Broc Buckles

If you are interested in being on the "Only Fee-Only" podcast at some point like or comment on this tweet so I can write your name down. We are pumped to hear about all of your different practices and niches!

The best planners that I have met all have one thing in common.... They ask great questions.

Captive Agent vs. Insurance Broker Simple. Captive agents bring their company to you and try to sell you on the reason that you should work with their company. Insurance brokers take your situation to market and find the best option for your situation. Work with a broker.

#162 - Design Your Business Around Your Lifestyle - Rafael Melendez, CFP®, CSLP® Money decisions are rarely just about math. The hardest part is often the human side. Rafael Melendez of NextGen Financial Planning joins us to discuss how fee-only financial planning helps younger families move from stress and uncertainty to confident, intentional decisions. We explore Rafael’s path into the profession, what he learned from sales-driven environments, and how those experiences shaped his client-first approach. We also break down what “fee-only” really means and why it can be a great fit for people who need planning guidance without having millions invested. Rafael shares his journey from joining NextGen during the pandemic to becoming a partner as the firm evolved. We discuss firm ownership, balancing growth with flexibility, and his advice for aspiring RIA owners: design the life you want first, then build the business around it. We also walk through a real-world planning scenario involving a high-stress job, stock compensation, student loans, and the decision to earn less in exchange for a better quality of life. Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/162… Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/4q4Rob…

What to Know Before Signing an Insurance Policy! Signing an insurance policy is a bigger commitment than most people realize..... This piece breaks down what to check before you sign, from coverage limits and exclusions to premium structure and renewal terms, so you know exactly what you're agreeing to and avoid surprises when you actually need the policy to work.

#161 - Clearing the Head Trash and Building a Lifestyle Practice, with Colin Page, CFP® A hedge fund job that started with weeding a garden? Colin Page's career story is unique, but the lessons are practical for anyone building a fee-only financial planning firm. We sit down with Colin, founder of Oakleigh Wealth Services in Charlottesville, Virginia, and trace his path from teaching high school math after the 2009 financial crisis, to more than a decade investing in distressed securties and bankruptcies, to launching his own independent practice. We talk about what changes when you move from markets to people. Colin shares why hedge fund work can feel disconnected from real goals, and what pulled him toward fiduciary planning for retirees and near-retirees: retirement income, tax-efficient withdrawals, Medicare choices, and legacy planning. We also get specific about the messy early decisions every advisor faces around niche, marketing, compliance, and building a firm without an existing book. Colin breaks down the mental game too: pricing "head trash," choosing between AUM, advice-only, and flat-fee models, and designing onboarding that respects your time. His document-first consultation approach is a simple filter that signals seriousness and keeps a lifestyle practice sustainable as referrals grow. If you're trying to build a practice that supports your life, not the other way around, this one is worth your time. Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/onl… Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/1JeVnN…

Two homes can have identical coverage limits and pay out completely differently after a loss. The difference is one definition in the policy: replacement cost vs. actual cash value. Replacement cost pays what it takes to rebuild or replace today, no deduction for age or wear. Actual cash value pays that minus depreciation. A ten-year-old roof gets reimbursed as a ten-year-old roof, not a new one. The gap hits hardest where it matters most: roofs, HVAC, personal property. A client can be insured to their full dwelling limit and still write a large check out of pocket, all because of the settlement basis. It’s worth checking on your clients’ policies.

Most business owners carry general liability and assume it has them covered. Smart to have it. Worth knowing exactly what it does. GL handles third-party bodily injury, property damage, and advertising injury. A customer slips in your shop. You damage a client’s property on the job. Someone claims your ad copied theirs. That’s the lane it’s built for. The other risks live in other policies. Professional mistakes sit with E&O. Employee injuries with workers’ comp. Your own building and equipment with property coverage. A data breach with cyber. A vehicle claim with commercial auto. Knowing where each one lives is how you find the gaps before they matter. Knowing what your coverage does, and what it doesn’t, is the whole point.

#160 - The High-Income Paradox with @seanrawl Your income can grow fast and still leave you feeling behind. That's the paradox we dig into with Sean Rawlings, founder of WealthBound Advisors, who works with young, high-income earners scaling toward $500K or seven figures, only to realize they have no system for taxes, spending, or big decisions. Sean shares his story: Southern California roots, a start at a mutual firm, and the growing discomfort of watching "financial planning" turn into product pitches. He explains what pushed him toward independence, how he found the fee-only model, and why building an RIA is more achievable than many new advisors think. From there, we get specific. Sean covers what great onboarding looks like for first-time planning clients, how he uses modern tools (including AI like Claude) to stay efficient while keeping things high-touch, and the biggest pain point for fast-growing earners: tax planning around variable income. We close with real estate as an asset class, when it's worth the complexity, and how concepts like cost segregation and 1031 exchanges fit into a coordinated plan. Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/onl… Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/2y2lJv…

