October 24, 2025 • 44 mins
Unlocking Business Wealth: Exit Planning & Financial Planner Standards with Paul
Brahim
In this episode of Something More with Chris Boyd, Chris is joined by Jeff Perry and special
guest Paul Brahim, Managing Director and Financial Advisor at Wealth Enhancement in
Pittsburgh. Paul, a CFP® and CEPA®, shares decades of experience guiding CEOs and business
owners through retirement planning, succession strategies, and financial wellness. We dive into
the critical topics of “Title” protection for financial planners and why legal and regulatory
standards matter for the profession.
Next up is an engaging conversation about “Exit Planning” for business owners, including how
to unlock wealth, create liquidity, and align business decisions with personal goals.
#FinancialPlanning #ExitPlanning #BusinessOwners #SuccessionPlanning #CFP #CEPA
#WealthManagement #RetirementPlanning #FinancialAdvisor #Podcast #chrisBoyd #jeffperry
#paulbrahim #wealthenhancement
For more information or to reach TEAM AMR, click the following link:
https://www.wealthenhancement.com/s/advisor-teams/amr
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Welcome to Something More with Chris Boyd.
Chris Boyd is a certified financial planner, practitioner,
and senior vice president and financial advisor at
Wealth Enhancement Group, one of the nation's largest
registered investment advisors.
We call it Something More because we'd like
to talk not only about those important dollar
and cents issues, but also the quality of
life issues that make the money matters matter.
(00:22):
Here he is, your fulfillment facilitator, your partner
in prosperity, advising clients on Cape Cod and
across the country.
Here's your host, Jay Christopher Boyd.
Welcome to the program and thanks for joining
us.
I'm Chris Boyd and I'm here with Jeff
Perry.
We are your co-hosts and we are
both of the AMR team at Wealth Enhancement.
(00:44):
Joining us today is Paul Bram, managing director
and financial advisor with Wealth Enhancement in Pittsburgh.
With decades of experience guiding CEOs and business
owners through retirement, succession planning, financial wellness strategies,
Paul brings a wealth of insight to our
conversation.
(01:06):
He is a CFP and a CEPA for
exit planning strategies and currently serves as the
president of the Financial Planning Association, where he's
leading efforts to elevate the profession and advocate
for title protection.
Beyond his professional accolades, which by the way,
(01:26):
include multiple years as a five-star wealth
manager award winner, Paul is passionate about a
variety of things, including his active involvement in
community leadership and apparently an endurance athlete.
We'll have to hear more about that at
some point.
We're thrilled to have him on the show.
Paul, thanks for being with us.
(01:48):
Thanks so much, Chris.
Appreciate being here.
Well, Paul, I have so many things I
want to talk to you about.
Among them is certainly your year as president
of the Financial Planning Association during this important
25th anniversary year.
I also want to hear about the work
you're doing at Wealth Enhancement with regard to
(02:10):
business owners and their succession planning and exit
strategies.
But before we talk about all that, tell
us a little bit about your professional journey.
How did you become a financial planner?
I suspect, like most people of our era,
it wasn't originally your plan.
So what was the path that led you
(02:31):
to financial planning and this professional success that
you achieved?
Contentment is often not a path originally intended
and frequently preceded by challenges.
So I'd love to hear a little bit
about your story.
I'm happy to share.
(02:52):
You know, when I went to college at
Washington and Jefferson, which is the nation's 11th
oldest college or university, at least that's what
they tell me when they ask for money.
But when I went to college at Washington
and Jefferson, I was a chemistry and English
major and a pre-med.
(03:13):
Clearly, I didn't get into medical school, right?
I did have that.
When I graduated college, I didn't get into
medical school, still wanted to.
So I started a career in pharmaceutical sales.
In that time frame when I was doing
pharmaceutical sales, I met a couple of physicians
(03:36):
that thought I would be a really great
doctor.
So they sponsored me.
I was all set to start at WVU
Medical Center, just had a few boxes to
check.
A lot of my doctor customers talked to
me about the influence of insurance companies and
(03:58):
HMOs on the practice of medicine, and they
strongly advised me to avoid becoming a physician
and stay in business.
And at that point, I was married with
a couple of kids, and that seemed like
reasonable advice to me.
Well, it's a long path to go through
medical school too, right?
(04:19):
It was a long path, and their view
of the profession was not as rosy as
I thought it was when I was in
college as a pre-med.
So at any rate, I stayed in pharmaceutical
sales and ultimately, at some point, ended up
in medical product sales in that career path.
(04:43):
But along the way, my father introduced me
to a guy named Ron Stiller, and he
worked for a company called AL Williams.
If you're old enough, you know who that
is.
And I got the buy term, invest the
difference bug in me.
And my dad said to me one day,
(05:04):
son, when are you going to stop making
other people rich, meaning my employer, and make
yourself rich, right?
Because he was a business owner himself.
So he wanted me to follow that entrepreneurial
path.
He introduced me to Ron.
One thing led to another, and I left
my job in pharmaceutical sales and hung my
(05:26):
shingle out as an independent in September of
1987.
I think if you're a student of market
history, you know what happened in October of
1987.
I couldn't get an- Perfect timing, huh?
Yeah, I couldn't get an appointment to save
my life, Chris.
It was a train wreck.
(05:46):
I remember my dad, who had sold his
business and became a minister, he came to
my house after church, right?
So we all came to my house after
church, and he opened up the refrigerator and
about the only thing inside of that refrigerator
was a light bulb.
And he said to me, son, what do
(06:12):
you think the Lord's trying to tell you?
And I said that if you and mom
don't buy us groceries, we're not eating tonight,
right?
And so I had to detour away from
financial services for a period of time.
That's when I went into medical product sales,
but I just couldn't get this out of
my blood.
(06:32):
Much of my success, and I had a
lot of success in both pharmaceutical and medical
product sales, leading the country in sales, right,
everywhere I went.
Much of that success came from delivering something
we call in-service programs in hospitals, where
you hold a lunch and learn or a
(06:53):
breakfast meeting, and you teach a group of
physicians or a group of nurses or other
practitioners about a product, about its uses, its
indications, contraindications, how to use it, right, what
to look for.
And so I did a lot of, let's
call it public speaking inside of hospitals to
(07:14):
generate, right, to generate interest in the products
that we sold at the time.
And I asked myself this question, I wonder
if I can do that with respect to
financial planning.
And so I discovered a company called Successful
Money Management Seminars from Portland, Oregon, and right,
(07:35):
SMMS, right.
So, you know, I kind of bought everything
that they made.
And, you know, just to tell you how
hard this was, right, how crazy this was,
right, I had that initial failure in 87,
88, right.
So I went back to Washington and Jefferson
College, and I met with the dean, Howard
(07:57):
Burnett.
He's since passed.
And I had this meeting with him, and
everybody called him Howie.
And, you know, in this meeting, I called
him Dr. Burnett.
But I said, Dr. Burnett, do you remember,
do you remember your commencement speech when I
graduated in 1981?
Meanwhile, it's a decade later, right?
(08:20):
And you said in that commencement speech that
Washington and Jefferson, W&J, you know, wasn't
here for you just for the four years
that you attended, but it was here for
you for life.
Here it comes.
Yeah, that's exactly what he said.
(08:42):
That's exactly what he said.
So I told him what I wanted him
to do.
I wanted him to mail 10,000 brochures
to people right in the surrounding communities so
that I could teach a course in the
adult evening education program, which they didn't even
have.
And lo and behold, he agreed, right?
(09:10):
He agreed.
So I went out and I bought all
this seminar stuff, right?
I got everything that I needed.
I'm ready to go.
I go back and see him to do
a planning session.
And he didn't remember the conversation.
Oh, no.
Yeah.
And I had learned that he was having
some memory issues.
Oh, no.
(09:31):
Right.
Exactly.
So he introduces me to another dean and
it all had to be renegotiated and it
was really skinny down.
