Traits of Top Advisors

4 steps to creating a study group, with Good Advisors Finish First

7 MIN ARTICLE

Where do you turn for help in managing your practice? One resource that might be near the top of your list: regularly meeting with a small group of other advisors who are in situations like yours to discuss topics meaningful to your clients and your business.

 

Advisor study groups are among the top five most effective practice management resources, according to a 2023 report from Cerulli Associates. In Cerulli’s survey, 90% of advisors said they found study groups to be effective.1

 

John Stadtmueller can explain why, what makes a good study group and how advisors can go about forming one of their own. He has spent over 20 years in the industry as an advisor, consultant and wholesaler at firms including LPL Financial and Charles Schwab. Over the years, he says, “I found that some of the most successful advisors are those who are vulnerable, open-minded, willing to share and willing to collaborate with their peers.”

 

But he observed there weren’t many good options available to advisors who wanted to do that. “I felt like there was this vacuum, this opportunity for advisors to collaborate directly,” he recalls. That led him to create Good Advisors Finish First, a network of financial advisors with the slogan, “Pursuing Better Client Outcomes as a Community.” Since founding it in 2022, Stadtmueller has seen what works and what doesn’t in peer-to-peer networking and learning for advisors. Here are his four steps to forming study groups.

Shaun Tucker

Hello, and welcome to the PracticeLab podcast, where we talk with top advisors about what makes them successful so that you can apply those lessons in your business. I’m Shaun Tucker, the Director of Practice Management here at Capital Group.

 

As an advisor, where do you turn for help in managing your practice? You might look to other advisors like the ones we feature on this podcast. Or you might turn to consultants like the ones we have here at Capital Group. But one answer that should be on your list: a study group. A 2023 report from Cerulli Associates showed that study groups are among the top five practice management resources for advisors. Nine out of ten advisors found them to be effective.

 

One of the people who’s most well-qualified to teach us about study groups is John Stadtmueller. John is the founder and CEO of an advisor network called Good Advisors Finish First, which he founded after two decades as an advisor, consultant and wholesaler.

 

So what’s behind all the love for study groups? What do they offer that I can’t get by just searching online for answers? Can I really get advisors to share their best ideas, especially with their competitors? How many members should my group have and when should we meet and what should we talk about?

 

In a recent conversation with my colleague Winston Chang, John answers all those questions and more. Let’s listen in.

 

Winston Chang

Hey, John, thank you so much for joining us on today's episode of the PracticeLab podcast. Super excited to hear your perspective as a former advisor, someone who's been in this industry for a very long time and now doing something a little bit different, but still helping advisors and really scaling a community for them to find something unique, something that they can't find anywhere else. But anyway, before I get too far ahead of myself, why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself, your background, and give us a synopsis of your career to date.

 

John Stadtmueller

Yeah, really appreciate it. I'm excited to be here. Winston, thank you very much for the opportunity, and thank you for the ask. Everybody likes talking about themselves. So happy to start there. Been in the industry for about 20 years. You mentioned I was an advisor, worn a lot of hats. So advisor, wholesaler, broker dealer back office, I've seen it was with a discount brokerage firm for a while. I've seen the industry through lots of different lenses, worked with a lot of people throughout the industry, more in roles supporting advisors, and got into the last couple of years, building out this community. So happy to talk about that today.

 

Winston Chang

Let's do it. So this community called Good Advisors Finish First. I mean, what the heck you know? Does that mean? What is it? You know, like, I love the sentiment, but what exactly are we, are we talking about here? And what do you offer to your advisors?

 

John Stadtmueller

I appreciate that question. A lot of people ask that. In my last corporate role, I was a regional VP for LPL Financial and would conduct presentations for advisors on a fairly regular basis and was speaking at the LPL Focus conference few years ago. And I would start all these presentations with the same intro, just to try and get people's intent attention. I'd have everyone in the audience pull out their cell phones, Google financial advisors are, and then I'd just be quiet and let people see what comes up on their phone. I think things have changed, but at the time, there was this whole long list of all these negative things. They're a joke, they're crooks. It's just bad. It was just all these different bad words. And I would do this before presentations to try and get a rise out of the audience, a little bit, get people's attention, but from a practical perspective, as I was jumping into the meat of the presentation itself, it was really trying to convey to advisors. You know, this is, unfortunately, this is how the industry is viewed by the public, until you get in front of them and demonstrate value. So let's talk about how we can demonstrate value to clients.

