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

• [04:38] David Wood discusses his Chief Visionary Officer role and why he believes the financial services industry is entering a period of massive change
• [08:05] Comparing the evolution of financial advising to the medical field’s transformation
• [10:59] Why the next generation of advisors values lifestyle and stability over sales
• [14:59] How client experience has become the new competitive advantage in financial services
• [18:49] David explains how internships help attract and develop young talent in financial advising
• [23:39] Signs that indicate it’s time to acquire another advisory practice
• [29:43] Why scalable systems are essential before growing through acquisitions
• [34:08] How acquiring older, under-serviced books can unlock hidden opportunities
• [38:31] David’s recommended resources for advisors ready to embrace growth and change

In this episode…

As the financial services industry faces accelerating technological disruption and a wave of advisor retirements, professionals are grappling with how to scale sustainably, meet rising client expectations, and remain competitive. Traditional models of independent practice are becoming increasingly difficult to sustain. So, what does the future hold for advisors who want to grow and thrive in this rapidly evolving environment?

David Wood, a longtime financial industry leader and growth strategist, shares deep insights on navigating these challenges through strategic vision, smart acquisitions, and operational scalability. He emphasizes the importance of identifying whether advisors are best suited to hunt for new clients or serve existing ones — and then building teams accordingly. He advocates for leveraging technology, including AI, to enhance client experience at scale, and discusses how acquiring practices with outdated service models can yield significant opportunity. David also shares the value of internships and mentorship to attract younger talent and create longevity in the industry.

In this episode of the Advisor Today podcast, Chris Gandy and Kathleen Owings interview David Wood, a seasoned financial services professional, about the future of financial advising. David discusses scalable growth, advisor succession, and evolving client expectations. He also explores how mindset shifts, peer collaboration, and targeted acquisitions can help advisors thrive in the modern landscape.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Chris Gandy on LinkedIn
• Kathleen Owings on LinkedIn
• NAIFA
• David Wood on LinkedIn
• Who Not How: The Formula to Achieve Bigger Goals Through Accelerating Teamwork by Dan Sullivan and Dr. Benjamin Hardy
• Unreasonable Hospitality: The Remarkable Power of Giving People More Than They Expect by Will Guidara

Quotable Moments: 

• “If we want to go fast, go alone. If we want to go far, go together.”
• “The client's expectations have and are going to continue to really change.”
• “The firms that are going to succeed are the firms that have models to support what advisors want.”
• “When we focus on those things that we like to do, we’re more energized and jazzed up.”
• “I think part of the key is having the organizations that have the scale and ability.”

Action Steps:

1. Assess your firm’s readiness for acquisition: A well-run internal system is essential before absorbing another practice to avoid operational chaos.
2. Define your ideal advisor role — hunter or servicer: Understanding your strengths helps clarify hiring, delegation, and the team structure that maximizes client value.
3. Leverage AI to enhance client experience: Technology enables personalization at scale, helping you stand out and build stronger client relationships.
4. Create pathways for young talent through internships: Interns bring fresh perspectives and, with mentorship, can grow into long-term, high-value team members.
5. Join peer mastermind or coaching groups: Regular idea-sharing with supportive peers uncovers solutions and accelerates growth through collaboration.

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 advisers 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

Hello nation! It's so happy. We're so happy to be here on Advisor Today podcast. You know, it's been a while since we've gotten together and you may see some fresh new faces today. So I'm super excited as we relaunch the podcast to welcome our wonderful co-host for today's podcast, Kathleen Owings.

Kathleen, how are you?

Kathleen Owings 00:41

Hi Chris, I am doing great. Thanks so much. I'm happy to be here.

Chris Gandy 00:45

We are super excited to see you. And I like the pin. You know you can talk about the pin, the pin and the and the power of the pin a little bit later. But before we get going on today's podcast, Zack, who is our sponsor for today's program.

Zack Huels 01:01

Today we'd like to plug Life Happens Real Life Stories. The Real Life Stories program recognizes the role of life, disability or long term care insurance and annuities in making a difference when adversity strikes. Share your own story or a client's story to be featured in our efforts to educate consumers about the importance of getting insurance or annuities, any financial professional, client, or home office employee can submit a story. Remember, you don't need to be a great writer to win. It's the story that counts.

Submissions can be accepted in either essay or video format. To be considered. We're looking for an individual, family, or business that has benefited from life, disability, or long term care insurance or annuities. We have told stories that feature more than one product. We're looking for a beneficiary that's willing to share a story or claim filed in the last five years is preferred.

So if you want to learn more about that, go to Life happens.org/stories application. Back to you.

Chris Gandy 01:56

Thanks Zack. I mean that's you mentioned that that's a wonderful opportunity to highlight one of your clients and highlight the work and the impact you've had in your communities, and that's why we're all here. So with no further ado, our co-host, Kathleen, I bid adieu to you to introduce our wonderful guest for today's podcast.

Kathleen Owings 02:20

Thanks so much, Chris. I am very excited to have David Wood with us here today. I've run into David and a few conferences, industry association conferences and had the opportunity to get to know him a better level. So I asked David to be on and David is a pioneer in the financial services industry. He established Gateway Financial Partners in 1994.

He's currently the chief Visionary Officer. Interested to hear more about that title? David's experience spans across several decades, and he possesses a really innate ability to help advisors identify growth opportunities in the space. And we're going to talk a little bit more about that today. He's passionate about community engagement, which I love.

