Intro: Royal Standley of Oregon Pacific Financial Advisors offering securities through United Planner Financial Services, member of FINRA/SIPC, shares his planning approach to help people toward a place where they may be at peace regarding their financial goals. In this dynamic podcast, Royal will share his insights on how to design a retirement plan to help you plan for your future. Now, onto the show
Aric Johnson: Hello and welcome to Life By Design with Royal Standley from Oregon Pacific Financial Advisors. Today we're going to be talking about building your team and I know that Royal has a fantastic team with him. But he's going to share some of the information on how to build a team or how he builds a team for his clients. So good morning, Royal how are you?
Royal: I'm doing great, doing great. How are you, Aric?
Aric: Doing well, doing well. I love the concept of a team. All right I mean that's just we've talked about football before we've talked about all sorts of different sports. And I know that your football team is a little different than your location. We talked a little bit about that which is great. But any team can be a good team as long as they have the right coach, right? I mean I truly believe that somebody who's kind of in charge of putting all the pieces in place. How do you think about teams in general and how do you build them for your clients and for yourself?
Royal: Absolutely. So, I think when we talk about a team for someone, we're really looking at who do you go to for professional advice,
Aric: Mm-hmm.
Royal: When things make maybe outside of your bailiwick? Who do you go to to get those questions answered when it's really specialized professional information that you need or are documents prepared? So, it's really I think an excellent way of really kind of looking at the people in your sphere that you go to for that professional advice.
Aric: Mm-hmm.
Royal: I think everybody of, really, any means needs to start building that team of trusted professionals that they work with on a regular or semi-regular basis. And when I use a term team, because that kind of means that there's some cohesion there and not just a list of names or you know you go to the first listing in your yellow pages. And for younger listeners, the yellow pages, we used to, before the Internet,
Aric: [Laughter]
Royal: Just have a giant book that was delivered to your home,
Aric: Yeah.
Royal: With a list of all the professionals from plumbers to electricians to financial planners to attorneys that you'd go through to find out who you could call for a given issue. Just like we do on the Internet. We put it into Google, Google spits us back a list of things. So we want to kind of create that team around people really to make sure that when they look at their financial life, when they look at the needs that they have that they're being taken care of. Some of it you can do on your own but oftentimes it saves you a lot of time and a lot of heartache to just go out there and hire people to join your team.
Aric: Yeah and it's so interesting that you brought up the difference between the Yellow Pages and Google. Because in the Yellow Pages everything was alphabetical order, right? And people could buy advertisements, sure. But they were still listed in alphabetical order where Google when you're searching for somebody you're going to get the person who's paid the most in a lot of cases to make sure their search engine optimization is better than the next guy and they're going to be on top in, in, in a Google search. But that doesn't necessarily mean they're the best. So you spoke a little bit about why it's important to start building that team but how do you go through the weeds of finding the right members of that team?
Royal: Well I think the first part is talk to your family, friends, people you respect,
Aric: Mm-hmm.
Royal: To begin seeing, hey is there somebody that you use then you have a good relationship, a rapport with that you trust? And I think that's the most important aspect of as you’re looking to add members to your team is who do you trust? Who can you build a relationship with? Who can you have rapport with?
Aric: Mm-hmm.
Royal: I think those are just so essential there because when we look at let's say financial planners, CPAs, estate planning attorneys, they'll have a similar background there where they're bringing the same set of skills as another CPA might bring to the table for the most part.
Aric: Mm-hmm.
Royal: But really I think it's who do you connect with so you might have the most knowledgeable CPA with more experience than everyone else, but if you don't have that rapport or if they don't get back to you when you have a question or an e-mail that can create a real issue there.
Aric: Yeah Absolutely.
Royal: So you want to find that that that basic rapport with people and that trust. And that's kind of the critical piece right there at the top of the list.
Aric: Okay let's take a step back row because you brought up a really good point. You named a few people that could be on your team. And if I'm going into this kind of blind to right? I know that a financial advisor is somebody I should be talking to because eventually I want to retire and I want to invest my money in a way that's going to be smart. I know that I'm going to need somebody to help me do my taxes especially, maybe if I'm a small business owner or I have some complications in there with just my finances in general. But beyond that I don't exactly know who should be on my team. So how do you help people figure that out? Who do they need on their team?
