May 6, 2025 • 29 mins
We're diving deep into the world of financial planning with our awesome guest, Jeff Chase! Jeff is Vice President of Financial Planning and a Senior Wealth Manager at S.E.E.D. Planning Group.
This episode shines a spotlight on the critical importance of choosing not just a financial planner, but the right firm that supports them. We discuss how organizations can make or break your financial journey, focusing on the concept of "bench strength"—essentially, what happens when your go-to planner is unavailable or out of the office.
Plus, we’ll explore the evolution of financial planning at S.E.E.D. and how we cater to a diverse range of clients, from those just starting to those with serious wealth.
Takeaways:
- Understanding the difference between a financial planner and the actual 'real deal' planner is crucial for your financial health and peace of mind.
- The importance of bench strength in financial planning teams is highlighted, as not having a backup during your planner's vacation can lead to chaos.
- Choosing a financial planning firm is like finding a medical practice; you need a cohesive team that communicates well and puts your interests first.
______________________________________
About Jeff Chase
Jeff is the Senior Vice President of Financial Planning at S.E.E.D. Planning Group, a fee-only financial firm committed to acting in its clients' best interests as a fiduciary.
He joined S.E.E.D. in 2020 and is a key member of the firm's leadership team. He currently oversees and leads the financial planning team which consists of nine financial planners and wealth managers.
______________________________________
🅿️ For more DTS content check out our Patreon
Thanks to our sponsor, S.E.E.D. Planning Group! S.E.E.D. is a fee-only financial planning firm with a fiduciary obligation to put your best interest first. Schedule your free discovery meeting at www.seedpg.com
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About Your Co-Hosts:
Travis Maus has been in financial services for over fifteen years. He is a Senior Wealth Manager and Chief Executive Officer at S.E.E.D. Planning Group. Travis also hosts the Unleashing Leadership Podcast, where he dissects some of his favorite books on leadership and how you can apply it to your business or life.
Steve Campbell has over a decade of industry experience and is a Senior Marketing Director at S.E.E.D. Planning Group. Steve also hosts the One Big Thing Podcast, an interview-style show meant to inspire and encourage 30 and 40-year-olds going through difficult seasons of navigating marriage, raising kids, and growing personally.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Foreign.
Welcome to Ditch the Suitspodcast where we share insights nobody
in the financial servicesindustry wants you to know about.
We're here to help you get the.
Most from your money in life.
So buckle up and welcome toDitch the Suits.
(00:20):
Well, I'm actually, I'm kindof sad to see this end.
This is our four partminiseries with our senior VP of
financial planning, Jeff Chase.
And we've been talking aboutold things, you know, financial planning
really and the art of kind ofrunning a financial planning team
and evolution of a financialplanner and how to know the difference
between a so called financialplanner and a the real deal.
(00:46):
And I hopefully we've shed alittle bit of light there and I think
we've been talking a littlebit now about the company and about
the importance of thefinancial planning company that you're
working with and kind of howthey're set up to foster the development
of financial planners becauseyou're really making a big commitment.
And I think one of the pointsthat Jeff made last time too was
that, you know, the every nowand then the financial planner is
(01:11):
going to be on vacation or notshowing up for work for whatever
reason and, and who's going totake care of you when they're not
there.
And it really is important, wecall it bench strength.
But to look at an organizationand say, you know, I'm not just hiring
the advisor, I'm hiring thecompany to take care of me.
How's the company going totake care of me?
You know, and I think thatthat's also important because Jeff
(01:31):
mentioned silos.
When you go to a major wirehouse.
So wirehouses are like MorganStanley, Merrill Lynch, Wells Fargo,
those types of companies.
What you have to understand isthose are silos, those are individuals
working in individual siloswith their own little books of business.
So even though you hire one ofthem and you go, okay, I'm hiring,
you know, Morgan Stanley orwhatever, and this guy at Morgan
(01:53):
Stanley you're hiring intothat particular practice.
And so they are not workingwith another silo to say, hey, here's
what's going on with thatclient and you can, can you come
in and give me expertise andstuff that I need to know?
Think about it as medicalpractices, right?
You're working with acompletely different practice that
it has no incentive at all.
In fact, there's adisincentive to cross pollinate you
(02:15):
with another practice.
And so what Jeff was talkingabout, when he's talking about organizations,
he's really talking about likea medical practice, like a specialty
practice.
I'm going to go in and I'mgoing to work with a, you know, an
orthopedic, but depending onmy issue, might depend on which doctor
I see.
Right.
So that's there, there's somespecialty to that and, and there's.
(02:37):
But within that unit, they canall look me up in the computer and
they all know where I'm atwith things.
They know what my treatmentsare, what my issues are and they
know how to help me better.
So we're going to dive alittle bit more into this art of
running a financial planningteam and what that actually looks
like and some of the thingsthat clients should be aware of.
(02:58):
And I think we're going to endwith Jeff's non negotiables on things
that you should be looking forwhen you're working with or hiring
a financial planner or awealth manager.
Yeah.
And welcome in to ditch the suits.
I'm Steve Campbell, one ofyour co hosts.
I serve as our seniormarketing director at Seed Planning
Group.
Travis is our chief executive officer.
And this show is all about usat Seed operating a fee only financial
(03:21):
planning firm, talking aboutthe things we get into every day.
And you heard a little bitabout that in the last episode.
Travis and Jeff going back andforth which was a really fun listen,
being a fly on the wall aboutthe industry and products and how
things work and things we talk about.
So it was a very enlighteningepisode that you don't know what
you don't know.
And so in this series we'rebringing Jeff on to share not only
(03:41):
from a planner's perspective,but how teams function and how they
should work.
So the show is all about usbringing the things we do every single
day to help empower peoplelike you really get the most from
your money in life.
Let's take a quick break to hear.
A word from your sponsor.
This episode is brought to youby Seed Planning Group.
If you're looking for a lifegiving experience working with a
(04:01):
financial planner, then.
Seed is here for you.
Seed is a fee only financialplanning firm with a fiduciary obligation
to put your best interests first.
If your goal is financialfreedom and independence without
sales products or reallyglorified salespeople, then check
out Seed Planning Group.
Today you can visit www.seedpg.com.
(04:22):
that's www.seedpg.com and thebest part, you can schedule a free
consultation to find out iftheir fee only planners and.
Their process are right for you.
When we first startedfinancial planning as a company,
so when, when the precursor toSeed Planning Group was Seed Financial
Strategies.
When that was, when that firstbecame what we would call a hybrid
(04:45):
company, we, we wereindependent, but we were still relying
on a broker dealer.
We still did insurance and allthat kind of stuff.
We had our first versions offinancial planning.
We literally charged $300 ayear for the financial planning.
And our definition offinancial planning at that time was
pretty narrow.
And then that migrated into ana la carte menu.
