Stoy Hall, CFP®:
0:12

All right, here we are, Larry Sprung CFP with Mitlin Money Mindsets. Mitlin financial. He has a book. He does everything in the world you would need to do when it comes to money. We’ve been good friends on social media, going back and forth, which this week in my newsletter, we’ll have a social media and he’ll be on it as well. But overall, I wanted to get him in here audience to get you to have another Professional who has the mindset side of it, right? We talk about money all the time. We talk about concepts and structures, but really the mind is what drives us all forward. Without further ado, Larry, why don’t you give us a little background on who you are, what you’ve been doing and, you know, a little bit

Larry Sprung, CFP®:
0:49

about your firm. Yeah, thanks. I appreciate that. Again, Larry sprung. I am a CFP like you are and been in this great profession for about 26 years now. The last, I guess, 19 or so in my own firm, Mitlin Financial, we founded it in 2004. And you know, so we’re in the The stages of entering are you know, 20 something year, 19th year here going into 20th and we work with families and helping them become and remain financially independent. And we’re very high touch high service practice really diving down into planning first because I think that’s where everything should really start from. And then You know, drilling down to all those areas that planning must entail, whether it be taxes, insurance, estate planning, all of the areas we focus in. And then we also happen to do you know, wealth management and asset management as a part of that. And you know, as you said, in the interest story, I have my own podcast, the Mitlin money mindset, very into mindset and. Changing mindsets when needed and making those changes because I think that when it comes to money, if we have the money script incorrectly, we have to adjust that mindset to get on track. And then I’m also recently launched my book financial planning made personal talking about the personal aspects of planning that it’s not something that you could just use a cookie cutter approach to. There are certain concepts that works for, but Really, the heart of planning is very personal. And what’s important to one family may not be important to another, or it may be higher or lower on the list. So you have to make sure that you’re driving that from a personal perspective. And one of the things that we focus very heavily on in the book is joy and you know, understanding what the planning is for. It’s not to accumulate this ungodly amount of money. That might be part of the plan, but it’s really what that money is going to be able to do for you and your family. So that’s pretty much a 10, 000 foot view for you. Absolutely.

Stoy Hall, CFP®:
3:08

Started your own firm and for what was before that what came.

Larry Sprung, CFP®:
3:13

Yeah, so I, I started in a, you know, a brokerage house you know, basically if you’ve seen the Wolf of Wall Street that was factual. I started at a firm very similar to that, but at the same time came to realize very shortly that that was not where I wanted to be and then spent some time at Solomon Smith Barney, which no longer exists, which is part of Morgan Stanley at this point. And then, you know, immediately preceding my venture of forming my own firm. I went to work with Quicken Riley, which ultimately got bought out by Fleet Bank here on the East Coast, which ultimately got bought out by Bank of America and then is now part of Merrill Lynch. So I’ve kind of seen a lot of different facets of the profession in terms of, you know, the large broker dealer sides. of things, the small brokerage house form of things. And, you know, I, not that there’s a good or bad about them. I just think that there’s a difference. And the difference is if you go to an insurance based. Investment firm. Typically, a lot of their solutions are going to be driven by that insurance solution. If you go to some of the large wire houses like a Morgan Stanley or Merrill Lynch, they’re predominantly investment focus. So a lot of their solutions are going to Investment focus. And one of the things that I like about and have liked for a long time of being independent and having an independent registered investment advisory firm has been that we really don’t have anybody driving how we’re doing the planning. If the family’s primary concern and need is protecting themselves from an insurance standpoint, we could go in that direction. If it’s a planning technique that they’re planning, they’re looking to drive. We can You know, drive down that road as well. Or if it’s an investment focus that they feel like they’re either too aggressive or too conservative, we can start there. So we’re agnostic to where we start and where we go. We just want to add as much value as we can to the families we serve.

