Category Archives: Books

All companies have a culture, some companies have discipline, but few companies have a “culture of discipline”. When you have disciplined people, you don’t need hierarchy. When you have disciplined though, you don’t need bureaucracy. When you have disciplined action, you don’t need excessive controls.

Jim Collins, “Good to Great”

Ineffective Habits of Financial Advisers (and the disciplines to break them)

Written by . Posted on February 16, 2011. Filed under Books, Marketing, Proposition. No comments.

Anyone who has coached Bill Gates and other senior Microsoft executives is worth listening to don’t you think? Steve Moore is the man in question. Steve, an ex NFL American football coach (Buffalo Bills, Seattle Seahawks and LA Rams), is a leading US based management consultant who has developed the “High Speed Strategic Planning” coaching programme for advisers.”

I had the pleasure of seeing Steve in action last summer, working with a small group of advisers in the UK where he was sharing the ideas and insights gained from working with over 750 financial advisers in the US. He has a highly engaging presentation style (which translates well to the written format) and is certainly not fearful of challenging his audience. As he himself says, “I’ve been boo’d by 60,000 people at one time, so a bit of flack from you guys doesn’t worry me!”

Steve has now published “Ineffective Habits of Financial Advisors (and the disciplines to break them)” in which he brings his High Speed Strategic Planning Programme to print and I urge you to get yourselves a copy. No affiliate commissions, no back-handers, just a simple, straightforward recommendation to get hold of a copy of a book that will help you build a better business. Fact.

Using a hypothetical adviser by the name of Jack, Steve addresses, step by step, the key ineffective habits that today’s typical adviser has developed and explains how to change those habits by providing compelling insights into each of the 7 habits in turn and challenging you to make fundamental decisions based on those insights and then to implement them by taking action.

The seven habits (and the disciplines to break them) are;

  • To stop living someone else’s dream and start living your own dream
  • To stop focusing on quantity of clients and start focusing on quality of client
  • To stop hoarding unprofitable clients and start disengaging with them
  • To stop providing only “investment advice” and start providing “Wealth Management” advice
  • To stop delivering only investment reviews and start delivering WOW Wealth Management Reviews
  • To stop the “rainmaker” approach and start the team approach
  • To stop selling to prospects and start selling through clients

The book contains masses of useful, practical tools and templates that you can use in your business right away. Many of the strategies and tactics Steve recommends are aligned with what I recommend to my own clients. No one says this is going to be easy, but Steve’s tools, models and insights will turn information (that you probably already have) into information you can no longer ignore.

Ineffective Habits is available on Amazon at

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ineffective-Habits-Financial-Advisors-Disciplines/dp/0470910321/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1296565470&sr=1-1

The real cause of the banking crisis

Written by . Posted on November 24, 2010. Filed under Books, Financial. No comments.

I have just finished reading “Whoops! Why everyone owes everyone and no one can pay”, by John Lanchester. Totally brilliant. A must read (and no I am not on commission or part of any affiliate arrangement). John is a journalist and author who in his book “Cityphilia” published at the beginning of 2008 predicted a worldwide crash based on the misuse of financial derivatives. In Whoops, John explains in terms that even I can understand what brought the banks crashing down, resulting in widespread bank bailouts in 7 of the G8 economies (Canada being the exception due interestingly to much tighter banking regulation).

He explains the technical complexities of Credit Default Swaps and Collateralised Debt Obligations in a way that even I can understand. The numbers are terrifying, the behaviour of the banks incredulous, the level of risk taken unbelievable and the ineptitude of the regulators staggering.

How, for example, was a situation allowed to develop that permitted the banks to collateralise “sub prime” mortgage debt (money lent to people who really can’t afford the repayments) and sell it to each other (offloading the risk to some poor unsuspecting but greedy financial institution (the cause of the demise of AIG) based on “AAA” ratings from the ratings agencies? In other words the banks (who paid the ratings agencies to rate the debt) somehow managed to persuade the ratings agencies to rate this sub prime debt at the same risk level as US treasury Bills! (Quelle surprise)

I found myself getting more and more angry at the greed, ineptitude, deceit, incompetence, arrogance and ambivalence of a relatively small number of people, that has resulted in the situation we now find ourselves in and for which there is a big price to pay for the next decade (and possibly generation). End of rant!

John makes a potentially “heavy” subject so entertaining and easy to follow whilst remaining totally authoritative. I found myself laughing out loud at the analogies used. Do yourself a favour. Buy this book. Being really angry and laughing out loud at the same time is a unique experience!

Here’s the link to the book on Amazon

Sign here, here and here by Keith Churchouse

Written by . Posted on May 4, 2010. Filed under Books. No comments.

I met with Keith recently to discuss the topic for a talk I am giving to the Surrey region of the Institute of Financial Planning later in the year. Keith very kindly gave me a copy of his book (which has just been published) in return for which I agreed to write a review.

Sign here, here and here!… is a warts and all chronicle of both the development of Keith’s career in financial services and the evolution of the sector itself. Keith describes his early life and career and the way he was influenced by his early exposure to both good and bad “management”. These experiences have clearly been pivotal in establishing his key guiding principles; always represent yourself with integrity (rather than the interests of your manager/employer) and treat every customer as if they are a close family member.

Keith describes “that day”, his big decision to set up his own business having reached the point where his frustrations with roles representing someone else, made it the only sensible option.

There are many hints and tips for any young aspiring financial planning professional, keen to learn from a high profile and very successful planner and avoid the mistakes Keith freely acknowledges he made along the way.

All the way through the book Keith tells his story against the backdrop of what was going on at the time and it is clear he would be a valuable member of any pub quiz team, particularly for the music and history rounds!!

Keith closes with an interesting insight into the prospects for the sector post RDR (about which he is very positive) and shares his views on the challenges we and future generations face, as we start to address the need to get the nation’s finances back in shape.

An interesting, amusing, insightful and easy to read book.