Modernizing Wealth Management Without Losing Your Culture with Anthony Bueti

• Beacon Strategies, LLC
• LinkedIn: BeaconStrategies
• LinkedIn: Chip Kispert
• chipkispert@beaconstrategiesllc.com

[00:01:21] Chip Kispert: RJ, thanks so much. Anthony, great to have you on the show. It’s been too long.

[00:01:27] Anthony Bueti: Thanks for having me. Yep. Excited to be here. Thanks.

[00:01:30] Chip Kispert: We haven’t caught up in, in way too long, and I am so excited to have you on the show. Um, we have a lot to talk about.

I know you’ve been super busy over the last, uh, you know, basically three to four years. Um, and congration- congratulations on a new promotion.

[00:01:50] Anthony Bueti: Thank you. No, I’m, I’m, I’m super excited for, for the new role, stepping into the COO role. Um, you know, there’s been a lot of work done in, um, over [00:02:00] the last couple years and, um, you know, it really was all positioning us to get to this point in time and, and the work that we’re gonna do from now forward.

[00:02:08] Chip Kispert: Well, you know, it’s interesting ’cause obviously I have a lot of backdrop on a, on, on a lot of that work you’ve been doing. Um, but I’m, I’m super interested in kind of your perspective. Um, you know, one of the things that I’ve always been amazed at is the culture that you’ve had at Lincoln. Um, and, you know, as we look at the marketplace and we look at what’s happening out with RIAs and broker-dealers, how do you protect what makes Lincoln so special while also being able to evolve the firm to meet the expanding needs of your advisors?

[00:02:49] Anthony Bueti: Yeah. No, it’s, it’s a great question. And, um, I don’t see- How we change or transform or our evolution, um, as [00:03:00] something that is competing to our cul- culture. I- and, you know, in fact, they are things that actually support each other or, or connected. We change and we ha- we transform so that we can maintain our culture here at Lincoln.

And so, um, and so really it’s, it’s not the risk of change i- itself, it’s the risk of changing too much or in a way that we c- completely lose our identity. So, um, you know, Lincoln’s always been a relationship-driven advisor-centric culture. Um, you know, the firm was founded on a relationship. Nick Forrest founded the firm 57 years ago based on a relationship with the Philadelphia School District, um, a relationship that continues to exist today.

Um, and, you know, our advisors are, um, kind of at the core of everything that we do. Um, we understand that they value their independence, they value the flexibility that they have as independent advisors. Um, and, you know, they like to be known, um, as [00:04:00] individuals and not just a number, right? Um, you know, there are not many firms where an advisor can pick up the phone and, and call the CEO, um, and, and provide feedback.

Now, you know, it’s a double-edged sword sometimes. But it’s part of the culture here. And so, you know, what, what we, we can change to continue to support that culture and support the advisors. What we can’t change is the way that we view advisors and view them as, you know, just distribution, right? They’re our partners, and we try to, we try to treat them as such, and we hope that they look at us in the same way.

[00:04:33] Chip Kispert: You have such an interesting niche that you guys serve in that K through 12 educators and, and retirement plan participant area. Um, given my pa- my parents were teachers, um, I think this is an unbelievably, um, important… This is important work that you guys are doing. Um, how do you see that particular, you know, how are you [00:05:00] expanding helping those educators be better prepared for their future in retirement?

[00:05:07] Anthony Bueti: It’s an interesting challenge and, you know, the, the, um, way we support that business is a little bit different than how we support the advisors that, um, you know, service clients kind of on the other end of the spectrum, kind of the mass affluent up to the high net worth. And so, you know, we always have to kind of keep both of those groups in mind when we’re doing, doing things.

Um, you know, um, over the years, that 43b marketplace or 43b, um, product has evolved through regulations going back to 2008, um, up through, you know, recently, um, even with the pandemic starting a couple years ago. You know, a lot of these advisors, um- Were able to just, you know, they built their business by walking into a school, sitting down in the lunchroom, and as teachers came in, they had a conversation with them about how they [00:06:00] were saving for retirement.

And so as access to schools has gotten, you know, more difficult, uh, over the years and, you know, we’re even hearing, like, you know, their ability to use technology within the schools is, is hard. A lot of these schools kinda lock down access to internet and, and different things. So, you know, we have to find ways for the- to make their jobs easier.

