You're listening to “Financial Advisor Marketing”—the best show on the planet for financial advisors who want to get more clients, without all the stress. You're about to get the real scoop on everything from lead generation to closing the deal.
James is the founder of TheAdvisorCoach.com, where you can find an entire suite of products designed to help financial advisors grow their businesses more rapidly than ever before. Now, here is your host, James Pollard.
James: I am super thankful that I have my unique vantage point in life, because I've always been interested in personal finance. I remember reading personal finance books when I was 11 and 12 years old. It's always fascinated me for as long as I've been reading them.
Plus, I've been interested in marketing for as long as I can remember, too. I can still remember watching television commercials at four or five years old and thinking to myself, Why did they say that? or, Why do these commercials have phone numbers at the end? Why did they talk about the price so many times? and things like that. I remember distinctly thinking those thoughts. [01:07.1]
I even remember the very first direct response ad I ever responded to from television. There was this commercial offering a collection of 50 classic horror movies, and I remember that they offered me even more when I called so that's the upsell. I know that now, but I remember being so fascinated that they didn't. I just loved it. I loved the whole process.
I'm thankful that I'm able to merge the two of my passions together as the Financial Advisor Marketing guy, and since I have had literally tens and thousands of conversations with financial advisors over the years, I frequently get questions like, “What do most financial advisors recommend for XYZ?” or whatever it is, or “What's the hot stock I should be buying now?” just like financial advisors get asked all the time.
Another question I get quite a bit is “What do you do with your money?” and that's what I'd like to talk about in this episode today, or at least the mistakes I've made, things I've done well, things I've done poorly, and I hope you'll indulge me a little bit. [02:00.0]
I figured this episode would be valuable because financial advisors talk about money all day long, and if nothing else, this will be one extra viewpoint about money that can help them make better business decisions and marketing decisions and life decisions.
But before I jump into the episode, I want to make an announcement. I am officially raising the price of the Inner Circle Newsletter to $199 per month on January 1, 2025. Anyone and everyone who is subscribed at the $99 per-month-price will be grandfathered in, okay? So, if you're a current subscriber or if you're someone who subscribes before January 1, then you will be locked in at $99 per month. That is the price you will pay in 2025 and 2026, and beyond. Okay, just want to make that super clear. If you pay $99 per month, that is what you will continue to pay. But on January 1, the price will go up to $199 per month.
Why am I doing that? It's been $99 per month ever since I published the very first issue in 2018. Yet the content has gotten significantly better. The level of knowledge, insights and results I've shared with my Inner Circle members has grown exponentially. [03:07.4]
I'm also increasing the price because I'm committed to attracting only the highest caliber of financial advisors. Charging a premium price is one of the most effective ways to do that. I want serious, committed financial advisors. These are the advisors who are ready to take their businesses to the next level. Those are the people who I want to surround myself with, especially because I give Inner Circle members direct email access to me for their questions—and I have monthly office hours through Zoom on the second Tuesday of every month from 11:00 a.m. to 01:00 p.m., Eastern Standard Time.
Financial advisors can hang out with me. We can talk to each other. They can get insights from me and from other financial advisors. We can look at your campaign, your direct mail, your online ads, your LinkedIn profile, whatever it is that you want. It is truly for you, designed to serve you. It is for you, not me. I already know the stuff, right? I'm not doing it for me. I'm doing it for you. I'm doing it out of, seriously, I mean, as cheesy as it sounds, the goodness of my heart, because I genuinely want to serve financial advisors. I also want to get to know you. I want to know, what is your life like? What do you do? What are you interested in? You're more than a subscriber to me if you're an inner Circle member. I want to genuinely get to know you. [04:13.1]
Again, Inner Circle members will be grandfathered in. I want to make that super-duper clear because I don't want to get emails from people. “Oh no, will I pay this? Will I pay this?” No, $99. If that's what you pay, that's what you pay. That can include you if you subscribe before the January 1 deadline, so as a thank you, your price will not increase. You will only pay $99 per month for as long as you remain a member, meaning, you'll continue to enjoy all the value of the newsletter at the original price, while new members will pay the increased rate, so the longer you stay subscribed, the bigger your savings.
