Making special needs planning a part of your practice, with Stephen Norton

If you're an advisor who's built your practice through the sweat of your brow, through sheer grit, and determination, through countless hours of trying to out hustle your competition, this episode is for you. We're going to unpack capital Group's latest Pathways to Growth research and what it reveals about how top advisors are growing faster, not by working harder, but by scaling smarter.

Offering special needs planning is one way to help distinguish your services to clients and prospects, says Stephen Norton, a chartered special needs consultant (ChSNC) and the president of Saybrook Wealth Group. The father of a son diagnosed with autism at a young age, Norton has an interest in this type of planning that is personal, not just professional. He shares three pointers to help advisors bring special needs planning into their practices.

How can financial advisors sift through all the AI noise? With the help of someone who knows both worlds. Derek Notman is a financial advisor with 20 years of experience and the founder and CEO of Intrepid Wealth Partners. He is also the founder and CEO of fintech Couplr AI, which uses AI and data science to match prospective clients with the most compatible advisors. Listen now as he boils everything down to the most important things advisors need to know about AI.

How can financial advisors turn AI buzz into measurable efficiency? Aneet Deshpande, CIO at $50 billion RIA Clearstead Advisors, shares the blueprint he uses. Discover why your AI journey must start with a clear business strategy, how to identify the parts of your practice where you should consider using AI, questions you should ask when selecting tools and how to successfully implement AI. Listen now to craft an AI roadmap that's about serving your clients and making your practice more efficient — not about new shiny objects.

Do you have a defined referral plan? Do you get as many referrals from CPAs and attorneys as you send to them? Have you segmented your book by how likely clients are to refer people to you, not just their net worth? Molly Bennard is the president of international operations at Focus Financial, a firm with over $400B in AUM (as of December 2024). She joins Capital Group practice management consultants Jon Wainman and Max McQuiston to help advisors create, improve and execute their client and center of influence (COI) referral plans.

Are you considering buying another advisor's book or selling your own? Lloyd Sprague is an advisor at True Wealth Advisors with LPL in Colorado. Since joining True Wealth in 2017, Sprague has acquired seven other practices. In this episode, he shares about how to find a book that makes sense for you to buy, engage with a selling advisor, transition new clients over and position your own practice for acquisition. For more, visit PracticeLab.com.

Where do you turn for help in managing your practice? One resource that should be near the top of your list: a study group. Advisor study groups are among the top five most effective practice management resources, according to Cerulli Associates' 2023 US Advisor Metrics report. John Stadtmueller, Founder and CEO of advisor network Good Advisors Finish First, has spent over 20 years in the industry as an advisor, consultant and wholesaler at firms including LPL Financial and Charles Schwab. He dispels some common myths about study groups and details the steps to forming an effective one that can help all its members better manage their practices and serve their clients. For more, visit PracticeLab.com.

What happens if your succession plan falls through? Good succession planning requires more than just identifying someone to take over your practice. It's about investing in the next generation. Sometimes, they're your own children. That's the story of Legacy Financial, an independent firm with Raymond James in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Bruce Dunbar, Mark Dunbar and Caroline Andrews describe how a culture of transparency, openness and willingness to learn (on both sides) has set the firm up for smooth succession. For more, visit PracticeLab.com.

Why do top advisors who have a niche get 67% more take-home income than those who don't have a niche? Kristen Luke is the founder of Kaleido Creative Studio, a marketing firm dedicated to helping advisors with their marketing and client acquisition strategies. She is also the author of the Amazon bestseller, "Uncomparable: The Financial Advisor's Guide to Standing Out through Niche Marketing." She describes how niche marketing strategies have helped advisors streamline their operations, service more clients with fewer staff, increase their revenue and even reduce their need to continue doing marketing over time. For more, visit PracticeLab.com.

Eliot Weissberg is the president of The Investors Center, a financial and longevity planning practice with $280 million in assets under management. Weissberg talks about how he carved out a niche in longevity planning, including partnerships with the MIT AgeLab and a patented, rules-based system for retirement income. He also shares about going from a 100-hour workweek to a more sustainable approach. For more, visit PracticeLab.com.