Ep 093: Building A High-Income Lifestyle Practice Efficiently By Running It Like A Real Business with Sunit Bhalla
Financial Advisor Success
Michael Kitces
4.8 • 696 Ratings
🗓️ 9 October 2018
⏱️ 99 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
My guest today has one of the most fascinating practices and niches in the advisor space. Sunit Bhalla is the founder of Oak Tree Financial Planning, a solo advisory firm that oversees more than $40 million in assets under management in a hyper-targeted niche of engineers. A former engineer himself, Sunit has been able to build nearly $300,000 in revenue—with an 85% profit margin—by working with just 17 affluent clients.
In this episode, he shares how he built his highly efficient solo practice with a relentless focus on staying focused. Listen in to hear about his unique financial planning process, why he offers all his prospective clients just one comprehensive financial planning and investment management service, and what he says all advisors should focus on in order to maintain a healthy work-life balance.
For show notes and more visit: https://www.kitces.com/93
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to the Financial Advisor Success Podcast, where you go behind the scenes with financial planner, |
| 0:08.4 | speaker and consultant Michael Kitsis to hear stories of how leading financial advisors |
| 0:13.6 | navigated the inevitable challenges that arise on the path to success and get insight from leading |
| 0:19.2 | industry consultants about how to break through to the |
| 0:22.0 | next level in your advisory business. And now here's your host, Michael Kitsis. Welcome, everyone. |
| 0:30.2 | Welcome to the 93rd episode of the Financial Advisor Success podcast. My guest on today's podcast is |
| 0:36.1 | Sunit Bala. Sunit is the founder of Oak Tree |
| 0:38.9 | Financial Planning, a highly efficient solo advisory firm based in Colorado that oversees more |
| 0:44.0 | than 40 million in assets under management. What's unique about Sunit, though, is the way he's |
| 0:48.9 | been able to build to nearly $300,000 in revenue with a whopping 85% profit margin as a career changer who works |
| 0:56.0 | with just 17 affluent clients in a hyper-targeted niche of engineers, as a former engineer |
| 1:02.6 | himself. In this episode, we talk in depth about how Sunit has built his hyper-efficient |
| 1:07.8 | solo practice with a relentless focus on staying focused. The technology |
| 1:12.9 | tools he uses to stay efficient in delivering services to clients, his simple fee structure to keep |
| 1:18.3 | even his billing process simple and efficient, and why he offers all of his prospective clients |
| 1:23.7 | one and only one comprehensive financial planning and investment management service that |
| 1:28.1 | they can either take or leave. We also talk about Sunit's unique financial planning process with |
| 1:33.5 | clients. The key questions he asked at the beginning of each client relationship to really understand |
| 1:38.8 | their needs. The six meeting process he uses that starts with a discussion about goals and exploring |
| 1:45.2 | possibilities even before gathering all the client's data and how he ultimately delivers the |
| 1:51.1 | financial planning results to his sophisticated engineer clients, not by producing and |
| 1:55.7 | printing out detailed financial planning projections for them, but using his planning software |
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