Why Pressure Is a Privilege With Andy Schwartz

Andy Schwartz is the CEO and Managing Partner of OnePoint BFG Wealth Partners, a national wealth management and financial planning firm that provides personalized, goals-based fiduciary services to help individuals, families, and business owners manage and grow their finances. He co-founded the firm and brings over 40 years of experience as a CFP, focusing on helping clients build wealth, plan for retirement, and preserve their legacy. Under his leadership, the firm rebranded from Bleakley Financial Group to OnePoint BFG and has continued to expand its national presence and enhance its advisory capabilities. Andy is widely recognized in the industry for his client-centered approach and commitment to long-term financial partnerships.

Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:

• [1:59] Andy Schwartz discusses why serving clients is a privilege, not an entitlement

• [3:57] Living through clients’ entrepreneurial journeys and wealth creation stories

• [6:12] Founding OnePoint BFG in 1984 and evolving beyond insurance into full planning

• [9:56] How to choose the right private equity partner for growth

• [13:42] Three criteria Andy uses to evaluate advisor mergers and acquisitions

• [19:10] Why succession planning is a responsibility to clients, not just an exit strategy

• [20:53] Creating a strong company culture through compensation, equity, and retention

• [24:01] The impact of AI on wealth management and client service

• [28:23] Industry consolidation and the rising cost of technology for RIAs
  

In this episode…

In the financial services industry, leaders face mounting pressure to grow, adopt new technologies, and scale their firms without compromising client trust or company culture. Many advisors struggle with succession planning, enterprise value, and the fear that AI could replace rather than elevate their teams. How can firms expand responsibly while staying true to a client-first philosophy?

Andy Schwartz, a veteran financial advisor and industry leader with over four decades of experience in wealth management, shares that growth must begin with mindset. He believes serving clients is a privilege and that deep listening builds lasting trust. Andy outlines three criteria for successful partnerships, including cultural alignment, measurable growth opportunity, and long-term economic upside. He emphasizes succession planning as a responsibility to clients, encourages leaders to share equity and reward teams generously, and views AI as a force multiplier that enhances service rather than replaces people.

In this episode of The Customer Wins, Richard Walker interviews Andy Schwartz, CEO and Managing Partner of OnePoint BFG Wealth Partners, about scaling a wealth management firm without losing culture. Andy also discusses choosing the right private equity partner, building enterprise value through succession planning, and leveraging AI to elevate client service.

Resources Mentioned in this episode

• Quik!

• Richard Walker on LinkedIn

• Andy Schwartz on LinkedIn

• OnePoint BFG Wealth Partners

• "Psychology of Money and Better Client Conversations With Brian Portnoy" on The Customer Wins

• "Data Strategies That Transform Advisory Practices With Molly Pierce" on The Customer Wins

• "Outsmarting Cybercriminals in Finance With Brian Edelman" on The Customer Wins

• Joe Duran on LinkedIn

• Terri Kallsen on LinkedIn

• Rise Growth Partners

Quotable Moments:

• “We view it as, ‘How lucky are we?’ That these people choose us to let us serve them.”

• “The pressure is a huge privilege.”

• “Don’t just take the highest multiple. Don’t take your highest bidder. Take a partner that can help you grow.”

• “If you don’t really fulfill that opportunity, think about what you can do with the money.”

• “A blessing in life is when you don’t think you’re the smartest guy in the room.”

Action Steps:

1. Treat client relationships as a privilege, not an entitlement: Approaching every client interaction with humility and a strong sense of responsibility deepens trust, reinforces accountability, raises the overall standard of service your team delivers.

2. Build succession planning into your business now: Proactive succession planning protects clients, preserves enterprise value, and ensures continuity instead of creating unnecessary risk at retirement.

3. Choose growth partners based on alignment, not just valuation: Selecting partners for cultural fit and operational lift rather than the highest multiple leads to stronger, more sustainable long-term expansion.

4. Share success with your team through compensation and equity: Paying well and offering ownership fosters loyalty, reduces turnover, and increases employee investment in client outcomes and firm performance.

5. Embrace AI as a force multiplier, not a replacement strategy: Leveraging technology to eliminate mundane tasks frees your team for higher-value work, improving productivity, scalability, and client experience.

   
   

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Episode Transcript:

Intro: 00:02

Welcome to The Customer Wins podcast, where business leaders discuss their secrets and techniques for helping their customers succeed and in turn, grow their business.

