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

• [03:56] Juli McNeely discusses how she transitioned from banking to financial services
• [06:30] Discovering passion through client impact and emotional experiences
• [12:54] How vision and remote tools expanded Juli’s firm’s national reach
• [16:34] Juli’s approach to succession planning and selling 50% of her firm
• [19:42] Structuring a schedule for personal wellness and sustainability
• [22:29] Why Juli wrote No Necktie Needed and who should read it
• [26:27] Testifying before Congress during NAIFA presidency on fiduciary rules
• [35:41] Leadership challenges as NAIFA’s first female national president
• [41:35] Using systems, teams, and tech to meet growing client demand

In this episode…

The financial services industry is shrinking its advisor workforce, limiting succession planning, and growing demand from clients across generations. As seasoned professionals retire, firms must grapple with maintaining client relationships, scaling services, and attracting new talent. So, what can advisors and firm leaders do today to build sustainable practices for the future?

Juli McNeely, a veteran financial advisor and industry leader, shares how she addressed these issues through vision, mentoring, and succession planning. She emphasizes the importance of finding your advisory style, particularly for women entering the field. She suggests that firms implement structured internship programs to build future pipelines, adopt team-based service models to share client loads, and embrace self-care to improve career longevity. Juli also advocates for financial literacy outreach and proactively engaging the next generation of clients.

In this episode of the Advisor Today podcast, Chris Gandy and Kathleen Owings interview Juli McNeely, a certified financial planner, about building a sustainable and scalable financial practice. Juli shares her journey from reluctant advisor to NAIFA’s first female president and highlights the power of personalized leadership. She also discusses her succession strategy, tips for women in finance, and leveraging team collaboration to meet growing client demand.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Chris Gandy on LinkedIn
• NAIFA
• Kathleen Owings on LinkedIn
• Zack Huels on LinkedIn
• Juli McNeely on LinkedIn
• No Necktie Needed: A Woman's Guide to Success in Financial Services by Juli McNeely

Quotable Moments: 

• “Some of our very best clients have started with a very small account and become large.”
• “Action conquers fear. If you are afraid of something, move forward and that fear will dissipate.”
• “We are committed to serving anyone who walks in our door, no matter the size.”
• “You aren’t going to enjoy what you do unless it comes very naturally.”
• “There will be plenty of people who will tell you you can't — you have to say, ‘watch me’.”

Action Steps:

1. Create a clear succession plan early: Establishing a formal transition strategy ensures business continuity and protects your firm and clients from unexpected disruptions.
2. Develop a mentorship or internship pipeline: Training future talent through internships builds a strong bench and supports long-term business growth.
3. Adopt a team-based client service model: Assigning multiple advisors to each client improves continuity and allows seamless support regardless of individual availability.
4. Invest in personal well-being and work-life balance: Structuring time for self-care sustains professional energy and long-term passion for the financial services field.
5. Encourage women to find their own style: Supporting authenticity in approach helps women thrive in a traditionally male-dominated industry.

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 NAIFA Nation, this is Advisor Today podcast again. We've relaunched. We're super excited about the rebranding and the relaunch of Advisor Today podcast, where we give you the voice of the leaders of tomorrow and today and collectively, how do we show up better for our clients so that we can be better for ourselves? So with that being said, we have a wonderful co-host who's with us, who's guest hosting with me, and I'm super excited to have her. Kathleen Owings.

Kathleen, good to see you.

Kathleen Owings 00:49

Hi, Chris. Great to see you this morning. Thanks for having me.

Chris Gandy 00:52

It is wonderful to have you. I think this is our third or fourth or something.

Kathleen Owings 00:55

It is. Yeah. We've done a few together.

Chris Gandy 00:58

We're rolling. And so if you guys have not seen Kathleen's other program she launched with us during we celebrated women's the Women's Month last month, and Kathleen joined us at the end of that month. And now we're into April, and we're excited about uplifting the voice of women and other professionals in our industry. With that being said, before we get going on today's podcast, let's talk to behind-the-scenes Zack Huels. Zack, who's our sponsor for today's program?

Zack Huels 01:30

Today's sponsor is a shout-out to the fact that we are approaching nearly approaching May, which is Disability Insurance Awareness Month, and that will kick off at the beginning of May with a campaign that Life Happens will be spearheading. And just as a as a note for everyone that although no one likes to think about it, the likelihood of disability is more common than people realize. The Social Security Administration reports that about 1 in 4 of today's 20-year-olds will become disabled before reaching retirement age. So although it's not a great topic or a topic to that you lighthearted topic you want to talk to your clients about, it's important to have those conversations. And if you want to learn more about how you can have those conversations with your clients, go to Lifehappens.org.

Thanks so much.

Chris Gandy 02:14

Thank you Zack. The man behind the scenes. The man that makes it happen back there. We appreciate you much Zach. Kathleen, would you be so kind to introduce our wonderful guests for today's podcast?

