Read the Transcript Below:

Matthew Jarvis  

Today’s podcast is brought to you by TPR LIVE. That’s right, The Perfect RIA Micah and myself will be joining you live and in person in Arizona on September 25, where we will be helping you with all things related to fees, how much to charge your clients how to adjust your fees, how to explain fees to your prospects, and of course the extreme accountability around how to make that actually happen. So go to theperfectria.com/live to get signed up and get all those important details. All right back to the show.  Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of The Perfect RIA podcast. I’m your co host Matthew Jarvis, with me today’s special guest Kevin Thompson who, Kevin and I met on LinkedIn some of you know that’s one of my guilty pleasures. What I really enjoyed interacting with Kevin is that he and I could really go back and forth on issues and it still felt like we can have a have a beer afterwards. And so I said, Hey, Kevin, let’s let’s see if we can do this at least more real life than typing. So Kevin Thompson, welcome to the show.

Kevin  

Thanks for having me, man. And I’m gonna say this I’m gonna say this. I love what you do on LinkedIn. Don’t ever change because there’s people out there that are gonna be like, Oh, this Matt Jarvis guy He really grinds my gears. But man, I love it because I read the commentary and I’m like, oh, especially when someone attacks you. I get I get my popcorn video. I’m like, You’re not gonna come back. I love what you do, man. Don’t ever change my friend during the day. 

Matthew Jarvis  

Tell me a little bit more about how Bitcoin will work in my practice. But Kevin, let’s let’s talk about you for just a little bit right so you’ve got an advisory practice. You’re down in Texas, you played in the major leagues, you’ve got your own podcast, you’re you’re doing all sorts of things like give us a little little insight. 

Kevin  

Well, so I got a podcast coming out. And I mean, I’ll probably be out. But again, I’m talking to my former advisor from the Stanford group. So as you know, I was a victim of a Ponzi scheme, the Allen Stanford Ponzi scheme, right. And I talked to him last week, and it’s going to be coming out in the next couple of weeks here. And again, I don’t know when this airs, I talked to them my former adviser he explains exactly how it happened, what happened when it happened and what all how it broke down and unfortunately, he got caught up in this mess because he was kind of new in the business as well. Yeah. You know, just an advisor taking out hanging out with athletes and bringing them on and yeah, and then he said one day, and I don’t want to spoil it. He says, One day I was on a phone call and next thing you know, offices are getting raided, and I was like, Whoa, so it’s incredible, man. Yeah, but I was playing baseball, Major League Baseball, the Yankees and Oakland A’s at the time. And yeah, he was managing the temper group was managing my money. And I found out because I was getting really in tune with investing, watching CNBC and Bloomberg. Like it was like it was a religion, right? Yeah. And I see Alan Stanford coming out in handcuffs and I’m seeing the office. I was just that being raided by the SEC. And I was like, Oh, this is interesting. Call my advisor man. And he was like, I don’t know what’s going on. Let me call you back. He calls me back an hour later. Hey, this is not good. Just yeah, man. It was. That’s what got me in the industry today. That’s why I’m here sitting in this chair because I went back to school when I was pirates. When I talked him into my wrist. I said never against that happened to me again. I wanted to learn everything about the financial world. And again, you can’t learn everything about the financial world. We get it no ha and I love what I do. And I love learning I love not being a victim because at the end of the day, we can either be a victim or we can actually go and become the hero in our in our story. And that’s what I’m trying to get. I

Matthew Jarvis  

I’m trying to say reflect. Man, I’m just like trying to, like how does that shape you as an advisor. Today, like we all hear about Ponzi schemes, we’ll hear about fraud and those of us have been in the industry long time like we’ve seen it or we might have had some near misses. I mean, you lived it firsthand. I mean, like is that part of your describe so fast? Like is that part of your discussion with clients? Like, let’s let me just tell you like, if it sounds too good to be true, maybe it is like how does this work in your life, man? 

