WEBVTT - Day Two at Commonwealth Financial Network’s 2019 National Conference 0:00:00.560 --> 0:00:03.080 This is Bloomberg Business Week. I'm Carol Masser and I'm 0:00:03.160 --> 0:00:05.640 Jason Kelly. We're here every day bringing you the latest 0:00:05.640 --> 0:00:09.920 news from the world's of business and finance, plus technology, politics, economics, 0:00:10.000 --> 0:00:13.600 all harnessing the power of Bloomberg Business Week reporters and editors, 0:00:13.640 --> 0:00:16.880 not to mention our hundred journalists analysts more than a 0:00:16.960 --> 0:00:19.640 hundred and twenty countries. You can download Bloomberg Business Week 0:00:19.680 --> 0:00:22.600 on iTunes, SoundCloud, or Bloomberg dot Com. You can also 0:00:22.600 --> 0:00:25.040 listen to our radio show weekdays at two pm Eastern 0:00:25.120 --> 0:00:27.600 only on Bloomberg Radio. One of the major themes that 0:00:27.640 --> 0:00:30.000 has been coming up on the first day of coverage 0:00:30.000 --> 0:00:33.960 from the Commonwealth Financial Networks National Conference is the idea 0:00:33.960 --> 0:00:37.200 of looking at financial and retirement planning those golden years 0:00:37.200 --> 0:00:39.880 in a holistic and mindful way. Johnny young Worth is 0:00:39.920 --> 0:00:43.720 Managing Principal of Practice Management at Commonwealth Financial Network developed 0:00:43.720 --> 0:00:46.920 and now runs Commonwealth's Mindful Retirement programs. I love the 0:00:47.000 --> 0:00:51.080 name of it. She's with us on site here in Colorado. UM. 0:00:51.159 --> 0:00:52.840 You know what, I was curious if you went back 0:00:52.880 --> 0:00:54.600 five or ten years and you went to like the 0:00:54.640 --> 0:00:59.480 heads of financial advisory firms and retirement planning firms and said, hey, listen, 0:00:59.480 --> 0:01:02.320 I want to do a mindful retirement program. They'd be like, wait, 0:01:02.440 --> 0:01:05.200 what are you talking about. Absolutely, to tell us a 0:01:05.240 --> 0:01:07.119 little bit about how we've involved in terms of how 0:01:07.120 --> 0:01:10.200 we think about retirement. Well, you know, before it used 0:01:10.200 --> 0:01:14.840 to be all about money, and I'm the lottery perhaps well, 0:01:14.959 --> 0:01:19.000 or just your savings and getting into a position where 0:01:19.000 --> 0:01:23.240 you're ready financially for retirement. But about ten years ago, 0:01:23.520 --> 0:01:26.520 maybe seven years ago, I had an advisor colony said Joanie, 0:01:27.000 --> 0:01:29.319 I see all these clients and I've worked with them 0:01:29.360 --> 0:01:34.119 a decade of two and they're all ready for retirement. Financially. 0:01:34.280 --> 0:01:38.040 We've gotten there, They've got enough money. Then I watched 0:01:38.080 --> 0:01:42.600 them retire and they're not always happy. They've got all 0:01:42.600 --> 0:01:46.160 the money, they're all set financially, but they're not ready 0:01:46.200 --> 0:01:51.560 for retirement emotionally, they're not ready in terms of living 0:01:51.680 --> 0:01:54.600 fully in that last stage of life. And that last 0:01:54.640 --> 0:01:57.840 stage of life is so much longer than it used 0:01:57.840 --> 0:02:01.840 to be even ten years ago. So um, he said, 0:02:01.880 --> 0:02:03.920 what what do you have to help me? At the time, 0:02:03.960 --> 0:02:06.920 I had not a But since then it put us 0:02:06.920 --> 0:02:10.320 on a stage and a platform for building things that 0:02:10.400 --> 0:02:13.280 our advisors can use, and so what does the that 0:02:13.320 --> 0:02:16.160 look like? What are you arming them with? Then as 0:02:16.200 --> 0:02:18.680 you go into these workshops and whatnot? What what are 0:02:18.680 --> 0:02:22.240 you doing with folks? It depends. There's many things. In 0:02:22.280 --> 0:02:25.000 about twenty minutes, I have a presentation I'm giving and 0:02:25.040 --> 0:02:29.160 it's questions advisors need to think about in terms of 0:02:29.200 --> 0:02:33.640 their interaction with clients about retirement, including what do you 0:02:33.800 --> 0:02:38.560 call it? You know, the R word sets us a 0:02:38.560 --> 0:02:40.840 little bit on the wrong path. I love some of 0:02:40.840 --> 0:02:43.000 the work that M I T has done, the M 0:02:43.040 --> 0:02:46.480 I T. H Lab, and they talk about the last 0:02:46.560 --> 0:02:51.519 eight thousand days of life as being the phase of exploration. 