Kathleen Owings 02:24

I would love to introduce our guest today, Chris. So today I am very excited to have on here Juli McNeely. Juli is not only a friend of mine, but also a powerhouse in the financial services industry. She's been in this industry over 20 years and started working with her dad. So I'm looking forward to hearing about her history.

And she is the president of Financial Clarity by Design. They're located in Wisconsin. Not only that, but Juli is also a past president of our industry favorite association, FFA first female president. And that's a that's a great attribute to Juli. She's also top of the table producer.

So she's been knocking it out of the park for a number of years. In 2015, she was named by Women in Financial Services as Woman of the year and also insurance by Life Health. Pro also named her top 20 woman that you need to know. And I am so glad to know you Juli, and have you on today. So thanks so much, Juli, for being here.

Juli McNeely 03:32

I'm really glad to be here. Kathleen, I appreciate the invitation to be with you today.

Chris Gandy 03:37

Well, Juli, let's jump. Let's jump right into it. Kathleen, you want to start off with the questioning or you want me to start it?

Kathleen Owings 03:43

Yeah, I'll go ahead, Chris. I'll start it off. So Juli, I would love to hear about how you got started in this industry because I get that question a lot. When people are young, they're excited. Get going.

And they want to know how you got started.

Juli McNeely 03:56

Yeah. That's a that's a good question. I reflect back on it quite often to be honest. But I kind of came into the industry kicking and screaming. I actually grew up in financial services.

My father and my mother are both in financial services, and my dad had wanted me to join him since I finished high school. And of course, I really had no interest in doing that. I wanted to go off and move to a bigger city, explore and set down some roots, and really see if I could figure out a different path for myself and I. So I started out, I finished my degree in marketing, started out looking for a job in advertising and PR, couldn't find one, got a job in corporate America in banking and did that for about five years and realized I just didn't feel like it was driving me. It wasn't really my passion.

And I thought, you know, if I'm ever going to give this a try in financial services, today's the day. So I called my dad and I said, are you sitting down? And he said, sure, what's up? And I think he thought I was going to ask him for money or something as kids do in those at those ages. But I said, I think I'm going to give this a shot.

And he was thrilled. He came to Minneapolis with a moving truck and moved me back to Wisconsin. And before I knew it, I was licensed. And, you know, back in his business with him, I wish I could say it was easy in the beginning. It was not.

It is a lot to learn. And I remember those days very, very well, questioning my decision a lot for the first three years. I feel like I cried every day, but once I found my groove, I really found that this is my passion. And so serving my clients, serving the communities that I. That my clients live in has just become a passion of mine.

And I just at this point, after 29 years of doing this, I can't even imagine doing anything else.

Chris Gandy 06:04

Juli, you mentioned passion. Where does your passion and desire come from to just excel? Because obviously you've. You're excelling in a career, but you've also volunteered part of your time to help others in the industry, right? So share with us where that comes from.

And then how do you continue to refuel that type of passion?

Juli McNeely 06:30

Yeah. Well, you know, I think my passion came really from my desire to help my clients first and foremost. And, you know, I remember times in my career where it was solidified as to why I do what I do. For example, the first death claim I ever delivered on a policy I wrote, it was it just it got me like I my heart was there. I was crying with that widow at the kitchen table.

You know, it was one of those moments where you really realize that I make a difference in what I do every day. And because of that, I think it really drove me, obviously, to continue to serve more clients. But then it drove me beyond that to really encourage more people to choose this career. I think it's a really amazing career. Part of the reason I never really thought I wanted to do it, when my father was trying to entice me to come back to the business, was I didn't really feel like I wanted to work with numbers every day.

But in reality, I think financial services is way beyond numbers. It is really about relationship building, having conversations about building goals and plotting out those dreams and then really having the money to support that money, to me, is really the secondary piece of this. It's protecting and then allowing them to really plan for their future. So. So the passion came from clients and then it quickly moved to really encouraging more people, women in particular, to join this, this industry, because I just think it's such a great profession.

And so I've been, you know, I've been doing that quite a bit ever since I got that passion. I, like you could say I drank the Kool-Aid and, and now I'm, I'm trying to spread the Kool-Aid around as much as I can.

Kathleen Owings 08:31

One thing I didn't mention, Juli, in your bio. It's you've done so much, you're so accomplished, but you've also written a book. I have a copy of it here. It's called No Necktie Needed A Women's Guide to Success in Financial Services. What advice?

Because as we all know, the numbers of agents aging is getting more. We're seeing less people coming in. We're seeing less young people coming in. So what advice are you giving specifically to women to be successful in this industry, in helping them enter it?

Juli McNeely 09:01

Yeah. Good question Kathleen. You know, I it's a pretty male-dominated industry. Yet even still when I started it was really male-dominated I think Kathleen, you were probably in the same boat. But you know, I feel like my best piece of advice is, is to learn your own style.

And I'll give you an example of that. My father had been doing this for a long time when I joined him, and his style was very different than mine. He was pretty direct, very authoritative in the way he worked with clients. He would say, here's what I think you should do sign the application. And I would be shocked.

