In this episode of The Same Day Podcast, host Yoni Schmidt is joined by Morgan Martin, Vice President and a Wealth Management Advisor at Merrill Lynch, to discuss the importance of relationship-driven wealth management in the modern financial landscape. They explore how personalized service is becoming a key differentiator, the role of technology in enhancing but not replacing human interaction, and the urgent challenges and exciting opportunities in guiding the next generation of clients.
The Future of Financial Advising: Building Relationships Over Returns
Morgan Martin is the Vice President and a Wealth Management Advisor at Merrill Lynch, one of the largest wealth management businesses in the world. He has been recognized on the 2023 Forbes Best-In-State Wealth Management Teams list, ranking number one in Oklahoma. With over a decade of experience and a robust educational background from The University of Oklahoma, Morgan excels in financial planning, asset management, and investment strategies. He is known for his meticulous approach to client wealth management, focusing on personalized financial solutions. A community leader and family man, Morgan values personal connections and leverages his expertise to serve diverse clients.
Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:
- [2:51] Morgan Martin shares what drew him into the world of finance and wealth management
- [4:39] The impact of diversified educational experiences on a wealth management career path
- [7:42] The distinct qualities that set Morgan’s team apart in the competitive field of wealth management
- [10:22] Challenges and strategies of managing complex and diverse investment portfolios for clients
- [16:58] The intricacies of serving high-net-worth individuals and institutions
- [20:55] The importance of continuous education and staying informed on the trends in the wealth management sector
- [24:09] The key contributions of technology to wealth management operations and client interactions
- [27:00] Morgan’s advice for young professionals aspiring to enter the wealth management industry
- [39:07] Handling sensitive topics like wealth transfer and family financial planning
- [42:34] How the landscape of financial management is evolving
In this episode…
In a world where algorithms and automated services increasingly drive financial advising, what truly sets one advisor apart from another? Is it possible that the future of wealth management lies not in the race for the highest returns but in the strength of the relationships between advisors and their clients?
According to Morgan Martin, a seasoned wealth management professional with extensive experience guiding high-net-worth clients, the real value in financial advising comes from building and nurturing long-term relationships. He highlights that while technology and automation have revolutionized the industry, they must maintain trust and understanding developed over years of personal interaction. Morgan emphasizes that clients today seek more than just financial advice — they seek an advisor who knows their family, understands their goals, and can provide tailored guidance that a robo-advisor simply cannot. This approach fosters loyalty and ensures that the advisor can better navigate the complexities of wealth management across generations.
Resources mentioned in this episode:
- Yoni Schmidt on LinkedIn
- Mat Zalk on LinkedIn
- Walter Bowser on LinkedIn
- Keyrenter Property Management
- Keyrenter Property Management in Tulsa | Oklahoma City | Arkansas
- Keyrenter Property Management email address: [email protected]
- Morgan Martin on LinkedIn
- Merrill Lynch Wealth Management
Special Mentions
Related Episodes
- “The Future of Luxury Living: A Deep Dive Into Miami’s High-Rises” with Zach Freedman on The Same Day Podcast
- “Exploring New Possibilities in Entrepreneurship” with Chip Gaberino on The Same Day Podcast
- “Revitalizing Communities Through Multi-Concept Restaurant Development” with Elliot Nelson on The Same Day Podcast
Quotable Moments
- “I really enjoy the relational aspect of working with folks, getting to know them, helping as a consultant, as a fiduciary.”
- “Our service model is very much catered towards high net worth folks who want a person that they can know and trust.”
- “The service model that we’re providing has to keep up with the times.”
- “It’s going to be harder and harder to get a person on the phone, which is why people want to work with us because of the human side of things.”
- “I view our relationships with folks over decades rather than just selling some product and going our separate ways.”
Action Steps
- Seek a mentor in the wealth management field; their seasoned perspective can provide invaluable guidance and opportunities for growth: Networking with a mentor allows for learning from real-world experiences and can accelerate career development in finance.
- Embrace technology and learn to use it to enhance client services and operational efficiency: Technologies like AI can automate tasks, but mastering them provides a competitive edge in delivering personalized services.
- Understand and respect family dynamics when discussing wealth transfer to provide seamless financial transitions: Assessing the emotional and relational aspects of wealth transfer helps in developing strategies that align with the family’s values
- Remain committed to continuous learning in finance to adapt to market changes and evolving client needs: Staying educated on the latest industry trends ensures the ability to offer relevant and current financial advice.
- Focus on building relationships with clients, viewing each interaction as part of a long-term partnership: Building trust with clients through consistent, high-quality services creates a sustainable and referral-worthy business practice.
Sponsor for this episode…
Keyrenter Property Management:
This episode is brought to you by Keyrenter Property Management.
Keyrenter Property Management is a full-service property management company that helps clients buy, renovate, and operate real estate assets.
The team helps clients build wealth while taking the headache out of property management.
That’s why, no matter what rental you have — single-family homes, condos, townhomes, or apartments — they can give you the management solutions you need.
To learn more about their services, go to https://keyrenterpmc.com/ or send them an email at [email protected].
