On this week's episode of the Financial Planning Podcast, Julie Genjac talks about how the industry can get the next crop of potential planners fired up about fiduciary duty.
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But wealth management has not done the best job of presenting itself as an attractive career path for those not already familiar with it. Lost in all the discussion about assets and market performance is the reality that advisors are in a people-first industry, one that rewards creativity and authenticity.
As a 20-year industry veteran who spends time coaching and consulting firms on this very topic, Genjac believes there is great opportunity for up-and-coming advisors who can harness the power of their own life experiences to take the profession to new heights.
During her conversation with FP Podcast host and lead editorial producer Justin L. Mack, Genjac talks about why she is so excited about the future of the business, what young advisors breaking into the world of financial services need to know and how she earned the nickname "Queen of Efficiency."
Listen to the new episode — as well as to all future and past episodes — by subscribing to the FP Podcast on
Transcript:
Justin L. Mack (00:02):
Good morning, good afternoon and good evening. Welcome to the Financial Planning Podcast. I'm your host, Justin L. Mack, wealthtech editor with Financial Planning, and it is my pleasure to introduce this week's guest, Julie Genjac, vice president and managing director of applied insights at Hartford Funds and co-host of the Human-Centric Investing podcast. Julie, thank you so much for joining us on the show this week.
Julie Genjac (00:23):
Thank you. I'm delighted to be here.
Justin L. Mack (00:25):
Absolutely. Now, Julie brings to this week's episode of the FP Pod more than 20 years of experience as a leader at Hartford Funds. She engages and educates financial professionals and their clients about emerging trends and opportunities in financial services. Practice management, team dynamics, anticipating and preparing for life's major changes. It's all right in her wheelhouse. And in the podcast world, she is one half of the duo that leads the Human-Centric Investing podcast for Hartford. Before joining the Hartford Funds team in 2018, Julie was a senior vice president and director of practice management and professional development at D.A. Davidson and Company where she created and implemented professional coaching and training programs to enhance productivity and the client experience. Julie believes that financial professionals occupy the industry's most difficult seat, and it's only getting tougher. As the world turns, the profession must turn with it. We'll talk about all that on this week's show. But Julie, as always, I love to start at the beginning. And I just wanted to talk to you first about how you got into the world of financial services and in this industry, because it's not an easy one. And sometimes it's one that we don't always do the best job of letting folks know that it exists. You might be perfect for it, but it doesn't exactly grab the attention of a lot of wonderful, talented people who might be perfect for it. So how did it grab you and how did you get here?
Julie Genjac (01:39):
Well, I think thank you for that introduction, and you're absolutely right. It doesn't always necessarily grab all of the people that we could. But I was very fortunate through a family friend to secure an internship at the age of 17. So, the summer before my senior year in high school at a brokerage shop here in Bellevue, Washington, where I lived at the time. And I was able to see how a branch worked from behind the scenes. So that fly on the wall, understanding not only the role of what back in the day was a stockbroker, but all of the different roles of operations and how the pieces fit together. And I think what was so fascinating to me was watching that well-oiled machine come together and deliver a client experience. And they allowed me to be an intern for that year, but also all through my college. So I was there for five years and what it taught me was, I didn't have a passion for the investments themselves. I didn't hop out of bed in the morning wondering what the market was opening at necessarily, but [instead] trying to see how all of these people could fit together to become more efficient and deliver that client experience was an absolute passion for me and something that I knew I needed to commit my career to.
Justin L. Mack (03:02):
Definitely. And I think sometimes that gets lost. Because financial services, one half of that word is services, and that's often in service of people … whether it be the people who are coming to an advisor or an institution to get help or the people who want to dispatch that help. It's very rewarding because you get to be with these people from step one, see them go through whatever financial journey they might be on and understand that you had a hand in that. And it seemed like that grabbed you even at a young age, which is really cool. And definitely not the typical 17-year old's job. That's pretty different. Have to ask too, just when you were that young, did you have any kind of idea on what that world might be like? Whether it be based on something you saw on TV or in a book, what was your perception of financial services going into it and how different was it at the end of that five-year experience?
Julie Genjac (03:50):
I thought it was just about the investments, that the only role was the person managing clients' money, and that was very intimidating to me. I was interested and curious, but it was very intimidating and overwhelming. And what that internship helped me realize was that the financial advisor is merely one role, albeit a very important role, but one role of so many individuals. Like I said, [one] that had expertise in operations or financial planning or the managerial aspect of the administrative layer, which are also crucial to how all of the pieces fit together. And it was so eye-opening to me. That's where I have committed much of my career. And a lot of my time I spend mentoring young professionals and talking about all of those services. As you so beautifully stated, there are so many more roles outside of the financial advisor, him or herself.
