Latest / Only Fee-Only / #162 - Design Your Business Around Your Lifestyle - Rafael Melendez

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#162 - Design Your Business Around Your Lifestyle - Rafael Melendez · Only Fee-Only

• 0:04
  SPEAKER_00: How's it going, everyone?
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome back to the OnlyFe Only podcast.
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_00: And as always, thanks for being here.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_00: Today we sit down with Rafael Melendez of NextGen Financial Planning.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: We discuss his path into financial planning, becoming a firm owner, serving younger clients, and why understanding a client's values is often more important than focusing solely on numbers.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_00: So, really great episode.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_00: If you're thinking about getting into the financial planning space, this is a great one.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_00: If you're thinking about becoming a firm owner, this is a fantastic one.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_00: So enjoy this without further ado with Rafael Melendez on the OnlyFe-only podcast.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_02: Hey, how's it going, everyone?
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_02: Welcome to another episode of the Only Fee Only Podcast.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_02: I'm Peter Travolo.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_02: I'm here with my co-host Brock Buckles.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_02: And today we're very excited to have Rafael Melendez on from NextGen Financial Planning.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_02: We've had the privilege of being able to work with him quite a bit and some of his clients.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_02: So we're really excited to have him on today and share his experience and how he's serving his clients.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_02: So, Rafael, welcome to the podcast.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you both.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, super excited to talk and uh see what kind of useful information we can't uh share out to the masses.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_01: But love your work, like I mentioned earlier, and uh yeah, let's get into it.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_02: You bet.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_02: Let's get it out there.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_02: So, Rafael, for those who don't know who you are, where are you based out of and uh what's the firm called?
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so I am a uh financial planner and partner of the firm uh NextGen Financial Planning.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, we're based out of San Diego.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_01: I'm from San Diego, born and raised.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_01: Don't think I'm ever leaving.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_01: It's a great place to be.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, I've been in the industry for about eight years now, but with NextGen since 2020.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and as of 2024, officially a partner of the firm.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_01: So uh serve clients all over the country, but primarily focused in California at this point.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: Hey man, I I will have to say I don't think you should ever move either because San Diego is one of my favorite cities I've ever been to.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_00: The weather's always great, it's a beautiful place to live, the food's amazing.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_00: So I I'm with you there.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: Are you uh are you by chance gonna be at the XYPN conference in San Diego next year?
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_01: Hoping to be, yeah, that's the plan.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_00: If if you don't go, we still gotta get get together and hang out regardless.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_01: So I've got a few good taco spots, a few good beach spots.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you name it.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_01: There's lots of goods out here.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_01: So that sounds good, man.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_02: And personally, you know, I mean, living in San Diego, like what do you like doing outside of work?
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_01: Oh man.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_01: Uh well, wife and I are uh zoo ticket members.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so we're there just about every other weekend.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_01: Uh beaches, and we're planning to go this Sunday to just lay out and de-stress.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_01: So uh there's lots of stuff, museums, you name it.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_01: As long as the sun is shining, we're outside most of the time.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, lots of things to do.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that San Diego Zoo is ridiculous.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_00: It is so big.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_00: It's one of the coolest places ever.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, like the walkways above.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so we could spend an entire podcast talking about that, but we'll get back into the the financial planning manager.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_00: So, like, where did your kind of interest start?
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_00: Like growing up, were you into numbers?
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_00: Were you into finances?
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_00: Like, we always joke, you know, I think it's kind of the same for financial planners and people in the insurance industry.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_00: You don't grow up being like, this is what I'm gonna do when I get older.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_00: It's not like a firefighter or an astronaut or a police officer.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, so like, where where did you kind of uh become fascinated with it?