(05:08):
And the a la carte menuallowed people to just kind of choose,
well, I want to do financialprojections, or I want two reviews
a year, or I want, you know,an insurance review.
And you.
That was a little bit more,you know, maybe the average price
for a client then was 6 or$650 a year.
But what we found was thatpeople would make the decision with
(05:29):
their wallets and notnecessarily their needs.
So they would want certainpieces of planning and they would
decline other pieces, but theywould still come in really upset
because their plan was incomplete.
And it was like.
Or they'd make decisions offof incomplete information because
they didn't want to pay $200to go through their estate plan,
you know, type of stuff.
(05:49):
And so that migrated into ourfixed fee financial planning model
that we have now wheresomebody can sign up for just a fixed
fee.
And it includes this wholelibrary of things.
And you may or may not needthe whole library, but it's what
the planners are, are able tocover with you in that program.
Right.
And so it's not designed for.
(06:10):
Everybody's going to needevery single thing on the menu it's
designed for.
You know, you're going to usesome of these things and some people
are going to use other thingstype of thing.
So it's just to kind of put abox around it and say you get all
this for that price.
But the reason why I'mbringing that up is we have developed
our programs in, as areflection of the demand for the
(06:33):
size of the client that's growing.
When I first started in 2007,a big, like, I was really excited
when somebody had a hundredthousand dollars.
You know, now we have clientsliterally tens of millions of dollars.
It's like, it doesn't even, Imean, I'm.
We're working on, we work onConsulting with $100 million plans.
(06:54):
I mean, there's all differenttypes of things that we're doing
now that, you know, somebodywith a hundred thousand dollars trying
to debate what to do with thathundred thousand dollars is very
different than somebody with$4 million and two and a half million
is extra.
You know, just the things thatyou're going to deal with in the
discussions and the attentionsthat you're going to have to have.
There's not a lot of stuffthat you can do for somebody at certain
(07:18):
levels, but once you get alittle bit more advanced, you got
gifting that comes in, you gotphilanthropy that comes in.
You got major tax issues thatcome in.
Plus they have the money to do stuff.
They have the money to changethe way that they're doing things
or invest differently andstuff like that.
So it, it, it was quite.
It's quite interesting to seethat evolution year over year over
(07:39):
year over year.
And it.
It feels like two lifetimesago, but it really wasn't that long.
That's the seed years issue.
But, Jeff, you are now in therole of seeing the evolution of clients.
And so with that comes a needto adjust how we're actually servicing
(08:01):
them.
Do you want to talk about thatat all?
Sure.
Yeah.
I would agree with you.
We've moved upstream prettyquickly, even in the time that I've
been here.
Right.
So we're working with wholedifferent group of clients at this
point, for the most part, asfar as new clients kind of calling
us and wanting to come in for services.
(08:23):
But I think one of the bigthings that we did was, and I know,
I noticed you didn't mentionthis, you mentioned kind of the standardized
programs that we have forfinancial planning, but Wealth Management
Family Enterprise, I think,was a big one that we introduced,
what was it, maybe three yearsago, Right.
About the time you startedwith us.
(08:43):
You were the first group, Ithink, that went through the training
for that program.
I think it was right when you started.
Yep.
Yeah.
I remember you having us gothrough role plays with you for.
For a whole summer.
And I was brand new.
Oh, yeah.
Everybody thinks it's hazing.
No, it's just sharpening.
It's iron sharpens iron, baby.
That's right.
But I think that opened up awhole new avenue for us.
(09:05):
Right.
And it's one of the uniquethings about working with seed is
we don't make you move yourassets over to work with us.
Right.
Not that we do with any of theother financial planning programs,
but specifically with WealthManagement Family Enterprise, that's
a customized service Right.
Where you're coming in.
We're giving you a proposalthat includes a scope of work of
exactly what is going tohappen for you, personalized for
(09:27):
you.
Right.
And you're paying us a fee forthose services for a contract for
a period of time.
Right.
So I think that's been a bigevolution for us as a company is.
I do see the industry movingmore that way every year.
I mean, Steve, you know,Steve, you and I, we're on.
(09:47):
We do openers and onboardingand all that stuff.
You take all the calls thatcome in from new prospects.
A lot of them now are callingin saying, hey, I really like the
way that you guys do business.
Or I'm looking for anopportunity to work with a firm where
I don't need to necessarilymove all of my assets over just to
(10:10):
get advice.
Wealth management, family enterprise.
That program is allowing us toservice those clients in that way.
And Travis, I don't know if Ican speak to this, because I've been
here with Travis since 2017.
And there.
There is no blueprint for whatwe're building.
It's just us being in it.
And when you hit a brick wallwhere you're not able to help a client,
(10:31):
where they're at, you have two choices.
You either say, we're notgoing to work with clients like that,
or how would we serve peoplelike that?
And you evolve and you developnew programs.
And it's been neat to havethat freedom and leadership from
Travis and over the years tocreate an exceptional client experience
where if people aren't gettingthis, how can SEED answer the call
(10:52):
to do that?
And that.
That takes all of us, theteaming, the working together.
What are we hearing?
What are we seeing?
How would we do this?
How would we execute that?
So the evolution, if you putlike a timestamp on.
On fast forward over the lastdecade, is incredible.
How fast we've grown, andthat's just from being in it every
day.
And Jeff, the team that you'releading and the people that we're
(11:12):
putting together.
So I.
I think some of the thingsyou're speaking about now have come
from us just working withindividuals of all different places,
because none of us, as youguys have alluded to in the first
three episodes, none of uswere trained in this, in the places
we came from.
And so you figure it out, youlearn, you grow.
But when you're doing itcollectively as a group of people,
as a team, the synergy and themultiplication effect of us all sharpening
(11:35):
each other is happening atsuch a rapid pace with quality that
I think is helping us now kindof lead the next generation of people
coming in.
Do you want more of Ditch the Suits?
Well, let's take a break totell you about our Patreon Channel.
If you're wanting Moreannouncements, notifications, even
access to prior seasons.
You can head to patreon.comsearch ditch the suits and subscribe
(11:59):
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So visit patreon.com searchditch the suits or head to our show
Notes where we got links toour channel.
Yeah, yeah, it's innovation, right?
It's all, everything isforward thinking when you know, it
could be from us making surethat we're scaling our team properly,
(12:21):
you know, based on the numberof planners we have, but also the
expertise to meet the demandof the clients that are calling in
keeping an eye on future growth.
Right.
Being ahead of the curve withmost things, but you know, we're
one to two years ahead out, right?
Planning wise with hiring,with what our team's going to look
like, what our programs aregoing to look like, you know, how
(12:43):
we plan to expand ourservices, our company, we're always
thinking ahead.
And I think that just goesback to what you just said, Steve.
We, you know, the wealthmanagement family enterprise program
that you talked about was aresult of listening to, to clients
and prospects.
