The finalists

SMA: What do you see are the biggest issues facing the industry and/or your practice right now?
Hobart: Compliance is always an issue. Being securities licensed and making sure you remain compliant becomes more and more important. In this industry there’s a lot of money to be made, and sometimes advisors will abuse that. Whereas, I think that it takes ethical advisors to make sure that they’re doing the right thing for clients. You hate to mention that, but that does seem like an issue that we’re seeing, and that’s why I think we see some of the “Dateline” issues out there. It’s a matter of advisors abusing this privilege that we have.

SMA: What have been some of your most effective methods of prospecting for new clients?
Hobart: For me, the seminar has been extremely effective. Consistently holding seminars, not waiting for the next time to set something up but having my office staff set up everything months in advance. That’s No. 1. The second thing goes back to that relationship issue, which then leads to referrals. I built my practice based on the seminars; referrals now account for more and more of my business.

SMA: As far as community involvement is concerned, what are some of the things you’ve been involved in and have they had any effect on your practice?
Hobart: Yes and no. One thing we don’t do is a lot of industry-type events. That’s not to say it’s a bad thing to do, but I’ve always had a real passion for working with homeless folks. We regularly work for a food pantry in town, and we also do a food service. And because I am financially minded, we also help some folks in debt counseling. We’re so used to seeing clients with large accounts, and sometimes there are people who just need basic advice.

SMA: Tell me about your typical work schedule. What’s a day like for you?
Hobart: I show up at the office somewhere around 8:30 or 9 o’clock. From 9 to 10, I usually prepare for the day, whatever that might involve, and brief my staff as to some things that we need to be working toward. The rest of my day focuses on serving clients. If it’s a face-to-face type of day, we typically have four appointments available: 10, noon, 2 and 4. Obviously, those times aren’t always taken up. In those downtimes, I’m doing follow-up with clients via the telephone or working to build a practice so we always have a full schedule. Usually we wrap up the day somewhere around 5 o’clock.

SMA: What are you seeing over the next five years regarding how the landscape may change or improve?
Hobart: One area we’re going to see a change is in the product offering. I think we’re going to have a lot more creativity and competition within the product area, which is very exciting. I like to see companies that aren’t resting on their laurels but instead are creating something new and exciting for us to work with. Compliance is also a big issue. I really think that’s going to shake the industry quite a bit, for better or worse. Also very important is that we’ve got this baby boomer population that is in desperate need of guidance by adequate financial advisors. There are literally trillions of dollars waiting out there to be properly worked with. Over the next five years, I think advisors are going to come in two flavors: The general advisor who’s going to know a lot about a little but not enough about what’s important, and the specialist advisors who will be called to action to work with these baby boomers.

SMA: What are the biggest keys to the success of your practice?
Hollander: Getting good talent to work with me. That’s probably the hardest part: finding really good employees who can do as good a job as I would hope they would do. It’s very hard to find talented people who are committed to help you grow your business.

SMA: What are the biggest issues facing the industry and your practice right now?
Hollander: The biggest issues facing the industry are certainly the federal regulations that are occurring. The Deficit Reduction Act is the first act by Congress to change the Medicaid system as we know it with respect to entitlement programs for people who are 65 and older. So that’s going to deal with homes, with investments, with retirement accounts. I think most advisors and their clients are unaware of how this can affect them and how they need to plan for long term care in the future. It’s really important to understand how they can protect their assets. The other challenge in our industry relates to each advisor doing the best he or she can to get trained and staying committed to improving themselves.

SMA: What are some effective methods of prospecting that you’ve been able to employ?
Hollander: I have been doing seminars since ’94. I see that as the lifeblood of my business. Because I’ve been doing it so long now, I get a lot of referrals. Referrals are key. We also try a one-on-one dinner program that’s worked really well.

SMA: Tell me a little bit about your community involvement and if any of that work has had an effect on your practice.
Hollander: I have devoted my energy and resources to the schools because in California we’re really suffering. There’s a fiscal emergency in California right now, so a lot of the schools are getting cut. In my town, I was somewhat instrumental in forming a fathers’ group that lobbied to re-do our biggest school. The other example would be with the hot lunch program. The school district didn’t really have a hot lunch program. My wife — actually I give her most of the credit — she found a food organization that had quality food for kids and was instrumental in getting that program instituted at the school.

