Why Your Financial Planning Employees Quit

The Management Conundrum

I met some of my closest friends in the financial planning program at Texas Tech. Wide-eyed and eager to learn, we eventually graduated and set out to begin our careers as financial planners.

Our graduating class accepted positions far and wide, and after a few months I trusted they were all loving their new jobs as much as I was. It turns out that not all jobs are created equally and some of my friends were having bad experiences. Some wanted to quit their positions, while others considered leaving the profession altogether.

Imagine reading headlines around the ever-growing shortage of financial planners, while simultaneously your well-trained financial planner friends are looking for an exit plan. This is a common conundrum in our profession, and I believe the key difference between unhappy employees versus those who have great experiences is management.

The Hard Truth

Let's call out the necessary truth: most of us entered this profession to become financial planners, not to manage teams and organizations. But when your business suddenly grows and you need to hire more people, you will invariably be deemed a "manager" in no time.

And since we are trained to study spreadsheets and not career development, ignoring this reality often results in bad bosses. People rarely leave jobs; they typically leave their bosses.

If you're like many of us who have suddenly found yourself in a management position, it's important to know what themes create bad experiences and what we can do to avoid them.

Stories are Data

Each time a friend told me why they quit their job (or wanted to), I recorded a data point. And over the past half-decade, I've collected dozens of cases highlighting what went wrong.

Reviewing those cases, there are common management mistakes that financial planning firms are making which cause their young talent to leave. Even more ironic, these issues span far beyond the walls of financial planning and echo in almost every other industry too.

The following three cases outline real cases of mismanagement that both new and experienced managers should review to help avoid common mistakes and retain talent for their firms.

Getting started, each story has its own complexities and nuances, but here's what the following cases have in common:

• Associates - each subject was an entry-level Associate, hired on as a staff member to eventually grow into a financial planner at an existing financial planning practice.

• Quit their Jobs - none of these employees were fired for bad behavior or poor culture fit. They genuinely wanted the opportunity to work.

• Preventable - perhaps this is an opinion, but I believe these poor situations were preventable if proper adjustments were made in management.

Why Financial Planning Employees Quit: 3 Case Studies

Meet Jess

Jess was a former classmate and has always been talented, hardworking, and self-sufficient. It was no surprise she had multiple job offers upon graduation. 

She took a job with a well-known RIA, which has a solid track record for developing Associates. Her specific opportunity was slightly different than the regular program, as the company recently acquired another firm and she was hired to help that branch. She moved to the small city's location and learned they hadn't incorporated financial planning yet.

Plans to become a full-service financial planning practice didn't go as planned and most of her work was administrative. The icing on the cake was accidentally being called a "secretary" on numerous occasions. Obviously, Jess did not feel valued.

Lesson 1: Expectations Management.

Quite simply, the job Jess signed up for is not the job she received. A perk of the original opportunity was the predictable path to a Lead Advisor role, which many other new hires experienced. The opportunity Jess received was uniquely different than what she expected, which led to disappointment.

Many firms opt to hire the best talent no matter what, but the downfall comes when there is no reasonable plan for the talent after the hire. As managers, our job is to make sure we give someone a fair opportunity to succeed. Jess left the firm because she didn't get that chance.

Meet Billy

Billy is exactly what the profession needs—a young career-changer who wants to be a financial planner. He took CFP courses on his own time and was hired to work at a well-known financial planning firm.

Working at a big firm can be tough and Billy soon found himself struggling to keep up with the workload. Self-admittedly, Billy lacks confidence at times and wants his work to be perfect before submitting for approval. This perfectionist attitude combined with a high-volume firm led to backlogs and unsatisfied managers.

For 12 months, Billy gradually improved, but the work poured in heavier and he began to drown. Naturally he reached out for help, but in an environment where everyone is busy, he felt like no one had time for him. After months of the same response and no one to turn to, he quit.

Lesson 2: Direct Managers are Advocates.

First, everyone needs a direct manager to lean on when things get tough. No matter how busy the team is, you should never feel alone. 

• "I felt like I wasn't allowed to make mistakes anymore, which made me feel more like a burden than help. Those who could help me were either uninterruptible or not available, further leading me into self-doubt.”

Lesson 3 - Managers Shape Experiences. 

The hardest part of working on a team is remembering that competency is relative. Your teammates might not be skilled in your strongest areas, and vice versa. Sometimes others need their training wheels on longer than you needed yours.

A skilled manager knows their employee's unique skill sets and will adapt their workload to match. You can take this further by customizing their career path, which the next case study outlines further.

