Jason and Alex are almost always speaking to investors, but in this show they shift gears and focus on talking to the financial advisers out there. There are many types of advisers, and advisors, out there. Independent financial advisers, financial consultants at large wire house firms and low-cost brokerage houses, insurance professionals, and the list goes on and on. There are so many types of professionals that work in these various forms, both individually and as teams. The quest to serve clients and provide clients the best possible financial advice unites all of them. Jason shares his story of spending six years at Merrill Lynch, then another six years at Smith Barney, now Morgan Stanley. He recalls the silo environment, the lack of transparency in how the firm received revenue from both clients and the industry, and how that created massive conflicts of interest thus resulting in biased investment experiences for investors. There appeared to be no uniformity on what an investor experience was supposed to look like so advisers were left to pick from a menu of options that seemed endless and riddled with conflicts of interest. There were dozens of advisers in one office, hardly any of which shared the same investment philosophy. This must have been incredibly confusing for the investor. He talks about how he didn’t even know what a fiduciary was at that time and how little education there was about the topic. Alex shares his story of starting out in the insurance industry as his first career out of college. He talks about how his experience during this most recent market drop has been so much different than the prior one in 2009 when his only focus was providing fixed insurance solutions for clients. Owners of fixed index annuities were not nearly as panicked as investors who owned stock and bond portfolios. This short-term reprieve from volatility was replaced with much lower expectations on long term growth. It was only after meeting Jason in 2012 that his eyes were opened to the world of what a full-time fiduciary wealth management client experience was, and how powerful it could be when combined with a comprehensive financial planning process. These stories are shared to personalize their journeys to listeners and remind them that we all have origin stories. Our stories help to guide us in making decisions in how we serve clients. Listeners who are not financial advisers can glean perspective from learning how these foundations drive what financial advisers do for their clients. All advice is truly not created equal.

In this show you will learn about:

• The financial adviser “origin stories” of Jason and Alex
• The difference between advisers who work at large wire house firms and the independent adviser
• How working as a full-time fiduciary can truly benefit both the client and the adviser, creating a long term sustainable business model
• How working on a team can bring and adviser peace of mind when confronting extreme market volatility