I also love being involved in my community here. David is on many boards and attends numerous conferences and talks a lot about mergers and acquisitions. David's been frequently quoted in Investment News, Yahoo Finance, many others, and his curiosity does go outside the finance world and we'll hope to hear more about this. He's an active member of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, reflecting his belief the importance of exploring outside of your comfort zone, which Chris and I like to talk about as well. So David, thank you so much for coming.

We are really excited to have you on today.

David Wood 03:37

Great to see you guys. It's great to be here. Thank you.

Kathleen Owings 03:40

Thanks.

Chris Gandy 03:41

Well let's get into it. David, David, it's great to see you. Chief visionary.

David Wood 03:46

It's great to see you. It's great to see you. We actually officially have the tallest and shortest members of NAIFA here on the call today.

Kathleen Owings 03:54

He's talking about the two of you.

David Wood 03:56

I've got a great picture of Chris and I from the apex conference last year and I think I came up to I don't know about your shirt pocket there, Chris, I think is, is that about right?

Chris Gandy 04:07

Hey, you know what? You know, it's personality. It's personality. Your personality is as big as I am tall.

David Wood 04:15

I appreciate that. Thank you very much.

Chris Gandy 04:17

So share with us a little bit about Chief Visionary Partner share. Share with us. I think Kathleen kind of mentioned it in the opening introduction. What is that? What does that mean?

And how did you guys come up with that unique title and share with us? What is your vision for our industry and the work that you're doing at gateway?

David Wood 04:38

So, Chris, this is really all I've ever done. So I started the financial services industry in 1986. So I started, you know, pre-stock market crash of 87. I dropped out of college to get into this space and then founded Gateway in 1994. And I've just got a total passion for the industry and really helping financial advisors achieve success, no matter what that means to them.

When I kind of look at the role, you know, we've got a good-sized team here at Gateway, probably 30 plus people here to support our advisors. And I look at that. It really comes down to the unique abilities that each person has within the organization, within the team. We've got a lot of great operational people, a lot of great marketing people, but I think it starts with the vision. And if you can get everybody kind of rowing in the same direction and following that vision you have as a leader, I think it's one of the most important things we need to do, right?

So as an owner of a company, I think when we set that vision and find great employees that buy into that vision and make sure that things are aligned, I think that's ultimately the best way to achieve success. So I spent a lot of time, as Kathleen said, we've met at a couple of conferences. I spent a lot of time talking with other financial advisors. I think one of the differences with our organization, I don't have any personal clients, right. So I spend all of my time kind of speaking with other advisors, other industry leaders and really trying to set the stage for where the industry is ultimately going and then taking where that I see that future vision of where the industry is going, taking that back, and then kind of setting the stage for what does our organization need to do to pivot?

I look at the changes in this industry since I started in 1986. It's just incredible, right? I mean, we sit and look at the change that we've seen. And I think a lot of that change is really happened in the last 5 or 10 years. I think if I go back and look from 87 to 97 and 97 to 2007, there was some change in the industry.

We had lower pricing, the advent of ETFs, and there was certainly change. But then we look at the internet and we certainly start to look now moving forward at AI and how that really changes things. I think there's amazing dynamics that are happening in the industry right now, and I think that those dynamics are really going to be the intersection of nearly a third of financial advisers retiring in the next ten years, a third of financial advisers, and that's retiring in an environment where we have an increasing demand for financial advice. So that's not saying, hey, a third of fax machine repair people are going to retire in the next ten years, and nobody uses fax machines anymore. You know, consumers today are more willing than ever to pay for advice.

And there's an increasing demand for that advice. Right. We've got 10,000 baby boomers turning 65 every day. So as we look at all those dynamics and then we throw an I, I think that this industry is just in for massive, massive change moving forward.

Kathleen Owings 07:29

So how do you stay on top of. I mean, I started a different time frame, but I started right at ‘07. So right before that crash, Great Recession. So I've seen those twists and turns. And then we had multiple others since then.

And I kind of joke, I hope I never say or I'm sure I will though this is the worst I've seen or the best I've seen or the hardest. I mean, it's been interesting to see just in my career, the worst and the best. How do you stay on top of those changes, you said it's dynamic. I feel like it is changing faster and faster from even when I started in oh seven to what we're seeing now from, say, 2020. I mean, how can people stay abreast of that?

David Wood 08:05

Well, I think the biggest thing is don't do it alone. I think that this is one of the big changes that we're really seeing in the industry. And, you know, I think I look at some similarities to where financial advice and financial advisors are today. I think one of the industries that I think has been through the change that I think our industry is going through as doctors, and if you go back to 2002, in 2002, 75% of doctors owned their own practice and 25% worked for a hospital or an aggregator. And when you look at what that doctor's office in 2000.

In 2000, in the early 2000 look like, what was it? It was a doctor, a physician's assistant, and somebody who did the scheduling and billing. Right. So these were small. These were small offices run.

And they're very similar to many of the financial advisors today that operate under an independent model. So then we fast forward to 2002. We go to 2020 11. And in 2011 those numbers flip flop. So 75% of doctors were working for a hospital or an aggregator.

And today it's about 100% right. So we see doctors now affiliated with bigger groups, and they're with those bigger groups because they need more scale in what they're doing. So I think one of the big, big changes that we see in the industry is I think it's an industry where smaller advisors can't go it alone. And I think there's going to be continued aggregation in the space just to kind of look at aggregation 50%. We've got 50% less broker-dealers than we had 15 years ago.

