Ep 030: Self-Publishing A Book To Establish Your Authority (As A 401(k) Expert) with Josh Itzoe
Financial Advisor Success
Michael Kitces
4.8 • 696 Ratings
🗓️ 25 July 2017
⏱️ 95 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Josh Itzoe is a CFP, AIF, and Partner at Greenspring Wealth, where he consults with corporate clients about how they can improve their 401(k) offerings.
Josh is also a self-published author and believes that publishing a book about his industry was the best business decision he’s ever made.
In this episode, Josh shares how he initially got into the institutional side of financial planning and what fascinates him about helping companies hash out their 401(k) programs.
Josh also walks through the process of writing and publishing his book, and the results he saw afterward. He shares some of the best resources for those interested in the 401(k) planning space and talks about why he decided to read the entire ERISA law - which is no small feat - to gain an edge over other advisors.
Get the full show notes and transcript for this episode at: www.kitces.com/30
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to the Financial Advisor Success Podcast, where you go behind the scenes with |
| 0:07.1 | financial planner, speaker, and consultant Michael Kitsis to hear stories of how leading |
| 0:12.5 | financial advisors navigated the inevitable challenges that arise on the path to success |
| 0:17.5 | and get insight from leading industry consultants about how to break through to the |
| 0:22.0 | next level in your advisory business. And now here's your host, Michael Kitsis. Welcome, everyone. |
| 0:29.0 | Welcome to the 30th episode of the Financial Advisor Success Podcast. My guest on today's podcast is |
| 0:35.0 | Josh Itso. Josh is a co-founder of Green Spring Wealth and independent RAA based in Towson, Maryland, |
| 0:40.7 | that advises on more than $2.2 billion in 401k plan assets. |
| 0:45.1 | What's unique about Josh's business, though, is not just the success that he's had in the 401k |
| 0:49.3 | plan niche, but how he built his business. |
| 0:52.0 | By reading the entire ERISA code himself himself and then self-publishing a book |
| 0:56.3 | to share his newfound expertise with prospective clients, which quickly establish him as an authority |
| 1:01.2 | and brought him nearly $80,000 of new revenue within the first six months of publishing the book. |
| 1:07.5 | In this episode, Josh talks at length about the business of being a financial advisor to |
| 1:11.7 | 401K plans, how it differs from the traditional model of serving individual financial planning |
| 1:16.5 | clients, the intensive RFP process it takes to win business in the mid to large size 401K plan space, |
| 1:23.6 | how the pricing model for advising on 401K plans is shifting from an AUM model to a flat fee structure |
| 1:29.6 | based on size and complexity of the plan, and how including the stability of those 401K plan |
| 1:35.0 | consulting fees was able to smooth out the revenue volatility of the AUM fees in the other half |
| 1:40.7 | of his advisory firm, which manages more than $400 million in AUM for individual |
| 1:45.2 | wealth management clients. We also talk more generally about trends in the 401k advisory space, |
| 1:50.5 | why the real value to most plans is not helping them understand or scaring them about their |
... |
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