April 17, 2025 • 24 mins
What actually goes into creating a world-class client experience at Root? We're walking through the structure behind Root's advisory team—and how we ensure every client gets consistent, thoughtful guidance no matter who they’re working with.
We break down the different advisor roles, from Client Service Associate to Senior Financial Advisor, and explain how our “farm system” approach helps us grow top-tier advisors from the ground up. It’s not just about years of experience—it’s about shared values, rigorous training, and a culture of mentorship.
If you’re considering working with Root—or just curious about what makes us different—this behind-the-scenes conversation will give you a look at how we build a team designed to support you and your goals at every step.
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Timestamps:
0:00 - Selling product vs service
2:58 - Four roles supporting clients
5:36 - Project management
8:16 - Root's growth plan
11:00 - A farm system
12:33 - Requirements to be a Root advisor
15:09 - Freedom within guardrails
19:03 - Why this matters
21:31 - Wrap-up
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
This is another episode of Ready for Retirement.
I'm your host, james Canole,and I'm here to teach you how to
get the most out of life withyour money.
And now on to the episode.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
One of the cool things at Root is we have a lot
of different roles.
There are people that help onthe 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.
(00:32):
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 that Root is a world-classexperience for all clients.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
Yes, and so this Roots Talks.
We're going to be talking aboutthat, and I think the key
difference or the key thing toknow, ari, is that there's a
very big difference betweenselling a product and selling 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 is Like.
Wherever you buy that HondaCivic, you're getting a Honda
(01:17):
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 isa lot of times, with services,
when you are working withsomeone, it depends upon the
person, and so at Root, ideally,we want this insane consistency
(01:40):
of service, regardless of whoyou're working with, regardless
of what that looks like, and todo that, you want to create a
service model and you want tocreate different roles that all
support that level of servicethat you're striving 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 2 (01:59):
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
(02:20):
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 1 (02:39):
Yeah, the Picasso quote learn the rules like a pro
so you can break them like anartist.
I Learn the rules like a pro soyou can break them like an
artist.
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
(02:59):
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.
(03:21):
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 helpingto open accounts, they're
helping to make sure moneymovements are happening, they're
helping to make sure thatbeneficiaries are updated when
they need to be updated.
They're making sure thatdistributions are going out,
their contributions are comingin or all the things behind the
(03:41):
scenes 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 leadfinancial 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
(04:03):
.
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
(04:24):
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.
(04:46):
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 andthen finally, at the top there's
the senior financial advisor.
And at most firms senior advisorjust means you develop business
.
It means you're not really theadvisor yourself Most often.
(05:11):
You're out there developingbusiness, you're out there at
the networking events, you'reout there building relationships
, you're out there getting toknow people selling your firm,
and then you bring a client inand you have other advisors
actually doing the service work.
That is not Roots model.
Roots model is the seniorfinancial advisor is very much a
player coach.
They have their own clients.
They're also responsible forthe training, the development,
(05:31):
the coaching, the team cohesionof the team that they are
supporting, because we believethat that creates just a better
environment for advisors, forthe team and ultimately that
creates a better environment andservice model for clients
Beautiful.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
So is this just so that, if let's just assume I'm a
lead financial advisor in thisexample, is it so if I'm sick
that a client could go, oh Ari'sout, I'll just call someone
else and then they'll probablyknow my situation is the
associate on every meeting.
Does the senior just show upsometimes?
How does that work?
Speaker 1 (06:06):
It's for a lot of different reasons.
One is yeah, I guess that couldbe one benefit or a year out
sick and you have an associatefinancial advisor and someone
needs an answer to theirquestion.
Well, great, ari is not thesole person that has the
information about your plan andsomeone else can get you an
answer.
But I think the bigger thing isI think you don't realize.
I didn't realize this cominginto the industry.
(06:26):
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.
(06:48):
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 weeffectively capturing notes
within meetings?
Are we effectively draftingfollow-up emails?
(07:09):
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
(07:31):
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
(07:52):
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 verygrowth minded and we talk about
this a lot, but the best way wecan serve our clients really
really well is by serving ourteam really really well and
(08:13):
ensuring that everyone'scontinuing to get development
and mentorship and coaching sothat, as we all get better.