But I did my first program with Successful
Money Management Seminars in 1992 at Washington and
Jefferson College.
I had three people that attended.
All three became clients.
One of them was a professor of mine,
(09:53):
which was fascinating.
And the rest is kind of history.
And I evolved from that into doing financial
wellness training at corporations as notable as Bayer
and USX and Alcoa, right?
Some pretty large corporations where we did financial
wellness training programs.
(10:13):
And that's really how I built my practice.
Ultimately, I became a shareholder in a firm
called BPU Investment Management, became its chief compliance
officer, then its chief executive officer.
And in 2020, we sold our firm to
Wealth Enhancement Group.
(10:35):
I have to tell you, I love hearing
that story.
Thank you for sharing that.
I think it is inspirational for people who
are starting out to hear that even people
who've had great success, often that success is
preceded by great challenges.
And here you are telling your story that
(10:56):
you almost failed out of the business for
a time, that you just were having trouble
making it work.
And then eventually persistence pays off.
I was going to say, I tease and
I tell people it only took me 30
years to become an overnight success.
I think that's not uncommon, right?
(11:19):
It's the reality of life.
I also use the people from SNMS. I
used their retirement strategy.
Financial strategies for success.
The one that was even later was for
retirees.
It was lifelong.
I forget what it was.
Lifelong retirement strategy.
(11:39):
I actually developed a program with them called
At Work.
And it was specifically for people who worked
in publicly traded corporations.
It was financial wellness training for people who
worked in publicly traded corporations, because it included
a lot of information around stock grants, stock
options, those kinds of corporate benefits that you
(12:03):
would only have in a publicly traded corporation.
And so we co-developed that program.
And I even had the chance for many
years to train advisors on how to secure
a corporation to teach in and train them
on how to deliver these programs.
It was an amazingly wonderful relationship with successful
(12:24):
money management seminars.
I was glad to say that they did
it well and that it was more of
a financial planning structure, a cost up.
But a big investment to get those seminars
off the ground with the lead time.
It was.
It was a very long cycle to make
(12:46):
things work.
And I remember in 1997, when I joined
a firm called Berkowitz Pruchowski, which became BPU
Investment Management, the firm I was ultimately CEO
for, they were incredulous that I would teach
(13:07):
a program over four weeks and then prepare
financial plans and meet with people and not
even get close to a penny of revenue
for at least 13 weeks.
They were incredulous.
Until they weren't, right?
Yeah.
Until it worked.
Right.
(13:28):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Well, all right.
I want to turn our attention to the
Financial Planning Association.
2025 represents the 25th year of the Financial
Planning Association.
It was preceded by two successor organizations, the
IAFP and the ICFP.
(13:51):
But the FPA has become the industry's home
for financial planning professionals.
This is a momentous year to enjoy being
at the helm of the organization.
Tell us about your goals for your term
and how it is going.
Yeah.
Well, thanks.
I appreciate it.
And by the way, I became a CFP
(14:11):
in 1995, among other things that makes me
very old.
But and I was also a member of
both of those organizations, the IAFP and the
ICFP.
Yeah.
I was an IAFP before.
And even back then, my focus was on
(14:33):
this idea of advocacy.
I thought it was important to advocate for
the profession and advocate for how the profession
could enhance the lives of its clients.
And so even back then, I was on
those advocacy committees at a local level.
(14:53):
Yeah.
So, you know, one thing led leads to
another and chapter president here in Pittsburgh, and
then committee service at a national level on
the Public Policy Committee in the Member Advocacy
Council.
And then this board position, which has been
(15:15):
one of the great joys of my life,
because it's that place where I believe that
we're really making impact and making a difference
for certified financial planners, for people committed to
that financial planning process.
Right.
That process over product.
Right.
That relationship over a sale.
(15:37):
Right.
That that notion of becoming a trusted advisor
to a family, maybe even for multiple generations,
because we think holistically about their financial life
and how it all impacts their personal life
goals.
I had lots of them coming into my
(15:58):
term.
Right.
And some of the more internal right.
Making sure that we had alignment between committees
and board.
Right.
Executing on our strategic plan, which during my
board term, we spent about 18 months as
a board building our strategic plan.
Right.
(16:19):
Which was around, you know, practice development, practice
management.
Right.
Learning.
So that would be continuing education, the journal.
Right.
Financial planning.
Right.
Even conferences, advocacy, and of course, networking.
Right.
And strengthening local chapters and strengthening the bond
(16:40):
between the national board and those chapters.
Title protection for financial planners is very high
on my list.
I've been I've tried to be a voice
for that almost my whole career.
And I and I, you know, I, you
(17:00):
know, why do we talk about that?
Well, today, from a legal or regulatory perspective,
there is no education, continuing education, experience or
ethics requirements for anyone on a legal and
a regulatory basis for anyone to call themselves
a financial planner.
(17:22):
So I, I could, you know, pick any
vocation or profession that you would be in.
And the next day, I could hang my
shingle out as a financial planner.
And nobody could say a word.
Right.
There's no prohibition from a legal or regulatory
(17:42):
perspective for me doing that.
Now, the CFP board has done a great
job in terms of its public awareness campaigns
of the difference between a certified financial planner
and everyone else who professes to be a
financial planning professional.
I think they've done a tremendous job in
(18:02):
that public awareness campaign.
But for us as an association, we would
like to see that go a step further.
We think
(18:33):
it's different from, say, the accounting profession where,
you know, the public recognizes the difference between
someone who does their taxes, who they might
call themselves an accountant, and a CPA or
enrolled agent who has a credential that makes
them a financial planner, or an insurance professional,
right?
them a little more of a specialist or
(18:55):
a professional.
You'd think that it needs its own title
protection in this, in our industry, is that?
In ours, I believe it does, right?
So if, for example, like, you know, if,
if I'm, if I have a degree in
accounting, and I hang my shingle out and
(19:15):
say, I prepare tax returns, I do bookkeeping,
right?
Right.
Wonderful, right?
Yeah.
But that person with a degree in accounting
can't hang their shingle out and say, I
do audits, or I do certified valuations, right?
(19:37):
Can't say that.
There's a difference.
Think about, think about medicine and think about
the division of labor in medicine and what
that hierarchy looks like, right?
So a physician, well, I can do the
whole ball of wax, right?
And, and there are two, and there are
two, there are two schools, right?
(19:58):
There's Doctor of Osteopathy and Medical Doctors.
So there's two schools.
Both of them get licensed to practice medicine.
A physician assistant, well, they can do certain
things that a doctor can do, but they
can't do all of them, right?
You can't hang your shingle out and say,
I'm a doctor, if you're a physician's assistant,
(20:20):
right?
You would get a cease and desist really
quickly from the state, right?
As a licensed nurse practitioner or a certified
nurse anesthetist, you can't call yourself an anesthesiologist.
You're different.
And it's not to say that one is
better than the other, right?
But it's, it goes to the level of
what you can do in terms of how
(20:42):
you practice.
And it's a recognition of that additional training,
right?
And retraining that you go through in order
to stay current in your profession.
And so I think you think about what
we do, Chris, in people's lives.
You think about the nature of the relationship
that we have and the impact that we
(21:03):
could have on that family potential for potentially
for two, three generations.
It's serious business.
What's more important to people in their life
than their money?
Often they put their money ahead of their
health, which I don't advocate for, but it's
pretty darn important.
It's important to them and making the right
(21:25):
kinds of decisions, right, has significant impact.
And I happen to believe, right, that people
who are credentialed in financial planning, right, do
that better than others.
It's a little minor, yeah, of the training,
of the experience, yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
But yeah, so at any rate, it's important.
(21:46):
So is that best done through a national
effort or a state level effort?
You've been giving this a lot of thought
and attention.
Yeah.
How has the association decided to tackle this?
