{"id":22985,"date":"2024-12-27T20:16:02","date_gmt":"2024-12-27T20:16:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thinkadvisor.com\/2024\/12\/27\/at-edelman-ma-is-a-cultural-alignment-not-a-conveyor-belt\/"},"modified":"2024-12-27T20:16:02","modified_gmt":"2024-12-27T20:16:02","slug":"at-edelman-ma-is-a-cultural-alignment-not-a-conveyor-belt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/2024\/12\/27\/at-edelman-ma-is-a-cultural-alignment-not-a-conveyor-belt\/","title":{"rendered":"At Edelman, M&amp;A Is a &#8216;Cultural Alignment,&#8217; Not a &#8216;Conveyor Belt&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"media_block\"><a href=\"https:\/\/feeds.feedblitz.com\/-\/910040177\/0\/thinkadvisor.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/feeds.feedblitz.com\/-\/910040177\/0\/thinkadvisor.jpg\" class=\"media_thumbnail\"><\/a><\/div>\n<div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images.thinkadvisor.com\/contrib\/content\/uploads\/sites\/415\/2022\/04\/VanStaveren_Suzanne_EFE_640x640.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\"><\/div>\n<p><!--&gt; \n\n<div data-v-dede5a56>\n\n<p>Soundmark Wealth Management, [which has] more than $450 million in AUM and [is] in the Pacific Northwest. For years, our value proposition has resonated in that region.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n\n--> <!--&gt; \n\n<div data-v-dede5a56>\n\n<p>We very quickly saw there was a culture fit with Soundmark.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n\n--> <!--&gt; \n\n<div data-v-dede5a56>\n\n<p>The founders were considering its succession plan and looking for an opportunity to get support with administrative and back-office work, including compliance, so their team could focus more on client service and growing the firm.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n\n --> <\/p>\n<div data-v-dede5a56>\n<p><b>Why is the Pacific Northwest such a good fit for you?<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--&gt; --> <\/p>\n<div data-v-dede5a56>\n<p>It\u2019s because of the [wealth management] clients and the variety of workplace business relationships we have there.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--&gt; --> <\/p>\n<div data-v-dede5a56>\n<p>That brings me to our internal lead flow.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--&gt; \n\n<div data-v-dede5a56>\n\n<p><b>Tell me about it.<\/b><\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n\n--> <!--&gt; \n\n<div data-v-dede5a56>\n\n<p>On the workplace side, we provide managed account solutions within 401(k) plans. This is where we get our internal lead flow: people with 401(k)s who are clients of ours.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n\n--> <!--&gt; \n\n<div data-v-dede5a56>\n\n<p>It could be a kid just out of school who\u2019s started to contribute to their 401(k). [That means] there\u2019s a lot of opportunity for us to help them with their other financial needs also.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n\n--> <!--&gt; \n\n<div data-v-dede5a56>\n\n<p>This is where we really bring together the legacy of Edelman Financial Services with our workplace business so that there\u2019s internal lead flow: people who are already clients of ours through their 401(k)s [coming] to our planners.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n\n--> <!--&gt; \n\n<div data-v-dede5a56>\n\n<p><b>So the internal lead flow capability came about through the merger of Edelman and Financial Engines?&nbsp;<\/b><\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n\n--> <!--&gt; \n\n<div data-v-dede5a56>\n\n<p>Yes. That\u2019s one of the many benefits we now have, as well as our external lead flow.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n\n--> <!--&gt; \n\n<div data-v-dede5a56>\n\n<p>Our highly differentiated workplace referral channel [begins with] the relationships we have with existing clients who want to expand into the wealth management side.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n\n--> <!--&gt; \n\n<div data-v-dede5a56>\n\n<p><b>Years ago, in an interview, Ric Edelman told me that the firm\u2019s planners needn\u2019t prospect, that they were more or less handed the clients, and that all the planners used the same approach to financial planning. Still true?<\/b><\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n\n--> <!--&gt; \n\n<div data-v-dede5a56>\n\n<p>Yes. We\u2019re looking for those teams that are financial planning first. The lead [approach] that Ric was telling you about continues: We provide leads to our planners.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n\n--> <!--&gt; \n\n<div data-v-dede5a56>\n\n<p><b>You\u2019re a national firm. In what states are you most interested in acquiring practices?<\/b><\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n\n--> <!--&gt; \n\n<div data-v-dede5a56>\n\n<p>In the last couple of years, we\u2019ve focused on California, Massachusetts and Washington state.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n\n--> <!--&gt; \n\n<div data-v-dede5a56>\n\n<p>And it also comes down to finding the right cultural fit and firms that can bring in new resources and capabilities.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n\n--> <!--&gt; \n\n<div data-v-dede5a56>\n\n<p>For example, we started doing more tax planning when we made our first acquisition back in 2021 with Viridian Advisors. They had a tax practice, and that was when we started to lean more into tax planning.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n\n--> <!--&gt; \n\n<div data-v-dede5a56>\n\n<p><b>Why have you focused even more on tax planning lately?<\/b><\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n\n--> <!--&gt; \n\n<div data-v-dede5a56>\n\n<p>Those decisions are such an important part of the planning process. Taxes always were a key component, but our research has reinforced that.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n\n--> <!--&gt; \n\n<div data-v-dede5a56>\n\n<p>In the past, our clients might have gone to different places for tax planning. So we really want to be able to help [all of] them more by having those experts in-house.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n\n--> <!--&gt; \n\n<div data-v-dede5a56>\n\n<p><b>How does doing tax planning ultimately affect Edelman planners?<\/b><\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n\n--> <!--&gt; \n\n<div data-v-dede5a56>\n\n<p>Tax planning and Social Security needs are part of the modern wealth planning experience. That work reinforces the relationship.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n\n--><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Why is the Pacific Northwest such a good fit for you? It\u2019s because of the [wealth management] clients and the variety of workplace business relationships we have there. That brings me to our internal&#46;&#46;&#46;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22986,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[1],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/at-edelman-ma-is-a-cultural-alignment-not-a-conveyor-belt.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22985"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22985"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22985\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22986"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22985"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22985"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22985"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}