501 Timothy L. Smith

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Introduction to Timothy L. Smith's Journey

Jeffrey Feldberg: What if you could build a wealth advisory business that feels both cutting edge and deeply relational? Timothy L. Smith is one of those rare financial leaders who hasn't just ridden the wave of change in finance. He's helped shape them. Starting in the 1980s as a registered representative, he moved early into the fee-based advisor model and then founded his own advisory firm and broker dealer. He's now the founder and CEO of Aurora Private Wealth, a firm built to give clients modern tools, transparent processes, and financial plans that actually honor their life goals, not just their investments.

His journey is punctuated by entrepreneurial leaps, creating organizations that support hundreds of advisors nationwide, building platforms, steering regulatory committees, and always keeping his values in the driver's seat.

Beneath all the growth and prestige, there's a commitment to doing finance differently with integrity, clarity, and human touch. If you've ever felt overwhelmed by financial advice or wondered how [00:01:00] someone builds a company that serves both wealth and wellbeing, Tim's story will shift how you see what success in finance can look like.

Sponsor Message: Deep Wealth Mastery Program

Jeffrey Feldberg: And before we start this episode, a quick word from our sponsor, Deep Wealth and the 90 Day Deep Wealth Mastery Program. Here's Jane, a graduate who says, and I quote, the Deep Wealth Mastery Program prevented me from making what would have been one of the biggest mistakes of my career. I almost signed on the dotted line with an unsolicited offer that I now realized would have shortchanged my hard work and my future had I accepted that offer. Deep Wealth Mastery has tilted the playing field to my advantage.

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And as you're listening to these testimonials, are you wondering if you have the time? Are you even thinking that you've got this covered, you have the advisors or people in your network? Well, I got to tell you, these myths, they're often behind [00:02:00] the 90 percent failure rate for liquidity events. Think about it. You have one chance to get it right for your financial freedom. You really want to make it count.

And when it comes to time, let's hear what William has to say. We just got in this testimonial, William says, and I quote, I didn't have the time for Deep Wealth Mastery. But I made the time and I'm glad I did. What I learned goes far beyond any other executive program or coach I've experienced. 

So what do you think?

As I hear that, that's exactly what gets me out of bed every day. That's my mission. That's the team's mission here at Deep Wealth to literally change the social fabric of society. One business owner at a time, one liquidity event at a time, and my Deep Wealth Nation, what I want you to know, the Deep Wealth Mastery Program, it isn't theory.

It's from the trenches. It's the only one based on a nine figure deal. And that deal, that was my deal. You know my story. I said no to a seven figure offer. I created the system that later on, myself and my business partners, we said yes to a different buyer, a different offer, a nine figure [00:03:00] deal. That's what we now call the Deep Wealth Mastery Program or the Scale For Ultimate Sales system.

It's built by business owners, for business owners, so if you're interested in growing your profits for preparing for a future liquidity event, and that may be two years away, it could be 22 years away, whatever the time may be, you want to do this now, and you want to optimize your post exit life, Deep Wealth Mastery is for you.

To get started, email success at deepwealth. com. Again, that's success. S U C C E S S at DeepWealth. com. You'll receive all the information about the Deep Wealth Mastery Program or better yet, why not hop on a complimentary strategy call.

We'll go through exactly where your business is today and what's standing between you and your financial independence and your dreams. So that's where you want to be. You want to be with other successful business owners, entrepreneurs, and founders, just like you they're looking to grow their businesses, create markets.

Market disruptions and unlock their financial freedom to get what they deserve. And whether you've been [00:04:00] in business for three years, 40 years, you're a startup, you're manufacturing you're in high tech, low tech, whatever the case may be, coming in and network with other business owners, it's a safe space.

It's a confidential space with business owners, with businesses just like you, because they all wanna lock in their financial freedom and enjoy both success and fulfillment. So again, the 90 Day Deep Wealth Mastery Program, it has your name on it. All you need to do is take the next step. Please send an email to success at deepwealth. com.

Welcome to the Deep Wealth Podcast

Jeffrey Feldberg: Deep Wealth Nation, welcome to another episode of the Deep Wealth Podcast. So I have a question for you, Deep Wealth Nation. I have a rhetorical question for you When it comes to your finances, your business finances, your personal finances. How you doing with that? And I've got a little insight for you. You are richer than you think.

I wish I made that up. Another bank made that up. But it's a great tagline and it's perfect for the very special guest that we have. In the House of Deep Wealth. We have a fellow entrepreneur, a thought leader, someone who is a WII.FM in the world, a finance and Wealth management. But I'm gonna put a plug in [00:05:00] it right there.