Richard Walker: 00:16

Hi, I'm Rich Walker, the host of The Customer Wins, where I talk to business leaders about how they help their customers win and how their focus on customer experience leads to growth. Some of my past guests have included Brian Portnoy of Shaping Wealth, Molly Pierce of Track That Advisor, and Brian Edelman of FCI Cyber. Today, I get to speak with Andy Schwartz, the CEO of OnePoint BFG Wealth Partners, and today's episode is brought to you by Quik!, the leader in enterprise forms processing. When your business relies upon processing forms, don't waste your team's valuable time manually reviewing the forms. Instead, get Quik! using Quik!.

You'll be able to generate completed forms and get back clean, context rich data that reduces manual reviews to only one out of 1000 submissions. Visit quickforms.com to get started. All right, I'm really excited. Andy Schwartz, the co-founder, CEO, and Managing partner of OnePoint BFG, also formerly known as Bleakley Financial Group, is a premier financial planning and wealth management firm dedicated to delivering tailored financial strategies to individuals, families and businesses. Andy is a certified financial planner and has 40 years of experience in the financial planning industry, co-founding OnePoint BFG in 1984.

He also still has the firm's largest book of business because he is the ultimate player coach. Andy, welcome to The Customer Wins.

Andy Schwartz: 01:40

Hey, thanks. Great to be here.

Richard Walker: 01:43

All right, so for those who haven't heard my podcast before, I just love to talk to business leaders about what they're doing to help their customers win, how they build and deliver a great customer experience, and the challenges they face in growing their own company. So, Andy, let's understand your business better. How does your company help people?

Andy Schwartz: 01:59

Well, I think the most important thing, which is that we understand our role and we understand that serving our clients is a privilege for us. I think a lot of people in my industry, and maybe they're smarter, think how smart they are and how fortunate their clients are to have them. Well, we view the business a little differently. There are hundreds of thousands of financial advisors in America. We view it as how lucky are we?

That these people choose us to let us serve them. It's trustworthy. It's an enormous responsibility. I always like to say to my advisors that if we are advising a client, if we are their advisor, that means someone else isn't. So think about the responsibility of that for a second.

You know, you might want to do and I don't want to use bad language, a half assed job with a client. But if you do a half assed job with that client, you have prevented somebody else from doing an excellent job for that client. And so to us, the responsibility is that we want to dig in. The thing that we're best at is listening because, I mean, I've got a call tomorrow that I'm excited about with a new prospective client. I can't wait to understand everything about her.

I want to understand about her, her kids, what's important, her planning, everything about her. I have very little interest in talking about me tomorrow. I just want to talk to her and learn about her. And I think if everybody could approach that that way and feel that responsibility, we would certainly be better advisors. But we want to be that OnePoint of contact, you know, for our clients.

I want to be the first to call. You know, I might not be the last call. And we have a pretty big stable, and we don't do everything, everything. But most things are financially related, if we can't do it in-house, we know where to go to get the answers. So that's kind of how we view it.

Richard Walker: 03:47

No, I love this perspective and it's really making me think. Sorry, this is going to go off the rails here really fast.

Andy Schwartz: 03:53

It's okay.

Richard Walker: 03:53

Do you find yourself living vicariously with your clients?

Andy Schwartz: 03:57

I do. I mean, the greatest part about my business is that I have this window because, again, I've been doing this for over 40 years. The first thing that's interesting is how many ways people can make money. There's the strangest, most bizarre ways, things that you can't even imagine that people can become fabulously financially successful and sometimes by accident. You know, I mean, as someone I worked with years ago, and he was doing like he was like a longshoreman in Alaska or something.

You know, I probably didn't go to college. He didn't know what to do. So he's in Alaska because his dad was there and they were doing some menial job, but they paid them well. And then he came back and he needed a job. So he's working like the overnight at Holiday Inn, you know, at the desk right overnight.

And what he realized, and this is years ago, was that they were booking a lot of these stewardesses or flight attendants and pilots. And so he starts to think about this. He builds a business. Fabulously successful business by going direct to the airlines to be the person that books. You know, he doesn't own the hotel.

He's just the guy that was working at a hotel. And he builds a whole business out of this. And then ultimately, you know, he transacts out of that business. There's just it's so fascinating to, to to and to be part of, you know, the journey. And so we do. We get to live through it.

When clients start a business, you know, operate a business, grow a business and then sell a business and you have a front row seat to that. It's fantastic. It's the best part of my business. Yeah, absolutely.

