CEOs You Should Know- BFG Financial

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Episode Transcript

(00:02):
iHeart Media presents CEOs you should Know. Hi. I'm John Dinkel, former
president and publisher of the Baltimore BusinessJournal and now founder and CEO of Dinkel
Business Development. This is iHeartRadio's CEOsyou should Know and I'm here today with
Eric Brotman, CEO at BFG Financial. Welcome American, thanks for being here.
Thanks. John's great to be here. So I thought we'll be begin

(00:24):
by again to know you in theorganization a little more. For those who
may not be familiar, Could youtell us about BFG Financial. Yeah.
BFG Financial is a wealth management andfinancial planning firm. We work with families
across the United States and we werefounded almost twenty years ago. Today,
I'm in my thirtieth here in practice, and we've grown the organization now to

(00:45):
a virtually nationwide organization. But we'rebased in Lutherville, Maryland. Fantastic and
congrats on the twentieth anniversary. Thankyou. Yes, our anniversary is coming
up and it's a lot to celebrate. Nice. Nice talk about your mission
there. Our mission is really toempower families and we use financial planning as
a tool to do that. Butfamilies who have financial literacy and not just

(01:10):
families individuals, of course, butthose who have financial literacy and do financial
planning can then reach a form offinancial freedom or financial independence in a different
way. And so we think it'sabout empowerment of the family great. And
what are the key services that youprovide. The primary services are private wealth
management for our high net worth families, basic financial planning for families across the

(01:34):
spectrum, and then investment management,which can be for folks who want to
do a financial plan or just forfolks who want to have their assets managed
in a hands free way. Andwhat do you feel SETIO apart from other
financial organizations. I think we havea few things. The first is that
we don't have a minimum for assetsbecause we engage clients on a flat fee
basis. You don't have to havea certain amount of money to call us,

(01:56):
and we don't have a so calledsmallest clients, so no one has
to feel that way that's an awfulfeeling. We also have a team approach
that is multi generational and has incrediblediversity, which most firms in our industry
simply don't have. And so Ithink we're set apart in a number of
important ways. That's great. AndI know, I like the idea that

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you, let's just say, don'tdiscriminate between the high wealth and folks just
wanting to get started out. Doyou see a trend or you know,
a movement in the zgen and andmillennials of wanting to you know, get
more attuned with or more are theymore interested in their kind of financial well

(02:43):
being or do you see each kindof trends in that. I think gen
Z is incredibly aware that they needto start planning early millenniums. Millennials are
a tough group on lots of differentlevels, and I like to pick on
them because they're easy to pick on, but the reality is that the millennials
are very interested in to do ityourself. They really want to do everything

(03:04):
themselves, and gen Z is saying, heck with that, we'd rather work
with professionals. And so we actuallysee that the pendulum swinging back toward more
of a full service experience than ithad been. Yeah, that's great.
And I imagine too with the youknow, the way the housing industry is
and I've been reading a lot aboutthat lately, and especially with millennials and
the gen Z are in a toughspot. You know, with the housing

(03:25):
prices going up and obviously interest ratesas hives, they've been in a long
time, and the the the dream, I guess it's of home ownership is
getting harder and harder for them.So I would imagine, you know,
you working with them will help themget there much quicker, you know,

(03:45):
probably, right, well, Iwould certainly hope. So, although we
also have to frame why that's thedream and is that really the dream?
Because the young people really are muchmore mobile than their parents and grandparents.
Yeah, and they're much more werelikely to take a job in Saint Louis
and then three months later or threeyears later being Albuquerque, and and because
of that, sometimes buying a homeis not the right thing to do.

(04:08):
And it's been sort of the Americanlinear path is you buy a home,
you get married, you have kids. It's sort of this this trajectory,
and not everyone's on that same train. And I actually think that's a good
thing. Yeah, yeah, Isee that actually with you know, you
know the gen xers too, youknow, there are a lot more mobility
there and not well they're not wantingto be tied down in one place.