Tim, welcome to the Deep Wealth Podcast. It's an absolute pleasure to have you with us. There is always a story behind the story. So, Tim, what's your story? What got you from where you were? To where you are today.

Timothy L. Smith's Early Career and Transition

Tim L. Smith: Well first thank you for having me, Jeffrey. It's really a pleasure to be here. My route is kind of circuitous. I was a child actor, singer. He used to work in New York City making TV commercials and all that kind of thing, and I studied opera singing and musical theater singing.

And, I've continued to sing and perform throughout my life, but I made money from doing the acting work. Believe it or not, commercials did pay pretty well a long time ago, and I was investing it, and I found investing the money. To be more fascinating than the acting work. And so I ultimately cited when I finished college that I wanted to go into the investment world.

And some friends of mine were working at a small financial planning firm [00:06:00] in my area. And I got a, position there. And I spent 10 years at that firm and worked my way up in various roles and. Became a shareholder in the organization. And when I was 32, I announced I was leaving, and I just started what's called an RI, a firm, an investment advisory firm.

And I thought I would just manage money and go play golf. And that was what I thought was gonna happen. That did not happen. I was invited by some former colleagues of mine who also left to build a platform that would basically allow other financial advisors to join us and, team up in essence.

And I did so, and that, platform today has golly, uh. offices in 35 states in something like $14 billion of total assets being managed by all these guys around the country. So I just essentially became an [00:07:00] entrepreneur in the financial advisor space, helping other financial advisors grow and build their businesses and building my own and working with closely a terrific entrepreneur out of Orlando, Florida, who was a family member and became a shareholder, in the organization with me. and, we just grew it very rapidly. We had our ups and downs along the way. We've been through 40 to 50% growth years and we've been through. A $16 million theft by one of our advisors.

That threw us back quite a ways at one point. And a variety of ups and downs with markets and regulatory changes and everything else that is normal to go through as an entrepreneur with the environment around you. Moving very quickly. And today I'm 62 and have a nice boutique financial services firm.

I still manage money for clients [00:08:00] and I work with my kids on some financial literacy efforts for young people. I've just published a book on risk management and investing that's a hot seller on Amazon and I'm having the time of my life, Jeffrey,

Jeffrey Feldberg: My goodness, what story? Yeah. I love that. What a story. There's so much there to unpack. 

Lessons from Show Business to Finance

Jeffrey Feldberg: The human condition never ceases to amaze me because Tim, how many people would love to leave the world of business and go into the world of show business? And it was the opposite for you. You were in show business and you found the world of business, in your case, investing to be far more interesting.

Let me ask you this before we move forward with a few of the other questions. Looking back, and I know you're young, you're a child actor, and congratulations with that. The lessons learned. Were there lessons learned from show business that you brought into business that made a difference for you?

Tim L. Smith: Well, there were several. The first was persistence pace. Acting is a lot like financial services or any sales role, I will say, in that you have to be [00:09:00] able to handle a lot of rejection and you have to be able to still maintain your confidence and your belief in yourself despite that rejection. I learned very early in my life how to treat adults like anybody else that they were not, something I don't know. You always called everybody Mr. And Mrs. Growing up. But in the acting world, you called everybody by their first names, the same as you call anybody by their first names, except for the highest level people in the industry.

I learned at a young age how to interface with adults in pressure filled situations and, that perseverance can pay off. All of those things really suited me well when I was 22 and started asking 55 and 60 year olds to give me all the money they had in the world.

It's just, it really set me up very well for this business in a very strange way that I would not have expected.

Jeffrey Feldberg: It is interesting and that persistence and I suppose getting used to that rejection and having the [00:10:00] faith and confidence in yourself to keep on going on. There's a terrific insight. Lots of insights there, nation. Hope you're picking up on that. 

Overcoming Challenges in Financial Advisory

Jeffrey Feldberg: And you also mentioned that sadly, you had a run-in where there was some activity off to the side that could have almost put you out of business.

And I would love to say that you were one of the few. Unfortunately you're not. And so as you look at that, any insights, lessons learned that you can share with Deepal Nation of what either to do or not to do?

Tim L. Smith: Yeah, well, risk management really does matter, first of all. and I have a friend who had a problem in his business with a risk management issue that very nearly put him out of business. And, he had to learn the same lesson. Unfortunately, it's totally different business.

so I learned a lot about risk management and that I was very focused on growth and not so focused on how we managed the risks that growth [00:11:00] created and compliance and, everything that went along with it.

