Elevating the Advice Experience with Preston Cherry

Voiceover: Welcome to the FAST Podcast, your go-to source for Financial Advisor Strategy Talks hosted by Lara Galloway, Senior Vice President of Channel Management at White Glove. Tune in as we uncover valuable insights from industry experts, offering you actionable tips to elevate your business.

Lara Galloway: Hi guys, I'm so happy to have you here with us today. And my guest is a very special friend of mine that I get to call a friend now because we spent a plane ride together getting to know each other, which was super fun. Let me tell you a little bit about our guest today. This is Dr. Preston Cherry and Preston is the Founder and President of Concurrent Financial Planning, head of the Financial Planning Program and director of the Charles Schwab Center for personal financial planning at the University of Wisconsin, Green Bay.  

He is all about personal finance. He spent 15 years helping people figure out their finances and talk to them. But he's also doing financial services and working with a lot of people who have bigger issues, bigger challenges, all the high-net-worth wealth management stuff. And then he's taking all this amazing research that he's using over time and applying it to help advisors be better advisors, so helping the consumer better with the financial services, helping advisors figure out how to do their businesses better and make sure they're serving those consumers better.

He's cited all the time by New York Times and Forbes, Wall Street Journal, CNBC, Yahoo Finance, all over the place. And he speaks at pretty much every conference I go to, I can tell you that. So please join me in welcoming the fabulous Dr. Preston Cherry to the FAST Podcast.

(09:05.834)

Preston Cherry: Oh, Lord. Thank you so much for having me. Yes, that plane ride was awesome. I'm glad it came up to this.

(09:12.721)

Lara Galloway: It's funny, right? Like you meet people and some people you just have that instant energy with and that's how I felt about you. It was such an amazing ride to sit there and be able to talk to somebody just human to human because I mean, we had what, an hour and a half, two hours to spend shoulder to shoulder. I mean, the universe works in weird ways but I just love that I got to have that plane ride with you as our first conversation. And I was just fascinated by the trajectory that you're on, like the commitment that you have in this space to financial literacy, financial wellness, to a life well lived, right?

It's not just about the money, but about making it possible. And so I started asking you all these questions about the behavioral finance world, and then you were telling me about all these new things that you're doing, these new adventures. And so I kind of want to just get you to kind of start with a little bit of your origin story, if you will, help us figure out how you got here.

(09:45.065)

Preston Cherry: Yes. Yeah.

(10:06.533)

Lara Galloway: And then I want to kind of move through the conversation so that I hear a lot more about your new venture, the Practice Intel. So start with the top, how did we get here?

(10:14.702)

Preston Cherry: Sure.

Well, let's do the plane ride over again. Right. Speaking of the plane ride, speaking of the plane ride where I first saw you, you were like Dr. Cherry and I was like, oh my gosh, I'm trying to go to sleep. Who is this? But no, right. No, but it was fabulous. So yeah, my parents just left from visiting me here and it was the first time they visited me together. But anyway, what does that have to do with the origin story? Well, my first two episodes of my podcast, life money balanced podcast were them because it all started with them.  

Or as far as my origin story is concerned. And when you asked about financial psychology, how people think, behave and feel about their money, all of that, and why is it I'm so passionate about it and, you know, I write about it and talk about it. Well, the origin story starts with my parents. I just post about it often. I hear recently about I'm not self-made. A lot of people say, oh, I'm a self-made millionaire. I'm like, no, you're not.

Lara Galloway (11:16.229)

Yeah. Right.

Preston Cherry (11:16.418)

And I know what folks are trying to say with that. They're trying to say that I didn't inherit any money that said there's so many other wealth and wellbeing inputs that are placed inside of you that you can build upon in order to be a productive person in society and productive person in your economy. Right. So it all starts with my parents. So the origin story, we had money talks in the home and we didn't know where we were actually doing something with a framework, right?  

My parents, particularly my dad, he says you went to school, paid all that money to have, you know, doctor this or doctor that. I said, you know, we've been doing that since 1970, whatever. Right. So they have fancy terms and this, that, and the other, but it starts with, we did have talks about where we were as a family, where we're going, how we're processing our situation, our aspirations, where do we want to go?  