0:02:51.680 --> 0:02:54.880 So you know, we have eight thousand days of learning 0:02:54.880 --> 0:02:58.200 and eight thousand days of growing, and eight thousand days 0:02:58.200 --> 0:03:02.639 of maturing and eight thousand days of and one might 0:03:02.800 --> 0:03:08.160 used to say retired, but no, no, it's exploration. And 0:03:08.200 --> 0:03:12.600 I love that because I think it puts us on 0:03:12.639 --> 0:03:14.880 the hook. You know, we don't just sit back there 0:03:14.919 --> 0:03:19.160 and say I'm gonna retire now and do it the 0:03:19.160 --> 0:03:21.520 way our parents did it or our grandparents. They we 0:03:21.560 --> 0:03:26.720 had this much time, we've got that's okay. We're just 0:03:26.960 --> 0:03:29.120 sometimes sometimes the headphones fall off it's happened to me. 0:03:29.160 --> 0:03:31.200 Sometimes we all get excited and you get excited. But 0:03:31.280 --> 0:03:32.760 you know, I think that is such a good point. 0:03:32.840 --> 0:03:35.000 So many things are different from how our parents, certainly 0:03:35.000 --> 0:03:38.880 how our grandparents did it. Um So what's the conversation 0:03:38.920 --> 0:03:41.520 you sit down with somebody and said, Okay, financially, you 0:03:41.520 --> 0:03:44.080 guys are set. Emotionally, how do you walk them through them? 0:03:44.080 --> 0:03:45.520 What are the questions? What are the things that they 0:03:45.600 --> 0:03:48.600 need to think about so that they're emotionally prepared for retirement? Well, 0:03:48.640 --> 0:03:51.360 I think there's you know, we can go to many 0:03:51.400 --> 0:03:55.560 gurus in this area, but there are buckets of things 0:03:55.640 --> 0:03:58.720 you look at. What is the whole concept of working 0:03:58.880 --> 0:04:02.640 in retirement? So people used to think retirement meant you 0:04:02.760 --> 0:04:07.160 stop working. But but if we talk about this being 0:04:07.200 --> 0:04:12.440 the expiation face, working is part of it. I think 0:04:12.520 --> 0:04:16.560 the Department of Labor says that forty four per cent 0:04:16.800 --> 0:04:21.120 of people will continue to work past sixty five in 0:04:21.200 --> 0:04:24.400 the next ten years or so. So more and more 0:04:24.520 --> 0:04:27.680 and more of us are working way past six. I 0:04:27.720 --> 0:04:29.600 see it with But I'm from a large family and 0:04:29.640 --> 0:04:32.159 have older siblings and they are going into retirement, but 0:04:32.279 --> 0:04:35.039 they are working and not looking to you know they're 0:04:35.040 --> 0:04:37.960 financially said, but they're thinking about, Okay, maybe I'll now 0:04:38.000 --> 0:04:39.920 run my own little business or something like. They're thinking 0:04:39.960 --> 0:04:42.640 about kind of a soul second life. And it's really 0:04:42.680 --> 0:04:45.599 fascinating to see how that's working. Yeah, in a second 0:04:45.680 --> 0:04:48.560 life where you grow and develop and you have an 0:04:48.600 --> 0:04:52.039 explosion of learning. And I think about this for myself 0:04:52.080 --> 0:04:55.520 because I'm that age and I've loved my career, But 0:04:56.680 --> 0:05:00.080 where do I get one of those next explosions of 0:05:00.279 --> 0:05:04.039 learning and growth in my next decade and beyond. But 0:05:04.040 --> 0:05:05.920 I also think about how it impacts the labor force 0:05:05.960 --> 0:05:07.599 on a day where we're talking about the job market 0:05:07.640 --> 0:05:10.080 when you do have older individuals right there, not just 0:05:10.120 --> 0:05:12.640 going off to the golf course or what have you, UM, 0:05:12.880 --> 0:05:15.400 but they're staying in the workforce and whether that can 0:05:15.400 --> 0:05:18.040 be a positive or just how you know it affects 0:05:18.080 --> 0:05:20.000 it well. It also leads to this question of how 0:05:20.040 --> 0:05:21.880 many people are doing that by choice and how many 0:05:21.880 --> 0:05:25.640 people are doing it they have to well, a ton 0:05:25.720 --> 