Richard Walker: 05:29

That is so amazing to hear that it is. I mean, look, I'm a father now of ten years, and I feel like I'm reliving my childhood through their childhood. Right? And yet, I don't feel that with my employees, like living through their experiences. I don't necessarily feel that with my customers because they're using our services in so many different ways.

What a unique opportunity you have to see this.

Andy Schwartz: 05:49

Yeah. It's amazing.

Richard Walker: 05:51

Wow. But look, I'll go back to your core premise because I love this idea of you guys are the OnePoint that you're truly there to listen to your clients, understand their needs, be all about them. And you're right. It is a privilege. I was an advisor and there's so much trust that goes into that.

So I just love this perspective. Do you think this is something you started the business with or you developed over time?

Andy Schwartz: 06:12

Yeah, I think.

Andy Schwartz: 06:13

I think it's either in you or it's not, you know. And look, we started this business in 1984 after we graduated college. It was actually the Genesis that was an insurance. You know, we were basically selling life insurance. Yeah.

By 86, nobody was a CFP. I had a couple of partners at the time, really senior by about a year. So, you know, we were all basically kids, but we had the idea that we wanted to do planning. But I always, always felt that it was a privilege that these people would give me their money or their premiums, and that they trusted me to make that decision for them. And so I always did.

It was just something that was innate to me. I don't know why it's not innate to everybody, but it certainly was an aide to me. I, you know, I mean, I want to believe that they always win because we are really good advisors and we care about them, take care of them. But I always know we always win because they trust us and give us the right to work with them. You know, it's a lot of pressure.

People will say to me, there's so much pressure. You have their money. You know the old expression money never sleeps. And, you know, we're a seven day a week job. My, my, I get emails and text messages, you know, seven days a week.

It's not unusual for us to be on the phone on the weekends. I don't schedule appointments on the weekends. I'm not a lunatic. But people.

Andy Schwartz: 07:31

Ask me. You know, they'll ask me, like, between the firm business, you know, because we're running, we're $16 billion. We're on our way to 50. There's a lot of people here. We're about 220, 230 people now. So it is a lot of responsibility.

We have 17 or 18 offices around the country. We've got our main office here in Parsippany, where I am today. It's a lot of pressure, I guess, but I kind of think of pressure as a privilege. You know, I think a lot of people in the world wish that they had the privilege of the pressure that I have. You know, years ago, I did a lot of speaking at my old broker dealer.

And I used to say that when I envisioned the future, because I think it's really important how you visualize your life. And I think that your expectations really drive your success. And life is intentional. And so I would say that I'm envisioning ten years from now, and this is maybe when I was 26 years old, and I'm hustling life insurance policies. I'm trying so hard just to have appointments, you know, and, and just be able to make a living.

But that I imagine that someday I would go into my office and I'd go in the back door because the waiting room would be full of people, you know, and I and and I would be complaining as I'm going down the back that I have to talk to all of these people today inside all these insurance applications, which means I'm making all this money. And that was sort of my fantasy. And it isn't exactly that way because I'm not necessarily in that business so much anymore, but it's kind of that way where I've 10 or 12 appointments a day, where there's always something going on, where it's really crazy and hectic, but it is such a privilege. The pressure is a huge privilege.

Richard Walker: 09:04

Okay, I'm going to give a shout out to my product owner, Jason McCarty, on my team because he brought that phrase to our company. Pressure is a privilege.

Andy Schwartz: 09:11

It is.

Richard Walker: 09:12

And I love that concept because I put a lot of pressure on myself. I'm a type A, times a type, type A person, and I'm an entrepreneur. I've been driving this company for 24 years now, frankly, so I haven't caught up to your 40. I'll get there. But yeah, having that pressure to exceed your client expectation to meet client expectations, sometimes that's all you can do to keep the team motivated and engaged and excited is such an amazing feeling.

And honestly, Andy, one of the things that really bothers me is the concept of exiting. If I were to exit where the pressure comes from, what would my purpose be? Where would I go? Where would I do it? You guys have obviously gone through acquisition, merger, etc.

So how has that decision affected you?

Andy Schwartz: 09:56

Yeah. So we we. It took a long time. We did a minority deal. So I have a wonderful, wonderful minority partner, you know. So we like to tell people that we are private equity invested but not owned because, you know, private equity is for most entrepreneurs. I think private equity is not a positive thing, you know, and they're good for a good reason. They're really smart guys basically trying to buy our businesses for a lot less than the worst so they can sell them for a lot more than they're worth, you know.

And you have to be aware. But so we went through the process for several years, mostly because we needed capital and we wanted to grow the business. I was fortunate in what I would say to anyone out there, no matter what business you're in, if you're looking to do something like we did where you need capital and you want to grow your business. Don't just take the money. And it isn't about who gives you the biggest multiple.

