Unscripted, holistic and heart-centred interviews with amazing guests covering hot topics around raising kids and education!
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Two People. One Mission. To help active duty, guard, reserves, and military spouses make a successful career transition into the world of financial planning. Welcome to the Military to Financial Planner podcast with your hosts, Forrest Baumhover and Daniel Kopp. Join them as they share their unique perspectives and career transition advice, help you leverage your military experience, be intentional about each step of your career journey, and ultimately build the post-military life and career ...
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Learning About the Planning Profession and Building College Planning Expertise with Mike Hunsberger
40:29
40:29
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In this podcast episode, I sit down with Mike Hunsberger to learn more about his career journey across an Air Force career and launching his own RIA, Next Mission Financial Planning. He shares about his early experiences with being sold permanent life insurance and high fee mutual funds which led him to get more interested in personal finance. Than…
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Cross-border Planning and Military Spouse Careers with Stephanie Higgins
33:20
33:20
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In this podcast episode, I’m joined by Stephanie Higgins to talk about her journey into the financial planning profession. As a military brat as well as military spouse, she has spent a great deal of time overseas so we talk about the challenges of employment and building a career while OCONUS. I love hearing about her personal journey of learning …
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DoD Skillbridge Transition to Financial Planning with Omen Quelvog
46:43
46:43
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I’m excited to welcome Omen Quelvog to the podcast today. If his name sounds familiar to you, it’s because we have talked about him on this podcast before when Sean Gillespie and I chatted about the DoD Skillbridge program and how Omen was the first MFAA Skillbridge intern. We cover a lot of ground in this episode including Omen’s own financial exp…
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Networking, Reframing, & Doing Your Own Financial Plan with Arcelia Wicker
44:57
44:57
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We continue the recent theme of podcast listeners becoming podcast guests as I’m joined by Arcelia Wicker on the episode today. He is a financial planner at Bay Capital Advisors in the Virginia Beach area. We chat about his personal experiences of personal finances and how going through Financial Peace University helped him and his wife get their o…
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Passion, Perseverance, & Pivoting to Career Success with Roland McIntyre
35:31
35:31
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35:31
I’m grateful to have Roland McIntyre on the podcast for this episode. He is an XYPN member and founder of Mountaintop Wealth, his own fee-only RIA where he focuses on serving underrepresented and underserved communities including those in military or public service. We got connected awhile back and after meeting each other at XYPN Live last year, I…
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From the Army to the Wirehouse World to RIA with Amy King
39:05
39:05
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39:05
I’m excited to welcome Amy King on the podcast today. We start with her origin story that started with some fortuitous conversations about money and investing that ignited a passion for the subject and ultimately led her to the CFP while still on active duty. Through her personal network, she got a first job preparing taxes and doing paraplanning w…
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Experimenting with Service Models & Niches with Erik Baskin
36:20
36:20
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Today I chat with Erik Baskin of Baskin Financial Planning. I still remember some of my first conversations with him back in the very early days of this podcast so it’s a full circle moment for both of us in this episode. Since launching his own RIA in 2021, while still on active duty, Erik has further refined his niche focus to go beyond just the …
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Enlisted Money Guy & Paraplanning with Brandon Lovingier
34:48
34:48
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Today we welcome Brandon Lovingier, the Enlisted Money Guy on the podcast. Brandon has created some really great content out there to serve his fellow servicemembers and shares his journey of financial successes and lessons learned. In addition to his prolific content creation, Brandon is also a virtual paraplanner - all while still being on active…
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Jumpstarting Your Financial Planning Career with Matt Fizell
42:48
42:48
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I welcome Matt Fizell on the podcast today after admiring his work for quite awhile. Matt is the founder of his own RIA, Harmony Wealth based in Madison Wisconsin. But as we discuss in this interview, Matt took a circuitous route from his initial undergraduate training in financial planning, working in a broker dealer, finding out about fee-only fi…
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Career Change Hiring Success with Caleb Brown
40:10
40:10
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I’m honored to have Caleb Brown join us on the podcast today. Caleb is the co-founder of New Planner Recruiting, which we have mentioned several times on this podcast before. This recruiting firm specializes in sourcing, screening, and integrating financial planners in firms nationwide. He was named the Next Generation Influencer by Financial Plann…
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DoD Skillbridge, MFAA Updates, & MQFP with Sean Gillespie
37:18
37:18
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Today I welcome back Sean Gillespie to talk about some of the exciting things going on within the MFAA community. Specifically we dive into the details of Skillbridge integration within MFAA, our very first intern going through the program, and the vision for what comes next. For those of you who might not be that familiar with Skillbridge, this is…