Kevin  

Absolutely, man. So it’s just every day we’re hit with something right? And I’ve gotten so in tune, whether it be people talking about MLMs or marketing scams, or what have you, and I’m like God leads stop like I can see it from a mile away. And of course I lived it because my money was frozen for almost, I don’t I can’t even tell you how long it was. But all my assets were there. So all my bill pays and everything was just it was stuck. It was so I was just basically saying, Oh, what am I gonna do? Luckily I had chips coming in. But at the end of the day, all the other assets were frozen. So when my wife had a relative’s funeral, and they when they needed money, to go pay for things, I couldn’t give him anything because I didn’t have access to it. So it’s those types of things that happened that it basically ruins a lot of people and changed a lot of people’s lives. And I couldn’t help anybody which was unfortunate, but luckily I did get some of my money back because my money was actually invested in actual assets. But yeah, it was it was very frustrating because the state administrator goes in , freezes everything and says, You have no access to anything and I’ll call you when I’m ready. But really, yeah, unfortunately, so forth. 

Matthew Jarvis  

Kevin, how do you advise clients then? Like when you’re talking to clients or potential clients, and you’re telling that story like what advice you’d give them to make sure they don’t fall to that same thing?

Kevin  

I knew you’re right there the business to men. You know, many clients don’t want to say Hey, check this out for me. What do you think this? This this guy come over here? He says give me 20 plus percent return on this real estate deal. And all I got to do is take 50 $60,000 out of my account and put it over here. What do you think I’m like, Oh, my God. We just get those every single like we get all these real estate deals. And you just say, man, just play it safe. I said let’s just say hypothetically didn’t get the returns or whatever. You’re still going to be good. Why yes, anything. If you if you want to do that, take that money out. Go to Vegas. Go down versus just you know, give it to some guy he’s, I got a client right now. I don’t want to talk too much about it, but they’re, they’re giving money to a company doing something outside of us. I’m like, and they’re taken out of a Roth account, and hey, I want to get the IRS. I’m just gonna let it let it go. But it’s just crazy how some of these people come up with these schemes.

Matthew Jarvis  

Yeah, it really is. I mean, it makes me think some of the techniques I’ve used on that when I run into that is like, hey, let’s Why don’t you just have them send you an email summary like have a have a write of an email summary for me to take a look at because we want that we’ll at least want to get some of that in in writing even a little bit like hey, listen, I you know, I’m sure that the guy told you everything he told you is true. But you know what, let’s just make sure we have it in writing because you know, now compliance is gonna be issue suddenly those Indexed Universal Life that only go up and never go down. Just send me a quick email summary will be set on that. I don’t know that when it comes down with a real estate deal as we always say, let me see the tax return. I’m sure this thing this Airbnb, a pays for itself in three days that let me just see the tax return on that puppy and we’ll take a look at that stuff.

Kevin  

And you and I see it all the time. But I don’t know where they get this stuff from. And when you look these people, yeah, you can never find any information about and it’s like, Well, I gotta I had to dig on this website that I have to go back into something and you’re like, where’s this guy at? And you find out he’s been at 17 different firms and whatever. It’s just, it’s a whole minutia of work that just nonsense. I feel like I’m a detective half the time. You know, it’s just crazy to 

Matthew Jarvis  

The Ponzi scheme, you’re still working the major leagues. You go back to school, you study you become a financial advisor, volume Advisor Now Kevin?

Kevin  

So, I started advising in 2011 I started with a broker dealer slash insurance arm.

Matthew Jarvis  

That’s how we all started back then you and

Kevin  

I go back and forward that like, you know, oh, you’re an advisor. You can be an advisor. Well, now you’re selling insurance.

Matthew Jarvis  

Let’s call it let’s call it this, like, just just own it, by the way, just because I’m an insurance guy, you know, my State Farm guy. Yeah, by State Farm guys. Like let me do a comprehensive it’s like nice so PNC insurance all I do yeah.

Kevin  

Just own it, man. Just own who you are, be who you are and being the best person you can possibly be. Don’t fake the fraud. And you’re absolutely right. And I learned that a long time ago when I was with this insurance arm. I was like guys, I went in and I built an investment firm which is great. Yeah, but all the other stuff is like we’re doing comprehensive planning. If you haven’t seen the one tax return, you can’t even read a tax return. You’re talking about comprehensive plan. All you’re trying to do is get somebody into a whole life insurance policy. I’m trying to get as much premium as possible because guess what, when I peel back the onion, what does it look like? The agency’s making 90 plus percent on this product, and you’re paying out the other agent 50% You got a nice little spread there for bone. This is a very profitable product for you call it like it is and stop lying to people. That’s all I want to say. Just stop lying to people. Yeah.

Matthew Jarvis  

Well, that’s a great one too, I guess. I guess this is almost becoming an episode on how to help clients avoid scams.