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's not the uh flashiest job.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_01: Um talking to friends and family members, I kind of get like bored talking about money all the time, but it's fun for me.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, and I like the work that I do.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, but to your point, I wasn't interested in it growing up.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I was actually more interested in uh nutrition and health, and I figured that that might be a path for me.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_01: So uh when I was going through college and learning more about the areas of uh study that I wanted to uh focus on, uh that was the primary point.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_01: I figured there's not as much money or uh career trajectory in that path.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_01: So I kind of just fell into financial planning.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I did go to community college to start.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_01: I transferred to STSU here in San Diego, and the transfer options were really just general business or financial services.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_01: So general business sounded kind of boring.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't really know what that entailed.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_01: I always knew that finance was a place to go, so I kind of fell into it.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_01: And uh, I don't know if you both are familiar, but um shout out Tom Warshour, the uh uh the head of the financial services department at SDSC when I was there, one of the first financial services programs in the country.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_01: So uh we got our hands dirty with a lot of financial planning, a lot of work with CFPs, and it just kind of sparked the the uh the passion from there.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_01: I love it.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_02: So, what was your first um job in the real world in finance?
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_02: You know, where did you uh start?
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_01: Uh depends on how you would categorize it.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_01: But uh first job with money would have been as a bank teller when I was uh in college.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_01: A lot of it was really sales-oriented, uh pushing products, getting highlighter recommendations.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_01: Hey, you've got X amount of money, have you considered Y thing?
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_01: So really just kind of translating uh needs to opportunities.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_01: Um I didn't really like that culture necessarily.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_01: Um, it felt very stressful.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_01: I felt like it was hard to really provide value.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_01: And as I was learning about my uh my major and uh just exploring internship opportunities, I fell into the uh SCSU Financial Planning Association program, which gave me an internship at a local firm in a planning specific department.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_01: So uh leveraged that opportunity, and that became a job for me with that same internship company.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_01: And I've been doing financial plans ever since.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, really cool.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_00: So I know it's easy to go back and be like, I didn't enjoy that environment.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_00: Peter and I both come from a company originally where it's like we're glad we're not there anymore.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_00: But there's a lot of people that listen that aren't necessarily financial planners that are doing a job like that, or you know, at a like a CLS desk at like a Charles Schwab or something.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_00: Were there things that you felt like you did learn during that experience, whether it's like interacting with people or like solving problems or things that you at least still carry with you today?
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_01: I think I learned how to be inquisitive.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so maybe for better or worse, I always try to do a good job in whatever role I was working in.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_01: So if that was sales, try to be a good salesperson.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and a lot of that kind of was really based on how well I know the person that's in front of me.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_01: Um so translating why someone is in front of me to potential things that I'm hearing, picking up on that could be needs was really helpful.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_01: So uh yeah, just uh asking questions, why they're here, learning more about their lives, really open people up.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_01: And I think those skills definitely translate uh what regardless of what field you're working in, as long as you're working with people, uh especially in in my field now.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_02: When was the first time you heard the term fee only?
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_01: Oh man, that would have been uh probably around 2020.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_01: Well, that's not necessarily true.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe 2018, though.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_01: Uh when I was first starting, I kind of didn't really know what was what.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I felt somewhat lucky that I fell into a financial planning role as a salaried employee.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_01: So I didn't really have to earn what I killed or kill to eat, so to speak.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and so the fee structure system was kind of all new to me.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_01: I wasn't working with clients directly.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_01: It wasn't until 2020 when I joined NextGen that I really started to learn more about the different ways that people get paid.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_01: And um, it just made sense to me.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_01: And it aligned with the types of clients that we work with who don't have millions of dollars in an investment account that I can manage uh and are just looking to get basic support.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so around 2020, when I was doing more research on job opportunities, is when I learned about it.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_00: Nice, nice.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_00: So coming to where you are today, man, like what was kind of the first job that you had in the financial planning, or was it with next gen?
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_00: Like what was how did that kind of what was the evolution of that?
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, uh, so I was working for a hybrid RIA firm in San Diego, and uh, like I mentioned, financial planning department, really my role was data entry.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, build the plans, build the muscle, flex the muscle, learn how to read reports, uh, how to incorporate some of those numbers into conversations by asking the right questions.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_01: So I was shadowing CFPs primarily and just doing lots of plans.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, and when there was downtime, uh redoing plans to make sure I came out with the same outcome.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that really helped as I started with NextGen.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, I was not client-facing at the beginning.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_01: And with NextGen, my role was work with families, uh, just kind of put right into the fire immediately and help people solve their problems and talk to them about money.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_01: So um, yeah, it it helped uh having that technical background, but the soft skills I think were slowly building over time.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_02: In 2020 with COVID, it's obviously an interesting time.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so how did you find next gen and you know Stephen Fox?