I would sit there and I can't do that. That's not who I am. And it wasn't until I really found my own style of educating, collaborating, really working with the client to find the very best possible solution that I. I really started to love what I do. And so my best piece of advice is find your own style the way that you do this.

And whether you're male or female, if the person showing you how to become the best financial advisor or mentoring you is doing it a little differently and it doesn't feel comfortable. Find what feels comfortable because I think you aren't going to enjoy what you do unless it comes very naturally. I don't want you to feel forced. And so that's really my best piece of advice for anyone male, female. It doesn't matter.

Anyone starting out in this industry has to find their own way in how they offer what they do to clients.

Chris Gandy 10:44

So you mentioned finding your own way, right? So before we started, you mentioned the fact that you're in Wisconsin, right? Would you share with us kind of what part of Wisconsin you're in?

Juli McNeely 10:58

Yeah, the middle of nowhere. My office is in a small town, about 2000 people. That's a little town named Spencer, Wisconsin. That's where our firm has been. We just celebrated last year our 50th anniversary.

So we've been serving the central Wisconsin communities for a long time. But the longer I've been in this industry, the farther and farther our reach has become as a firm. And so now we have clients all over the country. I'm probably licensed in 15 to 20 states, as a lot of people are, as your clients start to move around. And also being from Wisconsin, I have a good sized block of clients in Arizona and in Florida, all the places where our clients go for snowboarding.

So we really have spread our reach way beyond this small community. But I would say the vast majority, probably 80% of our clients are in Wisconsin. And, you know, and we enjoy meeting people from all over. It doesn't matter where you're from.

Chris Gandy 11:58

So, Juli, I brought up where you're from for a reason to talk about vision, because so much can be accomplished with great vision and behind it the passion behind the vision. So when you started into the business, even though you were kind of brought into the business, what gave you a vision of what you could be in the future? Where did kind of where did that come from and where does that where is that now? And kind of what is the vision for what your practice will look like in the light of the Covid changed everything, right? For everybody, right?

It made it so that, you know, it could be halfway around the world and have a conversation as if you're sitting in the same time zone. So how has that helped you? And then how has the vision of being from a small town. Right. Really helps you actually take on more space?

Juli McNeely 12:54

Yeah. We have a vision here. Really, to serve anyone. I know lots of financial advisors have sort of limits as to the size of the account that they'll serve, but we are committed at this point until we can't be committed to it anymore. We're committed to serving anyone who walks in our door, no matter the size we believe.

Everybody needs to start somewhere, and some of our very best clients have started with a very small account and become large, sizable accounts. So that was kind of our first vision from the beginning. But when I started, it was really my dad and I and one support person. and my vision immediately became we need to grow this business. We are now four financial advisors, three support people, and we're about to bring in three summer interns.

This year, because we need to continue to grow our business. Our client base is growing. We have found that bringing these interns in has been an incredible opportunity. Our newest advisor that joined us was an intern with us. Our newest Paraplanner was an intern with us.

So we're growing organically with bringing in, attracting new talent. But I guess my whole vision from the beginning, even when I was first starting out, was to build a business that could be here, whether I'm here or not. And so I, you know, as being the president of our organization certainly carry a heavy load of, of attracting new clients, serving our clients and really running the firm. But my goal has always been to grow the firm and the team of people around me so that it can run with or without me. And I sadly got a chance to experience that last summer.

I had a pretty incredibly difficult car accident in the middle of the year last year. So I was out for about a month just recovering from that accident. I probably shouldn't be here talking to you today, but miraculously, I am. And my team just was incredible during that time. Like they just picked it up and they ran with it.

And I said, this is exactly why we are building what we're building here. Our clients never, never knew I was gone. They handled everything for me during that time when I couldn't be here. So our vision is to serve everyone no matter where you come from. And our vision is to grow a team of people that are going to continue to, to meet the vision of serving anyone.

So I guess that's where we started. It's really hard for me to believe that even today, we're as at the size that we are. And I know we're not done yet. So it's pretty fun to watch it kind of unfold.

Chris Gandy 15:51

That is. You know, thinking about let me let me just ask this then thinking about succession. Right. Our industry is known to not have succession planning done. Right. At the end of the day, the dream stops.

When we stop, we take our last breath. Right. And so. Tell us your vision for your legacy and the practice. And, and if you started down the path or what do people need to do to start down the path of succession planning, you know, as an advisor, because I think it is super important that we change the narrative on that.

Juli McNeely 16:34

Yeah, I've already started down that path. I actually sold 50% of Financial Clarity by design last year to my business partner, Rebecca, and she and I are running the firm now, and I'm so grateful because she is the operations person that I wish I could be, but I'm not. I'm the visionary. She's the operation. So we're a great partnership that I believe will really take this firm to a whole new level.

So for me, it was a difficult decision. And I think part of why people haven't made the decision to put their succession together is because it's your baby. It's something you've worked, lived and breathed into for years. And I know now how my dad felt when I had the conversation with him about me taking over the firm, he said those words to me, It's my baby. And I said, I know, but it's about to become my baby.