Justin L. Mack (04:52):
And jumping back into that, let's talk a little bit about that financial advisor, a very busy person in this system that is financial services, and their role has evolved drastically over time. Talk to me a little bit about what you think the role of the modern financial advisor is today and how that role has changed over the years.
Julie Genjac (05:10):
Well, I think we've all seen the industry evolve from the value that the stockbroker or the advisor historically brought to the table, which was the investments themselves. They were the conduit to that solution, that implementation and providing those vehicles to clients. And the statement was reviewed. It was a performance review. We were looking at the bar charts and that was really the crux of the conversation or the meat of it, if you will. But I really see the future of financial advice is positioning advisors to be a longevity advisor to their clients. How do they help them navigate aging and navigate aging gracefully and live a better quality of life as they age?
(06:12)
It's interesting. We have a close relationship at Hartford Funds with the MIT AgeLab. And Dr. Joe Coughlin who founded that lab and runs it to this day says that educating and connecting clients to resources is what our clients continue to ask for. And so I think that that's really exciting and it's an opportunity that financial professionals have. To deliver things that are unique to them. We all know that client education levels have increased with every passing decade, and their ability to use and access technology at their fingertips, whether it's through their iPads or their devices. And so expectations of how they deliver advice have continued to change and rise from the financial professional expertise and perspective. And I think at the end of the day, clients are asking the question, how are you exciting and delighting me? It's not just about my portfolio review. How are you helping me access things in life, give me ideas to solutions maybe that I hadn't thought about before or maybe ultimately help me think differently about my own aging and longevity process?
Justin L. Mack (07:27):
Definitely. And I love what you said too, especially as the wealthtech reporter here at FP, about the impact technology has had on that client-advisor relationship. Not just because of what we can do and the access we can provide that might be a little bit more hands-on. A little bit closer to 24/7 than it has been in the past. But that expectation from the end user, everything is easier. Everything is better. I joke about it all the time. I'm very much into consumer technology. Cell phones and the tracking the progress from tech like Betamax and HD DVDs that don't exist anymore, thankfully. All that stuff. And now when you recommend something, there's no bad option. You want a cell phone? Everything's good. So when someone is shopping for an advisor, there's the understanding that the experience they're going to provide on the digital end is good. Because everything else I use, ordering food, ordering packages, it just works. So why don't you?
(08:19)
It's a tough hurdle to overcome, and I want to follow-up on that point you made with one that's very important to us. Just how the industry is changing as more people understand they probably need an advisor. Requests for financial advisors are over the past three or four years. But with that, we're seeing the industry continue to age and get closer to a large number of folks retiring and leaving this industry. So we've got a problem. We've got a high demand and supply might be getting ready to say, "thanks, it's been a good career." How do we overcome that problem? What are you seeing there and what do you think we can do about it?
Julie Genjac (08:53):
It's interesting. This is probably one of the things that keeps me up at 2 a.m., and in my opinion, I think teaming in the financial services industry started a little bit too late. And what I mean by that is I think there were so many financial professionals that were solo practitioners and thought that when they got a little bit closer to retirement, they would either bring on that junior partner or they would ultimately transition their book to another advisor in the office. And that was sort of their legacy plan or their transition plan. Many work on creating those multi-generational teams five, seven, 10, 15 years in advance of that retirement. And I think oftentimes — and this is a dangerous phrase and I'm sure you would agree with me — it's that "because I've always done it this way mentality." How it's always been done? It's worked for me. I've been in the industry for 35 years. Why would I change now?
(09:53)
And I think that mindset has caught us a little bit behind in terms of having that forward-looking approach to building teams that ultimately can take over a book as our advisors start to retire. And so I think we're just behind and having those teams built. It's changed significantly in the last few years. In fact, the teaming conversation is the number one most frequent conversation that I have, and I truly believe that a lot of these more seasoned solo practitioners are excited to build the team. They're finding energy in their junior partner and it's infusing just all sorts of innovative ideas. But I think we have some work to do in short order in terms of attracting this talent to the industry. And hopefully with the next generation of advisors, helping them build those teams well in advance of any impending retirement so that we don't have a mismatch of desire for advice and number of advisors to provide it.
Justin L. Mack (10:52):
Absolutely. And with that, we're going to take a quick break and enjoy a word from our sponsors. But when we return, we'll have more with Julie Genjac of Hartford Funds. Stay locked. We'll be right back after this break.
