Don’t worry about competitors, focus on clients and doing things right

Transcript:

Nicole Casperson [00:00:04] Hi, everyone, I’m Nicole Casperson with InvestmentNews, and today I’m sitting down with Andrew Komarow, founder and financial planner of Planning Across the Spectrum. Andrew is a winner of InvestmentNews’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Awards. He is a see it, be it role model. And I’m excited to ask him a couple of questions about his practice and some pieces of advice he has for the future leaders of the industry. Thank you so much, Andrew, for joining us.

Andrew Komarow [00:00:33] Thank you so much for having me.

Nicole Casperson [00:00:35] Can you tell us a little bit about the biggest challenge to being successful in the advice industry,

Andrew Komarow [00:00:41] like the biggest challenge? I mean, I think the. I don’t know about the biggest challenge, I think there’s like 50 of them, I think it is probably just to focus on what your end goal is like to keep the big picture in mind with getting out, getting lost and all the details and Michael Kitces, I love you, Michael, but like the people, we read his, like, blog articles once a week and then people want to, like, change their entire practice, like, I think it’s you know focus on your clients and not your competitors. And just like doing things like right and having a mission, I think is probably the biggest, like staying focused. That makes sense.

Nicole Casperson [00:01:29] I think that makes sense. And what does their success signify about the industry?

Andrew Komarow [00:01:35] I mean, I’m still amazed that people consider that I am successful and still honored and I honestly humbled. But I think it just says that, you know, what’s really amazing about our industry is that almost anybody who wants to work hard can be successful no matter where you come from or what you’re doing. I remember talking to somebody about looking to start in the industry just like a week or so ago. And I was thinking back to when I first started and it was the people who showed up and just put in effort and work were successful. You know, there’s no secret to success. Have you ever met a successful person who hasn’t told you all about it? Right. It’s literally just, you know, there’s more people that need our help, then people deserve that. So it’s just a matter of doing that.

Nicole Casperson [00:02:28] Yeah, I love that. And what are some pieces of advice you would give to, say, the next generation of advisers or future see it, be it role models that want to make a difference in the industry like you have?

Andrew Komarow [00:02:42] So I think there’s a happy medium between helping people and focusing on your core business. And. And what I’ve come to realize is helping a lot of underprivileged groups or people who can afford it. The best way to do that is through the current model. Sometimes reinventing the wheel and starting a completely new business model is not a good idea. It’s much better to. You know, focus on giving good advice and using and using the platform for that as an ability to give back, then trying to work 24/7, essentially for free, giving advice. Right. Like they’re not mutually exclusive. You can be a for profit fee financial adviser and still find plenty of time to give back. You can hire somebody who’s fee only or who doesn’t even take a fee just to give free advice to anyone who calls. That’s essentially what we’ve done. And you don’t have to change your business model at all.

Nicole Casperson [00:03:55] Yeah, fantastic. Work hard and, you know, use the platform that you’re you’re given and work so hard to create. Right. To to make a difference. And that’s exactly what you’ve done. So thank you so much, Andrew, for joining us. And congrats again on your investment news, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Award. And to our audience, thanks again for tuning in. We will see you next time.