 

Well, at this particular conference, later in the day, I get cornered at a happy hour this advisor comes out, and it's like, you don't need to be so negative. You don't need to be rubbing our faces in this. You don't need to be telling everybody already knows this. And I'm literally backed into a corner. You know, don't shoot at the messenger. I'm just, it's Google. It's not me. I'm just trying to tell you what's going on. And that conversation, though, sat with me for a good couple weeks. You know, was I doing things correctly? Should I not be talking about the fact that there's this negative perception of the industry?

 

And one day, I just snapped, and I feel like, why is the industry just accepting that we are always going to backpedal, we're always going to apologize for the bad and focus on that, let the other parties control the conversation. I've worked with way too many good advisors over my career. Why don't we focus instead on the good? Let's lean forward and focus on the good. And I came up with that phrase, good advisors finish first. And the idea you asked, What does that mean? Is just, if you take care of the clients, you do the right things, you will be rewarded more down the road, you'll be more successful. You'll find the greatest success in your career as an advisor.

 

Winston Chang

So then tell us why you feel like this forum was an important solution in this puzzle to bring the industry forward and elevate the industry overall?

 

John Stadtmueller

Yeah, well, so the phrase good advisors finish first where, where I wanted to go with that was demonstrate good advisors really focus on that. And I thought about, how do we do that? How do we help advisors show and demonstrate.

 

Well, in my career, one of the big things that I found is that some of the most successful advisors are those who are vulnerable, open-minded. Are willing to share, willing to collaborate with their peers and do so with no ulterior motives or reasons for engaging those conversations other than just to help one another, support one another, get better together.

 

And I feel like there was this. I felt like there was this vacuum, this opportunity, where a lot of the communities, networks and things where advisors could engage and collaborate. And there's, there's a lot, there's a growing number of options for advisors, but there are a lot of those that do have ulterior motives, or there's these different agendas and things that may be guiding conversations. And I felt like there was this vacuum, this opportunity for advisors to collaborate directly, face to face.

 

At the time, it was doing this in my role, back when I was with LPL, and at that time, you get all the same questions from advisors say, What's the best practice? What's this advisor doing down the street? Do you have a great standard operating procedure for onboarding a new client? Yeah, I got lots of those in my back pocket. But you know what? Why don't I just introduce you to the person who produced those, and we'll bring you together. And lo and behold, more and more advisors were attracted to that and have found a lot of value in sharing ideas with one another. And again, everybody getting better together.

 

Winston Chang

I think when people think about, like an advisor forum, they're thinking about like, it's just another newsletter that I subscribe to, or it's I'm on a list serve, or I, you know, I get the same webinars promoted to me every couple of months. But like, what exactly is the value that people are getting at Good Advisors that's unique to it?

 

John Stadtmueller

So there's a few things that I felt like we needed to do in order to create that opportunity for advisors to connect directly with one another. And you come out of a lot of these conferences and situations where advisors will say that was a great keynote speaker, that was great content or great information, but I want to talk to my peers and get together and let's assess and talk about these things directly. How does it impact my practice, my clients, and how does it impact yours? Let's learn from each other.

 

And we start everything on this open forum where it is truly open. So it's any of those things can just be thrown out to the group. But then we take those to another level, where there's a lot of prominent interests. Let's get some people together and talk about that more directly, more specifically, on a particular topic. So and we do these on a recurring basis this week, just as an example, we had one of our members was out at the Future Proof conference, had a number of valuable meetings at that conference, did a couple of specific fintech demos, and came into the group and shared those with other advisors.

 

So the advisors that were in that meeting live got a chance to ask questions, share their ideas, maybe other tools they're using, and then we have a recording posted of that. So then the conversation is ongoing. And actually, in that particular case, we're going to be inviting the fintech companies to come in and talk to us as well. But where it kind of turns things on its head a little bit is the fintech companies, the you know, outside parties, didn't start the conversation. The advisors did. They came into the conversation at the request of the advisors.

