Podcast | 08.28.24
The Voice of Wealth: Defining a Career Path With Donna McNeely & Jacinda Norvell
by: BISA Staff
In this episode of the BISA Portfolio Podcast series "The Voice of Wealth," Jacinda Norvell, wealth broker and sales execution director at Truist Wealth, and Donna McNeely, president of Kinecta Financial Management Company, discuss the intricacies of the wealth management career path and the challenges of recruitment and retention.
Key takeaways from this episode include:
- The importance of finding your passion and building a career around your strengths.
- The various career paths available within wealth management, from entry-level roles to senior leadership positions.
- The challenges and opportunities in recruiting and retaining top talent in the industry.
- The importance of creating a supportive and inclusive culture to foster employee satisfaction and loyalty.
Listen to the full episode to learn more about the wealth management career path and gain valuable insights from industry experts.
Episode Transcript
Jacinda Norvell
Hello, everyone. I am Jacinda Norvell, wealth brokerage sales execution director for Truist Wealth, and I also serve on BISA's Board of Directors. Today I'm hosting a conversation with Donna McNeely, president of Kinecta Financial Management Company as part of BISA's podcast series on wealth management. In this episode, we'll be discussing the wealth management career path as well as recruitment and retention. But before we get started, I want to encourage you to please subscribe to the podcast and share with your network if you find this a valuable resource. Now, thank you for joining me today to discuss this topic, Donna.
Donna McNeely
Thank you so much for having me, Jacinda. I'm really happy to be here.
Jacinda Norvell
Well, we're excited. I'd like to start today by asking you to share a bit about your journey to your current role, and how it has compared to a typical path in wealth management.
Donna McNeely
Well, I wouldn't say my journey is very common, but it's all about finding the things that you're really good at. I think my progression has been building on the things that I found 'oh, I'm really good at doing that.' So I actually started in banking and became a licensed branch employee. And so that's why I'm so passionate about the career pathing that we're talking about today. I started as a licensed branch employee, became a financial advisor, realized I was really good at getting referrals, but I didn't love the actual money management piece of things. I liked the strategy of putting things together. So I went into wholesaling, and so was a wholesaler for a while. Basically, I've done just about everything there is to do in this industry, and have really built upon the strengths that I've found and other people noticed along the way. And so that's what's land ed me here.
Jacinda Norvell
As you described, your path wasn't exactly typical. However, I'm not sure there really is a typical path. You're a president of a financial company, and so you don't just land there overnight. You have to get there some way. So I love hearing about your journey. I know that rings true for myself as well. But with that said, how would you recommend a new graduate find their way in wealth management?
Donna McNeely
There's so many ways, and it depends on the direction that you want to go, but if you're looking to just dip your toe in and find out what it is that you want to do, my suggestion would be either to go into banking, where there would be an opportunity for you to get your licenses and learn that side of the business and get the opportunity to grow. So that's one route. At our credit union, we do have a career path.We have financial advocates, so personal financial advocates, and they go one through four. The next step is private banking, and then after that, they can decide whether or not they want to go into wealth management. And that's a pretty big step for a private banker, or a personal banker. They have to go from a salary to a commission-based type opportunity, and they're not all ready for that, or even have any desire for that, so it's nice to have that private banking. We have a private banking manager at Kinecta, and she never wanted to go into wealth management. She liked the relationship side of things and pointing her clients to the best possible resource to fulfill their needs. And so that tends to be a really nice place to stay for the people who are not comfortable going commission-only, but then you've got the commission only opportunity, and we look for those people that can not only pass the test, but really have an aptitude and have that relationship-building skill with our members. And so from there, they go to associate advisor, where they will likely be partnered with a full-fledged financial advisor with a small commission split. Typically, that's where we've taken the book and really right-sized it for the financial advisor so they could go deeper with their relationships, and the smaller end of the client base is with the associate advisor who really starts calling and giving them the attention they've never had. And we find that it works really well for growth of the program as well as growth of the advisor.