0:05:28.440 are doing it because they have to uh for sure 0:05:29.760 --> 0:05:33.200 that a group of folks are not necessarily the group 0:05:33.320 --> 0:05:38.240 that are financial advisors are working with working with UM. 0:05:38.440 --> 0:05:42.360 And I think it raises a whole. Another social issue 0:05:42.440 --> 0:05:46.400 for our country is that we have so many people 0:05:46.640 --> 0:05:50.640 that are unprepared here in this community, though you know, 0:05:50.680 --> 0:05:54.480 we're talking about really a different set of people who 0:05:54.800 --> 0:06:01.279 who are prepared financially and are looking for more. They're 0:06:01.320 --> 0:06:05.760 looking beyond golf, beyond knitting, beyond bingo, beyond all that 0:06:06.080 --> 0:06:08.520 stuff that used to be enough. And there's nothing wrong 0:06:08.560 --> 0:06:14.400 with any of that, No, there isn't. And so as 0:06:14.480 --> 0:06:16.479 you talk to people, what are some things that have 0:06:16.600 --> 0:06:18.720 surprised you in terms of what they choose to do? 0:06:18.800 --> 0:06:21.720 Because if you're talking about a financially stable group of 0:06:21.760 --> 0:06:23.840 people the world's they're oyster in a lot of ways. 0:06:23.839 --> 0:06:26.400 They're very healthy, they're taking good care of themselves. So 0:06:26.440 --> 0:06:30.160 they have both the physical ability and the fiscal ability 0:06:30.800 --> 0:06:32.559 to then make these choices. So what are they choosing 0:06:32.600 --> 0:06:34.960 to do? Oh, it's it's all over the place. But 0:06:35.000 --> 0:06:36.680 I'll give you an example. I was doing one of 0:06:36.720 --> 0:06:40.680 these mindful retirement workshops for one of our advisor's clients 0:06:40.680 --> 0:06:45.520 and there were maybe people in the room. Um, and 0:06:45.560 --> 0:06:48.360 we had gone through things like work in retirement and 0:06:48.480 --> 0:06:51.880 health and wellness, and we've gone through family relations and 0:06:51.960 --> 0:06:55.600 leisure and social and personal devomenting. And we got to 0:06:55.600 --> 0:06:57.960 this point. I remember this man, he was an E. 0:06:58.080 --> 0:07:00.840 N T. He was sixty two year result and we're 0:07:00.880 --> 0:07:05.040 talking about working in retirement. And I asked the question, 0:07:06.360 --> 0:07:08.320 what did you want to be when you were in 0:07:08.400 --> 0:07:15.320 high school? And I saw this transformation as he was 0:07:15.400 --> 0:07:18.320 sitting there in the audience, and he said, you know, 0:07:18.760 --> 0:07:23.720 I always wanted to do theater, and I let all 0:07:23.800 --> 0:07:28.400 that go because as a physician, no time even to 0:07:28.440 --> 0:07:31.720 go to theater, much less to participate in. He said, 0:07:32.760 --> 0:07:36.880 I can start a theater of my own, I can 0:07:37.040 --> 0:07:42.480 be the theater director, I can put on local performances. 0:07:43.640 --> 0:07:47.120 And that was a really fun example. And all all 0:07:47.160 --> 0:07:50.480 it was was that question, well what did you want 0:07:50.680 --> 0:07:57.760 to be? And he just exploded into I forgot about this. 0:07:57.760 --> 0:08:01.000 This is a huge opportunity. So you find your ways 0:08:01.080 --> 0:08:07.440 of helping people envision something other than what they've done 0:08:07.480 --> 0:08:12.000 for the past fifty years. Well, in technology and travel 0:08:12.040 --> 0:08:14.400 and all of that I would imagine just really opens 0:08:14.480 --> 0:08:17.280 up the world even more for everyone. Yeah, travel is 0:08:17.320 --> 0:08:20.280 really an interesting one because it's one of the number 0:08:20.280 --> 0:08:23.080 one things people say they're going to do in retirement. 