Kevin  

I’m not saying whole life is  scam. I’m not saying a whole lot is a scam. I have four policies on myself.

Matthew Jarvis  

I’m a huge, huge insurance me so but when people come in and say there’s no fees, no fees. So that’s always when I say cool. How are they paying for that building? All right, and everyone thought about like, it’s easy to be dismissive of clients. We can all fall for that stuff. So it’s like what are those simple things we can help educate people? Hey, listen, they got to pay for this thing somehow she didn’t know how.

Kevin  

This is perfect that you mention that. You know, those those index products where you’re upside downside cash buffer and all this other stuff, right? Yeah. And there’s no fees on them. There’s no fees and I’m like, Oh, my god, stop saying that because I’m not getting my dividend. Where’s that dividend going? It’s going somewhere. It’s just going poof up in the air. And by the way, I’m not getting all of the spread in regards to the upside and the downside and all the other stuff. Where’s that go? Yeah, so they make it like, I think three is three card monte right there like, Hey, you’re constantly trying to figure out okay, should I put my money here? Is that what the ball is? Yeah. And that’s the standard string itself. And then my job is to make sure that my clients don’t have to worry about that. Let me help you figure out what this looks like. And then you can kind of explain it in layman’s terms. Don’t get rid of all the noise this is so much noise out there’s.

Matthew Jarvis  

So much noise you’re going through those anything comes to mind is like they’re tracking some kind of bizarre index, right? That’s like some some index that no one’s ever heard of. Give me your point like this. Isn’t a slide on whole life or annuities or on structure notes. It’s just like, hey, listen, just just be really honest with a client. Like, here’s what works. And here’s what does and I think and Kevin, I love your thoughts here. Sometimes we think like, hey, we told the client the downside of this. They’re they’re not going to do it. No, no, that’s that’s how you build all the trust when I come to you and I say hey, listen, here’s the four pros. I got to be honest, here’s the four cons. Let’s weigh this thing out like now I’m in a win win proposition here. 

Kevin  

The issue most people have. It’s like, if you’re an insurance guy, your whole life built around that insurance product that I’m telling you like when I first got to the G word right to the G, don’t want to call it got to the insurance arm, their whole philosophy was we’re gonna build your whole financial plan around this product. And I’m like, okay, that doesn’t make sense. Because what if they can’t get it? 

Matthew Jarvis  

They’re not going to their he financial plan if you’re insurable. Yeah.

Kevin  

Exactly. So I say this is remove all of the other layers and say, let’s start with the client, right? Tax returns and you said like the tax returns are important. And I listened to you because you have a lot of good insight even though we don’t agree on everything.

Matthew Jarvis  

I suppose. It’s good that we don’t

Kevin  

A lot of good insight man, and I’m listening to you. I’m like, Ah, but I am alive. When people start going against you as you start getting…

Matthew Jarvis  

If you could show me the light on another way, like please, please do not count us specifically, right, like, but just it’s like, hey, let’s I’m wrong about a lot of things. But don’t just say I’m an idiot. Like, that’s how you always know like, well you’re an idiot. Right? I used to Kevin funny story. I used to write the editorial column for our local newspaper and and which was right up my alley. And so I would write about politics and all this kind of stuff. And I learned really quickly that when someone didn’t have an argument they were just go straight to name call. And I started saying, I don’t know if we should give the school district more money. They will you hate children. Like, that’s not notice. I may or may not that’s its own issue. We’re talking about the school district made more money. I don’t know. So yeah, yeah. So tell us a little bit how your practice looks today. Right? You’re down in Texas, right? I mean, you just had Josh Brown on your podcast like you do it a lot of stuff, man. Like tell us where things are at.