Find a partner that can give you intellectual lift and capacity. We were fortunate enough to find a partner, you know, Joe Duran, for people that are in our business, know who Joe Duran is. Rise Growth Partners, great team. They were actually able to give us a real lift. You know where my business 18 months later, which is when we started this process with them is a different business.

We had the bones, you know, we had the business, but they gave us tremendous operational lift. You know, they had some skill sets that we didn't have. And it doesn't sit on my PNL. So I would say, don't just take the highest multiple. Don't take your highest bidder.

Take a partner that can help you grow. I always say when I'm looking at an acquisition, if you were an advisor I was talking to, I would say, Rich, there's three things that have to be true for me to want you to join me. And we're not an aggregator, and we say no way more times than we say yes. I have lots and lots of conversations every week and I get off the phone. I'm always very polite and I say to my, my guys, no, that's, that's not it's not a good fit.

But there's three things that have to be true. First, you have to be happy after. And you should ask yourself the same thing if you're going to bring on a minority, and certainly if you're selling your business to a majority partner, will they be happy after most importantly. Right, Rex your culture. You know you have children.

I have children. We're only as happy as our most unhappy child. I don't need unhappy advisers, you know. The second is we have to be able to help them grow. So if it's an acquisition, they have to be able to help you grow.

We have to be able to help an advisor grow. Or why would they join us? Because we don't give them any lift. So don't do it. And then the third is that long term economics have to work.

So presumably whatever you're doing there's going to be another bite at this apple. And so the economics of whatever that is has to work. Well for us it's the same. Our equity value will be so much more valuable than theirs. And so but I think that's true for anyone talking about merger.

You know, minority sale or majority sale. I think that's a good litmus test. And those are the questions people have to ask, not who's paying the highest multiple, you know, not how can I get out of this thing quicker? You know, I think those are the things that we want to focus on.

Richard Walker: 12:54

You know, Andi, I'm selfishly going to turn this back to The Customer Wins, theme because, you know, you actually have two different, at least two different customers. You have your clients, your investor clients, but you also have your advisors as clients that you're trying to attract. And everything you just said is about the journey and the experience that you're trying to create for them and help them see and want to be part of. And this really talks to me about transformation because you're taking somebody through a transformation to be part of your firm. They went from independent or they went from wirehouse or wherever you're finding them to transform to your way of looking at the world. It's a privilege to serve your clients the way you do.

So I want to acknowledge that because you have a lot of clarity on that. And so I'm kind of curious who then is attracted to you? How do they come across you and find you and say, this is where I want to be?

Andy Schwartz: 13:42

Yeah. I mean. Look, so it's great that I actually have three constituents: the client first, the advisor second, and then the people that work here third. So we kind of see it as all three are really, really important. And it's a huge responsibility for sure. We've been doing this a long time. So we attract a lot of advisors because they know us.

You know when we did our deal, 80% of us were at 1099 shots meant that we were a bunch of independent contractors. The big problem that most firms have is when they want to go from 1099 advisor groups to a W2 model, which is what everyone has to do to create value. It's very difficult to do that because people are like, I've never been a W2, I want to be in control, whatever. It was not hard for us because they trusted us. And so what I would say is, if you're running a business and you someday want to do something like we've done, or you want to build a business that can ultimately be a W2 firm and something that has value, then you better do what you say you're going to do with your advisors.

Advisors all win, all ties. You know, for the last 30 years, the guy comes in and says, well, you know, could you pay for this instead of me paying for this? We'd look around and say, yes, advisors want all ties. Clients always want all ties. That's easy.

You know, their clients are always right. But. But at the same time, always do what you say. And because you have to build trust if you can build trust. And so what we've been able to do over the last almost 40 years, we've been able to build trust in the community, the in the broad community.

So that, you know, I spent a lot of time, 30 years at a broker dealer with lots and lots of ideas. We've had lots and lots of people that have worked with us over the years have listened to us. We do a lot of teaching. I do a podcast. I mean, I do a podcast really, because I love the opportunity to share things that I know.

We don't make any money at it. It's not an adventure. I don't want to be Joe Rogan. You know, I have two side hustles. You know, I've got a full plate.

There's nothing I enjoy more, though, than teaching an advisor how to make more money. And the way I look at it is, I mean, I have God gave me a gift. You know, my parents gave me a gift. They raised us properly. I was lucky enough to find a business that I could do something with.

