ETF Central: Focus Partners Wealth Senior Wealth Advisor Adam Yofan

Bilal Little (0:15)

Welcome to another edition of ETF Central. I'm your host, Bilal Little. This episode is really special to me. I'm interviewing one of my close friends who I've known for 15 years in this business. His name is Adam Yofan. He's a wealth advisor and consultant with Focus Partners.

Focus is one of the largest investment firms on the street. And he's going to give us a little insight on how wealthy families plan and what have they done from an investment perspective to properly allocate capital to ETFs and strategies to really help them with their long-term estate planning. And with that, Adam, welcome to the show.

Adam Yofan (0:47)

Thanks for having me.

Bilal Little (0:48)

When was the last time you were at the exchange?

Adam Yofan (0:50)

I was in this building inside 25 years ago, outside 10 years ago.

Bilal Little (0:58)

Are you serious? So this is your first time in a quarter century?

Adam Yofan (1:02)

First time in a quarter century. Hasn't changed, apparently.

Bilal Little (1:06)

New studio.

Adam Yofan (1:07)

New studio.

Bilal Little (1:09)

Well, I'm excited to have you. We got to make sure that this is a good memory for you, then.

Adam Yofan (1:13)

Thank you.

Bilal Little (1:14)

Adam, I think it's important. I told everyone, obviously, when I kicked the show off, that you're a good friend of mine. We've known each other nearly 15 years since I was a wholesaler. But I wanted you to come on for a lot of reasons, but one reason in particular, I have a real strong affinity for the financial advisor in this country, particularly the service and the work that they do.

I think you got a phenomenal background, but I tell all my guests, you set the stage and you tell us a little bit about your background, and then the seat that you have today and your role in this coaching, player coach role at Focus Partners. Then we'll talk a little bit about Focus and then we'll carry the conversation. I'll let you level set.

Adam Yofan (1:53)

Okay.

I always wanted to be a CPA, because my dad was friends with a dude who was a CPA who had a Porsche, and a big gold chain, right? And a lot of stuff coming out of here, and this is the 70s. And so I went to Miami of Ohio, where they mint CPAs, became a CPA, worked for Deloitte for a dozen or so years, and decided I needed a career change. So I got into this business. I went to work for Smith Barney.

Bilal Little (2:36)

What year were we talking?

Adam Yofan (2:40)

My first day of production was the day after 9-11.

Bilal Little (2:46)

Wow.

Adam Yofan (2:47)

So the training was three weeks in Hartford. They bussed us down here to see the stock exchange a week or two before 9-11. And back then was just smiling and dialing, you know this. And my first appointment was with the lady the day after 9-11. We had scheduled it the week before. I called her on 9-11. I said, you know, this is obviously a tragedy. And she said, I still need to retire. And that's when the light bulb went on, right? So I did that for a few years, realized I wasn't put on this search to pitch stocks. Back then, that's really what we were doing.

That woman helped illuminate the fact that I'm here to impact lives.

So after five years of pitching stocks at Smith Barney, I left, I went to go work for a CPA firm. We built out the planning component of this. I ran that for a half a dozen years. I subsequently bought out my partners. Ultimately, I sold my firm to the firm that became Focus Partners, where I still worked for a half a dozen years.

Then a year ago, our CEO and our president suggested that I could change more lives, more families, if I coached the advisors who worked with the families, rather than just working with the families. And that was a nice transition for me, a nice challenge with the ultimate same desired outcome I have of impacting lives. So I started doing that a year ago. I had 100 odd families that are now being serviced by my colleagues. And I am a full-time coach, teacher, mentor, whatever word you want to use.

Bilal Little (4:49)

I love that. Wow, there's a lot to impact there. And we might have to do that offline, honestly. Especially the 9-11 stuff, with that being your first client.

I want to talk a little bit about who Focus Partners is, so you can level set, because I think it's a brand in the industry that a lot of people may not be as familiar with, but it's a very significant brand.