 

Another conversation that we had recently, one of the advisors just threw out to the group. It would be a great idea is, let's share the reports that we are all using through this particular software.

 

I'm not even going to use the names everyone knows, the financial planning software systems, but pick one, pick your favorite, right? It's helpful and beneficial to watch someone provide a demo. It's massively more helpful, beneficial and valuable to have another advisor walk through it with me, and that's using that one particular example planning tools.

 

So people started firing off, I use this. I do this. Here's how I handle my estate plan. Here's how I do this. And that led to a live conversation where the advisor who started the ball rolling brought in his operations manager, the person on his staff who is pulling all these reports and putting these things together. So it extended even beyond the advisors to the support staff, the para planners, the people that someone running an enterprise, may not physically be inputting some of this data, but we can bring those parties into the conversation as well. But again, everything starts with that advisor who throws the idea out.

 

Winston Chang

I love that idea of making sure that the advisors are leading the conversation, so that advisors are the ones who benefit from the conversation and in that example, I love the Future Proof one. Hey, I can't be out in Orange County  that week, but you're going to be there so and tell us what's important, right? And introduce us to the people that we need to be introduced to. And I think largely people understand the benefits of networking. What are some surprising benefits, though, John, that you've seen come out of Good Advisors? What have advisors gotten out of being part of the community, that kind of unexpected, that aren't well known, you know, like they're the people who are listening to this podcast. Think, like, oh yeah, I know that networking's, you know, generally a good thing, and meeting other advisors, generally good thing. But what are they missing? What do they not even realize is possible for them if they commit to this?

 

John Stadtmueller

So one of the big, I guess, surprises the thing that really has stood out to me throughout this entire process is how over the top, willing advisors have been to share their not necessarily branded, but their own operations, procedures and things that they're doing.

 

One example on that front is one advisor shared a spreadsheet that he had created to analyze long-term care and build it into a plan. I've been in the industry a while I've seen a lot of these things, and it was pretty valuable. It was, it was a very powerful tool. It's something that I believe could be sold, right? Something that could be licensed and sold. Advisors would purchase it. He had created it just for his practice, shared with the group and but it went to another level. Someone else in the group took it and enhanced what was originally built and then reposted that within the same thread. Here's a updated, better version that original advisor, instead of getting their feelings hurt and saying, Oh man, you took my baby and he's like, Oh my thank you so much. You made this thing that much better and that much more valuable. You've created a more efficient way for me to cover the long-term care discussion with my clients. And again, that's just one example, but it's the over-the-top willingness to share and be open. It's been incredible throughout this process.

 

Winston Chang

I'm glad you shared that, John, because I think one of the big things that people assume is that they're not really going to get the full story or the best of the best, right, because alpha that you tell the world about ceases to be alpha. It's like they're not going to give me the real stuff. But it sounds like that hasn't been the experience.

 

John Stadtmueller

And I think part of that, I understand, some mentalities, you know, the community overall in this, I think, you know, COVID certainly played a role, as is, people became more and more comfortable with virtual I don't, there are significant benefits in meeting with the advisor. Actually, you know, there's a good example where this did kind of start out. There's a small town in Minnesota. I'm based in Minnesota. Small town in Minnesota, Forest Lake, 8,000 people. It's a small town. There are two very, very successful advisors. They're like right down the street from one another. They'll get together, have coffee, share ideas. There are multiple cases. There's situations where they're working with clients completely independent of one another. It's ex spouses, it's someone who's running the retirement plan for a business, and then the other advisor’s working with that client, individually, it's a situation where you'd think, they're going to compete, or there's going to be, they're not going to share, you know, things. But it goes back to what does Good Advisors Finish First mean? I, in my opinion, I believe they are both more successful by operating the way they are, and they have created this opportunity to truly serve the best interest of the clients.

 

But that being said, I do understand the mentality sometimes of I gotta be careful somebody's right next door, a competitor, or what have you. But again, in this virtual environment, there's so many opportunities to engage in network where the likelihood that it would even ever become a competitive situation is lower. So that can, I think, help, it's helped create more and more opportunity for this over the last couple years.