Episode Transcript
Intro 0:05
Welcome to The Same Day Podcast where we discuss driving incremental business growth and other topics related to real estate, property management and entrepreneurship. Now to the show at hand.
Yoni Schmidt 0:20
Yoni here, hosting today’s episode of The Same Day Podcast where I connect with top business and real estate leaders and entrepreneurs. Past guests include Zach Freedman of condosglobal.com, Chip Gaberino a local restaurant tour entrepreneur, and Elliot Nelson CEO of the McNellie’s Group. Today’s episode is brought to you by Keyrenter Property Management. At Keyrenter Property Management we are a full service property management company, helping our clients buy, renovate and operate real estate assets. We help our clients build wealth while taking the headache out of property management. That is why, no matter what rental you have, single family homes, condos, townhouses, apartments, we have the management solutions for you, go to qentropmc.com or email us at [email protected]. Welcome to our podcast, where, today we are delighted to host Morgan Martin, a distinguished Vice President and Wealth Management Advisor at Merrill Lynch. Morgan has garnered significant acclaim within the industry, being ranked number one in Oklahoma on the 2023 Forbes best in state wealth management teams list, a testament to his deep expertise and exceptional service in wealth management, with a career by with a career enriched by over a decade of experience and a robust educational background from The University of Oklahoma, where we met. Morgan brings a sophisticated understanding of financial planning, asset management and investment strategies. His work is characterized by a meticulous approach to helping clients manage and grow their wealth, with a focus on everything from retirement planning to philanthropic strategies. Morgan is not only a professional leader, but also a devoted community member and a family man who values time spent traveling and engaging with his family. Today, he joins us to share insights into the world of wealth management, the importance of building lasting client relationships and his journey through the evolving landscape of financial services. Join us as we dive deep into the conversation with Morgan Martin, a true luminary in the field of wealth management. Welcome to the show and thank you for being here. Hello.
Morgan Martin 2:27
Thanks, Yoni. I don’t know if I deserve all that credit, but I’ll certainly take it. I appreciate it.
Yoni Schmidt 2:33
You definitely do. I think I’ve known you now for a decade, so I can attest to that. Morgan just jumping right in. Tell us. Can you start by sharing what initially attracted you to the field of finance and wealth management?
Morgan Martin 2:51
Yeah, absolutely. Well, like most folks, I am in the industry because I want to help people, right? So there’s a all kinds of different things you can do within the finance world, whether it’s talking to clients all day, you know, working behind the scenes, working with a fund, or building portfolios, building models. I really enjoy the relational aspect of working with folks, getting to know them, helping as a consultant, as a fiduciary, as somebody that they can know and trust that is, you know, looking out for their best interests. And obviously that feeds through and how you get to interact with people, and how you get to know people, there’s all kinds of things day to day that happen behind the scenes, or that happen when people aren’t necessarily in meetings, that kind of shine through, when people get to know you and understand that you care for them and want what’s best for them. So I really appreciate you inviting me on this podcast, and really appreciate you know your your trust and value in the conversation today, and look forward to talking.
Yoni Schmidt 3:53
Yeah, I love that. I mean you and I, again, we met at the University of Oklahoma. We both graduated from the same program finance and international business. And, you know, we never really got to work together until pretty much recently, where I really needed someone that I could trust, and had had to bring over a portfolio. And, you know, it was just, it was, I immediately thought of you so a I’m glad that you’re here in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and that, you know, there is a good advisor at Merrill Lynch that I can rely on. Speaking of our educational background, right in finance and international business for you, also in Chinese. How did that, you know, influence your career path?
Morgan Martin 4:39
Yeah, it’s funny you asked that question, because when I was at OU and I was taking Chinese and taking national business, I always thought I was going to live overseas and have some sort of career in international business and be using my Mandarin day to day. And now in Tulsa, Oklahoma, I don’t use Chinese. There’s not a whole lot of potential Chinese clients. It’s in wealth management in Tulsa, Oklahoma, but that’s neither here nor there. It’s, it’s really influenced me in the fact that I got to live over there for six months and study abroad and kind of get an international perspective and understand that, you know what, Tulsa is a pretty good place to raise a family and to stay, you know, and be be content. So if anything, it really influenced that I wanted to be home and be, you know, stateside, and that kind of started my path down. Well, okay, well, what can I do with a finance background? What can I do with a desire to work with individuals? And as I got to kind of understand the options, and, you know, dug deep into, you know, my connection to your locally, it became kind of a no brainer that this is what I wanted to do.
Yoni Schmidt 5:40
Yeah, it’s funny how things never really, you know, they don’t work out the way we plan them, but they work out the way that they’re supposed to. I was energy management, you know, major at OU, and I just remember tough time to graduate. So it was, it was I before, before I, you know, committed to that, I said, you know, I really want to do something different. I don’t think energy management is me, for me. I thought I was going to, you know, move back to Israel, work for Noble Energy. That was my plan. And then as I was going through this program, I realized, nope, I need to go to into finance. And that’s where you and I met. Remember that course was, yeah, it was international financial statement analysis. It was, I guess, 6:37am course, that was brutal.