#159 - Scaling a Fee-Only RIA Without Losing the Mission -@Chelsea_CFP A lot of wealth management still assumes you've already "made it" before you deserve real advice. Chelsea Ransom-Cooper, CFP®, co-founder of Zenith Wealth Partners, is challenging that assumption by building a fee-only RIA designed to serve women and people of color with relatable, high-quality financial planning. Chelsea walks us through the turning points that shaped Zenith: discovering fee-only planning through early networking, recognizing in 2020 that her client base didn't reflect the people who inspired her to enter the profession, and partnering with co-founder Jason Ray to build what they couldn't find in the market. She shares a concrete early-business tactic we loved — using a simple "30-name" validation list to prove demand and build confidence before making the leap, then turning those early conversations into her first wave of clients. We also get specific on how to scale without losing the mission. Chelsea explains how Zenith thinks about capacity (targeting 60 to 80 clients per advisor), support staffing, and using EOS to put the right people in the right seats. We dig into their flexible fee structure, including why they hold a minimum fee for service, avoid asset minimums, and blend planning engagements, retainer-style work, and AUM as clients' balance sheets evolve. Chelsea also shares how she manages a packed calendar through delegation, why that creates real growth opportunities for the next generation of advisors, and how her "zone of genius" in equity compensation helps her stand out. If you care about accessible financial advice, building a sustainable fee-only firm, and scaling with intention, this one is for you. Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/onl… Spotfiy: open.spotify.com/episode/79RSQs…

#158 - From Planning Firm Employee to Solo RIA Founder: Matt Ryan's Story A lot of advisors want to launch their own fee-only RIA, but the gap between "I'm ready" and "I have clients" can feel enormous. We're talking with Matt Ryan, CFA, CFP®, founder of Focused Mission Financial in San Diego, about how he made the leap in 2022 after nearly a decade inside planning-focused firms, and what it actually looked like to build momentum from the ground up. We get specific about how his growth really happened: boots-on-the-ground marketing through coffees, lunches, and golf, backed by consistent touchpoints like a newsletter and short-form video. Matt also shares the truth about shiny objects, including paid lead programs like SmartAsset, and why some tactics fall flat for a solo RIA without the time and speed to follow up like a larger team. On the client service side, Matt walks us through how his process evolved into a formal six-step onboarding system, plus what changed when he hired an operations specialist to tighten workflows. We also dig into his work with self-employed clients, including solo 401(k) planning and tax planning, and how those needs show up differently than traditional retiree households. Finally, we talk about scaling with intention, integrating clients from a retiring advisor's book, and setting a boundary around lifestyle so growth never crowds out family time. If you're building an advisory firm, refining your financial planning process, or trying to find marketing that fits your personality, you'll take away practical ideas you can use right away. Subscribe for more conversations like this, share the show with another advisor, and leave a review with your biggest takeaway. Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/onl… Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/6idH4O…

#157 - From Furlough to Founder of a Fee-Only RIA - Ryan Johnson A "backup plan" PowerPoint deck can become a real firm faster than you'd think, but the messy middle is where most people quit. Ryan Johnson, founder of Hundred Financial Planning, joins us to talk through what it actually takes to build a fee-only firm from the ground up. Ryan shares how he found the fee-only RIA community through cold outreach, why he wanted ownership of a book of business, and what the first two years really felt like. We get into client experience, including the early mistake of overwhelming plan presentations and how he's shaping an ongoing service model that stays structured without feeling rigid. We also dig into growth: why LinkedIn finally started generating leads, why silent followers often turn into your best prospects, his niche focus on high-earning young families, and the values-first discovery meeting that helps clients feel heard before any numbers come out. We close with AI in financial advice, where it helps, where it breaks, and why the risk of a wrong answer makes a human advisor worth the cost. Subscribe, share with an advisor friend, and leave a review with your biggest growth question! Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/onl… Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/5kpWDA…

One of the coolest parts of what I get to do is watching advisors grow. Yesterday I had a conversation with an advisor whose RIA is up and running. Fired up, ready to go, figuring it out in real time. There’s something special about that energy, when someone is standing at the very beginning of something they’ve been dreaming about. It reminded me of conversations I had years ago with advisors who are now thriving. Running real practices. Serving clients well. Hiring teams. Living the version of their career they were just hoping for back then. It also took me back to when we were first building. Those early days when you’re just trying to figure it out. Wondering if anyone will pick up the phone. Wondering if the idea is even going to work. Wondering if you’re crazy for trying. Then time passes. The problems you used to lose sleep over get solved, or you grow past them. New ones take their place. Different problems. Better problems. The kind of problems you only get to have because you kept going. I think a lot about how lucky I am to be on this side of those early days. To have people who believed in us when there wasn’t much to believe in yet. To get to watch advisors I’ve known for years step into the version of themselves they were working toward. If you’re in the early part right now, hang in there. The problems get better. And one day you’ll get to be the person reminding someone else of that.