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Military Spouse Career Evolution and Impact with Liz Plot
41:12
41:12
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41:12
Today, we welcome Liz Plot, a fellow MFAA member to the podcast. She now runs her own RIA, Primas Financial Planning but as she shares in this episode, that was a long and winding journey to get there. And she certainly is surprised to be an entrepreneur. Liz talks about her learning growth over time, getting the professional education, volunteerin…
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Advice Only While Still Serving with Sam Lewis
43:50
43:50
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In this episode, we welcome Sam Lewis to talk about his different career path than all of our prior guests so far. Sam is currently the Recruiting and Retention Senior Enlisted Leader for the Delaware National Guard as well as the founder of his own RIA, SJL Financial. He has served in the Delaware Guard for more than 23 years in a variety of roles…
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Breaking into the Planning Profession with Becky Noss
35:54
35:54
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I’m pleased to welcome Becky Noss in this episode. She is a Lead Planner at Redeployment Wealth Strategies where she analyzes client situations, builds financial plans, meets with clients to help review implementation, and integrates across the entire RWS team. We talk about her career journey including her bachelors and masters in math, her experi…
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Both Sides of the ID Card and Building an Ideal Firm with Pam Bergeson
38:30
38:30
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In this episode, we welcome Pam Bergeson to the podcast as she shares about her varied military career and now second career as a financial planner. Pam is the founder of Tailwind Financial Planning where she specializes in serving dual military officers and senior military leaders in their career transition. Over her thirty-year military career, P…
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Pivoting to Best Career Fit with Derek Merkler
41:46
41:46
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Derek Merkler joins us today to talk about his career journey. After his initial 8 years in Army aviation, Derek started out in financial planning working for a firm where he cut his teeth in the profession. He realized that there aren’t many financial advisors who work primarily with veterans to put together comprehensive and holistic plans and bu…
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Coaching, Counseling, & Mentoring with Andi Wrenn
40:38
40:38
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In this episode, I’m chatting with my friend and colleague, Andi Wrenn. She has been involved at the intersection of personal finance and military life for many years now. Andi is an AFC as well as having a masters in marriage and family therapy that helps inform her work with clients. It might surprise you to know that Andi is a career changer hav…
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CFP Study & Exam Success with Adam Scherer
43:48
43:48
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I’m excited to welcome Adam Scherer on the podcast. He is a CFP and EA as well as having two masters degrees including in personal financial planning. In addition to running his own RIA, Adam has been a professor teaching CFP curriculum for many years. One of his primary current roles is as Vice President of Product Development and Innovation at Th…
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Discovering the World of Personal Finance with Adrienne Ross
36:50
36:50
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I’m excited to welcome Adrienne Ross on the podcast. She is a CFP, ChFC, and AFC as well as the founder of Clear Insight Financial Planning based in Washington state. Adrienne shares her personal journey as a young military spouse discovering personal finance to de-mystify the whole process. As she learned she shared her knowledge with other milita…
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Nancy Bleeke joins the podcast to talk all about the power of sales in one of my favorite recent conversations! While she’s always been entrepreneurial, finding a passion in sales was never the plan. Who would ever want to be “in sales”? she thought. Yet, she found her calling helping people who also never saw themselves in sales, succeed in sellin…
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Today on the podcast we welcome Brian O’Neill; CFP, and founder of Winged Wealth Management and Financial Planning. Brian launched his firm in early 2021 after retiring from the Air Force with a specific focus on working with military pilots. Brian flew F-16s and F-35s while on active duty, served as Weapons School instructor, and commanded in vari…
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Financial Coaching - Stacy Stacy Livingstone-Hoyte's Career
37:28
37:28
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Today on the podcast we welcome Stacy Livingstone-Hoyte; personal finance counselor, coach and founder of Financial Care Today. Over her financial life and career she’s had a variety of experiences including understanding money as an immigrant to the US, working in a variety of wirehouses, broker dealers, and insurance companies. There was a lot to…
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Advancing the Profession - Sean Gillespie's Career (Part 2)
41:23
41:23
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41:23
This is the second part picking up from our last episode with Sean Gillespie of Redeployment Wealth Strategies so if you haven’t listened to that episode first, stop and go ahead to do that first. For everyone else, I love hearing Sean’s passion in this episode as he and Paul Allen decided to join forces, the evolution and growth in both clients an…
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Winding Path to Success - Sean Gillespie's Career
36:48
36:48
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36:48
