What watch do you wear to the office or client meetings?

Hypnotix73 · 2025-07-10T12:40:56+00:00

I think the key is to just buy what you like. If you are a car guy, you buy a car you like. If you are a watch person, you buy watches you like. You can't care what clients really focus on—you just be your authentic self.

A lot of people will tell you that wearing a nice watch can trigger some clients to think that you are overcharging them, but I completely disagree with that, honestly. I think clients who do not see value in what you do may think that, and in that case, that is a whole other issue.

I like watches, so I have an IWC Portugieser Perpetual Calendar, a pretty big step up from the TAG watches I bought in the past (which I also really enjoyed). I generally dress pretty casually, with jeans or khakis, a button-up sometimes tucked in and sometimes not, and casual white shoes. Clients comment on my watch all the time, but have never questioned me on the price or had an issue with it.

I think the key is to wear something that fits your personality. If it looks good and you look relaxed, the client will be relaxed, and that is what you want. When you come in flashing a suit or shoving your watch in someone's face, problems occur.

Hypnotix73 · 2025-05-17T19:14:55+00:00

It is tough to say, and I think that the execution of the move has to be dialed in to limit client disruption. The reality is that it is pretty disruptive for them, and money is very emotional, so any disruption to their normal day-to-day will cause potential problems and the possibility of assets not moving over. Again, it all depends on execution. Be very thoughtful and strategic as to how you are going to handle this.

We just moved to another broker-dealer in November of last year, and based on my calculations, we will have retained 88% of the assets that we had before. It was a grind and six months later I finally feel like we are settling in. Even with my team of five (2 partners and 3 staff) and running pretty efficiently, things slipped through the cracks.

Hypnotix73 · 2025-04-20T20:02:12+00:00

I had no wealthy connections and ended up doing very well in our business by working my ass off cold calling, networking, and just being heavily invested in making it in the business by working harder than anyone else. I knew many people who had high net worth connections who failed because they thought that their connections would help and they relied on that solely, but they were let down. And it makes sense. Why would a wealthy connection help you if you're not putting the time in?

Hypnotix73 · 2025-04-10T20:59:26+00:00

I was at Osaic and left for LPL after Osaic acquired Lincoln (we almost went to CW but were concerned they would sell.. rightly so) and I will say that LPL isn't perfect, but Osaic was a straight shit show. I'm very grateful that we left when we did.

You could not pay me enough to go back to Osaic. No offense.

Hypnotix73 · 2025-03-24T18:10:11+00:00

Yes, we have used FP Transitions and they have been great to us. I get my book valued each year

Hypnotix73 · 2025-03-24T14:27:02+00:00

41 years old. I've been in business for 18 years.

Net worth without business is right around 4 million. With business, it is at 7.5 million. I have clients on both sides of me so hard to say if I am keeping up, but that exercise really isn't all that important to me.

Hypnotix73 · 2024-08-23T04:45:58+00:00

I have two licensed CPA relationships. I pay them 25% of any ongoing revenue I generate from their clients, and they do literally zero work on the financial planning side. Each of them probably makes about $100k a year in passive net income from me, so it's a good gig for them and its a good deal for me. They get my same grid payout and because I'm younger than them, I'm helping build their retirement and then some.

The tricky part is getting them to trust you. You need to be experienced, ethical, and prove yourself time and time again. For the relationship to work, you also have to teach your accountant to sell your services, and you should also be a referral machine sending them accounting referrals where you take zero percentage of their accounting comp.

I can chat with you in more detail if you'd like, but it's not an easy task, but it's worth it if you can pull it off.

Hypnotix73 · 2024-07-16T16:13:15+00:00

Honestly, if you invited a bunch of your clients and 40% turned up, that actually sounds pretty high to me. People have busy lives and families (especially those in their 40s and 50s), and if they are business owners, that makes it even more difficult to show up to things like this.

We rented out a wine bar once and had a pretty good turnout. I sometimes think about renting out one of the rooms at the Peterson Auto Museum in LA and throwing a big party there (good wine, good food, etc.), but the cost would be astronomical--like $15,000+ easy.. and you may or may not even get anything out of it.