 

Winston Chang

Playing devil's advocate for a moment, right? We're in the information era. Information is commoditized, right? I think a lot of people feel like, well, look, if I need the best answer to any given question, I have a much higher chance of finding that best answer  if I have the world's library at my fingertips, I'll just go find the expert on that topic, as opposed to, you know, rolling the dice on the people who like live in my community or are in the study group that I put together. In other words, I think there's an argument that some people might feel is valid, where it's like the best way actually to be getting the insights that I need to grow my practice is to when I need the information, just search for the person who knows that best, and maybe they live 1000s of miles away, maybe they're already dead. They just wrote the book on it a long time ago, and that's the best answer. So how would you how would you help that person think through the value of study groups? And how do you balance you know that the value of study groups with the fact that like, information is commoditized, information is everywhere. And so many of these answers to people's questions are, you know, at fingertips’ length.

 

John Stadtmueller

I think you make a really good point. And I think in a perfect world, that is how I would attack and do things, is, let's bring everybody together. Wikipedia, let's get the best answers and the best information we can and it'll boil to the surface. But there is growing BS that you have to search through in order to find those things. Again, in a perfect world, you're able to find it click of a button. You can't today. And this is where we very intentionally, when we created the community, did not create a Facebook group, did not create another public social media group.

 

Our first principle is everyone is invited, but the second principle is seating is limited, and that has to do with time. What we have created in the community is a place where there is no oxygen for BS, and so we are very deliberately and specifically asking members to go out and find that information and bring it back, because  it is out there to your point like that. That is where you find the best of the best.

 

And I could go on and on about what led me to this and how  that's impacted my own life from a social media perspective, but I can say, I know  a number of circumstances where advisor, I'm really successful. I got a great practice because you got a like? Did you get a client? Like, what did you do? What did you accomplish? Where are you spending your time and energy? And this goes back to what we talked about a little bit earlier as well, is, if that's all you have time to do, how successful are you going to be? You need to be in front of your clients. You need to be intentional with your time. And then, anyway, that's a long way of answering like that's you're right. That is the perfect way to do things. It's just it's hard to get there with I mean, noise grows by the minute to find those right solutions, those right answers.

 

Winston Chang

Thanks, John. Okay, now I want to get it to brass tacks a little bit. All right, so now we've got the advisor, we've got this listener to this episode, convinced that networking is important. I've thought about it for a long time. John's convinced me, I'm going to do it.

 

So then the question is, how? What do I do? Who do I network with? What do I do with them? How often are we hanging out? What exactly are we talking about? What's on the agenda? All those details. So let's help that advisor out.

 

Let's start with the question of who. John, if you're talking to this advisor who sees the value of networking and wants to start doing it, but they're wondering who they should be talking to, I'm sure it depends on where they're at in the stage of their career, if they're working at a, say, wirehouse versus an RIA, you know, if they're serving this niche or that client segment. So, you know, walk us through a framework for how as an advisor, should be thinking about who I should be spending my time with.

 

John Stadtmueller

As much as I was just getting into some of the benefits of virtual opportunities for advisors to connect and collaborate. Starting local, to the extent you're comfortable face to face in person, in my opinion, is where you want to start. It's where you're going to get the most bang for the buck, the most opportunity from a client. It's where you're going to be able to read who you're talking to, right? Because, you know, again, we're saying all these things. It certainly isn't everyone who is willing to share. And they may have these ulterior motives. They may have, you know, this hidden agenda, but looking someone in the eyes, shaking their hand, getting to know them in person, most of us, to be successful in this industry, you obviously have to be able to read people.

 

And certainly within a particular firm, within a particular broker dealer, there's more and more enterprises that are providing opportunities for advisors to connect within the system. And so those are obviously great opportunities as well. But part of the reason that led me to do this is, I want to know as if I want to be the best. I want to know what people are doing at other firms. And so, going to meetings, right? Like wholesaler, meetings, events, things that you know, hopefully you're killing two birds, right? It's a good topic. It's  something that you're interested in. It's something that will help your clients, your practice, and you'll go with an intention, right?

 

I don't know if I should say this, but I thought it was kind of funny when an advisor brought it up. Was, is, you know, there's  this significant transition happening right with the age of the advisors. And so many advisors you hear all the time, hey, do you know a book, a business for sale? I'm looking to buy.

