5 reasons this RIA firm is kicking your butt

Wow, this was a powerful interview with Dave Welty, a financial advisor who founded and developed what I would consider a well-managed RIA firm. Avier Advisors, based out of Bellevue, Washington, has nearly $800MM in AUM and almost 20 employees. Here are five things they’ve done differently at Avier, and why it’s helped them kick […]

The post 5 reasons this RIA firm is kicking your butt appeared first on Sara Grillo.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Alright, everybody. So I've got Dave W here,
and Dave has done a great job. He's
built up this awesome firm, and
He's not coming up empty when it comes
to handing it off to
a next generation successor. And so this is
something that not a lot of advisors. Have
been able to do great example for you

(00:21):
advisers to follow welcome, Dave. Thank you, sir.
It's good to see you again.
So tell me about the company. This So
the company, it's interesting. We're gonna celebrate our
20 fifth year
in January. So we're 24 and a half
years old.
But we've been
kinda 3 different companies along that journey.
We worked... I've always been a big focus

(00:43):
on niche,
marketing, niche focused,
you know, really honing your efforts.
And we did that with
various telephone companies for many, many years, but
6 years ago, we decided to re brand
the company we be called retirement,
asset management,
7 kinda yucky,

(01:04):
boring,
and it didn't really represent who we wanted
to become. And we wanted to become a...
The go to source for tech executives
in the Pacific Northwest.
And so 6, 7 years ago, we rebranded
the firm behavior wealth advisors. We leaned in
heavily
into the tech community.
We decided that it was all about education.

(01:24):
And so we have an extraordinarily active Youtube
channel.
It's
anybody can go there and watch what we
do.
It's not Rocket science. It's all about education,
2, 3 minute videos on
benefits.
You know, whether you're at Microsoft Amazon Salesforce,
Nike,
Nvidia. It doesn't matter. And so we referring
that is

(01:45):
highly focused on a particular niche in a
geographic region. I feel very fortunate that I
live here. The firm is 21 or 22
folks now, where we are an
extremely highly credential staff. It's something I really
believe in.
I think we've got 14 certified financial planners,
and
we made the commitment 3 years ago to...

(02:06):
Lean into these marketing efforts and now it's,
like, hang on tight because it's crazy. Okay.
So let's just look for a minute at...
Dave's Youtube channel. So
he's very modest, but Amazon, a video about
Amazon benefits. And, I mean, I say this
all the time and everybody resists like, this
is the benefit of niche marketing.

(02:26):
Okay? This is an example.
72000
views on this video. But Okay? Amazon employee
compensation 53000
views on this 1. Employ... Microsoft employee compensation
18000.
I mean, you advisors
could do it the hardware or or you
could do it in a way that isn't
an alignment with Google

(02:47):
and that brings your
educational ability to its highest level. Can Okay?
So that's great Like, what what made you
initially turn to niche marketing in the first
place, Dave because advisers all say,
I don't wanna lose people that wouldn't be
in the specific category. I don't wanna exclude
people. What was the the, like, mental

(03:10):
kinda thing in your mind that made you
take that risk? Well well well, 1 with
my...
The first partners I had truly believed in
it, And that's why we did all of
the phone company,
you know, made the efforts back in the
day when you invited... People to a hotel
room. You serve subway sandwiches.
You talk about lump sum versus annuity and,
you know, the benefits of a 04:01 and

(03:30):
k rollover,
people etcetera.
And it wasn't until 6, 7 years ago,
somebody walked in my office and said, I
think I'm at the wrong office,
Well, why is that? Well, I'm looking for
Dave We? Well, I'm am I'm Dave? Yeah.
But I work at Microsoft, and I'm not
retiring.
And the name of the firm retirement asset
management.