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But but as you mentioned, theability to go to a different city and
live there for a while, andyou know, as long as they are
saving for retirement and you know theyhave a good, good plan together.
But I see a little bit ofthat mobility in the gen xers. Two
gen Xers were not that way untilthe pandemic and remote work. Honestly,

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and I'm a proud gen Xer.We're a little group, but we're feisty.
Uh And and it really was nota mobile group until work could be
mobile. Because gen Xers are stillless likely to change jobs or change industries
than the generations behind them. Yeah, yeah, talk about your corporate financial
wellness plan for businesses. We starteddoing corporate financial wellness because we saw a

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need that was not being served foremployees of both profit and nonprofit organizations.
And that is that a lot ofthese companies put together their employee benefit plans
and maybe they have a four oneK and some insurance benefits and so forth,
and they put these huge packets infront of new employees and say here,

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choose something by Friday. And unfortunatelyit's insanely daunting, especially for young
people. And so what tends tohappen is employee benefits go unused or used
improperly, and HR departments are notlegally allowed to give any advice about even
how to use the plans, muchless how to do other planning. So
there's a new credible need for financialliteracy among employees. And what we've found,

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and we've been working with a numberof organizations now some large organizations but
also some smaller ones, is thatif employees are worried about money, and
they're worried about their finances, that'sliterally all they're thinking about all day.
Whereas if you can empower them totake a different step and to feel more
confident in their decision making, theycan think about work a little more.

(06:24):
So it's been better for productivity.Yeah. Do you see that as a
as a kind of a growth areafor you? Absolutely, and I see
that as something I think we're aheadof the curve, but I think the
curve will catch up to us.This is definitely something that we're going to
see a lot more of because employeeswant this, and so many people have
run into financial advisors who have thesehigh minimums and they don't meet the minimum

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so they feel like they can't gethelp. And so the combination of being
able to have some on site financialconsulting with the possibility of engaging with a
firm that's not going to say sorrywhen you know you can't afford us is
a really powerful combination for people.Yeah, definitely. Is there a you
know, would is there any kindof particular industry that seems to be grasping

(07:11):
onto this idea more than others oris it pretty across the board. I
think it's across the board. We'veWe've seen it from from nonprofits to to
engineering firms to law firms, andultimately I get the sense that if you
have employees and you want them tobe at their best, it means lots
of kinds of wellness, and financialwellness is one of them. Yeah,
that's great. I appreciate you sharingthat. That's a great, great idea.

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By the way, that's that's awesome. I imagine there's a ton of
businesses out there, and you knowthey're employees that could use that that type
of advice. So appreciate you're sharingthat. Sure. Tell us about Brodman
Media Group. Brodman Media Group wascreated in a way to get financial literacy
education to the masses because functionally,there are folks who will hire financial advisors,

(07:57):
and then they're folks who either can'tor just won't, and so we
wanted to provide some financial literacy toolsto everyone and to make them free.
We're very inexpensive, and so it'sinvolved publishing books and writing ebooks and white
papers. It's been a podcast thatI hosted for five years, and other
media content that just allows people todo to get some objective information without having

(08:20):
to spend money that maybe they don'thave or they're not comfortable spending. Yeah,
that's great, that's great. Congratson all of that too, by
the way, that's great. Speakingof books, tell us about your Don't
Retire Graduate book that you just putout, Well, Don't Retire Graduate.
The second editions actually coming out alittle bit later this year because I wanted
to update it for Secure two pointzero and some of the other some of

(08:43):
the other legislation that's passed. Butit was initially published right in time for
the pandemic when I couldn't do abook tour unfortunately. But it's written like
a college curriculum, but it's definitelynot a textbook. It's designed to be
approachable and easy to read, andit's broken into instead of chapters. It's
broken into courses and semesters based onwhere you are in your financial life.

(09:07):
So Freshman year is things like dealingwith student loans and your first employee benefits,
and how to create a budget orget out of debt. Sophomore year
has a lot to do with lifechanges, whether it's buying a home or
getting married or having children. Junioryear has a lot to do with investments
in wealth building and some risk management, as well as some tax planning.
And then senior year has to dowith not only a state planning, but

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how you leave a legacy that's notjust money, and how do you figure
out what you want to be whenyou grow up, so that retirement is
a beginning and not an end foryou. That's awesome. I definitely have
to pick that up. I appreciateyou share and that sure talk about your
personal background. You know, how'dyou get to this point in your career.
I know you've been in the businessfor a long long time, but
but tell us a little bit ofbackground about yourself. Yeah, like all

