April 17, 2025 • 23 mins
What actually happens when you work with a financial advisor? At Root Financial, we've built a carefully structured team model to ensure every client gets consistent, exceptional service regardless of which advisor they're paired with.
Unlike products (think identical Honda Civics or iPhones at any retailer), financial advice is inherently personal and can vary dramatically between advisors. We've solved this challenge by creating a four-person service team for every client: a Client Service Associate handling operations, an Associate Financial Advisor supporting and learning, a Lead Financial Advisor delivering personalized recommendations, and a Senior Financial Advisor providing advanced expertise while coaching the team.
This structure isn't just organizational—it's the foundation of our entire client experience. When Associate Advisors take detailed notes, for example, it allows Lead Advisors to be fully present in conversations rather than documenting. As one team member put it: "Taking notes allows me to be fully present in that conversation."
Rather than simply hiring "free agent" advisors with varying approaches, we've developed our own farm system. We carefully select talented professionals with the right character and potential, then develop them through our comprehensive training programs. Each advisor progresses through clearly defined levels with specific requirements—time in role, licensing, CFP designation, and successful completion of Root's investment and planning curricula.
The goal? Creating advisors who've "learned the rules like a pro so they can break them like an artist." This Picasso-inspired philosophy means our team masters the fundamentals, then adapts them creatively to help clients optimize not just for wealth, but for a life well-lived.
This behind-the-scenes structure might seem technical, but it's precisely what allows us to deliver consistent excellence. When you work with Root, you're not just getting one advisor—you're getting an entire team crafted to ensure your experience reflects our core belief: money should be a tool for getting the most out of life.
Want to discover if our approach aligns with your needs? Visit rootfinancial.com and click "see if we're a fit" to start the conversation.
Create Your Custom Early Retirement Strategy Here
Get access to the same software I use for my clients and join the Early Retirement Academy here
Ari Taublieb, CFP ®, MBA is the Chief Growth Officer of Root Financial Partners and a Fiduciary Financial Planner specializing in helping clients retire early with confidence.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
One of the cool things at Root is we have a lot
of different roles.
There are people that have helpon the back end of how do we
actually open accounts, how dowe transfer assets.
Then there's people who areactually leading these
conversations with clients Manyof you listening or those who
are inquiring about becoming anew client.
What we get to do today isbreak down what are those
different levels.
(00:20):
Are you someone who's openingaccounts, that eventually wants
to be someone who managesrelationships?
Do you want to be more on theoperations side, compliance?
Today we'll be focusing on theadvisory side and we do have a
few different levels, which isso that your advisor can
continue to grow and develop andthat we can continue to make
sure Root is a world-classexperience for all clients.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Yes, and so this Roots Talks, we're gonna be
talking about that, and I thinkthe key difference or the key
thing to know, ari, is thatthere's a very big difference
between selling a product andselling a service.
So if someone's selling aproduct, let's say it's a I
don't know Honda Civic, or it'sa T-shirt or it's an iPhone.
It doesn't matter what it isshirt or it's an iPhone, it
doesn't matter what it is Like.
Wherever you buy that HondaCivic, you're getting a Honda
(01:05):
Civic.
Wherever you buy that iPhone,you're getting an iPhone.
Wherever you buy that t-shirt,you're probably going to get
that same t-shirt, that samedouble double, whatever it is,
and so that is a product and youcan really really, really
standardize that.
The hard part about services is,a lot of times, services when
you are working with someone, itdepends upon the person, and so
at Root, ideally, we want thisinsane consistency of service,
(01:28):
regardless of who you're workingwith, regardless of what that
looks like, and to do that, youwant to create a service model
and you want to create differentroles that all support that
level of service that you'restriving to provide to all
different clients.
So we can talk about a fewdifferent things, but would it
be best to jump right into whatthose roles are and how they
work?
Or what do you want to?
Where do you want to go withthe conversation?
Speaker 1 (01:47):
Yeah, let's hop into the different roles, but first,
if any of you listening slashwatching right now have not seen
our previous episodes where wetalk about what is the
difference if I work with oneadvisor versus another and how
do you guys develop team culture, we do have more Root Talk
podcast videos on thoseresources, so make sure to check
those out.
I think it would be awesome,james, to go through those
(02:07):
different levels of advisoryroles.
But I want to mention a quotethat you talk about often, that
we all kind of live by, which isthat, hey, I want to learn the
rules like a master so I canbreak them like an artist.
Now, I don't think you're theone that said that, but I think
you've quoted that before and Ithink that's part of what we're
trying to get across with ouradvisors.
Is that right?
Speaker 2 (02:26):
Yeah, the Picasso quote learn the rules like a pro
so you can break them like anartist.
I think there's a lot ofapplications with financial
planning in that quote and whatit comes down to is when someone
is working with Root, there isa service team, there's an
advisory team that they areworking with.
Some of them are behind thescenes but directly working with
that client and their advisor,and some of them are in the
(02:46):
scenes in the picture.
They're working one-on-one andthat's a client service
associate, an associatefinancial advisor, the lead
financial advisor and a seniorfinancial advisor.
So every single client at Roothas a team made up of four
people.
Those four people all eitherdirectly or indirectly
contributing to the service thatthat client is receiving.
(03:08):
And so the client serviceassociate, very much behind the
scenes and I say very muchbehind the scenes there are a
lot of times where they'reinteracting with the client
themselves.
But they're helping to openaccounts, they're helping to
make sure money movements arehappening.
They're helping to make surethat beneficiaries are updated
when they need to be updated.
They're making sure thatdistributions are going out or
contributions are coming in orall the things behind the scenes
(03:29):
that need to happen.
Those are taking place.
Our databases are staying up tospeed.
Above that is associatefinancial advisor.
The associate financial advisor, they are supporting the lead
financial advisor.
So the lead I'll actually skiphere the lead financial advisor
that is the advisor people areworking with.
They have the one-on-onerelationship, they're helping to
(03:50):
, they're helping, they aredelivering advice, they're
delivering recommendations.