Morgan Martin 6:30
So I think the only people that showed up to class in there.
Yoni Schmidt 6:34
Yeah, a lot of people did not show up. I do remember that. I do remember you winning a contest in that class, and you received a shirt, which you subsequently, you know, threw at me at the stairwell. And you’re like, oh, this doesn’t even fit me here. Why don’t you take and I was like, man, such a nice guy. I can’t I can’t believe which to this day I have, and I love that shirt.
Morgan Martin 7:00
Oh my gosh, that’s hilarious. Well, that’s who would I know that that enduring memory would lead to this podcast.
Yoni Schmidt 7:06
I know, and you know, a really great just business relationship that now, now we have for, I guess, just about a year. That’s awesome. So you know your group, which is, I think, by far the largest in Oklahoma. And I mean, you guys manage billions of dollars, if I’m not mistaken, you’ve achieved notable recognition, such you know, such as the ranking number one in 2023 for best in state wealth management teams. What do you believe sets your team apart in such a competitive field.
Morgan Martin 7:42
Yeah, great question. I was actually looking at our numbers yesterday, because I was putting all of our analysis together for the for the next kind of year of looking back of where we are, where we’re going, what we’ve been doing, and we just actually cross over the 3 billion mark. So we’re super thrilling, excited with that. Yeah, thank you. And then that’s not a testament to, you know, me and how great I am, but it’s really the team and everybody kind of rowing the boat in the same direction. So I think, you know, kind of the differentiator, I guess, if you could describe what our team does, maybe compared to others. And this is not some revolutionary idea, but we really take a team approach to wealth management. So rather than kind of having one all star who all the you know clients work with or talk to, everybody has you know clients that they work with or they gravitate towards, or they have a specialty in So, for instance, one of our kind of designations that we’re trying to focus more on is institutional consulting. And so that’s something that I’ve kind of taken the helm of and gotten the required designations with the firm and began to work with more and more focus towards. And so, you know, that’s a technical expertise. But then there’s also just relational expertise and demeanor and how people work with certain people. So, you know, there’s some clients who maybe really like a deep technical expertise that goes deep into the details and just as really black and white and really about the numbers. But then maybe there’s some clients who really value, you know, the relational kind of soft skill aspects more and so, based on what people need and desire and what their kind of expectation for the service level is somebody on the team will kind of fit that role, rather than just one person, kind of being a jack of all trades handling everything. So again, this is, you know, not A, not a testament to my skills or abilities, but, but the team and I really am blessed to work with so many great people.
Yoni Schmidt 9:42
Yeah, and I’ve over the last year, had some experience working with the team at Merrill and at your office, and I can attest to you know how well you guys take care of me, and you know what we’re what we’re doing and what we’re trying to accomplish. And there’s always someone to talk to and just so quick to always respond. And very communicative and open, transparent, which I truly, truly, truly appreciate. Tell me, I guess you know you, you may have hinted at some of this, but can you discuss a little bit about the complexities of managing such a diverse investment portfolio, and how do you tailor those strategies to meet individual client needs?
Morgan Martin 10:22
Yeah, great question. I think, I think the way the industry is moving and developing, everybody wants more customization. Everybody wants more kind of specialized service and models, and nobody wants a cookie cutter portfolio that everybody else is in. So the old days of kind of, everybody was in our industry was so worried about robo advisors and online brokerages that people could do it yourself and and I think what has developed, and what the reality that has kind of come to fruition, is that there’s a place for all of these models. There’s a place for all of these services and robo advisors. But as people get to a certain level of wealth, they they really want to talk to an individual human, a person. They want to sit at a table, they want to get coffee, they want to get lunch with somebody who has eyes on their portfolio, that they can have a sense of emotional relational connection that a robo advisor or one 800 person just just isn’t able to provide, and that’s not a knock on any of those services, and they’re great. And I fully endorse, you know, people who don’t necessarily want or need a level of service to utilize those service models. But our service model is very much catered towards high net worth and ultra high net folks who want a person that they can know and trust and build a relationship with. And so that is really our our service model, that we’re not really trying to compete on fees. We’re not trying to be the cost leader or the cheapest option. We’re trying to be the best option. And so people, you know, if their main goal is to find the cheapest, most, you know, kind of bottom of the barrel, easiest to pay, you know, service model, then it might not be us. And we fully, you know, understand that, and we don’t shy away from that or try to necessarily promote that.
Yoni Schmidt 12:18
That makes sense. Yeah, no. I mean, it definitely makes sense. And that was, I think, you know, when you and I first started talking, that was definitely one of my main concerns. It was bringing the portfolio over to someone that I knew I trusted. They were local. They had eyes on the portfolio. There was a relationship there. And, you know, I had to bring it over from another group in New Jersey, and not to, you know, say anything bad, they were great. It was just a matter of me being able to walk down the street to your office and having a conversation face to face, knowing you, it’s so important. So I completely agree, and I can relate to that as well. So tell me with over, you know, a century of combined experience in your group, how do you guys leverage this, you know, vast now knowledge to benefit your clients? I know that. You know, you have a lot of institutional clients, a lot of philanthropic, philanthropic, you know, initiatives, I guess, or clients that are in the philanthropic area, right? Everyone has their own unique strategy and their own unique objectives. How do you leverage this all those wonderful brains at Merrill Lynch?