Stoy Hall, CFP®:
5:21

So you hit upon it very well there and your background of going from basically investments through the whole kit and caboodle. I had a similar route cause if I was on the insurance side of things and learned quickly that I needed to get to the independent space, but the value. So that is probably, and I won’t speak for you on this, but one of the toughest. Things to perceive to the general public of the value of planning, right? Cause we’re all used to what type of return am I getting? This is the percentage I’m getting or you know, this insurance product has this thing. It shows me right. Planning isn’t that it’s more mindset. There’s a lot of intrinsic value involved. So when you say value and you show it, what is the best way for you to. You know, exude that to others, to the general public who have no idea really what financial planning is.

Larry Sprung, CFP®:
6:08

Yeah. I mean, that is definitely the highest hurdle that we have in the profession. You know, assuming you are an advisor in a firm that’s adding that value, you know, it’s not a tangible thing that in many cases you can put in front of them a stat sheet and show them this is what you’ve done. So there are a couple of ways that we overcome that as a firm. One is a vast majority of the people that come to us. Are referred to us by other families that we work with. So they’re already aware of the value that we’re adding from that existing family. So that in itself will eliminate the hurdle. A lot of times to, you know, reviews and having. People who have, you know, expressed how we’ve helped them and their families, having that on our website, having that in our materials, having them come on and talk to us is very helpful as well. And then, you know, I think the other thing is sharing stories. We’re all interested in stories. And, you know, one of the things that we share very often is we’ll take one or two of the stories of the families we work with, you know, for instance, one in particular, we had a family that Mom was ill. She was on the decline of, you know, on her way to demise, unfortunately. And we were meeting with one of four sisters who were going to inherit her assets. And the one sister, when she met with us, told us that her attorney was basically going to have her mom gift. The assets that they had in these brokerage accounts outright, and that immediately our antenna went up and we’re like, Whoa, wait a minute. Because, you know, we knew there was a tremendous capital gain there. And if they waited until her demise and then inherited it. That capital gain would go away because they’d get a step up in basis. So long story short, we reached out with the clients, the family’s permission to the attorney, had a conversation with them. We were on the same page. The attorney was not going to be gifting the assets. Actually, the attorney was naming and making sure that the four daughters were beneficiaries. But that’s an instance where if something was done incorrectly could have cost the one daughter that we represent and we’ve worked with for years could have been upwards of 100, 000 in capital gains tax. But by having that simple phone call and being proactive, we were able to add value. So there are stories like that, that we share with the families that are interested in working with us. Ultimately, at the end of the day, though, really, they have to. You feel like we’re a good fit for them, right? And that it’s going to be mutually beneficial and then they will learn and see us earn the value over time. And, you know, that’s a heavy lift sometimes for some families, but at the same time, in many of the cases, we’re past that because of the referral or recommendation and that person vouching. But in those rare instances, you know, we do share these stories and. You know, ask them to just give us a little bit of confidence to show them what we do for all the families. And if they don’t see value, then, you know, there’ll be an opportunity for them to realize that in very short order and potentially move on if that’s not a good fit. And we’re not adding the value that we discussed initially.

Stoy Hall, CFP®:
9:29

Two important pieces that I want everyone to take from what you just said. One being, they need to find out if we’re a fit for you, right? Like, ultimately. Go interview, go figure it out that now, luckily, and I always say this, the good thing about the pandemic is it’s really transitioned our entire industry to being able to do virtual stuff and get away from your local neighborhood when it comes to getting planners and investment advice and really take that on. There’s a lot of avenues out there to go research who a planner would be. Social media is huge. Obviously we’re on it a lot. You’re going to learn who we are, like you’re going to know. The person right? And so ultimately, one thing is take that figured out if it’s a fit. If we’re fit, then yes, the next part is it’s a journey. Wealth is not something that is done like that. It’s not a 50 page document. It takes time. It’s going to take us time to earn your full right trust and understand the value. But also ultimately you’re going to be doing this whole journey until you die. Like there, there’s no winning this battle. It’s being ahead of the game and making sure that we can, you know, make sure the risks are taken out, but ultimately this is something that goes forever. It’s never an end being. So I wanted to make sure we highlighted those two