(03:51):
That was, like getting...
Hitting the gut
because out of every window from my office
on Northeast fourth Avenue in Bellevue Washington,
I could see a building that either had
Microsoft employees, Vmware employees,
Amazon employees, and I thought, what the living
heck are we doing?
We need to take what we had done

(04:13):
really well with phone company employees where those
individuals were distributing their wealth.
And transition to a whole another group of
people
who were making significantly more money and who
were accumulating
wealth
Right?
And so I just truly believe in. I
think you have to be able to set

(04:35):
yourself apart.
From your competitors. It's great to say we're
all dictionaries. We can all argue over,
you know, the best
compensation model, all of those things, but really
and truly what does it come down to?
It comes down to being an expert
in people's lives.
You have to be able to say, I

(04:56):
I tell people all the time. I truly
believe we know Microsoft benefits
better than most any Hr person at Microsoft,
And that's powerful to be able to say
that.
Right. And that's an example of commitment to
the client. I mean, we all get paid...
I think, extraordinarily well in this industry. And
if you're gonna get paid well, you better
deliver well. And how do you deliver if

(05:18):
you don't understand, we're really...
I think we're head and shoulders above everybody
when it comes to understanding Microsoft deferred comp.
It's complicated.
Some people look again go... That's pretty simple.
Yeah. It's simple until you really dive into
the details. You really wanna find the nuanced
ways of,
deferring and then setting the distribution strategy and

(05:39):
all those things And when we get in
front of a client who's eligible for Microsoft
deferred comp,
we change their financial trajectory.
Why? Because we're really freaking good at it.
We're great at,
making sure they understand it. We're great at
illustrating the benefits of it,
and we, you know, it's just something that

(06:00):
we've... We lean into. And it's just that's
just 1 example.
Please go ahead and just watch their videos
on Youtube, and you can see the level
of detail that they get into.
Alright? They're not just... They're talking about general.
They've done this before. They know the ins
and outs of it, and they know the
details. They've done the work. This is... We...
Sure. We've made an enormous...

(06:21):
Commitment
to who we are
and who we wanted to become. Awesome. And
that's just on the that's on the marketing
side. And we've made that same commitment
on the operational side of the business as
well. Because I think you can have these
great...
You know, you can lean into marketing, you
can make that 12:18
on 24 month commitment.

(06:43):
But I'll tell you what, if you have
not
built out the operational side of your business,
you're gonna get crushed
because good marketing,
consistent marketing
pays off. And when it pays off, you
have to be ready for it. Like, we
get... We onboard 1 new client a week,
typically.
Right? You can't do that if you don't

(07:05):
have the infrastructure.
You know, behind the scenes to accommodate that.
If you don't have the professionals in place,
the processes
in place, you then have put out all
this work
you've, you know, put 2 years of your
life into making it happen, and then you
fumble the ball.
That's a bad look.
1 of the things that I'm very impressed

(07:28):
by has been your ability to empower
your employees.
You can always tell when people are happy.
You can always tell when people are engaged,
and your company
is just
the company culture is amazing.
And it's... I think it's rewarded you in
the sense that

(07:48):
you've been able to grow. But also, you've
been able to do what many advisors are
unable to do, and that is to find
a way to pass on the firm after
you know, at some point inevitably you choose
to depart from it.
So in other words, you're looking at me
going? God, Dave. You're you're getting a little
older and what are you what are you
gonna do next?

(08:09):
Well,
we're all getting older. I that's exactly right.
But it's just a thing. It's it is
an epidemic. Problem in our industry that advisors
are looking at selling to these awful ag,
that are just going to not treat their
clients, the way that the clients wanna be
treated?
If you wanted to work for somebody else,

(08:31):
why did you go out and start your
own firm. Like, I get frustrated because I
get called quite a bit about our marketing
efforts. I've been asked to speak on some
panels part And I just don't understand why
people don't replicate what we're doing.
Right? Because you could take what we do.
You could be in Connecticut and do it
at Pfizer.
Right? You could go to Austin, Texas and

(08:54):
find a couple of companies. You could go
to Charlotte, North Carolina do with B employees.
What we do is repeatable.
Why people don't do it, baffles me. On
the other side,
it's baffling to me why people aren't doing
what we're doing,
on the internal side,
because it's not that difficult.
Right? You... Like, just like marketing, you have

(09:15):
to lean in,
believe in it and be committed to it.
We leaned in years ago, the aid... You
know,
like you said, well we're all getting older.
I knew that in inevitably,
I needed to be able to pass the
torch.
So I went out. I'm a big believer
in
empowering people, trusting people. You wanna always hire