They are the ones that areresponsible for essentially
saying you need to understand ata very deep level the goals and
desires this client has andthen be the one delivering the
recommendations, using the tools, the resources, the frameworks
we have internally to help movethem closer to that desired end
(04:11):
game, that desired life thatthey want to live for themselves
.
So that is the lead financialadvisor's role.
But they have an associatefinancial advisor as well, and
that's very much the person whois learning the rules, like a
pro, who's studying to get theircertified financial planner
examination, who's going throughthe internal things we have at
Root, whether it's RootUniversity, whether it's
specific trainings, whatever itmight be.
(04:33):
They are learning the thingsbehind the scenes while
simultaneously supporting theadvisor, the lead financial
advisor, to make sure thatthere's a team helping to do all
of those different things.
And then, finally, at the top,there's the senior financial
advisor and at most firms senioradvisor just means you develop
business.
It means you're not really theadvisor yourself.
(04:54):
Most often.
You're out there developingbusiness.
You're out there at thenetworking events, you're out
there building relationships,you're out there getting to know
people selling your firm, andthen you bring a client in and
you have other advisors actuallydoing the service work.
That is not Root's model.
Root's model is the seniorfinancial advisor is very much a
player coach.
(05:14):
They have their own clients.
They're also responsible forthe training, the development,
the coaching, the team.
Cohesion of the team that theyare supporting because we
believe that that creates just abetter environment for advisors
, for the team.
Cohesion of the team that theyare supporting because we
believe that that creates just abetter environment for advisors
, for the team and ultimatelythat creates a better
environment and service modelfor clients.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
Beautiful, so is this just so that if let's just
assume I'm a lead financialadvisor in this example, is it
so if I'm sick that a clientcould go, oh Ari's out, I'll
just call someone else and thenthey'll probably know my
situation.
Is the associate on everymeeting?
Does the senior just show upsometimes?
How does that work?
Speaker 2 (05:53):
It's for a lot of different reasons.
One is yeah, I guess that couldbe one benefit, ari, you're out
sick and you have an associatefinancial advisor and someone
needs an answer to theirquestion.
Well, great, ari, is not thissole person that has the
information about your plan andsomeone else can get you an
answer?
But I think the bigger thing is, I think you don't realize.
I didn't realize this cominginto the industry.
(06:13):
I just thought, okay, cool,you're a financial advisor, you
make recommendations all day andthat's your job.
You don't really realize howmuch project management goes
into it.
Okay, we're doing this thingand we got to stay on top of it
and there's different deadlines.
We might need to do some thingswithin a month and we got to do
some things within a year andwe got to stay up to date with
important milestones, reminders.
There's a project element aspectto it.
(06:35):
Part of it is just anorganizational aspect of the
client.
I have a million differentthings going on.
How do we help them toprioritize what we should be
working on now and what needs tobe almost like on a to-do list
in the future of things toimplement?
But it's not the biggestpriority today.
Some of this is just.
Are we effectively capturingnotes within meetings?
Are we effectively draftingfollow-up emails?
(06:57):
Are we effectively keeping oursystems up to date after a
meeting?
Ari, you've told me about thesechanges that you have and your
family has, and well, are weaccurately updating our
financial planning projections?
Are we updating our systems?
And so all these things thatreally don't have anything to do
with me recommending what stockor bond to buy.
They need to be happening, andso having that advisory team
(07:18):
specifically the lead financialadvisor, the associate financial
advisor and the client serviceassociate very much is helping
to ensure all these movingpieces are gathered, collected,
organized and ultimatelyimplemented so that you can
accomplish what's important toyou.
And then the senior financialadvisor is there to say look, if
you have something that's alittle bit more complicated, if
(07:39):
you have something that you needmore guidance on, if you have,
whatever the case might be,they're there for a resource,
and that's one of the goalsthere.
But more importantly, it's thatcoaching, it's that how can we
ensure that everyone at Root iscontinuing to grow and to
develop?
Because we're all very growthminded and we talk about this a
lot, but the best way we canserve our clients really really
well is by serving our teamreally really well and ensuring
(08:01):
that everyone's continuing toget development and mentorship
and coaching so that as we allget better.
Going back to the product, forservice thing, we are a service,
we are the product, and so thebetter the advisor, the better
that relationship, the betterthe experience is going to be
for clients.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
Over four years ago I was James's associate advisor
and at first I remember youbeing like, oh, this is going to
be so helpful, you're going tohelp take notes.
And I was like, I hope, I justwant to be helpful.
And then you started to say,hey, it's really nice, it might
not seem like a big deal, butyou, taking notes allows me to
be fully present in thatconversation.
And so, yes, I'm taking notes,but I'm also learning.
(08:37):
Okay, when do you know when notto say something?
When do you know when to trulytake a pause and listen and say,
hey, this is actually a timewhere naturally, I might want to
interject, but it doesn't makesense to.
So that associate is learningfrom the lead as to how do we
act at root and I know we'vebrought it up in a previous
episode, but can you alludeJames back to kind of that farm
(09:00):
system, that baseball analogyabout how we want to grow here
at Root?
Speaker 2 (09:06):
Yes, the consistency of experience clients have at
Root is something that's veryimportant and top of mind to us,
meaning, whether you're workingwith Chris or with Chelsea or
with JJ or with you know youfill in the blank different
person, different personality,but that should be the same
(09:29):
whatever McDonald's you go to.
If you're going to go to get acoffee at Starbucks, that should
be the same, whatever Starbucksyou go to.
And so if you are saying, ohgreat, we're going to grow a
financial advisory business,let's just go hire really great
(09:49):
advisors Sure, that's one aspectof it.
But if they all have differentexperience, working with
different types of clients in adifferent way, different
investment philosophies,different planning approaches,
different, even, maybe, valuesand philosophies towards money
itself, you're not going tocreate a great client experience
.
Maybe some clients might have agreat experience, but it's
going to be very different.
(10:11):
It's not going to be consistent.
It's going to be okay.
You have an all-star advisor,because they naturally know the
way things should be done, andyou have a few other advisors
that just aren't so great.