So I certainly learned that. I learned that not everybody is trustworthy, which was unfortunately a big thing for me to learn. I'm a very trusting person by nature, and probably one of the reasons that, some things went wrong but that trust but verify is really critical. As I started to tell advisors, who would say, well, listen, just trust me on this.

I would say to them, unfortunately, I'm not allowed to. I'm not in a position to just simply trust people. It's the nature of my job that I can't just simply trust people and let them, do what they wanna do, whatever. So becoming less trusting was a painful thing for me as an entrepreneur to be more mindful of the possibility that anybody could turn out to be a conman when you're dealing with a couple of hundred salespeople also your reputation is [00:12:00] everything. When your reputation is damaged, it's really hard to come back from that. And it took a long time. It took five or 10 years to surpass where we had been.

The business after that between the legal costs and losing some relationships because it was a very public thing that this had happened within our industry. There was the possibility, in some people's minds that I might have had something to do with it, which I'm literally the guy who called the police.

Preserving your reputation is really important. And it was a very embarrassing, humiliating experience. Again, mental resiliency is the only reason I'm still standing today.

I think every entrepreneur has to simply have something a little extra in their brain that says, I know I can get through this. I know I can get through this, I know I can get through this. And, again, the only reason I'm still here, still doing it today. Is that [00:13:00] I just simply, believed in my own, trustworthiness that I was not the person at issue and that, I could move forward from it.

So, a lot of lessons,

very painful. 

Jeffrey Feldberg: Many lessons learned, and thank you for being so open, so vulnerable and sharing that with us. And you're right, Ronald Reagan, trust but verify on paper, it sounds so simple to do in reality, it's a completely different story and you're not the only one. I've been there, countless entrepreneurs have been there.

It's a hard lesson to learn, but many insights and thank you for sharing that. So Tim, let me ask you this, because when it comes to Wealth. 

Aligning Values with Financial Goals

Jeffrey Feldberg: Few talk about purpose. How are you guiding people towards aligning their values when it comes to money to legacy, meaning and purpose? What's going on with that?

Tim L. Smith: I think what you have to do as a financial advisor is really get to know the people you're talking to and understand. Their values system. And [00:14:00] by that I don't necessarily mean their political system. We it's a good idea to stay away from that, I think in general. Or, learn their political system but don't engage.

But their values system, what matters to them, how they feel about money. I had a client who once jokingly said to me Tim, if there's any money left over in my accounts when I die, consider that to be an accounting error. And by that he meant he, he wanted his children to stand on their own.

He didn't want them to inherit millions of dollars. That was his value system. He didn't want them to be, lazy because they were gonna come into some money one day. And so you have to work with them.

Where they come from. Some people are conscious investors, impact investors. They're involved in things like the climate change initiatives and ESG initiatives and the like. And so, it's not my role to tell them [00:15:00] whether I agree or disagree with any such issues. It's my role to help them get where they can, the best they can within the limitations of.

What they're willing to put money into or what they want their money used for. So I think it's, again, it's just a matter of getting to know that person. And, financial planning as a discipline is really it's a process that creates that level of engagement. That when I started in the business, there was still a lot of stock takers.

A stockbroker is sort of the modern day equivalent would be an annuity salesman who has nothing but pitch annuities all day long. And a stockbroker is somebody who has a stock and looks for someone to buy it. And a financial planner is someone who has a client who has needs and looks for something to fill the needs.

It's the opposite relationship. I'm working on behalf of the client to find what they [00:16:00] need as opposed to having something in my back pocket that I need to unload. So the process helps you get to know them by its nature and without judgment, your job is simply to help them get where they're trying to go.

In the most effective manner possible that is consistent with those values. I find it easy, because I really believe in people and well, a, that they have a right to their values, it's their money. So it's not for me to tell them what their values should or should not be, what they should or should not put money into.

My non-judgment helps them to feel comfortable that this is somebody who is really working on my behalf, irrespective of his own belief system, which sometimes I do end up, over the years getting into conversations with people about.

Fortunately I'm a very middle of the road person on average politically, so, [00:17:00] I don't I don't have great challenges in getting along with people politically, I mean, it's the nature of the process that the person's interests unfold. By virtue of the conversation you have by listening, you have to be a very good listener, I think.

And just looking for solutions that are going to fit them and make them happy. Happy client is a good client,

Jeffrey Feldberg: Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. And so Tim, as you're talking about that. 

Defining Financial Peace of Mind

Jeffrey Feldberg: I'm curious when it comes to financial peace of mind. You don't hear a lot about that. So for you personally, what does that mean? How would you define financial peace of mind? And then the follow up to that is going to be, every person's gonna be different.