(09:52):
great financial advisors, I was anEnglish major, and so I say that
lovingly because I studied the English andpsychology and thought I was going to be
teaching, and what I've found isthat doing financial advising is a lot like
teaching. It's teaching one family ata time or one company at a time.
And I started my career right outof college at Lake Mason here in

(10:15):
Baltimore, and I was in thelegal department, and I was planning on
law school, as many English majorsdo, and I fell in love with
the financial business. And so Istarted a practice in the in the mid
nineties and started this firm in twothousand and three, and it's it's been
now almost thirty years. Yeah,that's fantastic. Thank you, all right,
and switch gears a little bit.I like to talk about leadership on

(10:37):
the show. How would you describeyour leadership style? My leadership style is
mostly hands off. I like tohire great people, give them the tools
they need, and then get theheck out of their way. At our
firm, we have a saying that'sjust trust the expert, and it means
that we're going to empower people tomake decisions and we're going to hire the

(10:58):
right people, give them what theyneed, and let them let them run
their their space. And that doesn'tmean I'm not available. It just means
that to micromanage people is a recipefor unhappy employees and for an unhappy me.
I don't want to do it.Yeah, manage sure is. And
I've worked with in both of thoseenvironments where micromanaged and and the you know,

(11:18):
the way's suggesting, and yeah,it is much more, much more
happier. Giving people, you know, the the resources and the tools they
need to do their job and makingsure you hire the right person for the
job kind of reminds me. Ithink I've referenced this before Daniel Pink's book
Drive, you know, and thosekind of three mean you know kind of

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things that he thinks about when itcomes to leading people, and it's giving
them the proper sources, letting themdo the job the way you know they
want to do it, based onwho they are and their talents, and
then also giving them, you know, a something to work for, you
know. And so yeah, thatresonates a a lot with me, I

(12:01):
feel, you know, back inthe day when I was managing people,
it was you know, first andforemost trying to get the first, you
know, the right person in therole and get the talent there, but
also letting them do the letting themdo the job the way they want to
do and what works best for them. Right. Oh, absolutely, And
there's a defined difference between leadership andmanagement. Yeah. My leadership style I

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shared with you. My management styleis not to manage. I managed no
one honestly because I'm not good atit. It's not in my skill set
to be a manager. So wehave people here who are managers who are
great at it, but I'm lousyat it. I tried that early in
my career and learned learned some lessons. So sometimes we have to know our
own limitations, no matter which hatwe're wearing. Yeah, yeah, I

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agreed, agreed. Well, Iappreciate you sharing all that. So,
so I know you mentioned your youstarted your book right before the pandemic,
going through that whole you know,that process or that experience with the pandemic.
What did you what did you learnabout, you know, managing or
leading people through that time. Ofa few things, One, we had

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to learn flexibility in a pretty bighurry. And two and that's with employees,
but with clients and with others.I think we had to really focus
on authenticity because all of a suddenwe were all very human. No one
expected you to be perfect, andthat comes down to everything. It comes

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down to how we dress for work. It's how we show up for work
or for meetings. It's much morecomfortable and communicative. So much change during
the pandemic, and so many peoplesuffered. Not I don't look at that
lightly. Our business sort of thrivedthrough it because we can do everything we
need to remotely if we must.But also it gave us a whole new

(13:50):
a whole new vision on work lifebalance, and it allowed our employees to
have a much more flexible workspace thatall of a sudden, this was an
accident. I didn't know it waspossible, and I certainly wouldn't have volunteered
for it. But now that it'shere, we really like it. Yeah.
Yeah, and it's interesting. Ilike their word, you know,
authentic. And also I would addtransparency too. And you when you you

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know, you're meeting with people onZoom or you know, teams or whatever
it is, you do get tosee a little bit into their life,
right, especially your employees, andyou kind of maybe can you know see
where they live, you know howthey live. You know, sometimes you
can see their kids or their petsor like, so in a way,
it kind of, you know,in some weird sense, I guess it
kind of helped in some ways.I mean, but yeah, I like

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the I like the the word authenticthere, and I think that's that's very
true. Do you now are youhybrid now? Are you mostly working remotely
with your team? Well? No, our team is almost exclusively back in
the office, primarily because everyone wasexcited to come back. Like people wanted
to come back. They really enjoyeach other. However, we now have

