Podcast Feature: #FA Success Ep 336: Showing Prospects An (Asset) Map To Generate More Advice Engagement, With H. Adam Holt

Our CEO, H. Adam Holt, joined Michael Kitces on his podcast Financial Advisor Success, where they talked in-depth about how, while working with ultra-high-net-worth clients, he began to draw his own financial maps to help him better visualize his clients’ complex financial situations on one page (and then realized that by showing his financial planning maps to his clients, they became better engaged in the financial planning process, why Adam structures his Asset Maps to concentrate on 5 components – important people in the household, income sources, assets, liabilities, and insurance policies – to illustrate a holistic picture of the clients’ financial journey, and how Adam designed his Asset-Maps to be used as tear sheets (instead of serving as a “one-page financial plan”) because the goal is not to conduct a complex analysis, but instead simply to provide clients with a quick and easy-to-understand visualization of the topic to facilitate a complex conversation, instead.

They also talk about how Adam almost didn’t land his first job with Equitable because he didn’t do well on his insurance exams and only lucked into the job because a newly-hired manager happened to need one more insurance producer to meet his own numbers, how, in the early stages of his career, Adam wanted to work with business owners and found that by asking people he knew for help to connect him with business owners (instead of asking for a referral), he ended up gaining referrals more genuinely and consistently, and how, after getting his initial version of Asset-Map approved by the compliance department of his firm, Adam tripled his production each year for 3 years… which caught the attention of other advisors in the firm, eventually leading to Asset-Map being incorporated into the financial planning process for 1,600 of the firm’s clients and eventually become the standalone software company it is today.

And be certain to listen to the end, where Adam shares how he didn’t initially think Asset-Map would grow beyond his practice but found that having mentors and hiring the right people for the right roles helped support his journey and get him where he is today, why Adam encourages advisors looking to launch their own fintech companies to pursue their ideas as long as it is innovative and they feel can solve a real problem, but still have a realistic understanding of the amount of sacrifices, lifestyle changes, and support that is needed to really build a software business, and why Adam believes the key to success for younger, newer advisors is being committed to continually learning from the industry and to acquire their CFP marks… not for the credentials themselves, but so they can gain knowledge to become credible educators to attract and serve their future clients.

So, whether you’re interested in learning about how Adam leveraged his education in geographic information systems to create his Asset Map, why Adam believes that surrounding oneself with the right people can help increase accomplishments, or why Adam feels, in financial planning, direction is better than precision on a 30-year journey.