Morgan Martin 13:34
Yeah, so a couple of things come to mind. Number one, obviously, this market cycle that we’ve been experiencing the past. You know, three or four years is unprecedented. Covid was such a really, once in a lifetime experience for not only advisors, but investors and just people in general, that my career trajectory, I had never dealt with market inflation, right? Because, you know, I was born in the early 90s, so I was just never something that I or my generation, or your generation, has ever dealt with. And so having people on the team who had advised clients and worked with portfolios and dealt with market experiences that I had never been through with such a breath of fresh air and kind of a key to helping clients navigate through the experience. Because rather than just, you know, reading a textbook or listening to a market funded talking head, I had, you know, real veteran advisors and colleagues who had gone through it before and were able to help me, help my clients, work together with portfolio managers to kind of weather the storm. And we’ve, we’ve really seen the benefit of that over the this market cycle. And the second thing that kind of comes to mind you mentioned, kind of philanthropic. Work and and foundation expertise. There’s a there’s a way that clients expect, and, you know, receive service that is different on a institutional or corporate side versus, you know, individual. Because oftentimes on the corporate or institutional side, there’s a committee or there’s a board. So decisions are not made by, you know, one person, like they are on the individual side, so that the so the delivery model has to be consensus building. It has to be on a on a scheduled maintenance cycle that isn’t just a, you know, getting lunch with one person, or getting coffee with one person, or having a meeting with one person, you’re you’re navigating, you know, oftentimes, 510, maybe even 15, different opinions and trying to build consensus. So having somebody who’s done that before, somebody who’s been doing it for decades, is a huge asset, and it’s a huge key to not only our group, but also to the to the groups that we work with, because they oftentimes don’t even understand, you know, the nuances and difficulties of, you know, reaching consensus on something as important as a endowment or a foundation.
Yoni Schmidt 16:14
Yeah, I bet that can be challenging. Yeah, I’m experiencing, you know, being on a board of directors for the first time now, I recently joined the Jewish Federation of Tulsa board of directors, and looking at those, looking at those endowments and those funds, it’s interesting to see how those are being managed and what kind of things are happening. Won’t go into the nitty gritty of the details, but yeah, you’re right. It can be challenging. Speaking of challenges, what challenges and opportunities do you find unique to serving high net worth, high net worth, individuals and institutions?
Morgan Martin 16:58
Yeah, I think number one folks that have reached a level of success, or have inherited a level of success, expect a very, very high level of service. So oftentimes, if you know, if you put yourself in their shoes, they’re used to luxury brands, luxury experiences, luxury travel, so that the bar is set very in a good way. The bar is set very high with the service that we need to be providing. So you know, it’s not acceptable for an email to go unanswered for a week. It’s not acceptable for a for a task that a client has requested to not be responded to in three or four days and not acceptable in the sense that we are holding ourselves to that standard, because we know that that’s why clients are working with us. So it’s not necessarily that you know clients are, you know, beaten down the door and upset or mad about timelines or details, but we know that that’s the level of service that people are expecting and relying on us on. So we put that pressure on ourselves, and are constantly trying to push timelines and and constantly trying to push the way that things are delivered. So that if there’s you know, things that we can do to make client lives easier, if it’s a matter of helping clients pre fill documents when, you know, regulations say that we can, or helping with making a smooth transition from other providers, it’s, it’s the little things that maybe other providers or other institutions, you know, high net worth people don’t want to be given a packet of documents that they need to fill out and that they need to answer questions on they want to be given something to sign, and they want us to handle all that for them. So oftentimes, there’s we have to put ourselves in their shoes and think, Okay, this is the service model that they’re expecting. We shouldn’t be putting work on them. We’re Our task is to take work off of folks who have complicated financial lives.
Yoni Schmidt 19:00
Yeah, I love that you’re saying all of that, because I’ve experienced it all with your group and with Merrill Lynch, and it’s just all so true. And, you know, it’s just, it’s great that you you you talk it and you walk it, and it’s not just something that is hot air. And, you know, there’s a reason why we call this the same day podcast. It’s because we are the same day property management solution, and that’s what we want to offer our clients, right? In a sense, we’re also in the world of asset management, different types of assets you guys manage, you know, financial assets. We’re managing real estate and real assets, as you know, they’re categorized in the world of finance. And we know that, you know, someone’s home, which is an extremely expensive asset, is something that’s near and dear to their heart. They don’t want to wait a week for a response to know what’s happening with their roof or with a leak, or with their, you know, HVAC system or or plumbing or whatever it is, because you know. Time is of the essence, and are we put the burden on us, and our job is to remove the headache of owning these assets from the lives of our clients so that we can help them build wealth. So it’s it’s great to see that other asset management firms, you know, Merrill being the top of the line. You know, rolls, Royce and Ferrari of the of the asset management world puts that, you know, on themselves. I love that. Tell me, I guess. Could you explain the importance of, you know, continuous education in the world of wealth management? How do you stay informed about the, you know, latest industry trends? You mentioned getting some designations recently, earlier in the podcast, to help institutional investors, I guess or more institutional philanthropic institutions. How important is a continuous education?