Larry Sprung, CFP®:
10:43

things. Yeah. And if I could just add to two things that I think are important to this, you know, number one is you have to make sure it’s a fit from both sides, right? It may be a fit for the family, but maybe it’s not fit for us. And, you know, an example was last week we’re meeting with a potential new family and we felt it was a good fit. He felt it was a good fit. But at the end of the day, he more or less had about 3 million in assets and he was very planning driven. Right. Planning was of the utmost importance, but he came to us and said that he wanted to give two other firms 1, 000, 000 each and give us 1, 000, 000 and I said, well, is anybody of the other firms? Are they talking about planning? And he said, no. And I said, well, I don’t understand because you said to me point blank that is your primary importance. So why are we giving them money if they’re not going to highlight that important piece for you? And ultimately he said, well, I want to mitigate some risk. And I said, well, unfortunately for us, that’s not a good fit. Because we don’t know what’s going on in those accounts. It’s very hard for us to do planning based upon not knowing where two thirds of the assets are. So we asked him to reconsider his position and then maybe we could connect again, but if he was going to keep that separate, then it really wasn’t something that was you know, of interest. For us going to go forward basis. So I think just as much as it’s a fit for the family, we have to make sure that as an advisor, that we’re bringing on those folks that we can solve their problems and are a good fit for us as well. And not filling our pipeline with folks that may not be a good fit. Cause that’s not going to make for an enjoyable work environment. No,

Stoy Hall, CFP®:
12:22

not at all. Not at all. And there’s, and we talked about this. We’re not really in competition, right? People might say, Oh, you’re all CPS. We’re. Buying for the same client. There is a hundred and hundreds of millions of people that we can work with. There’s not enough of us To really be like, oh, I need to go steal that or for you in that example being like, yeah, I’ll take you on Because I know I’ll beat them ultimately. And ultimately you probably would because planning wins out at the end of the day, but this is not a good fit. Why take that on? Why have stress? Cause it’ll stress out the client. It’ll stress out you, your team for, you know, what gained. So that’s fantastic of you to walk away and give them that opportunity.

Larry Sprung, CFP®:
12:59

Well, maybe it’ll come back, but we’ll see. You know, but again, it will be on our terms. And I truly believe that by us being able to handle it in the way that we’re mentioning, and this is our belief that we will be able to put him and the family in a better position to do that. And, you know, by not having it all split up, it puts us in a disadvantage and them at a disadvantage, which is the most important, right? And then the second thing to your point is this is not a, you know, a year engagement, right? This is something to your point. We want to have with the family, not only potentially for this generation, but the next generation. And we’re working in some cases with 2nd and 3rd generations of families right now. And I think that’s a testament To that value proposition and the value we provide, because if that wasn’t the case by time, the first generation was no longer around, the second generation would be moving their assets and they’re planning elsewhere. So I think that, you know, to your point, it’s very important that you don’t look at this very myopically in terms of, Hey, we want to have this relationship for the next 6 to 12 months. You should be looking for somebody that’s a good fit for you for, you know, potentially decades to come.

Stoy Hall, CFP®:
14:13

Yeah. And I I deem, and I use this term a lot of modern family office, and it’s more of a concept, not of actual true family office. And for those out there, you know, a family office is usually where you have to have 25 mil or more. It’s very expensive. But anyways, they take care of you basically tip to tail. And I believe our industry is changing to more of this modern family office feel and concept of where we are quarterbacking, making sure the taxes are being done correctly. The insurance is being that’s planning in my opinion. As far as, you know, like I just tweeted about this, I had a client who got in a car accident and didn’t tell me right away. Then told me we got the insurance check. I already went to the car dealer where she wanted to go, got with the finance manager and said, this is what we need. What we want. He said, cool. I can get you at even right now, by the way, that she got 3. 9%. And I was like. But ultimately got it worked out where the insurance check would go to them. She gets a car two days later, she’s driving home. That is a value add. That is something like a family office would do. That’s something planning does. That is the future, right? Like ultimately that’s what we do. We don’t, yes, the investments are important. Don’t get me wrong. Everybody investments are important. However, that is not what’s going to bring you joy. That’s not going to be the end all be all it’s being able to have someone to take care of me and say, Hey, I got in a car accident. I’m good medically. I need a new car, it’s done, or I need a new home, or my kids need to go to college. And so when I say modern family office, that’s what I mean. That’s who we are. That’s what you’re doing. It’s just on a scale that everyone can be involved and get that important person. That is what I’m pushing a lot with our education is like, Hey, that’s what we do. That’s what planning is. You just don’t feel it all the time.