So we've spent the last couple of years
(22:08):
having some pretty in-depth conversations with key
stakeholders.
And what do I mean by key stakeholders,
right?
Maybe we've had conversations with those custodians like
Fidelity and Schwab.
We've had conversations with the AICPA.
We've had conversations with the CFP board.
(22:30):
We've had conversations with other professional associations, right?
NAFTA, NEPA, right, inside of our ecosystem.
We've had conversations with SIFMA.
We've had conversations with the SEC.
We've even had conversations with legislators at the
state and the federal level, trying to get
(22:50):
some perspective on what's the best path forward.
And each path forward, state, regulatory, say through
the SEC, federal through legislation, each has a
set of pros and cons.
And we're currently in the process of evaluating
(23:10):
what that best way forward looks like.
And we have public policy counsel, right, legal
counsel that's assisting us in that assessment.
And it's the work, it's the ongoing and
continuous work of our public policy committee.
What we've determined, especially after a conversation with
(23:31):
FP Canada, which went through a title protection
exercise in Canada for financial planners, and it
was a very long journey.
It was a very expensive journey.
And due to the strength of lobbyists who,
(23:55):
let's just say, opposed this, right, the requirement
to call yourself a financial planner was dramatically
watered down.
And so that title protection doesn't carry as
much weight as they would like.
And so our face-to-face meetings with
(24:15):
them and our Zoom calls with them has,
you know, they gave us their whole playbook
and, you know, on a 20-plus year
journey that they went through for this.
And we've learned a lot from that.
We're synthesizing that along with the listening tour
that we've been on and all those key
stakeholders to try to find the best path
(24:36):
forward.
And we know one thing, ain't going to
be easy, and it's going to take a
minute.
It's going to take some time.
Well, I'm glad you have quite a quality
guy in the succession of leadership following you
at the FPA.
Dan Galley, we're big fans of him around
(24:58):
here.
He's spectacular.
He's spectacular.
So that'll be great.
But I'm sure it's going to take, you
know, many years of quality.
Yeah, it really is.
And I got to say this, Chris, you
know, yesterday we sent out a press release
(25:18):
about Dennis Moore becoming the permanent CEO of
the Financial Planning Association.
Wanted to talk to him about that.
Yeah, sure.
What do you want to know?
Well, I mean, you know, I mean, as
we do all kinds of planning as planners
about leadership and succession and, you know, the
(25:42):
unexpected.
And this year we had a very sad
and untimely death of Patrick Mahoney, and someone
that I think all of us thought very
highly of.
I think he was an institutional leader as
CEO.
And so, yeah, I'm sure it was felt
(26:04):
by everyone and probably challenging.
The skill set that you bring in your
professional life probably was very helpful as the
organization deals with the transition like this.
But tell us a little bit about how
that all played out with Dennis, who is
(26:27):
a past president and certainly a quality individual
who knows the ropes, so to speak.
But tell us a little bit about this
process.
Sure.
And I want to give much credit to
our board and to Patrick Mahoney.
(26:47):
We brought up the issue in a board
meeting, in executive session around the need to
have a written succession plan, right.
Because life happens, right.
Life happens.
You know, in my exit planning practice, we
tell I tell business owners when we do
(27:10):
a workshop that 50 percent of you in
the room will exit your business involuntarily from
one of the five D's death, disability, divorce,
disagreement or distress.
Right.
Life happens despite our best efforts.
So it's important to have a very clear
internal succession plan and a very clear process
(27:34):
in case something happens.
And so Patrick and the board worked over
a period of time to build the qualifications
for the next CEO.
Should Patrick either resign or have to leave
due to disability or death?
Right.
We built internal succession in the event that,
(27:56):
you know, there would be an emergent situation.
And all of that was in place, thankfully,
when Patrick's illness really accelerated and ultimately and
tragically took his life much sooner than any
of us expected, way sooner than any of
(28:18):
us expected.
And including, obviously, him.
So so Dennis was prepared to step into
the role.
All of the legal documentation that was necessary
to put him in place in that role
was already done.
All we had to do was sign off
(28:39):
on it.
Right.
And that allowed the association to continue to
function on a day to day basis in
a pretty seamless manner.
Right.
Notwithstanding the emotional duress that everyone went through
due to Patrick's passing.
Right.
And then we looked as we formed a
search committee and talked to lots of different
(29:02):
search organizations.
We built out a profile for the next
CEO working with those folks and came to
the conclusion that we had the perfect guy.
Nice.
Right.
We had the person in that right seat.
Yeah.
Yeah.
(29:24):
He really is uniquely suited for this role.
First, he's actually a certified financial planner and
the certified financial planner is our core member.
Right.
So he's he's actually a CFP and he's
currently enrolled in the Ph.D. program for
(29:45):
financial planning.
So he's clearly committed to the profession of
financial planning.
Right.
With the loss of experience from.
Yeah.
And his chapter experience, two different chapters, an
alumni association for financial planners.
Right.
At his college.
(30:05):
Importantly, he also has an MBA and had
a leadership role.
Right.
As a chief operating officer in a very
large firm.
So so he's got business acumen like crazy.
Yeah.
And and so when you think about his
qualifications for this role, well, he's us.
(30:29):
He has that experience.
He's worked out here in the financial planning
profession.
He has executive level experience and executive level
training with the MBA.
Right.
And he's got an unimpeachable reputation among the
chapters and among our members.
So I am thrilled that we could elevate
(30:51):
him to this role of CEO.
I'm really thrilled.
And I know that he's going to lead
the charge on title protection and lead the
charge on elevating the profession, not just the
association, but the profession as a whole.
We're very excited about that.
Excellent.
Well, before we you hit on a variety
of things that I gosh, another time I
(31:12):
would have loved to have talked more about
just the idea that you emphasize some of
the importance of the relationship between national and
the structures, the various constituencies.
I really think that's important.
And I think we saw that a couple
of generations ago with the SBA efforts and
(31:33):
how important that was.
And so I'm glad to see that that's
not being lost.
You know, change leadership evolves every time.
Yeah.
You mentioned you mentioned Dan Galley.
So last year as president elect, I was
the board liaison between the FPA's advisory council
(31:54):
and the board.
And it was kindly and gently a frustrating
role.
Yeah.
Right.
Yeah.
And we knew that we needed to really
dig in and find a better way to
connect with chapters.
(32:16):
So my suggestion was that the advisory council
executive committee, the ACEC, build a strategic plan
that aligns with the FPA strategic plan.
And that strategic plan is how do we
better connect chapters with national and get the
(32:39):
kind of communication loop and the kind of
alignment that can be really good for our
profession and our members.
So that process started at chapter leaders conference
this year.
And I was able to work with Ben
Lewis to begin that process.
A strategic plan was put in place during
(33:02):
this year.
Dan Galley served in that role as board
liaison and advanced that strategic plan.
And a primary aim of his presidency, right,
is all focused on these chapters.
And so you see there's a progression of
right discovery, recognition, planning, execution.
(33:22):
Where did we learn that?
Right.
In order to create better alignment with the
board and with chapters.
And we think that will be great for
membership.
We think that will be great for partnerships.
Right.
We think that will be great for how
we get better and better at what we
deliver to our clients.
(33:43):
Yeah.
I think it's really important to think vertically,
not horizontally, inside out, outside in, not top
to bottom, you know, kind of mindset when
it comes to communication.
So love hearing that.
I have this.
Call me crazy, Chris, but I have this
belief.
There's no financial planning association if we don't
have chapters and members.
Right.
(34:08):
You have the annual conference in a couple
of days as well.
Just maybe give that a plug.
Yeah.
We're very excited about the annual conference.
It's going to be in Las Vegas because
what better place to celebrate 25 years than
Las Vegas.
Right.
We've got a tremendous lineup of speakers.
(34:34):
But most importantly, we're going to be celebrating
us.
Right.
It's the 25th anniversary and we have lots
of things planned in the at the conference.