Royal: Well oftentimes in the role that I sit and where we're building financial plans for people is I get to evaluate what that team looks like. So oftentimes, I, as a financial planner, can help a client build out their team and sometimes they might already have those people in their sphere but just don't realize that they're part of that team. So, for instance, I might have someone come in and they've been doing their taxes for a while but maybe things have gotten to the point where it's just getting a little too much for them. Maybe some new tax law changes like we saw this last year. Maybe rentals or business activity. That is just, is just something that they don't want to take the time to learn themselves or make any errors on which when it comes to your taxes you want them just about as accurate as it can be.
Aric: Yeah, that's definitely something you don't want to get wrong.
[Laughter]
Royal: That's for sure.
Aric: Yeah.
Royal: So in my mind when I'm looking at that this is kind of the list that I look at as a financial planner is who's doing your taxes? Who's doing your estate planning documents - your wills, your trusts? And then another one that I think gets overlooked quite often, and really can add a lot of value and protection, is who is doing your insurance?
Aric: Hmmmm. Yeah!
Royal: Who does your car insurance, your home insurance, etc., because there's a lot of things that can just get overlooked there. But really, you know, if you have a tragedy like a car accident or a house burns down. You know I'm thinking about what happened in Paradise, California, this last year.
Aric: Hmm. Yeah.
Royal: You know, having that relationship with your insurer. Making sure that your insurances are the right coverages as well as making sure that you're not overpaying for that insurance is really essential. So oftentimes when I prepare a financial plan, a lot of cases I will send them back to their personal lines of insurance when I say personal lines I mean property and casualty, you know car or home,
Aric: Mm-hmm.
Royal: To go back and look at those coverages just make sure that they have the right amounts. A lot of people don't have a liability umbrella policy,
Aric: Mm-hmm.
Royal: And that's something I might want to have them go back and talk to their personal insurance broker about.
Aric: Yeah.
Royal: Because it is filling in those needs, there. Now other people, especially if they own businesses or real estate, they may have other attorneys besides an estate planning attorney on their team already.
Aric: Mm-hmm.
Royal: And then kind of rounding this out especially if you're looking at buying or selling a home, you're going to want to have a good relationship with a real estate agent and a mortgage broker.
Aric: Oh yeah.
Royal: And I personally think mortgage brokers - people think of them as oh I need to go get a mortgage to buy a house. Well I’ll just wait until I'm ready to buy. I personally think that you can talk with a mortgage broker anywhere from six months to a year before you're looking to buy. Because they can get access to your credit report and do an analysis, they can really look for ways of improving your credit report. Maybe paying off debt, you know, maybe closing an account here or there, and give you enough time to really clear those things out. I've seen it personally. I talk to friends who go in there and their mortgage broker says well if we could have done this, we could have saved you on your interest rate.
Aric: Yeah.
Royal: So having a mortgage broker you can go to and you have that relationship with, I think is a real boon, especially if you're in the market in the mid-term for buying a piece of property.
Aric: Yeah. And Royal you brought up something that I think really struck something in me. The difference between a financial advisor and a financial planner. And they’re terms that are interchanged a lot, but the way I kind of pictured it is when I was younger, I got a hold of a financial advisor, right. And they said okay, max out your 401(k). Your company is going to match and if you can afford it let's go ahead and start an IRA or a Roth IRA and that'll be an extra additional thing that you can do towards your retirement. And that was about all we covered, uh and I think as we mature as our life's get a bit more complicated, I think that's where the financial planner comes in. And correct me if I'm wrong but looking at all the moving parts and all the pieces that you're putting together, uh I don't think a lot of financial advisors would think about a mortgage broker as being a good team member or needing to be part of a team. I think that's what the financial planner role is kind of like your general doctor, if you will, where your general doctor is looking at all your health issues and all your needs and says okay I can tell you right now your feet are looking good you're standing up which is a positive thing. But there may be an issue here and I would suggest that you go see this podiatrist, right? Somebody who specializes in this specific area. That's the analogy that I kind of draw is that somewhat what you're looking at as far as how you help to build that team and what your role is?
Royal: Correct. Correct. You know that general person who has maybe some knowledge about all the different areas and has the expertise in their area,
Aric: Mm-hmm.
Royal: But can refer to those specialties. You know you can think of, I think of a financial planner quite often as the quarterback.
Aric: Yes.
Royal: Basically saying where should your focus be for this issue that's coming up and kind of driving that then because in most cases we as human beings are pretty terrible at taking proactive action. We need a little poking and prodding every once in a while and say hey maybe you should get this checked out.