I mean, look, I went to Glassboro State College, you know? I mean, and probably for two reasons. I had no money, and I had really low SAT scores. So that's a confession I'll make, you know, to just the two of us. So at the end of the day, I wasn't supposed to be Uber successful.

This, you know, people always say, oh, Andrew, I go, oh no, I'm Andy. My mom had very low expectations. My mom was 16 years old when my brother and I were born. Yeah, 16. So I was lucky from the start just to be here.

Yeah. So at the end of the day, you know, that's that's sort of that's how we sort of look at this. So if I can, I've been able to be very, very financially successful, which is great. But what's really great is I've been able to help hundreds, if not thousands of advisors become very financially successful. And I get a call every week when we talk to these advisors to join us, they'll say to me, you know, I was driving around with your tapes in like the 90s.

You know, they'll say to me, you were the reason that I didn't fail in the business. And I would say, no, you're the reason you didn't fail. But I love the idea that I might have helped them. And so the leverage of that, it's like, unbelievable. So it hasn't just been about what we've been able to create here.

We've been able to create leverage everywhere. And I would say one other thing. When you think about that thought, people will say, what motivates you to continue to work? It isn't really money anymore. I'm kind of working on my grandson's money now, but when people say, because a lot of advisors are what we would call lifestyle advisors, we call them zoo fed bears, we would be nicer and say they're lifestyle advisors, but you know, you're making enough money.

Why are you working so hard? People all the time. What are you doing? Why do you work so hard? You know, I mean.

I mean, I have a beautiful place in Florida. I rarely get to this winter because we're too busy. The way I look at this, though, is if you have an opportunity, you've got an opportunity. Your business. We have an opportunity, our business.

If you don't really fulfill that opportunity, if you and it isn't because you need to make more money, think about what you can do with the money, how much money you could give away, how many other kids colleges can you pay for? How many people in your family can you help? How many? I mean, you could start just making gifts every year to all of your friends. I mean, it's allowed 19,000 a year per.

If you have a chance to do that, why would you not do that? Like, why would you squander that? So to me, it's like, I hate wasting food. I hate throwing away food, I hate wasting, I hate wasting opportunity. And so that's my people.

You know, I gave 10% to my team. It's it's it's.

Richard Walker: 18:15

I think that stems from where you came from. Right. Because you're talking about your roots are not wealthy. Mine aren't either. I mean, I was on welfare as a kid.

I moved all the time. I had all sorts of strife and challenges. So wealth was always an illusion and I, I just, I savor everything at this point. But I want to point something out. Else out, Andy.

You know, when you talk about that, that it's a privilege to serve your clients. And if you don't do it and if you only do it half assed, somebody else is missing the opportunity to do it better, right? So one of the things I'm I'm hearing and what you're talking about is if you take that lifestyle advisor who is just resting and just enjoying, if they don't have a succession plan because they're just enjoying and they're just going to ride it out, that's a disservice to their client to not create enterprise value in their company so they can pass it on to somebody else is a disservice to that client and doesn't fit the ethos of who you are and your company culture. Would you agree?

Andy Schwartz: 19:10

100%? Yeah. I mean, look, we have a responsibility. I've got two what we would call junior partners on my team, soon to be three. And I always say to clients for the first time when we're introducing somebody.

Listen, the main reason they're here is because if, God forbid, something happens to me and as my hair gets greater and greater and I start to lose more and more of it, you know, people ask, you know, how long are you going to be here? And I say, well, how long am I to be on the planet? Or how am I going to work? And they say, well, that's why that's why Alexis is on every call. Because someone needs to be intimately involved in every client's situation.

We've got a team of ten and they all know everybody. But someone needs to be on those calls because we do. We owe them, you know, that transition if God forbid. And what a responsibility. When you're ready to retire, it's great that you've made enough money that you're ready to retire.

But what are you going to do, just leave these people in a lurch? I mean, they trusted you, you know, to walk away. So no, if I could do this until I was 200, I would know I can't, you know so I do. I struggle with that. I want to take care of those people forever. And I know I don't have forever.

So we're building that out so that, you know, they can be served as well as we serve them, but it's a really big responsibility. And for enterprise value, there's lots of things that create enterprise value, but that's one of them. There has to be succession planning and these people have to have an opportunity.

Richard Walker: 20:31

Yeah, yeah man. I love how passionate you are about what you do. You found your calling and not everybody can say that in life.

Andy Schwartz: 20:38

Very lucky. Very lucky.

