by Jim Stackpool | Nov 21, 2011 | Benchmarks, Business Performance, Competitive pressures, Future of Financial Advice, Measures of Success, Selling Your Business
I reckon the current valuations of financial services firms reflect a massive and growing Ponzi scheme. A Ponzi scheme underwritten by Australia’s major financial institutions. My reasoning is as follows: Valuations of 2.5+ times on-going revenue are still common for...
by Jim Stackpool | Nov 3, 2011 | Benchmarks, Business Performance, Measures of Success, Planning
Do you know your numbers? I’m amazed how well advisers know the “numbers” (i.e. portfolio balances, sums insured, cash flow balances) in the lives of their clients yet pay a fraction of attention to the “numbers” in their own business lives. I’ve long been a fan of...
by Jim Stackpool | Nov 8, 2010 | Benchmarks, Business Performance
I met with a group of great up and coming advisers last week. They spoke about their plans of how they are building their advice businesses. They were eager to understand any ‘rules of thumb’ that might support their efforts to build sustainable and...
by Jim Stackpool | Nov 1, 2008 | Benchmarks, Business Performance, Measures of Success, Minimum Pricing
A sole focus on profit or business value produces the same result as a sole focus on your scorecard during a game of golf. I don’t believe it works. Good profits or business values are results and outcomes of playing a good game. If your sole focus is profit, it’s...
by Jim Stackpool | Apr 1, 2008 | Benchmarks, Client Care, Client Offerings, Consultative Approach, Wealth Management
It has become a truism that wealth managers generate greater success than do other types of financial advisers, and that advisers therefore should move toward the wealth management model. But the term “wealth management” is omnipresent in today’s financial services...
by Jim Stackpool | Jan 1, 2008 | Benchmarks, Selling Your Business
Only a very few firms are worth more than 10 times their earnings, so practices seeking extraordinarily high P/E ratios require breakthrough achievements. James McGregor of Bridges in Sydney recently summed up the common challenge faced by business people building...