Aric: Yep, yeah.
Royal: Sometimes we just get used to just burying our heads in the sand and that's not always the best way of conducting our financial life.
Aric: And using the analogy that you set your example thinking about the coach on a team.
Royal: Mm-hmm.
Aric: If you think of any major athlete that has had any success whatsoever, whether it's in professional sports or the Olympics or anywhere they all have something in common. That's a coach and sometimes the coach does push, right? I mean some times you see him on the sidelines just getting in their face going OK this is what we've got to do next. This is, this is imperative this is you know something we need to focus on just to get them to say oh okay yeah actually that's a really good idea.
[Laughter]
Aric: I should probably focus on this item right now and sometimes we just need that kick in the butt. I mean quite honestly so I think that's a great analogy. It's a great example. So let me ask you this. Beyond that, as the coach how do you pull in those team members and get them to work together? Because I could see maybe an accountant that has worked with a family for a number of number of years. All of a sudden being contacted by a financial planner and saying hey we're going to work together for the best interests of the Joneses and we'd love to get you involved in that and help kind of share some information back and forth so we can all do what's in their best interest. How do you do that?
Royal: That's a great question. When we're kind of coming together for that first time usually there's an issue that we're trying to resolve. So what I'll do is very politely begin engaging with that CPA or that attorney, define the problem or define the issue that we're looking to resolve for the client. Maybe throw out some things that I've thought about and then let them go and do what they do best,
Aric: Yeah.
Royal: Which in the case of a CPA, you know tax preparation, tax planning,
Aric: Mm-hmm.
Royal: And then come back we'll have a discussion usually with the client right there and be able to kind of present and come up with that solution where the clients heard both from the financial planner and the CPA and the attorney, if necessary to come up with that. So, I’ll give you a couple of examples of this. I had a client last year with some very large capital gains. They sold a piece of property and we were just trying to do some tax planning around that. So, getting together with the CPA, we were able to do the initial tax planning and saying hey if you did nothing here's what your tax liability would look like. And then I was able to kind of come back and, and come with a few different ideas to say okay if you did this this yes this is what would change. This is what would have to happen and we were able to kind of come to a resolution there of what made the best sense for the client. Now the CPA I had a couple of side conversations just to kind of line out what those strategies would be and how they would affect the client. But ultimately the client was able to walk away with a sense of peace,
Aric: Mm-hmm.
Royal: Of hey I'm doing what's probably the best thing available to me to, in this instance, lower my tax liability. And we see the same thing with estate planning attorneys. This is a fun one because as a financial planner you can ask a lot of personal questions and really get a sense of who someone is. So, for instance, having that conversation about you know what you want to have happen with your wealth when you're no longer here.
Aric: Mm-hmm.
Royal: And you know sometimes it's very straightforward. Other times it gets a lot more complicated, especially as I think families get a lot more complicated. So that's a great way of interfacing with the estate planning attorneys saying hey this is what I see. These are some of the options that we may have available. What are your thoughts. How best can we accomplish this for the client. So there's a lot of fun to be had there in that collaboration. And I think, I think most professionals enjoy that collaboration of solving problems. You know I don't think we got into these businesses just to put numbers into spreadsheets. I think we got into these things to solve problems.
Aric: Yeah and bottom line to help people. And if that's their driving focus then I mean I think that anybody would be happy to be able to say yeah absolutely. Let's let's work on this together. And the nice thing is the Joneses know that the team is working on it. And they don't have to necessarily be there for every step of the way. They provide the information. You guys, you know, you guys strategize and look at what the best options are and then present that. Come back to the Jones and say hey this is what we've been thinking this is what we've worked out as a team. We think these are some of the best options. What are your thoughts? And then you know the Joneses have that all mapped out for them to be able to make that right decision based on the information that you guys have worked on and put together as a team.
Royal: Absolutely. Absolutely. So, by doing that we really create I think the best outcome for the client.
Aric: Mm-hmm.
Royal: And that's really one of the beautiful benefits of working with the team. Now with a team especially one where we have a preexisting relationship, umm, there's a lot of value there because we have estate planning attorneys that we talk to quite often. Same with CPAs. These are ones where we have created a relationship with, where we're comfortable referring our clients to.
Aric: Mm-hmm.
Royal: And so by having that relationship, in that back and forth, we can easily pick up the phone and just ask these questions if something comes up. Even in a client appointment just dial the phone and say hey we're talking about this.