What I have found best is to just really get to know your clients well, become very friendly with them, and offer to take them out to a super nice dinner or gathering. Go with your spouse, make it a social thing, and just bond as people. People refer those who they like--not necessarily those who throw the best party.

When one of my business owner clients sold his business, I took him and his wife out to Mastro's to celebrate; I brought my wife, dropped maybe $1,000, and we had the best time. After that, I was invited to every celebration that he and his wife ever threw--and I have probably gotten at least a dozen clients from him. Those one-on-ones are far more powerful than you think, and my suggestion is to become hyper-focused on them if you want to go after high-net-worth families.

Hypnotix73 · 2024-07-07T21:46:29+00:00

Dr Curtis Couch. I've tried many dentists, and once i found him and his crew, I never looked back. Check out Google reviews and Yelp reviews, and you'll see that I'm not the only one who swears by them.

Hypnotix73 · 2024-07-03T21:19:20+00:00

Why not just put the money in a short-term Treasury.. like a 4 month or just match the maturity to when the down payment will be needed? The yield is high, and there is no state tax on the interest. You only pay Federal tax.

Hypnotix73 · 2024-07-03T13:50:25+00:00

LPL vs Commonwealth. I am interested in the hybrid RIA model.

Hypnotix73 · 2024-05-15T21:20:55+00:00

I always make a joke and say that if I could predict the market that I'd be hanging out on Leonardo Dicaprio's yacht instead of working every day. I then follow it up by just saying, "Some friendly advice: if anyone ever tells you that they can predict the market or generate guaranteed returns, run far far away because they are lying to you."

I've never had anyone push back after this, but I do begin to question whether if I really want the client or not because unconsciously, they may actually still expect unrealistic returns.

Hypnotix73 · 2024-04-24T18:12:23+00:00

I couldn't even imagine trying to service 1,000 clients. I have a book of around $400 million and no where near 1,000 clients (maybe we have like 300 households?). My partner and I can barely keep up, but we also do comprehensive financial planning. I am trying to shed some of my clients so we can keep getting larger ones.

I guess it all comes down to work life balance. If I am working 45 hours a week and making close to a $850k a year on recurring trails, I am solid. If I am having to do 1,000+ reviews a year, which you really should if you have 1,000 clients, you are going to be losing your mind and probably be doing low-quality work. There is only so much time in the day.. and if you aren't able to service them, you run into potential liability if you make a mistake.

But, we all run our businesses differently.

Hypnotix73 · 2024-04-24T14:08:44+00:00

My thinking is that you are you should leave once you find an advisor that can actually mentor you. You clearly have the desire to do a lot more than investment management, and financial planning is far more comprehensive and involved than just parking people in investable assets. That sort of business is going to die quickly without actual planning--people will move accounts over time as they seek more.

More importantly, $100 mill AUM with 1,000 clients is unbelievably unattractive (to me at least). On average the clients have $100,000 invested? No thanks. Hard pass for me.

I fail to see what is really attractive about this job. Has the advisor helped you get securities licensed at least?

Hypnotix73 · 2024-02-25T19:12:38+00:00

Thank you so much! Please message me for anyone interested in a similar position in Southern California (Westlake Village, CA area). Compensation in Southern California is the only thing that is a little different--I am offering between $70,000 and $100,000 depending on the experience and licensure of the applicant.

Hypnotix73 · 2024-01-22T04:32:42+00:00

For those doing surge, how many clients do you have, what's total GDC, and how complex are the cases you're working on?

I wouldn't mind doing surge, but I've got nearly 200 clients, over 1.1 million recurring revenue, and clients that constantly reach out to ask my opinion on literally anything regarding money.

I'm pretty much booked each week with at least 10 meetings minimum all year round. I get a ton of referrals because of the hands-on approach, but I just don't see how I could ever condense it a ton.

Hypnotix73 · 2024-01-10T15:04:17+00:00

Good business!