Going back to the productversus service thing, we are a
service, we are the product, andso the better the advisor, the
better that relationship, thebetter the experience is going
to be for clients.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
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.
(08:50):
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
(09:13):
system, that baseball analogyabout how we want to grow here
at Root?
Speaker 1 (09:18):
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
(09:42):
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
(10:02):
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.
(10:24):
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
(10:44):
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
(11:07):
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
(11:30):
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.
(11:51):
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
(12:13):
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 tools,tools.
We're being trained on samevalues, which is this thing that
money is not just a tool to beoptimized at all cost, but we're
(12:41):
helping clients to use theirmoney to get the most out of
life, using the financialplanning, the tax planning, all
that stuff as a tool to getthere.
So that is very much a priorityfor us.
Speaker 2 (12:46):
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 1 (12:59):
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 acertain amount of time in each
role to feel like, yes, you canfully absorb this.
You have seen enough meetings.
You've seen enough of this andwhat we might call second chair,
(13:22):
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 our advisorsthat have designations even
beyond that, but that's just acore requirement.
(13:42):
There's a lot of our advisorsthat have designations even
beyond that, but that's just acore requirement.
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,
(14:03):
where you were doing a lot ofrole play to make sure 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
(14:24):
the time someone is an advisor,it feels very organic and
natural in a continuation ofwhat they're already doing.
Not to mention that there'sdifferent 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
(14:46):
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 of certainmeetings as an associate advisor
(15:07):
with the lead financial advisorthere, and very much coaching
and making sure that everythingis 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 2 (15:21):
Love it.
And then my final question verynatural progression to being
able to fill that rolethemselves, 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, andthere's the okay, you're a
client service associate, thenan associate, and then a lead
(15:47):
advisor and a senior advisor,and I'm sure you have checks and
balances.
But just how do I know I'm goingto 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 advisorrole.
Who's helping that lead advisorrole, with maybe some more
complex cases or other variables, and James and I are very
careful when it comes toselecting that senior advisor
role.
But that ultimate question andpart of this you can answer,
James, I'm sure through metricsand things going on in your
(16:08):
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 1 (16:19):
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
very beginning, there's beenthis huge focus and
(16:39):
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.
(17:00):
So we feel like we get to handpick the best, the best.
I mean it's 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 growing fast, but we'regrowing very sustainably.
(17:21):
We get great people.
Very.
We're growing fast, but we'regrowing very sustainably.
We get great people.
And a quote that I love is thebest version of.
I should be better preparedwith some of these quotes, but
something along the lines oflike hey, you, you, this isn't
an environment where you havesomeone 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.
(17:43):
Well, how do you do that?
You equip the best and thebrightest.
To going back to the quote youmentioned, they have learned the
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 and
(18:07):
retirement planning and tax andall that stuff, but only in
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 Sequoiasystem of here's the onboarding
(18:29):
process, here's how we buildout a plan, here's tools and
here's guardrails and here'schecklists 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.
It just that's not a goodexperience.
(18:50):
Instead, bring on the best,give them tools and resources
and trainings and developmentand then let them be an
excellent advisor to theirclients.
And we've built this cultureand the system to where that
just grows as we grow, becausewe are adding more and more
awesome people to what I want tobelieve is a really awesome
service we provide to ourclients.
Speaker 2 (19:11):
Love it.
Anti-cookie cutter, anythingelse.
You want to leave people withJames.
Speaker 1 (19:16):
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.
This episode is maybe not superrelevant to you, but a lot of
people who listen to our shows,they have these types of
questions which is why we'releaning into this a bit more is
what's it going to be like whenI work at Root?
(19:37):
Because there there's a very bigdifference from providing
really great education, which Ithink a 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 hey, we're, we're treating
the business side way moreseriously even than we treat
just the content, which I thinkwe do really well to say, look,
(19:58):
this is education, how do wetake this stuff and how do we
create the vessel by which wecan deliver that to individual
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.
But this is how you build anexcellent client experience is
(20:21):
by focusing on these things,which are career paths, which
are training and development,which is the right service team,
which is these things, so thatwhen a client walks in the door,
they're not going to thinkabout any of this, but it's
happened behind the scenes,which now allows them to get
that experience that they'reultimately looking for if
they're going to work with anadvisor.