0:08:23.480 --> 0:08:26.160 And when you look at the data. They don't do it. 0:08:26.200 --> 0:08:28.160 They don't do it as much. They don't do it 0:08:28.200 --> 0:08:32.600 as much. But but as for projectable reasons, it can 0:08:32.640 --> 0:08:36.040 be for money or it can be for health. Sorry, 0:08:36.040 --> 0:08:38.280 I'm gonna leave it on that note. Really interesting. Love 0:08:38.320 --> 0:08:41.840 your energy, Joanie young Worth. She's managing Principle of Practice 0:08:41.880 --> 0:08:45.640 Management at Commonwealth Financial Network on site here at Commonwealth 0:08:45.640 --> 0:08:55.200 Financial Networks National Conference. Yes we are. We're all talking 0:08:55.240 --> 0:08:57.800 about the labor market today, and of course we are 0:08:57.920 --> 0:09:00.440 talking about the weekend, so we are that too. We 0:09:00.440 --> 0:09:02.960 got to talk about today's at jobs report. Lindsay Piegsa 0:09:03.559 --> 0:09:07.359 certainly a known guest friend of the show. Chief economist 0:09:07.679 --> 0:09:11.320 Stephile Financial on the phone from Chicago. Lindsay, it was 0:09:11.400 --> 0:09:14.679 interesting to watch as everybody weighed in on the jobs 0:09:14.720 --> 0:09:17.520 report this morning, because I feel like some are all right, 0:09:17.640 --> 0:09:20.760 another sign of economic slowdown in the US. Others were like, yeah, 0:09:20.800 --> 0:09:23.839 not so bad. Um, how do you see it? Oh? 0:09:23.880 --> 0:09:26.120 I think it was pretty disappointing. It fell short of 0:09:26.160 --> 0:09:30.160 even the lower bar of expectations and reaching a four 0:09:30.200 --> 0:09:33.000 month low, pulling that three month average now closer to 0:09:33.160 --> 0:09:36.520 just a hundred and fifty thousand and the most disappointing 0:09:36.559 --> 0:09:40.280 component that I saw was efforts hourly earning flat in September, 0:09:40.679 --> 0:09:43.840 pulling that annual growth right now below three for the 0:09:43.880 --> 0:09:48.040 first time since mid So I do think there's a 0:09:48.160 --> 0:09:51.120 number of red flags here that suggests the labor market 0:09:51.160 --> 0:09:54.400 is slowing, and I think coupled with the very disappointing 0:09:54.400 --> 0:09:57.440 I s M manufacturing and non manufacturing numbers we saw 0:09:57.440 --> 0:10:00.000 earlier this week, this really puts a lot of press. 0:10:00.000 --> 0:10:02.400 You're on the FED to take action at the upcoming 0:10:02.400 --> 0:10:05.559 October at l MC meeting. And so, given what you 0:10:05.679 --> 0:10:10.760 just said and your analysis I think is shared by many, lindsay, 0:10:11.240 --> 0:10:14.560 then you look at the stock market today and investors 0:10:14.600 --> 0:10:16.520 seem to be saying, no, it's cool, we're good. We're 0:10:16.520 --> 0:10:18.679 going to drive all the major industries up more than 0:10:18.720 --> 0:10:21.800 one percent at this point in the trade. So why 0:10:21.880 --> 0:10:25.240 that reaction do you think? Well, I think that because 0:10:25.280 --> 0:10:28.440 there was because there wasn't just one data point that 0:10:28.480 --> 0:10:30.439 was weak. There wasn't just two, there was three. So 0:10:30.559 --> 0:10:33.360 the market is saying, now there's enough evidence that the 0:10:33.400 --> 0:10:36.480 FED is going to be four. So it's almost as 0:10:36.480 --> 0:10:40.120 if the initial I s M number, the market was 0:10:40.280 --> 0:10:42.360 very negative about that reaction because they didn't know if 0:10:42.360 --> 0:10:45.000 it was enough to really tip the hand for the 0:10:45.040 --> 0:10:47.200 FED to step in and give us an additional twenty 0:10:47.240 --> 0:10:49.880 five basis points. Then we saw the service sector of 0:10:49.880 --> 0:10:52.600 the market said well, maybe this is enough. Then we 0:10:52.640 --> 0:10:56.079 saw a moderate jobs number, and the investors seemed convinced 0:10:56.320 --> 0:10:58.400 that the FED will be forced to provide that third 0:10:58.440 --> 0:11:02.920 round raid cut in October. The unemployment out of the badness. Yeah. Well, 0:11:02.960 --> 0:11:05.200 the unemployment rate, though, did dip, right, So three point 0:11:05.240 --> 0:11:07.680 five three point seven percent was the survey that we 0:11:07.720 --> 0:11:11.200 had here at Bloomberg. Unemployment rate also, which we closely 0:11:11.240 --> 0:11:14.480 watch UM, came in lower than the month before. How 0:11:14.520 --> 0:11:16.520 do you read that? Is that a positive or is 0:11:16.520 --> 0:11:19.880 it people just kind of giving up? Well, I think 0:11:19.920 --> 0:11:22.040 it's both. On the one hand, we have seen the 0:11:22.080 --> 