Welcome to episode #51 of the Fiduciary U™ Podcast. My guest today is Rob Madore from Marshberry . In this episode, I interview Rob Madore, an expert in investment banking and management consulting. We discuss the role of MarshBerry, a management consulting and investment banking firm, in helping advisory firms grow and maximize their value. We also explore some of the current challenges and opportunities in the industry, including the integration of acquired firms and the importance of organic ...
Jul 08, 2024•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 59
Welcome to episode #50 of the Fiduciary U™ Podcast. My guest today is Patrick Bushlack from The Standard . In this conversation, we discuss Pooled Employer Plans (PEPs) and their growing impact on the retirement industry. We explore the different flavors of PEPs and the importance of advisor centricity in designing and implementing these plans. We also touch on the challenges faced by HR and benefits teams, the concept of indirect fee compression for financial advisors, and the need for a flexib...
May 30, 2024•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 58
On this episode, Rebecca Hourihan from 401(k) Marketing and I discuss the changes in marketing strategies over the past decade and the importance of differentiation in the industry. She emphasizes the visual identity of advisors' websites and the need to showcase their office and team to create familiarity and connection with potential clients. She also highlights the significance of brand guidelines and professional photography in conveying a unique client experience. She suggests focusing on e...
Mar 28, 2024•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 57
In this conversation, I interview Justin Tarantin, the CEO of Venrollment, a participant engagement platform for retirement plans. We discuss the challenges of in-person education, the birth of Venrollment, the impact of COVID-19, and the importance of branding and differentiation. We also explore how Venrollment enables advisors to target the small plan market and deliver value to plan sponsors. Justin shares his career arc and the vision for Venrollment's future, including expanding into healt...
Dec 07, 2023•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 56
Welcome to Part 2 of episode #47 of the Fiduciary UÔ Podcast. My guest today is Bill Chetney, Jr. from Viking Cove Institute. Bill’s dad Bill Chetney Sr. arguably created the first aggregator with National Retirement Partners (NRP), eventually selling it to LPL, and ultimately created GRPAA. Now it’s Bill Jr.’s turn to lead the organization forward and today he shares his vision for what that looks like. On the show we cover a lot of ground around topics and the various ways Viking Cove Institue...
Jun 27, 2023•33 min•Ep. 55
Welcome to Part 1 of episode #47 of the Fiduciary U™ Podcast. My guest today is Bill Chetney, Jr. from Viking Cove Institute. Bill’s dad Bill Chetney Sr. arguably created the first aggregator with National Retirement Partners (NRP), eventually selling it to LPL, and ultimately created GRPAA. Now it’s Bill Jr.’s turn to lead the organization forward and today he shares his vision for what that looks like. On the show we cover a lot of ground around topics and the various ways Viking Cove Institue...
Jun 27, 2023•26 min•Ep. 54
Welcome to Part 2 of episode #46 of the Fiduciary U™ Podcast. My guest today is Liz Davidson from Financial Finesse and this is her second time on the show. On this episode, we discuss her new book, Money Strong: Your Guide to a Life Free of Financial Worries , her "START" framework which outlines a universal process that can be applied to anyone's financial life regardless of where they are, her writing process, why Financial Finesse focuses on "coaching" vs. "advice" to employees, their "Power...
Apr 17, 2023•31 min•Ep. 53
Welcome to Part 1 of episode #46 of the Fiduciary U™ Podcast. My guest today is Liz Davidson from Financial Finesse and this is her second time on the show. On this episode, we discuss her new book, Money Strong: Your Guide to a Life Free of Financial Worries , her "START" framework which outlines a universal process that can be applied to anyone's financial life regardless of where they are, her writing process, why Financial Finesse focuses on "coaching" vs. "advice" to employees, their "Power...
Apr 17, 2023•28 min•Ep. 52
Welcome to Part 2 of episode #45 of the Fiduciary U™ Podcast. My guest today is Bonnie Treichel from Endeavour Retirement. I’ve been a fan of Bonnie’s for some time and she is seemingly everyone these days sharing her thought leadership as well as her practice management tools and resources for advisors. She’s one of the voices in the retirement industry that I greatly admire, and listeners will glean a lot of wisdom from this episode. Bonnie has a unique background, as both an ERISA attorney an...
Apr 03, 2023•20 min•Ep. 51
Welcome to Part 1 of episode #45 of the Fiduciary U™ Podcast. My guest today is Bonnie Treichel from Endeavour Retirement. I’ve been a fan of Bonnie’s for some time and she is seemingly everyone these days sharing her thought leadership as well as her practice management tools and resources for advisors. She’s one of the voices in the retirement industry that I greatly admire, and listeners will glean a lot of wisdom from this episode. Bonnie has a unique background, as both an ERISA attorney an...