And so we say, okay, we couldgrow by bringing on quote
unquote free agents, just hiringgreat advisors, and that is a
part of what we're doing.
But we make really, really,really sure that advisor could
(10:32):
step into what we're doing andhit the ground running, based
upon where they've worked, whattheir experience has been like,
what types of clients they'veworked with, the planning
softwares and tools that theyhave used, their investment
philosophy.
They go through a mock clientcall where I'll role play with
them and hit them with reallytough questions about I'm going
to pretend to be a client andreally gauge how would you
(10:54):
handle this conversation, whattype of advice would you deliver
?
And so that is happening.
But ideally we're not bringingon free agents to grow,
metaphorically speaking, we'rebuilding our farm system.
So baseball season is about tostart and with baseball, yes,
you might go sign a free agentand bring them onto the team,
and they may or may not be agood fit, but ideally can you
get great people on the team,fresh out of high school, fresh
(11:17):
out of college, whatever itmight be.
You get a great farm system,because then you can develop
them and coach them and you canteach them the ways of working,
the philosophies, the planningapproaches, the things that you
do, so that what you're doing isyou're getting these people
with amazing capacity to learn.
These people have amazingcharacter, amazing work ethic,
amazing just personality traits.
(11:39):
The skills can be taught and theskills were building up the
curriculum and the developmentto say this is how you develop
and grow here, so that whenclients come in, whether they're
working with an advisor from it, doesn't matter what part of
the country, doesn't matterwhere they are.
You're going to get the sameexperience here at Root because
of that farm system, becauseit's not just a collection of
(12:00):
random advisors that we thinkare good at their job, but it's
a collection of advisors who areall believing the same thing
and not believing the same thingin a sense of groupthink and
can't think for ourselves, butsame planning philosophy, same
investment approach, same toolsthat we're being trained on,
same values, which is this thingthat money is not just a tool
(12:20):
to be optimized at all cost, butwe're helping clients to use
their money to get the most outof life, using the financial
planning, the tax planning, allthat stuff as a tool to get
there.
So that is very much a priorityfor us.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
What are some of the key metrics?
Whether it be years ofexperience or competency, or to
become a financial advisor atreal yeah, there's a number of
them If someone's an associatefinancial.
Speaker 2 (12:47):
So we have associate financial advisor level one,
associate financial advisorlevel two kind of like a
transitionary role, and thenlead financial advisor role, and
for each we have differentrequirements that people have to
meet.
One is simply time requirement,so there just has to be a
certain amount of time in eachrole to feel like, yes, you can
fully absorb this.
You have seen enough meetings.
You've seen enough of this andwhat we might call second chair,
(13:09):
watching someone else run themeeting.
But you're getting to observe.
Beyond that there's otherthings basic licensing
requirements you know series 66,series 65, and some of those
earlier roles to.
If you want to be a leadfinancial advisor, you have to
have your certified financialplanner designation.
There's a lot of advisors thathave designations even beyond
that, but that's just a corerequirement.
(13:30):
We have our own internaltraining and development and to
go from that associate financialadvisor role to a lead
financial advisor, you've got tocomplete our investment
curriculum, our planningcurriculum.
You've got to go through a mockpresentation where our head of
planning is going to take youthrough that and see how would
you perform guiding someonethrough our Sequoia system where
(13:51):
we're doing a lot of role playto make sure, can you properly
do this?
We're doing a lot of that tomake sure that when a root
advisor is speaking, to makesure can you properly do this.
We're doing a lot of that tomake sure that when a root
advisor speaking to the client,it's not their first at bat,
it's not their first time doingthis.
We're not training advisors bysaying, hey, here's a few
clients, see how there's a lotthat goes into that, so that by
(14:11):
the time someone is an advisorit feels very organic and
natural in a continuation ofwhat they're already doing.
Not to mention that I mentionedthere's different levels of
associate advisor.
At each level you'reprogressively doing more and
more for the client.
It might start as simple astake notes, update the systems,
draft follow-up emails aftermeetings.
Then it might move to don'tjust update our systems but
(14:34):
before the next meeting, run theplanning projections and come
back with recommendations.
Now the lead financial advisoris still going to go back and
double check and run their own,but it's just a way of helping
you to start learning anddeveloping and growing with the
supervision of another leadadvisor.
It might grow to hey, onceyou're really good.
You're running aspects ofcertain meetings as an associate
advisor with the lead financialadvisor there and very much
(14:56):
coaching and making sure thateverything is prepped for that.
So by the time someone becomesa lead, it's not this giant jump
from where they were before.
It's just a very naturalprogression to being able to
fill that role themselves.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
Love it.
And then my final question andthen, of course, anything you
want to add on here is we have alot of people that reach out
and they will say how do I knowI'm going to get the experience
that Root talks about?
I know you guys have thesedifferent levels that you guys
are so excited about and there'sthe okay, you're a client
service associate, then anassociate, then a lead advisor
and a senior advisor, and I'msure you have checks and
(15:30):
balances.
But just how do I know I'mgoing to get that Root vibe?
Is James personally going to bein every single meeting?
Well, no, that's what we'regoing over today is there's that
senior advisor role.
Who's helping that lead advisorrole with maybe some more
complex cases or other variables?
And James and I are verycareful when it comes to
selecting that senior advisorrole.
(15:50):
But that ultimate question andpart of this you can answer,
james, I'm sure, through metricsand things going on in your
brain right now but also, isthere a kind of just gut answer
from a hey, how do I know I'mgoing to get the root experience
?
How would you answer that?
Speaker 2 (16:06):
When we were much smaller and it was just a
handful of us.
Yeah, I was in almosteverything or a part of that.
You know, as you weretransitioning from being an
associate financial advisor to alead financial advisor, we were
meeting all the time, we werereviewing that together, we were
going over questions, and sowhat?
At the beginning it was verymuch that, and I think from the
(16:28):
very beginning, there's beenthis huge focus and
intentionality around bringingthe right people on and training
the right people, because thatcreates this culture where now,
as new people come on, there'san entire team that can coach
and develop and train and helpand support in that.