Meet Alice

Alice studied financial planning in college and accepted an entry-level role building plans and inputting data. The role was mainly behind the scenes, but her goal was to eventually move up and become a client-facing advisor.

After a few years of hitting her performance goals, Alice asked for more opportunity.

She asked for a way to become client-facing—the firm said no.

She asked to at least sit in client meetings—the firm said no.

She asked for salary incentives to give her something to work towards—the firm said no.

She clearly hit many ceilings and thankfully she knew she could lean on her direct manager for help. When she approached her manager though, she unfortunately received bad advice:

• "I was told by a female manager that I shouldn't ask for a raise because I need to cater to the partner's male ego to get what I want long term. I realized that my manager wasn’t there to support me or advocate for my growth."

Lesson 4 - Create Goals Together (Career Path Alternative)

There's much talk around presenting Career Paths to young planners and it's important to understand the basics. Most 25-year-olds aren't interested in a "path to equity." All they need is a couple of large goals that they can work towards over the next 1-2 years, which can be customized for each person. Customizing experiences is where boutique firms can thrive since all Associates are different, they should have slightly different paths, course-correcting at least annually. I don't believe Alice needed decades planned out for her, she just needed to visualize a future that had her in it.

Lesson 5 - Give Middle Managers Power. 

Alice’s problems are related to problems faced by her direct manager. A middle manager is often the connection between an associate and the firm’s ownership, and thus should be an advocate for the associate. However, they are unable to follow and promote the lessons outlined above without being empowered by the owners. If the middle manager is not empowered, the associate may ask for help, only to realize that your hands are tied.

Takeaways for NexGen Managers

If you’re like me and want to learn how to grow quickly as a new manager, we can study the main lessons from the stories above.

1. Expectations Management - provide the experience that your new hires expected.

2. Direct Managers are Advocates - be a consistent resource to your team members and never let them feel alone.

3. Managers Shape Experiences - learn the unique skill sets of your team members and customize their experience accordingly. Their present experience will be different than your past.

4. Create Goals Together (Career Path Alternative) - instead of projecting too far in the future, customize the next 1-2 years, and course-correct along the way.

5. Give Middle Managers Power - if you are a senior manager, give your middle managers power and authority to shape and adjust experiences to associates.

Give Opportunity. Create Rockstars.

I've been given more opportunities than I ever imagined, and as a result my career has grown quickly. But the opportunities alone are not the only ingredient necessary for success. Once opportunity is granted, the difference between mediocre and exceptional talent is a direct function of the guidance a young person receives along the way.

It took me years to realize my success has been a team effort. In a way it's like realizing on your 25th birthday you've had great parents who guided you through every life challenge. I thought I was in control, but it was really the care and investment from the generation before us who paved the way.

Now that we're able to give opportunity to the next generation, it's our job to make sure they become exceptional in their own way to help guide the profession's future.

Memories & Lessons from Losing the Big Game

The Big Game

Our team was down by 1 point with 30 seconds left.  The ball was passed to me and I knew this was my moment.

I faked left then took an aggressive move to the right.  I didn't make it far though, as the defender reached his leg out and drove his knee into my thigh.  I fell down, buzzing with adrenaline as the referee called the foul. Our star player pulled me to my feet and told me "you got this."

With the pressure on, I walked to the free throw line to take my shot.  We were in "bonus" time, so if I made it I got one more shot, which would put us in the lead to win.

The pressure was even higher for me.  I was a senior on the team, and basketball was my guiding light.  If we won this tournament game, we'd win a trophy and bragging rights for life.  On top of that, my parents had recently announced they were separating from each other, so I poured all of my mixed emotions into this sport.

At the free throw line, opposing fans booed loudly to break my focus.  I took my shot and I made it. Our fans roared in hysteria as we tied the game in the final seconds.  At 17 years old, I'd never felt more alive. Feeling overconfident, I looked back at the booing fans and did an 'I can't hear you' signal with my hand to my ear.  I felt like the star in my favorite movie.

Before my next shot, our coach called a timeout to go over our plan.  In the huddle, with fans and cheerleaders chanting in anticipation, coach drew up the play.

"Alright, when Bryan makes this next shot, here's what we're going to do..."

I have no idea what play he called.  All I knew was that the entire team knew I was going to lead us to victory.  My teammates had absolute confidence in me.

I lined up to shoot, with the opposing fans booing again and our fans remaining focused.  I took the shot.

I missed.

With the score tied, we went into overtime, where the other team took the lead and we eventually lost.