What I view as financial peace of mind will be different than what you view it as. How do you help others find their own financial peace of mind? So why don't we start with what does that mean for you? Why don't you set the stage of financial peace of mind and how you would define that, what that means for you personally.

Tim L. Smith: A financial peace of mind? [00:18:00] Well, a little story. Growing up my father was a teacher and there were five kids five mouths to feed in addition to the two parents. And as my father used to joke, there's too much month at the end of the money. So there were pretty constant tensions about not having enough money and not being able to do certain things because there wasn't enough money.

And the kinds of arguments I remember my parents having when I was a child, and my parents were ultimately married 63 years before my father passed away. So, they did okay. All things considered. But most of the arguments I recall growing up were about money and there not being enough of it, just essentially, my father was a depression child who grew up with nothing.

My mother grew up very middle class to upper middle class at times, and I think that the lifestyle my father could provide was not what she had been [00:19:00] accustomed to. Maybe she wasn't quite, expecting that when they got married. So there was tension over that. So I grew up with anxiety about the bills being paid, there being enough money, there being enough money to get kids to the colleges that there are best for them as opposed to what was affordable.

And so for me, financial peace of mind has meant. Knowing that there's enough money coming in to pay the bills to stay out of significant debt. And I have debt, but you know, it's debt that's wisely used, I'll just say. And being able to send my children to the colleges they wanted to go to, that they were best suited to rather than them going somewhere because that's what we could afford.

so for me, I honestly have a lot of anxiety over money given my upbringing. I think it's part of the reason I went into this industry also was, being able to alleviate other people's money [00:20:00] worries by my own knowledge and skills has been a lifelong joy for me.

And maybe I'm getting to the answer of your second part of your question. But I have translated that in my life to several basic things in, my career. I believe that helping people plan their finances gives them a sense of control over those finances. And for most people I may be a control freak, I don't know, but.

Having a sense of control, understanding where you are having a series of actionable steps that you can take that will help you achieve your goals in life financially and someone to guide you along that path. I think are things that reduce people's stress about money. so I feel like my career has been spent.

Helping other people avoid some of those same kinds of anxieties that [00:21:00] I suffered as a child growing up. And that my parents suffered because they had no financial guidance. And my father was a philosophy professor. No financial background whatsoever. it's a great irony that I went into this field because my parents they had no knowledge or ability with finance at all.

So in terms of the professional aspect of it, again, I feel like when people have a sense for what they should be doing about preparing for kids college how their budget looks, how their retirement is going their preparations for their own retirement, or their ability to buy a beach house that they've been dreaming about.

Knowing that they have insurances in place and wills and trusts in place, God forbid the worst happens. That's what gives them peace of mind, that they've done all that they can within their, means to plan and to prepare and invest wisely. Invest reasonably, not overly aggressively, [00:22:00] or.

Not taking, ridiculous risks because they don't understand how to invest. That's part of the beauty of this career is you are able to help people feel that, it's not just about investing their money, it's about helping people feel like they've got it.

Jeffrey Feldberg: And Tim, as you're talking about that, of the thought process, the questions that we should be asking for ourselves in terms of, okay, going to bed at night, what's going to give me some financial peace of mind? 

Building an Independent Advisory Platform

Jeffrey Feldberg: So from the client side, you also made a shift yourself in terms of an advisory firm, not just for clients now, but also you're supporting other advisors.

You become a platform. So what's going on with that? Walk us through. How you got there and how you're making a difference with that.

Tim L. Smith: well, I have to try to describe the platform that I came from. First it was platform that, while we talked a lot about investing, primarily talked about [00:23:00] investing the rent was literally paid by an insurance company and. when I was too young and inexperienced naive to sort of understand how the business works.

Technically I was a statutory employee of that insurance company while I thought I was an independent financial advisor. And so, then that company created products that we marketed, some of which went south pretty badly. It created some investment services that we marketed in the fee-based investment advisory space.

And those were, okay sometimes and pretty good some other times. But the point was that I left in part because I didn't feel I was independent the way I had been sort of pitched. When I went into the industry, independent meaning not having to sell something in particular because the company markets it or creates it or, is backed by [00:24:00] it somehow.

Just as an example, Mary Merrill Lynch creates products, so their Salesforce market, those products, it's a big part of what. Salesforce does it, Merri Merrill Lynch. So we who don't work for product creating companies, view ourselves as fully independent. While we would view someone from Merrill Lynch as not being fully independent.