Not to mention that, as peoplecome on, there's a lot of people
that want to work at Root,which is amazing.
So we feel like we get tohandpick the best of the best.
(16:53):
I mean, it's a hard processhiring people, because we have
to say no to people that wouldbe awesome at root, but we have
to be super selective becauseit's only so many roles to fill.
As we grow very we're growingfast, but we're growing very
sustainably.
We get great people, and aquote that I love is the best
(17:14):
version of I should be betterprepared with some of these
quotes, but something along thelines like hey, you, you, this
isn't An environment where youhave someone telling you what to
do and you have to check theseboxes and you have to do things.
We talk a lot about not havingcookie cutter advice.
Well, how do you do that?
You equip the best and thebrightest.
To going back to the quote youmentioned, they have learned the
(17:37):
rules like a pro.
Now they can break them like anartist.
Break them, not saying breakthe rules in a negative sense,
but break the rules oftraditional textbook finance to
say how do we not optimize forthe almighty dollar but optimize
for a life well-lived?
How do we do the best work whenit comes to investing in
retirement planning and tax andall that stuff, but only in
(17:57):
service to a better life for ourclients?
And so when we equip advisors,when we train advisors, we
develop them and we start withthe best of the best.
Already we want them to havefreedom to be able to serve
clients in the best possible way.
So, yes, there are guardrails,there's a framework we talk a
lot about our Sequoia system of.
Here's the onboarding process,here's how we build out a plan,
(18:19):
here's tools and here'sguardrails and here's checklists
to be part of that.
But ultimately, if you want thebest possible product, you're
not handcuffing your advisor tosaying, okay, that client is
this age and this risk tolerance, therefore they get this
portfolio.
No ifs and buts about it.
That's not a good experience.
Instead, bring on the best,give them tools and resources
(18:41):
and trainings and developmentand then let them be an
excellent advisor to theirclients, and we've built this
culture and the system to wherethat just grows as we grow,
because we're adding more andmore awesome people to what I
want to believe is a reallyawesome service we provide to
our clients.
Speaker 1 (18:58):
Love it.
Anti-cookie cutter, anythingelse.
You want to leave people withJames.
Speaker 2 (19:03):
I think we mentioned this a lot but like why are we
talking about this?
Who cares?
Guys talk about the Rothconversions, talk about the
investing.
There is so much of that and alot of people listening to our
shows.
They're do-it-yourselfers,which is awesome.
Like, this episode is maybe notsuper relevant to you, but a lot
of people who listen to ourshows.
They have these types ofquestions, which is why we're
leaning into this a bit more iswell, what's it going to be like
(19:24):
when I work at Root?
Because there's a very bigdifference from providing really
great education, which I thinka lot of people do, versus
building a business that candeliver these types of services
to a large number of people.
And so what we want to say islike we're treating the business
side way more seriously eventhan we treat just the content,
(19:44):
which I think we do really wellto say look, this is education,
how do we take this stuff andhow do we create the vessel by
which we can deliver that toindividual clients?
This stuff really matters.
It might not seem like it does.
It might just seem like youneed to go to the firm that has
a brand name or that hasadvisors with X number of years
experience or has, whatever thecase might be.
(20:05):
But this is how you build anexcellent client experiences by
focusing on these things, whichare career paths, which are
training and development, whichis the right service team, which
is these things, so that when aclient walks in the door,
they're not going to think aboutany of this, but it's happened
behind the scenes, which nowallows them to get that
experience that they'reultimately looking for if
they're going to work with anadvisor.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
Amazing, and I know, having seen my parents interview
multiple advisors.
Part of this is, look, I'm justgoing to sleep better, knowing
you guys are being intentionalabout this, because some firms
you might just go, look, theysaid all the right things, but I
don't really know why.
I can't explain it.
It just doesn't feel like it'sit and I know I felt that way
when I've gone in for aconsultation to get a surgery
(20:44):
and I go hey, that surgeon, theysaid all the right things.
I just don't know why.
I just don't feel versus if Iknew, hey, this is the process
they go through might be alittle bit more kind of
intensive than many of you areeven looking for.
For those few that go wow, thisis exactly what I needed.
I don't know the exact metrics,james, but sounds crazy to say,
(21:06):
but some millions of peoplewatch our videos online and I
don't know exactly how manyclients we have, but somewhere
in the range of 450 to 500clients somewhere in there.
That's where we're doing ourbest work.
So it's awesome because we getto help a lot of you guys and
this is just an additionalepisode.
It's not keeping us from doinganything else we're doing, but
for those of you who haveexpressed interest.
(21:28):
This is why we're making these.
Speaker 2 (21:30):
This is why we're making it, and our mission is
this to help as many people aswe can, a lot of which will
never actually work with Root.
But we've designed other things.
So glad you're listening to thepodcast, to this YouTube
channel.
Whatever you're tuning in on,join the Root Collective.
The Root Collective is anawesome free resource where you
(21:51):
can interact with other peoplepreparing for or in retirement,
to talk about financial stuff aswell as sometimes, more
importantly, the non-financialstuff.
So tune in there.
For people that are interestedin saying I am wanting to be a
client and have someone help mewith these types of things,
great, go to rootfinancialcom,click on a button that says see
if we're a fit.
But what we're trying to do iscreate multiple ways, whether
it's podcasting, youtube videos,whether it's the community, the
(22:11):
collective, whether it'sworking with us on a one-on-one
basis.
How can we help to solve aproblem which is people not
feeling confident or prepared togo into retirement or, worse,
ending their retirement orgetting to the end of their life
?
You know I I missed it.
I wasted so much of what Icould have done because they
didn't have a plan that wouldhelp equip me to pursue the
(22:32):
things that I actually caredmost about.
So something we care a lotabout and it's just something
that we're creating multipleavenues to help reach people,
with this being just one of them.
Speaker 1 (22:39):
So how do we take that big leap to know wow, maybe
we are in a position to retireYou'll have to stay tuned for
next week.