And welcome back to the Financial Planning podcast. I'm your host Justin Mack, and we're diving back into our conversation this week with Julie Genjac of Hartford Funds. Now, Julie, before the break, we talked about what is another important hurdle for the industry in the future, which is that next generation of talent. That next group that's going to really push things forward and have the kind of gains we've seen in the industry thus far. But how do we make this industry cool to those folks? Those folks who might be on a different trajectory altogether. And it's one of the reasons that since I've started doing the podcast: I always ask guests, how did you get here?
(11:38)
How did you end up in this industry? And what I've noticed is that every story is vastly different. Folks who were maybe in a completely different industry. I've had scientists, I've had folks who were getting ready to maybe go be a lawyer or whatever they were going to do, and they ended up here and are veterans. People who are leaders. People who are making an impact. But they had no plans of doing this when they first entered college. That's huge. So we know the talent is there, so how do we appeal and, I guess, fix the marketing problem that financial services has and bring those folks into our orbit?
Julie Genjac (12:09):
Yeah, it's such an interesting question and my mind is always swirling with ideas. I think there are some positive avenues and aspects that have started to develop. So first and foremost, I know many, many colleges are creating sort of a financial planning path or designation where individuals graduate and they're ready to sit for the CFP, which I think is incredibly exciting. So I think that's a great avenue, and I just hung up with a financial professional about 30 minutes ago and we were having that exact conversation. He's looking to expand his team and is excited to tap into that and some of the local colleges and universities and his city. But I think if we shift gears into sort of the non-traditional paths, as you so aptly mentioned a moment ago, if we think outside of the traditional business or finance students. I majored in economics and I say every day, if I had to do it over again, I would've majored in psychology all day long. Even knowing that I loved this industry and I was on this path because, at the end of the day, it's people dealing with other people. That human-to-human interaction.
(13:15)
And I just think that, for example, the psychology foundation would've been invaluable to me. Now, I took it upon myself to become a registered corporate coach and a certified advanced corporate coach in order to have some of those sort of coaching and people arrows in my own quiver. But I think if we think about people outside of those majors and this path and all of the really talented and caring individuals that are working in, say, the nonprofit sector or healthcare or continuing care homes or real estate or the construction industry. All of these individuals that have firsthand knowledge or skills or passion around all of the areas of advice that our clients and prospects ultimately are looking for as they navigate their longevity, as we talked about a moment ago, or navigate family situations. They're asking themselves or for their parents, where can I live safely? Or, can I stay in my home and not risk breaking my hip?
(14:15)
Or, how do I create a gifting legacy for my family or share with them the meaning or purpose of my wealth or what continuing care options are there for me? Even all of those human situations and all of these individuals that potentially have expertise in all of those human situations, those are the individuals that I would be looking to bring on my team if I were a financial professional sitting here right now. And I think just as an industry, for so long we've focused on that traditional path of sourcing new advisors that have the passion for the investments. And I'm just really hoping that our industry continues to broaden the search and look outside of that box to find these amazing people that just want to help other people, and especially in ways that aren't just with their investments. Not to say that that's not crucially important, but all of those conversations are so important in the client experience.
Justin L. Mack (15:10):
Absolutely, absolutely. And while we work on bringing in that new talent who might not know that they're perfect for this business yet, let's transition to those folks who know that they're ready for this and are preparing to enter the industry. Might be brand new advisors, might be brand new to the industry, maybe they are in the process of grinding right now to go after that CFP designation. Not an easy thing to do, but we know they're out there. For example, the beginning of 2022 started with the CFP Board celebrating their biggest, most diverse class ever. And it looks like 2023 is going to be more of the same. So new blood is coming into this industry and they are ready to go. So with that in mind, any advice or what kind of trends should these new folks, or even advisors who are in the very early stages of their career, be focused on as far as growing and becoming the next leader and having a 20-year career themselves when they look back?
Julie Genjac (15:59):
Absolutely. Two things that spring to mind. First and foremost, I've mentioned the words longevity advisor a couple of times, and really what I envision in that is a financial professional, creating a network of individuals that can help clients navigate various things in their lives. So maybe it's a geriatric care manager. Maybe it's someone that manages a local retirement home. Maybe it's a funeral director. Maybe it's someone who specializes in helping seniors stay physically active. But all of these people have these amazing areas of expertise, and bringing them into a network in order to connect clients with them at various stages of their lifecycle. And really, I think traditionally the financial professional network has been an estate planning attorney and a CPA and maybe someone who brings insurance expertise to the table. Now, those are crucially important people, but how do we expand that network to truly encapsulate all aspects of aging?