They were coming in andsaying, you know, when the clients
(13:07):
are smaller, we have a programfor them if they want to manage their
own investments or have adifferent manager.
But when the assets getbigger, it gets a little bit more
dynamic and it's a little bitmore challenging.
So we were like, okay, we wantto give larger clients that opportunity
to get the financial planning,but do whatever they want to do with
their money.
Or sometimes larger clientsdon't have investments, but they're
(13:28):
because they're asset rich andkind of, you know, cash poor.
But they are going to need alot of time to figure out, you know,
a business exit or some kindof really complicated planning topic,
estate planning topic orsomething like that.
And one of the benefits youget from a firm that literally specializes
in financial planning is weunderstand roughly how long it's
(13:50):
going to take to service that client.
So then we can come in andsay, look, this, this is based on
our pricing model, what it'sactually gonna take to help you.
You're not the typical client,but we can still help you because
we understand what it's gonnatake to kind of get you over the
finish line.
So we've been able to evolvethat way and we've been really blessed
with clients who've beenpatient with us as we've evolved.
(14:12):
And as you know, the financialplanning fee has gone up and you
can't hire financial plannersto serve Clients that need dynamic
financial planning if you'reonly charging them $300 a year.
So we've had clients since itwas 300.
I mean, some of them werepaying $100 a year at one point because
of the a la carte system.
You know, we've had clientsthat have migrated all the way up
(14:34):
through all the pricing, andthey're still with us, and they've
sent tons of people to workwith us, and we've been very blessed
like that.
But because they have faiththat we're trying to improve it so
we can make sure that they'retaken care of so the services get
better and they let us try.
Let us try things.
You know, we don't.
Sometimes when you start a newprogram, you think it's going to
go a certain way, and becauseof the staffing or the technology
(14:55):
or something like that, itdoesn't work out.
And you try to figure out,okay, now, you know, how do we make
sure we get it back on trackand stuff?
And we've.
We've had some very, verypatient clients that I think have
supported us through the yearsthat really believe that and understand
that we're trying to build abetter service for them.
We.
Seed is unique compared to alot of firms in that, you know, we
(15:19):
have a very high staff countfor the size of firm we are, and
we recycle a lot of the money that.
Well, all the money that wemake back into the company.
You know what I mean?
It's very focused on thevalues in the firm and developing
the employees and developingthe clients.
And a lot of firms, the ownersare trying to suck out all the money
that they can.
(15:40):
We go the other way.
So we are trying to innovateat a breakneck speed because we really
believe in doing better andmaking it better.
And I think that that's comingout in the development of these services.
And we didn't talk abouttoday, and we don't need to, but,
you know, we have the Igniteservice, which is an answer to some
of the issues with the firemovement, you know, and how it's
(16:02):
a little bit of overkill.
And so how do you tone thatdown but still give young professionals
something to shoot at?
We have our consultingservices and our spot pricing that
we've created, so people, youknow, depending on their needs, have
an opportunity to engage andget help.
When we first started, youcould not work with Seed if you did
not do financial planning, soyou could not be in our investment
(16:23):
program.
We've opened up the investmentprogram now to allow clients who
are not financial planningclients get engaged with the investment
program and have somebody totalk to.
So these are things that we'vetried to do over the years to kind
of enhance how many people wecan help and how well we can actually
help them.
So I want to come back though,to the people who are making this
(16:47):
all possible.
And those are our teams.
We probably have four main teams.
We have the business team,which is everybody who's not a financial
planner, investment planner,an admin person.
Right?
And then we have the.
And those are our other three teams.
Those are our four teams.
You're in charge of thefinancial planning team.
You're out there looking forpeople consistently to hire.
(17:10):
I mean, we have two newplanners starting.
We have another spot open this year.
It seems like, you know, wegrow as fast as we can hire people
that, to handle the work.
What are you looking for whenyou're looking for a financial planner
and you're thinking about, youknow, this is going to help us make
(17:30):
our company better?
Yeah, great question.
I would say I can tell youwhat it's not.
It's not the person that hasthe most experience, as we've kind
of alluded to, right?
That is not the number onefactor which probably surprises a
lot of people.
We really prioritize characterover experience, right.
(17:51):
Are you motivated?
Are you tough?
Are you willing to learn?
Are you willing to be vulnerable?
Are you not self centered?
Right.
A lot of those things theydescribe our framework from the ideal
team player, right?
We, we really believe in thathumble, hungry and smart framework.
That is what we're looking for.
(18:12):
We're looking for people whocan put themselves out there and
say, hey, you know what?
I don't know, but I'm willingto learn, right?
I want to, I want tounderstand this better.
We want people who aremotivated and driven that want to,
you know, they're in this forthe right reasons, not just about
money, right?
It's.
I really have a passion forwhat I'm doing and I want to continue
(18:32):
to get better because that's,that's something that it's not just
for us hiring people, right?
It's, this is not a placewhere you're going to be, let's say
a wealth manager because we'vebeen talking about that, right?
And you're a wealth managerand you've been here for 10 years
and you've got a bunch ofclients that you work with and now
we just kind of leave youalone and you go do whatever you
want, right?
(18:53):
That's that is not how itworks here.
Right.
If you're going to be here atSeed, we're going to continue pushing
the boundaries where tocontinue growing and focus on that
professional development, notjust at a technical skills way, but
as people, right?
Like, how are we actuallygetting better individually?
How are we getting better as a company?
(19:16):
That's what we'd be lookingfor when we're hiring someone is
do, does this person fit our culture?
Because if they don't, yourisk imploding the whole thing.
Right.
If you're bringing someone inwho's not going to fit the culture,
not going to work.
Right.
So we go through, you alludedto this earlier, our hiring process
very.
There's, there's a, there'sreasoning why we go through it the
(19:39):
way we go through it.
Right.
We have a meet and greet tokind of share about Seed a little
bit, give them an idea of whatwe're all about, get to know them
a little.
We get them into a round robininterview, right.
With let's say, three otherpeople on our team.
Let's say it's three planners.
Those three planners are goingin there trying to figure out one
specific thing each, right?
(19:59):
Someone's focusing on theirhumility, someone's focusing on their
drive or their hunger.
And someone's focusing on, isthis person someone who can come
in and actually provide value?
And then from that point wetake them through a whole workshop
process.
That's kind of the last stepof our interview process.
But humble, hungry and smart,that's what we're looking for.
(20:20):
And it's been neat.
When we started to implementthat for any clients that are listening
who have been through the kindof, the history with us, there was
a time we had a lot of turnover.
We had a bunch of advisorsdecided they wanted to go someplace
else or they didn't want to bea part of this kind of framework
and then they didn'tunderstand it.
(20:41):
What's the big deal with this?
I just want to do what I wantto do.
And then you've got, you know,other people that come in and because
of that drive, they're, youknow, it's.
