I just got back from Hollywood, Florida where I spent the last few days at this year’s Inside ETFs conference.
It was a special trip for me because this was my first chance to participate in a panel discussion. I’m incredibly grateful to the people at Inside ETFs for giving me the opportunity. Big shout to John Swolfs and Sovaida Noronha, specifically.
I had the honor of being joined on stage by my good friend, Justin Castelli of RLS Wealth Management. Justin is doing great things with his practice out in Fishers, Indiana and has previously been a guest on Tim’s Living with Money podcast.
Justin and I were joined by two other industry rockstars, Jennifer Wappaus and Malik Sarwar, to discuss how to effectively transfer wealth across generations at an advisory firm. We had the honor of being led in this discussion by the venerable Rick Ferri.
An overarching theme during our conversation was finding ways to engage entire families. As advisors, we need to get better at involving both spouses and the next generation during the financial planning process. Surviving spouses and children can and should walk out the door of an advisor who they never interact with until after their loved one is already gone.
Working with entire families can mean a lot of things. It can mean putting your message out on multiple platforms depending on who you’re trying to reach. It can mean having alternative client service models that enable you to work with individuals at different life stages. It can mean taking an active interest in causes or topics that different family members enjoy. My friend Justin summed it up best, saying that we should just treat all family members like human beings. It seems like a no-brainer, but our industry struggles with it none the less.
At Mullooly Asset, our family of advisors works with client households as a team because we feel that age diversity can be an important factor in serving entire families.
I wish we filmed the entire panel so you could hear Jennifer, Justin, Malik, and Rick say these things in their own words, which were far more polished than my writing. Fortunately, Justin and I did have some time on Sunday afternoon to film a quick video where we discussed some of these topics. You can check it out here: