Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn: 

• [03:38] What inspired Brandon Smith to join the financial services industry and NAIFA
• [04:58] Why witnessing financial struggles during the 2008 economic crisis shaped Brandon’s career choice
• [07:14] How Brandon and his senior partner built an independent, full-service financial planning practice
• [09:25] The value of professional designations and how continuing education builds client trust
• [10:50] Why mentorship has been significant in Brandon’s development as an advisor
• [14:50] The importance of preparing the next generation of financial advisors through structured training
• [17:06] How Brandon and his team create clear timelines and expectations for new advisors
• [23:55] Where technology and AI are changing the advisor landscape
• [34:11] What advice Brandon would give his younger self about health, balance, and client selection
• [46:45] The defining success story of helping a young immigrant family gain life insurance protection\

In this episode…

The financial services industry is constantly evolving, and new advisors face steep challenges as they enter the profession. From gaining client trust to learning complex planning strategies, early career professionals must find ways to build credibility and confidence. So what makes the difference between struggling to get started and building a sustainable practice?

According to Brandon Smith, a seasoned financial advisor and industry leader, the key is a strong foundation built through mentorship and education. He highlights how designations like LUTCF equip advisors with the skills to handle objections, develop meaningful client relationships, and avoid early missteps. Mentorship, he emphasizes, is “pretty much everything” in shaping a career; it helps new advisors learn from experience, accelerate their growth, and avoid costly mistakes.

In this episode of the Advisor Today podcast, Chris Gandy and Kathleen Owings are joined by Brandon Smith, Executive Vice President at Milestone Financial Solutions, to discuss building financial security through mentorship and education. They explore why professional designations give advisors an edge, how mentorship accelerates success, and where the industry is headed with new generations of advisors. Brandon also shares how balancing technology and health plays a role in long-term career growth.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Chris Gandy on LinkedIn
• NAIFA
• Kathleen Owings on LinkedIn
• Zack Huels on LinkedIn
• Brandon Smith on LinkedIn
• Milestone Financial Solutions
• James A. “Jimmy” Jacobs
• Nick Murray
• Equitable
• The Leaders Group
• Northwestern Mutual
• Lincoln Financial Group
• Vanguard
• Charles Schwab
• Rewirement: Rewiring The Way You Think About Retirement! by Jamie P. Hopkins
• Million-Dollar Financial Services Practice by David Mullen
• 50 Things: What a Professional Financial Advisor Does for You
• Peter Horwitch on LinkedIn

Quotable Moments: 

• “At that point, I realized I can be a business that prevents people from getting hurt.”
• “Being independent has been one of the greatest pieces of my success and of our firm's success.”
• “Programs like the LUTCF give people a path to get into the industry and really climb.”
• “Our goal is to be there for people on their worst possible days and make problems easier.”
• “Successful people do the things that unsuccessful people don’t. That’s what makes the difference in this business.”

Action Steps:

1. Seek mentorship early in your career: Learning from experienced advisors accelerates growth and prevents costly mistakes.
2. Pursue professional designations consistently: Gaining credentials builds client trust, sharpens expertise, and creates long-term credibility in the industry.
3. Establish clear training timelines for new advisors: Structured expectations ensure readiness, accountability, and smoother integration into the profession.
4. Embrace technology and AI tools: Leveraging modern software improves efficiency, expands client service, and keeps practices competitive in a changing market.
5. Focus on personal well-being and client fit: Protecting your health and choosing clients who align with your values ensures long-term energy, resilience, and career satisfaction.

Sponsor for this episode...

This episode is brought to you by the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors, or NAIFA, the #1 association for producers in financial services. 

At NAIFA, we enhance professional skills, promote ethical conduct, and advocate for legislative and regulatory environments.

By joining NAIFA, you gain access to a partnership that elevates your performance while providing greater purpose to your professional work. NAIFA members are happier, make more money, and stay in the business longer.

Get in touch with NAIFA and learn more about how to join NAIFA by visiting NAIFA.org.

EPISODE TRANCRIPT

Intro 00:02

Welcome to NAIFA’s Advisor Today podcast series, where we focus on how financial advisors work, live and give to their local communities and our greater financial services industry. Now let's get started with the show.

Chris Gandy 00:20

NAIFA Nation, welcome to the Advisor Today podcast, where we give the voice. We hear the voice of the leaders in the industry and give you back the words of our constituents, like our wonderful co-host today, Kathleen Owings. Kathleen, how are you doing?

Kathleen Owings 00:36

Hi, Chris. I'm doing great. Thanks.

Chris Gandy 00:38

It's wonderful to see you. I see we did the black and white thing.

Kathleen Owings 00:41

We did. We coordinated unintentionally. We look great.

Chris Gandy 00:44

Big check. I like that I didn't get I got the memo. So welcome to Advisor Today podcast where we give the voice of you back to back to the constituents. And we try to figure out where are the what are the best things happening in the world today. But before we get going, our wonderful behind the scenes Zack Huels.

Zack Huels, I'm sure we have a sponsor that makes this happen for us.

Zack Huels 01:06

Absolutely. Today we are talking all things LUTCF. So we are talking about the LUTCF designation. If you're a new agent or advisor, the LUTCF program is the perfect way to kick start your career. The designation is recognized as the industry benchmark for insurance credentials and is endorsed by top financial firms and insurance agencies.

Graduates of the program report increases in their earnings, client base, and even their job satisfaction after completing their studies. So please take a look at lutcf.naifa.org For more details.

Chris Gandy 01:42

Thank you Zack. You know we can't do this without sponsors. Again, if you haven't been on the podcast or you have an interest in being on the podcast, please email Zack Huels at NAIFA. Or if you know somebody that's dynamic and you'd like to hear more from them on our podcast, please let us know. Email Zack Huels. Zack is happy to go to vet our talent.

And with no further ado, Kathleen, the floor is yours. Can you introduce our guest for today's podcast? I heard we're talking all things LUTCF.

Kathleen Owings 02:16

We are talking all things LUTCF, and today I am very excited to have on Brandon Smith. Brandon is an Executive Vice President with Milestone Financial Solutions. And let me just give you a little background on Brandon. So he graduated from the University of Mary Washington with a Masters of Business Administration MBA in 2019 and dedicate his time to cultivate Cultivating a Wealth 2016.

Brandon Smith 02:42

2016 yeah. So I'm a little older.

Kathleen Owings 02:46

A little older. That's okay. That's on your website. I'm not going to lie.

Brandon Smith 02:49

Oh 2019 I will double check. I will get.

Kathleen Owings 02:52

2015 I'm sorry.

Brandon Smith 02:53

2015. Yeah.

Kathleen Owings 02:54

2015 okay.

Brandon Smith 02:55

Yeah.

Kathleen Owings 02:55

I'll stay away from dates. So. you relocated to the Richmond area, where you became part of the Jacobs Financial Group, which then transferred into Milestone Financial Solutions. I am not going to go through your alphabet soup of credentials because we're going to be talking LUTCF. But you've done you've done a lot.

You've done a lot of studying. Have some wonderful credentials in your free time. Brandon likes he's an Eagle Scout and he also enjoys all things great outdoors. You enjoy biking, camping, hiking in the beautiful state of Virginia, which is a beautiful state. Your wife Rachel and your dog Luca also join you on these adventures. 

 So Brandon, thank you so much for joining us today.

Brandon Smith 03:38

Oh, glad to be here, I really am. This is this is a huge honor, not something that I'd ever expected to be asked to do. So this is this is super cool. It's like a dream to just be a part of something like this. I've been a member of NAIFA really since I got into the industry.

Of course, joining the LUTCF program right away. Right away in 2016. And I started actually, I think my first class was January of 2017. And basically just been a member since then and been able to go to a couple of the conferences, which has been incredible. I've been able to go to the day on the Hill here in Richmond, which was really incredible experience, just to be part of and to be able to lobby, you know, on behalf of, of clients, but then also to learn about some of the different bills that we have involvement in that are really out of my purview and things that I didn't understand, things with fire insurance, property and casualty that are way outside the scope of what I deal with on a daily basis. 

 But NAIFA has just been a big, big part of my life, so I'm glad to be here.

Kathleen Owings 04:43

Thanks, Brandon. Go ahead Chris.

Chris Gandy 04:46

Go ahead Kathleen. Go ahead.

Kathleen Owings 04:48

Well, I'm curious what brought you in? What drew you to this industry? I gave a little snapshot of your career from school through the industry. But what brought you into the industry?

Brandon Smith 04:58

A couple different things. So ever since I was a kid, I wanted to be some form of a businessman. My grandfather had actually started his own business in Italy. He had a really successful electronics company, and he ended up selling that, moving to the United States with my mom and my uncles, and started as a janitor at a publishing company and actually retired as the general manager. And that really instilled an entrepreneurial spirit in my mom and my uncles to where each one of my uncles had started their own business.

My mom had started her own business for a while, and then on my dad's side, he was a Treasury special agent, so I kind of got a little bit of a background from him to some of the terminology, some of the things that were going on in the world through 2001 and that that whole financial crisis and then the oh six through oh eight and during that period, a lot of family, friends, my family went through a lot of major issues that had some basic planning been done, they probably could have avoided most of those, and at the time I didn't, or my family didn't have a financial advisor. Nobody in my family had a financial advisor. Most of the people that I knew didn't have financial advisors, so I didn't really know what this job was or what it could do. But I just knew that I wanted to make sure that people were protected from the risks that were impacting my family, my friends, families, causing bankruptcies, all those different things. So I was 15 years old during the financial crisis, and it was just really a huge part of my life. 

 At that point, I realized I can be a business that prevents people from getting hurt like this, and that's why I've done what I've done to this point.

Chris Gandy 06:49

So. So, Brandon, let me ask, let me let me ask you this. So your journey has been one of I want to be the catalyst for for change, right? And so so so tell us kind of what space you're in. Are you working with families or working with businesses?

Are you doing multi-line like? Tell us a little bit about your practice and kind of how you how you, how you operate at this point.

Brandon Smith 07:14

So we have a blended practice. So my senior partner his name is Jimmy Jacobs. He's a a long time. He was a member of NAIFA before it was NAIFA. So he's been in the industry since 1971.

And he built one of the largest businesses by account holder and by policyholder in AXA. Equitable's history was with them for over 47 years, and I joined him as more of a mentee back in 2020 or 2016. And he got me started, basically trained me, got me into the look. That was one of the requirements right off the bat to where, hey, you can come in here and work with me, but I need you to get into this program. So I remember getting a zero interest credit card and put it on that, and I figured it would it would all pay off, and it certainly did. 

 So we have a lot of clients that have come with us from when we were captive agents over at Equitable. We went independent actually in 2018 and going independent. We moved most of our clients from Equitable over to the Leaders Group, which is an independent broker dealer at this point. Now we provide independent, full service financial planning to clients. Now we do it across all walks of life. 

 Our newer clients that we're bringing on are generally fitting more of an ideal profile, just because we do have such a mature practice at this stage of the game. But we still work with people through all walks of life, providing everything from college planning and retirement planning services, life insurance, long term care all the way up to special needs planning. Buy sell planning. We basically do a little bit of everything. It's myself, my senior partner, and then we have a staff of eight.

Kathleen Owings 09:05

So you certainly, you know, dedicate a lot of your time. I joked about the alphabet soup, but you have an MBA LUTCF, which we're going to talk about a little bit more here in a bit. But what have you gained from going through all those steps, all that education? What do you find that it's helped you in your practice and what have you gained from that?

Brandon Smith 09:25

Well, I'm still pursuing additional designations. So currently I'm in the Tax Planning Certified Professional. I try to get something actionable from each program. Recently, I've been able to bring a lot of new clients on using the expertise that I'm gaining on a daily basis from the tax planning component of it, especially in the higher net worth clients. That's definitely one of the things that I'm learning.

But the biggest thing is when I first started, of course, I was very young. It's very hard to get somebody to talk to you when you're 22 years old. I don't I don't care who you are, even me, right now. It's still challenging for me to get people to talk to me if they don't know who I am. And so having the alphabet soup behind you, it makes you kind of seem like a whiz kid in a way. 

 That was really what I was shooting for. Also, I was just terrified that I would encounter something that I didn't know how to fix and I didn't know what to do. So that's why I'm still being driven to continue trying to learn. And also we have these requirements for continuing education anyway, so you might as well stay in a program that satisfies them. And generally that's what I'm trying to do is just consistently challenge myself, learn something new and be a better version of myself so that I can help my clients better.

Chris Gandy 10:41

Very good. So you mentioned mentoring. How important has mentoring been in your career so far?

Brandon Smith 10:50

I think it's pretty much everything. So you can go in and you can reinvent the wheel. You could find advice online, you can read all the books. I read all the books. I decided I really wanted to do this very early on, and I read like Million Dollar Financial Practice.

I read a lot of the sales books that are out there, and that definitely can get you to a certain point, but having a mentor who you can sit down and you can do some role playing with, you can maybe sit in on an appointment and see how they actually interact with clients and how businesses actually done. Being able to have somebody who can call you out for doing something incorrectly, that's paramount, because most of the time when you're sitting down with clients, they don't know if if you're saying something and you're just completely wrong with it, they'll nod and smile and be okay with it. But if you're sitting down with somebody who knows it better than you, they can make that correction. They can say, you know, you're actually not explaining this correctly and we need to make sure that you understand it. If you're going to be sitting down and selling this to somebody, you better understand what you're doing. 

 And having a mentor can be, of course, the hard part, and they can make sure that you're doing the right thing when you don't know what you're supposed to be doing. But then also, it's great because I've encountered, I mean, I've sold many life insurance policies that have gone to claim I've sold disability insurance policies that have gone to claim, I mean, I've been doing this ten years, and I didn't think that I would have as many claims as I do already. But that's just part of the business. And there's really challenging parts, the emotional parts of this. I mean, in many ways, this job is we're supposed to be with people on their worst days. 

 Of course we plan for the best days. We want to be there for those, but usually it's the worst days where we're being called and having a mentor like Jimmy, who's been through all those for 40. Well, now, I mean, it's a little bit more than the 47 years, so it's just incredible for me to have that wealth of knowledge and also as we're building a younger firm internally. So we actually just had another young advisor start with us today. He's going to be in training, but he just passed his C once he gets through his series seven and then a series 66, he goes straight into the UTCF. 

 We've got another young man who's been with us a little over a year, and he's just going to be taking his series 66 in a couple of weeks straight into the UTCF right after. So we're trying to build a young firm while still having access to Jimmy. He's almost 79 years old, so as much experience as we can get from him, as much in the way of mentorship that we can glean, that's that's huge. Like I said, it's everything. It's it's the reason I am where I am today.

Chris Gandy 13:35

Kathleen, did you have a mentor when you were you were.

Kathleen Owings 13:39

When I started out.

Chris Gandy 13:40

Yeah.

Kathleen Owings 13:41

So I would say I was in a similar situation as Brandon, my my business partner, Peter Horwitch has been in the business now 35 plus years. He's in his early mid 60s now. I keep saying that's bad. Time goes by fast. And so I would say Peter's been one of the mentors that I've had.

I mean he was selling, you know, similar to what you went through Brandon we were with New England Financial, so we sold policies with New England MetLife. So I'm fortunate I have his knowledge. I feel like though I also have a lot of peer mentors. I'm in a study group, which I think is really important. So you're not only gaining the knowledge of and some of them have been in the business longer than I have, but I'm lucky. 

 I feel very fortunate. I have different, different types of mentors in my life, and I think that's so important. And I think what's great, Brandon, is you're starting to build that next generation as well. I mean, we hear about kind of this crisis for our industry where, you know, average age is, I don't know, upper 50s. We always say it's kind of the number, but I think it's really smart that you guys are thinking ahead and starting to build that for yourselves.

Brandon Smith 14:50

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, people want to get into this industry, but they're scared of it. I think there's definitely a marketing issue. That's one of the biggest things. It's I don't know if you've been following and I'm not going to weigh in whatsoever, but I know there's a lot of issues currently with the way that the CFP board is being run and the way that they're marketing for certified financial planners.

And obviously, I'm not a certified financial planner. I'm not weighing in on that whatsoever. It's just that's one of the draws for the industry right now is how how is this job being marketed? What is it going to look like in 5 or 10 years? And of course, we've got artificial intelligence that half, half the population thinks is going to replace financial planners. 

 And then you actually talk to clients, and there's no way that they would ever trust artificial intelligence to actually sit down and tell them what something means. So I think the biggest thing is giving people a path forward. And programs like the LUTCF, different organizations like NAIFA, Million Dollar Round Table do give people a path to get into the industry and really climb without having to work through one of the maybe like a captive company or something like that. Because personally, for me, I think being independent has been one of the greatest pieces of my success and of our firm's success. Now, we do not care what company we're working with. 

 We just want to make sure that they're able to deliver for our client that if we're going with a guaranteed product, those guarantees are going to be there. If we're going with life insurance, are they going to be there to pay the claim? How's the service going to look? And being independent and able and able to actually show that to a client that this is the value that we're doing. We are actually going out here and serving as a consultant to find you the best possible product for your situation. 

 In every situation, It's worked really well and it makes me feel really good about what I'm doing.

Kathleen Owings 16:46

Brandon, I want to piggyback a bit on that. You're talking about bringing these new advisors in and having a pathway. Do you have a specific timeline in which they they know, like, okay, we have expectations for you to get these licenses during this year, second year. I mean, is there a timeline in which they at least there's expectations that they're going to follow?

Brandon Smith 17:06

Yeah. So in general, we expect somebody to come in with their see if they don't have their see right off the bat, then we'll give you up to 90 days to take it. Then from there it's 90 days for your series, 790 days for the next exam. And from there, if somebody decides to take their series 66, then that satisfies the series 63 and the 65. So technically somebody could be fully onboarded within about six months is kind of what we're looking at.

And the thing about the industry is those licenses, at least to me, don't really mean very much. It's kind of just now. You can learn. Now you can actually get into the industry. It's like.

Kathleen Owings 17:45

Now.

Brandon Smith 17:45

Apply. Yes, exactly. And so that's really just drinking from the firehose in the beginning. Get those licenses and making sure they have their life and health. Everything along those lines in that first year and in year two is when we're really trying to move on to that next stage of getting them into the Lutc program.

It's something that my partner Jimmy and I have written into our manual. It's something that is very important for if somebody wants to become an advisor within this firm, they've got the opportunity to do it. If somebody wants to become my partner one day, they've got the opportunity to do it. It's there for them to come and take. There's just a lot of hard work that comes into being able to fill this position. 

 So I think the biggest thing really is it depends on each person and how quickly they want to tackle things. But we do give we give bonuses and incentivize people. We pay for the training. So the biggest thing is not necessarily trying to find somebody who already has the experience. We are willing to bring somebody on who is able to work just in an entry level capacity, but they've got to work with us as well.

Chris Gandy 18:54

90 days to get to seven. You guys are animals, man. That's a tough that's a tough one.

Brandon Smith 18:59

Oh, really?

Kathleen Owings 18:59

I think you're just broke. No, I don't know. I think I think if you're doing if you do the courses, I would definitely not do that on my own.

Chris Gandy 19:05

I was gonna say 90 days you get the seven is a is a is a tough one considering if you've never studied for financial securities, that's, that's that's a that's a that's a fast one. Well if you and also is it if you're in the business every day out hustling, trying to do things 90 days is a quick one. Kathleen. That's that's a.

Brandon Smith 19:23

Yeah. We're not expecting people to sell. I sell plenty I don't need anybody else to come in here and sell. I need people to, to to make sure things are serviced. Yes.

That's that's absolutely we, we're not looking for at this stage of the game. More more people to come in and work in the field. Jimmy and I have that handled right now. Really, we're more looking for people who can come in and work in an operational capacity. And then if somebody develops into a sales role down the road, that works. 

 But we don't have like an agency model, we're really trying to build more of a firm where we share clients. So once I bring somebody on other than meeting with them for their annual reviews, if they have some major planning change, a lot of that service is done by the team.

Chris Gandy 20:09

Yeah. See. So there's clarity. So so there are people that enter into the career and they enter into the career. And they want to be all things to everybody, right.

So they want to be the marketer the sales person. And that means you got to be the compliance person. You also need to be the the social media person. And also you have to be the trainer. You have to be all those things. 

 And trying to learn all those things at one time is, I believe, part of the demystifying our industry. Right. Is that people, you know, we sell them the dream of, hey, come in here, you can make $1 million there if they got it right. But the actual steps to make $1 million of how the how part of it is the part that we kind of just fast forward the tape. I remember when I was recruited, right. 

 They were like, oh, you want to make you're gonna make $200,000 a year. All you have to do, right? Yeah. The actual work and the principles behind how to do that isn't just, you know, go see ten people, even though they say they just go see ten people or talk to 20. That's not how it works, right? 

 You got to understand. You got to start to understand. Overcoming objections, the skill part. You got to understand how to really track activity and numbers and be accountable. You had to learn how to understand how to manage a schedule and a calendar. 

 You got to learn how to understand. You got to learn those things that allows for you to be productive with your time.

Brandon Smith 21:35

If only there was a designation that walked you through those things, right?

Chris Gandy 21:39

If there was a financial service, time management. Right?

Brandon Smith 21:42

Well, I mean, the OTC, though, the OTC program really does require you to and that's that's why I bring it up. That does really require you to learn how to overcome objections. You have to track your business. You have to work with a mentor. Yeah.

At least it was when when I went through it. Of course, this was nearly ten years ago now, but I, I know they've probably been even some major improvements with that and just having exposure because especially in the independent channel, like if you're coming up through a Northwestern Mutual or an equitable or a Lincoln, they have a path that's going to at least teach you, hey, this is how it works for most people. It might not be a specific path that's going to work for each individual, but at least it's going to give you some information so you can try to run on that. And many people have found a lot of success running on that path and then kind of working off into their own own space. In the independent world, there's really not much that we can do. 

 So we've kind of had to make our own training schedule and work things up, because a lot of it has to do with context building. Why are we doing what we're doing? Not just, hey, we need you to write a life, a term life app on this person. Why are we writing the term life app? Why do they need this much? 

 How did we come to the conclusion to work with this company? My goal is to try to empower everybody in the office so that they don't need me to make decisions so that I can be off doing something else, whether it's meeting with clients or hopefully eventually getting a vacation.

Kathleen Owings 23:14

Vacations are good.

Brandon Smith 23:15

Yes.

Kathleen Owings 23:16

They're important to take. What do you. So I want to have your forward thinking hat on. So you you're in the industry. You've been doing about ten years now.

I you know, I think back. So you were talking about when you were younger during the Great Recession. That's actually when I started in the business and things have changed. You know, they're constantly evolving and I feel like it's evolving faster than it did previously.

Kathleen Owings 23:42

So what are you saying in touch with? What trends are you looking at to try and stay ahead of? You know, where the puck's going, not where it is, but where it's going. Do you have any thoughts there on whether it's AI, technology, anything?

Brandon Smith 23:55

Well, of course, AI that we've got to be able to use it. You got to be able to use some of the different software. Like you said, ChatGPT is useful for organizations scheduling things along those lines, but there's also a lot of really cool tools where we can bring efficiencies into our practices that we didn't have access to otherwise. So we can now, and it's one of the things that I'm actively learning and studying, but we're going to be adding tax planning into our office. I've built a relationship with some local CPAs, so making sure that we're able to help with more complex issues so that somebody can't just go to Vanguard or go to Charles Schwab and do it themselves.

We want to be able to actually serve as the coach or the team that is handling their financial life. So I have relationships with attorneys, I have relationships with CPAs. I have some relationships with some property and casualty insurance agents as well, to where I'm able to help kind of fill a bunch of different roles for people and always serve as an objective coach for the team. I find out what their goals are and and go from there with it. So I guess off on a tangent a little bit.

Kathleen Owings 25:14

But no, I think that's it's important you're trying to be someone that I mean, this is what we tell our clients. If it has to do with money, give us a call.

Brandon Smith 25:22

Yeah.

Kathleen Owings 25:23

And we've we've gotten some really strange calls. We had one client ask, should I buy box seats? I think it was a Billy Joel concert years ago here in Denver. Should I buy box seats and then try and sell it to friends? You know, essentially kind of being a bit of a broker.

I told him, no, I did. I, I organized when my daughter was a little, a bunch of us to go see Frozen on Ice and just trying to get people who. I mean, this was frozen on ice. This was not difficult, folks. But, you know, you're trying to get people's money and coordinate, get them the tickets. 

 But it's things like that that we we want, like yourself and our clients to come to us, say, okay, it's money. Let me call Peter and Kathleen and get their thoughts on it, because they may not think it's important, but generally it's better to ask the question ahead than after they've done something. Oh, I did this. You're like, well, why did you do that? Why didn't you give me a call?

Brandon Smith 26:13

Exactly. And and making sure that we are really accessible for people and that they're aware of what we do, we don't ever want somebody thinking that. We just do one thing. And I absolutely agree. Yeah.

If it's if it has to do with money, but also if it has to do with a lot of things that aren't just money. We have people give us a call and Horsesmouth has a great piece. It's 50 things that a financial advisor does. It's definitely worth. I don't I don't know how much it was. 

 We got it years ago, but it's basically it ends the list with. And I will be doing so many things for you that I have never done for anyone else, just because I don't know what they're going to be. But occasionally it's just advice sometimes. And you know this, you've been in the business sometimes we're literally just a therapist for people. And then at the end of it they say, okay, great, I feel good. 

 Let's write. I'll write you a check. What is what the heck, I didn't know that's what we were even talking about. But it's sometimes that's what people need. So yeah, I think being there for people in that capacity definitely is very important for us.

Chris Gandy 27:19

Let me go back to the Leica for a moment. As you probably know, or if those out there don't know that Nyfa is the exclusive organization offering now Utcf now it is open, you can actually go all the way through the program and take the test. Now NAIFA Nation is launching it not only here in the US, but if you happen to be overseas. In some countries it is actually going overseas too. So we're super excited about that.

We've got our inaugural class that have that have come through and you can take the exam, you can sit for the exam now and have your at least 6 to 7 months from now if you really focused on on getting it done. So that was a shameless plug and a shameless commercial for NAIFA. But here's the question I have for you, Brandon, how do you use your utcf on a day to day basis? What what tools of the Utcf are you actually using in practicality?

Brandon Smith 28:17

Well, I mean, everything that's in the utcf is just recycled, maybe in a little bit more detail in the other programs that I've been through. So it's all building on that same foundation. And that's really the main thing. I think the Utcf is a foundational designation that everyone who's in this industry should have. If you want to be successful in this industry, you should have some letters behind your name.

I think to have the lwcf be something that you do not have to be in the industry for any degree of time. You could literally start pass your series seven on a Monday. I mean, get your life and health on a Monday. Enter the UTCF right away and within a year you have skipped probably the first 3 or 4 years of hardship where you're making mistakes and trying to figure it out, because now you actually know how to handle an objection. You actually know what people are are actually saying when they say, I don't think I can afford it. 

 And I think that is one of the biggest things that I do with the Utcf. It's really just foundational. The Chartered Life Underwriter program and designation is really just a continuation of the Life Underwriter Training Council fellowship program. It's just a little bit more in detail, slightly longer program. At the end of the day, it's not any harder. 

 It's really just that I'm learning more in detail, all because I got the original introduction to what we are actually supposed to be doing. That's what the Utcf shows you. It shows you what a financial planner is supposed to be doing, how we're supposed to be helping people, how we're supposed to be protecting them. Building foundational security so that they can move on to the investment part of it. It's really more about that than anything else. 

 And I don't think any of the other designations, they all kind of assume that you know it. And if you just go into one of the other programs that are out there, you're missing that foundation. You may struggle. And I think going through the utcf F is for anyone, even if you are sure. Of course you can be a new advisor. 

 But if if you've been in the business for a number of years and you don't have it already, it's taking you back to some of the basics that you may not have ever learned, or maybe you forgot. And that can definitely increase your efficiency and sure help you earn more, but also help you be a better person for your clients.

Chris Gandy 30:46

Well, Brandon, how did they find you? Or you found NAIFA? How did how did that happen?

Brandon Smith 30:52

Seems like all through my senior partner. Yeah, through my senior partner. Yeah. Senior partner. I didn't again, I had no idea what this job was, really.

I, a financial advisor, spoke in one of my classes when I was in grad school and he asked, does anybody in here have investments? And I was the only one who had investments I had when I was 16 years old, I 15.5. I started working at chick fil A, and I was a manager at chick fil A pretty early on, and I saved. Other than buying food for my friends and sneakers and stuff like that. I saved a large portion of the money that I had earned working at chick fil A, and that actually gave me the buffer I needed to survive for the first six months in the industry, before I ended up bumping into my senior partner, because for a little while there, it was very difficult because again, I didn't know what I was supposed to be doing. 

 I didn't know how to go out and develop a relationship or turn somebody from a random person into a client. And that's what you said. They they gave me the project 200. I started calling on people, but I didn't know what I was supposed to do with them after that. You know, they don't really give you that information. 

 The LUTCF program does really give you the ability to take somebody from just a person or an acquaintance and turn them into a planning client.

Chris Gandy 32:09

I often say that some organizations teach you how to sell insurance. Some of the designations and organizations teach you how to build an insurance business. Kathleen, you can coin that, by the way. I'll be taking my stuff.

Kathleen Owings 32:27

I will trademark. Right.

Chris Gandy 32:30

But it's so true. Like the application and the education are kind of two different things, but you can't apply unless you have the education. So. So, you know, it's it's it's difficult for a lot of advisors when they come in because it's like where do I start. Yeah.

Like you said I had a buffer. A buffer gives you time so you can eat. You don't have to worry. You may be eating ramen noodles.

But, you know, at least you you won't starve. I mean, so, you know, you may not have it be able to pass the insurance physical because of all the salt and everything else that's in it. But you will be able to you will be able to sell a policy.

Brandon Smith 33:09

You could do it. You could do it for six months or so. You'll be alright.

Chris Gandy 33:12

Right. You know, so part of that is just understanding a couple things is that, you know, if you're thinking about it in the industry or people that are in the industry. Some people believe I don't need a mentor. I believe your learning curve progresses faster with someone who's willing to share with you some of the mistakes they made. Yeah, or some of the some of the success. Right.

And you know, you know, if you start to mimic some of the, some of the, some of the great behavior, some of the good behaviors of even some of the more successful people things, the universe tends to line up and allow for things like that to come into your life. You're able to start to manifest and build some of those things for yourself.

So Kathleen, you had a question I could tell.

Kathleen Owings 33:56

I do. Did you see it in my eyes, Brandon, if you could give your younger self. So go back ten years. Give your younger self 1 or 2 pieces of advice from Brandon today. What would you tell yourself?

Brandon Smith 34:11

Probably a little bit different than what most people would say. I would tell myself not to work as hard. So I think one of the biggest things that I'm starting to realize now is that I should have taken a lot more time throughout my 20s to still focus on my physical health, making sure that I was, as you were talking about it at the beginning of the podcast, it's very important to have some form of physical activity almost every day, if not every single day. It's just for your sanity, for everything. That is one of the foundational pieces to having success.

And throughout most of the early part of my career, I was pulling 12 14 hour days. I was doing a lot of enrollments, so if you've ever done that, there's a lot of driving all over the state of Virginia. And Virginia is pretty big, and it's pretty spread out, and there's a lot of back roads. And so I really let let myself kind of go from that standpoint to where now I'm having to step back into the into the gym, and I can't do the things that I used to be able to do. I was an athlete. 

 Now I don't feel very athletic, and I'm feeling I'm creaking a little bit more than I used to. And so I think that would have been one of the main things, just letting myself know, hey, you do have time to become an expert in this industry. You don't need to do it all at once. That would have been one of the pieces. The other piece, I think, would have been in terms of being a little bit more selective with the clients that I choose to go above and beyond for. 

 So one of the things, and I had the privilege of seeing Nick Murray speak a couple of months ago, and he said, when you're talking to somebody you usually know within 15 minutes whether or not they are going to allow you to help them. And if they're not, it is a disservice to all of the other people who do want you to help them for you to continue speaking to that person. Now, of course, that doesn't mean cut the conversation off after 15 minutes, but it means that you can't bang your head against a brick wall and make somebody who doesn't want your help take it. And I think I spent a lot of time in the beginning of my career trying to force situations that weren't ever going to work out. And now, of course, it's it's coming from a place of of privilege that I have done this for a while. 

 I have gotten through the hardest parts in the beginning of my career. But I realize now it's not necessarily because I'm sure that the compensation from one year it might be helpful, but what's really helpful is this person is calling me seven years down the road, and I'm happy that they're calling me. I'm not upset that I took a commission seven years ago on a policy and oh gosh, I gotta deal with that guy again. I, I really love working with people from all walks of life who want my help. And I think that would have been the biggest thing, is just sitting down with myself and explaining, hey, there are some people who are ready to move and ready to do this and ready to accept help. 

 And then there are other people who are not, and you just have to give them their time. Sometimes you have to give them some information, but you can't take that as a failure because that was one of the big challenges in the beginning. I would come home some days, and I can't believe that I couldn't convince them to start saving in their 403 plan at work, or to enroll in health insurance. I can't believe that I couldn't do this. This is my failure. 

 And I realized after a while. You can only help so many people, and if you get stuck on the people that are not ready for it, then you can't help the ones who are. So that's really why I try to try to move forward. So I guess the two things would be focus on making sure you maintain your physical health, and then work with people who really want to work with you.

Kathleen Owings 38:14

Yeah, I think that's so important. So Chris, here's a phrase you could try. Mark this one, it's not mine. It's my husband's. And he says health is the new wealth.

Because you can have a million problems. And when you have a health problem, you got one. Yeah, you got one problem. And it's interesting. So I started in the business in my late 20s, so I was in decent shape. 

 Not bad. I'm now in my late 40s. Just turned 47 last week. I feel like I'm in better shape than my 20s. And I was in the army. 

 I have better stamina, but the 30s. Brandon, I totally get what you're saying. When I was in my 30s, you know, you're kind of in the thick of it. You're trying to talk to anyone, sell policies, keep things moving through the pipeline, and it is great. You're right. 

 It's great when you can step back and say, you know what, I don't I don't have to work with everyone, and I don't want to because everyone's not a fit for me. But then going back to your point is putting on your oxygen mask first, and I will tell you, it's possible you can. Chris and I have a plank challenge that we're going to be doing, but like I said, I feel better in my 40s than I did in my 20s. I feel like I'm taking better care of myself and being more purposeful, more meaningful. But it it took some messiness in there to to kind of find that and get get to that place. 

 So it's possible.

Brandon Smith 39:36

Absolutely, absolutely. And that's one of the biggest things that I've been learning is it's sure the sacrifices that I made early on, they've gotten me here and so do I know. Would I have done it differently? Slightly. Not by not by too much, but definitely didn't need to eat as much gas station food as I did and things like that that were, you know, parts of parts of the early part of the career.

But I think the grit that I learned and, and built from making it through those periods of time and, you know, going months and months without a paycheck, Definitely got me to the point where now I don't get shaken as easily just because at the end of the day, I know. Unless, I mean, even if my legs were gone, I could still probably go out there and do this job. So that's something that gives me a feeling of confidence, having gone through a lot of the really, really challenging parts. And that's one of the reasons why every single day I come in here, I try to find something that I am grateful for, something that I can. You know, there's days where I spend all day doing paperwork. 

 That's a huge part of our job now, and I'm really not good at paperwork, and I really don't enjoy paperwork. But if I can just make 1 or 2 phone calls at the end of the day and just check in with somebody that I've had a positive impact on, that reminds me what it's really worth. And again, our goal is to be there for people on their worst possible days and to make the hardest problems that they face easier on them. We take that stuff on and sure, I might know how to deal with it from an objective point of view, but that doesn't necessarily make it any easier.

Chris Gandy 41:20

So so you mentioned you were an athlete, but what any specific sport?

Brandon Smith 41:25

Well, just in high school. And then when I was in college, I was a pretty heavy cyclist and I taught cycle classes and I was I ran the operations for Mary Washington's campus recreation department. So that was intramural sports and all the things associated with that. And then also all of our personal training, gym equipment, everything along those lines. So didn't compete in any sports at a collegiate level or anything like that, just all through high school.

Chris Gandy 41:56

Got it. All right. Kathleen. Zack, do we have anything before we go to the lightning round? I know we we have not yet been able to get that sponsor yet, so we can get the actual sound effects, you know, the lightning in a bottle type thing. We don't have it yet, but I know it's coming.

Kathleen Owings 42:13

Coming.

Chris Gandy 42:15

Is that right? Zack. It's coming. Zack. Zack.

Zack knows Zack's the technician here. With that being said, let's let's move to the. Kathleen, do you have anything before we go to the lightning round?

Kathleen Owings 42:29

No, I am ready.

Chris Gandy 42:32

Brandon, let me explain what the lightning round is. The lightning round is basically where we ask you questions. It's rapid fire. I'm sure Kathleen has a couple. I have a couple.

And then we'll end with a final question. And then any thoughts that you may have if you want to address NAIFA Nation. So the first thing is what was your first designation?

Brandon Smith 42:52

LUTCF. Yeah.

Chris Gandy 42:53

It was your very first one. Okay. Let's. Okay. Kathleen.

You got one. Okay.

Kathleen Owings 42:58

I do. What? Brandon, what is your favorite movie?

Brandon Smith 43:01

Goodfellas.

Kathleen Owings 43:03

That's a good one.

Chris Gandy 43:04

Get the papers. The papers? The papers?

Brandon Smith 43:06

Yeah, absolutely. Either that or a Bronx Tale between the two of them.

Kathleen Owings 43:10

Oh, that's another good one.

Chris Gandy 43:12

The good ones. Your favorite food, Brandon.

Brandon Smith 43:15

Really? Recently, it's just become steak. That's. That's become the biggest thing I've been on this that I mostly can eat steaks. So that's that's mostly what I'm eating, and that's what I enjoy.

Chris Gandy 43:28

So how do you how is your steak? This tells a lot about you. Okay. We were having this whole conversation about steak. At at one of the dinners.

How was your steak prepared?

Brandon Smith 43:40

It definitely depends on the cut. I can get real into it if you want to just give me. Just give me. Like, typically if we're in a restaurant, we order rib eye.

Chris Gandy 43:49

I mean, how are you going to get. What are you getting. Are you getting.

Brandon Smith 43:52

Oh, generally I like to go with a sirloin. I don't like fat on my meat. Really. I like it as lean as possible. I'm trying to get the biggest cut I can possibly get in general, but.

And I just go medium rare and medium rare.

Chris Gandy 44:06

Exactly, So see, this is this is the conversation we've had with a couple other NATO members. If you polled a bunch of NATO members, they've all said medium rare. And I'm like, oh, we.

Brandon Smith 44:16

Like living on the edge a little bit.

Chris Gandy 44:18

Bleeding to death. Kathleen, you have one more.

Kathleen Owings 44:21

I do. Okay. So I know you're doing the tax advising class now, but so we'll see if you're having time for this. But what book are you reading or listening to right now.

Brandon Smith 44:31

So the currently in terms of a book I have been prepping, my wife and I are going to be going to Italy in. Honestly 56 days. So we're we're going for our ten year anniversary and we're going to be traveling a little bit towards the Dolomites. So I've been learning a little bit more about the history of the Dolomites. From a industry standpoint, I stay up to date on Kitsis, that's Kitsis report.

That's one of the big things and any any of the videos and podcasts that they'll put out. And then I generally try to read any new business books that are coming out. One of the biggest ones recently, Jamie Hopkins, about two years old. But I'm reading Rewirement that Jamie Hopkins just put out a really good book, just on philosophy of how retirement should be approached. And so I try to read something more for personal development, something in the world of business, and then something just for fun when I want to check out. 

 And generally in that space, it's going to be something history related.

Chris Gandy 45:37

What is the designation you're going for with the tax?

Brandon Smith 45:41

Tax planning certified professional. So it's really three different courses. It's a little over a year. And the first is tax planning during the accumulation period. The second is tax planning during distribution.

And then the third is tax planning and death. And so right now everything along the lines of Rmd's RMD planning. All the things associated with that. It gets it gets pretty in depth. I think they they worked with Ed Slott in the creation of the program. 

 And yeah, it's I've been learning a lot. This is definitely one of the been one of the toughest that I've done. There's there's a lot of calculations. I'm not always the best at math.

Kathleen Owings 46:22

So a lot of repetition.

Chris Gandy 46:25

All right. Your most successful moment in the industry so far that you're the proudest of, whether it's delivering a claim check or it's, you know, being able to tell someone you've you've helped them or their family what should have been your your defining successful moment so far? Only one. I'm sure you have a bunch.

Brandon Smith 46:45

I do, but there's there's one that was early on, so one of the hardest sales that I ever made was to a young immigrant couple that they're they're here from the Philippines. They. Both extremely hard workers. They have two children and huge savers like off very low overall income. They really had built up quite a bit of money and one of their, their biggest goals were making sure that if something happened to their financial plan, they were derailed in any way, shape or form that of course they would continue on in the same direction that everything, everything would work the way it was supposed to.

And I remember so in in the life insurance world, there's a liquidity rider that you can add to a life insurance policy. And generally what that does is reduce the compensation for the advisor pretty drastically because you're getting rid of the surrender charge, which is, long story short, that was the only way I was going to make this sale. They needed liquidity to feel security to be able to do it. So I did it, and I was able to get 500,000 on the husband and wife, and two years later, I got a phone call from the husband that the wife, at 42, had had a stroke and she was completely brain dead for a little over a year and a half, and we were able to. Be there, get that life insurance policy moved on to claim. 

 And then so it was it was paid because we had the disability premium waiver set up for them. And then we were there for that. And it was it was really challenging for me to to make that sale. In the beginning. It was something I remember staying up late to do the applications. 

 It was like 11:00 at night. I had just driven home and I was just doing the apps, and I remember like taking as much time as I can because I needed to get it right. And then at the end of the day, because we did that liquidity rider, it writer. It wasn't something like at the time, I definitely needed the sale, but I didn't really get compensated very much for it at the end. Oh, I don't care. 

 I am so glad that I was there to put them in that position. So that's really I've got some other stories like that. I've got some things I've done on people's deathbeds, you know, the the story keeps going as you as you meet people and encounter them and work them through these difficult situations. You're going to have tons of stories. But that one was that was early on. 

 That was before I'd even met my senior partner, Jimmy. So I was on my own with that. And it was it was a big sale that still sticks with me.

Chris Gandy 49:44

Last, last, last question. If you could go back in history and have dinner or with anyone, lunch or dinner doesn't matter. Or a cup of coffee or a beer, whatever it may be with anyone in history or whether they passed on or they're still here with us today. A leader, who would it be and why?

Brandon Smith 50:03

Probably Ulysses S Grant.

Chris Gandy 50:05

Okay. Any specific reason why?

Brandon Smith 50:09

I think he was an excellent leader. But if you also look at, like, a lot of the historical, like, great men that they talk about, a lot of them, if you probably, they probably weren't the greatest to, like, have a conversation with. They might not have been the kindest people, they might not have been generally honorable for all of the faults that he had. I do think that there were a ton of leadership lessons to have learned from him, and I also think that there really haven't been any other people like him in history. And so it could get really, really in depth into it.

But he's worth it. He's worth a little bit of research.

Chris Gandy 50:51

All right. Awesome. All right. Well, Brandon NAIFA Nation is listening. Is there anything else you would like to say to NAIFA Nation since, you know, you have the floor.

Brandon Smith 51:01

I have the floor. Yeah. Focus on education. If you learn how things should be done. You can be very successful in this business.

Focus on tax law, on estate law. Focus on insurance. How it actually impacts people. How trusts work. Learn those different specialized pieces of information. 

 Because that's what successful people do. And successful people do the things that unsuccessful people don't. That's it.

Chris Gandy 51:38

Awesome.

Kathleen Owings 51:39

It's a great way to end Brandon.

Chris Gandy 51:40

Your knowledge. Kathleen, over to you, dear.

Kathleen Owings 51:44

Okay. Well, Brandon, I want to thank you for your time. I feel like I need to go get more designations and learn more. And that's what I love about this industry is where we can constantly learn and get better and be better for our clients and impact more lives. So thanks for your time today.

It's been a great conversation. I've really enjoyed it.

Brandon Smith 52:02

Absolutely. Me too. Thank you guys for the opportunity.

Chris Gandy 52:05

Kathleen, anything for NAIFA Nation or you're good with me closing. Where are you at now?

Kathleen Owings 52:10

No, I'll let you close. Chris, why don't you go ahead?

Chris Gandy 52:13

Well, listen, right around the corner is the NLC. If you have not signed up, please go sign up today and become part of the plank challenge where Kathleen and I will have a plank off. And we're working with NAIFA to put together a challenge where some people, Kathleen, are saying they're even just going to come pay just so they can actually see it.

Kathleen Owings 52:40

That's fine. Bring it on. I'm I don't mind at all.

Chris Gandy 52:43

We will have some fun there and we'll raise some money for our association and for NAIFA Nation. So that wraps up this episode of NAIFA’s Advisor Today podcast where Main Street meets our mission of moving the conversation forward. If you thought of some things or you heard some things today, make sure you write them down and share them with somebody else in your community. And we stand shoulder to shoulder with advisors across the country protecting both dreams and legacies for our clients. Until next time, keep speaking out and keep doing the hard work, the work that really matters.

I'm your co-host, Chris Gandy and wonderful Kathleen Owings. So good to see you. On behalf of NAIFA, thank you for listening and we'll see you next week. Same time, same place. Thanks for tuning in to Advisor Today podcast.

Kathleen Owings 53:36

Thanks again. Brandon. Thanks.

Brandon Smith 53:38

Absolutely. Thank you. Bye bye.

Kathleen Owings 53:39

Thanks.

Outro 53:43

Thanks for joining us for NAIFA’s Advisor Today podcast series. Make sure to subscribe to get future episodes. And if you're interested in coming on the show, let us know.