SMA: Tell me a little bit about your typical work schedule.
Hollander: Usually in the morning, I come in and read the research around 6:30 to 7 a.m. Then I’ll typically check my voicemails. I try to block times to return calls. Then I spend a good deal of time looking over client accounts and seeing what needs to happen on a particular day, calling the client and making sure we get that done. We usually have a staff meeting at least once a week, on Monday morning. I also spend quite a bit of time working with my advisors, mentoring them on products and situations and legal issues. I’ll also spend part of the day with my attorneys, and we’ll talk about cases and strategies. I make a big deal about getting home by 6 p.m. because I want to have dinner with my kids. That’s something my clients know.

SMA: Getting out the crystal ball, how do you see the landscape changing or improving over the next five years?
Hollander: The biggest challenge, I think, to our industry right now is that there are a lot of experienced advisors who are getting older. I read recently that something like a third to a half of the financial advisors will be gone in the next 10 to 15 years. That in itself presents a huge challenge and opportunity. I think the second biggest challenge is that, especially in the senior market, the early years were somewhat dark. I think that there’s a huge opportunity to educate as many planners as possible about the options regarding long term care. I really believe that the success of this business goes back to long term care. How are you going to prepare for your client to live eight, ten years in a skilled nursing facility or assisted living?

SMA: What are the biggest keys to the success of your practice?
Loisou: I think it’s a great deal of understanding that I have and patience in working with people and helping them to achieve and develop their particular goals and objectives and what they want to accomplish. And it’s the great deal of passion I have for what I do. And an earnest desire to help, regardless of what the assets may be.

SMA: What do you see as the biggest issues facing the industry and/or your practice?
Loisou: I think it’s knowledge and, quite frankly, the media overall who don’t understand totally what is being done and the strategies that we represent to help people. I think our industry has to do a much better job of providing information in the public arena so that people are aware that we are there to help.

SMA: What have been some of your most effective methods of prospecting for new clients?
Loisou: For me, it certainly has been the workshops — seminar/workshop-type presentations — where people have come forward. People are generally very pleased with the knowledge that’s provided to them and the trust that they sense, and that has been a very good resource for client development. And probably the next most significant one for me has been the referral.

SMA: Talk about your community involvement and what effect that has had on your practice.
Loisou: I’ve been involved in Masonic organizations and I’m involved in the Shriners’ hospitals and the marvelous work that’s done there. Through those organizations, people have recognized what I’ve done and they’ve asked me to do workshops. And as a result of that, clients have developed on a natural basis. I’ve been very involved in several churches in which we’ve been active, and I’ve chaired our Greek festivals, which are in almost every community on an annual basis.

SMA: Tell me about your typical work schedule. What’s a day like
for you?
Loisou: Typically, I have two to four appointments per day with either current clients or prospective clients, and it’s meeting at their home, sometimes their business. And in the interim, there are always telephone calls to be made and administration that needs to be done with regularity. So, that’s basically a typical day — I don’t have a regimented schedule.

SMA: What are your thoughts about the industry over the next five years?
Loisou: I think the industry could do more in communicating the depth of education that we have. I see a greater need for our services as planners, particularly for the upcoming generations, who are not doing a strong job of saving for the future — the 76 or 78 million baby boomers. So there’s going to be a much greater need going forward, for those of us who express concern and really feel for people, to help them for the upcoming years. Here we are, in the economic circumstances that we find ourselves, hearing more and more about people who are raiding their 401(k)s and jeopardizing their entire financial future. For quite some time now, we have had $30 billion worth of employer matching funds that are going unused by employees across the country. That’s $30 billion per year of money that’s just being left on the table and that’s a very sad situation. So I think it’s getting back to the industry as a whole saying, “We really care. Folks, this is what you need to be doing.”

For more from the Advisor of the Year finalists, check out exclusive video interviews with: Rosemary Caligiuri, Chris Hobart, Stefanos Loisou and Mark Fields.