Richard Walker: 20:39

Yeah. So I want to point out something else. That customer experience is often driven by the platform of your company culture. And how do you think your company culture developed? Because it's certainly strong and it's certainly presenting who you are.

Andy Schwartz: 20:53

Yeah. I mean, I think it's just who we are. It's always telling the truth, doing what you say you're going to do, treating people the way you know you would want to be treated. You know, we've always paid our people really well. We've always recognized that turnover is just so corrosive.

It's the most damaging thing to any business. I talked to people in the service businesses like mine or other service businesses, and the people just come and go. They tend to be type A's. They're too hard on people. People are like, I don't need this aggravation.

We're tough too, because, you know, we're very demanding, but we pay them. So we pay. What would you call that? But like combat pay. So we pay them so much.

But also, you know, we appreciate what they do for us, you know, and I don't care if they need to take some time. Take some time. If you want to work from home on Friday, work from home. Just get the work done. You know, as long as everybody gets the work done and they're responsible, you know, for what they're supposed to be responsible with our clients, then work with them.

And I've always told people, you know, we are typically successful in our business, you know, so you're an advisor, you make lots of money, you underpay your people. Your secretary can't afford to have a roof fixed. And meanwhile, you know, you belong to two country clubs and you're always on vacation. And I always ask, what do you want that woman to say when a client calls in on a Friday afternoon because she's got choices and they can say, is Indian. And my people would say, you know, he's on another call or he's on another appointment.

You know, can I send you to Paul? Can I help you? Or I'll get Andy back to you whenever. Or they could say it's Friday. It's Friday.

Andy never works on a Friday. You know, you're right.

Richard Walker: 22:26

He's always golfing.

Andy Schwartz: 22:26

He's always. As a matter of fact, I. We haven't seen him all week. You know, I don't want people that are talking to my clients pissed off at me because I'm rich and they're. And they're poor.

It doesn't make any sense. So we've always had a culture of sharing. I mean, everybody in our manager team has equity. I gave a ton of my equity away to my immediate team. My goal is that someday, you know, when we recap and there'll be we'll we're in this for the long term, but there will be a transaction that yes, I will make lots and lots of money, but so will they.

And their life is going to change way more than mine because I'm not good. I'm not going to buy another house. I'm not going to buy another car. I'm good. But their lives are going to change.

That's exciting to me.

Richard Walker: 23:06

Oh yeah.

Andy Schwartz: 23:06

People say, you know what motivates me in the morning? That we have an opportunity here to change a lot of lives. There's going to be a couple of hundred people when we're done, whose lives are going to change because of the work we're doing. And that's really cool.

Richard Walker: 23:17

I share that with you, Andy, I do. I take the responsibility of leadership and feeding the people whose paychecks come out of this company really, really seriously. And one of the things I absolutely love seeing is people advancing their career in our company and growing in their wealth and in their income, growing in their responsibility, and enjoying what they're doing. That gives me so much joy in building this company. I love that.

Andy Schwartz: 23:41

It's the best.

Richard Walker: 23:42

Yeah. All right. So I'm going to switch gears on us because we don't have a whole lot of time. On the one hand, I'd be remiss not to ask this question, but I'm also wondering when this question is no longer something people want to talk about. So in your firm, where is artificial intelligence playing a role?

What are you seeing the impact on your company and this culture that you have?

Andy Schwartz: 24:01

I mean, we met this afternoon for an hour with my CEO and my head of technology, and that is it's a big conversation. What I would say is this. I did a podcast during the week and someone had said something about, you know, will we be replaced? And the answer is no. We will not be replaced as advisors.

I do think there's a segment of the market that will be different, meaning that the lower end of the market will probably be much more robo, you know, AI and that's, you know, partly because the kids that are coming up are much more tech savvy, much less relationship connected, it seems to me. And driven. But that's okay, though, because that's not the space we're in. We're in the high net worth, ultra high net worth, and those people that are busy running businesses, they don't want to do this for themselves. But what I will say is this if you're not embracing AI, you know, really embracing it, then then you're going to be in trouble and you'll be in trouble for a couple of reasons.

We talk about fee compression in our business. I'm not worried about fee compression, but there will be margin compression because you'll have to do more and more for your clients in order to be able to maintain the fees and to be able to maintain the clients because it is competitive. AI is going to help us do that and so we won't. We'll never terminate anyone here because of AI, but I might only hire 300 more people, not 500 more people. But it is.

Everything we do here is through the lens of how we connect everything, integrate everything. How does AI, you know, do our onboarding for us? You know, how does AI do our, you know, when we do proposals? You know, I've got analysts that do proposals. I'll still have analysts.