I plan on mentioning this a lot more in coming episodes because I want to make sure people know, so just bear with me. It might get kind of annoying if you're a long-term listener, but I thank you in advance for dealing with this.
If you want to check out the newsletter and possibly become a member, if you're not, go to TheAdvisorCoach.com/coaching. [05:03.7]
Now, let me give you some more context into why I'm talking about money in this week's episode. I am not the richest person in the world, but I do okay. I've made a lot of good decisions so far in my life, and I'd like to share a few of them with you. One of the things I'd like you to consider when looking at various mentors and coaches and people you want to listen to is this: what are their lives like? Meaning, they might be, quote-unquote, “rich” with money, but the rest of their lives suck.
I'll give you an example. There's this one guy, a marketing legend, who I highly respect, who spent years going up and down the United States, speaking to various groups all over the place. He gave a lot of speeches about marketing and, more specifically, direct mail. Now, think about this for a second. If direct mail was so awesome, and I love direct mail, why in the world was he giving speeches? Maybe he knew that multiple marketing strategies was the holy grail of all marketing like I teach and I've been saying that for years. [06:04.0]
But, anyway, the guy lived out of a suitcase for the majority of his life, didn't get to see his family, didn't have true autonomy. He had to schedule his life around whenever conferences or seminars were held, so if someone said, “Hey, we have a conference coming up in a month,” then he would say, “Yessir, I'll be there,” and he would hop and skip like a good little boy and do his dog and pony dance.
Again, I highly respect this guy, but I'm also objective. I try to see things as they are. I wouldn't want that life. I literally spend every single day with my family, no exceptions. I do almost whatever I want all the time. I don't have to answer to any one person, like a boss in the traditional sense. Now, I still have bosses. Every single one of my Inner Circle members is my boss. The market is my boss. I am my boss. So, I have a lot of bosses. Still, I'd rather deal with those people than one single person who holds my future in his or her hands. [06:56.8]
Who did you want to be? It's something we think about. Think about the life you want to live. I don't have to really do anything. I write the newsletter because I love it. But if you study things like my email marketing, there are entire weeks that go by and I don't mention my newsletter a single time. I currently have 19 different products for sale on TheAdvisorCoach.com/products, and I'd estimate that I haven't mentioned at least a dozen of them, maybe 13 or 14 of them in the past few months. Why? Because I don't have to sell any of them. They're there to help the financial advisors who want them. I am under no pressure to sell them. I don't have to do a little dance and impress someone in order to live the life I want to live.
But enough about that. Here is the first of five things I've done really well with money. Number one, I have ruthlessly invested in myself. I will invest in myself before I invest in anything else. This includes books, courses, programs, one-on-one help, and anything I can find that gives me an edge. [07:58.5]
I'm recording this in early September and I recently had a call with one of the most successful newsletter publishers in the world. He charges $2,000 per hour for consulting and I gladly paid it, because let's think about the alternatives. What else would I do with the money? Seriously, $2,000. I could spend it on Chick-fil-A sandwiches. I figured, $2,000, what could that get me? That could get me about 300 sandwiches filled with the Lord's chicken.
I could invest it. The S&P 500 returned almost 22% in 2023. That's pretty good, right? How much would a 22% return get me if I invested $2,000? Let's just get real. Let's look at numbers. At the end of the year, I would have $2,440, so an extra $440. Not bad, but I think that investing in myself could get even more, and this is true with financial advisors as well, especially with marketing and marketing help, because if you invest $2,000 in marketing or marketing help, you should almost certainly get one or two new clients as a result. [09:01.7]
So, how much is each client worth to you? Chances are that number is more than any of the alternatives available to you. That's why I'm constantly talking about alternatives. Imagine if someone came to you excited and thrilled that he or she was investing in CDs, quote-unquote, “investing,” by the way, and you're like, I know the alternatives. You should invest in this or you should structure your financial life in this way, or you're overpaying in your taxes, here's an alternative. The person just says, “No, no, no, I'm doing a fantastic job.” That's how I feel about financial advisors who don't invest in themselves.