Apr 03, 2023•40 min•Ep. 50
Welcome to Part 2 of episode #44 of the Fiduciary U™ Podcast. My guest on this episode is John Faustino , who is the Head of FI360 . John has become a good friend and incredible mentor of mine as I have pivoted into the fintech world, and we had a great conversation where we covered a lot of ground. John has a 30+ year career in the fintech industry, first at Morningstar, then moving Fi360 as Chief Product & Strategy Officer, and continuing as the organizational leader after its acquisition ...
Mar 20, 2023•23 min•Ep. 49
Welcome to Part 1 of episode #44 of the Fiduciary U™ Podcast. I’ve broken this one into 2 parts so make sure to check both of them out. You won’t want to miss either one. My guest on this episode is John Faustino , who is the Head of FI360 . John has become a good friend and incredible mentor of mine as I have pivoted into the fintech world, and we had a great conversation where we covered a lot of ground. John has a 30+ year career in the fintech industry, first at Morningstar, then moving Fi36...
Mar 20, 2023•22 min•Ep. 48
Welcome to Part 2 of episode #43 of the Fiduciary U™ Podcast. My guest on this episode is Aaron Schumm, Founder & CEO of Vestwell. This is Aaron’s second time on the podcast since first appearing in 2020 as my second guest on the show. A lot has changed since then and Vestwell’s success has gone nuclear, making them a dominant force in the small plan recordkeeping market. On this episode, we discuss topics that range from developing systems and workflows that scale, service models that succe...
Feb 20, 2023•27 min•Ep. 47
Welcome to Part 1 of episode #43 of the Fiduciary U™ Podcast. It’s been a few months since I released a podcast – the end of the year was pretty crazy launching a lot of new features and functionality in my FiduciaryRx platform which required a lot of my focus and attention. But now I’m back and have some really exciting guests scheduled over the new couple of months. Like my more recent episodes, I’ve broken this one into 2 parts and releasing both so make sure to check each of them out. You wo...
Feb 20, 2023•25 min•Ep. 46
In Part 2 of episode #42 of the Fiduciary U™ Podcast , Michael Doshier of T. Rowe Price and I continue our discussion on large market consulting and product trends.
Nov 07, 2022•45 min•Ep. 44
Welcome to episode #42 of the Fiduciary U™ Podcast . Like last episode, I broke this one into 2 parts and I’m releasing both at the same time so make sure to check out both. You won’t want to miss either one. My guest on this episode is Michael Doshier, who is a Senior Defined Contribution Advisor Strategist for T. Rowe Price where he is primarily responsible for driving the increased visibility of T Rowe Price’s investment brand, furthering the firm’s position as a thought leader in the retirem...
Nov 07, 2022•41 min•Ep. 43
In Part 2 of episode #41 of the Fiduciary U™ Podcast , Chad Johansen of Plan Design Consultants and I continue our discussion on how advisors can win big in the small retirement plan market.
Oct 10, 2022•31 min•Ep. 42
Welcome to episode #41 of the Fiduciary U™ Podcast . I am going to try something a little different with this episode. I recently co-hosted Retireholics and a few people were giving me a hard time about how long the episodes are, even though they love the content. I conducted a poll on LinkedIn and 52% of people said they prefer breaking each episode into 2 parts. Not a huge majority but since this episode is a little longer than usual, I’m going to try it out and see what type of feedback I get...
Oct 10, 2022•39 min•Ep. 41
Welcome to episode #40 of the Fiduciary U Podcast. My guest on this episode is Andy Hudson, the Managing Partner of 401k Champions and a well-known coach, consultant, and sales strategy expert to top 401k advisors, typically generating $1m+ in annual revenue. He started his consulting practice over a decade ago after more than a decade in the retirement industry at companies like John Hancock and Manulife. On the episode, we have a great discussion about practice management for retirement plan a...
Sep 26, 2022•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 40
My guest on this episode is the one and only Sheri Fitts . When it comes to financial services sales and marketing, Sheri is a gifted speaker, consultant, and creator and I always enjoy learning from her. One of the things I love about Sheri is her ENERGY. Her passion for connecting emotional intelligence and digital influence, what she calls Digital EQ, really comes through in this episode. We focus a lot of our conversation on the human aspect of financial services and how we communicate with ...
