WEBVTT - Ron Carson on Financial Advisers' Trust (Podcast) 0:00:02.160 --> 0:00:06.800 This is Masters in Business with Barry Ridholts on Boomberg Radio. 0:00:07.160 --> 0:00:10.320 This week on the podcast, I have an extra special guest. 0:00:10.800 --> 0:00:14.560 Ron Carson, CEO and founder of the Carson Group, started 0:00:14.560 --> 0:00:19.480 way back in practically in his dorm room in Nebraska, 0:00:19.920 --> 0:00:23.119 has been one of the leaders in the r i 0:00:23.200 --> 0:00:28.080 A space, not just through Carson Wealth the sm management 0:00:28.120 --> 0:00:32.120 business side, but through Carson Partners, which is uh sort 0:00:32.159 --> 0:00:37.080 of tamp plus for independent are as who were looking 0:00:37.159 --> 0:00:39.720 for succession, planning and help on the back end of 0:00:39.840 --> 0:00:43.840 their business with technology, as well as Carson Coaching, which 0:00:44.720 --> 0:00:47.680 is a program that came about in response to demand 0:00:47.800 --> 0:00:50.240 from r I s who we're looking for a little 0:00:50.320 --> 0:00:55.080 more helping, a little more assistance in in running their 0:00:55.240 --> 0:00:59.840 their businesses. If you're at all interested in the business 0:01:00.040 --> 0:01:05.040 off of how asset management is changing, the impact of technology, 0:01:05.160 --> 0:01:09.920 the impact of alterations to the fiduciary rule, the general 0:01:10.160 --> 0:01:16.120 trend towards fiduciaries and away from commission based brokers, you're 0:01:16.160 --> 0:01:20.120 going to find this conversation to be absolutely fascinating. With 0:01:20.319 --> 0:01:26.640 no further ado, my conversation with Ron Carson vass Masters 0:01:26.720 --> 0:01:31.080 in Business with Barry Ridholts on Boomberg Radio. My extra 0:01:31.160 --> 0:01:33.800 special guest this week is Ron Carson. He is the 0:01:33.920 --> 0:01:37.960 founder and CEO of the Carson Group, which covers several 0:01:38.080 --> 0:01:42.040 different companies, including Carson Wealth, and we'll discuss the different 0:01:42.080 --> 0:01:46.160 business lines. Ron is also the author of Proven in 0:01:46.240 --> 0:01:50.280 the Trenches and most recently The Sustainable Edge, to best 0:01:50.320 --> 0:01:54.360 sellers on Amazon. The Carson Group manages well over twelve 0:01:54.400 --> 0:01:59.960 billion dollars for about thirty four thousand families. Ron Carson, welcome, 0:02:00.320 --> 0:02:03.240 two Masters in business. Very thanks for having me. It's 0:02:03.240 --> 0:02:06.160 a privilege to be here today. So I'm kind of 0:02:06.280 --> 0:02:09.840 intrigued by your history and your story. This kind of 0:02:09.919 --> 0:02:14.880 a Michael Dell background. You started Carson in a University 0:02:14.919 --> 0:02:18.519 of Nebraska dorm room in three am I exaggerating that 0:02:18.600 --> 0:02:21.840 at all. No. I grew up just north of Omaha 0:02:21.919 --> 0:02:23.280 on a farm. I thought it was going to be 0:02:23.360 --> 0:02:27.000 a farmer my entire life. And those that remember the 0:02:27.080 --> 0:02:31.080 early eighties, you know, interest rates twenty one percent. Farmers 0:02:31.160 --> 0:02:34.040 were going broke. My parents went broke, and uh, I 0:02:34.200 --> 0:02:37.320 was forced to do something else. And I was reading 0:02:37.360 --> 0:02:40.959 a money magazine article talked about the top professions of 0:02:41.040 --> 0:02:45.000 the future, and one was to become a CFP and uh, 0:02:45.120 --> 0:02:46.560 so I thought, you know what, that's what I'll do. 0:02:47.360 --> 0:02:49.679 And I literally ran three years ago is at the 0:02:49.760 --> 0:02:53.480 Napa Valley Wine Auction and there's a pre event cocktail 0:02:53.600 --> 0:02:55.760 party and some ladies said, oh, you're from Nebraska. What 0:02:55.840 --> 0:02:57.600 do you do? And I told her. She was so, 0:02:57.639 --> 0:02:59.160 how did you get into that? And I said, well 0:02:59.240 --> 0:03:03.000 I read this article. Her faith lit up and she goes, 0:03:03.680 --> 0:03:07.400 You're not gonna believe this, but I wrote that article. 