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, uh also kind of by having stance, um, I was pretty motivated to just put my face out there and just be known in the in the industry as an upcoming uh financial planner.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so the FPA uh in San Diego held a networking event at a local brewery, uh just kind of talking about building plans, types of clients that we work with, where we see the industry heading.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_01: And uh I met Steven, had a beer, uh, and we're just talking about the trajectory of uh financial planning and what we want that to look like.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_01: And uh I reached out to him and uh just mentioned that if he was ever looking for someone that I'd be ready and uh called back up in June and he decided to bring me on.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_01: That did happen right at the onset of the pandemic.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_01: So it was a little bit of a funny time, but uh yeah, it was a great experience.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_00: And did you you guys had to learn how to adapt pretty quickly, I'm sure, right?
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_00: Or were you guys mostly because I think that's an interesting thing, is a lot of people, you know, were already working virtually, like virtual firm owners that work with people all over the country.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_00: Obviously, there was a lot going on in our personal lives, things were shutting down, we couldn't socialize like we usually did.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_00: But from a work standpoint, uh, did that change a lot of things for how the business already was?
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_00: Or was it kind of like, you know, this is basically what we're already doing?
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I can't necessarily speak to how it was before I got there.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but what I will say is that most of the people that we work with now and have been working with since 2020, they're kind of busy anyways.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_01: They're they're younger families, they're busy with their careers, busy with children, daycare activities, uh, finding ways to pay off debt and save for a house.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_01: They don't really have all the free time to go to a big corporate office building and spend two hours talking to a financial planner out of their day.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so it kind of just worked out.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_01: Um, a lot of those people, uh, or most all of them at this point still are working with me remotely.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_01: So uh I didn't necessarily feel a major shift.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_01: I think it's just the type of families that we work with that were more inclined to like that kind of uh work environment, anyways.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_02: So um you've been there now coming up on six years.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_02: Kind of what's the trajectory look like and what are some uh goals of yours?
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, uh last year has been kind of a just figure a baseline year for us.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I mentioned that as of August 2024, uh myself and another business partner are now co-owners of the firm.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_01: We let Steven retire onto better things for himself.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and we're just kind of figuring what path we want the firm to take.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, not looking at making any major changes, just opening accessibility to our services uh by utilizing uh tech tools like AI primarily to make a lot of my time freed up.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_01: Uh my focus is just planning first.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_01: I want to talk to clients, I want to solve their problems.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_01: As many of those as I can do, uh, the better.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_01: And then bringing in a few people at some point who also are like-minded, uh, but just kind of optimizing the back-end stuff, which is uh a little less fun.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_00: What was it?
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_00: What was it like when you guys, because I know, you know, there's you actually did it.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_00: You guys were actually successful in you becoming a partner at the firm.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_00: Steven's like, I'm gonna go do something else.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_00: There's a lot of people that are at firms right now, and this might be an unpopular thing to say, where there's kind of like that carrot being dangled out in front of them, like one day you too will be partner, or you know, what whatever that might be.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so what was that kind of like for you guys?
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_00: Because I know Steven, I know you, you're both great guys, but obviously and share as much as you want to share, but kind of like where'd that idea come to play?
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_00: And then how did you guys figure out how you wanted to do that?
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_00: And and how is that kind of uh how have you guys moved forward with that?
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_00: Because I think it's really cool that you guys were able to do that in a successful way when a lot of times promises are thrown around that aren't necessarily kept.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's uh totally fair question.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_01: And I think a very real part of the industry when you're looking at uh as an incoming financial planner or aspiring one, what what what is the ceiling?
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_01: Where is your cap at with the firm?
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I was fortunate that Steven is uh pretty good human being.
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_01: I think he got into the industry for all the right reasons.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_01: He wants to help people who don't normally have access to financial planning services, who may be younger, not have millions of dollars in an account somewhere, potentially have negative net worth.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_01: Uh he also really cared about building a career path for aspiring financial planners.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_01: So that um eat what you kill model, uh he really uh made sure wasn't the way that we were going to do work at next gen.