So I wanted, when I left to be independent, to truly be independent. And the folks who left with me, or not with me, who left shortly after I did. Wanted the same, they wanted not to have sort of very heavy handed wall Street cultural approaches to sales which that organization also had.

So some cultural aspects of the organization were problematic as well. 

Creating a Product and Service Agnostic Platform

Tim L. Smith: So, I created a platform that was product agnostic. Service [00:25:00] agnostic, where you would create your own culture for your own organization. So, there'd be the Jeffrey Feldberg organization that I was in the background supporting, but you marketed under your own name.

I didn't have really much to do with your marketing or branding. And. You were able to do investment advisory business as you chose or broker dealer business as you chose? No quotas, No requirements to do any particular product. I never pushed particular product at the reps because I could make more money at it or anything like that.

So you know, back in the 19, mid 1990s and early two thousands. 

The Exodus of Financial Advisors

Tim L. Smith: There was the beginning of a large exodus of people leaving the wirehouse firms in the United States. People meaning financial advisors who wanted to be quote-unquote independent. And I [00:26:00] just happened to be at the beginning of that rush and a lot of people joined my organization because it was everything where they were, had a lot of things and I didn't have any of those things that they didn't want. So it was a very successful formula, and worked very well to help them. And, we provided a variety of services. 

Mentorship and Strategic Planning

Tim L. Smith: Part of what I did, because I had been a sales manager and a mentor in my prior firm.

Any younger financial advisors who wanted a mentor or who wanted strategic planning help for their careers, especially now going independent and not having, the big company behind them anymore. So that was a part of what I did as a platform thing. 'cause I, I love strategic planning as a process.

I don't know why. Just really like it. And just worked very hard to provide excellent service, excellent compliance but let them be what they want it to be, their [00:27:00] vision of their financial advisor practice. That was what I really worked hard to do and it's been and continues to be a successful formula as the financial services business in the United States has evolved for the last 30, 40 years.

Jeffrey Feldberg: And so it's interesting because what you're talking about as you're walking us through that you're really unshackling various Wealth advisors. They can now have their own platform behind the scenes. You're doing what you're doing best. They're doing what they're doing best, but you're creating a win.

A win for you, for your company, for the Wealth advisors, but also for their clients that it sounds like there's more transparency, there's more choice. It's not being steered in one direction. It's actually okay, what's best for Jeffrey? Because what's best for Jeffrey is gonna be very different than what's best for Emma or Mary or Victoria, or whatever the case may be.

That we can now pick and choose because we have a strong platform behind us. How am I doing with that?

Tim L. Smith: Very accurate and I'll just add what's best for Jeffrey [00:28:00] is best for the firm and for the advisor. So that's our job is to find what's best for you. And, when we compromise that, or if we compromise that in any way, because we have limitations on what we can do we have, product limitations because they'd have the wrong name on them, the wrong company name on them or something like that.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Yep.

The Fiduciary Responsibility

Tim L. Smith: it's not in the best interest of the customer and the concept of a fiduciary and serving the client in a fiduciary capacity is what I have been espousing for, 30 plus years at this point. Whereas the market has only moved to it very recently and the regulatory environment has finally caught up to it in the last five, seven years.

It's been a very good formula. And you know what, Jeffrey, it goes back to the simple thing, the simple saying, do the right thing. Yeah. Just it's the karma. Do the right thing and it will work out. You [00:29:00] may not make as much money on this situation that you're working on as you might have with some other higher commission product.

You do the right thing here, the client is happy, the client refers you to someone else, and that someone else refers you to the biggest client you've ever had. you have to believe in that karma, that kind of thing unfolds when you do the right thing. And the kinds of people that I work best with are people who just share that philosophy.

Jeffrey Feldberg: And so Tim, as you're talking about this, for someone who may not be familiar with all the terms in the industry you're talking about a fiduciary, sounds like a big, fancy word. What would that mean in some simple words? Easy to understand. If I hear the word fiduciary, what does that mean for me and why do I care?

Tim L. Smith: Fiduciary is someone who has a legal obligation to do what is in the best interest of someone else. Whoever is the trustee of such a trust, legally, they have to act in the best interests of the beneficiary, the child. Not in their own [00:30:00] interest in doing, whatever they're going to do with that trust and its assets and payouts to the child and things like that. So It's hard to imagine this probably for many people, but the standard for people working in a broker dealer environment in the United States, up until about six or seven years ago, the standard was you have to do something that is suitable for them, that fits, but it doesn't have to be in their best interest. And there's a pretty big gulf between those two things. And by the way, doing something that's in the client's best interest doesn't mean that you don't make money on it or, that you, have to forego compensation or something along those lines.