Morgan Martin 20:55
I think it’s incredibly important, because everything in the world is changing so rapidly. Take cryptocurrencies or Bitcoin or AI. I mean, these are things that we didn’t even know existed a decade ago. So if you’re not constantly learning and reading and growing and adjusting your service model and your product delivery, then things will get stale and clients will go somewhere else, because the things that work for clients 20 years ago don’t work for clients today. Now, everybody’s online. Everybody can log in, everybody can view their portfolio. If somebody wants to buy a stock, they don’t need me. They can do that on their own. So the service model that I’m providing is vastly different than what it was for people who started in the wealth management business 20 years ago, where you couldn’t log in online and pick a stock yourself and buy yourself. You had to go through a broker. So the service model that we’re providing has to keep up with the time. You know, 10 years from now, as AI continues to grow and build, there will be additional things that likely financial advisors will need to grow and be able to do because AI will be able to answer questions or will be able to serve client requests or do certain types of planning. So as long as you’re keeping you know the relationship and the service in the middle of your goals and objectives. I think that these other changes that go go on and go around on in the wealth management industry, it will come and go. You just have to keep the client at the center of the model, and you’re going to be able to weather the changes.
Yoni Schmidt 22:36
Yeah, that’s great. I mean that always keeping the client in mind, and it’s about the client, not necessarily about us. Is just, you know, a way to create value, not that we’re giving out any financial advice today. I personally am not a financial advisor, but I would not recommend going out and buying individual stocks, just just, you know, do your own research, but call or call Morgan to have a conversation as to, you know, what can be done differently, speaking of, you know, you you know, you talked about technology for a second. What, what role does technology play in your day to day operations and in enhancing client interactions? And, I mean, I love the Merrill Lynch, you know, dashboard and the login, it’s just so robust. And there’s so much there. I love, you know, playing around in there, clicking around and, you know, seeing, seeing everything, it’s, it’s nothing like anything that I’ve ever experienced in other with other brokerages, let’s say, and you know, I’ve had access to a variety of others. Merrill’s, by far one of the most intricate, sophisticated and just really well organized platforms. Tell me what, what you know? How does this affect you on the day to day? And yours is probably even more deep. It goes deeper on the back end, I’m assuming.
Morgan Martin 24:09
Yeah, absolutely. Technology is such a huge part of our practice, because it’s basically like hiring additional people and getting additional efficiencies without having to hire additional people, because the ability to allow clients to log in online to get questions answered, to for all of their documents and paperwork to be E signed or digitally confirmed, It’s a huge game changer. Because in the old days, it was, you know, mailing things out to folks getting documents back and they find something wrong, or there was the document wasn’t filled out correctly, or, you know, I would have to be, you know, driving somewhere to get something. So it’s just a total game changer of timelines. And I think. Agencies and what can be done, and how quickly it can be done from our side of things, and then from the client side of things. I don’t know. I’m not even going to try and quote the number, because I’m sure I’ll butcher it. But, you know, Bank of America spends more money on technology than some financial firms spend in general. So it’s just a, it’s a, it’s a crazy number that, you know, you can do everything in the Bank of America app that you would need to ever do in a branch. I mean, there’s really, that’s part of the business model. I think that that benefits, you know, Merrill Lynch, is that we are attached and under, you know, this massive global financial institution, that everything from a credit card or a checking account can be handled by your Merrill Lynch advisor. And that’s not a plug to use Merrill Lynch, but it’s just something to think about that oftentimes those people, as their life gets more complicated with additional wealth and more assets, they quickly realize that keeping up with so many different accounts at so many different institutions and so many different asset classes, it becomes overwhelming, and so oftentimes they want to simplify their life and just have one person to call that can fix things when they need it fixed. And I think that’s a huge benefit, and that’s only only possible because of the huge investment in technology and because of how much technology has changed over the years. Because if you’re not, if you’re a financial institution, and you’re not putting everything into technology, then you’re already behind, right?
Yoni Schmidt 26:30
Yeah, I agree. You know, considering what you just said and your extensive background, what advice would you give you know a young professional who’s aspiring to enter the wealth management industry. They’re sitting in school right now, or, I guess it’s summer, so, you know, they’re on break, or if they’re, if they’re maybe taking summer, summer intersession classes, they’re, you know, trying to get ahead or or catch up. What would you tell someone who wants to get into this world?