0:03:08.160 --> 0:03:10.560 And I'm like, well, then I owe you my career 0:03:12.440 --> 0:03:16.320 that that's amazing. And I go back to you and 0:03:16.400 --> 0:03:20.240 I are similar ages. And when I was in college 0:03:20.280 --> 0:03:22.720 and eight three, I was trying to scrape up beer money. 0:03:22.800 --> 0:03:25.280 I wasn't thinking about, I know, let me launch a 0:03:25.360 --> 0:03:29.000 new business in an area that really nobody else is in. 0:03:29.320 --> 0:03:32.880 You had to be one of the first independent advisors. 0:03:33.000 --> 0:03:36.800 Is that a fair statement? I absolutely was, And in 0:03:36.960 --> 0:03:40.440 those days it wasn't even viewed. I didn't know this. 0:03:40.640 --> 0:03:43.680 I mean I was totally unconscious and competent. I didn't 0:03:43.720 --> 0:03:47.840 know what I didn't know. And so I like the 0:03:47.960 --> 0:03:51.320 idea of being independent and uh but there wasn't a 0:03:51.440 --> 0:03:54.120 lot of places to even go, you know, the Rooker 0:03:54.200 --> 0:03:57.760 dealer community was super small, didn't have a lot of technology, 0:03:58.160 --> 0:04:01.200 sold a lot of product. But that's how I got started, 0:04:01.480 --> 0:04:04.600 and you know, to this day it was. It was 0:04:04.680 --> 0:04:07.400 a great, great growing up experience. I feel like I 0:04:07.520 --> 0:04:10.600 grew up, you know with the the advisory world. I 0:04:10.720 --> 0:04:15.240 remember in you know, eleven short years after starting, I 0:04:15.320 --> 0:04:18.120 was so excited when you know, I realized I could 0:04:18.120 --> 0:04:21.480 become an r I A and uh and truly be 0:04:21.640 --> 0:04:25.120 a true fiduciary for for clients and and and as 0:04:25.160 --> 0:04:28.880 you well know, our space has changed dramatically, you know, 0:04:29.120 --> 0:04:31.800 several times over the last thirty years, to say the 0:04:31.960 --> 0:04:36.159 very least. So so what was it surrounded by farms 0:04:36.240 --> 0:04:41.520 going broke with interest rates that made you say, I know, 0:04:41.640 --> 0:04:45.719 I'm going to focus on financial planning. So initially someone 0:04:45.880 --> 0:04:47.800 told me if I went down to the brown got 0:04:47.880 --> 0:04:51.920 to play football, and I, uh, my first part of 0:04:51.960 --> 0:04:55.440 the season, I ended up becoming injured. I was, you know, 0:04:55.640 --> 0:04:59.800 reread shirted. And but I came from a family where 0:05:00.120 --> 0:05:02.920 you know, my parents were struggling. I'd have any money, 0:05:03.600 --> 0:05:06.240 and someone said, you can sell life insurance and make money, 0:05:06.279 --> 0:05:09.000 and I thought, well, I've always had a knack for 0:05:09.120 --> 0:05:12.320 selling things. Even as a kid, I went to auction school, 0:05:12.400 --> 0:05:14.279 so I told people and let me do an auction 0:05:14.440 --> 0:05:16.600 for their junk. And you know, I had a little 0:05:16.640 --> 0:05:19.080 popcorn business. I had a lot of little businesses. So 0:05:19.080 --> 0:05:22.920 I always had this entrepreneurial um spirit. And for six 0:05:23.040 --> 0:05:25.320 months I just called out, called out of a phone 0:05:25.360 --> 0:05:27.920 book and amical Life had just come out with Life 0:05:27.960 --> 0:05:30.040 insurance in those days, the fighting to come out with 0:05:30.080 --> 0:05:33.599 the Universal Life, and I didn't like trying to talk 0:05:33.680 --> 0:05:36.240 someone into buying insurance whether they needed it or not. 0:05:37.080 --> 0:05:39.480 And shortly after that, I thought I want to get 0:05:39.520 --> 0:05:44.800 my securities license. And I was fascinated by the stock 0:05:44.920 --> 0:05:48.120 market and and you know, the capital markets and how 0:05:48.200 --> 0:05:50.680 they functioned, and it just, you know, I feel like 0:05:50.839 --> 0:05:53.520 I have hardly worked a day in my life. The 0:05:53.640 --> 0:05:56.320 first few years were tough. There's a couple of times 0:05:56.360 --> 0:05:58.640 I thought I hated, I was going to quit the business. 