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_01: And so I saw that all the decisions he was making were aligned with that.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_01: Um as we grew the business and started working with more families, I think he realized that there was a serious consideration for offering some equity to us.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_01: Um and the way that we did it, I won't necessarily go into the details, but it just made sense for all parties.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_01: And um he was pretty flexible and honest about it throughout the way, the entire way.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_01: So really kind of starts with the top-down um and and kind of what those motivations are.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm grateful to Steven for that.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_00: Appreciate you sharing that, man.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_00: That's I think because it's just like it, you guys are proof that it can be done the right way.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_00: So it's I think it's nice for listeners to be able to hear that.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and I'd also add to that that at least from my perspective, I'm sure you both talk to lots of financial planners all across the country, but it kind of does feel like a small circle to some extent.
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_01: So uh making sure that you're doing business the right way, it just is a win-win.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, uh, which is why I appreciate the work that you both do.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_01: Um, there's just a lot of uh altruism in that, which I really align with.
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you, man.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_00: That means a lot.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_00: Appreciate you saying that.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so what's the daily dynamic look like between you and your business partner?
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_02: You know, who's uh taking care of what?
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_02: Are you both tackling everything together right now?
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_02: What's that look like?
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, uh we uh we've done our best to try to create clear divides.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_01: Uh at this point, I am servicing a larger portion of the financial planning clients in revenue.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_01: So uh a lot of my time is taken up uh working with clients, talking to them, meetings, follow-ups, all the stuff that's needed uh to help support those families.
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and that's what I like.
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, we each have different skill sets and different preferences.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, I know that I work with well with people.
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_01: Working with people fills my cup, so I like talking to them.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and he he also feels the same way, but I think some of his skills are better suited towards some of the back end things like compliance, uh, some of the bookkeeping stuff, making sure that we're meeting all of our regular deadlines for certain things.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_01: So he's taken on a lot a little bit more of the back end role there.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_01: But there's hybrid.
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, we make decisions together.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_01: It's a 50-50 approach.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_01: Um, it's just different workloads at this point and different seasonalities to it, also.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, for sure.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_00: And and so you guys are kind of trying to figure out like what the direction of the firm is going to be.
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_00: Have you guys had like preliminary talks as to, you know, the pros and cons of growing it to like a larger boutique?
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_00: You know, do you guys ever want to go the crazy enterprise route where you're trying to scale like crazy, or do you guys want to keep it more of kind of a lifestyle thing where you're really valuing your time and your freedom a little bit more?
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I'd say the latter at this point.
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_01: Um, part of the reason that I really liked uh NextGen and when I was first brought on as a financial planner at W-2 was the flexibility that I provided.
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_01: Now, that's not to say that you can't have the same flexibility if you're working longer hours or uh are servicing different types of clients.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_01: I just think that at this current stage in my life, uh, I really value the flexibility and not trading too much of my time for dollars that I can't really benefit from.
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_01: Um, that's part of the reason why I like the clients that I work with.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_01: They're also going through a lot of the same things and also having to evaluate those trade-offs.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_01: So uh for now, at this stage in our careers and lives, I think uh not trying to get too big too quickly is really our focus.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_01: No, I love that, man.
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_00: I love it.
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_00: So what when you guys are talking about the actual experience that clients get on a day-to-day day basis, right?
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_00: Everybody does it a different way.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_00: And I always like to make sure that we work on this because it's very like some people are like, I won't even talk about numbers in the first meeting.
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_00: Some people want to make it more about like, you know, when we talk about clients, the first thing that we want to touch on is like, what do you feel like is your biggest pain point right now?
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_00: Because then you're you're creating immediate value, alleviating some of that pressure that they're feeling.
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and some people are all about the numbers in the beginning, right?
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_00: So there's like, there's obviously different ways to go about it.
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_00: What's the way that you guys do it at NextGen?
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_00: And then and why did you decide that you wanted to go that way?
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I'd say to start, uh, for both myself and my business partner who also works with uh financial planning clients, there's no standardization to how we hold client meetings.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_01: Um, if you talk to any CFP, you know that there's a certain list of things that need to be accomplished in order for it to be uh a good financial plan.
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_01: And we do those things, but everyone has their own take on it.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I am a type of financial planner that focuses on why people are coming to me and understanding what their values are, or to help them understand.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_01: So in some cases, there might be like a pain point.