Right.
To celebrate those 25 years and to look
forward to the next 25 years.
Right.
And I think it's going to be really
great that we're going to enter this conference
(34:54):
with Dennis as the new CEO, where he'll
have a chance to really connect with people
and outline his vision for the association over
the next 25 years.
And it's a fantastic vision.
So it's going to be a lot of
fun.
Our silver anniversary.
We have a few surprises.
So if you haven't registered, register.
(35:17):
Very good.
I want to take a minute and change
directions.
So we're talking again with Paul Brown.
He's the managing director and the financial advisor
with Wealth Enhancement and CFP and CEPA.
And I want to take a little time
and talk a little bit about your work
in dealing with exit strategies and planning.
(35:40):
It sounds like this has become an important
focus of your efforts in your professional work
with Wealth Enhancement.
You lead a practice in Pittsburgh, correct?
I did.
Tell us a little bit about the focus
(36:03):
of your efforts when it comes to helping
business owners.
We've got this generation of business owners kind
of reaching a point where they might be
thinking, I'd like to retire.
I just don't know how to extract my
wealth or have the right leadership in place
behind me.
So tell us a little bit about your
(36:23):
efforts as it relates to the sport.
Sure.
There's a number of statistics that are somewhat
alarming about that, Chris, that have been the
driver for me.
You see a problem, let's find a solution.
Right now, for most small, mid-sized business
(36:44):
owners, 80 to 85% of their wealth
and sometimes higher of their total net worth
is tied up in their business.
If you think about their business, it is
a highly concentrated, low basis, illiquid position.
If we think about everything tied up in
(37:08):
that business, because we constantly reinvest, we're constantly
trying to grow, and we think exit is
some point down the road.
Well, for a large part of the US
ownership population, down the road is today.
There we are.
And a few other numbers that are somewhat
(37:29):
alarming, I mentioned it earlier, half of those
owners will exit involuntarily, and they won't get
that value for their family when that happens.
If we look at those involuntary exits, we
end up with a rather diminished value if
we get anything at all out of that
business for our families, particularly if we haven't
(37:52):
built the right succession.
Another couple alarming statistics are that about 75
% regret selling their business after the first
year.
So, something's not working, right?
Just something isn't working.
And so, one of the things that we
(38:13):
see that hasn't worked is owners tend to
think linearly about exit.
Inherit a business, start a business, buy a
business, grow a business, sell a business, figure
out what to do with the money, figure
out what to do with my life.
A very linear kind of a process, right?
(38:36):
Very sequential.
Those who are satisfied with their exits take
a very different approach.
They think first about what life after business
will look like for them, and they develop
a clear vision of what they want for
(38:56):
their life and their family after business.
It becomes their true north, right?
Their guiding star, what are their why?
Call it what you want, right?
Their reason.
Once they have that, they can then begin
to align their business decisions and their personal
financial planning decisions with that true north, with
(39:19):
that real kind of vision of what life
looks like after business.
And it causes them to simultaneously build the
right financial plan, risk, tax, investment, retirement, estate,
trust, right?
On an integrated basis and align their business
(39:41):
decisions for making that business ready, attractive, and
valuable through the lens of a buyer.
And that's really critical.
When they start looking at their business through
the lens of a buyer, it helps them
understand what they have to work on to
make it ready, attractive, and valuable.
(40:01):
And if they're smart about this, as we
guide them through that, they'll figure out how
to create liquidity from the business that goes
over into their financial plan along the way
so that they can actually make business ownership
optional.
What is life like for a business owner
when they have enough liquid assets to support
(40:22):
the vision for their life without having to
sell that business?
What does that look like?
And so our work in exit planning focuses
on those parallel paths.
And so I've spent the last year and
a half or two years training wealth enhancement
advisors on the value acceleration process for business
(40:47):
owners, making it ready, attractive, and valuable, and
how to integrate that back to the financial
plan that's all focused on their personal why.
So we're getting people, certified exit planning advisors
certified, and we're doing internal training programs, and
we've provided them with the software tools that
(41:09):
are necessary for business valuation, for assessing the
business through the lens of a buyer, and
providing a framework for business owners to work
on that business to prepare them for exit,
all the while simultaneously building an integrated financial
(41:29):
plan for them.
It's exciting work.
It's really exciting work.
Do you want to comment?
It just sounds like right up your alley,
Jeff.
Well, you know, we see so many people
who just strive for that number, that dollar
number without focusing on what's their numbers, how
much do they need without thinking about all
(41:50):
these other things, Paul.
I do have a question that I've been
dying to ask you because of your successes
and your period of time that you're in
your life.
If you could go back and talk to
your 30-year-old self, what advice could
you give that person?
Well, you know, that's something that you think
(42:13):
about when you're 66 years old, right?
You think a lot about it when you're
66 years old.
I think there's a few things that I
would tell my 30-year-old self make
sure that you have the right priorities and
the right objectives for a complete life, not
(42:35):
just a business life, right?
Our lives are multidimensional, right?
They're physical, our health, right?
They're emotional, they are spiritual, they are financial,
right?
They are career, they are family, we have
a multidimensional life.
And I think I would tell myself to
(42:58):
think carefully and to plan so that, right,
all of those elements of my life were
attended to with the same degree of care,
right?
So not just all business, right?
But to think about those other dimensions.
(43:19):
Now, I'm very fortunate, my wife is an
amazing woman, and we have been married for
44, almost 45 years.
And she saw everything that we did as
a partnership and supported my business efforts.
God bless her.
I don't know that many spouses would have
done that.
(43:39):
But she was great at it.
So think about all the dimensions of your
life, not just your business life.
And the second thing that I would have
told myself, right, from a business planning perspective,
is it's all about the long term where
(44:00):
you can have the greatest impact on people's
lives.
And make that your singular focus, right?
Where can I have the greatest impact on
people's lives and build that specialty, right?
Become best in class in that specialty, where
you feel emotionally satisfied in your work, and
(44:23):
you see the greatest impact in people's lives.
Those are the things that I would think
about.
All of the dimensions of my life, right?
And where can I get the greatest degree
of emotional satisfaction with my work, because I'm
having impact in an area where I'm a
(44:45):
specialist.
Thank you.
That sounds right on point.
And my bet is that you've done well
following your own advice.
I think I did okay.
All right.
Well, that seems like it's a pretty good
place for us to wind down our conversation.
I want to just say thanks for making
so much time for us.
(45:06):
Yeah, absolutely.
With regard to the work that you're doing
with the wealth enhancement and this exit strategy,
are you encouraging advisors to get the designation
that you have yourself, the CEP here?
Yeah, Certified Exit Planning Advisor.
(45:27):
I most certainly am.
Gentlemen, according to the Bureau of Labor and
Statistics, right, BLS, just in the boomer generation,
there's about $20 trillion of unlocked value in
(45:51):
boomer businesses.
Now, if you think about that statistic that
50% of them exit involuntarily and only
20% of them actually sell and most
are dissatisfied, it's really possible that those actual
valuations may never be unlocked.
(46:12):
And they may never be unlocked because that
owner doesn't know how to do it and
their advisors don't know how to advise them
to do it.
Right?
So, I think as a Certified Financial Planner
who is a Certified Exit Planning Advisor, if
(46:34):
you develop that skill set, it opens up
an extraordinary market to you where you can
differentiate yourself from other advisors, big differentiator, right?
And if you do your job right, you
can have substantial impact on people's lives and
(46:57):
maybe even help them and be part of
creating multi-generational wealth with the right governance
plan in place.
So, I strongly encourage advisors in our firm,
any firm, to look at that Certified Exit
Planning Advisor designation and see if your personal
(47:21):
skill set matches right with that kind of
work and look at that as an opportunity
to impact and change lives in a truly
exceptional way.
Thanks for being with us and best of
luck as you continue with the remainder of
your term and all the important work you're
doing through the association as well as in
(47:43):
our industry.