But speaking of investing, number two, the second thing that I've done really well with money, in my opinion, is I dollar–cost average into my investments. These are the stock market investments, so in addition to investing in myself, I’ve invested in the stock market. I have made traditional investments.
Now, to be clear, I am not saying that you should invest in yourself all the time with every penny you have available to you. I mean, I guess you could, but I'd be a hypocrite suggesting that, because that is not what I do. That's not what I did. [10:01.8]
Every week, I take a chunk of money and I invest it into my stock portfolio. My portfolio is 100% index funds. I have U.S. stocks. I have foreign-developed stocks, emerging market stocks, and a tiny sliver of municipal bonds. I've been doing this for years. No matter what, every single week, I invest the same amount like clockwork. I think in terms of decades with this portfolio, I don't plan on changing it at all for at least the next 20 years.
I know, if you're listening to this podcast, and you're likely a financial advisor, so I don't want to spend too much time on this, but I think it's important that you have a chunk of money somewhere that will continue to work for you, no matter what.
Number three: I've readily spent more money on things that are more economical over the long term. For example, spending 20% more on a household appliance that might last three times as long, that's a disproportionate return. That's a great deal. The same thing is true with shoes and mattresses and car tires, and things like that. [11:02.8]
I would also say that if something helps you make money, you should invest into it. You should spend more. It's probably going to be more economical, meaning, the net return you receive over the life of the thing is probably going to be better than the alternatives. Again, there's that old word again, “alternatives.” I think in terms of alternatives. I think this is different from investing in yourself.
For example, I would consider your mattress part of this, because good-quality sleep affects everything, including how much money you make. I have an entire article about my sleep process over at TheAdvisorCoach.com/sleep. But I really want you to think about this with everything in your life, I mean, things like your computer, your internet connection.
How fast is your internet connection? Do you really think that you're being smart, saving $20 per month or whatever it is with slower speeds? Do you really think it's a good idea to have a crappy computer when chances are it's how you interact with almost every part of your business? Why wouldn't you have a good computer? Spend the money. Spend the money on stuff that will give you a higher net return over the long term, even if it requires a larger cash outlay. [12:04.8]
Listen up, financial advisors. This is something special I'm doing exclusively for people who listen to this podcast. If you subscribe to the Inner Circle Newsletter over at TheAdvisorCoach.com/coaching, I will send you a collection of seven copyright-free emails, personally written by me, that you can use right away to begin getting more clients.
I call these my “objection-busting” emails, because they are designed to overcome the biggest objections financial advisors face. All you have to do is send me an email letting me know you’ve subscribed and I will reply with a link where you can download them for free.
I originally offered these in the May 2024 Inner Circle Newsletter issue, and it was one of the most popular bonuses I've ever given away. Today, these seven objection-busting, copyright-free emails are only available to listeners of this podcast, because I'm not mentioning them anywhere else. Go to TheAdvisorCoach.com/coaching to subscribe today. Now, back to the show.
Number four: I kept a small, itty-bitty percentage of my portfolio available to invest in individual stocks. Gasp, this might be blasphemy to some of you, “all index all the time” financial advisors, but this satisfies my urge to beat the market.
I am a competitive person. I just know myself. I know I'm a competitive person. When I read stuff like “investors can't beat the market,” I feel challenged. I take that personally, in the words of Michael Jordan, and I have beaten the pants off of the market over the past few years.
I specifically remember, and if you were on my email list at this time, you probably remember this, too, I sent an email about how I was buying Microsoft, Meta and Amazon in 2022, and at the time, Meta stock was roughly $90 per share. Today it's more than $500. Amazon has more than doubled, too. Microsoft has almost doubled. It's not that hard when opportunities are that obvious. You just have to not be a total goober and you have to pay attention. [14:04.7]
But I'm not naive enough to believe that I won't be a total goober forever, because there will be a day when my behavior becomes gooberesque and I make mistakes. When that happens, I will not beat the market and I will be glad that I have my other portfolio. In my mind, my main portfolio is the forever portfolio that I will not touch for decades. I just keep contributing, no matter what.