You can have a 23 year oldshowing up, somebody who's been doing
it for 20 years.
I mean, it's, that's, listen,like if I was paying somebody to
work for me, and I know thatno matter how long they've been there,
(21:04):
they're still trying to get better.
I would like that.
You know, I don't wantsomebody who's peaked already.
And, and maybe is losing interest.
I want somebody who is yet,you know, who is just gonna continuously
try to bring value to me bybeing better at their job.
And so, you know, the doubleedged sword of it is, is, you know,
(21:29):
sometimes people are gonnaleave because they don't or not come
here in the first placebecause they don't want that type
of environment.
But again, if I were a client,I wanna hire people who really want
to do a good job, who arereally driven to do a good job, not
just make money.
Listen, if you do a great joband you make money great, I may even
(21:50):
give you a tip.
But if you do a crappy jobbecause you're just trying to make
money, I'm going to make yourlife hell.
You know what I mean?
That's my mentality, that'show I look at it.
I'm going to be disappointed,I'm ashamed, I'm offended.
It's a check against my judgment.
I need to think about some things.
And so, and then the otherside of it is too is you're going
(22:14):
to have some of these youngpeople that are just so dynamic,
so awesome.
They're going to come andthey're going to get that confidence
and they're going to buildsome skills and they're going to
want to move on too.
And that's one of the thingsthat we've talked a lot about, is
don't be sad when there's change.
Don't be sad when somebodycomes and you unlock something.
We want to unlock this freedomin our clients and we want people
to feel like, wow, I can goclimb these mountains, I can do these
(22:35):
things and I can live a greatlife and I don't need to worry about
the news so much.
And look, life shouldn't beall about your money.
It should be about going andliving the same thing with individuals.
We want to unlock thatpotential within them if they work
for us.
And sometimes that means, Imean, we had somebody retire in her
20s and she did very well forherself, I mean, retire in a way
(22:59):
that she doesn't have to goback to work ever again.
And I'm very, very proud of that.
But you're going to have that.
You're going to have peoplewho go, yeah, you know what?
Financial independence.
I made it, I'm out, see ya.
And we need to celebrate those people.
We need to, you know, wetalked about it with clients.
Sometimes a client comes infor a certain job, they need to see
that they can do something.
We show them they can do something.
(23:19):
They're like, thank you.
I'm so happy I found what I need.
I don't need you anymore.
See you later.
Great.
We won.
Share it with everybody youcan for us and tell them that you
got what you needed here andit gave you the confidence.
We have to realize that, like,that you don't have to hound people
till they say, no, they don'twant to talk to you anymore.
(23:40):
Right.
And.
And in our industry, a lot oftimes it's the Fog Demir thing.
I was in recruiting in financeindustry since 2004, and most of
the time it was hire anybodywho's willing to take a job here,
you know, and I know there'ssome bigger firms with some more
standards, but it's prettyclose to that.
You know, you throw them in.
The dropout rate is like 95%in the industry for a reason.
(24:03):
You throw in crap against thewall, seeing if it sticks.
You know, what you've donewith your team is you've started
to become very, veryselective, and you've got this dynamism
now where these programs aredeveloping very quickly because we
can identify issues, and youcan say, hey, whoa, we got to figure
out a solution for that,because this group of people over
here, they're chomping at thebits to have a better way to do this,
(24:25):
you know, or here's anefficiency we can get.
You know, maybe we can improveour response times to clients by
improving communicationinternally and what are the systems
that need to be done for that?
And, you know, people don'trealize there's a business behind
us too, you know, and thebusiness is trying to make sure that
they're taken care ofregardless of if somebody reaches
financial freedom and decidesto retire early or if, you know,
(24:49):
obviously we want our peopleto be there forever, but it doesn't
work that way.
I just want to follow up onone thing.
You mentioned the dynamism ofthe team, and I think that that's
something really important.
We've had.
It's.
It's been so cool recently tohave newer people on our team, right?
Not just financial planning,but in general, where they come in,
(25:09):
and maybe they don't have allthe skills right, at that point in
time to take on however manyclients they need to take on, but
they're finding other ways tocontribute to our company and to
our team, and they're somotivated to do so.
It's not even.
We're not even asking, right?
(25:30):
They're.
They're coming to us saying,hey, I noticed X, Y, and Z, do you
mind if I just kind of putsome thoughts together and, you know,
make a project out of it andrun with it?
Absolutely.
Right.
That's great.
And that gives us theconfidence that we're hiring the
right people.
Right.
The people with that hunger.
I think, to me, when we talkedabout that humble, hungry and smart
(25:50):
hunger is the biggest thingfor me.
I'm going to be honest with you.
Like, that's, that's what I'm.
I'm keying in on.
If you're not hungry, it's,that's not a, it's not a good recipe.
Right.
You got to come in herewanting to, you know, really do a
good job for yourself, forclients, for.
For whoever.
Right.
But there's gotta be some sortof motivation behind it.
(26:11):
And it's just been reallyawesome to get that, you know, validation
that we're hiring the right people.
It's gotta be other thanmoney, too.
Yeah.
You know, like I.
When somebody's hungry, butthey're really just hungry for more
money, the, the greed part,the, the things that come out.
If your desire is money.
(26:34):
I think that this is a hardindustry to really be great at.
Like, like you, you can, youcan make a lot of money in it.
You can go and you can sellall the products and sell the services
and that kind of stuff.
But if you're about the purityof financial planning.
Right.
And being a fiduciary andgiving advice that you can be proud
of 20 years, when you lookbackwards, if your drive is money,
(26:59):
that's going to be.
It's going to be really,really hard.
Like, we don't have anybodyleft in our company where.
That's the drive.
No.
Yeah.
You know what I mean?
It doesn't work.
It's not that money's notimportant, Right?
It is.
It's just important.
That's not the thing to focus on.
Right.
If you're doing all the otherthings correctly, the money's going
to come.
Yeah.
(27:19):
So I think that that was areally interesting, like, inside
look as to SEED and ourfiltering system for how we get the
right people in the right positions.
But I'm thinking about thelistener that's out there today that
says, knowing this about Seed,like, why.
Why should I care about this?
So, Jeff, why should a clientor prospect care about some of the
things that we just talked about?
Yeah, I think that's a great question.
I think, you know, from thestart, if you think about, you know,
(27:43):
leadership wise, all of thesethings we're talking about kind of
starts at the top.
Right.
That's going to bleed downthrough the organization.
But from a client'sperspective, this is really important
because as I put myself, and Ialways try to do this, put myself
in the client's shoes, I'dwant to know that I'm working with
a firm that cares about beingat the top of their game or making
(28:05):
sure that there's a focus ongrowth to ensure that the highest
quality service is happeningand that that firm remains at the
forefront of the industry.
Right?
So that's something I'm veryconfident saying.
