times and your your objective
as an advisor with them. And you know, like us,
we're independent. There's no proprietary products, there's no you know,
there's no sales quote is it's we're a fiduciary that
acts in our client's best interest at all times and
puts their interests ahead of all else. So that to
(39:20):
me is is extremely important. You know, I shouldn't I
took the designation. I you know, was acted as a
fiduciary before I had the designation. Obviously I think, uh,
you know, it's a character trait to you know, put
clients before yourself. You shouldn't need designation to do that,
but it does help you know, client see that you
(39:43):
have that. And the other one that you mentioned was
a CPWA, which was Certified Private Wealth Advisor, which was
a program I took through University of Chicago Booth School
of Business, which is just.
Speaker 2 (39:57):
An elevated sort of CFP.
Speaker 1 (40:01):
That is geared towards working with high net worth basically
clients that have a.
Speaker 2 (40:08):
Five million or more net worth.
Speaker 1 (40:10):
And is focused specifically on like family business, family transition
planning for closely held business owners, planning for executives, you know,
stock options, charitable giving, tech, you know, complicated estate and
tax issues.
Speaker 2 (40:27):
So whereas the CP is a little more.
Speaker 1 (40:29):
Broad with you know, you have a state income tax,
insurance planning, and it's like kind of broad on all
those topics, this was very narrow. It goes really deep
on a couple of small topics geared towards like high end,
higher net worth clients and the issues that they go
through that are different than you know, your average investor,
(40:52):
and so we have a deal with a lot of
those types of clients, and I thought it would be
it was very interesting going through the course because there's
actually stuff that applies directly to clients.
Speaker 2 (41:03):
We were working with at the time.
Speaker 1 (41:05):
Nice and you're doing some complicated planning for them, and
you know, I'm always trying to you know, learn and grow.
Speaker 2 (41:14):
I think if you're not growing, you know, if you're.
Speaker 1 (41:16):
Not learning, you're not growing, I should say, And trying
to always stay up on, you know, what's happening in
our industry and the regulations and the new tax laws,
new everything all the time, which is one of the things.
Speaker 2 (41:30):
I love about it. I don't know.
Speaker 1 (41:32):
You're dealing with different people, but there's always something new
to learn, which is exciting.
Speaker 3 (41:38):
And I love that part there because things move faster
than ever nowadays with technology and political climates and everything.
And it's so funny you're talking now sitting and thinking
about just recently I moved my studios, and moving my studios,
I was going through all I still have all of
my books from all of my licenses, from CFP, from CFS,
(42:05):
l utcf books, fifteen different licensing books, and I was
looking through all of them and I'm like, I wonder
how non educational these books are now because they're from
the nineties.
Speaker 2 (42:22):
Yeah, it's exactly.
Speaker 1 (42:24):
It's funny. I had a similar experience. I was, you know,
at my parents' house not that long ago, and I
was going through, you know, my bedroom and cleaning out
a book and there was, you know, a book about
you know, there was something like how to be a
financial Advisor and the topics you should get and it
(42:45):
was written like twenty five years ago, and you start
going through some of it and it's when like the
estate tax exemption was a million dollars and you know,
the maximum IRA contribution was like fifteen hundred bucks, you know,
and some products that.
Speaker 2 (42:59):
We had now weren't even invented.
Speaker 1 (43:02):
And you know, as you know now is the Estates
tax exemption is thirty million for a married couple. So
you know you've started looking at some of those books
and say, geez, like this, this does not even apply
at all anymore, right, how much these things change over time.
Speaker 4 (43:19):
And it's interesting too. You made me think of like
I did.
Speaker 3 (43:23):
The CFP before there was a such thing as an RIA,
which I ended up being an RIA, But I remember
when that first started and I ready had a CFP.
So it's like even letters nowadays being a whole different
thing than they did then, and how the business is.
So I think it's very important. My point is is
(43:44):
the deal with somebody like you that is up on it,
that takes continuing education. And that's why that annual you know, planning,
it's so important because anything can change in a given year.
Whatever you recommended in twenty twenty five, maybe in twenty
twenty six needs to be adjusted.