0:11:25.280 unemployment rate stubbornly low, not only within what the FED 0:11:25.360 --> 0:11:28.800 considers the full employment range, but breaking through that lower bound, 0:11:28.840 --> 0:11:31.120 and we've been there for quite some time. So I 0:11:31.120 --> 0:11:33.599 don't know if the unemployment rate is really capturing the 0:11:33.720 --> 0:11:36.440 level of joblessness out in the market, because when we 0:11:36.480 --> 0:11:39.199 look at the millions of Americans that are still sitting 0:11:39.679 --> 0:11:43.200 on the periphery of the labor market not participating. That's 0:11:43.320 --> 0:11:47.199 a lingering structural disconnect that I don't know that it's 0:11:47.240 --> 0:11:50.400 being accurately captured in these calculations. In fact, if we 0:11:50.480 --> 0:11:53.800 add it back in all those discouraged workers, all those 0:11:53.840 --> 0:11:57.800 marginally attached workers, all of those workers struggling with temporary, 0:11:57.920 --> 0:12:01.600 low wage part time labor, I think at the unemployment 0:12:01.679 --> 0:12:04.920 rate jumps closer to seven. So that sinks a much 0:12:05.040 --> 0:12:08.600 different picture than this record thow of three point five percent. 0:12:09.640 --> 0:12:11.600 And so you know, you did a nice job laying 0:12:11.640 --> 0:12:14.920 out all the data that investors and clearly the FED 0:12:15.000 --> 0:12:18.319 have been looking at. Anything else on the horizon that 0:12:18.360 --> 0:12:22.160 could either cement this decision as as you as it 0:12:22.200 --> 0:12:24.080 sounds like you're saying the FED is getting closer to 0:12:24.600 --> 0:12:27.720 or could introduce some doubt for the market. Anything else 0:12:27.760 --> 0:12:30.760 you're looking at, well, I think the consumer is the 0:12:30.760 --> 0:12:33.120 big question mark because as we saw in the second quarter, 0:12:33.240 --> 0:12:36.920 the consumer was the sole organic support to growth, and 0:12:36.960 --> 0:12:39.679 if the consumer numbers begin to falter, I think the 0:12:39.800 --> 0:12:41.640 question will not be whether or not we see an 0:12:41.679 --> 0:12:44.719 October rate cut, but how big of an October rate 0:12:44.760 --> 0:12:46.960 cut We could start hearing the market price in a 0:12:46.960 --> 0:12:49.960 fifty based point or even seventy based point cut, depending 0:12:50.240 --> 0:12:52.800 on whether or not we do see pronounced weakness on 0:12:52.840 --> 0:12:56.640 the consumer side. Now we're not necessarily looking for extreme weakness, 0:12:56.640 --> 0:12:59.960 but we do expect to continue to see waning momentum again, 0:13:00.080 --> 0:13:02.760 keeping the FED on track for an October cut, but 0:13:02.960 --> 0:13:05.760 likely more a modest cut around twenty five basis point. 0:13:06.200 --> 0:13:09.120 Is there some though, you know, something positive to be 0:13:09.200 --> 0:13:13.559 made though that the service industry subcategories which are vulnerable 0:13:13.640 --> 0:13:18.000 to weak factory data or factory conditions. Um, they did 0:13:18.080 --> 0:13:20.520 post net hiring gains. I'm looking at some analysis BIA 0:13:20.559 --> 0:13:24.560 Bloomberg Intelligence Team. Is that not a positive? Oh? I 0:13:24.559 --> 0:13:26.959 think there are some pockets of positive. Absolutely, And I 0:13:27.000 --> 0:13:29.439 think it's also tempting to look at that non manufacturing 0:13:29.480 --> 0:13:32.000 number and say, well, it was still above fifty, so 0:13:32.040 --> 0:13:34.840 we're still seeing an expansion in the service sector. But 0:13:34.880 --> 0:13:37.240 we have to be careful because looking at that from 0:13:37.240 --> 0:13:41.599 a nominal perspective, we're actually seeing suddenly that non manufacturing 0:13:41.640 --> 0:13:45.240 activity fell below that that troughs that we've reached in 0:13:45.280 --> 0:13:47.720 two thousands sixteen, But we're now well below the pre 0:13:47.880 --> 0:13:51.080 recessionary levels that we saw on the service sector going 0:13:51.160 --> 0:13:53.960 into the Oh. One recession and going into the oh 0:13:54.040 --> 0:13:58.360 seven crisis. So we are seeing very clear recessionary red 0:13:58.400 --> 0:14:01.600 