Kevin  

I love creating and I love just being just being out and just having like, one thing I like I like it’s I love about you, it’s like you’re authentic. Like you’re not gonna change for anybody. And that’s what we need more of an authenticity in this business. Because we can all be the guy that’s like, suited up and we’re gonna say, hey, our deviation and yada yada yada and blah, blah, blah. And that’s like, nobody’s listening to that. And in this new world we’re in we got to be authentic, and I love that’s why I like I love the authenticity and I started my firm a little bit over a year ago. We’re at 40 million now of AUM, which is a good start. Not a bad start for a year. Yeah, I have two advisors. I’m onboarding one now from Washington state, your state matter of fact, and I’m assuming there’s a lot of high tower advisors that just didn’t pan out. Sure. I’m not sure what happened with that company. But I just know there was a merger and then people got mad and then there’s a lot of this throw a lot of lawsuits. So… But anyways, yeah, so there’s some emotions coming my way. And I know you feel this, but everybody likes to put people in boxes, right? Hey, you’re gonna come in this industry, you look a certain way, you’re gonna be a certain way. I’m just gonna say Man, if you want to come and have fun and do it your own way, and we can figure out how to stay within the lines of compliance. Of course, go ahead and do it. Now I know there’s a downside to it, right? Because at the end of the day, it’s like, well, then how do you market yourself? Because if you’re doing multiple things, and you have one guy saying this one guy saying that no, we’re not saying we’re saying opposite things. What we’re saying is, you can do it your way. But we’re all saying the same thing. Yeah, I just want I just want people to be authentic and have their autonomy and just have fun doing the job. 

Matthew Jarvis  

And that’s a spot on Kevin, especially when you’re kind of you know, in a growth mode or freedom mode, wherever that is until you call it’s called a million $2 million in revenue, like people want to do business with people who are like them. And if that weren’t the case, they would all be at Merrill Lynch, right. Like if people just wanted prestige, right? They would just Yeah, they’d be in Goldman. But and you and I can have it anything be a business. If we can go out our real self, like you said, deliver massive value be authentic, that people who are drawn to that will be drawn to that but if you and I tried to pretend like we’re the same as Merrill or Goldman River, he’s just not gonna win that game right? You got to be you. 

Kevin  

There’s not a competition here like they say the ocean is big man. So 4050 $60 trillion out there and not one of us can manage all of it. Right? Exactly. Right. So if I can have my wills piece of the pot, you have your piece of the pie, we’re all gonna be happy here. And if so, massive RAS out there let them be but at the end of the day, we’re all gonna have our pieces of pie and be very successful.

Matthew Jarvis  

Because what do you need right 100 150 clients and you’ve got the best practice in the world. Like we’re not trying to bring on 4000 clients, trying to find 100 150 Really good clients so we can deliver massive value who like us and respect us and we like and respect them. That’s the whole game. Right? That’s perfect.

Kevin  

I got a question for you if you don’t mind. 

Matthew Jarvis  

Oh, please, please.

Kevin  

Where did you come up with this massive value? Because I love it. I love it. I love it. It’s just and then you got your book of course. Yeah. How did it come to fruition?

Matthew Jarvis  

Alright, so I’m a massive contrarian, right like as you can see from my late I’m just kind of contrarian and one day I was brainstorming names for like my book and for whatever else and and I came up with just randomly like one of 100 was delivered massive and if somebody told me that you can’t do deliver massive value, because that’s DMV and everyone hates the DMV, and therefore, and therefore they’ll hate you. And Kevin, I swear I took it as like a dare like Oh yeah, I’m gonna make I already love DMV, like that’s where it came from. Like, oh, yeah, I do it like I’m gonna bed like so. Yeah, you know, it’s just and I know this is your your proposition as well. Like, you’re not trying to trick clients into hiring you. You’re not trying to be like, Hey, pay me this fee. And then look over here. You’re you’re coming in and you’re saying, like, I’m going to do incredible work for you and your family deliver so much value, dare I say massive value. That’s what I’m going to do.

Kevin  

This stuff. The argument in our industry, like, Why do like, let’s go there. This is perfect. Yeah, it’s the conversation between Hey, remember that one guy on LinkedIn saying that 1% fee, you shouldn’t be charging that because you’re not. And I was like, Ooh, I saw your name pop up. I was like Rico. You know, my question is this, like, Why Does anyone care what anyone else is doing in the business like if somebody wants to charge 5% Let them be if clients love them, and they want to pay them the 5% By all means, let them do it. I don’t care. That’s my own personal business. Right. Yeah.

Matthew Jarvis  

There’s always there’s transparency. Right. I you know, I’ll take some issue with some hidden fees, right. The thing is, if you lead your marketing with price, like that’s what you’re going to die on, right? You’re saying the only thing that’s different about me is how I charge that’s it like that’s not that’s like the Walmart model, right? And Walmart’s obviously a very successful business. There’s a place to be made for that. I don’t think you’re gonna win that game. I don’t think you’re gonna have any fun at that game, either. Right? Deliver massive value and charge accordingly and if that’s how your model like backs off out, yeah.