Speaker 1 (44:07):
Yeah, yeah, exactly. And you know, for those clients that
are doing the annual planning, you know, we're we have
several meetings a year, you know, just to let's get
caught up on where you're at. You know, how's the business,
how's the family? You know, where we you know, is
this new laws going into effect next year? Do we
(44:28):
need to take care of anything now that we can't
do next year? Or you know, where are we at
with your income with gifting? You know, there's a lot
of stuff that can be impacted with these changes in
tax laws, and a lot of people, especially a you know,
a business owner or a family running around with kids
and all obligations, is not paying attention to that stuff.
Speaker 2 (44:50):
And you know, there can be a lot of.
Speaker 1 (44:55):
Misses if you aren't paying attention and looking at ways
to improve the situation.
Speaker 2 (45:01):
So it's uh, it's it's good.
Speaker 4 (45:04):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (45:04):
I think the annual planning is is great.
Speaker 1 (45:07):
And excuse me, so we're all our clients several times
a year.
Speaker 3 (45:15):
And for anybody that's listening, isn't a client. Now you
do offer a free additional consultation. Tell them a little
bit about that and how they would set that up.
Speaker 2 (45:27):
Yeah, so you can.
Speaker 1 (45:29):
You can go to our website which is Bestionwealthmanagement dot
com and.
Speaker 2 (45:34):
That's Bestion is b E S T G E N
Wealth Manage.
Speaker 1 (45:39):
Dot com and on the contact us page, you know,
you can fill it out and email will come to
us that you want to you know, you want to
chat and where Yeah, we are happy to do an
initial consultation.
Speaker 2 (45:50):
Uh, you know, learn a little about your.
Speaker 1 (45:52):
Situation, what you what you're looking for, tell you about
our practice, you know, our fees, everything, and then just
kind of see if it's a good fit for everybody.
And then you know, we would go down the road
of gathering enough information from you to put together a
proposal to say, here's what our fees would be to
(46:15):
do the work, and here's what we think the complexities are,
here's what we think we can add value. And you know,
if you decide yeah, we want to move forward, here's
what the fee is. Then we would get like deep
dive on and go through like a couple meeting process
where we're deep diving on a number of topics and
coordinating with your other advisors and putting together plans and recommendations.
(46:40):
So it is like a multiple meeting process, but the
initial phone call or zoom meeting. We have clients all
over the country. I know we're based out of Massachusetts,
but we have clients in a number of different states
all over the country, so it's not just a local
business anymore.
Speaker 4 (47:02):
Well, there you go.
Speaker 3 (47:03):
Well you've been a wealth of information. Is there anything
else you want to leave the listeners with that we
haven't covered yet?
Speaker 2 (47:13):
It's a good question, but no, I think we covered
a lot.
Speaker 1 (47:16):
All I would say is, you know, if we take
on a lot of new clients that came to us
having existing advisors already. So if you're asking yourself, you know,
you know, m I al set like does my account
coordinate with my advisor?
Speaker 2 (47:35):
Does my advisor know who my estate planning attorney is?
Speaker 1 (47:38):
And do they actually coordinate and have a plan together,
Not just like they call each other once a year
to get a copy of the tax return and that's
all the communication that they have with an accountant.
Speaker 2 (47:49):
But are actually doing planning together.
Speaker 1 (47:53):
You know, we we'd be happy to chat and you know,
can't hurt to get a second opinion out there, So
would love to do it and get a better return
on life experience.
Speaker 2 (48:04):
You know, that's the main goal.
Speaker 3 (48:06):
There it is, And even if you find get confirmed
that you're doing the right thing, it's worth getting a
second opinion always.
Speaker 1 (48:14):
Yeah, Well exactly, you know, if you were if you
needed to have Arthur knee surgery or heart surgery, you'd
probably talk to a couple of surgeons first.
Speaker 2 (48:24):
And you know, especially if you have doubts.
Speaker 1 (48:27):
And you know, or you're looking towards a big life
transition and you know, want to get a second opinion
on what's going on, reach out to us.
Speaker 2 (48:36):
We're happy to have a call.
Speaker 3 (48:38):
Well, it's been amazing having you on and helping our listeners,
and I urge everybody to at least reach out and
get that free initial consultation. You never know, it might
change your life. And thank you Brad for being on
the Adventures of Pipe Man.
Speaker 2 (48:54):
You're welcome. Dean, thanks for having me. It's a pleasure
and he enjoy the rest of the day. It up alright,
thanks man.
Speaker 1 (49:05):
Thank you for listening to the Adventures of Pipeman on
w fur CUI Radio
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