Larry Sprung, CFP®:
15:58

A hundred percent. I couldn’t agree with you more. So that’s

Stoy Hall, CFP®:
16:01

always fun, fun to deal with. So talk us through your team and your growth. I have a firm came from a bigger firm, have done a lot of things in my background, but starting from being that old and now I think you have what like 30. People who work for you,

Larry Sprung, CFP®:
16:16

give or take. No. We’re at. We’re a local team of about five here locally on Long Island. And then we have an extension of our team because we are part of Carson group and we’re under their umbrella. You know, we tap into a lot of their resources and support. So for instance, our portfolio strategy team is not here locally. They’re an extension of our team. We’re in contact with them all the time. And actually I texted a number of them regularly. And then we also have an advanced solutions team that’s made up of accountants, attorneys, and tax professionals, trust professionals as well. So they’re an extension of our team. They’re not directly here on a day to day. So we have a local team of five, which is made up of myself, an associate wealth advisor a client service manager an operation slash executive assistant, and then a full time marketing person for the firm. And when I started in 2004. Basically, it was me and I was all of those roles even those Carson roles. I was all of those wrapped up into one. So we have grown significantly in you know, over the last several years for sure. Yeah. And

Stoy Hall, CFP®:
17:23

that’s important for a lot of people to know and other RAs out there. When you start you are that one, right? You are one of many. But to find a Carson group or to find others that you quote unquote, not really partner with, but you have as your back office is really way to scale and grow, and then you get lucky enough to have an executive assistant and marketing. to help you out because boy, is that that’s fun. I had to let my last marketing team go. So I do a lot of our cutups, right? That’s what I do for our podcasts and our YouTube show. And it takes a little time, takes a little time, but I love seeing growth when it comes to a firm like that. Let’s spin into the mindset specifically give me what you always tell everyone, your clients, doesn’t matter what you speak about about money mindset and the importance and what they can do to improve it. And then we’ll spin off onto how social media actually can help you in regards to that.

Larry Sprung, CFP®:
18:21

Yeah, so I mean, that’s a great question. And I think, you know, we, when we sit with families, we always talk to them about asking what freedom means to them. What does find your freedom? It’s a, you know, it’s a phrase that we like to use. Because it’s pretty thought provoking because it can mean a lot of different things to a lot of people. Some people, when we ask that question, you know, what does find your freedom mean to you? The answers are very money centric. Other people are like, you know, I want to live a lifestyle and do X, Y, Z. And it really means a lot of different things to a lot of people. And, you know, one thing I have learned over the years is that most of people’s money. Behaviors or their mindset even is usually attributable to a large degree of how they grew up and how money was presented to them as young people. And if you look at most people’s mom and dad or. You know, how, whatever home they grew up in at those people and how they handled money, typically you can see very similar traits to the people that are in front of you. So a lot of times, you know, if the money mindset is great, then that’s amazing. Cause that makes it a lot easier. And basically we just have to lean into that. Leverage that and double down, right? To make them in a, even in a better position to reaching their goals and being in a position to protect their assets, everything that we want to do as planners, right? If the money mindset is not that great. Then, you know, some heavy lifting has to take place, and I will say this, and you probably experience this too. In some cases, we can be very successful in changing that money mindset and getting them on the path that they need or should be based upon what they’re looking to accomplish. In other cases, it’s not as successful because It’s hard. It’s not easy. And some of those things are looking at budgeting. And, you know, one of the things that I talk about in the book financial planning made personal is, you know, budgeting has become this like dirty word. And I think to some degree reason why that is, is a lot of advisors do what I call expense shame. You know, they look at a family’s budget and they’re looking at it and they’re like, Oh, well, what do you mean you spend 5 a day on Starbucks? You know, if you save that 35 per week and you put it in a Roth IRA, you’d have 25, 000 by, you know, okay, that’s true. A hundred percent true. But at the same time, maybe that cup of Starbucks, Starbucks brings them a lot of joy each day. And maybe there’s added benefits that you’re not aware of. So maybe there’s a financial cost, but maybe there’s some benefit on the other end. So my point is, you know, I think that’s an area that usually needs a lot of improvement with folks who have not the greatest money mindset is the budgeting. And you know, the stance we take is we just want to lay out the budget so they can see it. It’s up to them if they’re cash flow negative, if they’re spending more than they’re taking in, we put the exercise on them because they’re the ones that are going to have to live with it to say, you know, which one of these things do you think you can cut down, pare back or really eliminate completely? We don’t want to do that. So I think that’s a struggle and then just trying to build good habits, right? Getting them in a position where small wins. Build on those wins, have them see the benefit of those wins and changing the money mindset, which if you think about it is going to have a tremendous effect because going back to what I said earlier, right? Usually we’re a image of what our parents or whoever we grew up around, what their mindset was around money. So if we can. You know, shape this person’s or this family’s mindset around money and correct that impacts not just for that family. It could potentially impact generations to come by getting them in that money mindset. And we try to impart that upon the family to say, Hey, if we correct this now, you could potentially help. Not only yourselves, but generations to come. And I think that’s, you know, hugely valuable. And I, you know, we take a lot of pride in being able to do that and help a family move in that direction. Yeah. Not