Um, you know, they, they’re competing with other firms that are not broker-dealers and RIAs, and so the regulations are not the same. And so, you know, we try to, we try to find ways to make it simple for them, right? Sit down, have a 15-minute conversation, gather all the information to, um, you know, start that client relationship and get moving, um, so that they can start to, to act ’cause that’s maybe all, all the time they have.

Um, and so we’re, we’re uniquely focused on that because it’s one of our, you know, core competencies, one of the things that we do really, really well, but also have to solve for that, that high net worth client. Um, and so, you know, and we [00:07:00] don’t wanna have different, different experiences across the board and, uh, c- that’s not something that’s scalable.

So, you know, we try to find ways where there are things that we think are commodities that we do, right? So, like, let’s try to make account opening and client onboarding as simple as possible across the board. It’s the same process for advisors and, you know, we can support it and it’s easy and not complex.

Um, and then cater, you know, unique experiences to those advisors and clients that are appropriate for them. So, you know, kinda on the, on the 403side, um, how we show up and how we support them with things that are unique to 403, like loans

[00:07:37] Chip Kispert: and- Mm-hmm …

[00:07:38] Anthony Bueti: pension, uh, rollovers and, and such. And then on the high net worth side, really dipping into more complex products, planning, um, as a, as a, you know, holistic service.

Um, and so really, like we, we have to kind of play on both ends of the spectrum.

[00:07:55] Chip Kispert: I respect that and I, I, I loved how you’re… You, you kinda talked [00:08:00] about a uniform experience and, you know, I have a little inside ball here from working with you guys but, you know, you’ve really been transforming your systems and processes over the past few years.

You know, what are some of the things you’ve learned from that experience?

[00:08:18] Anthony Bueti: Yeah, I mean, it, it’s been an interesting time here at Lincoln. For those who aren’t aware of our story, we, we were a self-clearing firm for a number of years and a few years ago we, we sat down and we looked at the business overall and we said, you know, “What do we wanna be when we grow up?”

And, um, was it the best self-clearing firm in the industry? And when we looked at firms our size There weren’t a lot of firms that were doing self-clearing at 1,000 advisors and at the asset levels. And so we said, “We need to make a, a pretty significant shift. Um, you know, let’s outsource things that we don’t think are directly, um, you know, drive our value proposition at the end of [00:09:00] the day, um, and really start to focus on how we, how we service advisors.”

And so, you know, first thing I would say is, um, transformation or change is not, um, it’s not linear, it’s, it’s iterative.

[00:09:13] Chip Kispert: Right.

[00:09:14] Anthony Bueti: If you don’t get it right, then you have to kind of pivot and change quickly. We didn’t do that enough before. We’re certainly doing that now. And so it’s, um… You know, my boss talks about fail fast, right?

First attempt in learning. If something’s not working right, it’s, you know, it’s okay to say, “Hey, let’s pause for a minute, pivot, and let’s keep moving.” Um, but the ultimate goal is, is continuous change, continuous improvement, and trying to drive, drive value. Um, the other thing I think that really, um, really came, came to the surface over the last couple years is moving off of self-clearing over to a fully disclosed platform, moving-

[00:09:52] Chip Kispert: Mm-hmm

[00:09:53] Anthony Bueti: you know, hundreds of thousands of accounts and data, and honestly that was the easy part of all of this, right? The technology change was [00:10:00] easy. Managing change and managing the people was the hard part. And so, you know, we, we, um, we learned we had to spend as much time on defining process and, you know, data mapping and, like, all the things to, to do the technology side of this transformation.

We probably spent twice the amount of time on how do we get, um, advisors to engage and buy in? How do we get them to learn how to do business in a new way? How do we get, um, our internal teams to understand the vision and the why? And so, like, the change management aspect of it was a huge part of this, this overall initiative.

Um, and then the last thing I’ll say is process has to be core to everything you do, right? Um, if your process isn’t good, and this is me j- this is the ops guy speaking, if your, uh, if your process isn’t good, moving a bad process from one platform to the other is, you know, you, you still have a bad process [00:11:00] at the end of the day.

And so, you know, we took a, we took the opportunity through this transformation to look at the way that we did things and ask the hard questions. Like, why are we doing it? Why do we have certain teams, right? And, and really try to, um, enhance our process and our workflows along the way.

[00:11:19] Chip Kispert: It’s so interesting because we, we’ve just seen so many times where people have moved existing processes to new technology, and it, it just creates m- almost more problems- Mm-hmm

than revisiting and, and evolving those processes to meet kind of the current environment. And kudos for you guy- to you guys for doing all that hard work.