Morgan Martin 27:00
This maybe not the stereotypical answer, but in my opinion, the most important thing you can do is find a mentor. So find somebody who is already a financial advice, successful financial advisor, who is willing to put in time and energy and effort into you as a person on a relationship level, so that you can understand and just be a sponge of what this world is even like, because everybody has a preconceived notion of like, what it means to be a financial advisor and what it’s like to be in this world. And I guess I would, I would say that even if somebody doesn’t want to be a financial advisor or doesn’t even want to be in finance, but just in general, if somebody is looking for a career in an industry, find somebody who’s already made it, who’s already successful, that is willing to put in time, energy and effort into you and your career, and soak up everything they say and just try and bug the heck out of them and see if they’ll, you know, put an interest in you, Because so in real estate is probably this way too, that it’s so difficult to get started that if you can find somebody who’s already been successful and provide value to them in some way, then there is the sky’s the limit on what you can achieve, because suddenly their success is your success, and vice versa. So it’s a, it’s an it’s an asset that you can’t put a value on to find a mentor and find somebody who is good and ethical, who is willing to treat you with respect and invest their time, energy and effort into you.
Yoni Schmidt 28:34
Yeah, I think, yeah. Just that’s a good rule of thumb in life. You know, for whatever it is you’re trying to accomplish, right? If you’re trying to go into business, real estate, Wealth Management, you know, even a yes, if you’re trying to become a physician, right, or an attorney, it doesn’t matter finding that mentor. And you know, even if you’re working for free at the beginning, and you’re you know, the the cost of that education is, you know, in the benefit is invaluable. So I definitely agree. I wish I could go back in time and tell my younger self to, you know, do that, but, you know, point, oh yeah, go ahead.
Morgan Martin 29:15
No, I’m sorry. I’m gonna cut you off, but I just, I think oftentimes people who are successful are open and willing to spend time in the younger generation, because they want to share what they’ve learned, and they want to bring up the next generation, and they want to find somebody who will work with them on their you know, because a lot of those folks, they don’t have capacity to maintain whatever it is that is growing. So whether it’s wealth management or real estate or business, a successful person, if they’re doing it right, then they’re growing whatever it is that they’re managing and doing, and so they probably need somebody to come in and help.
Yoni Schmidt 29:50
Yeah, I agree. It’s surprising how receptive those successful people are to mentoring other other young. Books. That’s true. Changing topics just a little bit here, you know, how do you approach the topic of wealth transfer with families? What are some key considerations to keep in mind?
Morgan Martin 30:16
Yeah, this is a great topic, and it’s and I would say that I want to be humble here, because I feel like I’m still learning how to manage and handle these conversations. Because oftentimes every family, well, for sure, every family is so different, and there’s different dynamics that you have to really understand. And so I would just like any family situation or conversation. When you’re dealing with people, there’s emotions and there’s there’s history, and there’s things that really need to be understood before you just jump in to a conversation or recommendation. So oftentimes with families, there’s, you know, a decision maker, kind of the patriarch or matriarch of the family, who is the one kind of driving decisions and deciding how things will go. And so I think starting with that person to kind of understand their perspective and what they are wanting to achieve and the direction that they’re wanting the family to go. But then, you know, asking pointed questions of, hey, you know, after you what is, you know, how do you envision this occurring after you’re gone, and not, you know, making it, you know, some doom and gloom conversation, but asking, you know, hey, as your, you know, financial advisor, I want to be working with your family for my whole career. So, you know, Mr. Or Mrs. Matriarch, Patriarch, what? What does that look like after? You know, it’s not you and me talking, and it’s now me and your daughter, or me and your son, or me and your cousin, even, who, who, who’s going to be running things? And how do you see it happening and and then waiting for them to to kind of open the door to those next level conversations, because you don’t want to necessarily be going to some other next generation, or some other person who isn’t necessarily in those shoes yet, and stirring up something that you know as a as a family, they they want to be driving those conversations so you Yeah, I have to be humble as a relationship manager and a conduit between family members that oftentimes you know what one person says needs to stay with that one person and what another person says need to stay with, and vice versa. And recognizing when to talk and when to listen, when to share, when to not share, and being a, you know, a confidant that isn’t necessarily keeping secrets, but is caring about the family and not caring about just, you know, my interest, or what would make me the advisor money? But what is, what is best for the family in that situation?
Yoni Schmidt 32:47
Yeah, must be difficult to navigate those waters and trying to make, you know, get the full picture of what exactly is transpiring behind the scenes. You do have a significant role in educating, in educating and advising, you know, those next generations of wealthy families, you know, what are some, some of the common concerns and misconceptions, you know, that they have about wealth management that you see?
