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Financial Advisor Success

Financial Advisor Success

Michael Kitces 491 episodes Latest May 26, 2026

The Financial Advisor Success podcast features real success stories and insights from top financial advisors and industry consultants. It offers a behind-the-scenes look at building a successful advisory business, covering the highs and lows of growing a firm. The show aims to help new and experienced advisors break through barriers and achieve their desired level of success. Additional resources are available at the Nerd's Eye View blog on Kitces.com.

Episodes

Ep 493: Growing To $350M AUM By Putting Client Cash Flow At The Center Of The Planning Process with David Mozeika Jun 9, 2026 01:29:40 Budgeting – less about rigid restrictions, more about changing mindsets on using income effectively. Today's guest shares a different approach to financial planning: one that focuses less on restricting spending and more on creating intentional systems that help clients save automatically and use their income more effectively. David Mozeika is the founder of TOMORO, an RIA based in Red Bank, N
Ep 492: Getting Your (Virtual) Team's Best Work Through Steward Leadership On The Growth Path To $500M with Mary Chapman Jun 2, 2026 01:30:21 It takes intentionality to build a thriving hybrid workplace without losing accountability, culture, or client experience. In this FASuccess, Mary shares how she has successfully blended remote flexibility with high standards by applying the principles of steward leadership.  Mary Chapman is the chief operating officer of Cummings Wealth Management Group, a hybrid advisory firm based in Charlest
Ep 491: Earning Premium Planning Fees By Demonstrating Hard-Dollar Tax Savings For Business Owner Clients with Patrick Lonergan May 26, 2026 01:30:00 What would it take for a client to happily pay you $70,000+ per year… and feel like they're getting a bargain? In the case of today's guest, it's building a high-value advisory firm by helping business owners unlock significant tax savings, often in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.  Patrick Lonergan is the founder of Vital Wealth, an RIA based in Clinton, Iowa, that generates $2.5 million
Ep 490: Attracting And Retaining HNW Clients By Being More Available For Their Multigenerational Family Needs with Liz Miller May 19, 2026 01:30:00 For high-net-worth clients, financial planning is often not just about managing their money during their lifetimes, but also a matter of preparing the next generation to inherit family wealth. Which suggests that meeting with clients' children can both offer value for current clients and also begin a relationship with the next generation that could last for decades to come. Liz Miller is the fo
Ep 489: Winning More Clients By Talking Less And Reducing Friction For Prospects with Sara Grillo May 12, 2026 01:30:00 For financial advisors, it might seem intuitive to spend time with prospects explaining the value they can offer. However, doing most of the talking can leave prospects unsure whether the advisor truly understands their needs, potentially discouraging them from becoming a client. In this episode, we welcome Sara Grillo, a marketing specialist for financial advisors, to discuss how focusing less
Ep 488: Bringing Hiring In-House To Support Rapid Growth After Doubling AUM To $600M In One Year with Joe Schmitz Jr. May 5, 2026 01:30:00 How do you scale a financial advisory firm to 40+ staff and $630M AUM in just a few years without breaking your hiring, culture, or client experience? In this episode, you'll hear about the hiring and marketing strategies fueling this kind of growth and how being open about a firm's values can lead to greater retention of both clients and team members.  Joe Schmitz Jr. is the founder of Peak Reti
Ep 487: Building The Team And Tech To Serve Thousands Of (Advice-Only) Clients Efficiently with Lori Atwood Apr 28, 2026 01:30:13 Growing a client base from the hundreds into the thousands requires both tech and talent. Today's guest discusses how she's done both in order to serve more than 3,000 advice-only clients over the past three years. Lori Atwood is the founder of Fearless Finance. In this episode, she shares why she built her own internal planning software platform to meet the needs of her ideal target clients, how
Ep 486: Lessons Learned from How Mega-RIAs Are Scaling Their People to Support Growth with Lisa Crafford Apr 21, 2026 01:29:59 What does it take to scale an advisory firm from a small practice into a true enterprise? Today's episode offers a deep look at what really happens as firms grow into multi-billion-dollar businesses, including hiring strategies, leadership team growth, and equity strucutres for employees.  Lisa Crafford is the Head of Advisory at Constellation Wealth Capital, and she joins the show today to disc
Ep 485: Exercises to Help Clients Better Navigate the Transition to Retirement After Having Done It Yourself with Michael Kay Apr 14, 2026 01:30:00 While financial advisors and their clients often focus on creating a succesful retirement income plan, a successful, meaningful retirement goes well beyond dollars and cents. In this episode, we dive into the deeper side of the retirement transition and why many high-performing professionals (including financial advisors) underestimate the psychological shift that comes with leaving a decades-lon
Ep 484: Scaling To $1B AUM By Recognizing Your (Rainmaker) Strengths And Delegating The Rest with Jake Falcon Apr 7, 2026 01:29:59 At some point, firm founders often find that their time is divided between attracting new clients and serving current ones (and running their business). This episode explores how it's possible to delegate technical work to a centralized planning team, segment clients by revenue, and leverage asynchronous communication tools to create client touchpoints while devoting significant time to closing n
Ep 483: Closing (More Affluent) Clients in The First Meeting with an "Approach Talk" Method to Create Urgency with Erin Botsford Mar 31, 2026 01:30:00 What does it take to close a high-net-worth client in the very first meeting? For Erin Botsford, the answer is for an advisor to position themselves as a risk expert and to create a sense of urgency to act in the prospects' minds.  Erin is the founder of The Advisor Authority, and has developed a step-by-step formula for advisors to close more upmarket clients faster. She joins the show today to s
Ep 482: Growing To $500M AUM In 7 Years by Connecting with Your Ideal Clients on LinkedIn with Justin Brownlee Mar 24, 2026 01:30:29 What if just the 10 'right' people seeing your content could grow your firm faster than 10,000 random viewers? Growing an advisory firm doesn't always require reaching the largest audience. In many cases, the right audience—clearly defined and intentionally engaged—can be far more powerful than broad visibility.  Justin Brownlee has built a $500 million RIA serving just 75 households by targeting

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