Kevin  

And right now you’ve said it perfectly and a lot of doing the same thing. People saying a fee compression fee compression, freak, physical and not my business, my friend, my fees are actually going up. And I’m charging more because there’s more than I’m offering, whether it be tax planning, whether it be estate planning, whether it be what have you, I’m giving that to my clients, and that value cannot be I don’t know what I’m looking for. But you have to understand that the value that you provide to the client, you can’t just discount it because you’re like, Oh, well, they may not they may not want to go to me, so I’m gonna charge them half the price. Well, no. Are you doing half the half the value and that’s it. That’s a different story. If you’re doing half half the value, I’m okay with that. But most of the time, you’re working twice as hard. And making the making less money. It makes no sense.

Matthew Jarvis  

The place where there’s fee compression is anything you’re doing this commoditized right. So yeah, mutual funds massive. But that’s every commodity every and that’s not necessarily that’s just the nature of commodities, the price will always go down on commodities. Can what you described as the furthest from a commodity, right? You’re looking somebody in the eye and you’re here what their concerns are, and they know they can call you and they’re saying, Kevin, just the ability to be able to call you and make sure I’m not in some scam, like, cool. And again, it says that free markets I hear on my soapbox, it’s a free market transaction. Like you said, if my clients are willing to pay a buck and a half grades and if you want to try to lower my clients, we’ve offered a lower price like good luck to you. It’s not gonna work. Yeah. 

Kevin  

And what’s so bad about it? They’re disregarding the fact that people live in different parts of the country. Yes, right. You know what I mean? It’s like, okay, so a person and what I’d say Washington State or a person in New York, I mean, it’s okay for them to charge what they want to charge but yeah, so it’s like I’m living in like, Kansas. It’s a different value proposition there. But you can’t just sit here around the board, like everybody should be here. This is where we should be. I can’t stand those conversations because I know where they lead. And because they know they’re gonna get a lot of engagement which is kind of it is what it is. 

Matthew Jarvis  

Yeah, they’ve made a lot there’s obviously a lot there. I think there’s two really big problems that come up with this fee compression is one is like the younger guys in the industry. They don’t know any better, right? So they think they have to charge a lower fee. The other like you said, Kevin, you know there’s different parts of the country that different markets but to assume that all financial advisors are doing the same thing. That’s insanity, right? So like, again, if I was kind of check on a deal, and I’m like, Man, I wonder if this deals a little shady. Like, I’m going to call you up because you’ve got first hand experience with that and whatever you charge is going to be worth it right? 

Kevin  

1,000% like the tax planning stuff that you do all that stuff, man. Yeah, it’s crazy.

Matthew Jarvis  

Yeah. So to say that every advisor is the same and the only difference is the fee that that that’s absurd, right? It’s, you know, whether we got to use major leagues as an example or medicine or anything else. Like there’s a huge disparity of talent, spirit of talent, let’s charge accordingly. 

Kevin  

Absolutely, charge accordingly. Make your money, take care of your clients, all the value all the money and everything you’re gonna make is going to come once your clients see the value, to be frank, I want you to pay me in addition to what they’re currently paying me and I was like, You know what, you’re already paying me above. It’s okay. But I mean, maybe I should change my view.

Matthew Jarvis  

Why that I was used with prospective clients, whether they’re talking about fees or performance, I got this one from Nick Murray and I have a big Nick Murray fan, which is like Mr. Mrs. Client, like if you’re able to beat the market by 2% a year or you’re able to get a half a percent lower fee, and you still run out of money at age 85. Did you win the game? Right, so you beat the market by 2%. And you run out of money like did you win the game? No, you did. Okay, so there’s more going on here than just what’s the maximum rate of return back to the beginning of episode. Ken, when you say listen, this guy who says he gets you 50% a year maybe he can probably can’t. But if you run out of money, like did you win? No, you didn’t win the game.