Thanks so much.
You're quite welcome.
Thank you, gentlemen.
Thank you for listening to Something More with
Chris Boyd.
Call us for help, whether it's for financial
planning or portfolio management, insurance concerns, or those
quality of life issues that make the money
matters matter.
Whatever's on your mind, visit us at somethingmorewithchrisboyd
.com or call us toll free at 866
(48:06):
-771-8901 or send us your questions to
amr-info at wealthenhancement.com.
(48:42):
before making any financial decisions.
Welcome to Something More with Chris Boyd.
Chris Boyd is a certified financial planner, practitioner,
and senior vice president and financial advisor at
Wealth Enhancement Group, one of the nation's largest
registered investment advisors.
We call it Something More because we'd like
to talk not only about those important dollar
and cents issues, but also the quality of
life issues that make the money matters matter.
(00:22):
Here he is, your fulfillment facilitator, your partner
in prosperity, advising clients on Cape Cod and
across the country.
Here's your host, Jay Christopher Boyd.
Welcome to the program and thanks for joining
us.
I'm Chris Boyd and I'm here with Jeff
Perry.
We are your co-hosts and we are
both of the AMR team at Wealth Enhancement.
(00:44):
Joining us today is Paul Bram, managing director
and financial advisor with Wealth Enhancement in Pittsburgh.
With decades of experience guiding CEOs and business
owners through retirement, succession planning, financial wellness strategies,
Paul brings a wealth of insight to our
conversation.
(01:06):
He is a CFP and a CEPA for
exit planning strategies and currently serves as the
president of the Financial Planning Association, where he's
leading efforts to elevate the profession and advocate
for title protection.
Beyond his professional accolades, which by the way,
(01:26):
include multiple years as a five-star wealth
manager award winner, Paul is passionate about a
variety of things, including his active involvement in
community leadership and apparently an endurance athlete.
We'll have to hear more about that at
some point.
We're thrilled to have him on the show.
Paul, thanks for being with us.
(01:48):
Thanks so much, Chris.
Appreciate being here.
Well, Paul, I have so many things I
want to talk to you about.
Among them is certainly your year as president
of the Financial Planning Association during this important
25th anniversary year.
I also want to hear about the work
you're doing at Wealth Enhancement with regard to
(02:10):
business owners and their succession planning and exit
strategies.
But before we talk about all that, tell
us a little bit about your professional journey.
How did you become a financial planner?
I suspect, like most people of our era,
it wasn't originally your plan.
So what was the path that led you
(02:31):
to financial planning and this professional success that
you achieved?
Contentment is often not a path originally intended
and frequently preceded by challenges.
So I'd love to hear a little bit
about your story.
I'm happy to share.
(02:52):
You know, when I went to college at
Washington and Jefferson, which is the nation's 11th
oldest college or university, at least that's what
they tell me when they ask for money.
But when I went to college at Washington
and Jefferson, I was a chemistry and English
major and a pre-med.
(03:13):
Clearly, I didn't get into medical school, right?
I did have that.
When I graduated college, I didn't get into
medical school, still wanted to.
So I started a career in pharmaceutical sales.
In that time frame when I was doing
pharmaceutical sales, I met a couple of physicians
(03:36):
that thought I would be a really great
doctor.
So they sponsored me.
I was all set to start at WVU
Medical Center, just had a few boxes to
check.
A lot of my doctor customers talked to
me about the influence of insurance companies and
(03:58):
HMOs on the practice of medicine, and they
strongly advised me to avoid becoming a physician
and stay in business.
And at that point, I was married with
a couple of kids, and that seemed like
reasonable advice to me.
Well, it's a long path to go through
medical school too, right?
(04:19):
It was a long path, and their view
of the profession was not as rosy as
I thought it was when I was in
college as a pre-med.
So at any rate, I stayed in pharmaceutical
sales and ultimately, at some point, ended up
in medical product sales in that career path.
(04:43):
But along the way, my father introduced me
to a guy named Ron Stiller, and he
worked for a company called AL Williams.
If you're old enough, you know who that
is.
And I got the buy term, invest the
difference bug in me.
And my dad said to me one day,
(05:04):
son, when are you going to stop making
other people rich, meaning my employer, and make
yourself rich, right?
Because he was a business owner himself.
So he wanted me to follow that entrepreneurial
path.
He introduced me to Ron.
One thing led to another, and I left
my job in pharmaceutical sales and hung my
(05:26):
shingle out as an independent in September of
1987.
I think if you're a student of market
history, you know what happened in October of
1987.
I couldn't get an- Perfect timing, huh?
Yeah, I couldn't get an appointment to save
my life, Chris.
It was a train wreck.
(05:46):
I remember my dad, who had sold his
business and became a minister, he came to
my house after church, right?
So we all came to my house after
church, and he opened up the refrigerator and
about the only thing inside of that refrigerator
was a light bulb.
And he said to me, son, what do
(06:12):
you think the Lord's trying to tell you?
And I said that if you and mom
don't buy us groceries, we're not eating tonight,
right?
And so I had to detour away from
financial services for a period of time.
That's when I went into medical product sales,
but I just couldn't get this out of
my blood.
(06:32):
Much of my success, and I had a
lot of success in both pharmaceutical and medical
product sales, leading the country in sales, right,
everywhere I went.
Much of that success came from delivering something
we call in-service programs in hospitals, where
you hold a lunch and learn or a
(06:53):
breakfast meeting, and you teach a group of
physicians or a group of nurses or other
practitioners about a product, about its uses, its
indications, contraindications, how to use it, right, what
to look for.
And so I did a lot of, let's
call it public speaking inside of hospitals to
(07:14):
generate, right, to generate interest in the products
that we sold at the time.
And I asked myself this question, I wonder
if I can do that with respect to
financial planning.
And so I discovered a company called Successful
Money Management Seminars from Portland, Oregon, and right,
(07:35):
SMMS, right.
So, you know, I kind of bought everything
that they made.
And, you know, just to tell you how
hard this was, right, how crazy this was,
right, I had that initial failure in 87,
88, right.
So I went back to Washington and Jefferson
College, and I met with the dean, Howard
(07:57):
Burnett.
He's since passed.
And I had this meeting with him, and
everybody called him Howie.
And, you know, in this meeting, I called
him Dr. Burnett.
But I said, Dr. Burnett, do you remember,
do you remember your commencement speech when I
graduated in 1981?
Meanwhile, it's a decade later, right?
(08:20):
And you said in that commencement speech that
Washington and Jefferson, W&J, you know, wasn't
here for you just for the four years
that you attended, but it was here for
you for life.
Here it comes.
Yeah, that's exactly what he said.
(08:42):
That's exactly what he said.
So I told him what I wanted him
to do.
I wanted him to mail 10,000 brochures
to people right in the surrounding communities so
that I could teach a course in the
adult evening education program, which they didn't even
have.
And lo and behold, he agreed, right?
(09:10):
He agreed.
So I went out and I bought all
this seminar stuff, right?
I got everything that I needed.
I'm ready to go.
I go back and see him to do
a planning session.
And he didn't remember the conversation.
Oh, no.
Yeah.
And I had learned that he was having
some memory issues.
Oh, no.
(09:31):
Right.
Exactly.
So he introduces me to another dean and
it all had to be renegotiated and it
was really skinny down.
But I did my first program with Successful
Money Management Seminars in 1992 at Washington and
Jefferson College.
I had three people that attended.
All three became clients.
One of them was a professor of mine,
(09:53):
which was fascinating.
And the rest is kind of history.
And I evolved from that into doing financial
wellness training at corporations as notable as Bayer
and USX and Alcoa, right?
Some pretty large corporations where we did financial
wellness training programs.
(10:13):
And that's really how I built my practice.
Ultimately, I became a shareholder in a firm
called BPU Investment Management, became its chief compliance
officer, then its chief executive officer.