50%. I mean, that is an incredible number and an incredible amount of consolidation that we've had. And now we're seeing new and more innovative ways of financial advisors can affiliate and how they can wrap technology around that service model. So I think all of this change is good, but I think the financial services industry is going to look different. Because of some of these changes that are happening that is looking different today.

Chris Gandy 10:03

When we take a look at the evolution of or the future of what the industry does look like, including aggregation. I mean, where are we ten years from now as it as a career, right, when people join the industry or are they joining, you know, rewind the tape. Are we going back to the big conglomerates that existed before when we, you know, when the big large career shops just in under a different umbrella. Are we going back to that space. And ebbs and flows, or are we headed to a place where, you know, the spoke and wheel model, right where you can plug and play into a back office system, but you can represent yourself and a brand in the general marketplace.

Just thoughts and ideas on that.

David Wood 10:59

Yeah, I mean, I think that I think for us, like I look, we've got about 165 advisors affiliated with our firm. About two-thirds of those advisors do operate under our brand, where we've got a much tighter ecosystem. I think when I look at what the Next Generation advisor is looking for, I think in many cases the quality of life is more important than the growth of the business. I think that the stability of the business is very, very important to them. And as I look at the next generation of advisors Chris, you and I, we grew up, you know, we grew up kind of eating what we kill and kind of working through that to grow a business.

Right. And as I look at that, I'm not sure today that that's possible as a starting point. Right? When I started in this industry, I could sell a mutual fund with an 8.5% front-end commission. And that was standard, right?

It was an 8.5% front end commission. If I did that today, I would go to FINRA jail. So I think part of this is the barriers to entry to starting in this industry are very, very high, right? I don't think today somebody coming out of college could start as an independent advisor and make it in this industry. I think they need to be plugged into a firm that has a client base.

And I think when I look at the skill sets that advisors have, I think it comes down to do I want to go out and hunt for new business or do I want to service clients? And we kind of we grew up doing everything right. I'm not sure the next generation wants to do that. I think the next generation, it's more important for them. I want to be a servicing advisor and be really good at that, and I want to have my career acting as a servicing advisor.

We've got a couple people on our team like that. We've given them the stability that they really want. They don't want the uncertainty of, of, of, of compensation. So I think the firms that are going to succeed are the firms that have models to support what the advisors are looking for. I think one of the other big trends we're going to see is, is, you know, there was a big trend to state-registered RIAs.

We've got about, I don't know, 15,000 state registered RIAs that are these smaller RIAs that I just don't think I just don't think have a service model to really continue to operate effectively. These are firms under $100 million of assets that I just think lack the scale to implement the types of things that the bigger firms are doing. So I think the competition is starting to look very, very different than it did in the past. And I think a lot of that is driven around technology. But I also think it's driven around the client's expectations.

Right? The clients, the clients back in the 2000, what did they expect? Well, they expected us to mail them something in the mail, right. Today on my phone I want to see everything. And I think what's changed the consumer's expectations is not financial advice.

I think what's changed their expectations is, Uber and Airbnb, and it's the technology that has provided this 24 over seven on-demand instant gratification of what's going on. I think that these types of technologies have changed what people expect from their financial advisor. So I think that when I look at the delivery of financial advice, you know, it's really interesting because I'll ask rooms of advisors this question. I'll ask them, what industry are you in? And I'll have the older white men say, well, I'm, you know, I'm a wealth manager.

I'm a financial advisor. I provide financial advice, I provide investment advice. And then there'll be a younger woman in the audience who says, I focus on client experience. And I think that that's where this industry has changed. I think that the client's expectations have and are going to continue to really change.

And, you know, I travel a lot. If you can see over my shoulder here, I've got a stack of my hotel room keys, so I travel a lot.

Kathleen Owings 14:49

I thought that was business cards, hotel room, a big stack. If you're not, you're not watching. Visually, it is a very large stack of hotel room cards.

David Wood 14:59

It's hotel room, hotel room keys. So, you know, so when you look at this, I travel. I travel a lot, checking a lot of hotels. When I check into the room, I expect to see a bed. If there's not a bed, I'm going to be pretty surprised.

Right. And the bed. The bed gets me nothing, right. It's about all of the other experiences that happen with that visit that make it a good visit or a bad visit. And I think when I come to a financial advisor, I expect to get financial advice right.

I expect to get that. That's like the bed in the hotel room. So I think when we look at what clients expect, I think they're expecting a lot more. They're expecting a lot more of a holistic relationship, much more of a personal relationship. I think the advisors that are going to really succeed moving forward are the ones that can use things like AI to create an amazing client experience with scale.

So we've got a big marketing team here at gateway, and when I look at what the marketing team does, they're here to create an amazing client experience with scale. That's what marketing ultimately is. So when I look at that, I think the advisors moving forward that are going to really succeed are the ones that can, that can, that can use AI and use technology efficiently to be able to deliver that amazing client experience with scale and provide clients with much more personal, personal relationship and personal advice. That's something that I, I mean, it's starting to do parts of it, right? And it can augment what a financial advisor does.

So I think that moving forward, advisors are going to need to focus on that. And I also think we're going to have less financial advisors in the industry. I mean, I think that there's been several studies that have come out that says, you know, we're 100,000 financial advisors short. So I think that we also need to get new advisors into this industry. I think that that's something that as a firm we're very focused on, we've put about 450 interns through our company in the last ten years.

So, you know, we've put a lot of people through to get people interested in the financial services space. We've hired the amazing interns into our organization. So we want to get a younger team built up. Right. So we've got interns that have been here for, I think, 11, 12, 13 years.