Kevin  

And you said hit the nail on the head. I had a guy that was in California. He’s no longer my client. And yeah, we can have this conversation to about maybe needing to fire certain clients. But at the end of the day, I hate the look of my client, but he was always bringing me an idea like, hey, what do you think about I’m gonna invest in these businesses? I’m gonna invest in Windows, I’m gonna invest in some seawalls or something like that. I’m like, why are you getting this stuff man? And it’s like, they always come to you with something over the weekend. They retested over the weekend, and they come to you with some kind of, I don’t know what kind of idea it is, but I’m reading documents pages now. Like I don’t know where this is going. But yeah, it was. It’s one of those things where the value that’s value right there because we’re going to be reading the document saying, well, on page seven, this is what it says I don’t want to be this termilonogy that value is something that you cannot understate but I will say this, the biggest value is this. Like, how often have you you’ve gotten a financial plan from a client and say, I want to look over this right? Because the guy was at JP or because of the name, right? And it was just one of the 17 advisors that that did a run through this program. And they’ll put him in a money guide simulation or E money simulation, they’ll pop out. You’re gonna have 50 kazillion dollars when you’re, you’re done,

Matthew Jarvis  

Or it’ll be like 60 to one of the two. 

Kevin  

Yeah, yeah. And I’m like how how do I keep coming up with these ridiculous figures? So I go in and run them. And the first thing he says, Well, Kevin, you just cost us about $3 million. I said, Why do you think that? Is it because now our net worth is now I think we could this is realistic. You know, things happen in life, you know, and me just said you’re gonna go up in a linear rate of return. It is irresponsible. It’s irresponsible. And I feel bad because he’s not being taught the right way over at the other firm, and that’s just my two cents as myself now.

Matthew Jarvis  

I’m with you and because it’s a super alluring pitch because what they’re what they’re implicitly saying is work with us and you’ll go from 3 million to 50 Like, which is a lie like it’s an outright lie, but they’re creating that that thing. That’s why I’ll never I never get into projections, I never get into performance. Like if I can’t draw it out on a piece of paper. If it’s the type of person who says whoever will project the highest return, that’s who I’m gonna go with. I don’t want that person as a client, because they’re gonna blow the whole thing up. So yeah, I’m with you, Kevin stick to stick to the basics. Stick to what you’re really good at.

Kevin  

 And that’s why I don’t like if it’s just a younger client, mid 40s, things like that. Three to five years is what we look at the 3-5 year time arises, what’s the point of going out till 72? Oh, you have 72 million though. It’s the stupidest stuff in the world and you’re gonna you’re gonna be good and retired. No, you’re not because that future value is not going to be the actual money in your account. 

Matthew Jarvis  

So it’s some crazy assumption like, oh, yeah, we assumed you save $5,000 a month. I can’t afford I can afford 500 Well, just let’s just assume you do. 5000 You know, it’s crazy stuff is crazy.

Kevin  

And life never changes. You know. There’s no root problem. There’s no AC problem. And I’m just going to be smooth sailing throughout this entire process. It’s a joke, man. 

Matthew Jarvis  

And so this ties back to the feet conversation and we always undervalue the ability to call someone Kevin like yourself to say, Hey, listen, I just got this offer. I have this thing. I’m considering this thing like this stuff that doesn’t go into the software. That’s where the real value is. That’s where you’re paying. Kevin, whatever your fee is, are you paying that? It’s the ability to get on the phone with a human being that I liked that I trust that I respect to say, alright, what am I not seeing here? That’s where all the value is what we do everything else, the investment management, the tax, everything else is ancillary to that it’s really to be there to say, I can answer this question for you. 

Kevin  

So I’m gonna ask you this question, please. How often do you like a screenshot, like I got one this this morning, a screenshot of a LinkedIn post or some random post? And he was like, hey, what do you think about this, but in the post says something like if you say, $500 a month to get free over a 30 year, you’re gonna have a million dollars in an IRA or whatever. And you say that for your kids. And I was like, and he called me he’s like, What do you think about that? I was like, Man, that’s ridiculous. It was ridiculous. Because let me let me tell you this, because right now, if you did that, for your son, he has a specially son as well. Oh, yeah. And all of his benefits. Yeah, he gets no. So this is the kind of stuff that irritates me because these people are talking to a grant audience thinking that everybody’s the same. And everybody’s different. Yeah. And that’s the reason why people should stop putting that crap out there. Because they just do this. It’d be fun. They’re gonna ruin somebody’s life. You know what I mean? And that’s just my soapbox, because I know I’m with you. I know. I know. People can get ruined by all the crap that people put on social media, maybe LinkedIn, Instagram, whatever. They come to me like, hey, what do you think I’m definitely coming to me because I’m commited but I feel like they’re testing me at the same time.

