Advisor Spotlight

Advisor Spotlight: Paul Sydlansky, Lake Road Advisors For our second Advisor Spotlight, we welcome Paul Sydlansky, founder of Lake Road Advisors, an independent, fee-only financial planning firm. Advisor: Paul Sydlansky Firm: Lake Road Advisors Bio: Paul Sydlansky, founder of Lake Road Advisors LLC, has worked in the financial services industry for over 20 years. Prior to founding Lake Road Advisors, Paul worked as a relationship manager for a Registered Investment Adviser. Previously, Paul worked at Morgan Stanley in New York City for 13 years. While at Morgan Stanley, Paul was a senior-level manager within the Institutional Equities Department. In 2018, he was named to Investopedia's Top 100 Financial Advisors list. Paul received a Bachelor's degree in Economics from Marist College and holds an MBA from New York University Leonard N. Stern School of Business. Paul is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ and a member of the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors (NAPFA) and the XY Planning Network (XYPN). Firm Bio: Lake Road Advisors LLC is an independent, fee-only financial planning firm, specializing in working with mid-career professionals to help make sure they are making the right decisions to live a smart financial life today as well as tomorrow. Why did you decide to become an advisor? There are really 3 main reasons why I decided to become a financial planner. First, I work in a field I have been interested in my entire life (finance/business/markets). Second, I get tremendous satisfaction from helping people feel confident in their own financial lives. Third, it allows me the flexibility to build my own schedule and spend time with my family. What are some questions that you wish more clients would ask, and why? I would like to see more clients ask about systems and techniques for developing better financial habits. There are no secrets or shortcuts to building wealth; it happens over time due to consistent and disciplined action. What do you think is the biggest mistake people make with their money? Having no financial plan at all for spending, saving, or investing. What is the biggest money mistake you’ve ever made? Too much Real Estate exposure in 2008-2009 as a percentage of my net worth. What does your current technology stack look like? Betterment & Vestwell for Investing, MoneyGuidePro and The First Step Cash Management System for Planning, Riskalyze for Risk, Wealthbox for CRM, and Calendly for scheduling. How is technology impacting the way you and your clients interact? Technology allows me to more efficiently and cost effectively serve my clients. Which do you prefer: Billions, Wolf of Wall Street, or The Big Short? Billions. I spent the first part of my career working with hedge funds and they do a tremendous job of putting you into that world. If you won the lottery, what would you do with the money? Definitely complete my current financial goals but I would absolutely need to sit down and reevaluate my personal goals. I wouldn't just retire because I really enjoy what I do. What do you think is the biggest opportunity for advisors today? Changing the way we are viewed as an industry. Often advisors and brokers are viewed as predatory and untrustworthy. We have a chance to really change the landscape and make the business more about helping people figure out their financial lives and have a plan, and less about selling products. If you could only give one piece of financial advice, what would it be? Start investing as much as you can as a percentage of your income as early as you can (I would aim for 20-30%).

Advisor Spotlight: Devon Klumb, RhineVest For our first ever Advisor Spotlight, we welcome Devon Klumb, Financial Planner at RhineVest. For our first ever Advisor Spotlight, we welcome Devon Klumb, Financial Planner at RhineVest, a fee-only financial planning firm based in Cincinnati. Advisor: Devon Klumb, CFP®, BFA™ Firm: RhineVest Bio: Devon Klumb, CFP®, BFA™ is a Financial Planner at RhineVest, a fee-only financial planning firm based in Cincinnati. He started his career as a commodities trader and transitioned to financial advice and planning out of a commitment to help his family, and people like them, develop better financial habits. Firm Bio: RhineVest was created to bring fee-only, fiduciary advice to the people who need it most. We’re the outcasts. We never fit in at the banks, the insurance companies, or other investment firms. We’re the ones who couldn’t ignore our conscience to sell lucrative financial products. All of us believe there’s a better way. That’s why we exist. Our Q&A with Devon Why did you decide to become an advisor? The short answer: It was kind of decided for me. I went to college for Industrial Engineering because I thought that earning an engineering degree would give me the ability to wiggle my way into any job I wanted. All I needed was an interview. Pretty arrogant, right? Totally, but, it worked. I took a job out of school trading commodities in Omaha, NE. No, Warren Buffett had nothing to do with me becoming an advisor (though, I did eat at the same McDonalds as him many times). In fact, I'm not sure that I would have found myself in this position had my wife not begged that we move back to Cincinnati. Around this time, my dad convinced my wife and I to attend Dave Ramsey's 'Financial Peace University' course. The classes were on Saturday mornings at 8am at a local church... for like 8 weeks straight. I still can't believe we did that! Now, I love my parents, but their financial track-record wasn't something you'd aspire to. And wouldn't you know it, my wife and I were awful with our money, too. Only, I had no idea that was the case until we went through this course. The synopsis of our experience: our money was not going to places that reflected our values and an immediate change was necessary. I essentially became obsessed with reversing the trend of poor financial habits in my own family, which led to a deeper obsession with helping others do the same. So, I did the only logical thing a commodities trader with an Engineering degree living in Omaha could do. I quit my job and moved back to Cincinnati to be a financial advisor. As I said, it was kind of decided for me. What are some questions that you wish more clients would ask, and why? "How can we get better at delaying gratification?" This is by far the most obsolete principle in our consumer-centric society. Ironically, this is, in my opinion, the key to building wealth. What do you think is the biggest mistake people make with their money? Spend it on things that don't actually make them happy. Or, save it for things that they don't actually care about. What’s the biggest money mistake you’ve ever made? Oddly enough, the worst financial decision I've ever made resulted in the most rewarding experience I've ever had. At 24, I decided to leave my high-paying commission job and start a fee-only financial planning firm with a friend. This was no bueno for the old savings account, especially as we would soon learn that my wife was pregnant with our son, Jack. BUT, what an incredible journey I've been afforded the opportunity to trek since making that decision. Should I have been more 'financially stable' before making the leap? Yes, absolutely. Would I do it again. Yes, absolutely. What does your current technology stack look like? You name it, we use it. Wealthbox, Zapier, Betterment for Advisors, Slack, Google (Drive, Mail, Calendar), RightCapital. How is technology impacting the way you and your clients interact? The use of technology allows us to serve smaller balance clients more effectively. It's also allowing us to serve far more clients than we ever thought possible. Most importantly, technology is allowing us to spend more time with clients on issues that can't be solved with algorithms and less time pushing paperwork. Which do you prefer: Billions, Wolf of Wall Street, or The Big Short? The Big Short If you won the lottery, what would you do with the money? Keep enough to cover education costs for our kids and give the rest away. Though, if we're being totally honest, I'd probably use up a small chunk trying to find some way to play a round at Augusta National... just one. What do you think is the biggest opportunity for advisors today? I think the biggest opportunity today is authenticity. Investors have been burned over the years, badly. They are less inclined than previous generations to trust you just because you have some letters after your name. The BS detector is strong with this one (Yoda voice). If you're here for the right reasons, your clients and prospects can tell. If you’re not, they will notice soon enough. Technical advice is becoming a commodity. Candor and behavioral accountability are among the greatest opportunities we have to impact the lives of our clients. If you could only give one piece of financial advice, what would it be? "Let’s admit it, we all got two wolves in us, a good one and a bad one, you know what I’m talking about — and they BOTH wanna eat… We just gotta feed that good wolf a little more than the other one." - Matthew McConaughey We all make mistakes. What separates those who succeed (financially or otherwise) from those who ultimately fail is the ability to acknowledge their OWN faults and make adjustments moving forward. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. If you struggle to break those habits, find someone who can help.