Stoy Hall, CFP®:
22:42

only does it affect generations down the line, right? Because ultimately, if you look at kind of the demographic of the United States, the wealthier families probably have had that passed down at some point. Most of us, you know, first generation over here is we never had that, that nothing of that occurred. And so you’re right being able to, you be that person who changes it for your family, change the trajectory of, you just don’t know. But I want to get to the other part of it is when you are able to control or get your money mindset corrected and have the right habits, all of a sudden your health habits are different. All of a sudden your relationship habits are different. All of a sudden, all of those other important pieces of your life start to improve. And we talk about this a lot of money. People call the money is the root of all evil, only when you allow it to run your life, because it does affect everything else. It affects your health, your mental health, your relationships, but once you can start to control that I’ve seen it in a lot of people. All of a sudden, good things start to come up, right? More income, more bonuses, happier family, being able to travel, all of these things come from really just being able to control and… Improve your money mindset. Do you have any stories specifically? I know I’m calling this out right off the top of your head, but of where you’ve seen someone’s, maybe a, it was a negative money mindset flip to positive. And kind of what has happened since then. Yeah.

Larry Sprung, CFP®:
24:09

So I agree with you. I think there are three really health statuses that are extremely intertwined with each other, right? You have the financial health, you have your physical health and you have the men, your mental health. And if you think about it. You know, to your point, if you’re lacking in one of those areas, it’s certainly going to have an effect on other areas. It’s just going to, there’s no if, ands or buts about it. And unfortunately, you know, I have stories from both sides, right? We have a story, I have a family, you know, in, in terms of dad and mom were very frugal. Very good with money. Don’t know how, but son did not inherit those same traits. We’ve tried to impart upon him those money lessons, and it’s become problematic to the point where You know, we’re hopeful, we’re hoping that he has enough assets to be able to live his lifestyle. So that’s on the negative side. On the positive side, you know, we have a family that we work with that husband and wife are like second generation here and here in the the U. S. Mom and dad on both sides were obviously first generation and they lived life pretty frugally and, you know, we’re able to amass some assets, but nothing really crazy. And the folks that we work with, they’re in a position where, you know, they have now. Created significant wealth and they weren’t really sure how to handle it because they never had the opportunity to see anybody handle this type of money or what was needed or how to make sure they were protected and put in the best possible light. And we’ve worked with them for the last like 10 plus years. And we are like, you know, To your comment earlier, we’re almost like their family office. We help them with virtually everything and we’ve put them in a great position and they’re following our advice and they’ve gotten on this money habit and money mindset where, you know, if they know what to do, they’ll feel comfortable doing it. They’ll do it because they inherently know what’s going to put them in a better position or a worse position now. And then the second thing is, if they don’t know, then they reach out to us. And I think the best part of it that’s come out of it is there are three kids are now all clients of ours that we’re working with and in their early 20s, they all have Roth IRAs, they’re putting money into their 401k, they’re doing all the things that they should be doing because mom and dad realized the benefit of working with an advisor because It was not in their wheelhouse and now they’re passing it down to the kids. And, you know, these kids are going to be in great positions when they’re in their mid forties, because even with, you know, not maxing out, just putting in a, you know, a minimal amount of money and utilizing compound growth, it’s putting them in such a better position and they also feel comfortable now. Even the kids, if they have a question, they reach out to us because they’ve seen mom and dad do that with us for so many years that they also feel comfortable. It’s not a sign of weakness. It’s Hey, I just don’t know. This isn’t my wheelhouse. I want to make sure that I’m continuing on the positive path. So I’m going to reach out to see what I should be doing.