We are always innovating.
Right.
And that's something I'm veryproud of.
There's a commitment tocontinually improving, whether it's
our expertise or our offeringsto benefit clients.
(28:26):
And all of that is based inthe passion that the people have.
It's all about the people atthe end of the day, right?
We could have the best ideasout there.
If we don't have the rightpeople, not going to work.
Right?
So we, we the people is whereit starts.
We try to make sure we'rebringing people into this organization
that are going to serve ourclients, serve our, you know, basically
(28:47):
our purpose.
Right.
As a firm, which goes back toour just cause.
Right?
How do we help people toovercome challenges that are holding
them back from personal fulfillment?
We do that through financial planning.
Thanks for checking out Ditchthe Suits.
Be sure to write a review ordrop a comment about this episode.
And if you want more likethis, head over to ditchesuits.com
(29:10):
you can send us a message andget in touch.
Let us know how we can helpand be sure to share any topics you'd
be interested in having uscover on the show.
We're here to help you get themost from your money in life.
Thanks for being our guest andchecking out Ditch the Suits.
Foreign.
Welcome to Ditch the Suitspodcast where we share insights nobody
in the financial servicesindustry wants you to know about.
We're here to help you get the.
Most from your money in life.
So buckle up and welcome toDitch the Suits.
(00:20):
Well, I'm actually, I'm kindof sad to see this end.
This is our four partminiseries with our senior VP of
financial planning, Jeff Chase.
And we've been talking aboutold things, you know, financial planning
really and the art of kind ofrunning a financial planning team
and evolution of a financialplanner and how to know the difference
between a so called financialplanner and a the real deal.
(00:46):
And I hopefully we've shed alittle bit of light there and I think
we've been talking a littlebit now about the company and about
the importance of thefinancial planning company that you're
working with and kind of howthey're set up to foster the development
of financial planners becauseyou're really making a big commitment.
And I think one of the pointsthat Jeff made last time too was
that, you know, the every nowand then the financial planner is
(01:11):
going to be on vacation or notshowing up for work for whatever
reason and, and who's going totake care of you when they're not
there.
And it really is important, wecall it bench strength.
But to look at an organizationand say, you know, I'm not just hiring
the advisor, I'm hiring thecompany to take care of me.
How's the company going totake care of me?
You know, and I think thatthat's also important because Jeff
(01:31):
mentioned silos.
When you go to a major wirehouse.
So wirehouses are like MorganStanley, Merrill Lynch, Wells Fargo,
those types of companies.
What you have to understand isthose are silos, those are individuals
working in individual siloswith their own little books of business.
So even though you hire one ofthem and you go, okay, I'm hiring,
you know, Morgan Stanley orwhatever, and this guy at Morgan
(01:53):
Stanley you're hiring intothat particular practice.
And so they are not workingwith another silo to say, hey, here's
what's going on with thatclient and you can, can you come
in and give me expertise andstuff that I need to know?
Think about it as medicalpractices, right?
You're working with acompletely different practice that
it has no incentive at all.
In fact, there's adisincentive to cross pollinate you
(02:15):
with another practice.
And so what Jeff was talkingabout, when he's talking about organizations,
he's really talking about likea medical practice, like a specialty
practice.
I'm going to go in and I'mgoing to work with a, you know, an
orthopedic, but depending onmy issue, might depend on which doctor
I see.
Right.
So that's there, there's somespecialty to that and, and there's.
(02:37):
But within that unit, they canall look me up in the computer and
they all know where I'm atwith things.
They know what my treatmentsare, what my issues are and they
know how to help me better.
So we're going to dive alittle bit more into this art of
running a financial planningteam and what that actually looks
like and some of the thingsthat clients should be aware of.
(02:58):
And I think we're going to endwith Jeff's non negotiables on things
that you should be looking forwhen you're working with or hiring
a financial planner or awealth manager.
Yeah.
And welcome in to ditch the suits.
I'm Steve Campbell, one ofyour co hosts.
I serve as our seniormarketing director at Seed Planning
Group.
Travis is our chief executive officer.
And this show is all about usat Seed operating a fee only financial
(03:21):
planning firm, talking aboutthe things we get into every day.
And you heard a little bitabout that in the last episode.
Travis and Jeff going back andforth which was a really fun listen,
being a fly on the wall aboutthe industry and products and how
things work and things we talk about.
So it was a very enlighteningepisode that you don't know what
you don't know.
And so in this series we'rebringing Jeff on to share not only
(03:41):
from a planner's perspective,but how teams function and how they
should work.
So the show is all about usbringing the things we do every single
day to help empower peoplelike you really get the most from
your money in life.
Let's take a quick break to hear.
A word from your sponsor.
This episode is brought to youby Seed Planning Group.
If you're looking for a lifegiving experience working with a
(04:01):
financial planner, then.
Seed is here for you.
Seed is a fee only financialplanning firm with a fiduciary obligation
to put your best interests first.
If your goal is financialfreedom and independence without
sales products or reallyglorified salespeople, then check
out Seed Planning Group.
Today you can visit www.seedpg.com.
(04:22):
that's www.seedpg.com and thebest part, you can schedule a free
consultation to find out iftheir fee only planners and.
Their process are right for you.
When we first startedfinancial planning as a company,
so when, when the precursor toSeed Planning Group was Seed Financial
Strategies.
When that was, when that firstbecame what we would call a hybrid
(04:45):
company, we, we wereindependent, but we were still relying
on a broker dealer.
We still did insurance and allthat kind of stuff.
We had our first versions offinancial planning.
We literally charged $300 ayear for the financial planning.
And our definition offinancial planning at that time was
pretty narrow.
And then that migrated into ana la carte menu.
(05:08):
And the a la carte menuallowed people to just kind of choose,
well, I want to do financialprojections, or I want two reviews
a year, or I want, you know,an insurance review.
And you.
That was a little bit more,you know, maybe the average price
for a client then was 6 or$650 a year.
But what we found was thatpeople would make the decision with
(05:29):
their wallets and notnecessarily their needs.
So they would want certainpieces of planning and they would
decline other pieces, but theywould still come in really upset
because their plan was incomplete.
And it was like.
Or they'd make decisions offof incomplete information because
they didn't want to pay $200to go through their estate plan,
you know, type of stuff.
(05:49):
And so that migrated into ourfixed fee financial planning model
that we have now wheresomebody can sign up for just a fixed
fee.
And it includes this wholelibrary of things.
And you may or may not needthe whole library, but it's what
the planners are, are able tocover with you in that program.
Right.
And so it's not designed for.
(06:10):
Everybody's going to needevery single thing on the menu it's
designed for.
You know, you're going to usesome of these things and some people
are going to use other thingstype of thing.
So it's just to kind of put abox around it and say you get all
this for that price.