flags being posted in the service actor even though we're 0:14:01.640 --> 0:14:05.760 still seeing modest growth. All right, Well, we're always happy 0:14:05.840 --> 0:14:09.080 to get your analysis. Lindsay Piegza, chief economists at St. 0:14:09.200 --> 0:14:13.120 Full Financial, joining us on the phone from Chicago, breaking 0:14:13.120 --> 0:14:16.280 down the jobs report, which the market likes because it 0:14:16.360 --> 0:14:18.640 provides maybe a little bit more certainty as to what 0:14:18.679 --> 0:14:21.040 we may see from J. Powe and friends. Right that 0:14:21.080 --> 0:14:31.800 easy monetary environment continues. We are definitely in Colorado Mountains 0:14:31.800 --> 0:14:33.920 all around to the Rocky Mountains practically from where we're 0:14:33.960 --> 0:14:37.720 sitting just right. So coming on Financial Network, they began 0:14:37.760 --> 0:14:41.320 working with independent financial advisors back in nine. So here 0:14:41.360 --> 0:14:43.920 we are, I think forty years right, forty years later, 0:14:44.200 --> 0:14:46.360 A lot has changed and continues to do so in 0:14:46.360 --> 0:14:49.000 the investment arena. Let's get some perspective. Trapped Cleman is 0:14:49.040 --> 0:14:51.840 with us. He's president and chief operating officer at Commonwealth 0:14:51.880 --> 0:14:54.920 Financial Network. Of course on site with us our host. 0:14:55.520 --> 0:14:58.680 He is our host, and you know, we're kind of marveling, 0:14:58.960 --> 0:15:01.440 like go back to kind of when it started and 0:15:01.520 --> 0:15:03.200 kind of where we are today in terms of what 0:15:03.360 --> 0:15:08.520 really consumes, uh, the work of financial advisors. Sure, it's 0:15:08.600 --> 0:15:11.560 it's been a tremendous journey, and having been in the 0:15:11.600 --> 0:15:14.320 industry about fifteen years, I've seen a good chunk of it. 0:15:14.360 --> 0:15:16.840 But it goes back so much farther than that, and 0:15:16.920 --> 0:15:21.240 just some hugely influential visionary people. UM really back in 0:15:21.440 --> 0:15:23.400 uh you know, in our case, nineteen seventy nine, but 0:15:23.440 --> 0:15:26.080 really took off in the late eighties and into the nineties. 0:15:26.520 --> 0:15:31.040 I really had a vision for what financial advice could become. Uh. 0:15:31.080 --> 0:15:36.480 It's much more than just asset allocation, investment selection. UH. 0:15:36.520 --> 0:15:39.280 And to watch the evolution of the industry UH, and 0:15:39.280 --> 0:15:42.520 it's only accelerating right now. As I think what financial 0:15:42.560 --> 0:15:46.280 advisors can do for retailers, investors, it's almost like healthcare 0:15:46.320 --> 0:15:48.800 at this point. You really need a trusted person who 0:15:48.880 --> 0:15:52.040 understands everything about you UM and all the skills that 0:15:52.120 --> 0:15:54.840 come into that. As a financial advisor. UM, it's more 0:15:54.880 --> 0:15:57.880 than just finance and understanding the markets. It's being a psychologist. 0:15:57.880 --> 0:16:01.360 It's being a friend. UM, It's it's being a visionary 0:16:01.440 --> 0:16:05.640 looking forward uh and really helping people on very complex things. Right. 0:16:05.680 --> 0:16:08.320 And that that sort of human element has come through 0:16:08.520 --> 0:16:10.080 you know, sort of loud and clear here, and we're 0:16:10.080 --> 0:16:11.600 sitting sort of in the midst of all of it. 0:16:11.720 --> 0:16:13.000 You can sort of hear a lot of it in 0:16:13.040 --> 0:16:15.600 the background. Is people move from session to session, and 0:16:15.760 --> 0:16:17.640 you know, even as people walk by. I mean, you've 0:16:17.680 --> 0:16:20.480 got a lot of slices of life here represented. It 0:16:20.520 --> 0:16:23.800 feels like different ages. You know, folks, who are you know, 0:16:23.960 --> 0:16:27.160 needing to really connect with people? How do you arm 0:16:27.240 --> 0:16:29.000 people to do that? Because it's one thing to sort 0:16:29.000 --> 0:16:31.560 of teach them how to use the software program and 0:16:31.600 --> 0:16:34.080 input numbers and things like that, but you know those 0:16:34.080 --> 0:16:36.520 sort of dare i say, softer