Let’s say you’re meeting with a prospect.  I want you to discard everything you typically do at these meetings (talk about yourself, your firm, your expertise, spin the conversation to financial goals, pursue an agenda, assume you are in charge of the meeting, etc.).

There’s only one surefire way to get people to like and trust us:  Empower them to talk about themselves. Let them guide the conversation.

Rather than denying the existence of conflicts, a better approach would be to adhere to the fiduciary Best Practices formulated by the Institute for the Fiduciary Standard.

With investments becoming a commodity, advisors have shifted to demonstrating “value” by offering a wide range of other services.  At their core, these services involve comprehensive financial planning.

A recent study described my flawed process as “perspective mistaking.”  Through an elaborate series of experiments, the authors concluded our assumptions about the perspectives of others – including people we presumably know really well – are often incorrect.

Investors can invest on their own, using low management fee target date funds or core funds, and not pay any advisory fee.  Or they can use a hybrid robo-advisor and pay fees far lower than what you are charging.