Sep 12, 2022•58 min•Ep. 39
My guest today is Ben Pitts from TIFIN Wealth. Ben has a background as an advisor and is a Partner at TIFIN which is a venture backed fintech company that has raised nearly $200m and offers advisors a portfolio of solutions including a natural language investment research platform called Magnifi, a digital marketing platform called Clout, a risk assessment platform and a lightweight financial planning platform called TIFIN Plan. We focus a lot of our conversation on the need for fintech that all...
Jul 11, 2022•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 38
On today’s episode the one and only Fred Reish joins me to discuss emerging regulatory trends affecting advisory firms and advisors. Fun fact - Fred is the first repeat guest on the show. During our conversation, we focus much of our discussion on the new fiduciary advice exemption, PTE 2020-02 which became effective on February 16, 2021. The new prohibited transaction rules cast a wide net, impacting both qualified plans and IRAs and the compliance requirements are significant. Fred shares his ...
Jun 20, 2022•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 37
Today we have the pleasure of welcoming two very exciting guests to the show. Jeanne Sutton and Jake Rushton both work for Strategic Retirement Partners (SRP), with Jeanne’s title being the Managing Director and Jake’s the Managing Director & Director of Retirement Plans. They are two of the biggest social media stars and brand builders in the retirement industry, and in this episode, we cover a wide variety of topics, including social media strategies and execution. Listen in to learn why t...
May 30, 2022•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 36
For more than 20 years, Jason Chepenik has been recognized as a thought leader and advocate for the retirement industry, testifying in 2008 before the Department of Labor’s ERISA Advisory Council on the spend-down issues of corporate retirement plans. Jason joins the show today to discuss numerous interesting topics, including his transition from running and owning his family business to selling to OneDigital where he is currently the Senior Vice President of Retirement and Wealth. Listen in as ...
May 16, 2022•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 35
Michael Kirschman is the Co-Founder of Plan Notice, a new service that helps companies track and manage communications with its retirement plan participants. Today Michael joins the show to discuss the interesting path that he followed to becoming a financial advisor, how he came up with the idea for Plan Notice, and his unique approach to pricing for his service. Listen in as he shares a bit about his background running his family’s furniture business and how this led to an opportunity for him ...
May 03, 2022•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 34
Providing women with a voice and a seat at the table in the leadership of advisory firms is an essential step toward the equality this industry needs. Today’s guest, Leah Sylvester, knows this as well as anyone. A Partner and Director of Retirement Plan Services for Shepherd Financial, LLC., Leah joins the show today to share both her successes and failures with the kind of honesty that is incredibly powerful to hear. Listen in as she shares her thoughts on mentors and the critical role they pla...
Apr 04, 2022•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 33
Our guest today is Troy Redstone , the founder of PHD. Retirement Consulting and the author of two books, Repurposement and 401(k) Architecture . He is currently the President of the Retirement Advisor Council, and he has also served as the President and Chair of the Employee Benefits Institute. In this episode, Troy and I discuss why a company’s corporate culture is a good indicator of whether they will be a good client and commit to running a successful plan. Listen in as Troy shares key insig...
Mar 21, 2022•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 32
Our guest today is Tom Schrandt, Vice President at Lockton Affinity LLC, a Lockton Companies subsidiary that specializes in insuring small businesses, non-profits, associations, groups, and franchises. Due to ERISA litigation, the fiduciary liability insurance market is really in turmoil— many plan sponsors either can’t get coverage or they're being quoted pretty insane deductibles that make it inaccessible. So, in this episode, Tom will be talking in-depth about what is happening. Listen in as ...
Mar 07, 2022•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 31
Marko Ungaschick is the CEO of GoalPath Solutions and a Founding Partner at Two West Advisors, which collectively have over $300B in assets under management. Marko has led GoalPath to become one of the industry's leading partners in helping advisors build and grow successful retirement practices. Today Marko joins the show to discuss advisor outsourcing, delivering financial wellness, managing accounts, and retirement income. Marko has seen a lot of success in his innovative ways, and he really ...
Feb 07, 2022•1 hr 13 min•Ep. 30
My guest today is Stuart Ritter who is Retirement Insights Leader at T. Rowe Price. A gifted researcher, communicator, and thought leader in the retirement industry, Stuart joins me to discuss T. Rowe Price’s recently published research on retirees' spending and savings patterns, preferences, and priorities—much of which flies in the face of conventional wisdom. Listen in as Stuart shares the difference between retiree spenders versus savers, as well as the behavioral tendencies of each group. Y...
Jan 10, 2022•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 29
