Growing or Dying!
One of my favorite all time movies is “The Shawshank Redemption.” My favorite line is when Andy tells Red, “Get busy living or get busy dying.”
Over the past year I have been working toward getting my Private Wealth Advisor (PWA) certification, which I just completed last month. This Raymond James program was designed for advisors who want to expand their focus on the high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth space. It is described as “a valuable opportunity to deepen your knowledge, refine your skills, and develop a repeatable process—supported by key resources, solutions and experts across Raymond James—for serving the complex needs and concerns of this unique clientele.”
I first learned about the PWA program on our Chairman’s Council trip in 2023. There were six or seven advisors who were on a panel discussing the program and what they got out of it at one of our daily business meetings. I knew many of them and thought to myself, “Why can’t I do what they did?”
Many peers as well as clients who I told about this program asked me why I was getting this certification at this point in my career…it is a good question. I am 31+ years into this profession and already deal with clients in this space and have developed a “repeatable process” mentioned above. The answer that I have given is that I am a firm believer that we are all either “growing or dying” every day in whatever it is we are doing. For 31+ years I have tried to constantly improve my skills and be the best advisor I can be. I work with two younger advisors on my team who both have impressive credentials and designations—Solitaire has a long list of “alphabet soup” after her name (Certified Financial Planner, Certified Exit Plan Advisor, Certified Private Wealth Advisor and Certified Alternative Investment Analyst) and Clay recently passed his Certified Financial Planner exam. Other than a non-industry recognized “Wealth Management Specialist” designation that I got at my previous firm 20+ years ago I had no professional designations. When asked about designations/certifications, I often pointed to my gray temples (and later bald head) and quipped that “I went to the School of Hard Knocks” for however many years I had been in this business at the time. But I want to sprint to the finish line of my career…not coast. As a presenter at a RJ Top Advisors Summit I attended in 2012 said, “There is only one way to coast in this business…and that is downhill!”
On our recent Chairman’s Council trip in June, the meeting room was asked how many of us had gone through the PWA program…I was one of maybe 10 advisors who raised their hand (in a room of 200). I was asked by a lot of my friends if the program was worth the time and effort. My answer was that it absolutely was…not only was the content and coaching high quality, but the networking among my classmates was the greatest thing I took away from the process. I have always had a wonderful network of high-quality Raymond James advisors…this class expanded that network to new people who are now friends that I will continue to stay in touch with and share best ideas and practices. I have often spoke about the unique culture at Raymond James and the networking and idea sharing among top advisors is simply awesome.
Sonja and I were recently featured on a podcast that Raymond James puts out called “Advisor Essentials.” The firm uses it mostly as a recruiting tool to attract other advisors and assistants to Raymond James. This episode (linked below) was titled, “Invest in your support team to empower growth and productivity.” Our part comes on at the 12:15 mark and goes for about eight minutes. We talk about how we are always trying to improve, and we are “either growing or dying.”
https://www.raymondjames.com/advisor-opportunities/advisor-essentials
–Gary Weiss, Private Wealth Advisor – August, 2024