Jacinda Norvell
I really love how you've outlined all that. You have outlined a number of different career path opportunities, and I think the number one is just to get your foot in the door and start somewhere. But I think there are a lot of opportunities for people that kind of get scared of this industry and thinkthat there are mostly commission-based and don't realize that there's ways to start small and kind of grow your way into some of these other opportunities. So I love how you outline that.
Donna McNeely
One thing I might add is we've brought on a number of interns, and so they just come directly to wealth management, and we work really hard to make sure they have good exposure to wealth management, not just the things we really need them to do, updating email addresses and reaching out to your clients and making sure we have everything we need, but really giving them the taste of the industry. We invite themto our meetings, we invite them to the activities that we do together as a team, so that they really get a flavor for the industry. And that's one of the reasons I love an LBE program, because I feel like this industry has given me so much, and I really want to expose people to the industry and see the things that I never would have seen had I not been in it.
Jacinda Norvell
Yes, I do think we have analysts in intern programs, and I think those are critically important to get people, young people, interested in the opportunities that we have in this industry. So moving on to my next question. It's also along the lines of finding your career path. But I'm curious, as you've journeyed towards your current role, what is a piece of advice you've received that has really stuck with you?
Donna McNeely
I's interesting. I was trying to think about what that might be, and I would say it's also the advice that I give to other people, and it's hire an advisor whose clients will follow them anywhere but make sure you do everything you can to keep them with you. That's one thing. And also making sure that you're helping other people achieve their goals and dreams, because that's what ultimately helps you achieve yours.
Jacinda Norvell
Very well said. As leaders in the wealth management space, we are often the ones guiding others in the industry along their career paths. Which brings me to the second part of today's conversation, which is a very hot topic, how can we increase and improve recruitment and retention in wealth management overall. So what would you say is one of the biggest challenges our industry faces?
Donna McNeely
The biggest challenge we face is that there's stupid money out there. So people are recruiting with stupid money, and so that limits your opportunities for recruiting if you're just at a normal financial institution, and then it also encourages your advisors to leave, I think, especially if they've worked with the organization for a very long time and they've serviced a very large book, they can get big money for leaving. And so you want to make sure that you have something that keeps them there. But I think that is a big challenge. And then young people and diversity. Every chance I get Imeet with our retail team. I talk to them about the opportunity coming up for transfer of wealth, people of color, women.eople want to talk to somebody who understands them and where they come from. So that's another big piece, which is also why we do our LBE program and the private banking so that we can get that diversity in those young people.
Jacinda Norvell
We're seeing a trend that a lot of our younger talent coming in is much more diverse, and that has been really great for us to see, because I think it is harder, as you know, to go in and hire senior people that want to bring in that are diverse, because there's not as many as we would like out there, but it's wonderful to see that a lot of these programs are bringing In younger talent that is diverse, and I think that we're that's going to be really good for this industry longer term. I'm just happy that a lot of companies are really focusing on making sure that we're bringing in that talent and developing them so it's going to serve the companies. I's going to serve the individuals and ultimately, our client base as it grows.Now, can you share a little bit about your company's program, specifically on your growth strategy? How do you source new advisors?
Donna McNeely
We talked about what we do to bring them on from the inside, and I think it's really important. I look back at my tenure as an LBE, and I think, 'Oh, I'm so glad I never hurt anyone because I didn't know what I didn't know, right?' And so making sure that they have a very strong training program. So that's one thing also. Working with our broker dealer, we do that as well. We ended up hiring a private banking manager who brought over her financial advisor, as well as the branch manager that she worked with for one of our offices that was right across the street from their office. But I think tapping into those resources other employees, where you have a really strong branch manager that's come in, or something like that, you can always talk to them to find out who they have that might be a good fit.
Jacinda Norvell
It's always great when you bring in a team of people, because you know they're already going to work well together. So I've seen that to be a very proven strategy.
Donna McNeely
And it gives others something to strive for, that relationship that everybody has.
Jacinda Norvell
That's right. Now I'm curious, at a broad scale, what strategy have you found most effective for recruitment and retention that maybe our listeners haven't considered?
