Welcome back to the 255th episode of the Financial Advisor Success Podcast!
My guest on today’s podcast is Cody Garrett. Cody is the founder of Measure Twice Financial, an independent RIA based in Houston, Texas, who has managed to quickly grow to nearly $150,000/year in annualized financial planning fees in barely more than 6 months since launching.
What’s unique about Cody, though, is his “Advice-Only” approach to financial planning, where clients don’t have the obligation, expectation, or even the option to have their investment managed by Cody’s firm… which has allowed him to quickly attract a waiting list of clients who may be Do-It-Yourselfers when it comes to implementation but are not Learn-It-Yourselfers and are happy to pay Cody for more personalized education.
In this episode, we talk in depth about how Cody first came to the Advice-Only model after talking to a frustrated prospect who had interviewed 10 fee-only advisors looking for someone who would just charge him for financial advice and couldn’t find anyone who would do the plan without an expectation of also managing his money, how Cody has managed to find a niche with a certain segment of Do-It-Yourself consumers who are quite ready and willing to pay financial planning fees for advice and education, and how Cody has been able to quickly generate a steady pipeline of new clients by immersing himself into Facebook Do-It-Yourself FIRE communities of extreme early retirees.
We also talk about what Cody actually does in his financial planning process for DIY clients, the 3-month 3-meeting process for which he charges a $6,400 planning fee, why Cody eschews using traditional financial planning software in order to earn his planning fees, and the 25-plus ‘one-pagers’ that Cody provides as his educational financial planning deliverables to clients.
And be certain to listen to the end, where Cody shares how building an Advice-Only model has allowed him to build the ideal practice for his own lifestyle, the way he’s quickly systematized his process to the point that he doesn’t need to work any more than 10 hours per week to generate nearly $150,000/year in financial planning fees, how his lean approach to building his practice with high-value clients means he’s able to take home more than 90% of his gross revenue after all business expenses, and what he’s looking to do with the rest of his time in giving back to the advisor and consumer communities he’s involved with now that he’s been able to achieve his lifestyle goals.
So whether you are interested in learning how Cody provides advice-only services to DIY investors, how he gains referrals by “giving it all away”, or why he charges all of his clients the same amount, then we hope you enjoy this episode of the Financial Advisor Success podcast, with Cody Garrett.
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