But the AI ultimately will do the work. So yeah, that's really important. And I hope everybody's embracing that. Don't be afraid of it. I mean, it's going to be a great thing that you're going to have.

It's expensive. You got to have people because I certainly am not leading that charge. I mean, I really appreciate everybody's patience when I'm in a meeting. I'm asking the dumbest questions because I'm not super tech, you know? It's oriented.

I'm just not. I'm learning. But yeah, it's really important. And everybody has to embrace that. We have to embrace it at the leadership level.

Our people are embracing it and will be a better firm, and we'll actually be able to provide better service for clients because of it.

Richard Walker: 26:14

Yeah, one of the ways that we evaluate the AI is what kind of force multiplier is it providing to us? It's no longer incremental. It's orders of magnitude different. And Andy, like I'm on the bleeding edge with AI, I'm building tech to build tech, frankly, software that can be autonomously built. And I'm seeing it build software at rates of 44 times faster than humans.

Andy Schwartz: 26:38

It's crazy.

Richard Walker: 26:39

It's unreal. And so I just keep imagining how many different ways it's going to be impacting people. And I'm not in favor of that. It should replace people. I think it should elevate people.

100% jobs.

Andy Schwartz: 26:50

That's exactly right. The way we look at this. Exactly. If we can get rid of some of these more mundane tasks, what we want to be able to do is get those people to do more client facing more interesting things, more revenue, creative, so that we can actually pay them more and they can be more engaged and happier. 100%.

Yeah. And I would agree with that. We probably won't have as many people as an organization as we would have this business five years from now. It would have been 1000 people five years ago, maybe 500 people, you know, but we'll still have lots and lots of people. We've got a bunch of people we've got to hire this year. We're not slowing down our hiring because we think AI is going to replace our workforce.

It's not going to happen.

Richard Walker: 27:29

No. And I and I really think about this, like people have said, for the longest time, when printers came out or PDF came out or computers could do things digitally, we'll just have less paper. And you and I both know there's more paper than ever. Why? Because you can do so many more things.

And I think AI is creating different roles. In fact, I was talking earlier today with somebody how I built a virtual panel of people to help with some technology thing I have, and I named a role that has never existed in humanity, because AI can develop such a thing and perform in such a way that nobody in human world would ever have time for or think about, and that creates a whole different spectrum of opportunity for us as humans to go do more valuable things with our lives. So I personally am super excited about it, and I think it's just going to elevate the conversation. And I think as an advisor, you're going to see more and more tech come out to enable you to do ten times more for your clients, and that'll become the de facto standard at some point.

Andy Schwartz: 28:23

Exactly. I think the problem for smaller advisors is that it's so important, but they are so overwhelmed. Look, I have a tech team, you know, because when you know, when you have a business of this size and the revenue that we have, we spend millions of dollars a year on this, you know, we have 5 or 6 people. This is their job, eight people. This is their job.

One of the reasons, like when we talk to an independent Ras, maybe they're $500,000,000.10 years ago with $500 million Ras, I guess was okay. It was, you know, something that was sustainable. I would argue today it's not. We talked to these young guys who are $1 billion. They want to go out on their own.

Don't do it because you cannot build the tech stack if you don't have the ability. This stuff is coming at us so fast and it's changing so quickly. You need teams of people, you need teams of consultants, and the only way you can do that is if you have the cash to pay for it. And so I do think that the business is going to continue to consolidate because of that. And there's going to be bigger and bigger firms because.

Richard Walker: 29:24

Do you hear your team talking about adoption of technology with the filter of your company culture in place to make sure it's protecting your culture?

Andy Schwartz: 29:33

Yeah, I mean, so, yes, but we encourage everybody to use AI, even if it's just when you're doing recipes, you know it or you're, you know, my my, my. We have our life coach here. Full disclosure is my wife. She was and she's fantastic. So we have a coach here full time, works with clients and we'll also work with employees.

And that's gratis to the firm. That's something that we want to help our clients with. If they have issues or if we can help them improve their lives. So, you know, she's on the management team like everybody else here. And my COO and my technology, they're AI crazy, obviously, and really good.

They make everybody. So she just did some redecorating in Florida. She used I mean we had a decorator but she had to make choices. She's using AI and she's like, let me show you something. And it literally moves the furniture around.

It literally says, is this the right, you know, piece to go on that table or that the right lamp to go on that? It's crazy. But you I mean, so we encourage our people to embrace it in everything they do in their lives because they need to. But we let them know, look, we love our people. We're not interested in replacing anybody.