Speaker 2 (22:52):
That felt like a very scripted, like old, not sitcom,
but you know when those showsleave you on the cliffhangers,
yeah, yeah.
Well, stay tuned.
More to come.
See you guys next week, seey'all next week.
The information presented isfor educational purposes only
and it's not intended as anoffer or solicitation for the
sale or purchase of any specificsecurities, investments or
investment strategies.
Investments involve risk andare not guaranteed.
Any mention of rates of returnare historical and illustrative
(23:14):
in nature and are not aguarantee of future returns.
Speaker 1 (23:17):
Past performance does not guarantee future
performance Viewers areencouraged to seek advice from a
qualified tax, legal orinvestment advisor professional
to determine whether anyinformation presented may be
suitable for their specificsituation Once again.
Speaker 2 (23:31):
I'm James Canole, founder of Root Financial, and
if you're interested in seeinghow we help our clients at Root
Financial get the most out oflife with their money, be sure
to visit us atwwwrootfinancialpartnerscom.
One of the cool things at Root is we have a lot
of different roles.
There are people that have helpon the back end of how do we
actually open accounts, how dowe transfer assets.
Then there's people who areactually leading these
conversations with clients Manyof you listening or those who
are inquiring about becoming anew client.
What we get to do today isbreak down what are those
different levels.
(00:20):
Are you someone who's openingaccounts, that eventually wants
to be someone who managesrelationships?
Do you want to be more on theoperations side, compliance?
Today we'll be focusing on theadvisory side and we do have a
few different levels, which isso that your advisor can
continue to grow and develop andthat we can continue to make
sure Root is a world-classexperience for all clients.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Yes, and so this Roots Talks, we're gonna be
talking about that, and I thinkthe key difference or the key
thing to know, ari, is thatthere's a very big difference
between selling a product andselling a service.
So if someone's selling aproduct, let's say it's a I
don't know Honda Civic, or it'sa T-shirt or it's an iPhone.
It doesn't matter what it isshirt or it's an iPhone, it
doesn't matter what it is Like.
Wherever you buy that HondaCivic, you're getting a Honda
(01:05):
Civic.
Wherever you buy that iPhone,you're getting an iPhone.
Wherever you buy that t-shirt,you're probably going to get
that same t-shirt, that samedouble double, whatever it is,
and so that is a product and youcan really really, really
standardize that.
The hard part about services is,a lot of times, services when
you are working with someone, itdepends upon the person, and so
at Root, ideally, we want thisinsane consistency of service,
(01:28):
regardless of who you're workingwith, regardless of what that
looks like, and to do that, youwant to create a service model
and you want to create differentroles that all support that
level of service that you'restriving to provide to all
different clients.
So we can talk about a fewdifferent things, but would it
be best to jump right into whatthose roles are and how they
work?
Or what do you want to?
Where do you want to go withthe conversation?
Speaker 1 (01:47):
Yeah, let's hop into the different roles, but first,
if any of you listening slashwatching right now have not seen
our previous episodes where wetalk about what is the
difference if I work with oneadvisor versus another and how
do you guys develop team culture, we do have more Root Talk
podcast videos on thoseresources, so make sure to check
those out.
I think it would be awesome,james, to go through those
(02:07):
different levels of advisoryroles.
But I want to mention a quotethat you talk about often, that
we all kind of live by, which isthat, hey, I want to learn the
rules like a master so I canbreak them like an artist.
Now, I don't think you're theone that said that, but I think
you've quoted that before and Ithink that's part of what we're
trying to get across with ouradvisors.
Is that right?
Speaker 2 (02:26):
Yeah, the Picasso quote learn the rules like a pro
so you can break them like anartist.
I think there's a lot ofapplications with financial
planning in that quote and whatit comes down to is when someone
is working with Root, there isa service team, there's an
advisory team that they areworking with.
Some of them are behind thescenes but directly working with
that client and their advisor,and some of them are in the
(02:46):
scenes in the picture.
They're working one-on-one andthat's a client service
associate, an associatefinancial advisor, the lead
financial advisor and a seniorfinancial advisor.
So every single client at Roothas a team made up of four
people.
Those four people all eitherdirectly or indirectly
contributing to the service thatthat client is receiving.
(03:08):
And so the client serviceassociate, very much behind the
scenes and I say very muchbehind the scenes there are a
lot of times where they'reinteracting with the client
themselves.
But they're helping to openaccounts, they're helping to
make sure money movements arehappening.
They're helping to make surethat beneficiaries are updated
when they need to be updated.
They're making sure thatdistributions are going out or
contributions are coming in orall the things behind the scenes
(03:29):
that need to happen.
Those are taking place.
Our databases are staying up tospeed.
Above that is associatefinancial advisor.
The associate financial advisor, they are supporting the lead
financial advisor.
So the lead I'll actually skiphere the lead financial advisor
that is the advisor people areworking with.
They have the one-on-onerelationship, they're helping to
(03:50):
, they're helping, they aredelivering advice, they're
delivering recommendations.
They are the ones that areresponsible for essentially
saying you need to understand ata very deep level the goals and
desires this client has andthen be the one delivering the
recommendations, using the tools, the resources, the frameworks
we have internally to help movethem closer to that desired end
(04:11):
game, that desired life thatthey want to live for themselves
.
So that is the lead financialadvisor's role.
But they have an associatefinancial advisor as well, and
that's very much the person whois learning the rules, like a
pro, who's studying to get theircertified financial planner
examination, who's going throughthe internal things we have at
Root, whether it's RootUniversity, whether it's
specific trainings, whatever itmight be.
(04:33):
They are learning the thingsbehind the scenes while
simultaneously supporting theadvisor, the lead financial
advisor, to make sure thatthere's a team helping to do all
of those different things.
And then, finally, at the top,there's the senior financial
advisor and at most firms senioradvisor just means you develop
business.
It means you're not really theadvisor yourself.
(04:54):
Most often.
You're out there developingbusiness.