Donna McNeely
Everything is kind of out there now. The succession plans, making sure that you have something for when they retire, which is interesting, because if you really do a good job retaining them, and they feel heard, and part of the growth and the progress that you have if you do that, then they don't want to retire even. And so then it becomes almost like a death benefit or a disability benefit for them. So I think that's really important. One of the things that we started doing was a SWOT analysis every year toward the end of the year, when we're getting ready to plan for the next year, strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. They get to voice their opinion, and again, they feel like they're part of the progress. One of the things we actually went through an RFP process not long ago for a broker dealer partner and brought in three advisors that kind of represented the population that we had in our 21 advisors. So we brought in three of them to be part of the process, so the others felt that they had a voice and these were obviously strong performers, and we wanted their kind of buy into the whole process.
Jacinda Norvell
Well, that's great. Getting feedback and getting input from your employees that are part of the culture is super important. Now, attracting talent. We've touched on some of this, but we'll see if you have a different spin here. Attracting talent is key to growth, obviously, but when you think about attracting talent, what comes to mind for you and how a firm can make themselves attractive to those they're looking to hire?
Donna McNeely
Well, so one of the things is to really know your value proposition, and this year next year, I'm already into next year, but in 2025 we're going to be putting together a pitch book that really lays out all of the things that the advisors who work with us have access to. So the private banking manager this year already has referred over $19 million to our wealth management team. So that's an attractive thing the the goals that the branches have, the incentives that they have for referring that type of thing, the marketing we do, the workshops that we do, so really being able to lay all of that out to have a nice story, when we brought over the financial advisor that worked with our private banker. He really, I didn't know this till later, but he really only met with me as a favor to the private banker. And apparentl everything that we talked about, he was really interested in and he went home and he told his wife, I don't know, I think I'm going to go to Kinecta. And they talked about it, and he ended up moving over, and he's been very happy ever since. I think that's the important thing too, is don't promise something that you're not able to deliver. And if something is kind of on the roadmap but not yet fully vetted. Don't even talk about it.
Jacinda Norvell
Well, I think that's that's very true. And I also think what you're talking about is how you're thinking about attracting talent is also pertinent to this next question, as you think about culture, and once you attract them, you've got to keep them so retaining current advisors and staff is, of course, super important to maintaining growth. So when you think about how firms can continue to appeal to their existing staff that have been around for a long time, how would you expand on that?
Donna McNeely
That's really a tough one, but we've got two advisors that have been with us for 34 years. Out of our 20 advisors, our average tenure is 11 years, and we've hired seven people in the last two years. So you know, we're doing really well with that retention. And just would attribute it to all of the things that I've said. Initially I think they stayed because they were kind of running the organization, anthey just did whatever they wanted to do, but to be able to lay out for them a real growth strategy and the tools that you're going to have to get them there, think that's really been the secret to our success with retention.
Jacinda Norvell
Well, that's great. That sounds like they've really been able to buy into the value proposition that you've created.Donna, I've really appreciated our conversation today, and know our listeners will appreciate your perspective. So thank you for coming on and sharing your experience with us today.
Donna McNeely
Thank you so much. Jacinda, it's been my pleasure.
Jacinda Norvell
Well, again, I want to encourage our listeners to subscribe to the podcast platform you're listening to now so you don't miss an upload and also share this episode with your network. We hope you have a great day.
About Jacinda Norvell
Jacinda Norvell is a senior managing director and the wealth brokerage sales execution director for Truist Wealth and Trust Investment Services, Inc. offering over 25 years of financial services experience. Prior to joining SunTrust, now Truist, in 1997, Jacinda obtained both retail brokerage and institutional investment experience at The Robinson Humphrey Company and Invesco. Having worked in various management roles at SunTrust, now Truist, Jacinda currently leads sales enablement efforts for their broker/dealer focused on advisor recruiting and retention, business planning and execution for managers and advisors, and development and DEI initiatives.
About Donna McNeely
Donna McNeely is the president of Kinecta Financial Management Company, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Kinecta Federal Credit Union. Donna is responsible for implementation of the company’s business goals, including overall management, strategy, growth and operating results. She is accountable for successful operation of the company’s subsidiaries, Apollo Insurance, a property/casualty insurance agency providing insurance products services to credit unions nationwide, and Kinecta Financial & Insurance Services, a registered broker/dealer and insurance agency.