But the reason why I'mbringing that up is we have developed
our programs in, as areflection of the demand for the
(06:33):
size of the client that's growing.
When I first started in 2007,a big, like, I was really excited
when somebody had a hundredthousand dollars.
You know, now we have clientsliterally tens of millions of dollars.
It's like, it doesn't even, Imean, I'm.
We're working on, we work onConsulting with $100 million plans.
(06:54):
I mean, there's all differenttypes of things that we're doing
now that, you know, somebodywith a hundred thousand dollars trying
to debate what to do with thathundred thousand dollars is very
different than somebody with$4 million and two and a half million
is extra.
You know, just the things thatyou're going to deal with in the
discussions and the attentionsthat you're going to have to have.
There's not a lot of stuffthat you can do for somebody at certain
(07:18):
levels, but once you get alittle bit more advanced, you got
gifting that comes in, you gotphilanthropy that comes in.
You got major tax issues thatcome in.
Plus they have the money to do stuff.
They have the money to changethe way that they're doing things
or invest differently andstuff like that.
So it, it, it was quite.
It's quite interesting to seethat evolution year over year over
(07:39):
year over year.
And it.
It feels like two lifetimesago, but it really wasn't that long.
That's the seed years issue.
But, Jeff, you are now in therole of seeing the evolution of clients.
And so with that comes a needto adjust how we're actually servicing
(08:01):
them.
Do you want to talk about thatat all?
Sure.
Yeah.
I would agree with you.
We've moved upstream prettyquickly, even in the time that I've
been here.
Right.
So we're working with wholedifferent group of clients at this
point, for the most part, asfar as new clients kind of calling
us and wanting to come in for services.
(08:23):
But I think one of the bigthings that we did was, and I know,
I noticed you didn't mentionthis, you mentioned kind of the standardized
programs that we have forfinancial planning, but Wealth Management
Family Enterprise, I think,was a big one that we introduced,
what was it, maybe three yearsago, Right.
About the time you startedwith us.
(08:43):
You were the first group, Ithink, that went through the training
for that program.
I think it was right when you started.
Yep.
Yeah.
I remember you having us gothrough role plays with you for.
For a whole summer.
And I was brand new.
Oh, yeah.
Everybody thinks it's hazing.
No, it's just sharpening.
It's iron sharpens iron, baby.
That's right.
But I think that opened up awhole new avenue for us.
(09:05):
Right.
And it's one of the uniquethings about working with seed is
we don't make you move yourassets over to work with us.
Right.
Not that we do with any of theother financial planning programs,
but specifically with WealthManagement Family Enterprise, that's
a customized service Right.
Where you're coming in.
We're giving you a proposalthat includes a scope of work of
exactly what is going tohappen for you, personalized for
(09:27):
you.
Right.
And you're paying us a fee forthose services for a contract for
a period of time.
Right.
So I think that's been a bigevolution for us as a company is.
I do see the industry movingmore that way every year.
I mean, Steve, you know,Steve, you and I, we're on.
(09:47):
We do openers and onboardingand all that stuff.
You take all the calls thatcome in from new prospects.
A lot of them now are callingin saying, hey, I really like the
way that you guys do business.
Or I'm looking for anopportunity to work with a firm where
I don't need to necessarilymove all of my assets over just to
(10:10):
get advice.
Wealth management, family enterprise.
That program is allowing us toservice those clients in that way.
And Travis, I don't know if Ican speak to this, because I've been
here with Travis since 2017.
And there.
There is no blueprint for whatwe're building.
It's just us being in it.
And when you hit a brick wallwhere you're not able to help a client,
(10:31):
where they're at, you have two choices.
You either say, we're notgoing to work with clients like that,
or how would we serve peoplelike that?
And you evolve and you developnew programs.
And it's been neat to havethat freedom and leadership from
Travis and over the years tocreate an exceptional client experience
where if people aren't gettingthis, how can SEED answer the call
(10:52):
to do that?
And that.
That takes all of us, theteaming, the working together.
What are we hearing?
What are we seeing?
How would we do this?
How would we execute that?
So the evolution, if you putlike a timestamp on.
On fast forward over the lastdecade, is incredible.
How fast we've grown, andthat's just from being in it every
day.
And Jeff, the team that you'releading and the people that we're
(11:12):
putting together.
So I.
I think some of the thingsyou're speaking about now have come
from us just working withindividuals of all different places,
because none of us, as youguys have alluded to in the first
three episodes, none of uswere trained in this, in the places
we came from.
And so you figure it out, youlearn, you grow.
But when you're doing itcollectively as a group of people,
as a team, the synergy and themultiplication effect of us all sharpening
(11:35):
each other is happening atsuch a rapid pace with quality that
I think is helping us now kindof lead the next generation of people
coming in.
Do you want more of Ditch the Suits?
Well, let's take a break totell you about our Patreon Channel.
If you're wanting Moreannouncements, notifications, even
access to prior seasons.
You can head to patreon.comsearch ditch the suits and subscribe
(11:59):
to our channel.
You'll get notifications ofall episodes right in your inbox.
So visit patreon.com searchditch the suits or head to our show
Notes where we got links toour channel.
Yeah, yeah, it's innovation, right?
It's all, everything isforward thinking when you know, it
could be from us making surethat we're scaling our team properly,
(12:21):
you know, based on the numberof planners we have, but also the
expertise to meet the demandof the clients that are calling in
keeping an eye on future growth.
Right.
Being ahead of the curve withmost things, but you know, we're
one to two years ahead out, right?
Planning wise with hiring,with what our team's going to look
like, what our programs aregoing to look like, you know, how
(12:43):
we plan to expand ourservices, our company, we're always
thinking ahead.
And I think that just goesback to what you just said, Steve.
We, you know, the wealthmanagement family enterprise program
that you talked about was aresult of listening to, to clients
and prospects.
They were coming in andsaying, you know, when the clients
(13:07):
are smaller, we have a programfor them if they want to manage their
own investments or have adifferent manager.
But when the assets getbigger, it gets a little bit more
dynamic and it's a little bitmore challenging.
So we were like, okay, we wantto give larger clients that opportunity
to get the financial planning,but do whatever they want to do with
their money.
Or sometimes larger clientsdon't have investments, but they're
(13:28):
because they're asset rich andkind of, you know, cash poor.
But they are going to need alot of time to figure out, you know,
a business exit or some kindof really complicated planning topic,
estate planning topic orsomething like that.
And one of the benefits youget from a firm that literally specializes
in financial planning is weunderstand roughly how long it's
(13:50):
going to take to service that client.
So then we can come in andsay, look, this, this is based on
our pricing model, what it'sactually gonna take to help you.
You're not the typical client,but we can still help you because
we understand what it's gonnatake to kind of get you over the
finish line.
So we've been able to evolvethat way and we've been really blessed
with clients who've beenpatient with us as we've evolved.