You're out there at thenetworking events, you're out
there building relationships,you're out there getting to know
people selling your firm, andthen you bring a client in and
you have other advisors actuallydoing the service work.
That is not Root's model.
Root's model is the seniorfinancial advisor is very much a
player coach.
(05:14):
They have their own clients.
They're also responsible forthe training, the development,
the coaching, the team.
Cohesion of the team that theyare supporting because we
believe that that creates just abetter environment for advisors
, for the team.
Cohesion of the team that theyare supporting because we
believe that that creates just abetter environment for advisors
, for the team and ultimatelythat creates a better
environment and service modelfor clients.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
Beautiful, so is this just so that if let's just
assume I'm a lead financialadvisor in this example, is it
so if I'm sick that a clientcould go, oh Ari's out, I'll
just call someone else and thenthey'll probably know my
situation.
Is the associate on everymeeting?
Does the senior just show upsometimes?
How does that work?
Speaker 2 (05:53):
It's for a lot of different reasons.
One is yeah, I guess that couldbe one benefit, ari, you're out
sick and you have an associatefinancial advisor and someone
needs an answer to theirquestion.
Well, great, ari, is not thissole person that has the
information about your plan andsomeone else can get you an
answer?
But I think the bigger thing is, I think you don't realize.
I didn't realize this cominginto the industry.
(06:13):
I just thought, okay, cool,you're a financial advisor, you
make recommendations all day andthat's your job.
You don't really realize howmuch project management goes
into it.
Okay, we're doing this thingand we got to stay on top of it
and there's different deadlines.
We might need to do some thingswithin a month and we got to do
some things within a year andwe got to stay up to date with
important milestones, reminders.
There's a project element aspectto it.
(06:35):
Part of it is just anorganizational aspect of the
client.
I have a million differentthings going on.
How do we help them toprioritize what we should be
working on now and what needs tobe almost like on a to-do list
in the future of things toimplement?
But it's not the biggestpriority today.
Some of this is just.
Are we effectively capturingnotes within meetings?
Are we effectively draftingfollow-up emails?
(06:57):
Are we effectively keeping oursystems up to date after a
meeting?
Ari, you've told me about thesechanges that you have and your
family has, and well, are weaccurately updating our
financial planning projections?
Are we updating our systems?
And so all these things thatreally don't have anything to do
with me recommending what stockor bond to buy.
They need to be happening, andso having that advisory team
(07:18):
specifically the lead financialadvisor, the associate financial
advisor and the client serviceassociate very much is helping
to ensure all these movingpieces are gathered, collected,
organized and ultimatelyimplemented so that you can
accomplish what's important toyou.
And then the senior financialadvisor is there to say look, if
you have something that's alittle bit more complicated, if
(07:39):
you have something that you needmore guidance on, if you have,
whatever the case might be,they're there for a resource,
and that's one of the goalsthere.
But more importantly, it's thatcoaching, it's that how can we
ensure that everyone at Root iscontinuing to grow and to
develop?
Because we're all very growthminded and we talk about this a
lot, but the best way we canserve our clients really really
well is by serving our teamreally really well and ensuring
(08:01):
that everyone's continuing toget development and mentorship
and coaching so that as we allget better.
Going back to the product, forservice thing, we are a service,
we are the product, and so thebetter the advisor, the better
that relationship, the betterthe experience is going to be
for clients.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
Over four years ago I was James's associate advisor
and at first I remember youbeing like, oh, this is going to
be so helpful, you're going tohelp take notes.
And I was like, I hope, I justwant to be helpful.
And then you started to say,hey, it's really nice, it might
not seem like a big deal, butyou, taking notes allows me to
be fully present in thatconversation.
And so, yes, I'm taking notes,but I'm also learning.
(08:37):
Okay, when do you know when notto say something?
When do you know when to trulytake a pause and listen and say,
hey, this is actually a timewhere naturally, I might want to
interject, but it doesn't makesense to.
So that associate is learningfrom the lead as to how do we
act at root and I know we'vebrought it up in a previous
episode, but can you alludeJames back to kind of that farm
(09:00):
system, that baseball analogyabout how we want to grow here
at Root?
Speaker 2 (09:06):
Yes, the consistency of experience clients have at
Root is something that's veryimportant and top of mind to us,
meaning, whether you're workingwith Chris or with Chelsea or
with JJ or with you know youfill in the blank different
person, different personality,but that should be the same
(09:29):
whatever McDonald's you go to.
If you're going to go to get acoffee at Starbucks, that should
be the same, whatever Starbucksyou go to.
And so if you are saying, ohgreat, we're going to grow a
financial advisory business,let's just go hire really great
(09:49):
advisors Sure, that's one aspectof it.
But if they all have differentexperience, working with
different types of clients in adifferent way, different
investment philosophies,different planning approaches,
different, even, maybe, valuesand philosophies towards money
itself, you're not going tocreate a great client experience
.
Maybe some clients might have agreat experience, but it's
going to be very different.
(10:11):
It's not going to be consistent.
It's going to be okay.
You have an all-star advisor,because they naturally know the
way things should be done, andyou have a few other advisors
that just aren't so great.
And so we say, okay, we couldgrow by bringing on quote
unquote free agents, just hiringgreat advisors, and that is a
part of what we're doing.
But we make really, really,really sure that advisor could
(10:32):
step into what we're doing andhit the ground running, based
upon where they've worked, whattheir experience has been like,
what types of clients they'veworked with, the planning
softwares and tools that theyhave used, their investment
philosophy.
They go through a mock clientcall where I'll role play with
them and hit them with reallytough questions about I'm going
to pretend to be a client andreally gauge how would you
(10:54):
handle this conversation, whattype of advice would you deliver
?
And so that is happening.
But ideally we're not bringingon free agents to grow,
metaphorically speaking, we'rebuilding our farm system.
So baseball season is about tostart and with baseball, yes,
you might go sign a free agentand bring them onto the team,
and they may or may not be agood fit, but ideally can you
get great people on the team,fresh out of high school, fresh
(11:17):
out of college, whatever itmight be.