0:05:58.720 --> 0:06:01.720 But once I got some i'll call it, you know, 0:06:01.800 --> 0:06:05.560 epiphany around just you know, taking care of people and 0:06:05.720 --> 0:06:09.040 really putting people's interests first. Not only did the profession 0:06:09.160 --> 0:06:12.440 become a lot more fun, but I grew incredibly fast 0:06:13.120 --> 0:06:15.520 and and I've always stayed in this in this line 0:06:15.520 --> 0:06:19.200 of work. And I've always, um, I've always been a 0:06:19.279 --> 0:06:22.200 non traditionalist. I've always thought of different ways of doing 0:06:22.320 --> 0:06:25.440 things and until it allowed me to not only be 0:06:25.520 --> 0:06:27.560 in a in a business that I enjoyed, but it 0:06:27.640 --> 0:06:31.160 gave me a lot of, you know, creative space in 0:06:31.320 --> 0:06:34.120 order to try, you know, to try different things. I 0:06:34.279 --> 0:06:37.560 love that phrase that you hardly you've never worked the 0:06:37.640 --> 0:06:40.200 day in your life. My wife used to tell people 0:06:40.279 --> 0:06:44.720 I'm gainfully unemployed, which I guess is sort of the 0:06:44.800 --> 0:06:49.440 same spirit. So so, since you started back in eighty three, 0:06:49.560 --> 0:06:52.880 you're coming up on forty years soon. Do you recall 0:06:53.040 --> 0:06:55.760 who was your first client? Do you remember the first 0:06:55.800 --> 0:06:58.960 person who said, Ron, you seem like a trustworthy guy. 0:06:59.480 --> 0:07:01.200 Here's all the money I have in the world, try 0:07:01.279 --> 0:07:04.080 not to screw it up. I do. UM. I I 0:07:05.520 --> 0:07:10.200 still they owned UM. They owned a drug store in 0:07:10.280 --> 0:07:13.960 the middle of um, Nebraska. It was a small, small town, 0:07:14.840 --> 0:07:19.360 and I remember them writing me a check and uh 0:07:19.920 --> 0:07:22.480 and I and I pulled. I pulled out a town. 0:07:22.520 --> 0:07:24.480 Of course, there was only gravel roads in and out 0:07:24.520 --> 0:07:27.840 of this small town, and I remember pulling my car over. 0:07:28.440 --> 0:07:31.080 I got out and I ran around it like six times, 0:07:31.160 --> 0:07:32.800 jumping up and down. You would have thought I won 0:07:32.880 --> 0:07:39.080 the powerball lottery. And those uh, the the they he 0:07:39.720 --> 0:07:43.800 passed on shortly after they became clients, maybe a couple 0:07:43.840 --> 0:07:46.680 of years, and then she was a client until probably 0:07:46.680 --> 0:07:50.360 about five six, seven years ago. And then their children 0:07:50.400 --> 0:07:53.520 are clients to today. And but that was that was 0:07:53.600 --> 0:07:56.440 the very very first one. You'll never forget the first one. Yeah, 0:07:57.320 --> 0:08:00.400 that's a great story. Let's talk a little bit about 0:08:00.600 --> 0:08:04.120 this division of the Carson Group. Tell us what is 0:08:04.200 --> 0:08:07.160 Carson Wealth and how does it fit into the bigger 0:08:07.920 --> 0:08:11.640 umbrella organization which seems to have a number of moving parts. 0:08:12.040 --> 0:08:15.559 So we have Carson Group and then Carson Wealth. Berry 0:08:16.320 --> 0:08:19.280 is the very very first, you know, part of Carson Group. 0:08:19.320 --> 0:08:23.320 It's our retail offering. So we're on a registered investment advisor. 0:08:23.920 --> 0:08:27.120 We manage you know, close to thirteen billion in assets 0:08:27.280 --> 0:08:30.440 for you know, several thousand families around the United States. 0:08:31.200 --> 0:08:34.199 And our mission is to be the most trusted for 0:08:34.320 --> 0:08:36.959 financial advice. And if I'm driving down the road and 0:08:37.000 --> 0:08:39.439 I don't know anything about our profession, I'm listening to this, 0:08:39.640 --> 0:08:42.360 I'm like, well, doesn't everybody you want to do that? 0:08:42.679 --> 0:08:45.640 And I would say, maybe, you know, how many. I 0:08:45.679 --> 0:08:48.160 don't know how many people consciously think of it, but 0:08:48.320 --> 0:08:51.959 we're in a profession unfortunately that that you know, in 0:08:52.040 --> 0:08:55.640 financial services is a huge category berry, but sixty of 0:08:55.640 --> 0:09:00.400 Americans do not believe