Welcome back to the 281st episode of the Financial Advisor Success Podcast!
My guest on today’s podcast is Duncan Kelm. Duncan is a managing partner for Arrow Point Wealth Management, a hybrid advisory firm based in Santa Rosa, California that oversees $163 million in assets under management for 142 client households.
What’s unique about Duncan, though, is how he leverages owning and operating his own tax firm, in addition to his advisory firm, to offer more integrated tax planning and wealth management services to his small business owner clientele.
In this episode, we talk in-depth about how Duncan leveraged his tax expertise and years as a business consultant to build his own tax firm to offer full-suite tax and financial planning to his clients, how Duncan utilizes his tax business as well as local CPAs to generate leads for prospective wealth management clients, and how Duncan created what he calls ‘Character Insurance’ with his clients to help them define who they are and document their ethos for future generations when they are no longer around.
We also talk about how Duncan fought to become more knowledgeable to prove his worth after transitioning from consulting to an entry-level position at a wirehouse, how Duncan decided to partner with his father to build their own independent firm after he became frustrated with the lack of freedom and opportunities at the wirehouse, and how Duncan struggled to accept becoming his father’s successor as he tried to balance building a career on his own and taking advantage of the partnership opportunity in front of him.
And be certain to listen to the end, where Duncan shares how he drew upon the lessons in mental toughness he learned during his years as an Olympic Rugby player to help him through the difficult transition to owning his firm, how even though Duncan thoroughly enjoyed his prior consulting work he changed his career path to gain more independence and time to spend with his family, and how Duncan lives a philosophy of focusing more on the effort he puts towards achieving life goals than just focusing on the outcome (which usually helps it turn out favorably in the end anyway).
So whether you’re interested in learning about how Duncan utilizes his tax firm to gain referrals for his wealth management firm and provide consolidated tax and financial planning to his clients, how Duncan developed ‘Character Insurance’ to help his clients (and himself) express to loved ones what is truly important to them when they’re gone, or how Duncan was able to overcome the challenges of transitioning from a business consultant to a partner at his own firm, then we hope you enjoy this episode of the Financial Advisor Success podcast, with Duncan Kelm.
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