Morgan Martin 33:13
Yeah, great, great question. There’s because there’s a lot of insight there in that question. I think the oftentimes the second generation has a misconception on what they will actually be receiving and what their responsibility will be, because there’s two opposite ends of the spectrum, right on one side of the spectrum, they think that they have no role and that it’s just the financial institution me as the advisor’s job to manage and do everything, and that I just kind of tell them what’s happening, and they don’t understand that they are responsible for making decisions and telling, you know, me, the financial advisor and institution, what to be doing. I can give advice and guidance and consulting as a fiduciary, I’m telling them what I believe to be in their best interest, but they they still make decisions. And then on the opposite end of the spectrum, you have second generation that don’t want to do it the way that their parents did it, and don’t want to do it the way that their grandparents did it, or aunts, uncles, cousins. They want to make all the decisions on their own and on. Oftentimes, when they go from not significant wealth to significant wealth, and they have a personality of kind of do it yourselfer, they they quickly get in a situation where they realize, oh, wow, this is more complicated than I thought it would be, or, Oh wow, the implications of me selling all these securities or blowing up this portfolio and doing whatever I want, there’s a there’s a lot of layers and second, third order effects that happened that I wasn’t really considering, because I just thought that I could handle it, and not to say that people can’t, and there’s plenty of do it yourself, or people out there, and I, and I don’t try to talk people out of that if that’s how they’re built, and that’s the desire that they have, because we want to work with people that want to hire us, and don’t want to spend time doing it on their own, and recognize that they’re they’re an expert in something. Else. I mean, I I kind of make a joke, but, I mean, I could, I could fix the plumbing in my house if I wanted to, but I don’t want to do that. I could fix my car if I wanted to, but I don’t want to do that. I could watch YouTube videos and really dig into mechanics and but I, I don’t want to do that. And so we want to work with people that want us to do that, not people that where we don’t have a good, you know, working relationship with it,
Yoni Schmidt 35:23
yeah, I can relate, again, to all of that. So I appreciate that, you know, can you tell us, maybe discuss particularly challenging situations that you, you know, manage, and the solutions that you implement to navigate it successfully? Maybe I put you in a, you know, without naming names, but maybe I put you in a in a challenging situation in the past, you know, maybe it’s something you hinted at earlier, right? You know, someone comes into large sums of money. They don’t want to do it the way that things were done. They say, Let’s sell this entire portfolio. They don’t necessarily understand the tax implications. And you know what’s going to come from this. That could be something that may have happened in the years that you’ve, you know, been a financial advisor.
Morgan Martin 36:16
Yeah. I mean just talking in generalities, I think I can just kind of without giving specifics and without giving advice. It’s an example that kind of comes to mind is we had a high net worth individual who sold the company, and they had a significant amount of the liquidity that came from that, that they were giving, you know, to the second generation, but they were putting it in a trust that required a trustee, and so at their previous provider, their previous provider was serving as the trustee and the investment advisor, and they felt like they were paying a little bit too much, and that it wasn’t a smooth, easy process, because they were talking to somebody over the internet, and they were talking to somebody over email, and there wasn’t a smooth kind of transition to the next generation of understanding the investment and having somebody to work with. So I came in and was able to kind of help them find a local trustee. I was not, I’m not serving as the trustee, and we were able to kind of build a service model with a new trustee, with the second generation, where the, you know, the patriarch, who was not the trustee, not control the assets, but still, you know, kept in involved, because the beneficiaries were talking to the patriarch and wanted them to, you know, be involved. And, no, it was just really complicated, because the beneficiary wanted to honor the patriarch’s wishes, but also the beneficiary wasn’t the trustee. There was a third party trustee. So it’s just, it’s a very technical as a Maryland financial advisor, we don’t give financial or we don’t give we give financial advice, we don’t give legal advice, we don’t give tax advice. So coordinating all that with third parties to to offer. You know, of course, we’re giving multiple recommendations. We’re giving multiple perspectives so that, recognizing that the experience with, you know, from the from the client side of things that they were taken care of, and that, you know, it wasn’t necessarily one stop shop, because we’re not providing the tax advice, we’re not providing the trustee service, but I was able to be in those meetings with them, with the potential trustees, with the potential CPAs, with all the people that played a role in that relationship, and kind of was able to help guide The situation. So that’s not something that, you know, Maryland’s necessarily bills for. That’s a part of the relationship aspect that we, you know, take, you know, full responsibility for, you know, for our clients. I mean, I, early on in my career, I drove one of my clients to the dentist. I mean, just like, crazy, weird stuff that it’s like, you know, you know, we get, we get involved with people, and it’s it’s oftentimes a little bit more high touch than the most set.
Yoni Schmidt 39:07
I didn’t know you offer rights to the dentist. I’ll make sure to put that on your calendar. I think I have an appointment coming up next month. I’m kidding. Don’t call Morgan for rights to the dentist.
Morgan Martin 39:21
That’s not, that’s not part of the service model.
Yoni Schmidt 39:26
Yeah, tell me, yes. I mean, that’s all super insightful and very interesting to learn and hear. Tell us. How has the landscape of financial management changed over the years? And you know, what future trends do you anticipate?