Stoy Hall, CFP®:
27:35

So let’s, I want to nip a little something in the butt, right? You probably communicate with your clients all the time and they probably have an open line of communication to you when they want it. I’ve heard other advisors, other professionals always saying like, no, I want them to always have a meeting and do all of this. Can you call a little myth to that? Cause you just said like they reach out when they want to want it. How often does that really happen?

Larry Sprung, CFP®:
27:58

Yeah, I mean, a couple times a year. You know, and quite frankly, I hear what you’re saying about the meeting. So when I first started in the profession, I had this, you know, idea in my head that everybody wanted to meet quarterly, right? And we were spending more time chasing down people to come in every quarter. And really, we found out after a while that it was really too much. They really didn’t need that often of a meeting. So we went to annual meetings for most people. We kind of surveyed most folks and they wanted an annual at a minimum. So we instituted an annual meeting. There are some families that want semi annual, probably only a handful. So we do those. And I feel like it’s easier just to get these questions when they arise to get them answered. Because sometimes, you know, if you wait until that next meeting, especially if it’s. Once a year or even twice a year, whatever the question is may get lost or forgotten this way, you know, in our day and age, I think we have to, as advisors meet the families where they’re at and, you know, in a day and age where you go on Amazon and you can order something and have it at your house or your office the next day, I think that those answers are pertinent. And if it’s something I can’t answer, then we, you know, gets somebody on my team. If I’m in meetings or something to make sure it gets answered and it could be an email. Yeah. Could be a phone call, could be a text message. I think being able to do that is pretty high touch. And, you know, we could talk about, you know, fee compression that ties in, right? You know, I’ve been in the profession 20 plus years. I’ve heard about fee compression since the very beginning. And I don’t think fee compression is a thing. I think What’s happening more so is we are providing more services, perhaps for the same fee. And I think that’s important because I think that’s what families really need and want. We’re less, you know, tied to the investments, more tied to the. Planning, which, you know, I think is the direction that the profession is going. So yeah, I mean, we get a couple of times a year and I think it just makes them feel better because they get an immediate response. And if it’s something that’s a little more intricate and requires additional dialogue, then we’ll say, Hey, you know what, we 15, 30 minute phone call. Cause I just want to make sure that the context of this isn’t getting lost in an email or text, but, you know, 95% of the. Questions, concerns can be really responded to in an email or text, or even a quick phone call if needed.

Stoy Hall, CFP®:
30:30

And even personally, when those come up, they usually know the answer. They’re just wanting some validation. Really, like a lot of it is just a little bit of validation. Obviously, there’s the ones that are a little more, but that doesn’t take that much time. And that’s what I want people to realize. Like, it’s a relatively short period of time. It’s part of what you’re paying for. That’s what we’re here for. We would rather have you bombard us with questions. Then not ask us questions and in the annual and now we’re like, Oh, all of this happened. And now we’re on the back foot specifically when it comes to taxes. Right. Well, I really don’t want surprises to pop up ultimately.

Larry Sprung, CFP®:
31:05

It’s easier answering the question and cleaning up the mistake and a lot less costly. Absolutely.