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_01: And I work with a lot of student loan uh repayment clients.
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_01: So they might come to me and say, Hey, Rafael, I don't know what's going on with student loans.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, I've got lots of debt.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_01: I want to clear this up so that I can focus on starting a family, building a house.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_01: We're gonna attack those priorities, but as we're having conversations, I really like to ask questions about why those are decisions they want to make and make sure that those are aligned as we shape future goals.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_01: So a lot of my planning approach is based on values.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_01: Um and less about the numbers.
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_01: The numbers will come.
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_01: We should be good with the technical stuff, uh, but I think uh it's easier to work around numbers than it is around human emotion.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_01: So I like to figure that out first.
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_02: And once when you have those goals, um, kind of what's the implementation look like?
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_02: I know you mentioned a service calendar earlier, but how do you guys then implement the plan?
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we do uh we like to make progress as we go.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_01: Uh there are, I'm sure there are tons of other financial advisors or planners that create a plan and then you execute on it, and the execution piece is what takes more time.
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, our conversations are very collaborative.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_01: I'm more of a, I'd say like a thought partner for people so that they can understand what the trade-offs are as they're making decisions.
• 21:09
  SPEAKER_01: Um and so some of that might mean we make immediate decisions, or it takes time to really define why or what's important for us in making a certain decision, like uh do we save in cash for a house, or should we invest and take advantage of whatever market opportunities?
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_01: There's a lot of trade-offs there.
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_01: Um so some of them are immediate, some of them happen over time.
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_01: We do work with certain tools that help with collaboration, uh, workflow management tools, for example.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_01: So our clients have uh access to us all the time, and we can uh make meaningful progress asynchronously uh offline and outside of our meetings, but typically it's kind of a uh move as we go type of approach.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, no, that makes total sense.
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_00: Would you mind giving us?
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_00: Obviously, you you're you're gonna have to keep some details to yourself, but like what's a good example of like a recent financial planning case um where somebody came to you with an issue and was maybe stressed out about it, and you guys were able to come to an understanding and and they were able to leave feeling alleviated.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean, I'd say there's tons of those that happen all the time.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_01: Um, one of them, for example, is the trade off of uh what kind of work or job opportunities they're willing to take and the time that's involved with that.
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_01: I was working with a uh family recently who had the opportunity.
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_01: Of uh continuing working in a high stress environment that paid really good benefits, stock options, stock awards, and based on a plan at that stage, uh, because it is kind of uh a static review when we're doing the initial planning review.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_01: Things change over time.
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_01: But based on the initial review, uh we could pay out the student loans, uh, don't have to worry about uh being into too much debt or interest recurring.
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_01: But that lifestyle of working long hours and feeling like we don't have the space to enjoy other things that are important to our lives was really a pain point for them.
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_01: Uh they took a lower-paying job.
• 23:09
  SPEAKER_01: We're now looking at income-based repayment options to have forgiveness over a long term.
• 23:13
  SPEAKER_01: And it's just the mental hurdle of okay, this path has changed a little bit, but we still have a solution for it.
• 23:19
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and and that sort of coaching, I think, has been the most successful is when things have to change or when we have to make major changes to the plan.
• 23:29
  unknown: No.
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_02: So as a small RIA owner, what are maybe some other tips you could give to maybe the audience who they haven't started their journey yet with their own RIA?
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_02: Like what would you say are some foundational tips that you gotta get down before you think about venturing out on your own?
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_01: Know what kind of clients you want to work with and what kind of lifestyle you want to lead outside of work.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_01: I think that's a pretty important one.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_01: I'd also make that as a recommendation to aspiring financial planners who are looking to get into the field.
• 24:01
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, when you know what that end goal is, which could also change over time, but when you know what that is, I think that helps to inform what kinds of opportunities you're willing to take or not to take and how risky you are willing to be to get there.
• 24:15
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so for example, if you want to earn really, really, really high salary and you feel like you can break into a wealth management firm and uh do that and you're okay with cult calling or sales, then that might work for you.
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_01: But the trade-off is time, maybe instability of income or other things.
• 24:33
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 24:34
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so I'd say work backwards based on what you want your life to look like.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's really good advice.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_00: It's just start with the end in mind, right?
