Russ: This is The BusinessMakers Show, heard on the radio and seen online at thebusinessmakers.com. It's guest time once again. I'm very pleased to have with me Jim Waters, Founder and President of Partners in Wealth. Jim, welcome to The Business Makers Show.

Jim: Wonderful, Russ. Thank you for having me.

Russ: You bet. Now as most of our audience knows we have not had many financial planners on the show, not for any particular reason. In my mind, financial planners are almost like medical doctors, it's so custom to the person but Jim here is doing something very unique in my opinion and different and, once again, given the demographics of our audience, which I get to see through Conquest all the time . There are many of you that watch this show with, kind of, an interesting net worth. That being the case, I decided Jim would be a great guest, so let's just start at the top and tell us about Partners in Wealth.

Jim: Well, Partners in Wealth is a independent, fee-only financial advisory firm that works with financially-successful families and individuals and, you're right, we take a unique approach from traditional financial services.

Russ: Okay and when you say, "Fee-only," explain that.

Jim: Well, that's a term that's often confusing but essentially what it means is the advisor is only compensated by the client.

Russ: Okay.

Jim: They don't receive commissions or any other form of compensation.

Russ: Okay, which, kinda, removes a little bit of a conflict-of-interest in there, too.

Jim: It can., sure, yeah.

Russ: Okay so what's the fee based upon, then?

Jim: Well, the fee is based upon a small percentage of the client's total net worth.

Russ: So when I got the picture of Partners in Wealth, eventually, you use this term, "personal CFO."

Jim: Sure.

Russ: I love that and I think it describes, very accurately, what you actually do, so talk about that a bit.

Jim: Sure, well, in your mind's eye, if you can think of the personal CFO is the person that stands between the client, other advisors and all the stuff that the client has to deal with, all their accounts, tax returns, so on and so forth.

Russ: Okay.

Jim: So that's where they're positioned and they serve as, of all things, the client's personal CFO.

Russ: Okay.

Jim: They're the quarterback, if you will.

Russ: Okay and when you say, "between the client and all that stuff," you know, we keep thinking in terms of investment and then you mentioned tax and I - I know jus in - in my experience, there is always, kind of, like, a disconnect between just those two but it's more than just investing and taxes, right?

Jim: It is, yeah. It's a whole lot more.

Russ: Okay.

Jim: It's - in terms of areas, it can be insurance, estate planning, cashflow, it can be the goals, right?

Russ: Okay.

Jim: College education, financial independence. It can be you know just questions that come up.

Russ: Okay, so - so Partners in Wealth has an expert that's part of your company that might be a certified financial planner.

Jim: It is.

Russ: Are they always a certified financial planner?

Jim: Don't hafta be but ours are.

Russ: Okay and they kinda listen to your whole picture and then connect the dots from all of those different - from estate planning, from taxes, from investing and from insurance, right?

Jim: Yes, that's right because they're all interrelated.

Russ: Oh, yeah.

Jim: If one of those areas isn't operating very well, it can affect the others and opportunities can be missed.

Russ: Right, okay. Well, let's say I decided that, hey, I ought to be a client of yours, I'm not -- at least right now I'm not -- and I bring a tax accountant into the relationship and an investment advisor, do you work with mine or do you say, "All those people are no good, you gotta work with mine?"

Jim: Yeah, no, we work with the client's advisor, assuming the client likes the advisor and the advisor's competition, we welcome them.

Russ: Okay.

Jim: It's a collaborative type of relationship.

Russ: Right and so what if I showed up and I didn't like my tax guy but I like my - would you recommend or refer me to somebody?

Jim: Yes, I think one of our great strengths is the great resource we are to people to find advisors or services that they may need.

Russ: Right, right, okay, so, in this structure, how long have you been doin' it this way?

Jim: For about ten years now.

Russ: Wow!

Jim: Goin' on 11, almost 11.

Russ: Okay.

Jim: Yeah.

Russ: Okay now - and I just might be naïve but are there other s that take this same approach?

Jim: No one in Houston --

Russ: Okay.

Jim: that we're aware of and only about eight percent of the advisors in the country are taking this approach but it is a growing trend. People are tired of that traditional model.

Russ: Right, well I - and I dunno that any of the people that are participating in those various functions do it intentionally but I've reached the point several times, like, "Wow, it would've been good if I had 'em all together at some point in time just, if nothing else, then the area of investment and taxes," I mean, that's huge and then - and then I'm always, sorta, being lured into these insurance programs that I'm going, "I don't know how that fits in" and estate planning has always been a headache for me and so those are the kinda things that you pull together.

Jim: yeah, you know the industry - there's a lotta good people in the industry and it's our belief that they wanna do good work for people. They're competent, caring people but they're trapped in a dysfunctional model and one of the dysfunctional parts of that model is advisors don't talk to one another.

Russ: Right.

Jim: Right? They're afraid, I guess, they're gonna lose business or whatever but it - it's very common that advisors simply do not like to work with one another.

Russ: Okay now but - but do you also - will your firm take one of those roles and I guess it might be the investment advisor, do you do that as well or no?

Jim: We do. You know clients, we don't have to because of the we're compensated but we often do because of the trust level is so high because of how we're compensated for one reason that we often do wind up managing the client's investments.

Russ: Okay, all right. Kinda describe a typical client and what maybe you've been able to do for a sample.

Jim: Sure, a typical client is between 50 and 60 years old. They have a net worth of $5 million-plus. The minimum we will work with is $2 million but generally $5 million or more. They're very busy people. They have let's call it traditional families, a married couple with kids, they're very busy with their careers, children, civic duties, right? They're just up to here with things to do and the last thing they wanna do or have time for is to manage their finances well.

Russ: Right. That's really, really cool. Well if somebody's listening right now or watching right now and wanted to find out more, how do they get in touch with you, what's your web address?

Jim: Sure, the web address is www.partnersinwealth.com.

Russ: Okay, well, Jim, I really appreciate you coming in and sharing this unique way to do it.

Jim: Yeah, thank you!

Russ: All right!

Jim: A great pleasure.

Russ: You bet. That's Jim Waters, the Founder and President of Partners in Wealth. This is the BusinessMakers Show, heard on the radio and seen online at thebsuinessmakers.com.