I've got interns that went through the internship program, you know, a decade ago and are now still here with the organization that's bringing younger talent in that can far outlast me in this industry, which is also exciting.

Kathleen Owings 17:21

I think it's smart to also look at them when they're interns. But I know organizations like NAIFA, SMC, Trust Company, I'm sure there are many others out there. They're starting to work with CFP programs to get people interested, because I can't tell you how many folks, young folks I've talked to, and they have one idea of what the industry is. They think we're looking at Bloomberg. I do have two computers, but they think we're looking at, you know, our Bloomberg computers, machines buying and selling.

And I tell them, that's really not what I'm doing. Now, if you want to be a CFA, you can do that. You know, go work for a Tamp or an asset manager and do that. But for me, and you hit upon it, David, it's really about the relationships. I mean, I just took a call on Friday and the client sadly in the hospital, and I said goodbye to her.

She didn't want to have visitors, but she is. We don't know how long she has. That's what people don't understand. That's what we're doing. And then I swung by the hospital and dropped something off to her friend who needs something done ASAP.

That's what we do. It's the relationships. I can't do that. And if I think people will frankly start to see that, you start to see it as you get older, in life where the relationships matter more, sometimes because our lives get more complicated, you know, we get married, we have kids, our parents age us. How do you —

The question is, how do you express that or share that with the younger generations who might be interested in the industry, but see it in one way and don't see it through a different lens.

David Wood 18:49

I think it goes back to some of my earlier comments, right? It's about figuring out what that new person in the industry wants to do. Do they want to go out and hunt for new clients, or do they want to service new clients? Because I often look, I think that those are two very, very different skill sets, right. Do I want to be that analyst and do the investment research?

Is that what I enjoy doing? I want to get my CFA. I want to do that part of the industry. Well, there's a space for that, but there's not a space for that. If I want to be a financial advisor.

Right? Right. Look at that. That's a part of the job. But that's not the entire job.

So I think again, this goes back to, I think one of the shifts that we're going to see of more larger organizations that are operating together more as a team, a team approach where we can have multiple advisors on that team at different levels of their career. This is another thing we you know, we've helped a lot of advisors make acquisitions. And we're seeing advisors after their third acquisition realize they've got way too many clients to service. So they need a mechanism internally to take some of those clients and provide them, you know, to a servicing advisor who has the time to service and nurture those relationships, which is great because when you start to look in our industry, the lifetime value of a client is really high. And if those advisors that have made three acquisitions can't keep all of the clients, then there's not a lot of value and there's reputational risk.

So I think part of the key is having the organizations that are going to do well are the ones, again, that have the scale and the ability to take back clients. We're taking back clients from our advisors that have too many clients because they've made, you know, multiple acquisitions. So moving them to a servicing advisor, and that's a role within the organization. So if I want to be the analyst, that's great. If I want to be the servicing advisor, that's great.

If I want to be the marketing person, that's great. I think what's leading to is it's leading to bigger organizations. It's not leading to that solo doctor or solo advisor. It's leading to more scaled groups. And I think that's one of the changes we're going to continue to see.

So I think part of it is just educating. And you know, we've got an intern here that has been here for I think 12 or 13 years. She started as a marketing intern, and today she's on our operations team and has thrived over the last, I think, 11 or 12 years. She spent — came in for a marketing internship and realized that she went to school for marketing, but she really didn't love marketing. She really loved operations.

And when we talked to her more about what an operational role would look like, you know, she's excelled and she leads our premier advisor support program within our firm on the operations side. So again, I think it's about educating those folks. And a lot of times we'll have interns that come in and they don't know what they want to do, or they think they want to do marketing, or they think they want to do operations, but they just don't know. So I think getting them exposed to those different opportunities helps them figure out more clearly what they ultimately want to do as a career. And is this an industry that they want to stay in?

I think that this industry today, there's more opportunity moving forward than I think we've ever seen in our lifetimes. So I think that there's more opportunity today for the firms and for the advisors that are well positioned to take advantage of it. And it's a really exciting time, and we definitely need new and younger talent in the industry.

Chris Gandy 22:16

So David, let's talk statistical data for a moment. So by 2030, there'll be one financial advisor for, they say for every 40,000 people. Like you start to do that math and you're just like.

Kathleen Owings 22:33

Hours in the day or the month.

Chris Gandy 22:36

Cow. Right. That is somewhat overwhelming if you really think about it. Right? And so how do we, Kathleen and I, how do we start to prepare?

Well, first let's talk about how do we know it's time to actually acquire a practice. Right. If we're looking at a practice and we're at our max capacity, we're like, you know what I got say, 100 client Kathleen has 100 clients. I've got 100 clients or 200. Whatever the number is, our assistants, whatever we can, we can handle.

And we're like, you know what? We're kind of maxed out on our capacity level. Even though our mind tells us we want to do more. It's like the athlete who says, you know, I can go another round, but at the end of the day, their skill set diminishes because they're just exhausted, right? So, so, so capacity wise, how do what are the signs that we look that someone should look for when they when it's time for them to expand into that arena or consider that.

David Wood 23:39

I think part of it, step one, is that you have a growth mindset. What do you want the practice to look like? So we have a financial advisor that went from about half $1 million of revenues in his practice and one part-time assistant. 12 months later, he was on track to do 3 million of revenues and had four full-time people working for him. Okay.