And in 2020, we sold our firm to
Wealth Enhancement Group.
(10:35):
I have to tell you, I love hearing
that story.
Thank you for sharing that.
I think it is inspirational for people who
are starting out to hear that even people
who've had great success, often that success is
preceded by great challenges.
And here you are telling your story that
(10:56):
you almost failed out of the business for
a time, that you just were having trouble
making it work.
And then eventually persistence pays off.
I was going to say, I tease and
I tell people it only took me 30
years to become an overnight success.
I think that's not uncommon, right?
(11:19):
It's the reality of life.
I also use the people from SNMS. I
used their retirement strategy.
Financial strategies for success.
The one that was even later was for
retirees.
It was lifelong.
I forget what it was.
Lifelong retirement strategy.
(11:39):
I actually developed a program with them called
At Work.
And it was specifically for people who worked
in publicly traded corporations.
It was financial wellness training for people who
worked in publicly traded corporations, because it included
a lot of information around stock grants, stock
options, those kinds of corporate benefits that you
(12:03):
would only have in a publicly traded corporation.
And so we co-developed that program.
And I even had the chance for many
years to train advisors on how to secure
a corporation to teach in and train them
on how to deliver these programs.
It was an amazingly wonderful relationship with successful
(12:24):
money management seminars.
I was glad to say that they did
it well and that it was more of
a financial planning structure, a cost up.
But a big investment to get those seminars
off the ground with the lead time.
It was.
It was a very long cycle to make
(12:46):
things work.
And I remember in 1997, when I joined
a firm called Berkowitz Pruchowski, which became BPU
Investment Management, the firm I was ultimately CEO
for, they were incredulous that I would teach
(13:07):
a program over four weeks and then prepare
financial plans and meet with people and not
even get close to a penny of revenue
for at least 13 weeks.
They were incredulous.
Until they weren't, right?
Yeah.
Until it worked.
Right.
(13:28):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Well, all right.
I want to turn our attention to the
Financial Planning Association.
2025 represents the 25th year of the Financial
Planning Association.
It was preceded by two successor organizations, the
IAFP and the ICFP.
(13:51):
But the FPA has become the industry's home
for financial planning professionals.
This is a momentous year to enjoy being
at the helm of the organization.
Tell us about your goals for your term
and how it is going.
Yeah.
Well, thanks.
I appreciate it.
And by the way, I became a CFP
(14:11):
in 1995, among other things that makes me
very old.
But and I was also a member of
both of those organizations, the IAFP and the
ICFP.
Yeah.
I was an IAFP before.
And even back then, my focus was on
(14:33):
this idea of advocacy.
I thought it was important to advocate for
the profession and advocate for how the profession
could enhance the lives of its clients.
And so even back then, I was on
those advocacy committees at a local level.
(14:53):
Yeah.
So, you know, one thing led leads to
another and chapter president here in Pittsburgh, and
then committee service at a national level on
the Public Policy Committee in the Member Advocacy
Council.
And then this board position, which has been
(15:15):
one of the great joys of my life,
because it's that place where I believe that
we're really making impact and making a difference
for certified financial planners, for people committed to
that financial planning process.
Right.
That process over product.
Right.
That relationship over a sale.
(15:37):
Right.
That that notion of becoming a trusted advisor
to a family, maybe even for multiple generations,
because we think holistically about their financial life
and how it all impacts their personal life
goals.
I had lots of them coming into my
(15:58):
term.
Right.
And some of the more internal right.
Making sure that we had alignment between committees
and board.
Right.
Executing on our strategic plan, which during my
board term, we spent about 18 months as
a board building our strategic plan.
Right.
(16:19):
Which was around, you know, practice development, practice
management.
Right.
Learning.
So that would be continuing education, the journal.
Right.
Financial planning.
Right.
Even conferences, advocacy, and of course, networking.
Right.
And strengthening local chapters and strengthening the bond
(16:40):
between the national board and those chapters.
Title protection for financial planners is very high
on my list.
I've been I've tried to be a voice
for that almost my whole career.
And I and I, you know, I, you
(17:00):
know, why do we talk about that?
Well, today, from a legal or regulatory perspective,
there is no education, continuing education, experience or
ethics requirements for anyone on a legal and
a regulatory basis for anyone to call themselves
a financial planner.
(17:22):
So I, I could, you know, pick any
vocation or profession that you would be in.
And the next day, I could hang my
shingle out as a financial planner.
And nobody could say a word.
Right.
There's no prohibition from a legal or regulatory
(17:42):
perspective for me doing that.
Now, the CFP board has done a great
job in terms of its public awareness campaigns
of the difference between a certified financial planner
and everyone else who professes to be a
financial planning professional.
I think they've done a tremendous job in
(18:02):
that public awareness campaign.
But for us as an association, we would
like to see that go a step further.
We think
(18:33):
it's different from, say, the accounting profession where,
you know, the public recognizes the difference between
someone who does their taxes, who they might
call themselves an accountant, and a CPA or
enrolled agent who has a credential that makes
them a financial planner, or an insurance professional,
right?
them a little more of a specialist or
(18:55):
a professional.
You'd think that it needs its own title
protection in this, in our industry, is that?
In ours, I believe it does, right?
So if, for example, like, you know, if,
if I'm, if I have a degree in
accounting, and I hang my shingle out and
(19:15):
say, I prepare tax returns, I do bookkeeping,
right?
Right.
Wonderful, right?
Yeah.
But that person with a degree in accounting
can't hang their shingle out and say, I
do audits, or I do certified valuations, right?
(19:37):
Can't say that.
There's a difference.
Think about, think about medicine and think about
the division of labor in medicine and what
that hierarchy looks like, right?
So a physician, well, I can do the
whole ball of wax, right?
And, and there are two, and there are
two, there are two schools, right?
(19:58):
There's Doctor of Osteopathy and Medical Doctors.
So there's two schools.
Both of them get licensed to practice medicine.
A physician assistant, well, they can do certain
things that a doctor can do, but they
can't do all of them, right?
You can't hang your shingle out and say,
I'm a doctor, if you're a physician's assistant,
(20:20):
right?
You would get a cease and desist really
quickly from the state, right?
As a licensed nurse practitioner or a certified
nurse anesthetist, you can't call yourself an anesthesiologist.
You're different.
And it's not to say that one is
better than the other, right?
But it's, it goes to the level of
what you can do in terms of how
(20:42):
you practice.
And it's a recognition of that additional training,
right?
And retraining that you go through in order
to stay current in your profession.
And so I think you think about what
we do, Chris, in people's lives.
You think about the nature of the relationship
that we have and the impact that we
(21:03):
could have on that family potential for potentially
for two, three generations.
It's serious business.
What's more important to people in their life
than their money?
Often they put their money ahead of their
health, which I don't advocate for, but it's
pretty darn important.
It's important to them and making the right
(21:25):
kinds of decisions, right, has significant impact.
And I happen to believe, right, that people
who are credentialed in financial planning, right, do
that better than others.
It's a little minor, yeah, of the training,
of the experience, yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
But yeah, so at any rate, it's important.
(21:46):
So is that best done through a national
effort or a state level effort?
You've been giving this a lot of thought
and attention.
Yeah.
How has the association decided to tackle this?
So we've spent the last couple of years
(22:08):
having some pretty in-depth conversations with key
stakeholders.
And what do I mean by key stakeholders,
right?
Maybe we've had conversations with those custodians like
Fidelity and Schwab.
We've had conversations with the AICPA.
We've had conversations with the CFP board.
(22:30):
We've had conversations with other professional associations, right?
NAFTA, NEPA, right, inside of our ecosystem.
We've had conversations with SIFMA.
We've had conversations with the SEC.
We've even had conversations with legislators at the
state and the federal level, trying to get
(22:50):
some perspective on what's the best path forward.