And now I have that feeling of when I when I sign the papers last year to sell just 50%. It was brutally hard for me. I remember thinking, what am I doing? And now I look back and I'm so grateful that I did it. I do think we run the risk as an industry by not doing exactly what we tell our clients to do every day, and that is to prepare for the unexpected.

And if you are an advisor who's sitting in a solo shop, or even if you have a couple support people or a couple other advisors on your team and you don't have a succession plan, you have not ensured that your clients will be served long into the future. And that's my goal, is to make sure that our firm lives another 50 years. You know, we have celebrated 50. It was a great celebration last year, but we fully intend to be here in another 50 years. So perpetuating that and our clients want us to be here, they ask those questions.

And if I don't have an answer for them, I feel like it's a bit hypocritical because we're telling our clients to plan for the unexpected, so we need to do the same. And when you have an accident happen like I did last year, it immediately brings it to the forefront. And I had signed the papers to sell 50% prior to my accident, so I was very grateful that I didn't leave it out there as an unknown. And if I would have passed in that accident, I, I, I hope my firm would have survived, but I'm not sure I would have.

Kathleen Owings 19:05

Sounds like that was a very influential moment for you. And by selling half of it, you now have a partner in, in your in your practice now. But what do you do to take care of yourself? I mean, as we all know, this business is stressful. I mean, we're seeing some news today that's going to make markets a little unhappy.

But what are you doing to make sure that Juli has 15, 20, maybe 30 more years in this business?

Juli McNeely 19:30

Yeah. Well, I don't know if I have that many. Kathleen, I.

Kathleen Owings 19:33

Don't know if you go part-time and you. Go part-time towards the end. Yes.

Juli McNeely 19:38

I am already kind of part-time, so.

Kathleen Owings 19:41

Okay.

Juli McNeely 19:42

I work three days a week here in Spencer. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and then Thursday. Fridays I actually drive to green Bay where my husband and family live, I got married. I'm about to celebrate three years and we have kids. A child who's still in high school.

My husband did and so we didn't want to disrupt that. So I and Kathleen knows me very well the story behind all of that. But we didn't want to disrupt his flow. And so I drive Wednesday night, I drive back to green Bay. I spend Thursday, Friday working remotely.

But I do more consulting and things on those days, and I do a lot of self-care on those days. I am, you know, personal trainer, massage, nail appointments. That's what I do on those days to refill my cup before I Monday morning drive back to Spencer. It's about a two-hour drive, so that's really what I do to try to keep myself on track. But again, I'm grateful to my team because if I didn't have them here, I wouldn't be able to do that.

I wouldn't feel comfortable not being here five days a week prior to me getting married. I was here six days a week. So I have found a new rhythm, I think, for my life, and it feels very comfortable and it's sustainable. It's something I could do for quite a few more years, but I'm not sure about 20, maybe 5 to 10. But I've been joking with my team.

I've been saying 5 to 10 for about 5 to 10 years. So But I love the fact that I now have the freedom to be able to do the things that I do need to take care of myself, because I didn't do that for a lot of years. And now it's refreshing to feel like I have a new a newfound passion to put myself as a priority as well as my clients.

Kathleen Owings 21:39

Yeah, I think that's great.

Chris Gandy 21:41

So, Juli, let's shift gears, shall we? Let's shift gears for a moment. Let's talk about your book. Kathleen, can you hold it up? What's the name of the book?

So if you can, where can we get this book? Juli?

Kathleen Owings 21:59

No Necktie Needed.

Chris Gandy 22:00

That means that means I'm overdressed, right? That means.

Kathleen Owings 22:04

Well, this is not needed. Not needed. But you can have it.

Juli McNeely 22:07

You can have a tie. I don't.

Kathleen Owings 22:09

Know Amazon.

Juli McNeely 22:11

It's on Amazon.

Chris Gandy 22:12

Where can we get it and give us some highlights. What's in what's in the book. Kathleen, can you hold it up? So we have it on the screen. So if you guys are looking for Juli Mcneely's book again, it's called.

Juli McNeely 22:25

No Necktie Needed.

Chris Gandy 22:26

No Necktie Needed.

Juli McNeely 22:29

It's in A Women's Guide to Success in Financial Services. It is on Amazon. It's both in paperback form and in audible. I'm a huge audible person because I spend so much time in my car. So.

So yeah, I mean, the drive behind it is, if you know, of a female who's interested in this industry, it's just a really it's a guide of my journey through the beginning years of being in this industry, through my time being NAIFA president. It was actually published right after I finished my time on the NAIFA board. And it's also meant for individual women who are already in the industry who maybe are feeling a little bit alone, a little bit unheard. I've had lots of people message me and say, oh my gosh, it's like you were in my head when I was reading it. I was hearing my own voice.

And so I think it's for women. It's a great way for us to connect and to really realize that we all feel lots of the same things. And so it's just a guide on how to push through that, to find your way to the other side of those three years and find your way and find success in this industry. It's an incredible industry. I happen to believe women have very incredible qualities that make them super good at being financial advisors.