Matthew Jarvis  

As what I hear Kevin well and for advisors doing I mean it gets if you’re like some kind of like social media influencer and you’re getting two pennies for because million people look at you, you’re trying to do clickbait like, that’s fine. If you’re trying to build an advisory practice. If you’re saying the same things that everybody else has said it’s pure noise. It’s like worrying. Again, we’re feeling they were comprehensive financial. Everybody says that there’s there’s no value if you can say, I worked in the major leagues, and I was victim of a Ponzi scheme and I promised myself that I would never let another client have that but we say that’s a different discussion. Then. Great news. You put a 5% IRR or whatever so you’re absolutely right. Dude, I love this guy. I feel like we can do 100 of these episodes. We should we’ve kind of bounced all over the place, which I love. Even if no one else ever listened to this like I’ve had a blast. Let’s let’s transition but let’s talk about some action items like you see a lot in the industry. You’ve got a good pulse on things. You’ve been industry longtime you’d be bold advisors listening what’s the other than don’t post about $5 lattes making you a millionaire like what’s what’s an action that people can take that you would recommend today? 

Kevin  

And to be frank I got this on my head. Yeah, cuz I try to be I read a lot of books, right? Yeah, no, I love them. I love my book like essentialism and all that stuff. Yeah. One thing is find yourself, right. Find who you actually are, and become that person. Find exactly what direction you want to be. Find what kind of practice you’re gonna have. And just take some time to find yourself maybe a quiet space, whatever you just take some time. To do that. Then you get to become that person. Get people to tell you what you can and cannot beat. Because there’s too much too many times this industry. And Jarvis will tell you right now. I love him because he’s not afraid to be himself because there’s gonna be some point in times in social media where people are going to tell you can’t say something, you can’t do something. don’t don’t listen to that. Be who you are. And then the third thing is going to be promote who you are, promote yourself. because, again, if no one hears you, no one sees you and if you’re not saying anything differently you’re just gonna be noise, and that’s why I fear, that’s what I fear about AI right now the everybody, everybody’s gonna be saying the exact same thing. Find yourself, be yourself and promote yourself.

Matthew Jarvis  

I love it. I love it. Kevin. I think the only thing I would add to that is if you’re struggling to find yourself right if you’re looking at like, well, of course Kevin’s got this personality because he was a major league baseball player. He’s got this cool story and I don’t and I don’t have the backdrop I don’t have a go back story either. It’s okay to also find people that you can that as role models can I’m sure you had role models throughout your life professional and always everything’s and Sarah there’s something about that person that I admire, like I wish that part of their life was part of my life. This isn’t about like plagiarism, right? It’s about saying like, alright, you know, I love how Kevin is so authentic. If I if I was in Kevin shoes, like what would Kevin do about this thing? And that was a show with with Tom guy who was a mentor of mine for many years, like, what would Tom Gao do in this situation? By the way, only professionally, not personally and personally was a mess but professionally, like, oh, he would do one to try to plan he would ask for the tax return he would do whatever it was he does. I agree with you, Kevin. 100% Be who you are, like really be authentic. And it’s okay to find someone who also has that similarity and mirror that.

Kevin  

Absolutely. Don’t be afraid and finding a mentor is going to be powerful because that’s better than any book you’ll ever read. The mentorship is better than any book you can ever read. No matter how many books that person sells, and they’re gonna give you all the secrets to success. That’s right, the secret to their success. You buy his book.

Matthew Jarvis  

Success Yeah, follow my LinkedIn channel for more on my LinkedIn channel.

Kevin  

Man, I love it man. Again. I love you. Because, again, hopefully we’ll cross paths here in the future, man, because I think it’d be it’d be a good grab a good time.

Matthew Jarvis  

 Yeah, we will for sure. Stay in touch. Let’s be sure our paths crossed. Kevin, thank you so much for your time today. Thank you for all of your insights and for all of our listeners. Until next time, happy planning! Hey before you leave. A quick word from our sponsors. Hey, everybody wants you to take a quick look around your office and on your desk. There should be The Retirement Tax Services desktop tax guide. And if it’s not there, or if it’s not current, meaning you didn’t download it in the last month, go to retirementtaxservices.com and download the desktop tax guide. This is a must have resource for every financial advisor committed to tax planning.