And that carried on through my life as far as personal finance and just life in general, when we were talking about working through life stages and I had the training and the inputs inside of me in order to get where I am now. So starting with the parents, fast forward to now.

Lara Galloway: (12:42.557)

So let me just say, and every time I hear you say this, and I've heard you on many of your podcasts as well as when you're featured on others, as a parent of three or two young adults and one teenager, I can tell you, I know you make your parents so proud. I think that is just awesome because giving them that credit and recognizing because so much of the time, and I know we kind of talked about this too, so much of the time you don't actually realize strengths.

You don't recognize certain things that you just come by naturally because that was your normal at your home, but literally why your points resonate so much with you know, the audience that you're speaking to today the next-gen investors, right? The people hearing you talk this resonates so strongly because maybe it wasn't their normal, maybe they didn't have money talks in the household. Maybe no one ever walked them through the framework that you have so the fact that you can look back and see that this is where you learned this type of stuff and maybe it put you on that path. Like you said, I just I think it's awesome. I know your parents love you a lot.

Preston Cherry (13:51.05)

Well, thank you. Well, my dad just came up here to watch the Packers and the Chiefs game so he thinks about economy too. He has a lot of love so does my mother, but he thinks of his children as sometimes as return on investments.

Lara Galloway (14:08.416)

He should. How much did he pay for that education?

Preston Cherry (14:09.298)

Yeah, as he said, as they should, as they should. He's like when am I going to get that dinner? Oh, those free, you know, NFL tickets. Oh, okay. Cool. Right. So, it was cool. Yeah. Fair enough. You know, it's really good. I'm on my way having my own child with my wife. Were expecting, so I'm going to pass on some of that return on investment because I'm about to start making my own investments.

Lara Galloway (14:18.461)

Yeah, fair enough, Dad.

So great.

You sure will. Well, I probably got to guess that for a parent, a grandbaby is a pretty good return on investment. So good job there. Congratulations. All right, so let's pull that into this framework that you started on, where you started figuring out you had this interest, you had some strengths, you had a natural knack for connecting with people about their finances and helping them have a life with money, not just a life that produces money life-chasing money all those great things that you talk about like where are we today? How has that evolved for you over time?

Preston Cherry (15:08.05)

Yes. So that's where Concurrent started and is thriving now. And Concurrent is about having your life and money work concurrently. So, Life Money Balance is the podcast and the philosophy of Concurrent. So Concurrent is the financial services arm and Life Money Balance is the philosophy of which we guide our clients by.

Lara Galloway (15:20.551)

So good.

Preston Cherry (15:34.998)

And the reason why I say that, not for a soft plug, but that it is about how we are here. And that was your question. And it was it, meaning the firm, you know, everything started coming together through a life stage framework.  I went through some things that I didn't like, it was just a life stage. I call it the fog years. And these were years of just trying to find my way again.  

And that's just life. My mom calls them seasons. These are the reasons for seasons. And so I stole her line and she goes, don't harp on it too long. I mean, obviously you have to go through it, affirm your feelings about it. But holding on to regret and shame for a long period of time will have its negative effects on your wellbeing in the long run.

And it did. So, it was about progressing through, I say the T's, which is trial, triumph, and then transformation, Lara. And then you transition to the next stage. And this is where the theme came from. It's like, wow, yes, your life and money can work together. And you can also learn about your life and money while you're going through trial and triumph stage.

Life and money is not always trial. It's just triumph. It's champion points as well. So you can be happy about it and thrive. But where you are, meet folks where you are and guide them through. And then that's what inspired the transformation and the change. So that's what I've strived to do. That's where Concurrent came from, which is let your life lead your money, where your life and money are working concurrently to help you create your life's design.  

And there's a little ditty in there, which is the six A block, which is align, which is admit where you are, acknowledge how you feel about it so you can take some action and then align, aspire and achieve. And that framework gets you through your life stages.

Lara Galloway (17:52.593)

Love these.

Preston Cherry (18:00.978)

And this is where life and money work together. And this is why we try to help people thrive.