• 24:42
  SPEAKER_00: Like understand where you're trying to get to eventually, because so much of the time I feel like people start with this idea of like, I want to have a lifestyle practice, right?
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_00: And then they get there and then they're growing at a rapid rate.
• 24:54
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe they have a killer social media strategy or they're really good on the phone or whatever.
• 24:59
  SPEAKER_00: And they're like, uh-oh, I'm getting to the point where I'm not gonna be able to actually serve all of these clients.
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_00: So now I'm gonna hire somebody else.
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_00: And then before they know it, they're like, wait, this isn't what I wanted to do when I started this company.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_00: I want to just have a lifestyle practice with one paraplanner or whatever.
• 25:14
  SPEAKER_00: And now they're managing people, and so much more of their time is sucked up doing things that they didn't want to do.
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_01: So totally, yeah.
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_01: It's the same thing as lifestyle creep or just any other decision that isn't aligned with what's important to you.
• 25:27
  SPEAKER_01: So uh yeah, I love it, man.
• 25:31
  SPEAKER_02: Uh Raphael, any other golden nuggets you wanted to uh get out there to the audience before you came on the podcast?
• 25:38
  SPEAKER_01: Um yeah, I mean uh for really anyone that's looking to get into this space or um hopeful planners, uh it's it's not a daunting thing.
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_01: It doesn't have to be a daunting thing.
• 25:52
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I'd say find someone uh to work with if you're hiring a financial planner or a firm to work with if you're an aspiring financial planner that aligns with your values.
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_01: Um someone that you like to work with, someone that you feel you can trust, and just generally has a mission that you believe in.
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_01: And I think everything will fall suit.
• 26:10
  SPEAKER_01: Uh we don't all wear suits and ties.
• 26:12
  SPEAKER_01: Uh it doesn't have to be a scary thing.
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, it doesn't even have to be a matter of income or how what asset level you have.
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_01: I think anyone can find value by working with a financial planner.
• 26:23
  SPEAKER_01: You just have to find the right person for your specific situation.
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_01: So uh lots of us out there, uh lots of us hit the bill, some of us don't.
• 26:32
  SPEAKER_01: Um that's okay.
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_00: Well said, man.
• 26:34
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and for for those of the you that are watching, if this makes the clip, if it doesn't, you're just listening.
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_00: We're wearing a three-quarter zip, a floral polo, and a t-shirt.
• 26:42
  SPEAKER_00: So you can do it without wearing the suit and tie every day.
• 26:45
  SPEAKER_00: So um, well, awesome, man.
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_00: You you have a wealth of knowledge.
• 26:49
  SPEAKER_00: Really appreciate you to taking the time to come on the show.
• 26:52
  SPEAKER_00: For those that want to follow along with what you're doing, where's the best place to do that?
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_01: Totally.
• 26:58
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 26:58
  SPEAKER_01: Uh well, first of all, thank you both for having me on.
• 27:01
  SPEAKER_01: Super excited to continue offline discussions and just share this space with you both.
• 27:06
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, so best way to reach me is through our website, nextgenfinancial planning.com.
• 27:11
  SPEAKER_01: We've got scheduling links there.
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_01: You can learn a little bit more about our process.
• 27:14
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, you can also email me uh at Raphael with an F at nextgenfinancial planning.com.
• 27:20
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, and then uh somewhere down the pipeline, um, there are a few opportunities that we're exploring.
• 27:27
  SPEAKER_01: I've noticed how hungry people are for deeper conversations around money and how emotional it can be at various stages of your life.
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_01: So I've been toying on developing something similar to what you both are doing, uh, some online content, YouTube, TikTok, uh, to help focus on little tidbits or easy strategies for everyday people that can enhance their lives.
• 27:48
  SPEAKER_01: So uh no infinite banking, no real estate investment or strategies, nothing complicated like that, just little achievable wins.
• 27:56
  SPEAKER_01: So that'll be coming down the pipeline, uh likely on those same resources that you can find.
• 28:02
  SPEAKER_00: Awesome, man.
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_00: Well, certainly appreciate you taking the time and uh we'll talk to you soon.
• 28:07
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it was great seeing you both.
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_01: We'll talk soon.