(14:12):
And as you know, the financialplanning fee has gone up and you
can't hire financial plannersto serve Clients that need dynamic
financial planning if you'reonly charging them $300 a year.
So we've had clients since itwas 300.
I mean, some of them werepaying $100 a year at one point because
of the a la carte system.
You know, we've had clientsthat have migrated all the way up
(14:34):
through all the pricing, andthey're still with us, and they've
sent tons of people to workwith us, and we've been very blessed
like that.
But because they have faiththat we're trying to improve it so
we can make sure that they'retaken care of so the services get
better and they let us try.
Let us try things.
You know, we don't.
Sometimes when you start a newprogram, you think it's going to
go a certain way, and becauseof the staffing or the technology
(14:55):
or something like that, itdoesn't work out.
And you try to figure out,okay, now, you know, how do we make
sure we get it back on trackand stuff?
And we've.
We've had some very, verypatient clients that I think have
supported us through the yearsthat really believe that and understand
that we're trying to build abetter service for them.
We.
Seed is unique compared to alot of firms in that, you know, we
(15:19):
have a very high staff countfor the size of firm we are, and
we recycle a lot of the money that.
Well, all the money that wemake back into the company.
You know what I mean?
It's very focused on thevalues in the firm and developing
the employees and developingthe clients.
And a lot of firms, the ownersare trying to suck out all the money
that they can.
(15:40):
We go the other way.
So we are trying to innovateat a breakneck speed because we really
believe in doing better andmaking it better.
And I think that that's comingout in the development of these services.
And we didn't talk abouttoday, and we don't need to, but,
you know, we have the Igniteservice, which is an answer to some
of the issues with the firemovement, you know, and how it's
(16:02):
a little bit of overkill.
And so how do you tone thatdown but still give young professionals
something to shoot at?
We have our consultingservices and our spot pricing that
we've created, so people, youknow, depending on their needs, have
an opportunity to engage andget help.
When we first started, youcould not work with Seed if you did
not do financial planning, soyou could not be in our investment
(16:23):
program.
We've opened up the investmentprogram now to allow clients who
are not financial planningclients get engaged with the investment
program and have somebody totalk to.
So these are things that we'vetried to do over the years to kind
of enhance how many people wecan help and how well we can actually
help them.
So I want to come back though,to the people who are making this
(16:47):
all possible.
And those are our teams.
We probably have four main teams.
We have the business team,which is everybody who's not a financial
planner, investment planner,an admin person.
Right?
And then we have the.
And those are our other three teams.
Those are our four teams.
You're in charge of thefinancial planning team.
You're out there looking forpeople consistently to hire.
(17:10):
I mean, we have two newplanners starting.
We have another spot open this year.
It seems like, you know, wegrow as fast as we can hire people
that, to handle the work.
What are you looking for whenyou're looking for a financial planner
and you're thinking about, youknow, this is going to help us make
(17:30):
our company better?
Yeah, great question.
I would say I can tell youwhat it's not.
It's not the person that hasthe most experience, as we've kind
of alluded to, right?
That is not the number onefactor which probably surprises a
lot of people.
We really prioritize characterover experience, right.
(17:51):
Are you motivated?
Are you tough?
Are you willing to learn?
Are you willing to be vulnerable?
Are you not self centered?
Right.
A lot of those things theydescribe our framework from the ideal
team player, right?
We, we really believe in thathumble, hungry and smart framework.
That is what we're looking for.
(18:12):
We're looking for people whocan put themselves out there and
say, hey, you know what?
I don't know, but I'm willingto learn, right?
I want to, I want tounderstand this better.
We want people who aremotivated and driven that want to,
you know, they're in this forthe right reasons, not just about
money, right?
It's.
I really have a passion forwhat I'm doing and I want to continue
(18:32):
to get better because that's,that's something that it's not just
for us hiring people, right?
It's, this is not a placewhere you're going to be, let's say
a wealth manager because we'vebeen talking about that, right?
And you're a wealth managerand you've been here for 10 years
and you've got a bunch ofclients that you work with and now
we just kind of leave youalone and you go do whatever you
want, right?
(18:53):
That's that is not how itworks here.
Right.
If you're going to be here atSeed, we're going to continue pushing
the boundaries where tocontinue growing and focus on that
professional development, notjust at a technical skills way, but
as people, right?
Like, how are we actuallygetting better individually?
How are we getting better as a company?
(19:16):
That's what we'd be lookingfor when we're hiring someone is
do, does this person fit our culture?
Because if they don't, yourisk imploding the whole thing.
Right.
If you're bringing someone inwho's not going to fit the culture,
not going to work.
Right.
So we go through, you alludedto this earlier, our hiring process
very.
There's, there's a, there'sreasoning why we go through it the
(19:39):
way we go through it.
Right.
We have a meet and greet tokind of share about Seed a little
bit, give them an idea of whatwe're all about, get to know them
a little.
We get them into a round robininterview, right.
With let's say, three otherpeople on our team.
Let's say it's three planners.
Those three planners are goingin there trying to figure out one
specific thing each, right?
(19:59):
Someone's focusing on theirhumility, someone's focusing on their
drive or their hunger.
And someone's focusing on, isthis person someone who can come
in and actually provide value?
And then from that point wetake them through a whole workshop
process.
That's kind of the last stepof our interview process.
But humble, hungry and smart,that's what we're looking for.
(20:20):
And it's been neat.
When we started to implementthat for any clients that are listening
who have been through the kindof, the history with us, there was
a time we had a lot of turnover.
We had a bunch of advisorsdecided they wanted to go someplace
else or they didn't want to bea part of this kind of framework
and then they didn'tunderstand it.
(20:41):
What's the big deal with this?
I just want to do what I wantto do.
And then you've got, you know,other people that come in and because
of that drive, they're, youknow, it's.
You can have a 23 year oldshowing up, somebody who's been doing
it for 20 years.
I mean, it's, that's, listen,like if I was paying somebody to
work for me, and I know thatno matter how long they've been there,
(21:04):
they're still trying to get better.
I would like that.
You know, I don't wantsomebody who's peaked already.
And, and maybe is losing interest.
I want somebody who is yet,you know, who is just gonna continuously
try to bring value to me bybeing better at their job.
And so, you know, the doubleedged sword of it is, is, you know,
(21:29):
sometimes people are gonnaleave because they don't or not come
here in the first placebecause they don't want that type
of environment.
But again, if I were a client,I wanna hire people who really want
to do a good job, who arereally driven to do a good job, not
just make money.
Listen, if you do a great joband you make money great, I may even
(21:50):
give you a tip.
But if you do a crappy jobbecause you're just trying to make
money, I'm going to make yourlife hell.
You know what I mean?
That's my mentality, that'show I look at it.
I'm going to be disappointed,I'm ashamed, I'm offended.
It's a check against my judgment.
