Ep 341: Bolstering The Quality Of Advice By Deliberately Rotating Advisors For Each Client With Thor McIlrath

Financial Advisor Success

Michael Kitces

News, Business, Entrepreneurship, Business News

4.8 • 696 Ratings

🗓️ 11 July 2023

⏱️ 102 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Thor McIlrath is the Owner of McIlrath & Eck, an independent RIA based out of Arlington, Washington, that oversees more than $610-million in assets under management for 970 households. The unique aspect of Thor's business model lies in the way he has organized his firm. Instead of subscribing to the conventional industry practice of fostering deep relationships between clients and a single advisor, Thor has innovated a system where clients interact with a variety of advisors each time they visit, which offers clients a diversity of insights on their situation over time, moving away from reliance on a singular perspective.

Listen in as Thor shares his successful transition to a rotating advisor system in his firm, an innovative approach that centralizes client notes and enriches both clients and advisors with diverse insights, earning approval from 80% of his clientele. We also discuss why Thor's hiring philosophy is centered on compassion and empathy, how he ensures a good fit between clients and the firm, and how he uses an adult education class on retirement to give back to the community and drive a steady stream of new clients.

For show notes and more visit: https://www.kitces.com/341

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to the Financial Advisor Success Podcast, where you go behind the scenes with
0:06.8	financial planner, speaker, and consultant Michael Kitsis to hear stories of how leading
0:12.1	financial advisors navigated the inevitable challenges that arise on the path to success,
0:17.2	and get insight from leading industry consultants about how to break through to the next
0:21.9	level in your advisory business. And now here's your host, Michael Kitsis. Welcome, everyone.
0:28.7	Welcome to the 341st episode of the Financial Advisor Success Podcast. My guest on today's podcast is
0:34.6	Thor Macalath. Thor is the owner of McElroth and Eck, an independent RIA based in Arlington, Washington
0:40.0	that oversees more than $610 million in assets under management for 970 client households.
0:46.4	What you need about Thor, though, is how he has structured his firm so that clients rotate
0:50.2	through different advisors of the firm each time they come in for a meeting,
0:53.7	issuing the traditional
0:54.6	industry approach of trying to help clients form a deep relationship with one individual
0:58.2	advisor, and instead intentionally creating an environment where clients get advice from multiple
1:02.8	different advisors about their situation over time. In this episode, we talk in depth about
1:07.6	why Thor was inspired to create this rotating advisor structure
1:11.0	because he found that in other professional services like medical teams that implement a similar
1:15.0	structure. The team members share details and in-depth knowledge of each of the clients, and it
1:20.0	creates a team environment where clients benefit from different expert perspectives and more
1:25.1	oversight. And it also decreases the likelihood that clients will
1:28.4	follow anyone advisor should they happen to leave. How Thor first rolled out his rotating advisor
1:32.8	approach to clients because it wasn't the way the firm originally operated and how despite his
1:37.0	trepidation, a clear explanation of the benefits of the approach meant that only about 20%
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