By Brenden Curry
Fred Hubler, the President and Chief Wealth Strategist of Creative Capital Wealth Management Group in Phoenixville who has more than 25 years of experience in financial services as an advisor, has created a new approach to financial planning that may be the new norm in the future.
Creative Capital, which Hubler founded in 2003, has practiced retainer-based advising and planning for the past four years. According to Hubler, retainer-based wealth management is where financial advisors focus more on advising, rather than selling a product or gadget strategy.
“A financial advisor’s real job is to grow the family’s wealth,” Hubler said.
At Creative Capital, a family or client will be given an assigned certified planner from Hubler’s team who only makes a salary with no commissions. The planner does not push or sell any product other than advising wealth management. With the retainer model, clients pay a flat retainer for the year and will know ahead of time what they are paying for.
“We meet the clients where they are,” Hubler said. “This means that clients can keep their assets where they already are, and we can provide the advice.”
Hubler says retainer-based planning has provided more value to his clients. He believes that business owners should have the opportunity to keep their money invested in their enterprises and businesses, rather than the stock market or bonds. But working with a traditional financial advisor is a conflict, since they normally recommend investments “outside” of the business owner’s business.
Hubler offered the example of a client he had who owned multiple fast-food restaurants. He advised the business owner to keep the money within his restaurants and renovate their interiors. By keeping his assets within his ventures, the owner saw a double-digit return in sales.
Retainer-based planning has given Creative Capital a “healthy pipeline” of clients in 11 states.
“This whole thing only works because it adds more value to the client than the current way in industry,” Hubler said.
He indicated that when he says he runs a retainer-based wealth management office at industry conventions, six to seven people would surround him with questions during breaks or actual programs. Some questions he received were “how do I charge for it” and “how do I move to it.”
The demand for knowing retainer-based planning and how to do it kick-started his new webinar courses for advisors to learn on their own time.
Last year, Hubler decided to create Retainer Based Academy, the coaching program to help other financial advisors move away from product sales and assets under management (AUM) tactics. He hopes to “change the game” in financial advising by providing self-serving courses for finance professionals to utilize.
The Retainer Based Academy’s website states that “we built the Retainer Based Academy for planners and advisors who want to grow their practice, add more value for clients, and build a lifestyle business.” As a coach for Retainer Based Academy, Hubler teaches financial advisors to be more advice-driven for their clients.
After completing the course, advisors can expect happier clients, an effective team, and a balanced lifestyle.
His vision for Retainer Based Academy is more than the current course that is out there. Hubler is hoping to hold retainer-based workshops and expos, to expand their advice-driven community, and increase the number of trained advisors outside his firm.
He sees a community of financial advisors who want to move to the future and not be stuck in the past. He said that once the community of advisors who are looking to be advice-driven is substantiated, they will realize how good this is for their clients.
“The things I’m building will have probably a bigger footprint than my own financial services company,” Hubler said.
VISTA Today readers can redeem a $250 discount with the code VistaRBA when they enroll in the Retainer Based Academy.
Click here to learn more about the Retainer Based Academy.
[uam_ad id=”80503″]
.
[uam_ad id=”80502″]