That's a conflict of interest, but that can be mitigated by you having done your due diligence on investment vehicles available to meet the needs of the client and finding what you feel is best and why it's [00:31:00] best and documenting that. But so a fiduciary has to do what's best for the client and now even people in the broker dealer context has to do what's best for the client.

As opposed to just doing what is suitable, even if it's not the best thing that you can do for the client. it's a big tectonic sea shift in the industry. And it literally resulted in some companies breaking up and breaking themselves apart. What used to be MetLife, for example, became brighthouse and they.

Got rid of their Salesforce because their salesforce primarily sold MetLife products. And there was an argument that you cannot be a captive person selling just your own company products. So in a sense it broke up manufacturing and distribution, if you think of it that way.

Jeffrey Feldberg: As we're talking about this, as Tim is sharing this with us, I want you to imagine for just a moment if you don't know what you're doing, if you're just going with the flow as they say, and, oh yeah, [00:32:00] anyone can help me here. The difference between what you're sharing here, Tim, between a fiduciary and someone who isn't.

It's night and day because Tim, as you're sharing this, what you're telling Deepp Nation, someone who has a fiduciary responsibility, they are legally obligated to do what's in the best interest of the client. Not for themselves, but for the client. And if they do something that's in their best interest, it's illegal, there's legal consequences for doing that, and they're not good.

You don't wanna be there. So nation. Talk about preparation, talk about doing your diligence, doing your homework. It's a few words, but those few words can make all the difference. And so Tim, as you're walking us through that, and thank you for sharing that. What should someone in Deep Wealth Nation as they're hearing this, they're looking at their own advisors.

Maybe they're thinking of working with some new Wealth advisors or on the financial side. What should they be avoiding? What should they be looking for?

Choosing the Right Financial Advisor

Tim L. Smith: Well, first of all anybody with a CFP designation, certified financial planner [00:33:00] designation has been obligated to act in the best of interests of the clients always for a long time. So irrespective of whether they work in a, an investment advisory capacity, which is a fiduciary capacity by definition.

Or in a broker dealer capacity or both, they've been obligated to do what's best for the client at all times. I think you should look for a person who has that designation because I think that it's emblematic of a level of knowledge and experience and ethics. That I can't imagine clients would not want to know the person is espouses first of all.

Second of all, I've looked for language in a first conversation with a prospective advisor that tells you their philosophy. That says things like. I look to find what is in your best interest in whatever I do, as [00:34:00] opposed to, I use products and services that I know can work for most people, which might be suggesting that they have a limited product and service lineup behind them.

If you work with a fee only advisor, or a someone who is not selling products. Technically speaking, I'm a fee and commission advisor because I have a broker dealer license, so I can't tell anybody I'm fee only. That said, I don't do any broker dealer products. I do asset management work that's 99% of what I do.

So you're looking for someone who, is, if they're fee and commission based. They should be espousing a philosophy of doing what's best for the client, having no preconceived notions of, products on the shelf that they're looking to unload. They're not involved in sales contests trying to get to Hawaii by selling more of something or another, which are really not even [00:35:00] allowed anymore for just these reasons.

I think I always said that there are three Cs to working with a financial advisor and they are cost competency and chemistry. So, is the cost reasonable? Is the person in the ballpark for costs to work with them that most other financial advisors are? Does the person appear to be competent or has a team of people that support the person that can ensure that they technically give good financial advice?

And then chemistry. Do you feel good with this person? Does it, do you feel like, you would enjoy getting to know the person, telling the person private things about yourself or your family? Are you comfortable with that relationship And part of that comfort should be.

That the person has said maybe two or three times, early on. I work in the best interest of my clients. If I need a product, I find them the [00:36:00] best one that I can. I generally, in my practice, I generally don't do products in a commission capacity. But if they do that, they espouse that philosophy.

And with conviction, I would say. Because there are, certain things where the products in the fee-based world, the investment advisory world, just can't if you need disability insurance, typically that's just not something that a fee-based advisor is gonna help you place,

Jeffrey Feldberg: Huh.

Tim L. Smith: you go find that product, whereas, lots of entrepreneurs.

Don't have a group disability insurance plan, and they should have disability insurance for themselves. So, I don't find commission-based business to be a bad thing as many of my colleagues who are fee only do, but there are more conflicts of interest caused by it. And on the other hand like disability insurance and certain other things.