Morgan Martin 39:44
Yeah, I feel like I kind of gave a little bit of a teaser to this question before, but it’s, it’s very true that the days of the race to the bottom of fees has already been reached, if somebody wants to go to Vanguard. And you know, by the cheapest. Option that’s great and awesome. And I would say, you know, for people that want to do it themselves, to to do that, and that’s not a knock on Vanguard. I’m not endorsing Vanguard. Please don’t misconstrue that. But the point is that index funds exist for for a reason, that the they’re a commodity, meaning there is no additional service or expertise that’s needed to just track an index, any anybody can do that. So that was kind of the last, the story of the last few decades, and that has, that has fully played out, and that has fully been reached. There is no, there’s no way for indexes to charge less than, you know, point, oh, 1% right? So, so now what you’re seeing is the future of people. The pendulum is swinging back the other way, where people are being like, man, like I’m tired of calling the 20 100 number and being on hold for an hour and getting a different person every time, and not having somebody that I know and trust and that knows my family. I want somebody who’s going to get to know my daughter, going to get to know my son while I’m still alive, so that they can understand my wishes and my goals and objectives for this portfolio and for the family financial situation. And so the future of financial management is more relationships, more service, and less focus on the kind of Robo advising fees when people come into our office, their first question isn’t, what do you charge? Well, the person down the street it was charging this. So can you beat that? Nobody is saying that. That’s just that’s, you know, those days are done, and the focus now is on who is the person that I’m working with? Do I trust them? Do I enjoy working with them. Do I learn from them? Do I feel empowered from them and building out a service model that is continually, I keep being this drum, but relationship oriented is really, you know, the future of financial management, because there’s, there’s as AI gets better and better, there’s going to be less and less people that you’re going to talk to on the phone for all services, right? So whether it’s insurance or taxes or anything, as Mark my words, as AI gets better and better, it’s going to be harder and harder to get a person on the phone, which is fine, because AI will solve so many problems from a, you know, from a chatbot perspective, but at the end of the day, it’s, it’s, it’s going to be a refreshing experience. And the reason why people want to work with us will be because of, you know, the human side of things.
Yoni Schmidt 42:34
Yeah, but I feel like with AI, even, even with all of that, there will ultimately be some like diminishing returns. And, you know, it’s, it’s just like the you almost like, achieve some sort of comparative parity when, when you’re giving the same advice that to everyone in the world, right? And then everyone’s following that same advice. And so you can, you, as in Morgan Martin at Merrill Lynch, can set yourself up as a differentiator, and, you know, potentially beat that because, you know, because you’re not, necessarily, you know, doing the same thing that everyone is doing, right? So there’s a lot that’s a very interesting conversation, and one that I’m sure that we can spend another hour talking about, for sure, but, but I foresee AI, yes, taking, you know, a big place in the service industry, but you know that human interaction is going to be crucial when it comes to the world of sales, Right? You can’t force anyone to buy something, right? It is, you know, it’s about creating value for them, understanding their needs and their desires and their wants, keeping them, you know, front and center, focused in mind. And you know, if you can, if you can really create the value, which is what Meryl has done so successfully, and also so well, then you’re just going to differentiate yourself, and people will ultimately come and buy your product or your service. So, you know, staying conscious of time. Final question, you know, what goals do you have for the future of your practice with Merrill Lynch, and how do you plan to achieve that.
Morgan Martin 44:23
Oh, wow. This is such a tough I was just in the conversation earlier with one of our, one of my partners, about 10 year goals and 10 year time horizons about how difficult it is to plan for the future. But I, I think that one of my goals is to as kind of the, you know, the next generation of advisor on the team. I’m obviously, yep, on the younger end, my goal is to really prop up and maintain what the senior partners in this group have built over 100 Years, I’m now kind of the, the third or fourth, really, iteration of seniority on this team, and one of our senior partners who actually, you know, was a founding member of the team, you know, who retired, you know, five or so years ago, actually, you know, recently passed away a few years ago. And so just just knowing that there’s a, kind of almost a legacy here in this group, you know, there’s there’s families that we’ve worked with for multiple, multiple decades and multiple multiple generations. It’s a goal of mine is to care and really may sound kind of hokey, but really love families and love individuals and and care for people in a way that is lasting and substantive and not just transactional, because we view our relationships with folks over decades rather than just, you know, selling some product and going our separate way. So I don’t know if that sounds kind of grandiose, and it’s not really a specific like, I don’t have a number for you of what my goal is to achieve, but it’s more of a sentimentality of how I feel, you know, a responsibility to care for, you know, clients and my own Clients and future clients that that that are interested interesting me with their wealth.
Yoni Schmidt 46:24
Yeah. I mean, that’s a good way to look at it. It’s a little more qualitative than it is quantitative. But I can definitely respect that. Morgan Martin, VP at Merrill Lynch and financial advisor, I’m gonna I’d probably mess it up if I tried to give all your designations. So I won’t.
Morgan Martin 46:43
Don’t worry about it.
Yoni Schmidt 46:47
We’ll put your contact information in the comments below, if that’s okay, so people can reach out to you if they’re looking for financial advice, and potentially, you know, come, come on to Merrill and understand what that looks like.
Morgan Martin 47:04
Is that okay? Sure, yeah, no, this is, this has been great. Yoni, I can’t thank you enough for for all your time, and I hope this has been beneficial for folks. And this is, I’ve really enjoyed the conversation, so thanks for having me on.
Yoni Schmidt 47:18
Yeah, definitely. Thank you so much so insightful, and truly appreciate your time being here.
Morgan Martin 47:24
Awesome. Thanks, Yoni.
Outro 47:29
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