that their advisor or the institution 0:09:00.480 --> 0:09:03.079 they represent, we're going to put their interests ahead of 0:09:03.160 --> 0:09:06.400 their own. And that's really the mission of what we're 0:09:06.400 --> 0:09:09.199 trying to do. Nobody owns the space, and it's so 0:09:09.440 --> 0:09:14.680 fragmented to this day. There's two thousand financial advisors. There's 0:09:14.800 --> 0:09:17.120 roughly a half a million in the mid nineties. Of 0:09:17.200 --> 0:09:20.880 the two today, nearly a hundred eleven thousand are going 0:09:20.920 --> 0:09:24.000 to retire. UM we call them rich and tired. Most 0:09:24.040 --> 0:09:25.839 of them made a lot of money and they just 0:09:26.040 --> 0:09:29.360 don't want to keep up all the technological change. And 0:09:29.520 --> 0:09:33.240 we see that as a real opportunity to UM grow 0:09:33.360 --> 0:09:35.920 market share, but do it the right way. You know, 0:09:36.080 --> 0:09:38.720 we've we have quite a few offices around the country. 0:09:39.040 --> 0:09:41.800 We have you know, are proven process We have very 0:09:41.840 --> 0:09:45.679 specific ways of of delivering you know, the value proposition. 0:09:45.840 --> 0:09:49.040 But you know, ultimately, you know, I feel that we 0:09:49.160 --> 0:09:52.640 have a real shot at owning or co owning that 0:09:52.880 --> 0:09:55.000 in the future. You know, when you think about Vanguard 0:09:55.120 --> 0:09:58.080 owns and as far as a brand low cost investing 0:09:58.160 --> 0:10:02.120 fidelity owns. You know the retirement plan market, um, but 0:10:02.480 --> 0:10:06.520 no one really owns the trusted wealth management market. Quite interesting. 0:10:06.880 --> 0:10:09.959 You alluded to something that I want to circle back 0:10:10.040 --> 0:10:12.880 with you because you went by it so quickly. Six 0:10:13.840 --> 0:10:18.439 of the public do not believe that their financial institution 0:10:18.679 --> 0:10:24.720 has their best interest, Yes, and barried to this day, 0:10:25.280 --> 0:10:27.920 most people do not know. So I travel around the 0:10:28.000 --> 0:10:33.240 country pre COVID. I probably give sixty seventy talks a year, 0:10:33.920 --> 0:10:37.240 and many of those to retail clients of ours. And 0:10:37.280 --> 0:10:39.120 I always ask the question, who in here can tell 0:10:39.160 --> 0:10:41.599 me the difference between a produciary and a broker, and 0:10:41.800 --> 0:10:44.880 anywhere from zero to one, hand will go up. I 0:10:44.920 --> 0:10:48.760 mean I was speaking at a CEO institution last year. 0:10:48.880 --> 0:10:52.120 There was sixty CEOs from all over the world. Not 0:10:52.400 --> 0:10:55.240 one of them knew the difference between a puduciary and 0:10:55.320 --> 0:10:58.880 a broker. And and to this day of broker is 0:10:58.960 --> 0:11:02.920 not required to put at your interest first. It's only suitability, 0:11:03.240 --> 0:11:05.199 that's it. I mean, if they disclose it in a 0:11:05.720 --> 0:11:08.360 you know, one thousand page perspectives and it says they 0:11:08.400 --> 0:11:10.680 can do it, and they can charge it. It makes 0:11:10.720 --> 0:11:14.240 it quote unquote legal, and and we have a son 0:11:14.320 --> 0:11:16.560 of Carson. Just because it's legal doesn't mean it's right. 0:11:17.200 --> 0:11:21.440 And I think we still have a massive gap between 0:11:21.920 --> 0:11:25.800 understanding produciery versus brokers. And I will open those talks 0:11:25.800 --> 0:11:27.640 to say, listen, if you get this one thing right, 0:11:28.120 --> 0:11:30.559 do you understand a true producer versus a broker? And 0:11:30.640 --> 0:11:33.160 you pass it on to someone you love and they 0:11:33.280 --> 0:11:35.800 get it, You've given a true gift that will give 0:11:35.840 --> 0:11:37.920 for the rest of their life. Now here's one of 0:11:38.000 --> 0:11:41.560 the really interesting things about the R I A industry. 