[00:11:45] Anthony Bueti: Mm-hmm.

[00:11:47] Chip Kispert: Listen, you’ve been in the independent channel for a, a lot of years. Um, with your experience, it’s really, as we look at, at kind of the IBD, the [00:12:00] RIA, um, the insurance, all that space, um, man, the change is incredible, even over the last three years if you look at it.

I think probably more than at any time in my career. W- what do you see linking L- Lincoln looking like in five years, all right? And, you know, what are some of the things you’re doing to, to really go in that direction?

[00:12:24] Anthony Bueti: Yeah. No, and, and, you know, the, the transformation that we, we started a couple years ago, um, was, was as much about fixing current risks and current processes as it was, you know, putting us in a position to be, um, relevant and stronger five years from now, right?

And so all that work was really the foundation for what we’re about to do and what we’ll continue to do. Um, our, our CEO, Ed Forst, always closes, um, our town halls and, you know, large advisor, uh, gatherings with this [00:13:00] slide. It’s kind of a, a, a road that’s kinda going off into the, um, horizon, and it’s, uh, years.

You know, 2026, 2027. And, um, across the top this year it was, you know, we’re in year 57 of our 100-year plan. Um, and, you know, it made its appearance a few years ago when we turned 50, um, and he uses it every… I mean, I see it probably at least six times a year- … in presentations. It’s a lot of things. I think, you know, first and foremo- it’s a commitment to independence, right?

Like, we’re a family-owned firm. We’re an independent firm. Um, there’s, you know, to your point earlier, there’s all of this a- activity in the marketplace with acquisitions and consolidations and, you know… And it, it’s, it’s a direct commentary on what’s happening there. Um, but it also helps with, uh, you know, a lot of the, the perception and the feedback that we’re getting from our partners in the field and, and, you know, and recruiters from other firms when they see the changes that we’re going through.

And, [00:14:00] you know, we, we… Advisors got a ton of calls from recruiters saying, “Hey, Lincoln’s doing all this work,” so they can get ready to sell. Um, I, I, you know, I can tell you honestly, we wouldn’t, we wouldn’t have done all that work and spent the money that we spent and reinvested in the business if we were gonna turn around and sell.

So, you know, it, it’s this commitment to, um, independence to get us to, you know, the next five years and the next five years. Um, but, you know, what we wanted to build was a platform that allowed us to be a firm that emphasized service over task execution, right? Like, we were very task-oriented, you know, the way that we ran the business- We’ve pivoted now with some of the outsourcing that we’re doing to our clearing partner and really trying to hone in and focus on how do we deliver service better?

How do we meet the advisor where they need to be met?

[00:14:50] Chip Kispert: Right.

[00:14:52] Anthony Bueti: How do we build a platform where advisors can spend more time growing their business and less time with, you know, overly complex and, you know, [00:15:00] operational tasks? And, like, making it easier to do business is, is really kind of what- where we wanna be in the next five years.

[00:15:07] Chip Kispert: I love how you guys just, you know, y- you just try to get a little better every day. Um, yes, you’ve taken on some big chunks and gotten better but, you know, uh- uh, whenever I talk to your leadership team and, and yourself, you’re always, you’re always trying to, you know, make incremental improvements, as you noted earlier.

[00:15:28] Anthony Bueti: Yeah. No, and then, you know, I think, I, I think one, one of the things we learned along the way is, like it’s, um, that incremental progress, you know, it helps to build credibility and trust and, you know, from our, our partners out in the field. So, you know, wherever we, we can avoid doing some type of like big bang change and, you know, you know, uh, certainly from a risk perspective, it, it, it reduces that.

But, you know, again, building that credibility, showing that, you know, the commitment to execution and change and doing it the [00:16:00] right way day over day over day, it helps with, you know, build that, that cre- credibility that we need as their partner.

[00:16:07] Chip Kispert: That’s great. All right, so I’m gonna change… How about we change the trajectory a little bit?

Um, and I always love to ask this question, who are the people in companies that you actively follow, and what are they doing to change the narrative?

[00:16:25] Anthony Bueti: Outside of you, you mean?

[00:16:28] Chip Kispert: Thank you.