Stoy Hall, CFP®:
31:10

And that goes for every industry, by the way, everyone out there, legal health doesn’t matter. It’s easier to deal with it now than in the future when it comes to being us being loud. And I know I love how our industry has changed where we can do review, get reviews now and testimonials and whatnot. How important is social media now to our industry than it ever has been before because of our regulations that have changed, but also ultimately where everyone is in the day and age with social media.

Larry Sprung, CFP®:
31:40

Yeah, we were just talking about this. I was just talking about this with an attorney who’s like. dipping his toe in the water with social media and thinking about doing more. And he’s like, you know, I don’t know if this is something for my profession, et cetera. And I’m, you know, I, the way I relay it is it’s really for everybody because what happens is today where somebody would have reached out to me 10 or 15 years ago and it would have taken 567 maybe even 10 phone calls. To, you know, move them in the direction of becoming a family that we work with because there was that mutual fit. What social media has done is really shorten that cycle completely because even if somebody is referred to us or they come to us blindly. Typically, they’ve done some research on the back end before they even come and we’re on the phone with them, and that’s really that research, if you will, is typically going on Facebook, going on LinkedIn, going on Instagram, doing a web search, you know, doing all the things that you would do today, and they’re already getting to know you like you and trust you before they pick up the phone. The reality is, if they pick up the phone to talk to you, they already feel like There’s a no like and trust in place. Otherwise they’re not picking up the phone and you’re probably not having a conversation with them. So I think what social has done for those people who’ve embraced it and are there. And I think if they’re not, they should be is it’s reduced that timeframe. That we would normally take to help educate and get that no like and trust factor you know, and shorten it up because once they’re there, that’s kind of already in place. Now, it’s just a matter of, you know, talking to the family, finding out what their specific goals are paying attention and making sure that you know, there’s a good fit there. Between the two of you on a go forward basis. So I think it’s vitally important and has really changed, you know, in terms of that business development piece for our profession as a whole. Yeah.

Stoy Hall, CFP®:
33:48

And the psychology behind that, it allows them to be the ones who are on the driver’s seat, right? It’s just like Amazon. You alluded to this before Amazon. That’s what they’re doing. They’re researching, they’re figuring it out. By the time they’re pushing the button, they know what they want. It’s the same thing for us in our industry and across everywhere. You are now being just a product. I don’t, and I don’t mean that in a negative sense. I mean that in a sense of they’re searching for it. They want to find you. They find you. They’re gonna look you up by the time they call you. Essentially, they’re just trying to verify some of the things that they wanted done and they’re in control of the situation. And that’s what should be. They should be in control of what they’re buying. Not necessarily us selling them to death on. All these crazy concepts that I love to see on Tik TOK right. I, it’s those types of things. And I think that’s wholeheartedly important for us in our industry to even be louder. Our industry is behind, well, attorneys are behind, but they have a nice little pipe, but our industry’s severely behind in regards to being loud with correct professional information and understanding the value of what planning is. And so I’m, I love how we’re on it. I love how our community, a lot of us are all around it and supporting it. And you’re vitally important with what you had said every industry should be. And for me, attorney should be even more so it would help us all out a lot. I agree. So as we wrap this up, I want to highlight your book. I wanted you to dive into your book a little more. Where can we find it? What, you know, what’s it? for R. A. S. Is it for people? Kind of download us on that author.