In this first part of a two-part episode, I am talking with Sean Gillespie who is the co-founder and partner at Redeployment Wealth Strategies, an RIA based in VA Beach that specializes in serving military families. In this episode Sean shares his journey how he in many ways stumbled into the profession of financial planning and what his early expe…
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David Kakish is the President and CEO of RIA Workspace. He is an author, successful entrepreneur, and an advocate for better, more secure IT. It’s his belief that small and midsize Registered Investment Advisors and Financial Advisors are different than other businesses. He likes to think of these RIAs as the Small Giants in the financial services …
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Military Scholarships from The American College of Financial Services
39:24
39:24
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Rick Nail joins us on the podcast today to talk about the amazing scholarships for the military community from the American College of Financial Services Center for Military and Veteran Affairs. He shares about what the college is about, the history of the school, programs/certifications offered, etc. as well as diving into all the details of the s…
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Empowering Women Clients: Michelle Petrowski Interview
40:03
40:03
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40:03
Michelle Petrowski joins us on the podcast to share about her journey as a career changer into financial planning, her work as a CFP and CDFA in the divorce space, the opportunities she had to help military families along the way, and what her firm is like now working with empowering women with both financial planning and life coaching. What I love…
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Financial planning represents a classic kind of knowledge profession. As such, there is almost an infinite amount of information out there that you can continue to learn and grow to become better at your craft. Being constantly curious is a key skillset to succeed in this profession. I get asked frequently what are some of my favorite resources tha…
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Career Changer Advice: Daniel Yerger Interview
41:01
41:01
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Listen in this interview as Daniel Yerger shares his career journey from PSYOPS Army life to career changer into financial planning, now owning his own firm, teaching investment planning, and pursuing his PhD. He also recently published a new book on career-changing into financial planning that is a must-read for learning about the nuances, challen…
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Lacey Langford's Career Journey + MilMoneyCon!
39:24
39:24
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MilMoneyCon is a new conference hosted by Lacey Langford for financial professionals united by military service. Our mission is to bring together service members, veterans, and military spouses to help build and progress their careers, continue their education, and grow their earning power as practicing or rising financial professionals. https://mi…
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Benefits of Attending Industry Conferences
25:30
25:30
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Conferences are like going TDY for training--you need to strive for a decent balance between enhancing your skill set and actually getting things done. We’ve all seen those people that are always TDY for different training, and not doing actual work. However, there are some great networking and learning opportunities at conferences if done wisely. …
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Financial planning and tax preparation are ultimately two separate services that some planners decide to include in their offering while others outsource it or work with the clients’ tax preparers. There are pros and cons to both. In this episode, Forrest and Daniel share ways to think about it and how it might apply to your firm and career journey…
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Pros and Cons of Joining a Firm vs Starting Your Own
28:15
28:15
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28:15
There are many career paths in financial planning but most are two versions of joining an existing firm or starting some version of your own. In this episode, Daniel and Forrest share more about how to think about both options for your career goals. Join our private community for listeners: https://tinyurl.com/2dr24bn6…
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As with many aspects of military life, try to begin with the end in mind. You should be building and iterating a five year plan as you look ahead to a career in financial planning but also as you approach the various aspects of military life in the interim. Part of that is defining “enough” ahead of time so you ultimately build toward the life you …
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Financial Counselor to Financial Planner - Andrea Clark Interview
27:43
27:43
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Andrea Clark, CFP, joins us this episode to talk about her career journey as a military spouse, earning the AFC and CFP credentials, working as a base financial counselor, and ultimately launching her own financial planning firm. As a longtime military spouse and financial counselor for military families, Andie brings a wealth of knowledge and expe…
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While this might be a later stage firm topic, begin with the end in mind. True financial planning is always in service of the client and what’s best for them. Sometimes, you will encounter situations where a client wants or needs “X” and for whatever reason, you don’t do “X.” A mismatch in communication is often the culprit here. Ultimately though,…
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Building a Support Network Around You as Planner
20:56
20:56
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Good financial planning is a team sport. Don’t go it alone but instead be intentional about building a support network around you! That involves family and your partner as well as friends, colleagues, peers, mentors, and more. In this episode, Forrest and Daniel talk about navigating your professional networks and how to bring all of this together …
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What does comprehensive, holistic financial planning look like?