And when we bring acquisitions on, I tell them, look, I don't want you to fire anyone. We have services we can provide, you can leverage. But that's not the point that you're going to reduce your headcount to improve our EBITDA margin on that, on that book of business? Absolutely not. I might take some of those people and put them onto my P and L and pay you more.

And that's fine, because fair is fair. But at the end of the day, we do think that head counts will go down some. But we're going to be able to provide so many more services. But our headcounts will only be just fewer people that we hire. It will not be.

Richard Walker: 31:14

It's not going to go down from where you are.

Andy Schwartz: 31:17

We're going to be twice the size we are today. In three years, we just won't be three times the size. That's all. Yeah. Yeah. Right, right.

And we'll be but we'll be twice as expensive as the services will provide. Will be twice as many. Like I tell our guys every day, there are two things that are really important. Our client, you know, our client, our client experience has to get better a year from now. My expectation is that we will be embarrassed by the work we do today.

And I think our work is very good. But we will look back and say, do you remember when we couldn't do this and we couldn't do that? And I'm already seeing it from last year to this year, the things we could do for clients. It's unbelievable. And this and the same thing, you know, at the advisor side, the things that we can help our advisors do today.

That experience has to get better. If you're not getting better, then you're in trouble because the world's getting better. You know, my industry is getting better. You know our competition is getting better. You cannot, I think, be a lifestyle advisor who's just hanging out in big trouble.

Richard Walker: 32:17

Honestly, one of the biggest challenges of running a tech company is that we have to constantly innovate and really see in advance what people want and deliver it and just keep ahead of the curve on this stuff. And I'm running out of time. Before I get to my last question, I want to ask you, what is the best way for people to find and connect with you?

Andy Schwartz: 32:35

Sure. I guess my email andyschwartz@onepointbfg.com. And happy to get an email if I can help anybody. If you're an advisor out there and you need some help, feel free. Always nice to hear from another advisor.

Richard Walker: 32:50

Oh, that is awesome. Okay, so here's my favorite question to ask people who has had the biggest impact on your leadership style and how you approach your role today?

Andy Schwartz: 32:59

So I would say that 18 months ago when I met Joe Duran, you know, because I've always been the coach. So, you know, I've always been the guy that everybody calls, and I've never really had a lot of time to seek a lot of other help. But what I've learned in the last 18 months, how I view the business, the world, you know, managing people, all of it has been just an amazing experience for me. So I would say, you know, not that he needs it because he's already got a big head, you know, and I'm sure someone will bring it to his attention. I said it, but it's been a fantastic experience and I would say his whole team, you know, Terri Kallsen, who's one of his partners, has been terrific, all of them.

So that's been a really great growth experience for me. So that would be my most recent. And then I was born with a twin. And I would say that, you know, one of my really, really true blessings, even in business, he's my partner. To have somebody that you trust completely and we don't necessarily think the same, but you always can get an honest answer.

And a great sounding board. So I would say that for my life long term my, my, you know, life experience, my business experience because we've been partners for the duration. My brother Scott, you know, who's my partner now? You know, one of my partners also has just been, you know, amazingly helpful for me, you know, in my career. I love it.

Amazing. Yeah.

Richard Walker: 34:29

I'm not calling you old, but somebody of your maturity, experience, the wealth of knowledge you have, you're still seeking knowledge and open to other people helping you get that knowledge. And that's something I aspire to at all times in my life. So I appreciate you sharing that.

Andy Schwartz: 34:42

Yeah, I think a blessing in life is when you don't think you're the smartest guy in the room, because if you think you're the smartest guy in the room, you can't learn. You're missing out on a lot. And you know. And I know that I'm not the smartest guy in the room. We're just.

We're looking to get smarter and smarter people into the room. So I'm going to keep learning for sure.

Richard Walker: 34:59

Nice. That's awesome. All right. I want to give a big thank you to Andy Schwartz, co-founder, CEO, and Managing Partner of OnePoint BFG Wealth Partners, for being on this episode of The Customer Wins. Go check out Andy's website at onepointbfg.com it'll be linked in the show notes. And don't forget to check out quickly at Forbes.com where we make processing forms easier. Hey, I hope you enjoyed this discussion.

We'll click the like button, share this with someone and subscribe to our channels for future episodes of The Customer Wins. Andy, thank you so much for joining me today.

Andy Schwartz: 35:27

Richard. It's my pleasure. I enjoy the conversation.

Outro: 35:31

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