The bliss I experienced moments before was followed by immense disappointment.  My trophy was gone, along with my pride.

Blind Spots in Perspective

I've replayed the ending of that game tirelessly over the years.  What if I had made the shot? I was devastated and, as a hormone-filled teenager, the lessons I took away were warped by my lack of perspective.  Now over a decade later, I'm finally realizing those traumatic moments are still valuable to me today, but in a completely different fashion.

It's kind of like re-reading a book years later, only to gather completely different takeaways from the author.  We could probably spend our lifetimes re-visiting the same experiences and drawing different conclusions, each more insightful than the last.

After re-visiting my traumatic defeat, here are the lessons I've uncovered with new perspective.

Habits Over Final Moments

The most thankless position in sports is the field-goal kicker on a football team. Most teams run well over 100 plays per game, but when the kicker misses and we lose, we often blame the kicker.  Teams duke it out for over an hour and have countless opportunities to score, but when the end of the game nears, we irrationally focus on the final moments.

I can't tell you what the 33rd play was, but I can tell you about the last few.  

When we look at final moments, we sometimes forget the early ones that led us there.  We forget about the silly fouls where we gave the ball away, but instead focus on the 'game-winning' play.

I'm reading a life-changing book called Atomic Habits (James Clear) where the premise is to focus on tiny actions that slowly compound until great things are achieved.  Too often we see the child prodigy or the tech billionaire who struck gold and think, "must be nice." When in reality, they've be training their entire lives for an undisclosed future.  Inching closer to their vision each day until they reached an inflection point.

The same works in the opposite direction too.  In personal relationships, we say that a couple broke up because one of them 'cheated,' but what were their daily actions in the months leading up to the moment of betrayal?  Poor habits compound and can lead to catastrophe.

Relating the concept to business, I've learned that small wins each day will eventually lead me to becoming a master of my craft.  And while my big moments are now centered in conference rooms instead of basketball courts, I know that daily advancements will keep me paced ahead so I’ll never need to rely on a last-minute effort.

Leadership Identity

In that tournament game, my coach let the team know he trusted me, and everyone followed suit.  From that moment forward, I chose to step into the shoes of a leader. Even though I missed, everyone considered me a leader, so I took the loss with class and encouraged my disappointed teammates to do the same.

If done right, being dubbed a 'leader' can change a young person's life.  It's a lot easier to step up when someone you look up to believes in you. As an employee, my manager has found countless ways to make me a leader in our organization, and now it's my job to do the same for the associates at our firm.

If you're a manager, it's important to help your people train intentionally each day so that, when they're ready, they can lead you to victory.  They'll never have the opportunity to succeed unless you give them the chance to fail.

Learn from Your Own Autobiography

Biographies are fascinating, but if we look at our own memories, there are dozens of gems you can learn from.  No purchase from Amazon necessary.

With new life experiences, comes perspective we can then apply to countless personal memories.  Perspectives change over time and traumatic memories can often be transformed into beautiful lessons.  Sometimes it just takes a decade to see them.

How the Deli Counter Taught Me To Build Trust and (Finally) Win Over Clients

Being the Awkward New Guy
One of the hardest and most frustrating aspects of starting your career as a Support Advisor (or Associate) is the fact that everyone else has relationships with clients except for you.  While we’re glad we aren’t in sales roles and don’t have to build our own ‘books’ from scratch, the downside is that we have to begin at the bottom of the food chain and work our way up.
 
These frustrations only increase when you first get introduced to the firm’s clients and they make it abundantly clear they don’t know or trust you.
 
Here’s a common occurrence in the early days as a Support Advisor:
Alongside the Senior Advisor, you walk into your first client meeting to get started – what a rush!  The Senior Advisor makes small talk and tells a couple jokes about a current event - the client is loving it!  Then, you (the newbie), seize the opportunity to crack a couple jokes and build some quick, chummy rapport while the mood is ripe – crickets…
 
Not only did you completely misread social cues, you may have also just highlighted your youth and immaturity to the most important people.  This is officially awkward.
 
In the digital age, the early jabs come in via email too.
 
In my very first month on the job, my Senior received an email from one of our clients that read: “who is Bryan and why is he on our emails about my finances?”  Then, I had another client tell my Senior, “I’m so glad to hear you hired someone!  I’m sure he’s great.  But just for the record, YOU are my advisor, not him.”
 
Ouch.  Strike 1 and I haven’t even stepped up to the plate yet.
 