 We're empathetic. We're good listeners. We remember really crazy, useless facts. We're great at multitasking. We just we have this way of building relationships.

And it's not that men don't have it because anybody who's listening to this many, many men have those skills as well. For women, it's just sort of built into who we are. We don't really have to work at that. Men have read the book and have also gleaned some things from it, especially if they have female team members, or if they're trying to encourage a female to come into the industry. Sometimes it helps you get on the same page as what they might be coming in with.

So it was it was kind of a labor of love. I love the fact that it's out there. I used to do a whole lot more speaking around it, and I still do here and there, but it's really been a fun project that's sort of lingered and been there for now, almost ten years since it's been published.

Chris Gandy 24:56

Wow. So does that mean that Juli, there's a version two on the horizon? You guys may hear it here first. I mean, can we can we can we ask for breaking news, the second version of this and.

Juli McNeely 25:09

Yeah, that I wouldn't mind it. I feel like I do have another book in me. I'm not sure it's going to be specifically on this topic, but I feel like I have another book in me, probably a little bit more on the financial recommendations and, you know, working with clients, maybe not necessarily specifically to female advisors, but I do feel like I have another book in me right now. I'm a little too busy to figure that out, although I was busy back then, too, I, I was fortunate enough to hire a ghostwriter to help me get it done. Kathleen's been through writing a book, and I know it's not an easy process, and I was grateful because she kept me on online on timeline, and we were able to launch it when I wanted to.

So I would need a little bit more time and or a really great ghostwriter to help me get my next book that's up here onto paper. But you, you, you've I will let you know as soon as I make a decision on when that might be.

Chris Gandy 26:11

Let's talk about.

Kathleen Owings 26:11

Your time as a president. You were the first female president, and that is a tremendous accomplishment. That's saying a lot about you. What would you say were one of pick, maybe one of your proudest moments going through that?

Juli McNeely 26:27

Well, that's pretty easy. I think the year I was president was the first round of the fiduciary standard with the Department of Labor, and I was able to go to Washington and testify on behalf of NAIFA members. And I brought a client along with me, and we testified in in the Department of Labor in their open hearing on, you know, why the rule was good, why the rule was bad. And that was a pretty powerful experience, knowing that I could help in industry continue to be able to serve clients in a way that we need to be able to serve them and not have regulation change that. In that same year, I was also able to testify in front of the House Financial Services Committee, which was another powerful day.

I went by myself that time, but there were 3 or 4 other panelists that were there during that hearing. And so, again, just it was it was a moment where I remember thinking I felt this weight on me. But again, I was just talking about what I do every day. And so it didn't feel overwhelming at all. It was just how I served my clients.

And so I think it was a it was a light bulb moment for lots of people that were listening and hopefully for that committee, and thankfully we were ending. We ended up defeating that. Not necessarily from my testimony, but from the pending lawsuit that happened after. But I think so much of it is just educating lawmakers and regulators about what we do every day. And sadly, I don't think they understand what we do every day.

So many consumers don't have a relationship with the financial advisor, and they really don't know how powerful it can be. And so I, I was grateful to be able to have that moment, to be able to really share the real purpose of why we all get up every day and continue to serve our clients.

Chris Gandy 28:32

So that was your proudest moment. What do you feel like was your most challenging? So as a first female in the seat of leading a national association, one of the oldest associations out there, right. And let's call it, you know, industry. Right.

So insurance. Financial services. Right. What were some of the challenges? And I asked this question because.

Inspiration goes a long way and is contagious, right. And I think understanding a little bit about your journey. Was it, you know, making sure your voice was heard? Was it making sure that they, you know, as. The majority of people that have been in that role were men, right prior to you, that you were able to share different parts?

I'm really curious because I'm interested to know what are some of those challenges, because I'm fortunate enough to kind of get an opportunity to do the same here in short order. So and most people on this podcast may not ever have an opportunity to serve in that role, so I'm interested in your that specific area. What was the most challenging part of being president, and in what part did you leave behind as the president that now people take and they're able to use that you see that you visually see. Okay. So it's kind of a two-part question.

Juli McNeely 30:23

Yeah. Great question. You know, I, I do think there was some doubt as being the first female. There was lots of doubt as to whether or not I could handle the job. I like to think I did.

Others people may have a different opinion of that, and that's okay. That's their opinion. I did the very best I could. I took the job very seriously. I traveled that year about 195 days out of my office, so I was on the fly.

I think back, I'm not quite sure how I did that, because I can't even imagine doing that now. But it was an incredibly rewarding time. But it was also a difficult time. And I would say for anyone who's looking to move forward, like you, Chris, and lead NAIFA at the national level or even at the state level. Any, any leadership position along the way in this industry, you have to take what comes at you in stride and you have to make good decisions not just for today, but for the future.

And probably one of the most difficult things that happened while I was president is we lost our CEO. Doctor waters passed away when I was president. We had to form a committee to search for a new CEO. And so we had a process. We followed that process.

