Ep 449: Growing To $2B AUM Organically By Setting High Client Service Standards with Michelle Perry Higgins
Financial Advisor Success
Michael Kitces
4.8 • 696 Ratings
🗓️ 5 August 2025
⏱️ 90 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Financial planning clients expect responsive, detail-oriented service—and the firms that deliver consistently are the ones that keep them for decades. Michelle Perry Higgins has seen that firsthand, and she joins us today to share how setting and maintaining high client service standards, alongside thoughtful listening and planning, can drive both long-term retention and organic growth.
Michelle is a principal of California Financial Advisors, an RIA based in San Ramon, California, that oversees $2 billion in AUM for approximately 1,500 households. Listen in as she talks about how her firm has grown entirely organically, fueled by her "non-negotiable" service practices (such as ensuring no client waits more than 5 minutes for a meeting) and maintaining a greater than 99% client retention rate. She also explains how she uses tools like an “Everything Binder” to help clients organize their financial lives, why she builds time into her schedule after every meeting to record personalized notes, and how going deeper in client conversations uncovers what really matters.
For show notes and more visit: https://www.kitces.com/449
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 |
| 0:12.4 | financial advisors navigated the inevitable challenges that arise on the path to success |
| 0:17.4 | and get insight from leading industry consultants about how to break through to the |
| 0:21.9 | next level in your advisory business. And now here's your host, Michael Kitsas. |
| 0:27.6 | Welcome, everyone. Welcome to the 449th episode of the Financial Advisors Success Podcast. |
| 0:33.7 | My guest on today's podcast is Michelle Perry Higgins. |
| 0:36.7 | Michelle is a principal of California Financial Advisors, an RIA based in San Ramon, California, |
| 0:41.3 | that oversees $2 billion in assets under management for approximately 1,500 client households. |
| 0:47.6 | What's unique about Michelle, though, is how her firm has grown to $2 billion of AUM entirely organically |
| 0:53.1 | and has achieved a greater than 99% client |
| 0:55.7 | retention rate, in part by setting high standards for client service and sticking to them |
| 0:59.9 | over time. In this episode, we talk in depth about how Michelle prioritizes her client's time, |
| 1:05.3 | ensuring they never wait more than five minutes for a meeting and always receive a same-day |
| 1:08.8 | callback when they contact the office. |
| 1:15.5 | How Michelle created what she calls an everything binder that allows clients to put all of their key information in one place, providing clients with peace of mind by easing the transition for |
| 1:20.6 | loved ones if the client becomes incapacitated or passes away. And how Michelle builds a half hour |
| 1:26.1 | into her schedule after client meetings to record notes into her CRM so that she doesn't forget any important messages the client communicated during their conversation. |
| 1:34.3 | We also talk about how Michelle has achieved strong client satisfaction by spending the majority of time during meetings listening to what they have to say and avoiding jargon when it comes time for her to |
| 1:44.2 | discuss technical planning topics, how Michelle seeks to go a level deeper when talking to clients |
| 1:48.9 | about their personal lives, for example, not just asking about where they went on vacation, |
| 1:52.9 | but also whether they had any money conflicts during the trip. And how Michelle ends each client |
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