This is all too common for many of us.  We come in with our strong educational backgrounds, high enthusiasm, and intention to become experts and help our new clients, only to be shot down immediately before we can show our stuff.
 
How to Get Over It
Getting over that hump was tough, and even though I have a little tenure now, it’s something I still deal with.  But the question remains, how did I work passed it and how can new associates work to overcome this?
 
I’ve had trouble articulating this concept for a long time now.  But that all changed this morning after the most insightful trip to the grocery store I’ve ever had.
 
Inspiration at the Deli Counter
Like anyone in their 20’s without kids, I like to take advantage of the occasional lazy Sunday.  Every once in a while, though, I wake up early on a weekend and think, “wow, I feel great.  I should get some stuff done!”  Alas, my morning coffee and errands routine began early this Sunday.
 
After my coffee run, I headed to the grocery store to beat the crowds and decided that I was going to have simple sandwiches for lunch this week. 
 
I approached the deli counter and browsed the over-complicated meats section, trying to determine my price point.  $12.99 for a pound of turkey meat?  What is this!?
 
With an honest look on my face, I innocently asked the sweet lady behind the counter if she had any deals running this week.  She briefly glanced over her shoulder, then turned to me and said, “you don’t want me to cut slices of this processed junk. You can get a better deal if you buy the full turkey in the cold section for half the price.”  Then, she walked out from behind the deli counter and led me to a refrigerated section with full turkeys in there that were a much better deal than what I was initially asking for.  “This is what you want right here,” she said.
 
Wow.  In a matter of seconds, this woman sized up my situation and concerns, then saved me a ton of money.  It may seem like a small gesture and a ‘just doing my job’ moment, but to me, the thoughtfulness and care really went a long way.
 
In my opinion, I now consider this person an Expert in the deli meat selection process and she has my forever trust.  Regardless of whether it was the best deal or not, I felt truly taken care of, which is valuable enough in itself.

She had one, seemingly small opportunity to earn my trust, and she earned it in under 1 minute.
 
Growing into a Captain, One Small Task at a time
After my deli counter experience, I reflected on my own client relationships and how I slowly built client trust over time.
 
If I really think back, all the trust I built early on with clients came from identifying seemingly small opportunities where I could help, then following through to let them know they could count on me.

Like many others in the Support Advisor role, I had tons of opportunities to summarize confusing paperwork, explain what the overall goal was, then show clients where to sign when they were ready.  Paperwork is often considered grunt work in our field, mainly because it has nothing to do with financial planning, but paperwork and operations always seemed to be an easy opportunity to show I could be detail-oriented, while letting me practice explain technical jargon.

Also in Support Advisor role, we typically do a majority of the meeting preparation.  Again, this is widely considered grunt work, but it allowed me to draw up the plays before we were even on the field.  While preparing for meetings, I’d identify areas that I wanted to present on, then I’d explicitly ask to run that small part of the meeting.  If I got the green light from my Senior, I’d rehearse and run through the role plays in my head before the meeting, so I’d deliver my lines with ease and show the client I really knew what I was talking about.  Actually, I still do this today.

Whether it was purely an operational conversation or explaining seemingly elementary concepts, those were my early opportunities to show I was more than just a helper; I was their advisor.

The path to building trust has not always been smooth, but it feels great to know some of our most important clients lean on me when they need help the most.  Ultimately though, it was the small, consistent wins that helped me grow from less of an unproven sailor to more of a reliable captain. 
 
It’s Human Nature to Trust Slowly
Remember that client I mentioned who wrote me off from the beginning because I was new?  I eventually did enough of the little things right to where not only do we have a strong working relationship, I’d consider him a friend.  Ironically, he texted me yesterday (a Saturday) when he was in a quick bind and I was glad to help.

The moral of the story is: even your most prized relationships began at Ground Zero.  At one point in your life, you and your best friend (or spouse) were complete and total strangers.  The things you confide in each other today are completely different than the things you discussed on Day 1.
 
In the workplace, when you’re hired in your 20’s to be a Support Advisor on someone else’s client, you have to try extra hard to find small areas where you can shine and add value.  And when you identify those opportunities, you have to absolutely knock them out of the park.
 
Although it might hurt our feelings in the early days, it’s important to remember that we’re only human and Mother Nature has taught us to trust slowly. 
 
At first, you may feel like your contributions are minuscule and aren’t getting you anywhere.  But if you’re consistently showing you can be counted on by others, you’ll be well on your way to being the one who cracks jokes in meetings and proving that Ground Zero is just the foundation for your exciting, new career.