Aric: Yeah!
Royal: What do you think? Let's get your input here and that sort of relationship and that sort of teamwork is really what we're trying to get to when we talk about building a team for your financial life.
Aric: Yeah I think that's the beauty of it is you can just have that quick conversation and like you said you've made friends and acquaintances and great working relationship with a lot of business owners in your area and different people that can step in and help these clients. But as you said earlier if the client already has their own estate planning attorney or their own CPA that they trust and they like to use. You're more than happy to bring them on as part of the team. You don't need to refer anybody else to them because they've already got somebody that's working for them. So I think that keeping those relationships intact is a whole other aspect of that coaching position and really accentuating the relationship or making that relationship stronger. I think it's a great point.
Royal: Absolutely. We want to work with the team that you're bringing to the table.
Aric: Mm-hmm.
Royal: We might need to bring in some other areas that you might not have.
Aric: Yeah.
Royal: Yeah but that's okay, that's okay.
Aric: Yeah.
Royal: Now there's also some other consultants and coaches that we might bring in as well depending on the needs of the client.
Aric: Mm-hmm.
Royal: And oftentimes because we're getting such an intimate picture of a client's life, these might be something like, like a business coach for maybe somebody just starting off in business or has reached a plateau with their business. We have business coaches we can kind of bring in as part of that team. There's also kind of the health and fitness areas where you know client might just need a little bit more expertise there either on the medical side of things such as a physical therapist, chiropractor,
Aric: Mm-hmm.
Royal: You know, those are all the kind of the little pieces that we kind of forget about. And especially once you reached, I think, a certain level of wealth in this world you really need to start looking at any problems that you can solve by maybe paying a little extra money.
Aric: Mm-hmm.
Royal: There's that old saying that any problem you can solve with money is not a problem. And really what we're looking at there is if there's some additional treatment. So, for instance if I could go to physical therapy for a couple of weeks and get my shoulder to stop hurting then really what I should do is bite the bullet pay a little bit for physical therapy and get in there and get things fixed, before it creates a bigger issue. Same thing with business coaching, lifestyle coaching. Lifestyle coaching’s I think it's a, it's a newer thing for a lot of people to really think about. But they can provide value. They can provide that extra kind of dynamic in your life to look at things differently and really create a positive impact in your life. And then finally you know this is, this, this is something that I let people decide on, but look at who your spiritual or religious coaches are.
Aric: Hmmm.
Royal: It could be a pastor. Could be, you know, a family member. But I think that's just an overlooked part of people's lives. Is that spiritual aspect. Where are you going for that side of your life. I think that's really important and I think that you should look at that as part of your team.
Aric: If you're, if you're building this team and your entire goal and purpose is to enjoy the years that you have left. Set things up whether it's for generations to come or just set things up for the next 20, 25, 30 years for your retirement whatever that is. How can you enjoy that if your body is out of whack? You know like you talked about the physical therapist or if you are someone who is a spiritual person but you're not getting fed spiritually on a weekly basis or a couple of times a week and you're just struggling with that. I think most of us who are in that kind of in that category have felt that before where, we're just you know you know I'm just not in a place where I want to be right now spiritually. So, no that's great. How do you how do you, you know, implement that, get in front of a mentor, somebody that can just kind of help you get back on track with that part of your life so that you can just enjoy what you've built here with these teams. I think that's fantastic. That's a great addition that I didn't even think about.
Royal: Yeah, I'm a big big believer in developing that part of your life. You know I think one of the biggest changes I've had in my life was you know creating a regular meditation practice,
Aric: Mm-hmm.
Royal: In kind of a morning routine. It's just been so invaluable to me personally that I just encourage other people to explore that side of life because there's just so much of value that it brings to both you and your relationships.
Aric: Yeah absolutely. How often do we get those opportunities to just be quiet and meditate on those things, whatever those things happen to be for each individual person. The world is so busy and we're so bogged down with so much stuff going on that being able to implement something like that and having a little guidance in that area like you said it's invaluable.
Royal: Absolutely. Absolutely.
Aric: All right. What else do we need to cover today Royal?
Royal: So one last thing I wanted to just touch on is what you know that it's time to kind of change out a member of your team.
Aric: Mmm!
Royal: and I bring this up because I'm just seeing more and more people. They've had a relationship with somebody for years and they begin to see those people retire.
Aric: Mmm. Good point.