The small part, the little sliver for individual stocks, is basically fund money, where I try to see if I have any real market-beating skills. It's inconsequential. The investments could all go to zero tomorrow and it wouldn't have any impact on my life whatsoever, but the real value from this fund money is that it keeps me from screwing up my main portfolio.
Ahem, that's a takeaway, if you're listening. The value from this in the same way that there's value in hiring a financial advisor and there's value in getting advice, there's value in getting a third-party perspective, it keeps me from screwing up my main portfolio. [15:03.2]
Number five, the fifth and final thing that I'm going to share with you that I've done well with money is that I've kept a healthy amount of cash. Probably more than 95% of financial advisors would recommend keeping, just being real with you, but it has allowed me to take more risk in my businesses, pounce on opportunities and go pedal to the metal when necessary
This has included everything from making investments, buying real estate, and even getting good deals on things like home remodels and just things around the house. I also bought a bunch of solar panels in cash and have pretty much eliminated my electric bill. That one lump sum payment for my solar panels now protects me from inflation, because I am not subject to the whims and increases of my utility company. I am also not subject to power outages because I have a battery backup, too. I wouldn't be able to do those things as easily if I didn't have cash.
So, those are five things I've done well. Here are the things I've done poorly, and if you're the person who just likes to hear what people do poorly, gosh, you should go get some help, go seek therapy, but here it is. [16:04.4]
Number one: I have relatively expensive hobbies, tech, travel, things like that. I wish I enjoyed cheaper activities. If you know me, then you know I travel a lot. I'm always going places and doing things, and that's not cheap. My lifestyle itself is pretty economical, but my hobbies are not. I remember reading this book. I don't remember the title, but it talked about how it's smarter to splurge on things that you can easily cut back on, and I think that's so true.
It's financially dangerous to lock yourself into very expensive mortgages that you can barely afford, because if something goes wrong, then you can't easily stop making that payment without severe consequences. However, if you're spending $3,000 or $4,000 per month on your hobbies or travel or whatever, you can easily stop that. You can stop traveling and you can safeguard your whole life.
If I had a hardship in my life, I would just stop. I would say, “All hands on deck, we're going into conservation mode for a little bit,” and I would be able to weather the storm a lot easier than someone who has a high fixed cost. That's the difference. I have a high variable cost. You want to, if you want to enjoy your life and have a good time, and you really just want to spend some money, make sure it's on the variable things, not the fixed things. That would be the recommendation that I have for you. [17:11.7]
The reason I say it's a mistake to have expensive hobbies is because I could have had a lot more money if I didn't do so much stuff and go so many places, but then I guess I wouldn't have the memories and experiences, so who knows if it's really a mistake?
Number two: I went to college when I probably shouldn't have. I have always been entrepreneurial and I legitimately regret just going to college, period. I will be years ahead of where I am now. I would probably have a lot more money. I remember the very first day I got to college, and this should have been the sign to not go, I immediately went to the library and checked out some books that had nothing to do with any of my classes, but were instead about businesses that I was interested in starting. [17:52.7]
So, I was genuinely interested in learning. I love learning, still do, I read books all the time, but I wasn't interested in the structure that came with college. I wasn't into the system, man, the whole get up at 7:00, get to class at 8:00, sit there like a good little worker drone, take your notes, etc. It just didn't jive with me. I've always wanted to just do my own thing. I wanted to march to the beat of my own drum.