skills of being able 0:16:36.560 --> 0:16:38.920 to connect with human beings? How do you arm them 0:16:38.960 --> 0:16:41.120 to do that? Yeah, it's that in and out of 0:16:41.120 --> 0:16:43.880 itself has changed. It's a great time in terms of 0:16:43.920 --> 0:16:46.160 the tools and resources that we have available to really 0:16:46.200 --> 0:16:48.760 help and connect with people. But the reality is, for 0:16:49.000 --> 0:16:50.720 you know, the majority of the first forty years in 0:16:50.760 --> 0:16:53.920 Commonwealth case is we have about a two and a 0:16:53.920 --> 0:16:57.560 half advisors to one home office staff ratio um, which 0:16:57.600 --> 0:17:00.080 is pretty much the lowest or best however you to 0:17:00.160 --> 0:17:02.640 freeze it in the industry. It was really making those 0:17:02.640 --> 0:17:06.359 personal connections and us understanding the individual advisors in their 0:17:06.440 --> 0:17:09.920 needs instead of giving them a cookie cutter playbook. Uh. 0:17:10.160 --> 0:17:12.879 But we're growing to a size and scale where that's 0:17:13.040 --> 0:17:15.840 you know, becoming more challenging. At the same time, there's 0:17:15.880 --> 0:17:18.440 so much more out there and ways to reach people, 0:17:19.320 --> 0:17:23.760 uh through a learning, training and development and utilizing gamification. 0:17:24.400 --> 0:17:26.960 And so we're investing more in a learning and development 0:17:26.960 --> 0:17:31.159 team and using marketing to help deliver that too. Advisors 0:17:31.160 --> 0:17:35.119 while still frankly maintain that same ratio of employees which 0:17:34.800 --> 0:17:37.720 I trap Cloman, President and Chief operating Officer a Commonwealth 0:17:37.720 --> 0:17:40.679 Financial Network. Trapp, What do you guys, because you you 0:17:40.760 --> 0:17:43.720 have to think ahead to about what your members, your 0:17:44.119 --> 0:17:47.920 the financial advisors that you work with guide what will 0:17:47.960 --> 0:17:49.800 be the trends of the future. So I'm curious, who 0:17:49.800 --> 0:17:52.400 do you look at? Is it Facebook? Is it Google? 0:17:52.520 --> 0:17:54.080 Is it I don't know what are you looking at? 0:17:54.080 --> 0:17:56.960 Maybe it's something else in terms of trying to figure out, okay, 0:17:56.960 --> 0:17:59.760 what these financial advisors have to know about for the 0:17:59.800 --> 0:18:02.600 fewer for their clients. Yeah, I think it's important to 0:18:03.000 --> 0:18:05.800 look around both for inspiration but also um, how to 0:18:05.840 --> 0:18:10.520 differentiate yourself. I think Joe uh, Peter Wheeler and the 0:18:10.560 --> 0:18:12.399 rest of the team that's really led this company for 0:18:12.400 --> 0:18:15.240 the past thirty years have done an unbelievable job of 0:18:15.640 --> 0:18:20.200 uh sticking to what they do best while surveying the environment. 0:18:20.640 --> 0:18:23.560 And I think a great example is on the technology side. 0:18:23.600 --> 0:18:28.480 Technology has been so much applied to help with service, 0:18:28.880 --> 0:18:32.840 but it's really discerned intermediating the customer experience. And so 0:18:32.920 --> 0:18:36.399 technology is being used to drive down cost and uh 0:18:36.560 --> 0:18:41.080 really frustrate people. But as soon as the technology is 0:18:41.119 --> 0:18:44.360 aware that the customer is about to leave or quit altogether, 0:18:44.440 --> 0:18:46.959 walk away from your cable provider, walk away from your 0:18:46.960 --> 0:18:49.399 phone company, all of a sudden, the live person pops 0:18:49.440 --> 0:18:51.719 on and offers you what you've been wanting for the 0:18:51.880 --> 0:18:54.520 past hour on the phone. And I don't want to 0:18:54.520 --> 0:18:57.520 replicate that experience. Uh it might be more cost effective, 0:18:57.840 --> 0:19:01.040 but that's a horrible relationship. And so as we think 0:19:01.040 --> 0:19:03.439 about what we do, I'm really looking around the world 0:19:03.960 --> 0:19:05.639 for firms that are doing a good job with a 0:19:05.760 --> 0:19:08.919 human element, because that's what we need our advisors to 0:19:08.960 --> 0:19:12.600 do with their clients. That's going to