(16:59)
So I would think that that is certainly one path for a financial professional to explore, is building his or her own longevity network for clients and in their own practice. The second avenue, I call it tapping into your human-centric team. So what I mean by that is, I just think that we have an opportunity for financial professionals to look beyond the traditional designations or educational paths that we've gone down. Not that they're not important … but who are we as a human? What life experiences have we had on our teams and how do we bring those to the forefront? Chances are, every team that I sit down and coach or have a consulting conversation with, they have oftentimes, in maybe caring for a family member that experienced Alzheimer's or the sale of a family business or divorce or a special needs situation, all of these things that our clients are also experiencing. And so how do we craft those personal stories into stories that we can use to connect with our clients and prospects from a human to human perspective? And I just think harnessing the power of story on our teams and leveraging those human experiences is an untapped territory that I'm excited to help teams continue to bring to the forefront.
Justin L. Mack (18:25):
Definitely. And love that focus on the personal story. Who you are and how does that coincide with what you do? And why does that all come together to make you someone that stands out or that's going to be special? And speaking of personal stories, something I wanted to ask you about in doing my prep for the podcast, I saw in your bio you have the moniker the "Queen of Efficiency." Tell me what that's all about.
Julie Genjac (18:48):
Absolutely. So I love to innovate, but I also call it innovating through simplicity. So if something is five steps, how can we get it to three? If it's eight pages, how can we cut it down to six? And so that's really the door that I enter when I work with teams in coaching conversations. But it's a way of life for me. So really what I've tried to do is structure my life so that I'm touching projects or activities as few times as possible. That I am responding to emails as quickly as I can. So for example, I have systems. Nothing is in my inbox unless there is an activity associated with it that I have to do. If I have responded to it, it gets filed away. If it's junk, it gets deleted. Things are always sorted. So that inbox is just the to-do list.
(19:41)
I've gotten to know myself through some self-reflection, and I know that I'm a morning person. And so the mornings are when I create. I bite off my bigger projects. I know that if I wait until 4 p.m. to dig into a project in earnest, it's not going to be productive time. And I also have created a system where I tackle the biggest, most challenging project or conversation first thing. And then that way, once that's done, everything from there is downhill. And it's amazing the energy that gives you. So for me, the "Queen of Efficiency" was really about getting to know myself, my strengths, my gaps, and leveraging the strengths and structuring my days so that I am using myself as efficiently as possible. And really, I just tried to cross things off that to-do list in as effective a manner as possible.
Justin L. Mack (20:38):
Absolutely. Absolutely. Love that. And man, I could use some of that help with my inbox because, whoo boy, a very different story in mine.
Julie Genjac (20:45):
That's probably a scary place. I don't want to look.
Justin L. Mack (20:47):
<laugh>. Hey, a reporter's inbox is a very, very scary place. But more on that in another podcast perhaps.
So, very last thing that I'd love to ask you, and it has become customary here on the Financial Planning Podcast. I'd like to end with some good vibes. We talked about your career, your trajectory into it, and how you've really dedicated yourself to helping not only other people in it, but the industry at large. You want to see it grow, want to see it change, want to see it evolve because as we know, this world is going to change faster than we realize. So knowing all that and thinking back, what is your favorite thing about your job? What do you love most about the work that you do?
Julie Genjac (21:23):
So I am so fortunate to get to speak with financial professionals across the country with different sizes of teams, different structures, different niches, different industry experience, and they share with me their vision, their challenges, their goals, and then we work together to build a plan to help them grow. And I just feel so fortunate to be able to learn from them and then be a conduit to share all of their learnings and best practices with other teams. I just think I consider myself to be very, very lucky to be that connector of best practices and try to share my thoughts and continue to spread the Queen of Efficiency vibes all across the country with financial professionals. From West Coast to East Coast.
Justin L. Mack (22:14):
All right, love it. Well, continue efficiently spreading those good vibes. And I want to thank you again for joining us on this week's edition of the Financial Planning Podcast.
Julie Genjac (22:22):
Thank you again for having me.
Justin L. Mack (22:24):
Absolutely. And I want to thank everyone for listening to this edition of the Financial Planning Podcast. This episode was produced by Arizent with all your production by Kevin Parise. Special thanks again to our guests, Julie Genjac of Hartford Funds. Rate us, review us and subscribe to all of our content at www.financial-planning.com/subscribe. for Financial Planning, I'm Justin Mack. Thanks for listening.