[00:16:30] Anthony Bueti: I will say I’m not great at this. Like I, I do, like scan industry news. I, I like, you know, browse social media and, you know, I try to read a lot and, um, just to see what other firms like us are doing, where, you know, where they’re rolling out new products, how the, you know, who, like what new partners they’re integrating with.

[00:16:50] Chip Kispert: Right.

[00:16:51] Anthony Bueti: What I do try to do, and I’ve, you know, when I get an opportunity through industry groups like FSI, um, I was on their ops and tech [00:17:00] council for a few years. Um, I’ve had the opportunity to sit in on Pershing’s Wealth Advisory Board. I do try to build my network and connect with industry operators who’ve built platforms at scale, who’ve lived through integrations, who’ve dealt with, you know, regulatory change.

And I try to like, you know, connect with them and then, you know, go back to them and, and try to u- you know, help, help them help me or, you know, um, work with them over time. And so- You know, made a, a, a, a lot of new friends over the last couple years. And, you know, I do call on them frequently to say, “Hey, we have this problem we’re trying to solve.

Have you ever, you know, you know, dealt with this or done this? Or, you know, what’s your feedback?”

[00:17:46] Chip Kispert: Sure.

[00:17:46] Anthony Bueti: Um, and so, um, you know, try to do that whenever possible. Um, I also, I also… I- if I am looking out at other, other firms out there in, in our space, it’s… A lot of times I’m [00:18:00] focusing on technology firms that are focused on workflow.

And maybe this is, like, the ops nerd in me, but, like, um, like, that draws my attention. Like, and, and I find, I find I spend a lot of time thinking about, how do I connect dots differently in a way that’s more efficient and, you know, less, creates less risk and have more controls? And so, you know, technology’s at the core of that.

And so, um, always interested in, you know, um, those firms that are coming out with new ways to support onboarding or, you know, different, different things that are, are a challenge, um, in our space. Um, and I guess the last thing I do and, um, is I, I try to make the most of, uh, of, of my relationship with our clearing partner, Pershing, and I’m sure that I’m a giant pain in the ass sometimes.

But I don’t view them as just they’re our clearing partner, right? And, you know, the decision to go with them, um, a couple years ago was as much about what they could do in that space, but [00:19:00] also tapping into one of the oldest financial institutions in the country, right? Um, you know, a firm that has nearly 60 trillion in assets under custody and, and the, the, the scope of services they provide outside of what a typical independent firm would require them is immense.

And so, you know, have, have been able to, to have conversations or meet people throughout the bank, um, you know, a- and get information about new products and, um, you know, new things coming to market. Like this whole digital asset, um, change that’s happening out there, um, you know, was able to get a lot of great information from them.

The changes in the ETF space, uh, I… which I think is gonna be massive, right? Um, you know, they’re sitting at the center of a lot of that, and so it’s great to have a partner that’s, you know… will open up their, their doors and, and make their resources available.

[00:19:56] Chip Kispert: That’s great. That, uh, you packed a lot into [00:20:00] that, uh, that answer.

All right. So one of the things we like to do, you know, and we’re moving towards the end of our conversation here. Um, but I always, we always like to do the 1% better flash, um, and it’s how we close the, the show. But we’ll hand you the mic for 90 seconds and let you, uh, share a few things that you’re thinking about.

No script, none of that. So the mic’s yours, Anthony. And

[00:20:27] Anthony Bueti: I thought about this for, for a while and, um, you know- I find myself more and more, um, recently, you know, thinking and talking about people within the firm. And so, you know, and, and that’s kind of a theme that we’ve talked about throughout this discussion is kind of people and culture.

Um, in, in wealth management, we, we focus a lot on strategy and technology and growth and product and regulations, and like all of that is really, really important, right? It’s, you know, it’s kind of what drives the, um, [00:21:00] the financials of the business. But none of it really works, it doesn’t come together without the right people and the right culture kind of holding it all together.

Um, you know, it, it shows up in a number of different ways. It shows up with our advisors and how they, um, support their, their clients and advocate for their clients. Um, it shows up internally on how teams collaborate and, you know, and, and how we overall as a firm put our clients, which is our advisors and their end clients first.

And, you know, the, um, the, the changes that we go through day in and day out really are a stress to culture sometimes. It’s something that I’ve, again, over the last, uh, you know, few months have really started to hone in on. Um, I was at a conference recently where the keynote speaker was a, a, a guy named Jake Wood.

