Ep 248: Scaling Diamond Teams Profitably By Charging Separate Planning Fees with J.D. Bruce
Financial Advisor Success
Michael Kitces
4.8 • 696 Ratings
🗓️ 28 September 2021
⏱️ 90 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
J.D. Bruce is the Chief of Innovation for Abacus Wealth Partners, an RIA based out of Santa Monica that manages over $4-billion in assets for 1,900 clients. J.D. has been successful in scaling Abacus to its current size by implementing Angie Herbers’ Diamond Team Model to offer a variety of different service models to different types of clients.
Listen in as J.D. shares how Abacus has leveraged the power of Diamond Teams to keep clients connected to the firm while also allowing for flexibility in the advisors that they work with over time, and how this business model has allowed for the firm to segment its client base and offer a variety of different services based on the needs of those segments. We also discuss why J.D. believes that it’s more important to hire team members who will challenge the cultural status quo as opposed to finding the best cultural fit, and why he believes that conflict is actually necessary for growth and change.
For show notes and more visit: https://www.kitces.com/248
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to the Financial Advisor Success Podcast, where you go behind the scenes with |
| 0:07.1 | financial planner, speaker, and consultant Michael Kitsis to hear stories of how leading |
| 0:12.5 | financial advisors navigated the inevitable challenges that arise on the path to success |
| 0:17.5 | and get insight from leading 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. |
| 0:28.5 | Welcome to the 248th episode of the Financial Advisor Success Podcast. My guest on today's podcast is |
| 0:34.5 | J.D. Bruce. J.D JD is the chief of innovation for Abacus |
| 0:37.9 | Wealth Partners, an R.A. headquartered in Santa Monica, California, that oversees over |
| 0:42.2 | $4 billion in assets under management for 1900 clients. |
| 0:47.2 | What's unique about JD, though, is how he's been able to help scale Abacus, the size |
| 0:50.8 | that it is today, by implementing Angie Herber's Diamond Team model in order |
| 0:54.7 | to offer a variety of different service models for different types of clients. In this episode, |
| 0:59.9 | we talk in depth about how JD and Abacus segment their clients into three different styles |
| 1:04.2 | based on their complexity and net worth, including builders, protectors, and change makers. |
| 1:08.9 | How Abacus charges a separate planning fee in addition to to the AUM fee, for most of their clients, |
| 1:13.5 | in order to emphasize the planning work they do and have the flexibility to charge different amounts |
| 1:18.5 | for different clients depending on where those clients land on the complexity curve. |
| 1:22.6 | And how JD found that implementing Angie Herbert's Diamond team structure was the key to |
| 1:26.9 | unlock in the puzzle |
| 1:27.8 | of making sure that clients are comfortable working with different advisors over time while staying |
| 1:32.3 | connected back to the firm. We also talk about how Abacus is built a focus of working with those who |
| 1:38.1 | are most interested in shaping their financial lives to reflect their most deeply held values. |
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