(15:00):
technology to be flexible. So whensomebody has a sick kid, or there's
a snow day, or something happenswith the car, you know, it
doesn't mean they suddenly are out ofpocket for the day. It means that
they can be flexible still get somethings done, not have to feel like
it's personal time. And so beingthat flexible with people has made it okay.
We all have emergencies, we allhave lives, we all have families

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and personal lives and medical situations andother things, and we're just human.
And I think it's been strangely reallygood for us to realize that balance.
Do you think the pandemic kind ofhelped bring that to the forefront that you
know, we all have lives,we all you know, we all can

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we all learned how to do ourjobs remotely right and be able to trust
our employees to do the do thework and even wanting to come back into
the office. You know, there'san understanding still now that hey, we
can still do this all site,even though we'd rather be in the office.
But do you think that that kindthat helped the trust with your folks.

(16:03):
I think it helped, But Ialso think it's case by case.
You know, like like anything else, there will be people who who really
spend time making sure that they're navigatingthis carefully and that they're being thoughtful about
how they use work from home.And then there's others who who will take
advantage of a situation. And thathasn't so much happened here, but I
know it's happened with a lot ofour clients and other organizations, and so

(16:26):
you really have to you do haveto trust the individuals, But it comes
down to selection. If you hirethe right people, they should be the
right people whether they're in the conferenceroom or the kitchen, right, true,
very true. So what gets beexcited about the future of Bag Financial.
Well, so many things. Firstof all, I mentioned that that
the upside in our industry is isunbelievable. But there are two things specifically

(16:49):
here that excite me. One isthat we have doubled the number of advisors
we have here to serve families,and three of them are young people who
are who are ready. I meanthey We really have such an amazing,
dynamic team and these are folks intheir twenties and thirties who do an incredible
job and are ready to run.So that excites me. And my personal

(17:12):
role is changing where I'm spending alot more time doing business development and community
involvement and things that are CEO issupposed to be doing. And frankly,
I'm having so much fun with itthat you know, I'm really enjoying the
flexibility to be in my role.And you know, I still represent some
clients personally, but there's a verysmall number. Most of the time.

(17:33):
It is my job too. Itis my job to grow the company and
other people's jobs to do a greatjob. That's great, great, thanks
for sharing it. Well. Soconversely, what keeps you up at night?
Well, fortunately I sleep great.Nothing keeps me up at night,
John. But but but the thingsthat are always present with any organization,
and ours is no exception, ispeople and it because people, you know,

(17:59):
life happens, people have to theymove, or they retire, or
they quit or something happens, andso people are always a challenge, and
machines are always a challenge because technologiesis changing so fast that to keep up
with that is expensive and you needthe right vendors. What I would say
is probably the biggest challenge though rightnow for our business in our industry is

(18:21):
the regulatory environment. And I considerthe biggest threat to our industry and our
business to be government in general andspecifically federally. Right, yeah, yeah,
thank you appreciate sharing that too.Well, we kind of wrap things
up. Is there anything else you'dlike our listeners to know about you and
VFG Financial? Well, the onething to know is that at BFG,

(18:41):
we have a program that allows forprospective clients to meet with one of our
advisors and there's no cost to doso, so we do a consultation at
no cost to determine whether we're agood fit for somebody and whether we can
help them. So hopefully that reducesthe hesitation for folks to reach out to
us because they look at us andgo, oh my gosh, they've got

(19:02):
to be expensive and unattainable, andthe reality is we're trying to be very
attainable and very reachable that way,So we will meet with folks the first
time, we charge nothing and wedetermine, Hey, are we the right
place for you or not? Yeah, that's great, great. I appreciate
you sharing that, and tell ushow to get more information about BFG Financial.
Well. Our website is bfgfa dotcom and we're all over social media,

(19:27):
so whether it's Broughtman Media Group,We're Broughtman Consulting Group, or BFG
Financial Advisors or the show. Wehave a BFG University, a BFG Library.
I mean, we're trying to beeverywhere and to provide information. So
if you if you google us,you'll you'll find us. Okay, great,
Well, thank you so much.Eric. I really appreciate catching up

(19:48):
with you. It's been a littlewhile since you and I have a conversation,
so I really appreciate you coming onand talking to us. It's been
great. It's been good to catchup with you. I hope Bill our
Pazzle cross again soon. And Ithank you for the opportunity to be on
your show. This has been iheartmediasCEOs you should know h