You get a great farm system,because then you can develop
them and coach them and you canteach them the ways of working,
the philosophies, the planningapproaches, the things that you
do, so that what you're doing isyou're getting these people
with amazing capacity to learn.
These people have amazingcharacter, amazing work ethic,
amazing just personality traits.
(11:39):
The skills can be taught and theskills were building up the
curriculum and the developmentto say this is how you develop
and grow here, so that whenclients come in, whether they're
working with an advisor from it, doesn't matter what part of
the country, doesn't matterwhere they are.
You're going to get the sameexperience here at Root because
of that farm system, becauseit's not just a collection of
(12:00):
random advisors that we thinkare good at their job, but it's
a collection of advisors who areall believing the same thing
and not believing the same thingin a sense of groupthink and
can't think for ourselves, butsame planning philosophy, same
investment approach, same toolsthat we're being trained on,
same values, which is this thingthat money is not just a tool
(12:20):
to be optimized at all cost, butwe're helping clients to use
their money to get the most outof life, using the financial
planning, the tax planning, allthat stuff as a tool to get
there.
So that is very much a priorityfor us.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
What are some of the key metrics?
Whether it be years ofexperience or competency, or to
become a financial advisor atreal yeah, there's a number of
them If someone's an associatefinancial.
Speaker 2 (12:47):
So we have associate financial advisor level one,
associate financial advisorlevel two kind of like a
transitionary role, and thenlead financial advisor role, and
for each we have differentrequirements that people have to
meet.
One is simply time requirement,so there just has to be a
certain amount of time in eachrole to feel like, yes, you can
fully absorb this.
You have seen enough meetings.
You've seen enough of this andwhat we might call second chair,
(13:09):
watching someone else run themeeting.
But you're getting to observe.
Beyond that there's otherthings basic licensing
requirements you know series 66,series 65, and some of those
earlier roles to.
If you want to be a leadfinancial advisor, you have to
have your certified financialplanner designation.
There's a lot of advisors thathave designations even beyond
that, but that's just a corerequirement.
(13:30):
We have our own internaltraining and development and to
go from that associate financialadvisor role to a lead
financial advisor, you've got tocomplete our investment
curriculum, our planningcurriculum.
You've got to go through a mockpresentation where our head of
planning is going to take youthrough that and see how would
you perform guiding someonethrough our Sequoia system where
(13:51):
we're doing a lot of role playto make sure, can you properly
do this?
We're doing a lot of that tomake sure that when a root
advisor is speaking, to makesure can you properly do this.
We're doing a lot of that tomake sure that when a root
advisor speaking to the client,it's not their first at bat,
it's not their first time doingthis.
We're not training advisors bysaying, hey, here's a few
clients, see how there's a lotthat goes into that, so that by
(14:11):
the time someone is an advisorit feels very organic and
natural in a continuation ofwhat they're already doing.
Not to mention that I mentionedthere's different levels of
associate advisor.
At each level you'reprogressively doing more and
more for the client.
It might start as simple astake notes, update the systems,
draft follow-up emails aftermeetings.
Then it might move to don'tjust update our systems but
(14:34):
before the next meeting, run theplanning projections and come
back with recommendations.
Now the lead financial advisoris still going to go back and
double check and run their own,but it's just a way of helping
you to start learning anddeveloping and growing with the
supervision of another leadadvisor.
It might grow to hey, onceyou're really good.
You're running aspects ofcertain meetings as an associate
advisor with the lead financialadvisor there and very much
(14:56):
coaching and making sure thateverything is prepped for that.
So by the time someone becomesa lead, it's not this giant jump
from where they were before.
It's just a very naturalprogression to being able to
fill that role themselves.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
Love it.
And then my final question andthen, of course, anything you
want to add on here is we have alot of people that reach out
and they will say how do I knowI'm going to get the experience
that Root talks about?
I know you guys have thesedifferent levels that you guys
are so excited about and there'sthe okay, you're a client
service associate, then anassociate, then a lead advisor
and a senior advisor, and I'msure you have checks and
(15:30):
balances.
But just how do I know I'mgoing to get that Root vibe?
Is James personally going to bein every single meeting?
Well, no, that's what we'regoing over today is there's that
senior advisor role.
Who's helping that lead advisorrole with maybe some more
complex cases or other variables?
And James and I are verycareful when it comes to
selecting that senior advisorrole.
(15:50):
But that ultimate question andpart of this you can answer,
james, I'm sure, through metricsand things going on in your
brain right now but also, isthere a kind of just gut answer
from a hey, how do I know I'mgoing to get the root experience
?
How would you answer that?
Speaker 2 (16:06):
When we were much smaller and it was just a
handful of us.
Yeah, I was in almosteverything or a part of that.
You know, as you weretransitioning from being an
associate financial advisor to alead financial advisor, we were
meeting all the time, we werereviewing that together, we were
going over questions, and sowhat?
At the beginning it was verymuch that, and I think from the
(16:28):
very beginning, there's beenthis huge focus and
intentionality around bringingthe right people on and training
the right people, because thatcreates this culture where now,
as new people come on, there'san entire team that can coach
and develop and train and helpand support in that.
Not to mention that, as peoplecome on, there's a lot of people
that want to work at Root,which is amazing.
So we feel like we get tohandpick the best of the best.
(16:53):
I mean, it's a hard processhiring people, because we have
to say no to people that wouldbe awesome at root, but we have
to be super selective becauseit's only so many roles to fill.
As we grow very we're growingfast, but we're growing very
sustainably.
We get great people, and aquote that I love is the best
(17:14):
version of I should be betterprepared with some of these
quotes, but something along thelines like hey, you, you, this
isn't An environment where youhave someone telling you what to
do and you have to check theseboxes and you have to do things.
We talk a lot about not havingcookie cutter advice.
Well, how do you do that?
You equip the best and thebrightest.
To going back to the quote youmentioned, they have learned the
(17:37):
rules like a pro.
Now they can break them like anartist.
Break them, not saying breakthe rules in a negative sense,
but break the rules oftraditional textbook finance to
say how do we not optimize forthe almighty dollar but optimize
for a life well-lived?