So this is a real-life example of an advisor that went from went from a six-axis revenues in 12 months. He made three acquisitions with our help in 12 months, and he went from one part time person to four full-time people. So part of it is he's an advisor that said, boy, I want to grow. Now, is he working harder or less hard than he was a year ago? Well, it's just different, right?

I'm working harder now than I've ever worked in my life, but I'm also having way more fun because I'm in that visionary role doing the thing that adds the most value to the organization. I'm not doing check deposits. And I'm not, you know, opening up new accounts. And I'm not processing annuity applications and I'm not doing compliance functions. Right.

So when, when, when you look at an advisor, there's things that advisors like to do and there's things that they don't like to do. And when we focus on those things that we like to do, we often are way more energized and jazzed up to do them right. If you gave me, you know, two hours of paying bills, it would take about ten years off of my life. Right? So it's just something I don't enjoy paying bills.

There's things that I don't enjoy doing, but when I have things that I enjoy doing, I can do those all day long. So I think part of this is, is when you look what what's going to lead to that is, is one, do I have a growth mindset and do I really want to grow. Understanding that growth is going to create I think things are going to get easier, right? So I look at my life, I'd say it's easier than it was 15 years ago because I was wearing multiple hats. And Kurt Curt Hageman, who's the advisor that made those three acquisitions prior to partnering with us.

He said that he was in a firm doing about a half a million in revenues. And he basically wrote an article about wearing every hat within the firm from, you know, the janitor to the CEO. He wore every single hat in the organization. That was really hard for him. Right?

Today he leads the organization. A couple of years ago, he was doing everything. So by partnering with us, he got access to way more resources, resources on the operations side, technology side, marketing side. That allowed him to spend more time doing what he enjoyed. And then he got a growth mindset behind it.

I think a lot of advisors don't have a growth mindset because they're wearing every hat and trying to do everything in the firm and they say, boy, if I add more clients on, it's going to be harder. This is why acquisitions, if you think about growth, slow growth is really hard. Slow growth is really, really hard because I add more clients on and then I've got more work and I don't have the money to support more support people. So slow growth can, I think, be very, very painful. If you look at hockey sticking growth right where I can six x my revenues, well there's a different set of challenges.

I'm not going to say that that's easy, but you've got the money now to go out and do things that you couldn't have done, you couldn't have done prior to the acquisitions. Right? The business is way different than it was before. It's scaled up. It's like if I want to make bread and I make bread out of my house in my oven, I've got some capacity there.

Right. But if I've got to make more and more bread, I've got to add more time on because I need an hour to cook the bread. And there's only so many hours in the day. My oven is only so big, and I can only cook 2 or 3 loaves at a time. And then if I get more orders, I've got to work more hours.

And then I get to the time where I've got to, I've got to then get another oven in my garage to cook the bread. It becomes really hard. But if I got an order for, you know, 50,000 loaves of bread, then I can immediately open up a commissary where I've got a professional kitchen. And that process would make things a lot easier for me. So I think the same thing is true with financial services.

I think the first step is to get acquisition-ready. If you want to make an acquisition, you got to be ready to make the acquisition. You've got to have good processes internally. And if you don't have a well-run practice today, it's going to be hard to make an acquisition because a lot of the acquisitions that are out there are not necessarily well-run practices. There's a lot of older advisors retiring who've done it the same way for 30 years.

So if I'm going to buy a practice that is not necessarily really well run or has the type of client service model that people are looking for, if I'm going to buy that and bring that back in, I need to have a really well-run practice. It's sort of like a tag sale. If my practice looks like a tag sale and I go buy somebody else's tag sale and bring all the stuff back to my house, now I just got more tag sale stuff. I don't have a process behind it, but if I. If I sell lawn mowers and snowblowers and that's all I sell, and I go to somebody else's tag sale and I buy it up, and I bring back the lawn mowers and snowblowers and sell off the other things or, or morph it into what I have today.

It can be a really, really successful opportunity. So I think it's about being acquisition-ready as a starting point and then and an understanding that that slow growth can be really hard. And I think hockey stick growth can often be easier than slow growth.

Kathleen Owings 29:07

So it sounds like as you were talking about that, David, I was thinking, okay, chicken or egg, you know, the hockey stick growth you're talking about, but you're let's assume let's make an assumption. The advisor is growth-oriented. They want to grow. Maybe they are in an older model. What are some steps you think people should take to prepare for that?

Because it sounds like you're saying systems first, then the growth, or at least have some good systems in place to then bring this new business in. And you've I'm sure you've seen many mergers and acquisitions. What have been the successful ones and some key takeaways that people can keep in mind for that if they're interested in it?

David Wood 29:43

Well, I think, I think when I look at them, I think every acquisition that we've had has been successful. Right. So I don't think we've had any bad acquisitions. I think there's just a differing degree of success. I think where we've seen amazing success is where we're buying practices from older advisors that have really weak service models.

So I think it's like if I look at going out and buying something, if I go out and buy the nicest house in the nicest neighborhood, that was just fully renovated, right? It was just fully landscaped, painted, fully remodeled, new kitchen, new bathrooms. I'm going to pay top dollar for that. There's probably not a lot of upside if I come in and buy a practice that's a fixer-upper. It's a nice neighborhood, you know, but a 90-year-old couple just, you know, moved into assisted living and gave up the house.

And they haven't done anything to it in 30 years. But it's in a great neighborhood. It just needs some TLC to fix it up, I think. Financial practices are very, very similar. I think there's a lot of opportunity in some of those practices that the older advisor doesn't have a modern client service model.

