Ep 470: Growing To $500M AUM With An Evergreen HNW Client Service Calendar For Evergreen Fees with Debra Taylor
Financial Advisor Success
Michael Kitces
4.8 • 696 Ratings
🗓️ 30 December 2025
⏱️ 90 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Clients often don't fully realize the depth of value their advisory team provides—unless that value is clearly articulated and demonstrated throughout the year. This episode explores how a thoughtfully designed client service calendar can both strengthen client retention and increase new client conversions by making financial planning and tax strategy more visible and tangible.
Debra Taylor serves as Managing Partner of Carson Wealth Franklin Lakes, a practice within the RIA Carson Wealth that manages $500 million in AUM for 120 client households. Listen in as Debra shares how she built a seasonal client service calendar to clearly communicate her team's year-round value, from tax letters and Roth conversion planning to estate strategy and investment deep dives. You'll hear how placing tax and distribution planning at the center of the client experience has generated measurable savings for her clients, how video explanations and structured service delivery reduce pressure during meetings, and how the calendar itself strengthens retention by helping clients see exactly what they're paying for.
For show notes and more visit: https://www.kitces.com/470
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 next |
| 0:22.2 | level in your advisory business. And now here's your host, Michael Kitsis. Welcome, everyone. |
| 0:29.1 | Welcome to the 470th episode of the Financial Advisor Success Podcast. My guest on today's |
| 0:34.7 | podcast is Deborah Taylor. Deborah is the managing partner of Carson Wealth Franklin Lakes, a practice within the RIA Carson Wealth and based in Franklin Lakes, New Jersey, that oversees $500 million in assets under management for 120 client households. |
| 0:48.7 | What's unique about Deborah, though, is how she has developed a client service calendar for her high net worth clients that allows |
| 0:55.3 | her to close more new business and retain more clients by demonstrating the value her team provides |
| 1:00.2 | throughout the year in return for the fees her clients pay. In this episode, we talk in depth about |
| 1:06.1 | how Deborah built out her client service calendar in response to a number of clients who left |
| 1:10.3 | her practice to handle their finances on their own, perhaps not understanding the full value |
| 1:14.6 | they were receiving from the planning relationship, how Deborah implements the service |
| 1:18.4 | calendar efficiently by having certain items apply to all clients, for example, an annual |
| 1:22.6 | tax letter, and others only to clients with certain needs, for instance, changes to a |
| 1:27.0 | client's estate plan, |
| 1:28.3 | and how Deborah divides the service calendar into seasons that allow for greater flexibility |
| 1:32.9 | compared to calendar quarters with key service elements in each one, such as an investment deep dive |
| 1:37.7 | in the spring and tax return review and analysis in the summer. |
| 1:41.3 | We also talk about how Deborah puts tax planning at the center of her value |
| 1:44.9 | proposition, in part by creating a tax-aware distribution plan for her clients, including |
| 1:49.5 | strategic partial Roth conversions during opportune times in the year. How Deborah finds that |
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