0:11:42.240 --> 0:11:45.360 Over the past twenty years, a lot of who we 0:11:45.520 --> 0:11:48.920 think of as big brokers you b asked Mary Lynch, 0:11:49.040 --> 0:11:53.640 Morgan Stanley, a big portion of their employees have moved 0:11:53.720 --> 0:11:56.839 either to be hybrid broker r i A S or 0:11:57.040 --> 0:12:02.800 just registered investment advisors. Are days, is the fiduciary side 0:12:02.840 --> 0:12:06.439 of the street is the fe only no conflict of 0:12:06.600 --> 0:12:12.560 interest versus the brokerage sales commissioned side. Is this side winning? 0:12:12.640 --> 0:12:14.800 Do you see that as the trend that's taking place? 0:12:15.320 --> 0:12:19.000 I do. I mean the trend is accelerating. Marry, And 0:12:19.120 --> 0:12:21.079 let me just say something because I think this is 0:12:21.120 --> 0:12:23.480 a fact that gets lost on a lot of people 0:12:23.880 --> 0:12:27.480 is everybody has a conflict of interest, right, you can't 0:12:27.559 --> 0:12:29.679 help it. I'll use an example. Let's say you've got 0:12:29.760 --> 0:12:32.360 it um an R I A who has a hundred 0:12:32.400 --> 0:12:37.000 million dollars under management and his largest client has fifty 0:12:37.080 --> 0:12:41.040 million dollars with them, And his largest client comes and says, hey, 0:12:41.120 --> 0:12:44.559 I'm thinking about taking fifty million dollars out and buying 0:12:44.640 --> 0:12:48.880 this business. That advisor has a conflict because he realizes 0:12:48.920 --> 0:12:51.199 if he loses that client's asset, he may not be 0:12:51.240 --> 0:12:53.959 able to stay in business. But we all know that 0:12:54.440 --> 0:12:57.680 the conflict is are you gonna do? Remember what I said? 0:12:57.800 --> 0:13:00.920 I said put the client's interests that of their own interests. 0:13:00.920 --> 0:13:04.360 So this adviser to say, listen, yes, let's do that 0:13:04.880 --> 0:13:07.680 and give them the best advice, even at the demise 0:13:07.840 --> 0:13:11.959 of his own company. Is it's a conflict, but it's 0:13:11.960 --> 0:13:15.160 at least a conflict that the client I think consciously 0:13:15.240 --> 0:13:17.199 knows are going in. Am I going to get the 0:13:17.280 --> 0:13:20.240 best advice because this could hurt his business? And there's 0:13:20.360 --> 0:13:25.720 also conflict very unfortunately even on the fiduciary side, more 0:13:26.200 --> 0:13:28.920 so that are more nuanced, like cash you know before 0:13:28.920 --> 0:13:32.559 when we're back, we had yield. There are some fiduciaries that, 0:13:32.760 --> 0:13:35.839 in order to they would not take the time or 0:13:35.920 --> 0:13:39.600 effort to sweep a client into the highest yielding cash 0:13:39.880 --> 0:13:42.040 and let it set somewhere where they weren't earning a 0:13:42.120 --> 0:13:45.840 lot of cash. That's a conflict, especially if you've got 0:13:45.920 --> 0:13:49.040 a custodian. It's going to charge you or the client 0:13:49.559 --> 0:13:52.559 some additional fee if they're not making the return on 0:13:52.679 --> 0:13:55.360 the account. I still think our profession has quite a 0:13:55.440 --> 0:13:58.760 ways to go. The fiduciary is the future. But I 0:13:58.840 --> 0:14:01.520 think even as fiduciary areage, we can get better at 0:14:01.559 --> 0:14:04.480 putting the client's interest first and being more transparent. I 0:14:04.600 --> 0:14:08.800 love that story of the sweep and some time ago, um, 0:14:08.960 --> 0:14:11.040 I know you must have a ton of war stories. 0:14:11.240 --> 0:14:14.679 I do. Also, we figured out, you know, very often 0:14:14.760 --> 0:14:17.079 you run with a little bit of cash an account 0:14:17.679 --> 0:14:20.120 in case a client asked for a disbursement or something, 0:14:20.560 --> 0:14:23.440 whether it's forty or fifty or sixty basis points, it's 0:14:23.480 --> 0:14:28.680 something relatively small, and very often when the market is 0:14:28.720 --> 0:14:32.320 going higher, it's a slight drag on performance. And we 0:14:32.520 --> 0:14:35.960 figured out a long time ago it was much better 0:14:36.200 --> 0:14:39.600 to sweep the cash into one of the higher yielding 0:14:39.680 --> 0:14:43.440 money market accounts. We figured out, we did the math, 0:14:43.560 --> 0:14:46.120 we analyze that, We sat and played