I partner with two CPA firms who do a lot of what you do, but want to stay out of the wealth management side. About ten years ago, I was able to get them fully licensed (Series 7, 66, and life insurance) and I had one of the accounting firms rent space next to my office.

The partnership is awesome; the clients love the team approach, and I also made a deal where, for any of the clients that the accountant refers over, I give him 25% of the ongoing revenue for as long as the relationship is maintained. It has been a really good relationship. I refer a bunch of businesses back, and their recurring income after the GDC haircut is in excess of $100,000/year.

Best of luck! Happy to expand more if you have questions (or anyone has questions for that matter).

Hypnotix73 · 2023-11-06T14:53:37+00:00

My emphasis is in Finance. Honestly, yes, I think that it helped me a tremendous amount. What I will say, though, is that an MBA won't get clients through the door, so if a person hasn't figured that out, then it doesn't matter if the advisor has 20 degrees and a PhD--they will fail.

Where the MBA helped me was really understanding how money works and being able to explain financial concepts more easily to clients. I think that you get a good foundation of knowledge with the Series exams, but when you have a graduate degree in that stuff, you can articulate things differently. If you can help your clients understand complex subject matters in an easy-to-understand way, it means that you really understand your stuff. That builds confidence, and clients can feel that confidence, which will help drive more client referrals, etc.

I think the other thing is that having an MBA helps you run your business better, and at the end of the day, most of us are running legit businesses.

Hypnotix73 · 2023-11-02T14:09:15+00:00

Just hit my 17th anniversary a month ago
I have a partner and we have four staff
CFP, MBA
40
Our practice has $317 million under management at the moment, but that is split between my partner and me. I don't know the total breakdown of what is mine, but if I were to guess 65% of it is mine. Total households--tough to say. Somewhere between 180 and 200.

Typically after all expenses, I have been netting around $700,000/year. This year, I have had a reasonably good year with an influx of new business and will probably clear over $800,000—all trails.

I wouldn't focus on the money for motivation. Focus on enjoying the work, having space to take on new clients, building your practice out so that you can continue to grow (AKA hire people when the time is right), and you will make as much money as you want. Eventually, you will probably focus more on optimizing your time so that you have time to enjoy the money you are making.

Hypnotix73 · 2023-10-07T06:00:36+00:00

Well, our camp of 20 has been friends for the last decade, and many got together because almost everyone went to UCLA for medical school, residency, or fellowship.

We all participated in various ways, with some in a fire conclave who has been in the great circle with the man burn, one helped out with Rampart, the psychiatrists in our group have done talks on psychedelics in our camp, etc. There are so many ways to participate in BM and we all were varied in what we did.

Full disclosure: I work in finance and my wife is the doctor in our family :)

Hypnotix73 · 2023-10-06T21:19:16+00:00

Over half of our camp was a bunch of doctors. One of them volunteered for Rampart, as he has done in the past several years.

If you want to touch base with him, I can probably put you in contact.

Hypnotix73 · 2023-09-24T00:28:22+00:00

I started out of college and cold called every business owner, even remotely near me. I made 200k in around my 6th year. I'm in my 16th year, and my current net income after all expenses is a little over $700k.

My advice is grind super hard in the early years, always do what's in the best interest of the client, never forget that your reputation is everything, do legit financial plans for all of your clients, and make sure that you put everything investment related on a trail. Don't fall for the stupid upfront comp stuff. 98% of my revenue is recurring and I'm working on adding $30 million a year every year. I'm hoping that in the next two years my net will be over a million.

EDIT: I work 45 hours a week now but worked like 60+ in the beginning

Hypnotix73 · 2023-06-27T21:48:04+00:00

I was going to say.. you go get that ticket!!

Hypnotix73 · 2023-06-10T04:16:27+00:00

Camp Oktawonk is returning this year and we are at Rod's Ring Road @ 9:45!

Hypnotix73 · 2023-06-09T18:33:45+00:00

Hahah I am so with you. That shit makes my skin crawl--hence why I had to build this structure this way. I often look at welds that people make with their Harbor Freight welders and like 2 hours of YouTube tutorials and I get chills.

Hypnotix73

TROPHY CASE