Episode summary
Ep 484: Scaling To $1B AUM By Recognizing Your (Rainmaker) Strengths And Delegating The Rest with...
Financial Advisor Success (Kitces)
· · 1 hr 30 min · Hosts: Michael Kitces, Adam Van Deusen · Guests: Jake Falcon
Summary
Jake Falcon says his firm’s growth to roughly $1 billion in AUM and about 900 client households came from recognizing that his best use is as a rainmaker, not as the primary technical planner. Falcon Wealth Advisors now keeps Jake and partner Corey as the only two advisers, while a centralized planning team handles most review meetings, plan prep, and follow-up for clients. Jake still stays involved through lunches, golf, charity events, and BombBomb videos, but he no longer tries to be the face of every standard review.
Key takeaways
- Jake Falcon says his edge is relationship-building and business development, so he stepped back from technical planning work to avoid becoming the bottleneck.
- Falcon Wealth Advisors segments clients by revenue: the top 50 are platinum, the next 50 gold, above-average clients are silver, and below-average clients are bronze.
- Jake Falcon says he and Corey use a one-in, one-out rule for lower-revenue clients so the team does not get bogged down servicing small accounts.
- Jake Falcon says the firm’s planners are measured on client retention, meeting volume, and referrals, with a 99% retention target.
- Jake Falcon uses BombBomb to send short check-in videos and uses Instagram to stay top of mind with prospects and clients through authentic, opinionated content.
Notable quotes
“what I realized is that me going through a financial plan and performance and a market update and tax planning was not what I am uniquely good at”
“I felt like if I could double down on that and do more of that, it'll allow our clients to get technical advice without me having to be involved while still having a relationship with me”
“we really focus on, you know, two niches really. It's u pre-retirement and into retirement planning and then Henry's high earners not rich yet are really the two segments that we serve today”
“our top 50 clients are platinum in revenue. This is how we just we had to find a metric to use that was a little bit uh impartial, right”
“I just think it's important for adviserss to to not be scared to share your opinion, to be authentic”
How the episode opens
Welcome to the Financial Advisor Success Podcast, where you go behind the scenes with financial planner, speaker, and consultant Michael Kitsus to hear stories of how leading financial adviserss navigated the inevitable challenges that arise on the path to success and get insight from leading industry consultants about how to break through to the next level in your advisory business. And now, here's your host, Michael Kitsus.
Welcome everyone. Welcome to the 484th episode of the Financial Advisor Success Podcast. My guest on today's podcast is Jake Falcon.
Jake is the founder of Falcon Wealth Adviserss, I AR of the RAIA High Tower Advisors and based in Kansas City, Missouri that oversees approximately $1 billion in assets under management for 900 client households. What's unique about Jake, though, is how he recognized that his strengths are in rainmaking and attracting new clients, leading him to largely take himself out of the planning and client meeting process, giving himself additional capacity as his firm surpasses 1 billion in assets under management. In this episode, we talk in-depth about how Jake technically remains the adviser for 500 of his clients, but has delegated technical plan preparation and regular clients meetings to a centralized planning team, though he makes himself available to speak directly to clients if they wish.
how Jake's firm segments clients by revenue to align the time it takes to serve them with the revenue they generate for the firm and how Jake leverages the short form video production tool Bomb Bomb to create asynchronous touch points with clients while managing his time. We also talk about how Jake is building the business development skills of a new firm hire by having them work through the 5,000 leads the firm has amassed over the years to set up introductory meetings with Jake and his partner.
From the episode’s captions: roughly the first two minutes, lightly cleaned. Keep watching on YouTube →
Topics
- delegating planning work
- scaling a wealth advisory firm
- client segmentation by revenue
- asynchronous client communication
- business development and social media
Companies and tickers mentioned
- META
- Falcon Wealth Advisors
- Meta Platforms (Instagram)
Watch the episode
Summary, takeaways and quote selection by Octagon. Quotes are short excerpts; the full conversation is in the episode.
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Financial Advisor Success (Kitces), this episode and its artwork belong to Michael Kitces. Octagon is not affiliated with the show; this page is an independent summary.