 

Someone the other day just said, when they go to these events and I find somebody who looks, you know, like the oldest person in the room, and I'm going to sit next to them and have a conversation. Now, obviously, you know, there's, it's a little I thought it was kind of interesting, but, but there's from a mentorship perspective, like some of these advisors, and we've seen this, their main motivation is truly just to give back, to provide mentorship and engage, and so if I'm a younger, up and coming advisor, I may feel more comfortable speaking with peers my age, and there's a lot of value in that. So absolutely do that. But aside from the purchasing a practice and succession planning, the value that can be gained from leaning on somebody who's been around, who's seen the industry for the last 40 years, and in doing so, with that open mind and that inquisitive mindset, to let them talk, let that other advisor talk, there's just so much to be learned and gained. And so that's where I would recommend starting.

 

Winston Chang

John, you mentioned the power of knowing what people are doing at other firms. So what would you recommend for someone who's thinking about, Okay, should I be networking within my firm, my broker dealer, say, versus outside? You know, what should be my allocation of time, if I've got only so many hours to be learning from people who because we could see advantages on both sides. Right if you're staying within your firm, there's unique cultural things, the tech stack, you know, the way that your enterprise does things, you know, maybe it's more valuable for someone who's newer to that company. I don't know you walk. Walk us through it. How do you think through networking inside of your particular firm versus outside?

 

John Stadtmueller

That’s a great question. And it's, I think, something else that you want to be intentional, from the hip, just kind of throwing out ballpark. I would say 80% of your time should probably be internal, like learning and engaging with people who are using the same tech stack as you, who are talking to the same back office that are, you know, can speak your language, that understand and know what you're dealing have a more intimate knowledge, likely, of what you're doing than somebody who may be with another firm, but you know that other side, again, I'm kind of from the hip, but maybe it's 20% of your time, or there is a strategic, specific allocation to I do also want to know what else is out there and what other people are doing.

 

And it's a great opportunity for me to bring that back to the other advisors within, to the firm itself, and the other advisors within the firm, in every instance, working from a back office perspective in the industry, I always encouraged advisors to pick up the phone when a recruiter called. Talk to them, see what else is out there, and then come back to us and let us know, it's how we can improve and get better. And so this goes beyond the advisors, right? The successful firms, and you're seeing it with these growing enterprises, are those enterprises that have the mentality to understand. We want our advisors to challenge us. We want our advisors to help us get better, to let us know where there are holes in what we're doing and other things that we need to be implementing, and how else are we going to find that? The best way to find that right is from boots on the ground what another advisor and another firm is doing.

 

Winston Chang

John, how do you think through keeping it all advisors, advisors learning from advisors, versus learning from people who are maybe adjacent to the financial advisory space? You know, centers of influence, advisory boards,  attorneys and accountants, and let's say you specialize in retirement planning or longevity planning, so you're thinking about people who run, you know, assisted living facilities and things like that. So there are all kinds of people that that could help you service your particular client segment. Obviously, some value in networking with those folks. What's the balance there, advisors versus non advisors?

 

John Stadtmueller

Short answer is, absolutely you want to tap these outside resources, estate planning attorneys, accountants, long-term care specialists, whatever it happens to be there is that noise or time element right where there's so many of these different people. Who do you talk to? Where do you go? And that does tie back to how we're trying to do things is, is the advisors lead the conversation.

 

So if you go back to the study group, and in, you know, try to plot out your content at least quarterly. So if you're meeting once a month through your study group, or whatever it is, try to plot it out quarterly, maybe even annually. March, we're going to be talking about tax planning. And does anyone here I'm going to bring in my accountant again. Don't ask, like, say you're going to do it unless, and then somebody else can say, oh, I want to bring in mine. Okay, well, we'll see which one's better, but have the topic set up ahead of time and the advisors can then bring in the specialist, and we've experienced that, and it has been massively valuable for you know, both the advisors, as well as the third parties we brought in a long term we have buried a health insurance expert in Wisco — I don't think they can take on any more business because of what we which, again, a double edged sword is good and bad. But the advisor brought them in. You know, may not be able to leverage that person as much as they did. So I guess there is a limit at some point. But anyway, valuable for that person, right, and valuable for the advisors to get that endorsement from their peers to say, I used this person.