And each path forward, state, regulatory, say through
the SEC, federal through legislation, each has a
set of pros and cons.
And we're currently in the process of evaluating
(23:10):
what that best way forward looks like.
And we have public policy counsel, right, legal
counsel that's assisting us in that assessment.
And it's the work, it's the ongoing and
continuous work of our public policy committee.
What we've determined, especially after a conversation with
(23:31):
FP Canada, which went through a title protection
exercise in Canada for financial planners, and it
was a very long journey.
It was a very expensive journey.
And due to the strength of lobbyists who,
(23:55):
let's just say, opposed this, right, the requirement
to call yourself a financial planner was dramatically
watered down.
And so that title protection doesn't carry as
much weight as they would like.
And so our face-to-face meetings with
(24:15):
them and our Zoom calls with them has,
you know, they gave us their whole playbook
and, you know, on a 20-plus year
journey that they went through for this.
And we've learned a lot from that.
We're synthesizing that along with the listening tour
that we've been on and all those key
stakeholders to try to find the best path
(24:36):
forward.
And we know one thing, ain't going to
be easy, and it's going to take a
minute.
It's going to take some time.
Well, I'm glad you have quite a quality
guy in the succession of leadership following you
at the FPA.
Dan Galley, we're big fans of him around
(24:58):
here.
He's spectacular.
He's spectacular.
So that'll be great.
But I'm sure it's going to take, you
know, many years of quality.
Yeah, it really is.
And I got to say this, Chris, you
know, yesterday we sent out a press release
(25:18):
about Dennis Moore becoming the permanent CEO of
the Financial Planning Association.
Wanted to talk to him about that.
Yeah, sure.
What do you want to know?
Well, I mean, you know, I mean, as
we do all kinds of planning as planners
about leadership and succession and, you know, the
(25:42):
unexpected.
And this year we had a very sad
and untimely death of Patrick Mahoney, and someone
that I think all of us thought very
highly of.
I think he was an institutional leader as
CEO.
And so, yeah, I'm sure it was felt
(26:04):
by everyone and probably challenging.
The skill set that you bring in your
professional life probably was very helpful as the
organization deals with the transition like this.
But tell us a little bit about how
that all played out with Dennis, who is
(26:27):
a past president and certainly a quality individual
who knows the ropes, so to speak.
But tell us a little bit about this
process.
Sure.
And I want to give much credit to
our board and to Patrick Mahoney.
(26:47):
We brought up the issue in a board
meeting, in executive session around the need to
have a written succession plan, right.
Because life happens, right.
Life happens.
You know, in my exit planning practice, we
tell I tell business owners when we do
(27:10):
a workshop that 50 percent of you in
the room will exit your business involuntarily from
one of the five D's death, disability, divorce,
disagreement or distress.
Right.
Life happens despite our best efforts.
So it's important to have a very clear
internal succession plan and a very clear process
(27:34):
in case something happens.
And so Patrick and the board worked over
a period of time to build the qualifications
for the next CEO.
Should Patrick either resign or have to leave
due to disability or death?
Right.
We built internal succession in the event that,
(27:56):
you know, there would be an emergent situation.
And all of that was in place, thankfully,
when Patrick's illness really accelerated and ultimately and
tragically took his life much sooner than any
of us expected, way sooner than any of
(28:18):
us expected.
And including, obviously, him.
So so Dennis was prepared to step into
the role.
All of the legal documentation that was necessary
to put him in place in that role
was already done.
All we had to do was sign off
(28:39):
on it.
Right.
And that allowed the association to continue to
function on a day to day basis in
a pretty seamless manner.
Right.
Notwithstanding the emotional duress that everyone went through
due to Patrick's passing.
Right.
And then we looked as we formed a
search committee and talked to lots of different
(29:02):
search organizations.
We built out a profile for the next
CEO working with those folks and came to
the conclusion that we had the perfect guy.
Nice.
Right.
We had the person in that right seat.
Yeah.
Yeah.
(29:24):
He really is uniquely suited for this role.
First, he's actually a certified financial planner and
the certified financial planner is our core member.
Right.
So he's he's actually a CFP and he's
currently enrolled in the Ph.D. program for
(29:45):
financial planning.
So he's clearly committed to the profession of
financial planning.
Right.
With the loss of experience from.
Yeah.
And his chapter experience, two different chapters, an
alumni association for financial planners.
Right.
At his college.
(30:05):
Importantly, he also has an MBA and had
a leadership role.
Right.
As a chief operating officer in a very
large firm.
So so he's got business acumen like crazy.
Yeah.
And and so when you think about his
qualifications for this role, well, he's us.
(30:29):
He has that experience.
He's worked out here in the financial planning
profession.
He has executive level experience and executive level
training with the MBA.
Right.
And he's got an unimpeachable reputation among the
chapters and among our members.
So I am thrilled that we could elevate
(30:51):
him to this role of CEO.
I'm really thrilled.
And I know that he's going to lead
the charge on title protection and lead the
charge on elevating the profession, not just the
association, but the profession as a whole.
We're very excited about that.
Excellent.
Well, before we you hit on a variety
of things that I gosh, another time I
(31:12):
would have loved to have talked more about
just the idea that you emphasize some of
the importance of the relationship between national and
the structures, the various constituencies.
I really think that's important.
And I think we saw that a couple
of generations ago with the SBA efforts and
(31:33):
how important that was.
And so I'm glad to see that that's
not being lost.
You know, change leadership evolves every time.
Yeah.
You mentioned you mentioned Dan Galley.
So last year as president elect, I was
the board liaison between the FPA's advisory council
(31:54):
and the board.
And it was kindly and gently a frustrating
role.
Yeah.
Right.
Yeah.
And we knew that we needed to really
dig in and find a better way to
connect with chapters.
(32:16):
So my suggestion was that the advisory council
executive committee, the ACEC, build a strategic plan
that aligns with the FPA strategic plan.
And that strategic plan is how do we
better connect chapters with national and get the
(32:39):
kind of communication loop and the kind of
alignment that can be really good for our
profession and our members.
So that process started at chapter leaders conference
this year.
And I was able to work with Ben
Lewis to begin that process.
A strategic plan was put in place during
(33:02):
this year.
Dan Galley served in that role as board
liaison and advanced that strategic plan.
And a primary aim of his presidency, right,
is all focused on these chapters.
And so you see there's a progression of
right discovery, recognition, planning, execution.
(33:22):
Where did we learn that?
Right.
In order to create better alignment with the
board and with chapters.
And we think that will be great for
membership.
We think that will be great for partnerships.
Right.
We think that will be great for how
we get better and better at what we
deliver to our clients.
(33:43):
Yeah.
I think it's really important to think vertically,
not horizontally, inside out, outside in, not top
to bottom, you know, kind of mindset when
it comes to communication.
So love hearing that.
I have this.
Call me crazy, Chris, but I have this
belief.
There's no financial planning association if we don't
have chapters and members.
Right.
(34:08):
You have the annual conference in a couple
of days as well.
Just maybe give that a plug.
Yeah.
We're very excited about the annual conference.
It's going to be in Las Vegas because
what better place to celebrate 25 years than
Las Vegas.
Right.
We've got a tremendous lineup of speakers.
(34:34):
But most importantly, we're going to be celebrating
us.
Right.
It's the 25th anniversary and we have lots
of things planned in the at the conference.
Right.
To celebrate those 25 years and to look
forward to the next 25 years.
Right.
And I think it's going to be really
great that we're going to enter this conference
(34:54):
with Dennis as the new CEO, where he'll
have a chance to really connect with people
and outline his vision for the association over
the next 25 years.
And it's a fantastic vision.
So it's going to be a lot of
fun.
Our silver anniversary.
We have a few surprises.
So if you haven't registered, register.
(35:17):
Very good.
I want to take a minute and change
directions.
So we're talking again with Paul Brown.
