We recently connected with Marianela Collado and have shared our conversation below.

Marianela, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My name is Marianela Collado and I am the CEO and majority shareholder of Tobias Financial Advisors. Having successfully navigated and unexpectedly accelerated a succession plan laid out by the founder Benjamin Tobias, I am the next generation leader and owner of the firm. We are a unique, independent wealth management firm based in Plantation, Florida, where financial planning is at the forefront of what we do. We help our clients live the lives they want by developing a plan that affords them the financial freedom they seek. What makes us unique is that we work as fiduciary, which means 100% of our revenue comes from the client, so we work FOR the client. We do not get paid based on commissions for recommending a product. We do not sell anything but advice. I am very proud to be the CEO of a firm that provides unbiased financial advice and always acts in the best interest of clients. At Tobias Financial Advisors we truly do what we say we do.

Marianela, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Talk to us about building your team? What was it like? What were some of the key challenges and what was your process like?

In regard to building a team, we have a team of talented, passionate, and genuine colleagues that have joined the firm through our recent growth. We had five employees in 2015 and have grown to over 18 today! As the firm grows, I realized I can’t service every single client that engages and you want to make sure that ALL clients receive the attention, skillset and personalized touch that has created this growth.  The challenge is finding people who are just as passionate as you are to take care our clients.  We decided to deal with that challenge in our own way – by developing and creating our future leaders.  I am so proud of our growing team.  They are young, energized, motivated and excited to be part of our mission and vision.  We hire people for culture fit, people whose values are aligned to ours as a firm, and those who have the right attitude and personality. As CEO, I take great pride in our team’s values and our ability to grow while still maintaining the small team feel.

My philosophy is that a happy team equals happy clients. Yes, clients are extremely important but if you do not have people who are excited to be a part of your company and trust you, it is hard to have satisfied clients. When the team is positive and motivated, and genuinely care about our clients, they are able to provide better overall service. Clients are quick to feel when the energy in the room is not right, and we are always looking for feedback that helps us get better. Despite our growth, clients often give us the feedback that we make them feel like they are the only client that we have. This is a result of our caring advisory and support teams, and the culture that we embody every day, where we place our clients first. With a team made up of happy, motivated, and passionate professionals, you can build a practice that withstands the worst of storms.

How’d you meet your business partner?

I first connected with my business partner Matthew Saneholtz at an Estate Planning Council meeting where we discussed the planning that I was doing at Bessemer Trust, and we hit it off right away. In July of 2015, Matthew and the founder of Tobias Financial Advisors, Benjamin Tobias, invited me to lunch and told me about their idea for me to join the firm and become part of its succession plan. As a high-level tax planner and consultant, I did not immediately understand how I would fit in. I had never imagined myself leading a traditional wealth management firm. After joining Tobias, however, I learned more about the independent registered investment advisor model, and was excited to join a firm that delivered comprehensive wealth management and financial planning services in an independent way with the client’s best interest at heart. I was very attracted to the idea of bringing my tax planning experience to Tobias and knew that my work would have a material impact in the lives of our clients.

The transition was smooth, as I focused primarily on listening to our clients, exploring opportunities to add value to client relationships, and on proposing innovative planning solutions to every meeting and issue at hand. Slowly, clients started feeling comfortable speaking directly to me and the progression happened so naturally that the clients were essentially making the transition on their own. By the end of 2016, Matthew and I were just about running the firm by servicing existing clients, onboarding new clients, and working to grow the team. In time, the founder realized that clients were trusting us and that we were more than capable of taking on his legacy. By the end of May 2017, we had officially completed the transaction that transitioned firm ownership to Matthew and me.

How do you keep in touch with clients and foster brand loyalty?

At Tobias Financial Advisors it is most important to us that we build and maintain the trust of our clients. Our firm was built on what I genuinely believe in – always doing right by the client and putting their interest first. It is not about us, it is about the client, and it is through this mentality that we foster relationships with our clients and find success.

We keep in touch with our clients regularly, via phone, video conference, emails, newsletters, webinars, workshops, and special events. Our vision is to inspire, educate and prepare our clients to live the lives they want, and as such we are always willing to flex depending on the client’s specific needs. Some clients we meet with or talk to quarterly or more frequently, whereas many we are in touch with at least once a year.

Our focus is to build more than just a successful practice, but a legacy to be passed on to future generations.  We too have that mindset for our team and clients. When our advisory teams work with families, we strive to engage the future generations, and offer them the same level of education and financial support provided to their parents and grandparents. I believe this is what fosters brand loyalty, the comforting feeling that your advisor will treat your kids and grandkids with the same values and look out for their future too. We do not only focus on managing the clients’ assets, but rather on managing their wealth and legacy, and helping them achieve whatever goals they may have. As CEO, I work to create a culture that will last beyond my lifetime.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://tobiasfinancial.com/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tobiasfinancial
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marianelacollado/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCR9iULyhu_Yfx2knn8wjcww

Image Credits
David Roth