Royal: And I think of my dentist. So I went to my dentist like 10 years now. Loved him he's been great and very slowly I began to see a new dentist. And they really kind of tricked me into it, I realized,
Aric: [Laughter]
Royal: I've been seeing this new dentist for about a year and I just realized oh he's my dentist now because they informed me on my last visit that my original dentist had moved back to Pittsburgh.
Aric: Oh yeah. Makes it hard for the commute.
Royal: Exactly. Yeah exactly. Plus I'm sure he just wants to enjoy retirement.
Aric: Oh yeah.
Royal: So it just got me thinking that I think we're seeing more and more people that we've used for years begin to transition either slowing down or just moving completely into retirement.
Aric: Mm-hmm.
Royal: So does that mean you have to change your entire team over or that team member over. Not necessarily. I really want to encourage people to look at the person who was brought in as that succession plan, give them a chance to see where they go.
Aric: Mm-hmm.
Royal: Because I think the most interesting thing about what we're seeing in the country now, with the kind of the waves of the baby boomers retiring making way for younger professionals to step into these roles of these younger professionals, in a lot of cases, have more education. They obviously were a personality fit with the doctor or professional or CPA that they're taking over for. So I just really want to encourage people, try out, give that new member a chance to see if there's a good fit there. Now if there's not or if you run into an issue where maybe the tax preparer you've been using, maybe you're beginning to tax their knowledge.
Aric: Mm-hmm.
Royal: Maybe it's time to go from an enrolled agent to a CPA. I think the best way of doing that is just having a conversation with your current provider. Just let them know hey, I have decided to make a change. So this is where I'm going and kind of smoothing that relationship over because I think people who've been part of a team for a while need to have that honesty,
Aric: Mm-hmm.
Royal: Because they've been a part of that team for you know a couple years now. Have that honesty with them when you decide to make a change.
Aric: Yeah.
Royal: But there's absolutely periods of time where it is time to make a change from someone who you know, maybe there's no longer that personality fit. Maybe there's no longer that need for that particular team member to be part of this. So I think that's a big issue I see in upgrading your team is just finding that right-fit person with the level of experience that you need.
Aric: Yeah that's a great point to close on. I am going to add one thing you brought up the dentist I just had to switch dentists and I was blown away by the new dentist that I went to the technology that they have now compared to my old dentist, really wonderful man and went to him for a decade. But again getting to that retirement and there is no succession plan for him he's just wrapping up a shop kind of thing. And so I made a transition to a new dentist. And again I could not believe the technology that this young man uses. The knowledge that he has how much education he does on a yearly basis. Just absolutely blown away. I was fascinated by all the cameras that are attached to the tools that they're actually using, they’re so small now that you can see things you really don't want to see a lot of times.
[Laughter]
Aric: But still it was fascinating to me, right? And I have to have a crown so I'm going through this entire process going wow this is amazing. This is awesome. Does it cost me a bit more. Yup. But you know what. I know that he's using the latest stuff to help me out and get me to where I need to be. And so I think that that fits in really well with what you were saying you'd be surprised if you've got somebody that's transitioning that younger associate or the person that's going to be taking over their practice. Like you said, more education maybe some different techniques and it could be very very beneficial so I think that's a great point.
Royal: You just upgraded your team. I love it.
Aric: Exactly. All right Royal, thank you so much for your time today.
Royal: My pleasure. Great to be here.
Aric: And thank you all for listening to The Life By Design podcast with Royal Standley. If you have not subscribed to the podcast yet, please click subscribe now button below. This way when Royal comes out with a new podcast it'll show up directly on your listening device. This makes it much easier to share these podcasts with your friends and family. Again thanks for listening today for everyone at Oregon Pacific Financial Advisors, this is Aric Johnson reminding you to live your best day every day. And we'll see you next time.
Outro: Thank you for listening to the Life By Design Podcast. Click the subscribe button below to be notified when new episodes become available. The views expressed are those of the presenter and may not reflect the views of United Planner Financial Services. Material discussed is meant to provide general information and is not to be construed as specific investment, tax ,or legal advice. Individual needs vary and require consideration of your unique objectives and financial situation. Always seek the advice of your financial adviser or other qualified financial service provider with any questions you may have regarding your investment planning.
Advisory services offered through Oregon Pacific Financial Advisors Inc., and securities offered through United Planner Financial Services of America, member FINRA and SIPC. Oregon Pacific Financial Advisors Inc. and United Planners Financial Services are independent companies.