with it and said, 0:14:46.680 --> 0:14:49.960 net net, this creates a few hundred thousand dollars of 0:14:50.120 --> 0:14:54.200 positive gains across all our clients. But we're relatively small 0:14:54.760 --> 0:14:59.800 shop like yours. Sweeping cash into a higher yielding money 0:15:00.000 --> 0:15:02.640 I could account. Have you ever sat and figured out 0:15:02.720 --> 0:15:09.520 the math on how much additional gains that generates for clients? Yeah? 0:15:09.640 --> 0:15:12.360 Last year alone, we estimated, you know, it was in 0:15:12.440 --> 0:15:15.480 the high single digit, you know, seventy eight million dollars, 0:15:16.200 --> 0:15:19.240 you know, directly to our clients because we we we 0:15:19.360 --> 0:15:21.640 did the sweep and very How crazy is I think 0:15:21.680 --> 0:15:24.920 about banks? They'll pick on banks for a second. Most clients, 0:15:24.960 --> 0:15:26.600 if you go do you love your bank? Go? Yeah, 0:15:26.640 --> 0:15:28.600 I love my bank. What are you getting on your 0:15:28.680 --> 0:15:30.880 cash and your savings? And most of them are getting 0:15:31.120 --> 0:15:35.160 almost zero yet to think can turn around and get 0:15:35.400 --> 0:15:38.120 you know, let's sake nineteen of the Fed funds rate. 0:15:38.480 --> 0:15:40.400 I said, can you imagine if they were crediting you 0:15:40.680 --> 0:15:42.160 that and at the end of the year they said, hey, 0:15:42.240 --> 0:15:45.640 we want our fee to be what you made. You know, 0:15:45.760 --> 0:15:48.200 clients if they were writing that check back would go crazy. 0:15:48.240 --> 0:15:51.640 But because they never see it, it's a huge hidden 0:15:52.040 --> 0:15:56.520 drag on their performance that they really don't consciously think about. 0:15:56.640 --> 0:15:58.360 And that's one of the things we want our clients 0:15:58.440 --> 0:16:00.640 to think of, every single penny of they're paying, how 0:16:00.680 --> 0:16:03.440 they're paying it. And and we you know, and I 0:16:03.560 --> 0:16:06.600 know we're big planners. You know, people will make an 0:16:06.680 --> 0:16:09.040 investment in their future, but no one wants to pay 0:16:09.240 --> 0:16:13.680 something and not see value beyond a doubt for the 0:16:13.800 --> 0:16:16.040 investment we're asking them to make. And I think cash 0:16:16.160 --> 0:16:18.680 is a great example of that. You know. I want 0:16:18.720 --> 0:16:21.800 to follow up with what you're saying with the issue 0:16:21.840 --> 0:16:24.440 of free trading, and let me point out neither of 0:16:24.560 --> 0:16:27.080 us have a horse in this race. If trading is 0:16:27.160 --> 0:16:30.400 eight dollars, or of trading is free, it's essentially the 0:16:30.520 --> 0:16:33.120 same thing as far as I'm concerned with the average 0:16:33.160 --> 0:16:37.320 portfolio size. However, when you look below the surface of 0:16:37.400 --> 0:16:41.520 all the companies offering free trading, that cost of carry, 0:16:41.680 --> 0:16:46.440 that return on cash is where they make all their money. 0:16:46.480 --> 0:16:49.400 And it turns out free trading, when you look at 0:16:49.400 --> 0:16:53.120 the numbers, is pretty expensive. Bury and then you've got 0:16:53.360 --> 0:16:57.680 order flow payment and invisible tax that you know, consumers 0:16:57.760 --> 0:17:00.680 don't see. Like I said, there's a lot I think 0:17:00.760 --> 0:17:03.840 we can still do as a profession to become even 0:17:03.920 --> 0:17:06.520 more consumer friendly, you know, than we are today. I 0:17:06.560 --> 0:17:09.040 don't disagree at all. Let's talk a little bit about 0:17:09.320 --> 0:17:14.000 your coaching business. What is Carson Coaching? So Barry and 0:17:14.359 --> 0:17:17.480 and I guessaid. I started a retail in nineteen eighty 0:17:17.560 --> 0:17:20.879 three and nineteen ninety three I was giving a talk 0:17:21.520 --> 0:17:24.879 in Boston at the organization at the time called the 0:17:25.000 --> 0:17:28.040 i a f P. I don't remember that, International Association 0:17:28.080 --> 0:17:31.359 of Financial Planners. And I was talking about the different 0:17:31.400 --> 0:17:33.880 things I was doing in my business, and two gentlemen 0:17:33.960 --> 0:17:37.040 came up and said, hey, we do coach us. And 0:17:37.440 --> 0:17:41.199 I said sure, And that's how my coaching business started. 