I was not on that committee. I was leading the organization, the immediate past president, John Nichols was our chair, and we did a search for Kevin Mayhew at that time. So, you know, we I think I think that as a leader of an organization like NFA, it it you have a weight on your shoulders because it's on your back as to leading this organization. However, there are hugely capable people around you and you have a board for a reason. You have mentors and advisors for a reason, and you can't make a decision just for this moment.

You have to make a decision for where the future is going. And so every time you're faced in leading an organization, you're faced with big, difficult things. That was always my filter as to how can we let this be or make this be better than where we found it? And that was always my goal for, well, for the 12 months that I got to lead NAIFA. Since then it's, you know, I, I'm allowing others to lead the organization.

I have not been as involved as I had been. I was heavily involved for a number of years, and now I'm leading, letting people like the two of you lead this organization, and I know it's in very capable hands. I always said, I will not be someone who will come back and continue to be a pest and try to poke at the leaders that are there, because at this point, and we joked when I left, I said, I'm a hashtag has been and I'm going to take a back seat and I'm going to let other people lead. I'm going to get it to where I need it to be or where I think it needs to be for the future success of this organization. And then I'm going to let others lead.

So that was kind of always my, my, my thought process when I was there in that moment. And now I'm cheering the people on that are in those moments as well.

Chris Gandy 33:54

Well, thank you for your servant leadership. I know you've paved a wonderful way for, for for growth, for Napa. You've given it vision and passion. You know that what we always talk about is that our past presidents make up a percentage of where we are today, and will manifest itself for the future and pave the way for tomorrow. So, you know, we've got an enormous opportunity ahead of us because we don't have the influence that we had before, or we don't have the following we had before because the industry's changing, right.

And so, in your eyes, let me ask you this. What do we need to get? And I'm not going to say, what do we need to do to get back to a thousand members, 10,000 members? Because, you know, membership has changed, right? You know, the idea of idea.

What happened in our industry, which is industry interesting, is. The idea of being a a subscription member to things now is the new thing, right? I don't want to be a subscription member to this. And I get this and this and this and this and what are all the things and the impact of membership has, has changed. So what are some of the things Kathleen, myself, other advisors who still have what I would call a runway in this industry, what do we need to do to get people back engaged, get them get them involved, and FFA and advocacy and leading from the front, getting them off of the sidelines.

What are some of the things that we can do to help them in that arena?

Juli McNeely 35:41

Well, first of all, I will say that FFA is the only association. that does its very best job to protect everything I do. It protects me on the insurance side of my business. It protects me on the securities or investment side of my business. There is no other organization that will do that, both at the federal and the state level.

So from my perspective, NAIFA is if you're only going to join one NAIFA is your organization to join us? I happen to belong to multiple associations, and I know a lot of people do. I do join them for different reasons, but if I were to pick one, NAIFA would be the one. The difference with today and even ten years ago when I was president and ten years prior to that, is the face and the way that advisors come into this industry and work in this industry has changed. It's no longer 100% or primarily captive or affiliated structure.

It's a very independent structure. And with independence comes the freedom to move and wander wherever you want. And it's harder to find people when they have the freedom to wander wherever they want. So I feel like the task at hand for NAIFA and really any other organization trying to attract membership, the real task is to find the advisor, to meet them where they're at and to demonstrate the value that the organization provides. And for me, it's 100% insurance that I am protected federally and in the states that I operate in by NAIFA to make sure that my business can continue to run the way it runs.

So I think that's the message. The harder part, Chris and I don't I wish I had an answer for you to how to find the Wandering independent advisors. I have some ideas, but they're affiliated with insurance brokerage. They're affiliated with broker-dealers. We need to have, I think, a better pathway to get in front of them within those channels versus the old channel that we always used to use.

Chris Gandy 38:16

Innovation. That's what I'm going to call it innovation and perspective. You know, how do we get more people like Kathleen involved into the business? How do we get more career changers into the business? Obviously there's less.

When you and I started in the business, I started 25 years ago, you're 29, you're a couple of years my senior. But, you know, there was every time you turn over a rock, there was a financial advisor or someone selling insurance and financial, you know, financial services, they were everywhere. You know, for the first time, I got a call to my office less than a year ago and someone said, you know, I've called three other offices before and they're saying they're not taking any new clients for the first time that's happened. I'm like, wait, that's a real thing? That has to be like a joke, right?

And it actually, it actually happened. And I did a little research. And there is, you know, if you did the math, if we actually sat down and did the math, it was less than 400,000 advisors doing financial services. Right. And that's, that's, that's all of us lumped in together doing fee-based financial planning, financial services and just insurance.

Right. And then if you took those all apart and you broke down the specifics of all women, those numbers are really, really specifically low. And then if you broke down the niche markets is specifically low. And if you broke it down per state, what you guys start to realize, because I was actually interested in doing this, I was like, okay, let me just see what this actually looks like. Is there's less than there's less than somewhere between 11 and 1200 people in your state actually doing financial services.