Speaker 2 (20:37):
Amazing Now, having seen my parents interview
multiple advisors, part of thisis look, I'm just going to sleep
better, knowing you guys arebeing intentional about this,
because some firms you mightjust go, look, they said all the
right things, but I don'treally 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
(20:57):
and I go, hey, that surgeon,they said 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 out, thisis exactly what I needed.
I don't know the exact metrics,james, but sounds crazy to say,
(21:18):
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
(21:39):
for those of you who haveexpressed interest.
This is why we're making these.
Speaker 1 (21:43):
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 or this YouTube channel
whatever you're tuning in onJoin the Root Collective.
The Root Collective is anawesome free resource where you
can interact with other peoplepreparing for or in retirement,
to talk about financial stuff aswell as sometimes, more
(22:05):
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
collective, whether it'sworking with us on a one-on-one
(22:27):
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
?
Feeling 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
things that I actually caredmost about.
So something we care a lotabout, and it's just something
(22:47):
that we're creating multipleavenues to help reach people,
with this being just one of them.
Speaker 2 (22:52):
So how do we take that big leap to know wow, maybe
we are in a position to retire?
You'll have to stay tuned fornext week.
That felt like a very scripted,like old, not sitcom.
But you know when those showsleave you on the cliffhangers.
Speaker 1 (23:04):
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 is not intended as an offeror 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
(23:27):
in nature and are not aguarantee of future returns.
Speaker 2 (23:30):
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.
Speaker 1 (23:43):
Hey everyone, it's me again for the disclaimer.
Please be smart about this.
Before doing anything, pleasebe sure to consult with your tax
planner or financial planner.
Nothing in this podcast shouldbe construed as investment, tax,
legal or other financial advice.
It is for informationalpurposes only.
Thank you for listening toanother episode of the Ready for
Retirement podcast.
(24:03):
If you want to see how RootFinancial can help you implement
the techniques I discussed inthis podcast, then go to
rootfinancialpartnerscom andclick start here, where you can
schedule a call with one of ouradvisors.
We work with clients all overthe country and we love the
opportunity to speak with youabout your goals and how we
might be able to help.
And please remember, nothing wediscuss in this podcast is
intended to serve as advice.
(24:24):
You should always consult afinancial, legal or tax
professional who's familiar withyour unique circumstances
before making any financialdecisions.
This is another episode of Ready for Retirement.
I'm your host, james Canole,and I'm here to teach you how to
get the most out of life withyour money.
And now on to the episode.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
One of the cool things at Root is we have a lot
of different roles.
There are people that help onthe 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.
(00:32):
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 that Root is a world-classexperience for all clients.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
Yes, and so this Roots Talks.
We're going to be talking aboutthat, and I think the key
difference or the key thing toknow, ari, is that there's a
very big difference betweenselling a product and selling 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 is Like.
Wherever you buy that HondaCivic, you're getting a Honda
(01:17):
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 isa lot of times, with services,
when you are working withsomeone, it depends upon the
person, and so at Root, ideally,we want this insane consistency
(01:40):
of service, regardless of whoyou're working with, regardless
of what that looks like, and todo that, you want to create a
service model and you want tocreate different roles that all
support that level of servicethat you're striving 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 2 (01:59):
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
(02:20):
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 1 (02:39):
Yeah, the Picasso quote learn the rules like a pro
so you can break them like anartist.
I Learn the rules like a pro soyou can break them like an
artist.
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
(02:59):
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.
(03:21):
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 helpingto open accounts, they're
helping to make sure moneymovements are happening, they're
helping to make sure thatbeneficiaries are updated when
they need to be updated.
They're making sure thatdistributions are going out,
their contributions are comingin or all the things behind the
(03:41):
scenes 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 leadfinancial 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
(04:03):
.
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
(04:24):
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.
(04:46):
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 andthen finally, at the top there's
the senior financial advisor.
And at most firms senior advisorjust means you develop business
.
It means you're not really theadvisor yourself Most often.
(05:11):
You're out there developingbusiness, you're out there at
the networking events, you'reout there building relationships
, you're out there getting toknow people selling your firm,
and then you bring a client inand you have other advisors
actually doing the service work.
That is not Roots model.
Roots model is the seniorfinancial advisor is very much a
player coach.