I need to think about some things.
And so, and then the otherside of it is too is you're going
(22:14):
to have some of these youngpeople that are just so dynamic,
so awesome.
They're going to come andthey're going to get that confidence
and they're going to buildsome skills and they're going to
want to move on too.
And that's one of the thingsthat we've talked a lot about, is
don't be sad when there's change.
Don't be sad when somebodycomes and you unlock something.
We want to unlock this freedomin our clients and we want people
to feel like, wow, I can goclimb these mountains, I can do these
(22:35):
things and I can live a greatlife and I don't need to worry about
the news so much.
And look, life shouldn't beall about your money.
It should be about going andliving the same thing with individuals.
We want to unlock thatpotential within them if they work
for us.
And sometimes that means, Imean, we had somebody retire in her
20s and she did very well forherself, I mean, retire in a way
(22:59):
that she doesn't have to goback to work ever again.
And I'm very, very proud of that.
But you're going to have that.
You're going to have peoplewho go, yeah, you know what?
Financial independence.
I made it, I'm out, see ya.
And we need to celebrate those people.
We need to, you know, wetalked about it with clients.
Sometimes a client comes infor a certain job, they need to see
that they can do something.
We show them they can do something.
(23:19):
They're like, thank you.
I'm so happy I found what I need.
I don't need you anymore.
See you later.
Great.
We won.
Share it with everybody youcan for us and tell them that you
got what you needed here andit gave you the confidence.
We have to realize that, like,that you don't have to hound people
till they say, no, they don'twant to talk to you anymore.
(23:40):
Right.
And.
And in our industry, a lot oftimes it's the Fog Demir thing.
I was in recruiting in financeindustry since 2004, and most of
the time it was hire anybodywho's willing to take a job here,
you know, and I know there'ssome bigger firms with some more
standards, but it's prettyclose to that.
You know, you throw them in.
The dropout rate is like 95%in the industry for a reason.
(24:03):
You throw in crap against thewall, seeing if it sticks.
You know, what you've donewith your team is you've started
to become very, veryselective, and you've got this dynamism
now where these programs aredeveloping very quickly because we
can identify issues, and youcan say, hey, whoa, we got to figure
out a solution for that,because this group of people over
here, they're chomping at thebits to have a better way to do this,
(24:25):
you know, or here's anefficiency we can get.
You know, maybe we can improveour response times to clients by
improving communicationinternally and what are the systems
that need to be done for that?
And, you know, people don'trealize there's a business behind
us too, you know, and thebusiness is trying to make sure that
they're taken care ofregardless of if somebody reaches
financial freedom and decidesto retire early or if, you know,
(24:49):
obviously we want our peopleto be there forever, but it doesn't
work that way.
I just want to follow up onone thing.
You mentioned the dynamism ofthe team, and I think that that's
something really important.
We've had.
It's.
It's been so cool recently tohave newer people on our team, right?
Not just financial planning,but in general, where they come in,
(25:09):
and maybe they don't have allthe skills right, at that point in
time to take on however manyclients they need to take on, but
they're finding other ways tocontribute to our company and to
our team, and they're somotivated to do so.
It's not even.
We're not even asking, right?
(25:30):
They're.
They're coming to us saying,hey, I noticed X, Y, and Z, do you
mind if I just kind of putsome thoughts together and, you know,
make a project out of it andrun with it?
Absolutely.
Right.
That's great.
And that gives us theconfidence that we're hiring the
right people.
Right.
The people with that hunger.
I think, to me, when we talkedabout that humble, hungry and smart
(25:50):
hunger is the biggest thingfor me.
I'm going to be honest with you.
Like, that's, that's what I'm.
I'm keying in on.
If you're not hungry, it's,that's not a, it's not a good recipe.
Right.
You got to come in herewanting to, you know, really do a
good job for yourself, forclients, for.
For whoever.
Right.
But there's gotta be some sortof motivation behind it.
(26:11):
And it's just been reallyawesome to get that, you know, validation
that we're hiring the right people.
It's gotta be other thanmoney, too.
Yeah.
You know, like I.
When somebody's hungry, butthey're really just hungry for more
money, the, the greed part,the, the things that come out.
If your desire is money.
(26:34):
I think that this is a hardindustry to really be great at.
Like, like you, you can, youcan make a lot of money in it.
You can go and you can sellall the products and sell the services
and that kind of stuff.
But if you're about the purityof financial planning.
Right.
And being a fiduciary andgiving advice that you can be proud
of 20 years, when you lookbackwards, if your drive is money,
(26:59):
that's going to be.
It's going to be really,really hard.
Like, we don't have anybodyleft in our company where.
That's the drive.
No.
Yeah.
You know what I mean?
It doesn't work.
It's not that money's notimportant, Right?
It is.
It's just important.
That's not the thing to focus on.
Right.
If you're doing all the otherthings correctly, the money's going
to come.
Yeah.
(27:19):
So I think that that was areally interesting, like, inside
look as to SEED and ourfiltering system for how we get the
right people in the right positions.
But I'm thinking about thelistener that's out there today that
says, knowing this about Seed,like, why.
Why should I care about this?
So, Jeff, why should a clientor prospect care about some of the
things that we just talked about?
Yeah, I think that's a great question.
I think, you know, from thestart, if you think about, you know,
(27:43):
leadership wise, all of thesethings we're talking about kind of
starts at the top.
Right.
That's going to bleed downthrough the organization.
But from a client'sperspective, this is really important
because as I put myself, and Ialways try to do this, put myself
in the client's shoes, I'dwant to know that I'm working with
a firm that cares about beingat the top of their game or making
(28:05):
sure that there's a focus ongrowth to ensure that the highest
quality service is happeningand that that firm remains at the
forefront of the industry.
Right?
So that's something I'm veryconfident saying.
We are always innovating.
Right.
And that's something I'm veryproud of.
There's a commitment tocontinually improving, whether it's
our expertise or our offeringsto benefit clients.
(28:26):
And all of that is based inthe passion that the people have.
It's all about the people atthe end of the day, right?
We could have the best ideasout there.
If we don't have the rightpeople, not going to work.
Right?
So we, we the people is whereit starts.
We try to make sure we'rebringing people into this organization
that are going to serve ourclients, serve our, you know, basically
(28:47):
our purpose.
Right.
As a firm, which goes back toour just cause.
Right?
How do we help people toovercome challenges that are holding
them back from personal fulfillment?
We do that through financial planning.
Thanks for checking out Ditchthe Suits.
Be sure to write a review ordrop a comment about this episode.
And if you want more likethis, head over to ditchesuits.com
(29:10):
you can send us a message andget in touch.
Let us know how we can helpand be sure to share any topics you'd
be interested in having uscover on the show.
We're here to help you get themost from your money in life.
Thanks for being our guest andchecking out Ditch the Suits.
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