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Written by: Jared P. Troutman
Take this spear, go into the Outback, stay there for six months, don’t die, and come back with the deadliest animal as proof of your walkabout competence and spiritual sojourn. Awesome. Scary. Both?!
A rite of passage is a ceremony, ritual, or event marking a major life transition. Cultures used walkabout like rites of passage to signify the transition from childhood into adulthood. This got me thinking about the events that mark the passage from novice practitioner to master of the advisor craft.
Let’s start with the AI generated list: (Begin AI generated content)
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Getting your first client.
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Surviving your first bear market with clients intact.
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Hitting a revenue or asset milestone for your practice.
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Transitioning from product sales to holistic planning.
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Going independent (if that’s your path).
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Forming your first strategic partnership.
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Receiving a heartfelt client testimonial.
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Rolling out your first client appreciation event.
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Updating your value proposition as you grow.
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Becoming a trusted resource in your community.
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Training your first team member.
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Outgrowing your first office space.
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Helping a second-generation client (child of an existing client).
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Designing and living your ideal workweek.
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Looking back and realizing how far you’ve come.
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Knowing you made a meaningful difference in someone’s life.
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Mastering fiduciary-level comprehensive planning.
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Achieving “advisor of choice” status among your peers.
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Feeling confident handling even the rarest client scenario.
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Mentoring others and giving back to the profession. (End AI generation)
I see some head nods from the experienced advisors out there, the glimmer of hope for all you next gen advisors, and I feel my own personal satisfaction as I look back on a ten-year career. Thanks AI list!
The following are hand selected moments where I believe the unspoken rites of passage actually occur. Give yourself a pat on the back or 20 minutes to reflect or reorder your perspective if need be.
Great News!
If you are reading this, you’ve probably passed your first rite of passage, education. College, FINRA exams, interview for job placement, training, professional certifications, CE, initial client work. These requirements have you well on your way to the next level. Take a moment to appreciate this momentous transition from everyday human to financial master.
Prospecting
Trumpets will blare the day you pass the test, confetti thrown, banners raised, and the internet buzzes with your newfound competence and capitalized letters with the fancy® or ™ . Reality check: whah whah whah…. nothing happens. You have no clients, trumpets don’t blare, you’re an educated human with a complex set of cultural tools to navigate a dizzying maze of human/financial problems. Mostly nothing.
Thus, your first REAL rite of passage is procuring clients and this isn’t an article about how. Plenty of those out there. The problem is just to do it. You could take on a book for a corporation, fine. You could start at zero and build a book, fine. You could write a book and have clients clamoring to work with you, fine. Social media your way, pay your way through lead programs, whatever, fine. Do it, do it regularly, and don’t stop until you are contented with the ideal work week you’ve built for yourself, your clients, and your social network. (I hope you picked up on the word contented. Contentment: to be fulfilled. Worth a shout out!)
Comprehensive Planning
Eventually you will have a client that needs more than a widget off the shelf. Many clients just need the widget and I hope you are a master of modeling it, describing it, and selling it. Your clients will leave you better off, I know it. However, some day…the widget won’t untangle the knot that is their complex problem. Widgets cannot solve retirement income timing, tax strategy, clarifying your wants and wishes, or estate planning. Planning can.
You are then forced with a choice: ignore it-your clients will be worse off, address it-referral to an accomplished planner, or address it- develop the necessary skills, experience, bad jokes, wisdom, and advice to build the plan. Not making a choice is a choice. Referring it out isn’t weakness. Committing to the path of the fiduciary level comprehensive planner, tough, and like all tough things…rewarding. The choice is yours. Make one and be prepared to live with the consequences.
Doing What’s Best (for them, not you)
The industry calls this a ‘conflict of interest.’ Let’s get real, you can cash in some trust and let them have something that pays you more up front or let them have something that pays you consistently over your entire relationship with the client. One is NOT inherently better than the other. I’m not getting into an analysis war if clients are better serviced by your 1.5% RIA AUM fee, or the 0% index tracking RILA, or your ‘A’ share mutual fund held for 50 years. Other articles, podcasts, and columns will do that.
The point is… there is not a clear winning point. Its grey and the grey matter between your two little ears is trusted with solving it. We, the royal we of ethical planners and advisors of this world, implore you to choose wisely and do what’s best for them, not you, no exceptions. This ‘ritual’ of taking the high road may be the strongest indicator that you’ve ‘made it’ as an experienced advisor because only you will know.
Why? Our industry is still so fledging compared with the oldest areas of expertise in human history: hospitality, law, survival skills, exquisite cuisine, prostitution, education, and medicine. Our industry is still trying to find a historical footing in the public’s opinion, we are still seeking legitimacy, we are still navigating perhaps our extinction to the AI hive brain. This is truly a rite of passage that receives no fanfare, especially not from your wallet. Have faith though that putting good out into the world and your clients will come to you full circle, just not on the timeline you are expecting to happen.
Communicating Clearly
Initially you are worried about competence. Excellent! What’s a human’s greatest fear? Looking foolish, ridicule, being unprepared, social scorn, incompetence. As some of the greats have already told you, just by passing the exams…you know more than 99% of the population. Keep building the technical craft and then focus on the real magic, communication.
Jared, I studied numbers, so I didn’t have to communicate, what gives? I’m sorry, you were misled. The real upgrade from novice to master, the real rite of passage: communication. The only way to execute your knowledge is communicating clearly, catalyzing a new perspective in the client, and having the client act. None of the execution of your knowledge happens without communication.
Sadly, here again I will let you down on the how of communication. You want to write a book and have your clients read it before they act, fine. You want to come off as trustworthy via social media and community engagement, fine. You want to be your client’s best friend and communicate as friends would, fine. You want to show pie charts, graphs, and print outs, fine. You want to learn reflective listening skills and one-page plans, fine. You want to master the pencil pitch or whiteboard graphic, fine. Whatever you do, don’t avoid mastering the communication style that best slices through the noise, makes the cacophony silent, reduces the complex to simple, and aligns with your clients’ goals/values. A few public speaking courses, a whiteboard seminar with Sten Morgan, hours spent on E-Money webinars…do the hard work to make communicating easy. You’ll thank me on the other side.
Giving Back
Making a meaningful difference in your client’s lives is huge. Making a meaningful difference in the lives of your mentees, your partners, your coworkers, and/or your hired staff…that’s legacy. For those of you that ticked off most of the things on the AI list above, this is where you can lean into the rite of passage of an elder advisor. What a blessing! You mean the process keeps going? There are still thresholds for us to walk through even after most of the work is done. I challenge, implore, dare you to keep thinking about initiations into this field of work and the resulting rites of passage you will master. In the end, I care very little about you’re AUM, GDC, or Practice Acquisition…I’m much more interested in who you became and the identity you formed for yourself to get there.
So, here’s to the process and the initiations and the rites of passage for all of us aspiring advisors on the path of doing the most good. May your problems be thorny, may the work be rewarding, and may you continue to find fresh energy on your random walkabout down Wall Street.
Related: Estate Planning for Young Homeowners