How do we do the best work whenit comes to investing in
retirement planning and tax andall that stuff, but only in
(17:57):
service to a better life for ourclients?
And so when we equip advisors,when we train advisors, we
develop them and we start withthe best of the best.
Already we want them to havefreedom to be able to serve
clients in the best possible way.
So, yes, there are guardrails,there's a framework we talk a
lot about our Sequoia system of.
Here's the onboarding process,here's how we build out a plan,
(18:19):
here's tools and here'sguardrails and here's checklists
to be part of that.
But ultimately, if you want thebest possible product, you're
not handcuffing your advisor tosaying, okay, that client is
this age and this risk tolerance, therefore they get this
portfolio.
No ifs and buts about it.
That's not a good experience.
Instead, bring on the best,give them tools and resources
(18:41):
and trainings and developmentand then let them be an
excellent advisor to theirclients, and we've built this
culture and the system to wherethat just grows as we grow,
because we're adding more andmore awesome people to what I
want to believe is a reallyawesome service we provide to
our clients.
Speaker 1 (18:58):
Love it.
Anti-cookie cutter, anythingelse.
You want to leave people withJames.
Speaker 2 (19:03):
I think we mentioned this a lot but like why are we
talking about this?
Who cares?
Guys talk about the Rothconversions, talk about the
investing.
There is so much of that and alot of people listening to our
shows.
They're do-it-yourselfers,which is awesome.
Like, this episode is maybe notsuper relevant to you, but a lot
of people who listen to ourshows.
They have these types ofquestions, which is why we're
leaning into this a bit more iswell, what's it going to be like
(19:24):
when I work at Root?
Because there's a very bigdifference from providing really
great education, which I thinka lot of people do, versus
building a business that candeliver these types of services
to a large number of people.
And so what we want to say islike we're treating the business
side way more seriously eventhan we treat just the content,
(19:44):
which I think we do really wellto say look, this is education,
how do we take this stuff andhow do we create the vessel by
which we can deliver that toindividual clients?
This stuff really matters.
It might not seem like it does.
It might just seem like youneed to go to the firm that has
a brand name or that hasadvisors with X number of years
experience or has, whatever thecase might be.
(20:05):
But this is how you build anexcellent client experiences by
focusing on these things, whichare career paths, which are
training and development, whichis the right service team, which
is these things, so that when aclient walks in the door,
they're not going to think aboutany of this, but it's happened
behind the scenes, which nowallows them to get that
experience that they'reultimately looking for if
they're going to work with anadvisor.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
Amazing, and I know, having seen my parents interview
multiple advisors.
Part of this is, look, I'm justgoing to sleep better, knowing
you guys are being intentionalabout this, because some firms
you might just go, look, theysaid all the right things, but I
don't really know why.
I can't explain it.
It just doesn't feel like it'sit and I know I felt that way
when I've gone in for aconsultation to get a surgery
(20:44):
and I go hey, that surgeon, theysaid all the right things.
I just don't know why.
I just don't feel versus if Iknew, hey, this is the process
they go through might be alittle bit more kind of
intensive than many of you areeven looking for.
For those few that go wow, thisis exactly what I needed.
I don't know the exact metrics,james, but sounds crazy to say,
(21:06):
but some millions of peoplewatch our videos online and I
don't know exactly how manyclients we have, but somewhere
in the range of 450 to 500clients somewhere in there.
That's where we're doing ourbest work.
So it's awesome because we getto help a lot of you guys and
this is just an additionalepisode.
It's not keeping us from doinganything else we're doing, but
for those of you who haveexpressed interest.
(21:28):
This is why we're making these.
Speaker 2 (21:30):
This is why we're making it, and our mission is
this to help as many people aswe can, a lot of which will
never actually work with Root.
But we've designed other things.
So glad you're listening to thepodcast, to this YouTube
channel.
Whatever you're tuning in on,join the Root Collective.
The Root Collective is anawesome free resource where you
(21:51):
can interact with other peoplepreparing for or in retirement,
to talk about financial stuff aswell as sometimes, more
importantly, the non-financialstuff.
So tune in there.
For people that are interestedin saying I am wanting to be a
client and have someone help mewith these types of things,
great, go to rootfinancialcom,click on a button that says see
if we're a fit.
But what we're trying to do iscreate multiple ways, whether
it's podcasting, youtube videos,whether it's the community, the
(22:11):
collective, whether it'sworking with us on a one-on-one
basis.
How can we help to solve aproblem which is people not
feeling confident or prepared togo into retirement or, worse,
ending their retirement orgetting to the end of their life
?
You know I I missed it.
I wasted so much of what Icould have done because they
didn't have a plan that wouldhelp equip me to pursue the
(22:32):
things that I actually caredmost about.
So something we care a lotabout and it's just something
that we're creating multipleavenues to help reach people,
with this being just one of them.
Speaker 1 (22:39):
So how do we take that big leap to know wow, maybe
we are in a position to retireYou'll have to stay tuned for
next week.
Speaker 2 (22:52):
That felt like a very scripted, like old, not sitcom,
but you know when those showsleave you on the cliffhangers,
yeah, yeah.
Well, stay tuned.
More to come.
See you guys next week, seey'all next week.
The information presented isfor educational purposes only
and it's not intended as anoffer or solicitation for the
sale or purchase of any specificsecurities, investments or
investment strategies.
Investments involve risk andare not guaranteed.
Any mention of rates of returnare historical and illustrative
(23:14):
in nature and are not aguarantee of future returns.
Speaker 1 (23:17):
Past performance does not guarantee future
performance Viewers areencouraged to seek advice from a
qualified tax, legal orinvestment advisor professional
to determine whether anyinformation presented may be
suitable for their specificsituation Once again.
Speaker 2 (23:31):
I'm James Canole, founder of Root Financial, and
if you're interested in seeinghow we help our clients at Root
Financial get the most out oflife with their money, be sure
to visit us atwwwrootfinancialpartnerscom.
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