Lara Galloway (18:06.437)

Everybody should listen to the life money podcast. I love it. I think you do such a great job of taking some complex financial ideas and just breaking them down. Like you said with those frameworks I feel like you're just famous for your frameworks you come up with these beautiful little Metonymic or just what do you call them? I'm losing the word. I'm an English major not a metonym. I'm going to drive myself crazy.  

Preston Cherry (18:25.438)

Yeah, right. I know what you're talking about though, yeah.

They're not mnemonics, but I know what you're talking about. It is mnemonics. Yeah.

Lara Galloway (18:35.181)

It is mnemonics, it is mnemonics. That's what I'm talking about. So just a great way to remember something and to say, I understand I'm at this stage or I understand that this is the part of the process that I'm in. And I understand because of this little mnemonic that you lay out the framework that this is what's going to come next. And then I understood what's going to come next. And that really helps people make sense of life. Like you said, the different stages, whether it's trials, triumphs.

Whatever it is, it does help us make sense of those areas and know what to expect next so that we can have an expectation and maybe move on. So I love those, you do such a great job with that.

Preston Cherry (19:15.078)

Thank you too. And if I could button that up too, which is aspirations are so important, Lara. They're so important. And they keep that connective glue with individuals. What do you aspire to do? Figure out what you don't want to do so you can figure out what you do want to do. And then once you have that life and, like I say, life and the money alignment, then you can give your money assignment. And that is the glue right there. It's that gorilla glue.

Lara Galloway (19:36.914)

Yeah.

Love it. You must do the first things first. You got to get the alignment once you figure that out then the assignment. That's the action, right? Nothing happens if you don't have some sort of action and the two have to be connected to each other and you know I think there are a lot of people that have a lot of money I'm sure a lot of the clients you've worked with a lot of the advisors we work with people have more money than they know what to do with they do not have happiness, they do not have the life that they want to have.

And that's just clear lack of alignment, right? Is that how you look at it? Yeah.

Preston Cherry (20:12.878)

That's right. I do. I share with folks where, when you're in a car and it's out of alignment, it's drifting, it's drifting this way. And that's not a fun experience. It's to drift when you let your hands go and you're driving this way, or you're having to put both hands in the steering wheel to keep it straight and you know, you're doing this and doing that. That's exactly how it misaligned life and money feels like. When you're able to be in a car and you get a front end alignment, it's just cruising down the highway.

Like, man, and that, that's what I'm talking about. Now that's what that feels like. I heard about Detroit, but yeah, but yeah.

Lara Galloway (20:48.709)

Have you driven on Detroit's roads? Nevermind, nevermind, okay.

And we might knock that car back out of alignment a little bit. But anyway, it's exactly right and I think I can tell what kind of advisor you are to your clients. I can tell that you're bringing in this really good stuff. Not just all right. What are your goals? Where do you want your investments? How long till you retire? Okay, great, how much income do you want to draw? Okay, great I would love for you to talk a little bit now just kind of transition towards the practice Intel stuff.

Tell me a little bit about what practice intel is, why you create it, why do you feel that advisors need to have this kind of a service?

Preston Cherry (21:32.902)

Yes. Thanks for asking. And practice Intel is helping advisors. So me being an advisor, I'm helping clients. And so, this is the shift because I wear multiple hats. And there's a reason why my mother shaped my big old head so I could wear multiple hats. Little did she know I would wear multiple hats later. So, when I'm talking to the youth, I'm talking to the students, getting them prepared to transition, then when I'm talking to the server, my clients.

I'm working on my advisor hat. And then now when you're talking about practice intel, I'm speaking to advisors and seeing how they can help clients thrive. Right. And right now, there's a disconnect. So, between what people are experiencing from their financial advisor and what they want, so we've labeled it the advice experience, what do they value and what do they want to receive from their advice specifically?  

And in the profession, there's a running post, I won't name this person's name, there's a running post that says, well, financial planning needs more science, it needs more of this, and it does need science, and it does need that definition. Financial planning is defined on the CFP website, help your life and money progress and reach your goals through financial advice with a system and a process. So, all of that's defined.