Larry Sprung, CFP®:
35:18

Yeah, sure. So the book is really geared to the investing public. Certainly you know, folks that are in our profession will gain some value. I think a little bit of a different perspective maybe than their Used to from somebody who’s been in the profession, but it’s really geared towards the towards the general investing public or the planning public. And it’s found on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. We’re also looking at distributing it even further. There is an audio version as well on your voice. It is my voice. My wife must have teed up that question with you because there was a little bit of a, how should we say? Disagreement. I had a little bit of a snafu recording, like the first two chapters and wasted an hour. And I was like, Why am I doing this? And ultimately, I end up doing it. And quite frankly, everybody asked me that same question. Is it in your voice? And they’re like, It’s gotta be. So I did it that way. And now, after we got over that, I’m very happy we did. But yeah Really, the essence of the book is about the fact that planning is very personal, as I said earlier, and everybody has a different story. Everybody has different goals and objectives. There’s not this cookie cutter way that I think sometimes is portrayed to the public with regards to planning that. Everybody should be doing this and everybody should be doing that, and it’s really not the case. And, you know, we’re very joy focused. What did you do today that brought you joy? And that is really what should tie back to why are you doing this? You know, what is the joy you’re looking to achieve as a result of this planning, whether it be retirement planning or education funding, or, you know, just planning for retirement, just It’s not just about the money. It’s also about the mental and social aspects of retirement, which could be a whole nother show. But you know, we’ve gotten a lot of great feedback about the book and, you know, I welcome anybody to go out there, find it and purchase it and write a review and if you have any comments, you know, I’m an open book, no pun intended, and I’d be happy to answer any questions that you have that may germinate from your reading of the book.

Stoy Hall, CFP®:
37:38

I love it. And talk me through becoming an author and wanting to write a book. I’ve thrown it around there a few times. I’ve talked to a couple of our authors that are in our industry. And like, I’m teasing it, but like what made you leap and do

Larry Sprung, CFP®:
37:51

that? Well, it was something that I had kind of on my radar for about 10 plus years. I just didn’t have the time to do it with my kids, for those who, people who follow me, I, you know, both my kids play travel ice hockey. So a lot of times I’m in a. Different rank, different state on the weekend. So it just wasn’t feasible. But in the last two years last two school years, I had one of my sons went to college and my younger son went to boarding school in in the Midwest. So I had a lot more time. We didn’t have to run him to practice during the week weekends. I’m typically With one of them or at one, wherever one of them are watching them play on the weekends with my wife. So although I still am tied up on the weekends, I had a lot more free time during the week. So it opened up the opportunity to finally fulfill that goal that I had and really sit down and put pen to paper and get the book out there.

Stoy Hall, CFP®:
38:49

I love it. And the best part about all of what you just said is being there for your kids on their game days, wherever they’re at, that is ultimately what wealth’s about being able to do that, to be with your family and take care of your kids. And that’s phenomenal. We all look up to you in regards to that. And I love seeing where you’re at with your trip, mainly what you post about food because I’m a foodie, but Hey is what it is. So I definitely appreciate for your time getting on here. We’ll blast you. Everyone follow, we’ll do all of those things as well. And we look forward to episode two. We’ll dive in a little more on the retirement psychology side of it probably. But definitely appreciate everything that you do for your families. And for your own family, but also for our industry.

Larry Sprung, CFP®:
39:30

Thanks, Stoy. I appreciate it. I appreciate the opportunity and I love what you’re doing as well. And we’ll support it. Absolutely. The proceeding program was sponsored by black mammoth. Any awards rankings or recognition by unaffiliated third parties or publications are in no way indicative of the advisors future performance or any individual clients investment success. No award ranking or recognition should be construed as a current or past endorsement of black mammoth. Information regarding specific awards, rankings, or recognitions is available on the Black Mammoth website, www.blackmammoth.com. All investment strategies have the potential for profit or loss. Investment strategies such as asset allocation, diversification, or rebalancing do not assure or guarantee better performance, and cannot eliminate the risk of investment losses. There are no guarantees that a portfolio employing these or any other strategy will outperform a portfolio that does not engage in such strategies. This broadcast should not be construed by any client or prospective client as a solicitation to affect or attempt to affect transactions and securities or the rendering of personalized investment advice due to various factors including changing market conditions. The information discussed in this broadcast may no longer be reflective of current positions or recommendations. While information presented is believed to be factual and up to date, Black Mammoth do not guarantee its accuracy, and it should not be regarded as a complete analysis of the subjects discussed. The tax and the state planning information discussed is general in nature, and is provided for informational purposes only, and should not be construed as legal or tax advice. Listeners should consult an attorney or tax professional regarding their specific legal or tax situation. Past performance is not indicative of future results.