 

Again, our way of saying it is, everyone's invited. Seating is limited. We'll invite them, and we'll see if there's going to be a fit. But seating is limited, you know, it's not going to be for everybody, right, like so if they show up, they better bring value, or, you know, that'll be the last time.

 

And when you start getting down to these smaller groups, I think, and I feel like I have pretty good experience in terms of knowing what works. I don't even know if 12 is the right number. It might be closer to six, like getting down to this very small, tight group, where you can have these truly vulnerable conversations where you can really start getting into much more detailed conversations than you'd ever be comfortable doing so in a broader group setting. And those individuals are probably going to be very, very similar, practice, style, situation, what have you. But, again, you want to have that eye out for those other things. You may also have a separate group or the larger group where you're looking for mentors, or you're looking for other things that you can bring back to that smaller just like we talked about before Winston, bringing it back to the firm. In the same instance, you can be bringing this back to your smaller, dedicated peer group.

 

Winston Chang

Fantastic. Thank you, John. So we've talked about who, we've talked about how many. So I've got these people in mind. The next question is, how, going from the who to the how.

 

You know, time, obviously, is money. It's in short supply for all advisors. And ironically, the more successful you get, right, the harder to so what? What do you recommend in terms of how often to meet? What is a proper dose of networking look like?

 

John Stadtmueller

And that's a good question. It's a this conversation has come up a lot recently, if I have time to exclusively do this, these types of things. You know, am I really the most successful if I probably want to be allocating the majority of your time to your clients and your practice, right?

 

So, there is absolutely, and I see it, I experience it. And like, one of the things that we've talked about in the group is, do we limit, you know, some advisors, does it offer some more value to try to protect people from themselves, because they enjoy it and they find the value and benefits, but maybe you want to go talk to your clients a little bit more.

 

I can make a case. And that monthly may not be frequent enough, because it's hard to build those relationships and network over time. Weekly might be too frequent.

 

And so if you can find a group that you can get together with on a generally accepted recurring basis that everyone is comfortable with, maybe not everybody has to show up every time, but again, the group can just collectively share and so, maybe you have, like, a 12 person group, but only four or five are showing up per event. And again, I think, coffee in person or something like that would be great, or happy hour would be great. But you can obviously do things virtually, jump on a zoom and do the same types of things, and then just, yeah, start an email chain, or, you know, something that's a good, easy way to start, because there are conversations and value that happens post, well, pre and post meeting. And so I want to be able to, you know, have these conversations on an ongoing basis.

 

And where it does start to get tricky, and this does go back to the time element is then who takes the reins on organizing, running that and keeping the thing going, somebody raises their hand like, Yeah, I'm going to organize this. I'll send the emails out, I'll schedule them. I'll do all this, and it goes dark pretty quickly, often, and so that that is a challenge is finding the person. It probably has to be one or a couple, because you can have too many cooks. But you know, having that one person who can organize and keep things going, if you can find it, hang on to it, because that is what you want to get to. But it's not the easiest thing in the world.

 

Winston Chang

So we're, we're starting to describe kind of a study group, so a small, six to 12 or even smaller, group of people, identifying one person to kind of be the quarterback, to get the group together, to rally everyone. So let's say, you know, listening to this podcast an advisor’s like, all right, I'm going to be the change I want to see in the world. I'm going to be that person, help me create a good experience, something that's worth, people coming to, a good use of their time somewhere between weekly and monthly around the year. What do I do for them? Should I put out pizza, where we talk about, how much of this is structured versus just like casual catching up?

 

John Stadtmueller

Yeah, and that's another, you know, interesting one that ties back to kind of protecting people from themselves and their time. I think being extraordinarily clear with expectations on what is to be accomplished, I do believe there is value in just simply finding a place to decompress, go to a happy hour, talk to my peers, maybe share a couple anecdotes or stories that just helps me to clear my mind and feel better. I think there is value in that, but to be successful is probably not going to be the lion's share of these meetings.