And what's happening with these practices is advisors are going out and finding literally millions and millions of dollars of opportunities, because the old advisor didn't have the service model that supported what the client wanted. And, and, and the clients didn't have a high degree of confidence with the advisor. So real-life scenario that advisor in Chicago went out and he purchased one of the books he purchased. He did more revenues in that book in year one than he paid for the book. And that's because he went out and he found one client had $80,000 in mutual funds.

And when he went out and did financial planning and explained to the advisor what he does as a financial advisor, he ended up with 6.8 million from that client. So there's an example. The client had just sold the business. The old advisor would have never seen a dime of that money. In fact, what probably would have happened is the client would have gone to a good advisor, and that advisor probably would have lost the 80 grand because the new advisor did holistic planning and said, well, there's no need to have 80,000 bucks over here.

So I think part of that is when you have a modern client service model, the opportunities in some of these older books, many of these clients have 2 or 3 advisors during the accumulation phase of the relationship, but they always have one advisor during the distribution phase because that becomes a comprehensive approach. So the advisors that are leading with that and also providing differentiated service, I can't stress how that client experiences is so important. Great book. Great book to read is Unreasonable Hospitality by Will Guidara I mean, it's just an amazing book I've heard will speak multiple times. I've been through the book probably 2 or 3 times, and it's just a great example of how changing that deliverable, changing that client experience is something that leads to ultimately way more assets and all of the assets and generational assets from the clients that advisors are working with.

Kathleen Owings 32:45

I think it's trying to think out of the box, which is hard. I mean, many advisors, we you know, I joke, we kind of live in a box. You know, you have point A to point B, you want things to be black and white, but it's delivering a different level of service. Looking at it differently, I actually watched have you heard of Savannah Bananas, the baseball team?

David Wood 33:04

Yes I have.

Kathleen Owings 33:05

Okay, so see what he is doing with I don't like baseball. Okay, I'm a Mets fan. I'm from New York originally, but baseball bores me now. I love football, to be honest. My husband played football.

I can tell you I know a lot about football. Baseball. Boring. I mean, traditional baseball to me is boring. And then, you see, I don't remember his name, quite honestly.

But you see what they're doing with baseball now. It's a two-hour time limit. There's activity all the time. People are engaged. It's kids, it's grandparents, it's parents.

They got the Savannah bananas they got. I mean, it's kind of amazing that he's turning this old pastime on its head. Now, some people probably don't like it, but someone like me, I looked at that like I became. I'd go, oh, tickets are $60. So bringing the price to a reasonable amount, time is reasonable and you're engaged.

Voila. So I think it's maybe looking at our industry, I don't know what I'm going to Savannah banana it, but doing something different.

David Wood 34:08

So I'm going to podcast tomorrow. I'm on another podcast tomorrow and it's, it's a, it's a it's the Don't Do That podcast. And I think one of the things Joel Bruckenstein was actually on this podcast about a month or so ago. And, you know, one of the things that he said, Joel runs the T3 conference. He's just an industry legend. One of the things that he said was don't, don't go alone.

Don't do this alone. I think that this comes back to the collaboration of bigger firms and more resources. That's where the competition is. Your competition is not going to be the financial advisor down the street. It's going to be the scaled organizations that can provide that differentiated value proposition with scale and help the advisor provide that.

And they're going to use AI to help with that. They're going to use AI for triggering events. Because here's the thing. You know, you can identify the opportunity as an advisor. So you said, boy, this client is in the hospital, probably doesn't have a long time to live.

So the next step is, boy, what are your next steps for that family. Right? Do you have a process to send a memorial plaque to the family when something happens to that person? Like, these are all things that our marketing team is helping advisors execute. And it's simply an email to say, hey, this client passed away.

I need a memorial gift for this client. And then the advisors hands are free from that. So it's the thing I think often what holds advisors back is trying to do everything on their own, right? If we want to go, if we want to go fast, go alone, if we want to go far, go together. And I think that that again, that comes back to where these bigger firms are, are, I think, going to continue to, to, to grow at a much faster rate than the smaller advisors are.

We've often also seeing a shakeout, because this is something that I think advisors have been lulled into complacency with, with the markets. Right. So up until recently the market's gone straight up for three years. So advisors say, well, I did really well last year. I grew my revenues at 8%.

Well you grew at 8% when the market was up 25. Right. So and I'm not saying that your clients are 100% invested in the S&P, but a 6040 portfolio was up about 15% last year. So an advisor when we look at growth internally, we look at the growth above 15%. We look at the growth above a 60 over 40 portfolio because that's where the real growth is, right?

So I think one of the things we're seeing is advisors have been lulled into think that they're doing well when their practices aren't doing that well. They're really not growing. They're not getting new clients and new assets. Their revenues are up because the market is up. And I think when we see market shakeups like we've seen and more difficult times in the market, I think it's going to accelerate the rate at which some of these advisors make the decision to sell.

And I think the increased competition is going to continue to pick some of their clients away. Advisors that have got a better client experience are going to start picking more and more clients away. And we're seeing that now. We've got advisors that are growing very, very rapidly through marketing. And they're out marketing and taking clients away in many cases from advisors that don't have a great client service model.

Chris Gandy 37:29

So David, I'm going to give you some thoughts. We're going to go to a lightning round here in a minute. You're always a great guest. Couple things. One is for those who didn't hear I heard that to make the bread, you’ve got to make the bread.

Right. So to make the bread is in the money, you got to. You got to go. And you got to understand how to scale and make multiple loaves of bread. I did hear that from you.