0:17:41.320 --> 0:17:45.879 In in n I launched Carson Coaching UM. I had 0:17:45.920 --> 0:17:50.040 seven people come out to Omaha, Nebraska and I, you know, 0:17:50.200 --> 0:17:52.600 and we've and we've had quite a following over the years. 0:17:52.680 --> 0:17:58.000 I mean, we have around twelve hundred offices today that 0:17:58.160 --> 0:18:02.560 we provide UM consulting services and coaching services to. We 0:18:02.680 --> 0:18:05.240 have tens of thousands of alumni. People that coming in 0:18:05.359 --> 0:18:06.960 out of there will be in our program for a 0:18:07.119 --> 0:18:09.800 year or two, come back out, come back in again. 0:18:10.320 --> 0:18:12.920 And a lot of a lot of independent advisors are 0:18:13.440 --> 0:18:16.600 they feel like they're isolated islands out there, and they 0:18:16.720 --> 0:18:19.639 really want to have community. They want to have best practices, 0:18:19.760 --> 0:18:22.680 They want to have places that they can bounce ideas 0:18:22.760 --> 0:18:25.639 off of. You know, today we have I think we 0:18:25.800 --> 0:18:30.760 have eleven executive business coaches, just specialized in a variety 0:18:30.840 --> 0:18:34.720 of different areas and uh and and I have learned 0:18:34.800 --> 0:18:38.920 a ton from having our coaching organization. Always like to say, 0:18:38.960 --> 0:18:41.439 you know, we're better together. None of us is as 0:18:41.480 --> 0:18:45.520 smart individually as we are collectively. And just this group 0:18:45.600 --> 0:18:48.120 has pushed me to get better. I've learned so much 0:18:48.240 --> 0:18:51.280 from them. But it's really a cool community that's all 0:18:51.359 --> 0:18:56.359 committed to continuous improvement. Quite interesting. When I was kicking 0:18:56.440 --> 0:19:00.960 around your website, I came across a page of Carson 0:19:01.040 --> 0:19:05.959 Group Partners. Are those folks affiliated with Carson Coaching? Are 0:19:06.000 --> 0:19:08.720 they affiliated with Carson Wealth? And by the way, that 0:19:08.920 --> 0:19:12.800 page was just scrolling scrollings. It's hundreds of people along. 0:19:13.080 --> 0:19:17.399 So coaching is different than partners. So we have our sert, 0:19:17.480 --> 0:19:20.720 so we have our retail, we have our coaching, and 0:19:20.840 --> 0:19:24.359 then we have Carson Group Partners and what I learned 0:19:24.440 --> 0:19:26.600 through the coaching business, Barry and you, I think you 0:19:26.720 --> 0:19:29.159 appreciate this as many years you've been around being a 0:19:29.240 --> 0:19:33.000 mentor to people, either directly or indirectly. Is that old 0:19:33.040 --> 0:19:34.639 thing you can lead a horse to water, but you 0:19:34.720 --> 0:19:37.479 can't make them drink. Is you can give them all 0:19:37.520 --> 0:19:41.240 the ideas but very few people. I used to get 0:19:41.560 --> 0:19:43.520 questions all the time, like Ron, how can you give 0:19:43.600 --> 0:19:45.879 everybody your secrets? I said, well, first of all, I 0:19:45.960 --> 0:19:48.640 want a profession to be better, and I believe it's 0:19:48.760 --> 0:19:51.840 us against the evil empire out there, the conflicted model. 0:19:52.119 --> 0:19:54.359 But number two, most of them won't do anything with it, 0:19:54.640 --> 0:19:58.000 and it's not a real competitive threat. And that's why 0:19:58.160 --> 0:20:01.200 Partners was launched in twelve. Is a lot of these 0:20:01.440 --> 0:20:04.280 clients of ours that say, can't you do it for us? 0:20:04.320 --> 0:20:08.000 So then we evolved into a model today where we 0:20:08.080 --> 0:20:10.800 are a succession Solutions. So a lot of these firms 0:20:10.840 --> 0:20:13.800 have become Carson. We bottom, or we own a minority 0:20:13.960 --> 0:20:17.159 or we own a majority. We are very flexible, but 0:20:17.320 --> 0:20:19.920 we do their technology, we do their trading, we do 0:20:20.040 --> 0:20:23.399 their compliance, do their marketing, We do everything, with the 0:20:23.480 --> 0:20:26.160 exception of actually sitting down and meeting with the client. 