But then when you talk about financial advice, people are like, okay, well, what actually is that? You know? Well, then you're asking, are you receiving a comprehensive financial plan? Is that plan effective? Do I trust my advisor? Do I as a client understand my fees? Do I feel understood, my values, my goals, my aspirations?  We looked at a lot of organizational science research and process research.

And these seven attributes create this ideal advice experience. And folks are saying, okay, my advice experience is this, and it's either coming from my advisor very well or not. And if it is, then they're going to advocate for it. And this is where we have, it's better for not only the client, but also the firm.

Because you're increasing the quality of advice that you deliver as an advisor. And the person that is receiving the client, they're having a better client and advisor relationship. So two qualities. And then now just organically, your firm should be able to grow because you are as an advisor, practicing good advice. And people want it. They want that value. I mean, they want that experience.

And the reason why this all connects is because like you said, and I appreciate the comment or the compliment, which is folks say, oh, okay, yeah, that's the type of advice that I want. And we want for them to get them at Concurrent, they'll go speak on it and say, yes, because listen, here's the thing. If you're not improving the quality of your advice and the quality of your relationships, then your clients have somewhere to go. So, if you're not growing, they have got somewhere to go.

Because what they're going to do, Lara, and you know this, is they're going to hear from somebody else, well, my advisor does this, my advisor does it, my advisor asked me this, my advisor did this. And they're going to, the natural next question is, who is your advisor? And that's advocating.

Lara Galloway (24:57.953)

Right. What's the number? Yeah. Well, all of this, I hear it referred to as the perfect storm a lot of times, right? We've got the great wealth transfer about to happen. We've got most practicing financial planners going to age out soon, their clients are aging out, passing on, and their spouses are coming in, and their children are waiting in the wings. And so there's all this big shift and change.

And I know, I've heard you speak about this, like this is driving our industry to see financial planning differently, to demand a different experience from financial planning. And so, for the people who are figuring it out and doing it right, like you're already figured out at Concurrent and now you're going to turn around and be able to teach other advisors with practice intel saying, hey, here's what I've learned, here's some best practices, here's some things you've got to do. Number one, you got to know how well your experience is being received.  

And number two, if it's not quite right, I think you have a program to kind of teach how to make it right. Yeah.

Preston Cherry (26:21.774)

Yes. So, thank you for that. And that's exactly what the portal, the dashboard, that's why we called it wealth technology, because we're able to measure how you as an advisor are performing in these areas.

Lara Galloway (26:35.621)

No, this isn't anecdotal. You've literally got an assessment. You've got data. You've got all the research. It's impressive, yeah.

Preston Cherry (26:42.259)

Yes. And we call it research because you're gathering intel. Oh, ding ding. You're gathering intel. My students think I'm corny nowadays. I'm like, I'm not that old yet. But you're gathering intel and researching on your clients, and you're asking them specifically what their ideal advice experience has been or is with you, the advisor. And so they're like giving you the data and you're saying, I, the advisor, need to work better at this.

Or you may be knocking it out the park. And that's great as well. And then there's some educational tools because we do some teaching inside of there. So, it's development. So that's a part of it. And then also we have this score called the Relationship Quality Index. So, what's your RQI? And there's a number. And it has some relation to if the quality of your advice and your relationship is doing better and net promoter score is known in our industry. It's more for advocacy, but then we go a step further and add in value of the relationship, trust, loyalty and overall experience. And it says, okay, if that score is higher, then the value of your practice should be higher as well.  

So, it gives concrete evidence. And we all know when we're talking about valuing our practice and maybe getting ready to sell or just build and know how we're growing, well, how do you know for certain? And so, when we have this certainty and three elements inside the dashboard, which is research on your client, you let gathering that information, practice development, and practice evaluation, then now we're getting somewhere.

Lara Galloway (28:33.713)

Yeah. You know, I think this is great because I know a lot of the firms that I talk to, they're aware that they have to, I'm just going to use a blanket term, modernize so that they meet the needs of this generation and next generation of advisors, right? That what has gotten them to a certain level and a certain amount of success is probably just not going to translate with the giant generational shifts that are coming their way.  