So when you break it down, so if you do the math based on just those numbers alone, there's not enough of us to do all the business. There's just not enough. So yeah.

Juli McNeely 40:02

We have capacity issues. We absolutely do capacity issues.

Chris Gandy 40:05

Right. You're like because you said it early on. As long as we can continue to hold true to what we believe are, as long as we can continue to do that. If it's ten times more people, you're like, we can't we can't do that anymore, right? And so we need more people in this industry that obviously we need more people connecting into organizations like yours, mine, Kathleen's.

And we need to do a better job at connecting them to the family of NAIFA so they stay longer, right? People that are in families tend to stay a little bit longer than kind of the Rogue One. So. Kathleen.

Kathleen Owings 40:42

Well, Julia, I think.

Kathleen Owings 40:43

You touched upon something. How you know what NAIFA needs to lean into. And it's a shift. It's a dynamic change. I mean, I started 18 years ago.

Even back then, you said you were 29. I'm 18. It was still the old system that I came into very much. You sat in a meeting? I was in the front row.

All the old timers, they were NAIFA members, so I joined. That's kind of what we did. So we're seeing that shift in the industry. We're seeing it in our businesses. I mean, things are moving faster and faster and faster.

And we I think we probably all to your point, Chris, are feeling these capacity issues. So I'm interested to hear, Juli, what you're doing in your practice to kind of lean into that change and maybe looking forward to say, how can we be leaner and meaner? Because I think we all need to operate that way and lean into maybe technology or different systems. So I wanted to hear that from you.

Juli McNeely 41:35

Yeah. So we are heavily recruiting. As I said earlier, we are we have an internship program. We typically have anywhere from one now. Three this will be the first time we have three interns.

But that's our goal is to find individuals who were living or grew up in our small community who went off to college, and we want to draw them back. Hopefully, they want to come back toward home, and our goal is to try to continue to grow our sales team, our service team, primarily because we need that. But at the same time, we're trying to find ways of becoming much more efficient. So we're embracing AI things. We, our broker dealer just approved some AI technology that we're going to jump on board with.

And I we have we're very systematized in our office. Like everything has a process. Our clients will know that no matter which advisor serves them, they're going through the same process. And we do that just because it's efficient. They feel like it's personalized to them.

But in reality, everybody goes through the same process. I, I will say the other piece that we're doing in our office is teaming every almost every client that we have has more than one advisor assigned to them, so that if something happened to one person, they would have someone they could go to and talk to. Or if one is out for the day, they can go to the other person. We take copious notes with our client appointments, and so when we're teaming, anybody could really pick up those notes and, and, and handle whatever a client might need when they call in. So that's a switch.

So we're less about silos in each advisor anymore. We're about a firm approach where every all clients are clients of the firm. And we reassign the lead advisor based upon a capacity availability. So that has been a huge game changer for us because, you know, after 29 years, you can imagine my client list is growing, growing, growing. Well, I can't even possibly serve all of them.

And so every year, probably once or twice a year, I'm whittling my list down, continuing to go find new but always reassigning existing clients. So. And our clients are okay with it because they know we're a team. We work so closely together and they know everyone on the team. So that to me has been a bit of a game changer for us and has allowed us to really, I think, meet the demand of people walking through the door.

The other piece I'll say, and I know we're getting close on time here, but, you know, we have We've done a lot in our firm of trying to make sure that we serve the next generation of our clients. And so one of the tasks we gave our newest advisor, who literally just graduated from college and jumped in as an advisor, we gave her a task of putting together a program. We call it Financial Foundations, and it is an web-based video program that goes through basically financial literacy, and we are offering it to our clients, children and grandchildren for a fee. And we're building relationships with that next generation right now. So when that wealth transfer happens, we already know them.

They know us. Hopefully we're already working with them and we can maintain them as clients in our firm. So we're we try to think beyond just the, the traditional, I guess, serving our clients with financial services, where we're really innovating and finding new ways of serving beyond our existing clients and getting their children involved, their grandchildren involved and connecting to them. And that's been a pretty powerful thing for us. Lots of things.

I mean, I could talk for hours about the things that we're doing to serve our clients differently and better, and it's been really fun to come up and be creative with those ideas, and our clients are embracing it.

Kathleen Owings 45:57

I think that's great because we hear we all hear about that tsunami, you know, the generational pass of assets from one generation to the next. And it's it's coming. I mean, it's really going to come. And if we're talking about having capacity issues now, it's going to be even greater when that actually does happen. So I think that's tremendous.

You're getting ahead of that. Thanks.

Chris Gandy 46:18

So Juli we're we've had some time already I don't know how we got here so fast. Right. Everything. Everything flies when you're having fun. We do appreciate you and Kathleen and everything that you've done for Napa so far.

But NAIFA doesn't stop asking, so we got to keep asking the two of you for more, because we do need more. You know, I'll just comment. We need more women in our industry. We need more women involved in Napa, in leadership roles and in roles of that can influence others for numerous reasons. One is that you guys tend to listen more than you speak.