It's nice when somebody else can go figure all that out for you and bring it to you [00:37:00] because it's a specialized field and you might not know what the heck you're even looking for if you went to try to, Google disability insurance and yeah, figure out how you can buy it on your own, let's say.

but just to get back to your question, I think espousing. That ethic in essence, that they have an independent nature, an independent background. They're not funded by a product company of some kind, and that they look to find what is in the best interest of the client that's available in a marketplace.

That's what I'd be looking for.

Jeffrey Feldberg: And so Depo Nation, there is a lot there, but the takeaway. A. Designations matter. Who you're working with matters. You can't leave this up to chance and the time, the investment that you do, and Tim, you can say, Jeffrey, I'm based off base. When you put the diligence in, when you find the right advisor for you, when you have that trust but verify mentality.

It can be, okay, we're gonna go in this direction. I can now go back [00:38:00] to focusing what I do best. Yes, of course I am gonna be delegating, not abdicating, so I'm gonna be checking in from time to time on a regular basis, make sure we're on the right track. But they're gonna say in their lane, I'm gonna say in my lane, and we're getting the best optimal outcomes.

And Tim, why I'm sharing this For Deep Wealth Nation, one of the things that we share with them. It's not just their company. That should be their only focus. Why? Always work hard. You can work smart. Yes, your company has tremendous value. And down the road, if you have a liquidity event, terrific. You have some wonderful things ahead, especially Nudge, win, wink when you go through the Deep Wealth Mastery mastery program.

But at the same time, behind the scenes, why not have your money working for you? When you have the right advisor, you're doing the right kinds of investments. It's passive investments. In other words, it's not taking up your time, your effort, when you have the right advisor in the right investments, that's where the magic can happen.

Warren Buffett, eighth Wonder of the World, a compound interest. You have all that going on behind the scenes, that there's different ways of getting to Wealth. Why not choose a few different [00:39:00] roles that will get you there faster. Thoughts about that?

Tim L. Smith: I mean, every advice. Ultimately has or develops their own philosophy of how to work with clients and what seems to work for them in advising clients from an investment perspective. But that said, there are certain things that have to be there at a minimum. Most, credentialed financial advisors are not gonna be stock pickers where they're gonna choose three or four stocks for you.

There's going to be much more diversification. Then re, Nvidia Tesla and Facebook or something like that. And I would actually venture to say that most financial advisors today delegate the stock picking within ETFs or mutual funds or third party managers stock picking is such a challenging thing to do better than the market.

It's just a terribly rare. Saying that someone can actually outperform market indices over time [00:40:00] consistently. So they're typically delegating that they're typically doing what we would call asset allocation, which is to say how much money, what percentages of your money should be in what sort of market areas in general, large company stocks or small company stocks, that's just a, an oversimplification of it. so that sort of broad strategic role is more of what today's financial advisors are involved in. And they use third parties to either, get index funds or get ETFs, mutual funds, third party advisors third party managers that will pick the actual underlying securities. Getting comfortable, understanding the approach that someone takes and having it be comfortable. Sometimes it's unorthodox. It may seem unorthodox. I do some things that are unorthodox, but I consider them more advanced than most other, things I could do for people.

But understanding what it [00:41:00] is, how it works, and gaining some comfort with it. And another thing is that I think a very good financial advisor has the ability to take complex financial concepts and make them simple so that you can understand it or understand it well enough to judge it, to make a judgment call about it.

So that's a critical skill. Strong financial advisors have a breadth of skills and when you meet somebody who can't communicate or can't educate, can't explain clearly, but they seem like such a nice person, that's great, but that may not really be to your long-term benefit.

If they're not able to explain to you how what they're doing benefits you. In a way that you can understand.

Jeffrey Feldberg: I know some terrific insights there, Tim and Deep Deep Wealth Nation. So many takeaways there, and you're hearing from someone, entrepreneur, like all of us here at Deep Deep Wealth Nation, who's been on different chairs, different sides of the table, and sharing some strategies from the trenches that work in.

The Importance of Enjoying the Present

Jeffrey Feldberg: [00:42:00] Speaking of which, Tim, we're at the point now we're gonna go into wrap up mode. It is a tradition here on the Deep Wealth Podcast. It's my privilege, my honor, where every guest. I ask the same question. It's a fun question. I'm gonna set this up for you.

When you think of the movie Back to the Future, you have that magical DeLorean car that can take you to any point in time.

So Tim, I want you to imagine now it's tomorrow morning, you're looking outside your window. Not only is the DeLorean car curbside, the door is open, it is waiting for you to hop on in which you do. You're now gonna go to any point in time. Tim, as a young child, a teenager, whatever point in time it would be, what would you tell your younger self in terms of life lessons?