And some of them I'm talking to, they're hiring the consultants to come in and do this work. Am I relating properly? How can I relate and retain? How can I avoid attrition? Like what do my clients need from me? What do they value most? What do I need to expand in my services? They're hiring big ticket consultants. What I love that you've created is you're a consultant, you're a researcher, you do all this stuff, but you've crafted it and put it in a platform.

We're advisors who are savvy enough to know that they need to understand this. They need to understand the value of the advice that they're giving and that advice experience. They can learn through this platform without having to engage a big giant consultant for a long time to figure out the same kind of stuff. I think, and ongoing support too, right?

Preston Cherry (29:49.698)

Yeah. Absolutely. Ongoing support. And I will say that I'm a co-founder and really the founder is Tom Rieman and he came from JD Power and he has some great research about organizational science. And we just came together and that's why we're partners as founder and co-founder. We came together because my expertise lies and I share with people all the time. I speak advisor.

So I'm multilingual. I speak advisor. I speak research. I speak what I practice, what I see. And I transfer that expertise. So I'm able to align what's going on from the dashboard into people's lives. And those people are advisors. So they can then transfer that into their clients. Because it's something I believe. It's a core value of concurrent, like you said. If there's a system in place,

or a tool in place that where some of the fundamental values that I have as a practitioner and a teacher, you know, and even a student of our profession. Right. And if I can bottle that all that up and keep passing that along to advanced profession and advisors and clients, and I get to do it on both sides of the table, wow, you know, how lucky am I, right?

Lara Galloway (31:12.549)

Yeah, we're so lucky because that's exactly what we need. We need somebody who can figure things out and then translate it for other people and help. And you and I talked about this: you are always going to be a student and teacher. As soon as you learn it, you turn around and teach it. I love that about you and I think that's one of the hallmarks of your success. Whether it's learning financial stuff and turning around and teaching that to your clients or to your students that you're working with and mentoring or whether it's to other advisors who are saying, listen, I know I need to figure this out and you're several steps ahead of me on this so maybe you could help me out.  

So, I love that about you.

Preston Cherry (31:51.551)

I appreciate it. I'll just say one of my favorite lines and you see I got some albums in the back for those that are listening. There's songs in A Key of Life and Earth, Wind, or Fire. And it's about the human condition, Lara. So, I appreciate you saying that. And when we're going about working and collaborating with folks, when clients collaborate with us as advisors and as advisors collaborate with other advisors and so on and so forth.  

We're trying to advance the human condition. And personal finance is a public good. It's a public good and it's a global public good. And this is why we're seeing financial wellness and wellbeing thrive all across the world is because when our finances are better and aligned with our life and money, then we're able to be less reliant on systems and we get to rely on our own internal system, and then we get to thrive as people with better spiritual, physical, and self-growth, all of those areas.

Lara Galloway (32:59.213)

I love it. I love it. I love those albums, man. I think that's so cool that you're using those as reference points. It's awesome. Well, let me ask you this. I know that outwardly it's probably hard for anybody to argue that you look like a very successful person, but even knowing you on a little bit more of a personal level now, I think you really have a lot of success going for you. And I'd always love to have my guest on the show share what their definition of success is.

So I want to put that to you. What would your definition of success be?

Preston Cherry (33:30.914)

Wow. Yes. And I appreciate you saying that life is yes, it can look outwardly successful, but folks have to walk their own path, you know, and I always say, first, particularly with life and money, I just say, un-fomo yourself, right? Un-fomo your finance. You know, we're always swapping lines, you know, just fear of missing out, right? And then, but focus on moving on.

Lara Galloway (33:50.581)

Oh, that's good. I'm stealing that.

Preston Cherry (34:00.93)

So that's the new FOMO is focus on moving on with your journey and your path. And I mean, that's 20, 30% of it right there. You know, a lot of folks ask me, what does this meaning, the personal side of human side of money and aligning your life money, what does all I have to do with the money? When are we going to get to the numbers of the finance? And I say everything. It has everything to do with it. And so  when you asked me about success, success is not linear and it's also not comparative to someone else.  