(09:38):
people that think like owners,
advisors come to me today and say, what
do you think about this perspective clint
I put it back on them. Well, if
you owned the firm, what would you do?
Well, here's why I think we should take
them. Great. Let's take them as clients.
Maybe they don't fit minimum. That's okay. If
you think... So
by empowering people, you get people to make

(09:58):
decisions, you get to sit back and watch,
we now have...
Or we... Dave Well fortunate enough to have
4 young partners. So I'm 63 gonna be
64
in December.
I've got through... 4 business partners,
who are all other I own about 50
percent of the firm. The only other 15
we're transitioning over time.

(10:19):
They're 31 to 37 years of age,
but we've been nurturing this process.
For 567
years.
Right?
But how did you find the people in
the first place because this is the pushback
I get when I talk with people about
that. Well, I can't find anybody good.

(10:40):
So sarah. Look, let's just... Place I think
because people aren't looking. Lars Phillips, who's on
all those Youtube videos that you just pointed
out, gonna be for 13 years, I met
Lars at a baseball camp
and he was selling t shirts at the
University of Washington, and he gave me the
wrong change, and I gave him a bad
time. I said, well, clearly, you're not a

(11:01):
finance major or you, and he goes, well,
actually, I am in the foster school of
business of all majors. You know, blah.
Lars intern with me. I really like the
way he reacted to me poking in. He
intern with me. He's now...
The second largest shareholder in the company,
and he's a partner at the firm. Nick
Wright

(11:22):
was in my front yard shoveling mulch.
As a summer job, and I'm a big
believer when people come to my house to
to work around the wealthy home. You always
wanna engage them. And you wanna make sure
they're comfortable. They want Know where the restroom
is, and I just think that's way you
treat people. Right? You treat it with a
little bit respect. Nick and I talk, come
to find out. He was a finest major

(11:43):
at San Diego State University and an internship
blew up at the last minute, a friend
of Mine one's a landscape company, was gracious
enough to give him a job. I found
out he was
you know, going into a senior year, I
called my friend, I go, I'd fire that
guy Tomorrow. He goes, what do he do?
I go, he's working for you shoveling mulch.
She should be at my place.
Know, as an intern, getting ready for a
senior. He goes good. Go tell him he's

(12:04):
fired. Walk down the driveway said Nick, you're
fired. What what did I do? You, you're
shoveling mulch. Get a white shirt on and
get some Slacks and you're gonna be at
my place on Monday morning. Gp p os.
Was so got a degree in history from
Of Washington,
teaching chess. This is kinda down around the
o 08:09 time frame.

(12:26):
And his... 1 of his very best friends,
Lars Phillips was walking to the library and
Jp goes, what are you doing? Well, I'm
gonna go study for the thing called the
Cfa.
Jp, but you would want nothing to do
with it. It's all math throughout he goes,
I'm not doing anything. I'll I'll do it
with you. Just to give you some support.
Jp passed in sequence.
Right?
Look, you don't know where people

(12:49):
I guess my point is, you've gotta keep
an open mind.
Right? You've always gotta be looking, You've gotta
be engaging with people talking to people.
Networking with people. Because we created an environment
at behavior where people wanna be.
Who are we today?
We probably have an average age of 35.
We've got... I think on per capita basis,

(13:11):
the most highly credential staff.
Anywhere, and we have more women than we
have men,
and we have every walks of life
By doing that,
when people say, I'm gonna leave...
I don't know. Abc b firm and seattle,
I'm gonna go look around and they start
looking at websites.

(13:33):
They look at the team page and they
and they ask themselves,
can I see myself there?
Well, if everybody on that website looks like
me,
a 33 year old woman can't see herself
there.
But if she goes on to the website
and sees 22 people of which half are
a little more than half are female, The
average age is 35.