He's the managing director and the financial advisor
with Wealth Enhancement and CFP and CEPA.
And I want to take a little time
and talk a little bit about your work
in dealing with exit strategies and planning.
(35:40):
It sounds like this has become an important
focus of your efforts in your professional work
with Wealth Enhancement.
You lead a practice in Pittsburgh, correct?
I did.
Tell us a little bit about the focus
(36:03):
of your efforts when it comes to helping
business owners.
We've got this generation of business owners kind
of reaching a point where they might be
thinking, I'd like to retire.
I just don't know how to extract my
wealth or have the right leadership in place
behind me.
So tell us a little bit about your
(36:23):
efforts as it relates to the sport.
Sure.
There's a number of statistics that are somewhat
alarming about that, Chris, that have been the
driver for me.
You see a problem, let's find a solution.
Right now, for most small, mid-sized business
(36:44):
owners, 80 to 85% of their wealth
and sometimes higher of their total net worth
is tied up in their business.
If you think about their business, it is
a highly concentrated, low basis, illiquid position.
If we think about everything tied up in
(37:08):
that business, because we constantly reinvest, we're constantly
trying to grow, and we think exit is
some point down the road.
Well, for a large part of the US
ownership population, down the road is today.
There we are.
And a few other numbers that are somewhat
(37:29):
alarming, I mentioned it earlier, half of those
owners will exit involuntarily, and they won't get
that value for their family when that happens.
If we look at those involuntary exits, we
end up with a rather diminished value if
we get anything at all out of that
business for our families, particularly if we haven't
(37:52):
built the right succession.
Another couple alarming statistics are that about 75
% regret selling their business after the first
year.
So, something's not working, right?
Just something isn't working.
And so, one of the things that we
(38:13):
see that hasn't worked is owners tend to
think linearly about exit.
Inherit a business, start a business, buy a
business, grow a business, sell a business, figure
out what to do with the money, figure
out what to do with my life.
A very linear kind of a process, right?
(38:36):
Very sequential.
Those who are satisfied with their exits take
a very different approach.
They think first about what life after business
will look like for them, and they develop
a clear vision of what they want for
(38:56):
their life and their family after business.
It becomes their true north, right?
Their guiding star, what are their why?
Call it what you want, right?
Their reason.
Once they have that, they can then begin
to align their business decisions and their personal
financial planning decisions with that true north, with
(39:19):
that real kind of vision of what life
looks like after business.
And it causes them to simultaneously build the
right financial plan, risk, tax, investment, retirement, estate,
trust, right?
On an integrated basis and align their business
(39:41):
decisions for making that business ready, attractive, and
valuable through the lens of a buyer.
And that's really critical.
When they start looking at their business through
the lens of a buyer, it helps them
understand what they have to work on to
make it ready, attractive, and valuable.
(40:01):
And if they're smart about this, as we
guide them through that, they'll figure out how
to create liquidity from the business that goes
over into their financial plan along the way
so that they can actually make business ownership
optional.
What is life like for a business owner
when they have enough liquid assets to support
(40:22):
the vision for their life without having to
sell that business?
What does that look like?
And so our work in exit planning focuses
on those parallel paths.
And so I've spent the last year and
a half or two years training wealth enhancement
advisors on the value acceleration process for business
(40:47):
owners, making it ready, attractive, and valuable, and
how to integrate that back to the financial
plan that's all focused on their personal why.
So we're getting people, certified exit planning advisors
certified, and we're doing internal training programs, and
we've provided them with the software tools that
(41:09):
are necessary for business valuation, for assessing the
business through the lens of a buyer, and
providing a framework for business owners to work
on that business to prepare them for exit,
all the while simultaneously building an integrated financial
(41:29):
plan for them.
It's exciting work.
It's really exciting work.
Do you want to comment?
It just sounds like right up your alley,
Jeff.
Well, you know, we see so many people
who just strive for that number, that dollar
number without focusing on what's their numbers, how
much do they need without thinking about all
(41:50):
these other things, Paul.
I do have a question that I've been
dying to ask you because of your successes
and your period of time that you're in
your life.
If you could go back and talk to
your 30-year-old self, what advice could
you give that person?
Well, you know, that's something that you think
(42:13):
about when you're 66 years old, right?
You think a lot about it when you're
66 years old.
I think there's a few things that I
would tell my 30-year-old self make
sure that you have the right priorities and
the right objectives for a complete life, not
(42:35):
just a business life, right?
Our lives are multidimensional, right?
They're physical, our health, right?
They're emotional, they are spiritual, they are financial,
right?
They are career, they are family, we have
a multidimensional life.
And I think I would tell myself to
(42:58):
think carefully and to plan so that, right,
all of those elements of my life were
attended to with the same degree of care,
right?
So not just all business, right?
But to think about those other dimensions.
(43:19):
Now, I'm very fortunate, my wife is an
amazing woman, and we have been married for
44, almost 45 years.
And she saw everything that we did as
a partnership and supported my business efforts.
God bless her.
I don't know that many spouses would have
done that.
(43:39):
But she was great at it.
So think about all the dimensions of your
life, not just your business life.
And the second thing that I would have
told myself, right, from a business planning perspective,
is it's all about the long term where
(44:00):
you can have the greatest impact on people's
lives.
And make that your singular focus, right?
Where can I have the greatest impact on
people's lives and build that specialty, right?
Become best in class in that specialty, where
you feel emotionally satisfied in your work, and
(44:23):
you see the greatest impact in people's lives.
Those are the things that I would think
about.
All of the dimensions of my life, right?
And where can I get the greatest degree
of emotional satisfaction with my work, because I'm
having impact in an area where I'm a
(44:45):
specialist.
Thank you.
That sounds right on point.
And my bet is that you've done well
following your own advice.
I think I did okay.
All right.
Well, that seems like it's a pretty good
place for us to wind down our conversation.
I want to just say thanks for making
so much time for us.
(45:06):
Yeah, absolutely.
With regard to the work that you're doing
with the wealth enhancement and this exit strategy,
are you encouraging advisors to get the designation
that you have yourself, the CEP here?
Yeah, Certified Exit Planning Advisor.
(45:27):
I most certainly am.
Gentlemen, according to the Bureau of Labor and
Statistics, right, BLS, just in the boomer generation,
there's about $20 trillion of unlocked value in
(45:51):
boomer businesses.
Now, if you think about that statistic that
50% of them exit involuntarily and only
20% of them actually sell and most
are dissatisfied, it's really possible that those actual
valuations may never be unlocked.
(46:12):
And they may never be unlocked because that
owner doesn't know how to do it and
their advisors don't know how to advise them
to do it.
Right?
So, I think as a Certified Financial Planner
who is a Certified Exit Planning Advisor, if
(46:34):
you develop that skill set, it opens up
an extraordinary market to you where you can
differentiate yourself from other advisors, big differentiator, right?
And if you do your job right, you
can have substantial impact on people's lives and
(46:57):
maybe even help them and be part of
creating multi-generational wealth with the right governance
plan in place.
So, I strongly encourage advisors in our firm,
any firm, to look at that Certified Exit
Planning Advisor designation and see if your personal
(47:21):
skill set matches right with that kind of
work and look at that as an opportunity
to impact and change lives in a truly
exceptional way.
Thanks for being with us and best of
luck as you continue with the remainder of
your term and all the important work you're
doing through the association as well as in
(47:43):
our industry.
Thanks so much.
You're quite welcome.
Thank you, gentlemen.
Thank you for listening to Something More with
Chris Boyd.
Call us for help, whether it's for financial
planning or portfolio management, insurance concerns, or those
quality of life issues that make the money
matters matter.
Whatever's on your mind, visit us at somethingmorewithchrisboyd
.com or call us toll free at 866
(48:06):
-771-8901 or send us your questions to
amr-info at wealthenhancement.com.
(48:42):
before making any financial decisions.
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