It's your journey and it's through your lens. And it's also different, not only human development, but also dollars. It, they're unique to each person. It's not a hard figure. Okay. Yes. If you have 50 million or 10 million or a billion now, these round numbers that are coming out all the time, if you're not, we need to be a billionaire.  

You know how rare it is to be a billionaire? Oh, don't get me started. Yeah. You know, a hundred million. I mean, this is crazy. That sets people off on the wrong path. And that's the great question. What is your version of success? What do you want out of your life? And that's what aspiration means.  

And then there is a dollar amount, whether people like it or not. When we do have our values and our aspirations and goals laid out, that all sounds and feels good, we have to do the work, but there is a dollar amount too, and that's why we have to do the planning and to wrap up the question about success in particular. It is a journey. You know, my mother says there's reasons for seasons. Then you persevere.

You affirm what you're going through. That's why the three A's are honest, the honest self audit. I call it the emotional HSA. When you admit where you are and you acknowledge how you feel about it, and then you could take action, all right, then you're on your way to success, which is align, aspire, achieve. And admitting where you are in your life stage, wherever that is, your unique self, and then you can acknowledge, you can affirm and process all that you're going through and that you want to do, now you can take action towards your version of success.

And it's very important to your version of success, your version of financial freedom, your version of wellbeing. And that's what success looks like. And because you have been through those T's, that was what I was saying, the trial, triumph, transformation, then you can transition to your version of success.

Lara Galloway (36:54.041)

And there is the sermon from Dr. Preston Cherry I was looking for. Thank you so much. I love it. I love getting you on your roll, man. It's good. And I love what you're saying. I mean, it's not like you can cherry pick, well, that person looks successful. So I'll have one of those. And I'm going to maybe take a few from this guy over here. This gal, she's got blah, blah. I'm going to have one of those too, right? So it's not cherry picking it. It's doing all that work to figure that life out and then the money will follow, right?

Preston Cherry (37:25.502)

Yes, yes, I will. And thank you, because I just shared this with a conference that I was at and I was given a keynote. You know, there was a lot that I went through and everybody has a story. The speech I was given was the art of storytelling. And story sharing is storytelling plus story listening. It's an equation. All right. And so it's a conversation. And so everyone has their story. And this is why I say life is not linear.

Well, I guess the cliche is, ain't sweet all the time, you know, that type of thing. It ain't always sweet. But you do go through those times, and then you get to the success part, the balance of all of the ingredients of life, spiritual, financial, health, physical, all of this. And then that is what success is. And then last, I will have to make the points again, success does have a dollar amount to it, whether people like it or not. So it does have a dollar amount.

Lara Galloway (38:32.229)

Yeah, listen up guys. This is what financial planning looks like for the future. It's figuring all this stuff out, not just returns on the market and trying to beat it. It's your clients are looking for a lot more of this stuff that Dr. Cherry shared with us today. And it's no doubt that you're going to be helping a bunch of people out with the framework that you've got and the work that you're doing. So I just really appreciate you. And I would love, would you just share for our listeners that want to hear a little bit more about practice intel or anything else that you feel like you want to kind of share with them, would you tell them how they can find out more about you?

Preston Cherry (39:06.702)

Sure. So pracintel.com is the advisor dashboard for you advisors listening. And then for folks that I help, Dr. Preston Cherry is my social handle across all platforms, Twitter, TikTok, Instagram, all of that. So, Dr. Preston Cherry and then Concurrent FP is the firm. And then God love the YouTube channel. So, search for life money balance over at YouTube and it'll come right up.

Lara Galloway (39:36.189)

Good stuff. Thank you so much, Dr. Preston Cherry, for being my guest on the FAST Podcast.

Preston Cherry (39:42.402)

Thank you, Lara.

Voiceover: Thanks for tuning in to the FAST Podcast with Lara Galloway. Questions or comments about the show? We'd love to hear from you. Shoot us an email at info@whiteglove.com. Also be sure to check out the show notes to find any resources we may have mentioned. As always, don't forget to hit that follow button. So you'll never miss an episode. And once again, thank you for joining us on the FAST Podcast.