0:20:26.240 --> 0:20:29.399 We have CPS, we have attorneys on our team. We 0:20:29.520 --> 0:20:33.440 have a trust department, I mean, we have insurance department 0:20:33.520 --> 0:20:37.040 where we can provide all of that in one single 0:20:37.160 --> 0:20:40.280 pain of think of an Amazon experience. And most of 0:20:40.359 --> 0:20:44.159 the smaller independent advisors can't begin. They're so stuck in 0:20:44.240 --> 0:20:47.399 the whirlwind of trying to run their business day to 0:20:47.520 --> 0:20:51.800 day they can't really emerge and then think creatively and proactively. 0:20:51.880 --> 0:20:54.960 And that's really what Carson Partners does for them, and 0:20:55.080 --> 0:20:58.040 we do it together. It's bottoms up innovation. They come 0:20:58.119 --> 0:21:00.760 up with some amazing things that that's what we implement 0:21:00.840 --> 0:21:03.480 into the model. But we also I date top down 0:21:03.480 --> 0:21:05.080 because there's a lot of none of us knew the 0:21:05.119 --> 0:21:07.600 iPhone was possible until Steve Jobs came up with it. 0:21:07.760 --> 0:21:09.520 Right now, we all love it, can't imagine a world 0:21:09.560 --> 0:21:12.560 without it. So we've also ideated stuff that they're going, wow, 0:21:12.640 --> 0:21:15.160 I didn't even know this was possible, and it's it's 0:21:15.200 --> 0:21:18.520 been really an exciting partnership with our partners around the country. 0:21:18.880 --> 0:21:21.800 So this is a TAMP. This is a full turnkeysset 0:21:21.840 --> 0:21:25.440 management program. Is that right? It is correct? Yes, and 0:21:26.440 --> 0:21:29.320 a Camp, Mary, it's it's everything else. I mean literally, 0:21:29.440 --> 0:21:33.280 we will right there RFP, we will present to an endowment, 0:21:33.320 --> 0:21:36.520 our foundation. It's not like, oh, they have access. Our 0:21:36.600 --> 0:21:39.320 team in Omaha is their team. And if you go 0:21:39.440 --> 0:21:42.440 to our partner's website you'll see that. You know, a 0:21:42.520 --> 0:21:44.840 lot of them are branded Carson. Some of them continue 0:21:44.880 --> 0:21:47.159 to go under their own brand, but it's you know, 0:21:47.160 --> 0:21:50.040 a lot. I think of its Tampa providing just asset management. 0:21:50.359 --> 0:21:54.280 That's one of ten services we provide to our partner offices. 0:21:54.560 --> 0:21:58.399 Quite intriguing, how many different offices are you working with 0:21:58.800 --> 0:22:02.280 with Carson Partners, Because it looked like, right now I 0:22:02.520 --> 0:22:05.920 have a hundred and thirty five offices. Yeah. Did you 0:22:06.000 --> 0:22:11.560 ever expect coaching and partnership to develop into two completely 0:22:11.720 --> 0:22:17.359 different businesses from financial planning? Obviously related, but totally different 0:22:18.359 --> 0:22:22.120 aspects of the business, Verry, No, And I never expected 0:22:22.840 --> 0:22:26.240 the success I've had. I mean, I've throwned myself with 0:22:26.520 --> 0:22:29.800 really great people and it's really their success that has 0:22:29.840 --> 0:22:32.760 allowed this to happen. And No, I never dreamt in 0:22:32.800 --> 0:22:35.440 a million years that you know, we would be doing 0:22:35.640 --> 0:22:39.080 what we're doing. And and because of that, you know, 0:22:39.560 --> 0:22:43.360 and group is really focused on impact, you know, local impact, 0:22:43.480 --> 0:22:48.399 community impact, national impact, global impact, and we spend you know, 0:22:48.640 --> 0:22:51.919 considerable amount or I said they spend. We make big investments. 0:22:52.400 --> 0:22:54.680 You know, my wife and I make big investments into 0:22:54.720 --> 0:22:57.880 our communities, and so does Carson. And and I can't 0:22:57.960 --> 0:23:00.480 say I can't talk about our success without talking about 0:23:00.480 --> 0:23:04.480 what I feel are are Our personal obligation is is 0:23:04.560 --> 0:23:07.960