25:51
25:51
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True financial planning goes beyond any one topic and holistic advice encompasses all aspects of financial health and wealth. In this episode, we talk about what that kind of planning looks like and how you can work to integrate all aspects in your work. Understand your competency and licenses so you don’t go beyond them. Ultimately, you must also …
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Early Stage Career Advice with Hannah Moore
30:57
30:57
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Hannah Moore joins us on the podcast to share about FPA Externship, gaining early stage career experience, Amplified Core Planning, her career journey, and so much more! Hannah is a Certified Financial Planner™ and Certified Financial Transitions™ expert. She is the owner of Guiding Wealth, host of the podcast You’re A Financial Planner, Now What, he…
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Getting the CFP Experience Hours Before Your Career Transition
23:11
23:11
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There are 2 ways for candidates to fulfill the experience requirement for CFP® certification: the 6,000 Hour Standard Pathway or the 4,000 Hour Apprenticeship Pathway. You can earn qualifying experience in a number of ways, from engaging with clients directly to supporting the financial planning process to teaching financial planning-related course…
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Financial Coaching vs Financial Advice/Planning
29:48
29:48
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Coaching vs advice? Why is this distinction so important? In a word--regulation. Anyone can give financial advice, for free (you get what you pay for). Once you hold yourself out as a coach, advisor, counselor, or any other position for which you receive compensation, then you need to be mindful of what advice you’re giving, and whether you’re prop…
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Understanding Health Insurance for the Military Transition
30:07
30:07
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Understanding health insurance for your own/family situation is great practice for real financial planning -- you can add MASSIVE value to your clients in this area. Even though this is different from Tricare, it’s also not as much of a black box as you might otherwise think once you start to understand how it all works. Even if you are a military …
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How can you finance the start of your own RIA?
26:34
26:34
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Startup costs for your own RIA are one of the most frequent questions we’ve gotten from listeners so in this episode we tackle that important question. Funding your startup doesn’t have to be that intimidating so long as you have a good plan to address it. In this episode, listen on as Daniel and Forrest share their valuable lessons learned, their …
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Should you have a niche to serve clients?
26:17
26:17
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BLUF (Bottom Line Up Front): Over the long run, your practice will reflect you. However, at the beginning, it will be very hard to ‘niche’ your practice because profitability is initially a revenue problem. Over time, you may have more flexibility to make intentional decisions that will shape your practice. Main question: Do you want to be an ER do…
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Sales is the lifeblood starting out in most financial planning careers. For many people, this can feel clunky, forced, or like a used car experience when in fact it should be quite the opposite of that. Focus on a collaborative process and make your fees and process clear. Listen on as Daniel and Forrest share their valuable lessons learned, what's…
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How do you best leverage military education benefits to pay for education and testing?
25:02
25:02
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The military offers a host of education benefits for servicemembers and spouses that can help make the career transition into financial planning easier. Forrest and Daniel share how they used these benefits and walk through lots of the options out there to help you too. https://www.theamericancollege.edu/military https://www.afcpe.org/news-and-publ…
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Take time to build and grow your network - learn from key thought leaders on LinkedIn. This career leap should be about making and deepening relationships and connections. Here are some key thought leaders to follow: Caleb Brown; Michael Kitces; Alan Moore; Carl Richards; Matt Quick; Michael Quinn; Hannah Moore; Matthew Jarvis; Taylor Schulte; Alex…
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How much money do you need to get started?
27:54
27:54
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Starting up in the financial planning space requires money, but how much? If you’re interested to learn about how to fund your startup costs and what specific expenses to plan for, this episode is for you. Daniel and Forrest both share specific examples from their own experience as well as their recommendations for Do’s and Don’ts. Every dollar in …
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Should you try to make a military niche as a financial planner?
31:24
31:24
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Picking a niche is an interesting topic and lots of reasons for and against. Forrest and Daniel talk about the pros and cons of each side of this question as well as delve into the mistakes they made or successes they built upon. Niche marketing can be valuable but picking the military isn’t the only way. Listen on as Daniel and Forrest share their…
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