 

And so we've run into this in the group. This is something that has come up like, literally, like right now, where we have had to distinguish the events that we're running as one or the other. This is an open mic, open topic, just, you know, place to just come share, throw things out and try to very clearly set that expectation if somebody's new to the meeting, like, just so, you know, that's what this one is, because that's not for everyone. And you know, there are times and circumstances where, man, I really want something topic specific. I would really want to get into this particular technology to help me allocate client portfolios. You know, it's probably not going to be the right setting to do that at a casual happy hour. And so I'm going to do that at a dedicated, specific event that's going to get on into that whatever the topic happens to be.

 

And so being very, very clear with what things are.

 

But what you don't do is say the free for all thing. What day of the week should we meet? And one guy says, Monday, one person says Thursday. Somebody says, Sunday. You have to pick a lane. We are going to be meeting on Wednesday at three o'clock. In fact send it in a meeting invite, so that people know this is when we're meeting. And, you know, this is the place, I'm getting pizza, somebody else is getting beer or whatever. Again, really being very clear with setting expectations, because I have seen what happens when you don't right, and these things can die very, very quickly if somebody has the wrong expectations.

 

Winston Chang

John, thank you so much for taking the time to chat with us today. I think people find this extremely valuable, especially if they're just getting started out. But even if they've been around for a while and have done the networking thing, I think the insights that you brought to the table as someone who governs one of these or leads founded one of these communities, these forums, incredibly valuable. So thank you. So what do you got going on? What's next for you? How do people learn more about you and what you guys have going on over at Good Advisors Finish First?

 

John Stadtmueller

Winston, that's my favorite question. So let me talk a little bit. So if you're interested in learning more, GoodAdvisorsFinishFirst.com the community is actually this kind of ties back to that other question. The community itself is actually called GoodPeopleFinishFirst.com the idea being the advisor community is just the first within that network. Next, we may have accountants, attorneys and go on anyway, that's years down the road, but anyway, GoodAdvisorsFinishFirst.com or GoodPeopleFinishFirst.com. We would love for people to join. Learn more about what we're doing. Whether it's a fit or not, it should be a valuable exercise for all parties, because, another principle: learn from everyone. That's what we're trying to do.

 

Winston Chang

Absolutely, yeah. And whether it's with your group or somewhere else. The point is, people need to find a group, right, find their people and get out there and start making those connections. Thank you so much, John again, for spending time with us today. Really appreciate it.

 

John Stadtmueller

Absolutely. Thank you so much, Winston. Appreciate it.

 

Shaun Tucker

Well, that’s it for this episode. We hope you enjoyed this conversation with John Stadtmueller.

 

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Statements attributed to an individual represent the opinions of that individual as of the date published and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Capital Group or its affiliates. This information is intended to highlight issues and should not be considered advice, an endorsement or a recommendation.

 

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This content, developed by Capital Group, home of American Funds, should not be used as a primary basis for investment decisions and is not intended to serve as impartial investment or fiduciary advice.

 

This podcast is intended for U.S.-based financial advisor audiences.

1. View transparency as mutually beneficial

 

The first step to forming a study group is being willing to be transparent and finding others who are, too. Stadtmueller recognizes that one thing that commonly prevents advisors from embracing study groups is that people have their guard up and assume that others also have theirs up. After all, if nobody will share their best ideas, there’s not much value in meeting with them.

 

But study groups are built on the reality that transparency is mutually beneficial. Even Stadtmueller has been pleasantly surprised. “The thing that really has stood out to me throughout this entire process is how over the top and willing advisors have been to share,” he says.

 

He points out a recent example from the Good Advisors Finish First network. “One advisor shared a spreadsheet that he had created to analyze long-term care and build it into a plan. It was a very powerful tool. It's something that I believe could be licensed and sold. Advisors would purchase it.” Not only did that advisor willingly offer the tool, “someone else in the group took it and enhanced what was originally built and then reposted that within the same thread.”

 

Stadtmueller has observed this openness and transparency even among direct competitors. “There's a small town in Minnesota, Forest Lake, 8,000 people. There are two very, very successful advisors. They're right down the street from one another. They'll get together, have coffee, share ideas. It’s a situation where you'd think they're going to compete, they're not going to share things. But I believe they are both more successful by operating the way they are, and they have created this opportunity to truly serve the best interest of the clients.”