I graduated with something like $29,000 in student loan debt. I wish I knew exactly how much it was, but my loan servicer doesn't even exist anymore, so I can't find it even if I wanted to. If you gave me that $29,000 on the day I graduated high school and you gave me four years to make stuff happen, I probably could have turned it into at least a million dollars by the end of those four years. I'm pretty sure that I'm at least a million dollars poorer because I went to college. [18:44.6]
Let's say I saved 20% of that or $200,000, and I invested it into something averaging 8%, let's say I did that at age 22 and I let it grow all the way to age 62. That money would have grown to $4.8 million. Oh boy, it just makes my stomach hurt just thinking about it and it makes my head hurt, too, and it makes my elbows hurt. It makes everything hurt, because I could have had $4.8 million at age 62 if I just went hard for those four years and I had that 29,000. This is all hypothetical. I know that. I know I'm just making up a story in my head, but it still hurts the same way as if it were real to me.
If you have children, listen to me and understand that not every child is meant to go to college. I certainly was not meant to. My family did the best they could, but they just didn't understand that I was built differently than all of the other kids. Jay-Z says in one of his songs, “Was born to dictate, never follow orders.” You can fill in the rest, if you know the song. That's me.
Number three: as much as I invested in myself and my skills, I should have invested a lot more. I should have gone so much harder with my personal development. I wish, I wish, I wish I could go back in time. If I could, I would grab myself by the shoulders and say, “Invest in yourself even more. Do more.” [20:06.5]
Let me explain something to you. If you're listening to this, you're probably a financial advisor. I hope you are. Otherwise, what the heck are you doing here? But you know all about tax-deductible investing and stuff like your 401(k). You can make an investment this year and deduct it from your income.
Now, of course, you get taxed on it eventually, but you can benefit from the tax-deferred growth. Okay, you get that, right? Conceptually, you understand. Pay attention because this is important. Check with your accountant, because this is not tax advice. However, based on what I have seen, the overwhelming majority of business and marketing-related courses and books and training and coaching, and all that stuff, is tax-deductible if you have a business, if it's related to your business, meaning, you can deduct the investments you make in yourself in your business, and even better, you can use those skills forever. No one can take them away from you. [20:54.0]
There's a reason why Warren Buffett said this, and I quote, “Generally speaking, investing in yourself is the best thing you can do. Anything that improves your own talents, nobody can take it away from you. They can run up huge deficits. The dollar can become worth far less. You can have all kinds of things happen. But if you’ve got talent yourself and you maximize your talent, you’ve got a terrific asset.” That is directly from Warren Buffett.
I've spent a boatload of money on all sorts of books and courses, training and one-on-one coaching, but I should have done more. I should have made it more of a regimen. What I did was invest in myself as I saw the opportunities, and I did a great job at that, I really did. If a marketer or a copywriter released a course or a program, I would buy it instantly. I would not hesitate.
But what I should have done is I should have searched for things. I should have said, “Every morning, for an hour, no matter what, I will improve myself. And if I finish my current course, I will search for a new one.” I just took them as they came along. I would just immediately buy it, like a course or whatever. I would buy it and go through it and be done. But what I should have done, I should have searched for them. I should have gone out of my way. I should have said, “This is the money that I'm going to invest in myself. I'm going to invest 10% or 15%, or 20%. I'm just going to go so much harder.” I really wish I did that. [22:10.0]
Number four: I wish my first real estate purchase had been a multifamily property. Something with four or fewer units is still considered residential, so you can get similar terms as you would for a single-family home. If you're a young person listening to this, maybe you're in your 20s and you're thinking about your first real estate purchase, seriously consider what I just said. I'm not going to talk about it much more because there's not much to say, but I would have done that and it would have put me ahead of the game in a lot of ways.
Number five: I should have set bigger goals. Lots of my entrepreneurial friends express similar feelings. Bill Gates said people overestimate what they could do in one year and underestimate what they could do in 10 years. Oh, that is so true. If I had that time machine and I could go back in time, I would tell myself to think even bigger, to set even bigger goals. [23:02.8]
Okay, that wraps up five things I've done well with money and five things I've done poorly with money. A little bit of a different episode, I know, but I hope you enjoyed it. If so, leave a positive review. If not, leave a negative review. Both of them help me, because I want to be polarizing. I love it when I see this split between negative and positive reviews, because that's exactly what I want. That's one of the goals that I have set, and I am accomplishing it.
Thank you so much for listening, and I will catch you next week.
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