Mm-hmm. If you don’t know him, really just a really impressive human being, um, if you look up his story. Um, and he said, uh, “Culture is the way decisions are made in the absence of [00:22:00] leadership,” which is, uh, I thought was really, really, um, a great way to kind of define it.

[00:22:05] Chip Kispert: Yeah. Very interesting.

[00:22:06] Anthony Bueti: And so as leaders of organizations, um, like I said, it’s important to, to, to think about strategy and technology.

Like we, we have to spend as much time being thoughtful about the culture and the way that our, our leadership drives culture intentionally to make sure that, you know, w- we’re, we’re running our firms the right way, that we’re, you know, building the teams that, um, can deliver, uh, o- on the, the priorities and the goals that we set, uh, for them.

So, you know, culture is huge.

[00:22:40] Chip Kispert: It’s interesting ’cause as I, uh, spend more time in this industry, um, it, it is so… Culture is so important, and y- y- you hit it r- right the nail on the head there, Anthony, so thank you for that. That was terrific insight. [00:23:00] All right, Anthony. Well, I wanna thank you for being on our podcast.

Uh, you’ve been a terrific, uh, guest and loved to hear what you said, so thank you for, for spending some time with us and, uh, until next time.

[00:23:17] Anthony Bueti: Awesome. Thanks for having me again.

[00:23:19] Chip Kispert: RJ, what a conversation with Anthony. I, I really enjoyed that. Uh, it went in a little different direction than I thought, but I loved where he went with it

[00:23:30] RJ Malyk: It really, the theme of the conversation to me was the word change, because it sounded like he went through his, his business went through a lot of change, and, um, the one point where he talked about how tech, the tech change was easy, but the people change was difficult.

And it brought me ba- brought me back to a situation I had with a radio s- two radio stations where I was the, the manager, and the one we made change, the staff bought into it, and the ch- station just [00:24:00] took off. The second station I, I worked at where I had to make some changes, they fought me tooth and nail, and it was just a tough situation.

It was a veteran staff that I came into from the outside, and it, so when he was talking about change, it just brought me back to that. And change, technical change is easy. People change, that’s a challenge.

[00:24:22] Chip Kispert: You know, as, as, as a consultant who’s done this for too many decades at this point, um, change is hard.

And, you know, three things that I really took out of the conversation, um, and it really, it, his comments really impressed me with it. A firm can modernize without losing its culture. That’s one. Um, the other thing I heard in there was, um, a big challenge is supporting, you know, different types of clients and advisor needs.

Well, well, basically just keeping those core processes simple and consistent. [00:25:00] And then, hey, the, the third one that I have here, just like you said, change management is hard, and it actually matters more than the technology itself lots of times. Um, and I loved how Anthony kind of rounded, rounded or packaged it all up in with his long-term success really depends on people, culture, and steady improvement, which dovetails with our 1% Better Ev- Podcast Every Day, right?

[00:25:27] RJ Malyk: Absolutely. Yes.

[00:25:29] Chip Kispert: All right, everyone, uh, as we wrap this up, I always like to, uh, share one of my favorite quotes. Ted Lasso said it best: “Be curious, not judgmental.” Stay curious about the people around you, the firms doing things differently, and the work in front of you. That’s how you get 1% better every day.

This is Chip Kispert signing off.

[00:25:54] RJ Malyk: All right, Chip. Thank you. And we need to add in a shout-out as this podcast is brought to you by Beacon [00:26:00] Strategies LLC, the go-to resource for roundtables, consulting, and services that support wealth management firms and their providers. If you need some industry perspective or help, please visit beaconstrategiesllc.com.

Again, thank you for listening to the Beacon 1% Better podcast. We ask you to share this podcast, rate it, and leave a review because this actually helps others find the podcast. Again, thank you for listening. And for Chip Kispert and everyone at Beacon Strategies, I’m RJ Malik, and we look forward to you joining us for our next podcast.

Thanks for joining us on Beacon’s 1% Better Every Day podcast.

Be sure to hit that follow button so you never miss an episode and stay up to date with Chip and his friends’ latest insights and strategies. If you want to learn more about Beacon Strategies or get in touch, visit us at beaconstrategiesllc.com.

Remember, progress starts with just 1% every day. Let’s [00:27:00] keep challenging ourselves to be curious and grow. The information covered and posted represents the views and opinions of the guest and does not necessarily represent the views or opinions of Beacon Strategies. The content has been made available for informational and educational purposes only.

The content is not intended to be a substitute for professional investing advice.