Same career. Same income. Same disability at age 40. One had disability income coverage in place. The other didn't. Client A's paychecks kept flowing through the claim. Retirement contributions continued. Lifestyle held steady. Recovery happened on the same timeline retirement was already planned for. Client B drew down savings to cover the bills. Five years of contributions never made it into the retirement account. The lifestyle scaled back. The retirement that eventually arrived looked different than the one originally planned for. The income replacement during the claim is what most people focus on. The deeper impact is everything that compounds, or doesn't, in the years after. DI is not a product conversation. It is a planning conversation about what happens to a client's trajectory when the paycheck stops.

This is a text I get all the time from planners I work with. Young family, mortgage, dual income. What should they be looking at? Usually starts with three: term life, disability income, and a personal umbrella. Curious how other advisors are framing this conversation with younger clients. P.S. Had to make the planner Mr. Miyagi. My grandma is from Okinawa and we love watching the Karate Kid movies together. Felt right.

#166 - Career Pivots And Clear Thinking with Jacob Tally You can feel stuck in a successful career and still know it's not the life you want. In this episode, we talk with Jacob Talley of Prospero Wealth about what it actually looks like to pivot later, especially after years in high-intensity environments like startups, corporate finance rotations, and big-name financial services. Jacob shares the practical side of making the move: deciding between going solo or joining an independent RIA, why fee-only planning mattered to him, and how he evaluated firm fit before jumping. We also get into planning for tech and startup employees, where equity compensation, job changes, and sudden life transitions create complexity that generic advice can't solve. The most useful part is the decision framework. We dig into risk management beyond investing: pressure testing your situation, spotting blind spots, and using fear setting to turn vague anxiety into clear options. Jacob also challenges the obsession with goals, reframing growth around principles that keep you moving when life doesn't follow a neat timeline. If you're considering a career change, building a financial plan, or trying to make a brave decision without guessing, this conversation gives you language and structure you can use right away. Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/onl… Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/0gDAgv… Please subscribe, share, and leave a review. What decision are you trying to get clarity on right now?

One of the biggest benefits of owning a business doesn’t get talked about enough. It’s not income. It’s freedom. My wife and I recently had the chance to spend some time in London and Scotland recently. We did high tea at the shard, explored the city, and I still stayed on top of what mattered back home. Honestly, I wanted to. I genuinely love what I do. That’s the part people miss. Freedom isn’t just about unplugging. It’s about building a life where the work fits around the moments, not the other way around. Building a team you trust has been a huge part of that. Knowing things are taken care of makes it a lot easier to be present wherever you are. There’s still risk, busy days, and real stress that comes with owning a business. Being able to say yes when an opportunity like that comes up without everything falling apart is something I don’t take for granted. What does freedom look like in your career?

#155 - A Discretionary, Childfree Life with @dincplanning Most financial advice is built around a default life plan — and it quietly breaks down when you've opted out of that script. Cory Smith is a fee-only financial life planner and founder of Discretionary inc. in Reno, Nevada, where he works exclusively with childfree individuals, couples, and business owners who want their finances to support the life they actually want — not the one they were expected to want. In this episode, we get into his core concept of discretion: the freedom to determine your own best course of action. We talk about what changes in planning when there are no assumed heirs, why longevity and support structures deserve more attention in this space, and how he works backward from a client's vision to build a financial framework around it. Cory also shares the path that shaped his philosophy — from commission-driven environments and door knocking to the fee-only model — and how he integrates George D. Kinder's Real Life Planning process into a modern client experience, including a concurrent planning approach that delivers early wins while the deeper work unfolds. We also cover what's working in his business today: partnerships, community building, and using short-form and long-form content to reach people who are quietly rewriting the rules. Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/onl… Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/2DgjfS…

How do insurance companies view tobacco and marijuana use? In this video, I walk through how insurance carriers evaluate tobacco and marijuana use. We’ll cover how each is viewed, what factors matter, and how things like medical marijuana prescriptions can impact the conversation. A simple breakdown to help you better understand how these are looked at behind the scenes. Full video: youtube.com/watch?v=hFP26L…

#154 - From Side Hustle to Six-Month Waitlist: Ethan Miller’s Path to Fee-Only Planning @ESMiller59 had a six-month waitlist… while still working a full-time job. We sat down with the founder of Planning for Progress to talk about how he went from union organizing to building a thriving fee-only firm just outside DC—without taking a reckless leap. He shares how he found fee-only planning, built early momentum through project work, and knew commissions weren’t the path for him. We also get into what it actually looked like to earn his CFP while working nights and weekends—and the moment he knew it was time to go all in. We also cover how he’s designed a lifestyle practice of ~50 households, how he thinks about client fit, and why being a “people person” can matter more than a finance background when starting out. If you’re thinking about making the jump into financial planning, this is a grounded, real-world blueprint. Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/onl… Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/0NWgCg…