
Welcome everyone! Welcome to the 423rd episode of the Financial Advisor Success Podcast!
My guest on today's podcast is Cristina Livadary. Cristina is the CEO of Mana Financial Life Design, an RIA based in Los Angeles, California (but works virtually with clients nationwide), that oversees approximately $70 million in assets under management for 119 client households.
What's unique about Cristina, though, is how her firm supports clients in the so-called "sandwich generation" by both creating a financial plan for the clients' personal financial needs and goals, and by addressing (often with a separately paid add-on financial planning engagement) the financial issues facing their aging (and frequently less financially secure) parents who they may someday need to support.
In this episode, we talk in-depth about how Cristina's personal experience dealing with challenging issues with her own aging parents while simultaneously caring for her young children helped her recognize the challenges those in the "sandwich generation" face, how Cristina leveraged the research she did for her personal situation (including finding appropriate care for her mother after she was diagnosed with dementia) to create blog and newsletter content that resonated with both prospects and her current clients, and how this focus evolved into Cristina now providing planning services for both her working-age clients as well as their parents (either as an add-on service to their child's engagement or, for those who can afford her firm's fees, as a separate client household).
We also talk about how Cristina started Mana Financial Life Design from scratch after working as an investment wholesaler earlier in her career (teaming up with her best friend who brings complementary skills to the business), how Cristina used a convertible note to raise money from her friends and family to get her business off the ground (and how she was ultimately able to pay off the note with interest before it converted into equity), and how Cristina successfully transitioned from charging clients a $2,400 annual planning fee to a complexity-based fee (with a $10,000 annual minimum) by linking the fees she charges to the specific service needs of each client (and the amount of time it takes to do so).
And be certain to listen to the end, where Cristina shares how she uses 20-minute "fit" meetings to determine whether prospective clients will be a good match for her firm's service offering and fee model (thereby minimizing the number of bad-fit clients her firm takes on), the key lessons Cristina learned from earlier hiring mistakes (particularly the importance of determining a defined role for each new hire in advance of putting out a job posting), and how Cristina leverages the artificial-intelligence-powered notetaking software tool Fathom AI not only to turn around meeting notes and follow-up tasks faster, but also so that she and her team can be more present during client meetings (without having the burden of simultaneously taking notes while trying to stay focused on what the client is saying).
So, whether you're interested in learning about serving clients in the "sandwich generation" (and their parents), building a firm from scratch alongside a trusted business partner, or how to hold effective "fit" meetings to ensure a solid match with prospective clients, then we hope you enjoy this episode of the Financial Advisor Success podcast, with Cristina Livadary.