2. Gather six advisors who are in similar situations

 

Having observed many study groups over the years, Stadtmueller is prescriptive when it comes to how many and what kinds of advisors they should comprise.

 

He recommends having around six members — “this very small, tight group where you can have these truly vulnerable conversations, where you can really start getting into much more detailed conversations than you'd ever be comfortable doing in a broader group setting.”

 

He also recommends having the members be in similar circumstances. “Those individuals are probably going to be very, very similar, practice, style, situation, what have you.” If you’re part of a large firm, for instance, you’re learning from people with the “same tech stack as you, who are talking to the same back office, that can speak your language.” If you have a niche, you can learn from others who understand your clients’ unique needs.

 

Wanting members of the group to be in similar circumstances also means you want them to be local. “Face to face, in person, in my opinion, is where you want to start,” he says. That has the added benefit of helping you vet people you’re considering including in the group. “It certainly isn't everyone who is willing to share. And they may have these ulterior motives,” he acknowledges. “Looking someone in the eyes, shaking their hand, getting to know them in person” can help.

3. Be radically clear about expectations

 

Advisors need to know exactly what’s expected of them and what they’ll receive by participating in study groups. “These things can die very, very quickly if somebody has the wrong expectations, ” Stadtmueller warns.

 

Be clear about when meetings are taking place. He recommends meeting at least monthly. Fix the day and time. “What you don't do is say the free for all thing, ‘What day of the week should we meet?’ And then you get one guy says Monday, one person says Thursday, somebody says Sunday. You have to pick a lane. ‘We are going to be meeting on Wednesday at three o'clock.’ In fact, send it in a meeting invite.”

 

Be clear about what the meeting will cover. He emphasizes the importance of having an agenda. “I do believe there is value in just simply finding a place to decompress, go to a happy hour, talk to my peers. But to be successful, that is probably not going to be the lion's share of these meetings.” It helps people when you can plan ahead. “Try to plot out your content at least quarterly, maybe even annually,” he advises.

 

Stadtmueller also recommends being or finding a quarterback for the group — “that one person who can organize and keep things going.” The individual is responsible for scheduling meetings and setting agendas.

4. Venture outside of your core group and bring things back

 

Do most of your learning from other advisors who are going through the same things, Stadtmueller says, but don’t forget to venture out. He recommends an 80-20 split. Spend 80% of your time with advisors who are in situations and niches like yours and leave 20% to learn from others. That 20% can apply to:

 

  • Older advisors who are further along in their careers
  • Younger advisors who are more in touch with shifts in the industry
  • Peers who work in other firms or channels
  • Professionals who are adjacent to advisors, especially in their niches (e.g., marriage counselors, contractors who know how to remodel homes for aging in place)

 

The key is to bring what you learn to home base. “Working from a back-office perspective in the industry,” Stadtmueller recalls, “I always encouraged advisors to pick up the phone when a recruiter called. Talk to them, see what else is out there and then come back to us and let us know. It's how we can improve and get better.” He applies that same approach to study groups.

 

He gives the example of a Good Advisors Finish First member who attended Future Proof Festival. The advisor “had a number of valuable meetings at that conference, did a couple of specific fintech demos, came into the group and shared those with other advisors,” Stadtmueller says. “And actually, in that particular case, we're going to be inviting the fintech companies to come in and talk to us as well.” The key? “Outside parties didn't start the conversation. The advisors did. They came into the conversation at the request of the advisors.”

 

By following these four steps, you can start to form long-lasting and effective study groups. And a rising tide lifts all ships. All the members of the group will be more well-equipped to manage their practices, grow their business and serve their clients.

headshot-John-Stadtmueller-600x600

John Stadtmueller is the Founder and CEO of Good Advisors Finish First, a network of independent financial advisors committed to Pursuing Better Client Outcomes as a Community. Prior to launching Good Advisors Finish First, John was a regional consultant with LPL Financial, an officer at Invest Financial, in addition to other advisor and wholesaler positions he held over his 20 year industry career.

1Cerulli Associates, “The Cerulli Report—U.S. Advisor Metrics 2023: Specializing for Growth and Differentiation”

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