differentiate them um, 0:19:12.640 --> 0:19:15.120 and so we want to do the same with our advisors, 0:19:14.960 --> 0:19:18.320 and so gathering like this obviously, you know cool seminars, 0:19:18.320 --> 0:19:20.360 cool speeches, all that, but we all know the most 0:19:20.400 --> 0:19:23.400 fun conversations happened at the bar, over a dinner or whatever, 0:19:23.480 --> 0:19:26.000 you know, as all these people get together. We yeah, 0:19:26.080 --> 0:19:28.000 we had a lot of great conversations last night. What 0:19:28.040 --> 0:19:30.080 are you hearing is you as you sort of work 0:19:30.119 --> 0:19:32.879 your way around and interact with folks, Because there are 0:19:32.920 --> 0:19:34.840 a lot of people we were talking about this before 0:19:34.920 --> 0:19:36.280 we came on a or who know each other and 0:19:36.320 --> 0:19:38.520 they sort of get together every year. What are you 0:19:38.560 --> 0:19:42.360 hearing from people that's striking you as the most interesting? Frankly, 0:19:42.359 --> 0:19:45.960 I'm I'm thrilled and I've loved We came to this 0:19:46.000 --> 0:19:49.359 week and the markets are very volatile right now, especially 0:19:49.400 --> 0:19:52.439 in the financial services space, and when everyone's here on 0:19:52.520 --> 0:19:55.520 site together, you worry a little bit about the distraction 0:19:55.600 --> 0:19:58.040 and you know, people being pulled away from this experience. 0:19:58.080 --> 0:20:00.639 It's a very personal experience. And I think if our 0:20:00.680 --> 0:20:05.880 advisors were focused on solely performance in the market um 0:20:06.000 --> 0:20:09.119 and chasing that return and that's their value proposition to 0:20:09.160 --> 0:20:11.480 their clients, they'd all be running back home or on 0:20:11.520 --> 0:20:14.000 their phone. But they're all here, they're present, they're working 0:20:14.040 --> 0:20:15.840 with each other because I think they've done a fantastic 0:20:15.960 --> 0:20:19.520 job providing such more value and service to their clients 0:20:19.760 --> 0:20:23.000 than just promising the market. And they really educate them. 0:20:23.040 --> 0:20:26.080 So the more educate your client are, um, they're prepared 0:20:26.119 --> 0:20:29.200 for things like this and it doesn't create panic or chaos. 0:20:29.720 --> 0:20:31.919 And so that I think that's been the number one 0:20:31.920 --> 0:20:34.440 thing that's really thrilled me this week. It's really comes 0:20:34.440 --> 0:20:36.560 through well. I think what's also interesting as you hear 0:20:36.600 --> 0:20:40.520 more individuals book who are running their own UM advisory firms, 0:20:40.680 --> 0:20:44.360 you know, bringing in their kids. Thinking about the next generation, 0:20:44.400 --> 0:20:46.440 I mean that's a big thing when we look about 0:20:46.480 --> 0:20:48.760 you know, here we are in job's day. UM. Maybe 0:20:48.760 --> 0:20:50.760 the data came in weaker than expected, but it is 0:20:51.040 --> 0:20:54.840 very tight, and we constantly hear about companies and employers 0:20:54.880 --> 0:20:57.359 having a hard time finding workers. And I do think 0:20:57.560 --> 0:21:01.639 thinking about training that next generation financial advisors, that's a 0:21:01.640 --> 0:21:04.280 big topic. It is, and it gets a lot of 0:21:04.320 --> 0:21:06.240 coverage in the news about the average age of the 0:21:06.280 --> 0:21:10.600 advisors is getting older every year, fifty and where's the 0:21:10.640 --> 0:21:13.479 next generation going to come from? And frankly, I'm not 0:21:13.520 --> 0:21:17.280 that worried, uh, primarily from the viewpoint of our advisors 0:21:17.280 --> 0:21:20.240 are doing a fantastic job of identifying wonderful people and 0:21:20.280 --> 0:21:22.880 oftentimes it is a center daughter uh to bring into 0:21:22.920 --> 0:21:25.400 their practices. What we need to do is help them 0:21:25.840 --> 0:21:28.240 train those people. But the advisors are really finding the 0:21:28.280 --> 0:21:32.200 answers for themselves because they're small business owners, they're entrepreneurs um. 0:21:32.240 --> 0:21:34.040 They have a lot at stake here both in terms 0:21:34.119 --> 0:21:36.840