They have their own clients.
They're also responsible forthe training, the development,
(05:31):
the coaching, the team cohesionof the team that they are
supporting, because we believethat that creates just a better
environment for advisors, forthe team and ultimately that
creates a better environment andservice model for clients
Beautiful.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
So is this just so that, if let's just assume I'm a
lead financial advisor in thisexample, is it so if I'm sick
that a client could go, oh Ari'sout, I'll just call someone
else and then they'll probablyknow my situation is the
associate on every meeting.
Does the senior just show upsometimes?
How does that work?
Speaker 1 (06:06):
It's for a lot of different reasons.
One is yeah, I guess that couldbe one benefit or a year out
sick and you have an associatefinancial advisor and someone
needs an answer to theirquestion.
Well, great, ari is not thesole person that has the
information about your plan andsomeone else can get you an
answer.
But I think the bigger thing isI think you don't realize.
I didn't realize this cominginto the industry.
(06:26):
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.
(06:48):
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 weeffectively capturing notes
within meetings?
Are we effectively draftingfollow-up emails?
(07:09):
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
(07:31):
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
(07:52):
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 verygrowth minded and we talk about
this a lot, but the best way wecan serve our clients really
really well is by serving ourteam really really well and
(08:13):
ensuring that everyone'scontinuing to get development
and mentorship and coaching sothat, as we all get better.
Going back to the productversus service thing, we are a
service, we are the product, andso the better the advisor, the
better that relationship, thebetter the experience is going
to be for clients.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
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.
(08:50):
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
(09:13):
system, that baseball analogyabout how we want to grow here
at Root?
Speaker 1 (09:18):
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
(09:42):
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
(10:02):
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.
(10:24):
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
(10:44):
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
(11:07):
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
(11:30):
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.
(11:51):
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
(12:13):
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 tools,tools.
We're being trained on samevalues, which is this thing that
money is not just a tool to beoptimized at all cost, but we're
(12:41):
helping clients to use theirmoney to get the most out of
life, using the financialplanning, the tax planning, all
that stuff as a tool to getthere.
So that is very much a priorityfor us.
Speaker 2 (12:46):
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 1 (12:59):
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 acertain amount of time in each
role to feel like, yes, you canfully absorb this.
You have seen enough meetings.
You've seen enough of this andwhat we might call second chair,
(13:22):
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 our advisorsthat have designations even
beyond that, but that's just acore requirement.
(13:42):
There's a lot of our advisorsthat have designations even
beyond that, but that's just acore requirement.
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,
(14:03):
where you were doing a lot ofrole play to make sure 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
(14:24):
the time someone is an advisor,it feels very organic and
natural in a continuation ofwhat they're already doing.
Not to mention that there'sdifferent 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
(14:46):
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 of certainmeetings as an associate advisor
(15:07):
with the lead financial advisorthere, and very much coaching
and making sure that everythingis 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 2 (15:21):
Love it.
And then my final question verynatural progression to being
able to fill that rolethemselves, 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, andthere's the okay, you're a
client service associate, thenan associate, and then a lead
(15:47):
advisor and a senior advisor,and I'm sure you have checks and
balances.
But just how do I know I'm goingto 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 advisorrole.
Who's helping that lead advisorrole, with maybe some more
complex cases or other variables, and James and I are very
careful when it comes toselecting that senior advisor
role.
But that ultimate question andpart of this you can answer,
James, I'm sure through metricsand things going on in your
(16:08):
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 1 (16:19):
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
very beginning, there's beenthis huge focus and
(16:39):
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.
(17:00):
So we feel like we get to handpick the best, the best.
I mean it's 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 growing fast, but we'regrowing very sustainably.
(17:21):
We get great people.
Very.
We're growing fast, but we'regrowing very sustainably.
We get great people.
And a quote that I love is thebest version of.
I should be better preparedwith some of these quotes, but
something along the lines oflike hey, you, you, this isn't
an environment where you havesomeone 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.
(17:43):
Well, how do you do that?
You equip the best and thebrightest.
To going back to the quote youmentioned, they have learned the
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 and
(18:07):
retirement planning and tax andall that stuff, but only in
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 Sequoiasystem of here's the onboarding
(18:29):
process, here's how we buildout a plan, here's tools and
here's guardrails and here'schecklists 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.