Life wisdom. Hey Tim, do this, but don't do that. What would it sound like?

Tim L. Smith: Oh God, that's an amazing question. This is gonna be a very unfulfilling answer for the audience. I can tell you I am at the most beautiful place in life right

Jeffrey Feldberg: Mm-hmm. 

Tim L. Smith: Where I'm at with the level of knowledge and experience that I have and contacts and [00:43:00] friendships and the amount of love in my life, in the world, it's very hard.

For me to think of any other time in my life or some point in the future even, that I'd rather be in or would like to go visit or revisit or everything leads us to where we are and makes us who we are. And I'm really blessed to just be enjoying today as a friend of mine says.

Enjoy the now, which is very strange for a financial planner because we're always looking at the future for people, by profession. It's counterintuitive, I think, but I am literally just enjoying today and making every day of my life count. And maybe that's the lesson is don't worry so much about tomorrow.

God willing you get to tomorrow. Enjoy today more. And embrace it and learn from it and because tomorrow will come soon enough and you'll be that much further along in every way in life. [00:44:00] But, enjoy the now, enjoy today because it's beautiful. And we're all far more blessed and gifted than we realize.

And we should celebrate that and just have gratitude every day and enjoy it.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Terrific advice for your Deepal nation. Enjoy the now. Enjoy today. Don't worry about tomorrow. Be grateful for what we have. Be grateful that you'll have uh, tomorrow. It's something that Tim, as you're sharing that we all need to be reminded of more. It just seems today that time is not our own and we have all these pressures and people, technology, all looking to grab our time and attention.

You're bringing us back to basics, back to the joy in life where it always should be and it should remain. Really appreciate that. 

Final Thoughts and Contact Information

Jeffrey Feldberg: And before we wrap up, one more question for you, Tim. Someone in Deep Nation, they have a question for you. They wanna speak to you and the team, learn what's going on, or go down certain paths, what you're doing at Aurora Private Wealth.

Where would be the best place online where someone in [00:45:00] Deep Nation could reach out to you.

Tim L. Smith: Sure. Well first of all I am on LinkedIn, Tim Smith of Aurora Private Wealth to, actually, I think it's Timothy L. Smith, CFP. At Aurora Private Wealth. So you can find me there. I have two websites. One is aurora pw.com. That's for the general company. And then I have www.structuredportfolios.com, which is the, some of the unique investment work that I do, and they can find me there.

And you can email me at either of those domains, tim@structuredportfolios.com or tim@aurorapw.com.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Nation, it doesn't get any easier. This is all in the show notes. It's a point and click and take Tim up on his offer. Reach out to him, email, he just shared his email address with you. Ask those questions. You'll come outta that conversation. More knowledgeable and better than what you came in with. And that said, Tim, congratulations.

This is official. It's a wrap [00:46:00] as we love to say here at Deep Wealth. May you continue to thrive and prosper while you remain healthy and safe. Thank you so much.

Tim L. Smith: Thank you and I wish you the same. Thanks very much, Jeffrey.

Jeffrey Feldberg: So there you have it, Deep Wealth Nation. What did you think? 

So with all that said and as we wrap it up, I have another question for you.

Actually, it's more of a personal favor. 

Did you find this episode helpful? 

Have you found other episodes of the Deep Wealth Podcast empowering and a game changer for your journey? 

And if you said yes, and I really hope you did, I have a small but really meaningful way that you can actually help us out and keep these episodes coming to you.

Are you ready for it? 

The dramatic pause. I'll just wait a moment. Drumroll, please. 

Subscribe to the Deep Wealth Podcast

Jeffrey Feldberg: Subscribe. Please subscribe to the Deep Wealth podcast on your favorite podcast channel. When you subscribe to the Deep Wealth Podcast, you're saving yourself time. Every episode automatically comes to you, and I want you to know that we meticulously craft Every one of our episodes to have impactful strategies, stories, expert insights that are designed to help you grow your profits, increase the value of your business, and yes, [00:47:00] even optimize your post exit life and your life right now, whatever you want that to look like.

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So all that said. Thank you so much for listening. And remember your wealth isn't just about the money in the bank. It's about [00:48:00] the depth of your journey and the impact that you're creating. So let's continue this journey together. And from the bottom of my heart, thank you so much for listening to this episode.

And as we love to say here at Deep Wealth, may you continue to thrive and prosper while you remain healthy and safe. 

Thank you so much. 

God bless.