(13:54):
All of these highly credential people,
you know, people in leadership positions,
they visualize themselves there and it's easy for
them to wanna come be part of what
you've built.
It's been a coat... It's Sarah it's been
a pretty cool ride. I... Yeah. Well, you've
made it that way. You've made it. Thank
you. And and I love that because I
think it it is a choice that we

(14:16):
make.
And I'm always saying this don't write people
off. Don't judge people just based on a
very
peripheral
superficial understanding.
That you might have gained from their Linkedin
page or this sort that, like, people, for
example, people are always
ding in vendors. Right? Like, if a salesperson

(14:36):
asks you to connect. It's 1 thing if
they're
pushy pushy pushy and won't leave you alone
and are stocking you. But most... Salespeople.
Most good salespeople people who have actually been
in the business for a while doing what
they're doing. Understand how people think and they're
not gonna do that.
Why not connect with the salesperson because you
never know when they might do you a

(14:56):
favor. Why don't you be friend them?
Know look they... Sure, they they can be
your eyes in ears. They're in places They
hear things that you would have hear. Right?
You have to cast and look, talent in
our industry and not not employees,
talent in our industry is really thin.

(15:17):
I'll tell you, the competition for a really
good
Cf,
a really good associate adviser who is aspire
to be a lead adviser, like, we run
3 person advisory teams. To find these people,
the competition is
it's intense.
Well if it's intense to raise your game
and create an environment

(15:38):
where they wanna be there, get the word
out so that other people in the industry
when they're out there talking, they should be
carrying your flag for you.
Like, my god, if you... You're not unhappy
where you're at, other you really should consider
a here.
Right? Why? Go to their website, take a
look at this things are doing. Look at
you know, look at their Youtube channel. Look

(15:59):
who they serve
ask yourself if you can in... 1 of
my really good hires from a year and
a half ago.
It came down to us in another very
well run firm.
And on the last interview, I asked her
or I said, I'd like you to go
home tonight.
I'd like you to just pull up our
team page and ask yourself
could you see yourself being part of this

(16:21):
team?
Every day when you wake up, are these
the people you wanna be surrounded by goes,
starts laughing. I go was so funny shows
I did that last night. My son walked
by and said, mom, who's this? This is
a firm. I'm thinking about joining. And he
said, mom.
You would fit right in there.
Right? Mom, these are your people. Sure enough.

(16:42):
She chose us.
Awesome.
Dave, these are awesome words of advice. So
if somebody wants to connect with you or
learn more, how can they contact you with
the firm?
Anybody can reach out to me at Dave
at avi
advisors dot com.
I I'm a big believer
in helping people.

(17:03):
I think that,
if somebody,
you know, don't put, you know, don't look
down and bit unless, you're putting a hand
down to help him up. Right? There's enough
money in this industry to go around for
all of us multiple times over.
I'm always willing to help.
Always.
And and, yeah, I I love this. What

(17:24):
I take away from this.
Well, there are so many things, but 1
of the biggest takeaways is
seeing things for what they are.
Change, be it be an agent of change,
and and it feels really good. I mean,
I love my team.
I freaking love my team. They're young, They're

(17:45):
energetic.
They're committed
to
the clients that we serve, they're committed to
their communities.
They're committed to themselves professionally.
It allows a guy, like me 63 and
a half seemed to be 64
to be energized. Right? I mean, you and
I have talked it you know, I've got,
my site set on you know, taking a

(18:07):
different role in the future. Right?
Kind of more 1 where I'm just on
executive leadership,
meeting, maybe meeting with prospective clients, doing a
little bit of mentoring, being out the community
more, things of that nature. But you can't
do that unless you build
that foundation first,
identify future leaders, nurture a, and believe in

(18:29):
them, allow them to make mistakes, to get
them ready so that when you're ready,
the handoff is seamless
and you feel really good about it. Right?
So
It takes work.
Well, I think it also takes you getting
into the right mindset yourself.
Yeah. Yeah. I mean the... So much lack

(18:50):
of motivation I mean, I see it on
the marketing side, You know, a marketing consultant?
And it's, like, did you contact these people
well know?
Well, I mean, how's anything gonna happen? There's
such a unit is there's such a fear
of rejection and failure. I hope this was
helpful. This was great, Dave. Thank you so
much.
Please rates subscribe and review this podcast everybody
listening. Thank you for listening.