And then also you did mention and, you know, in a roundabout places that we have to let go to grow. Right. And I think we've been conditioned for years as advisors that it's on you to grow it. It's on you to it's all on you. And part of that is letting go to grow.

So what would be the first step for an advisor who has that mindset is the first step. You know, writing down a business plan is the first step. Finding a mentor. What is the first step? Because once you start moving in a direction, you can figure out how to get there.

But first thing is.

David Wood 38:31

I think step number one grab the book Who Not How, which was written by Dan Sullivan. I think it's an amazing book. And I think what the premise of this is that as kids, we're taught how to figure things out. Right. So we have to figure out how to do things instead of changing our mindset to say, hey, who can help me with that?

Right? And when we get that mindset change, it's a simple mindset change. But Dan Sullivan wrote an entire book about it. So I think step number one, which is great, is to get the book Who Not How. You know, I do have a personal coach.

I also belong to a mastermind group. I belong to a couple and I think that I get a lot out of that. So I think having some type of mentor or coach for everybody. Right. But Tiger Woods has got a coach.

I've got a coach. I think it's great to have a coach who can really align with what you want to do, and you've got to have a you've got to have a good relationship with that coach, and you've got to be open to listening to the coach and doing what they want, you know, kind of doing what they're recommending to do. I think this comes back to the mindset that people need to have, and I want to just change this mindset for a second, because Matt Oxley was in my office about ten years ago. Matt is a very, very well-known coach in the financial services space, and Matt said something which really resonated with me. He says if I give a $1 million producer an idea, they come back in a week and tell me how it worked out.

If I give a $100,000 producer an idea, they come back in a week and tell me five ways they can do it better. So I think part of this is to actually be coachable, right? Open up your mind to say, boy, I really don't know everything, I need help, I do it every day. I learn something new every single day in this industry. And that's, I think, what ultimately leads to growth.

So step number one, I think reading Who Not How is great. Changing that mindset. Those are all things that are going to open up an advisor to growth. And I also think getting a coach and I'm happy to share some recommendations there. I think a coach online with what the advisors level is.

We run peer-to-peer groups internally within our firm. So we've got one, two, three, four. I think we've got five peer-to-peer groups that have between, you know, six, seven, eight, nine, ten members in them. But those are our peers that we meet every single month with just to share ideas like what's going well in the practice, what's not going as planned, and then some topic that they want to present on. We do that every single month.

So I think having that format of coaching I think is really, really important.

Chris Gandy 40:57

Awesome. And last question for you. How did you find Nate? How did you become a member? Like how did you become a member and why is it important that you stay connected to an association like Nathan?

David Wood 41:11

Awesome question. So I was a member back in the early. Let me think here. I would say 1994 or 1995, I joined the Navy, was probably a member for 10 or 15 years, and I, I don't think I participated the way that I needed to, and I dropped out. Right.

So two years, two, three years ago, I recognized that, hey, NAIFA is an organization that is really here to create advocacy for our industry, which I think is really, really important. It's designed to create that collaborative environment and I think invest back into financial advisors to really help them get ideas and to grow. So I became like super energized about, you know, offering whatever help I can offer to NAIFA. And in return, I get a lot of stuff back. Right?

So, I mean, I attend conferences, I talk to other advisors, what's working, what's not working. I actually met the person I'm working with on my book program at an event at one of the booths. So, I mean, I picked up some value there, just going to the conference, walking around, hey, I help people write books. I say, great, I want to write books. And we move forward with that project.

So I think having that environment where we can learn, I think is super important because, you know, we can never stop learning in our industry and especially with the amount of change that we have going on.

Chris Gandy 42:30

Let's speed to the lightning round. We're coming up on the hour. It goes fast. David goes fast. So David, this is I'll explain the lightning round.

It's really quick. It's just simply we're going to ask you questions because people might actually see you on here, but they're like, okay, this is who this guy is. But they want to get to know you a little bit. And so whatever comes to your mind, your heart at first that is the answer. Okay.

So hard questions. So the first question is what's your favorite food?

David Wood 42:58

Chicken Saltimbocca.

Chris Gandy 43:01

Chickens I have never heard of that. What?

Kathleen Owings 43:05

You haven't. Italian. Oh it's good. David. Or you have to. We'll have to. You'll have to get it.

David Wood 43:11

Okay. We're going to send you some, Chris. We'll.

Kathleen Owings 43:14

Make good Italian food.

Chris Gandy 43:16

I am going to have to write that down.

David Wood 43:18

I'm asking — I'll send you the recipe. We'll put a link. We'll put a link at the bottom of the podcast.

Kathleen Owings 43:25

In the show notes.

Chris Gandy 43:27

Question, question. Next question for you, David, is if you could go back and tell your 21 year old self and give yourself advice, what would you tell yourself about your future?

David Wood 43:37

I mean, I think that the biggest thing is just to work hard. I mean, I think that when we look at this, it's about, you know, there's no substitute for hard work. And I think hard work and learning. And if you can, if you can focus on those two things. And I think that that, that, that the next thing would be don't, don't, don't be afraid to try.

You know, I grew up, I grew up, I grew up at a time before the internet. Right. And I think one of the skills that I learned early on, I worked at my grandfather's farm in upstate New York when I was, you know, probably ten, 11, 12, 13, 14. I spent every summer up there. And when things broke on the farm, there was no user manual and there was no YouTube video.