It just that's not a goodexperience.
(18:50):
Instead, bring on the best,give them tools and resources
and trainings and developmentand then let them be an
excellent advisor to theirclients.
And we've built this cultureand the system to where that
just grows as we grow, becausewe are adding more and more
awesome people to what I want tobelieve is a really awesome
service we provide to ourclients.
Speaker 2 (19:11):
Love it.
Anti-cookie cutter, anythingelse.
You want to leave people withJames.
Speaker 1 (19:16):
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.
This episode is maybe not superrelevant to you, but a lot of
people who listen to our shows,they have these types of
questions which is why we'releaning into this a bit more is
what's it going to be like whenI work at Root?
(19:37):
Because there there's a very bigdifference from providing
really great education, which Ithink a 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 hey, we're, we're treating
the business side way moreseriously even than we treat
just the content, which I thinkwe do really well to say, look,
(19:58):
this is education, how do wetake this stuff and how do we
create the vessel by which wecan deliver that to individual
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.
But this is how you build anexcellent client experience is
(20:21):
by focusing on these things,which are career paths, which
are training and development,which is the right service team,
which is these things, so thatwhen a client walks in the door,
they're not going to thinkabout any of this, but it's
happened behind the scenes,which now allows them to get
that experience that they'reultimately looking for if
they're going to work with anadvisor.
Speaker 2 (20:37):
Amazing Now, having seen my parents interview
multiple advisors, part of thisis look, I'm just going to sleep
better, knowing you guys arebeing intentional about this,
because some firms you mightjust go, look, they said all the
right things, but I don'treally 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
(20:57):
and I go, hey, that surgeon,they said 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 out, thisis exactly what I needed.
I don't know the exact metrics,james, but sounds crazy to say,
(21:18):
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
(21:39):
for those of you who haveexpressed interest.
This is why we're making these.
Speaker 1 (21:43):
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 or this YouTube channel
whatever you're tuning in onJoin the Root Collective.
The Root Collective is anawesome free resource where you
can interact with other peoplepreparing for or in retirement,
to talk about financial stuff aswell as sometimes, more
(22:05):
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
collective, whether it'sworking with us on a one-on-one
(22:27):
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
?
Feeling 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
things that I actually caredmost about.
So something we care a lotabout, and it's just something
(22:47):
that we're creating multipleavenues to help reach people,
with this being just one of them.
Speaker 2 (22:52):
So how do we take that big leap to know wow, maybe
we are in a position to retire?
You'll have to stay tuned fornext week.
That felt like a very scripted,like old, not sitcom.
But you know when those showsleave you on the cliffhangers.
Speaker 1 (23:04):
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 is not intended as an offeror 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
(23:27):
in nature and are not aguarantee of future returns.
Speaker 2 (23:30):
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.
Speaker 1 (23:43):
Hey everyone, it's me again for the disclaimer.
Please be smart about this.
Before doing anything, pleasebe sure to consult with your tax
planner or financial planner.
Nothing in this podcast shouldbe construed as investment, tax,
legal or other financial advice.
It is for informationalpurposes only.
Thank you for listening toanother episode of the Ready for
Retirement podcast.
(24:03):
If you want to see how RootFinancial can help you implement
the techniques I discussed inthis podcast, then go to
rootfinancialpartnerscom andclick start here, where you can
schedule a call with one of ouradvisors.
We work with clients all overthe country and we love the
opportunity to speak with youabout your goals and how we
might be able to help.
And please remember, nothing wediscuss in this podcast is
intended to serve as advice.
(24:24):
You should always consult afinancial, legal or tax
professional who's familiar withyour unique circumstances
before making any financialdecisions.
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Have you ever wondered what life might be like if you stopped worrying about being wanted, and focused on understanding what you actually want? That was the question Hope Woodard asked herself after a string of situationships inspired her to take a break from sex and dating. She went "boysober," a personal concept that sparked a global movement among women looking to prioritize themselves over men. Now, Hope is looking to expand the ways we explore our relationship to relationships. Taking a bold, unfiltered look into modern love, romance, and self-discovery, Boysober will dive into messy stories about dating, sex, love, friendship, and breaking generational patterns—all with humor, vulnerability, and a fresh perspective.
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com