You're more compassionate than we are. It just is a nature of what it is, right? And you tend to be more understanding. You know, we could get into the conversation around the difference between men and women and the way in which they listen, active, actively listening. And there is a unique dynamic that happens when there's synergy in a room, and you can get both men and women understanding each other, and there's synergy there, and there's progressiveness there.

So we need to get more people like the two of you involved and get them to take on leadership positions. I mean, that's a calling, I think, to a nation is that we need more of you to step up and to fill the roles, because Kathleen's paving the way for the next Kathleen. Juli's paving the way for the next Juli. Right. And so we need more of that.

With that being said, though, Juli, we got to jet off to the lightning round and then the lightning round. We're going to ask you some questions and they're quick. Just people want to get to know you. They want to get to know things about you. And so when they see you at an event, they're like, I remember you.

You're the one that says cheese curds are the best out of Wisconsin, right? So it's kind of interesting how people identify. So we'll start off I have a couple questions. Kathleen, I'm sure has a couple and whatever comes top of mind, that's it. Okay.

 Miss Juli, your favorite food? Oh.

Juli McNeely 48:35

Well, I would have to say pizza.

Chris Gandy 48:38

Pizza? What kind?

Juli McNeely 48:41

Lots of meat.

Chris Gandy 48:43

If I was coming to Wisconsin, what is the one place I have to go when I come to Wisconsin?

Juli McNeely 48:48

Lambeau field.

Chris Gandy 48:50

Lambeau field. Kathleen.

Kathleen Owings 48:52

Okay, Juli, what is your favorite one of your favorite books?

Juli McNeely 48:57

Oh, boy. I just finished Let Them by Mel Robbins.

Kathleen Owings 49:02

Love it.

Juli McNeely 49:02

And it is going to be on the top of my list for a long time. Very good book. And I got so much out of it. If you haven't read it, read it.

Kathleen Owings 49:11

You have to read it. Chris, have you read? Let them. Oh, you have to read it. It top of your list.

It's, I would almost say life-changing. I mean, especially, you know, my mid-40s and I don't like to let things go sometimes read that I'm like.

Juli McNeely 49:30

Let it go type A driven women. Kathleen. We needed to hear it so much.

Kathleen Owings 49:38

Okay. Second question I have for you what is okay let them might be at the top, but some piece of advice that someone gave you years ago that still sticks with you.

Juli McNeely 49:48

I'm going to use a quote that I used to have posted all over my car, my mirrors at home when I first started in this industry. Action conquers fear. If you are afraid of something, move forward and that fear will dissipate when you do that. And it's hard. It's the first step is very, very hard.

But action conquers fear. And I have one other one I'm going to say go.

Kathleen Owings 50:16

Yes, go.

Juli McNeely 50:17

I'm going to say speaker prerogative here. Another quote that I hung on to when I was in the Navy chairs. There will be plenty of people who will tell you can't. And what you have to do is say, watch me and I will walk around. When I'm in a situation where I'm not feeling 100% confident, I just say, watch me.

And immediately it changes my mindset. And it takes me back to days where I. I blazed a trail or I did something that I didn't think I could do.

Kathleen Owings 50:54

Both. Great piece of advice.

Chris Gandy 50:56

Last question for you. You could go back and have dinner with anyone in history, whether it's a someone who's no longer here or someone who is still here. You have dinner with anybody you want. And have a conversation. Who would it be and why?

Juli McNeely 51:13

Well, we're recording this the day after Easter, so I'd have to say Jesus because I have lots of questions for him. Lots of questions. So I would love to have a conversation and someday I hope I get to.

Chris Gandy & Kathleen Owings 51:27

It's beautiful. All right. This is Juli McNeely, your past president. Juli Nathanson is listening. Is there anything that you would like to share with us before we close?

Juli McNeely 51:39

No, but I'll see you at the congressional conference. Looking forward to it.

Chris Gandy 51:43

Awesome. Kathleen. Anything for the greater good. Before I close this out.

Kathleen Owings 51:49

I just want to say thank you to Juli for coming on today. Your insights been wonderful, and it's been a great opportunity for me to get to know you better. But, you know, we've gotten to know each other years and other conferences. And I just want to say thank you for all of your leadership and your support for NAIFA and all that we do. So thank you.

Juli McNeely 52:08

Thanks, Kathleen.

Chris Gandy 52:11

You know, Juli, we need another book. We need to know how the how right. Everything is a process or it's a problem. With that being said, I learned a lot from you today and I'm sure NAIFA did too. This brings us to the end of today's podcast.

Thank you all for joining us along our journey and insight on inspiration and how to really impact NAIFA. We believe in the power of leadership, community and service, and every conversation we have moves us one step closer so that we're stronger and better together as an industry as we continue to serve. Remember, leadership isn't just a little choice each day. Until next time, we will see you here at NAIFA at Advisor Today podcast. Have a great week and we'll see you soon.

Kathleen Owings 52:54

Thanks again Juli. Thanks, Chris.

Juli McNeely 52:56

Thank you.

Outro 53:00

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.