So you basically took it apart and figured it out. When I look at the younger team members that we have the number one skill set that has been most valuable is, is take the time to figure things out. And I think that all of this technology and Siri has made stuff has taken away a lot of people's ability just to solve problems. So I think having that ability to solve problems, if you can focus energy on that and be inquisitive and try to figure stuff out, I think it's a great life skill.

Chris Gandy 44:44

Kathleen.

Kathleen Owings 44:45

David, I call that having a lazy brain. My daughter, I'm just real quick. She would ask me a question. I'm like, don't have a lazy brain. It creates a lazy brain, right?

You can ask Siri, you Google it, you chat it, whatever. So I agree, I like problem solving.

David Wood 45:00

It really does. And I think that this is a generation, right? I mean, we grew up before social media. So it's like.

Kathleen Owings 45:04

Thank God.

David Wood 45:05

It's a very, very different environment. I think that lazy brain, it's a great way to put it. I like that a lot.

Kathleen Owings 45:11

Yeah. Okay. So if you weren't Chief Visionary officer and finances, what would you be doing?

David Wood 45:15

I'd be a professional basketball player.

Kathleen Owings 45:18

Point guard, not forward. What position? That was. I was.

David Wood 45:22

That was for Chris. We've got the.

Kathleen Owings 45:24

Shirt that.

David Wood 45:24

I love to, I love to, I love to fly. So I mean, maybe an airline pilot would be, would be another great would be another great choice. It's fun.

Chris Gandy 45:33

You did mention the fact that you do fly, right? What kind of airplane do you fly and do you fly often?

David Wood 45:43

So I owned the money up until about five years ago, when one of the partners in the partnership crashed it, and they're fine. They walked away, but it was a bad landing. So aviation has always been a thrill of mine. My daughter has started taking flight lessons and I want to get into another plane this year. So I'm looking for another partnership to get into.

But I flew a lot. I think the last year I had that I flew about 150 hours that year. So it's a great convenience. It was great for fun, but it was also great for work. I did, you know, I travel a lot and I think I did about 150 flights last year.

So having the ability to do more of that On my own is great. And the cost? The cost isn't what you would think it is. It can be a pretty inexpensive hobby if you do it right.

Chris Gandy 46:28

So last question for you. If you could go back in time and have history, have dinner with anyone in history, who would it be and why? We have stumped the Mr. David.

David Wood 46:40

Well, you know, I mean, there's a lot of people. I mean, I think, I think I think one of the people in general, I mean, I this is, this is a weird way to say it. But when I look at, you know, when I look at, at Bernie Madoff, right, Bernie Madoff was a complete crook, but he was also probably one of the best salespeople of all time. So, you know, Bernie Madoff, Bernie Madoff didn't rip off unsophisticated widows and orphans, right? He ripped off.

Kathleen Owings 47:09

He ripped off smart people.

David Wood 47:11

He ripped off large hedge funds and smart people. Right. And I think his sales ability, because he never did any trading, His sales ability was absolutely amazing. He created you know, I don't I don't need your money type of attitude. So I think he'd be on the list.

I mean, I think, you know, interesting to see how he got into and how that started. I think it's just a fascinating story there. So I'd say he's on the list. I mean, it's a, it's a, it's a weird way to say that. But it was a phenomenal salesperson.

There's no question about that. Probably one of the best people of all time. When you look at the amount of money that he raised from sophisticated people in a regulated, regulated industry, it's a pretty fascinating story. So.

Chris Gandy 47:50

All right, Mr. David Wood definition is listening. Is there any message that you would like to share with Nathan Nation? You have the floor.

David Wood 48:01

No, I think I think one is thank you for your participation in I think it's a great it's a great group to be in and I think encourage other people in our industry to become involved in NAIFA, not only as members but also in a in a leadership capacity and attend some of the events. I think our industry needs more collaboration and support. So I think that that's something that would definitely be top of my list. And thank you, Chris and Kathleen, for all you guys do for NAIFA. I know you're both actively involved and as a member, I really appreciate your support.

Kathleen Owings 48:31

Thanks, Steven. Yes.

Chris Gandy 48:34

Would you like to address anything you have on your plate that's on your mind, on your heart for NAIFA Nation?

Kathleen Owings 48:39

No. What I would do. Well, I don't know why I started with. No. I always tell my daughter, don't start with. No.

Yes I would. So I would like to encourage you to get to know members as you go to these events, show up to events, go to conferences. Dave and I have crossed paths at numerous events, whether it be for the industry, other industry events, and it's been great to know him. And I think that's important. That's what our business is about, is building relationships.

So continue to build on those relationships. Get to know people outside of your space. Connect. You can connect with David. Follow them on LinkedIn.

I'm sure you're also on Facebook, David Butt plug into it. You know, hear what he has to say because he's really looking forward for all of us that want to be in this industry much longer. And, you know, see what he's thinking because he's got some great ideas about that.

David Wood 49:27

Kathleen, thank you very much.

Kathleen Owings 49:29

My pleasure.

Chris Gandy 49:30

All right, guys, we're going to wrap up. Thanks for tuning in for To Advisor Today podcast where we give you back the leaders of the industry, you know, a sound voice and also allow for us to come together as a community and uplift the voice of you, the advisor, so that we all can serve our clients better. As for the good and for NAIFA. We'll see you next week. Same time.

Thanks for being here. We appreciate it.

Kathleen Owings 49:56

Thank you again, David. Thanks, Chris.

David Wood 49:58

Pleasure.

Outro 50:01

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.