RHP Market Talk
Complicated economic topics distilled into digestible and palatable investing principles.
Hosted by Natalie Picha, Partner and CXO of RHP Wealth Management.
RHP Market Talk
Beyond Wealth: The Power of Financial Planning.
RHP Market Talk Episode 44 dives into the essential role of financial planning in achieving long-term success, emphasizing that it is not exclusive to the wealthy. Natalie Picha, Partner and CXO, and Matt Berti, CFP®, CPWA® Associate Wealth Advisor, discuss misconceptions surrounding planning, emotional barriers clients face, and strategies that can transform one's financial future.
• Importance of combining financial planning with investment strategies
• Financial planning as an accessible resource for everyone, not just the wealthy
• Good money habits and their impact on financial health
• Emotional challenges people face when engaging in financial planning
• Commonly overlooked financial strategies worth exploring
• Continuous planning as an evolving process rather than a single event
• The importance of a trusted advisor-client relationship
• Preview of upcoming episodes focused on the emotional aspects of financial planning
Experience the difference of working with a firm that empowers your life—a firm that focuses on what matters most—you.
Whether you are beginning your financial journey now or have already taken steps toward your ultimate life goals, we are here to guide you.
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/rhp-market-talk/id1538051530
Welcome to RHP Market Talk Episode 44, produced by RHP Wealth Management, an independent financial services and investment advisory firm based in Houston, Texas. I'm Natalie Pica, partner in CXO, and today I'm excited to say that we are joined by our team's wealth advisor and CFP and CPWA, Matt Berti. Matt, good to see you this morning. Glad to have you.
Matthew Berti:Great to see you too, Natalie. Thanks for having me.
Natalie Picha:I am so excited to have you on, and this will be the first time that we've done this. So for our listeners out there who had an opportunity to meet Matt, you already know he's a wealth of knowledge, but this is the first time for us to do a podcast together, so just kind of excited. This is going to be a part one on a series of financial planning and so hopefully, if you've worked with our firm or you've talked to us, you know that we consider this a pretty big part of our business and, while we also do all of our investment management in-house, we believe that it's a perfect match right. The planning has to go with the investment. You know our investment strategies and so those go hand in hand to create a really strong financial foundation. So with proper planning, we help determine a client's appropriate level of risk, we help create strategies for mitigating taxes and maximizing contributions, distributions, and we just really help people think through their estate planning and wealth transition strategies For our business owners. A lot of times there can be multiple business entities that require specific account types, and the planning process helps us establish and execute strategies across all those multiple entities. So it can get pretty complicated and then we really just want to share with you why we think planning is important. We really just want to share with you why we think planning is important, what establishing good money habits can do to change your life. And then I want Matt to talk a little bit about his career journey and sort of why he's passionate about the planning process. So, matt, you are a certified financial planner practitioner. You're also a CPWA, so can you just share with our listeners and those out there that may not have met you a little bit about your background and how you came to be with RHP.
Matthew Berti:Sure, and I'll try to keep it short, I don't want to drone on about myself too long. So didn't know really I think, like a lot of college aged kids or when you're getting ready to go to school didn't really know what I specifically wanted to do. I kind of had an idea based on my values growing up. I wanted to help people and find a way to do that and you know, I thought about maybe the medical field, but then quickly realized I don't think I like blood and the needles and everything that goes with that. So that was quickly cut off the list. But then I went to Texas Tech University with my dad on a college visit and we came across the personal financial planning degree track and so the actual coursework sounded really interesting, where you get to help people and, you know, be kind of their therapist chair but also learn about their life and really makes them tick, but also help them achieve some really important things to do with their money, which touches pretty much everything, and so I liked that part about it. My dad said also over 90% of their graduates find a job out of school. So that was really important for them and so that turned out well and so pursued that, really enjoyed my time there and learning through that program. After I graduated I moved back to Houston so I'm originally from Houston, was working for another independent RIA, so similar style firms RHP for anybody who's not sure what an RIA is Was there for about four years. While I was there I obtained my certified financial planner designation. So I wanted to just continue to learn and evolve and, especially being so young in my career, while I had frankly free time before more and more life gets kind of added to the plate had some time to sit down and go do that. So I obtained the CFP. Then I moved to another firm in kind of the gallery area of Houston, so I moved a little bit further south and then while I was there, I obtained my certified private wealth advisor certification. So I really wanted to pursue that to just again expand my knowledge while I had my time. At that time I did have my wife, and so time was starting to get that life starts pulling a little bit more, but I've started stuff onto the plate, right yeah exactly yeah, so she, she thankfully let me pursue that and was able to get that done and just, it's really all about just pursuing more knowledge and the ability to serve more people in a more effective way. And so then I found RHP after I was with my prior firm for about three years and learned about RHP and their mission and frankly, it was great to be able to potentially move even further south and get back closer to home. And so, just jokingly between my wife and I, we've been just working our way slowly back down to the Gulf Coast over time. So it's been wonderful yeah it's been wonderful being with RHP for a little bit over a year now and just being able to continue to serve families and help where we can.
Natalie Picha:Well and I have to share this If you know where our corporate offices are, we are at Ellington Field near NASA, so south part of Houston, on the Gulf Coast. We do serve clients all over the United States, but that is where our main office is. What's interesting is that Matt is a graduate of Clare Lake High School and Michelle a graduate of Clear Lake High School. And Michele, our chief compliance officer and head of wealth management, she also is a graduate from Clear Lake High School. I have a daughter that was a graduate of Clear Lake High School. Our director of operations who we hired last year, Anil Khawaja he is a graduate of Clear Lake High School. We didn't we never set out to make that a prerequisite, but we do have quite a group of Clear Lake High School graduates now in our office on our team and we have the privilege of, of course, serving several clients in the area that are very familiar with that high school. So I think that's kind of funny, just that we all kind of have that in common, and so Matt's family, and wife's family as well, are kind of from that area. So you're back in your hometown, right?
Matthew Berti:Yeah, we've touched home base.
Natalie Picha:Right, right. So I think what's interesting is, first of all, texas Tech was one of the first colleges in the whole United States to start a financial planning degree. We now know there's there's a lot of universities in the United States that are doing that, but really focus on that. So you really you kind of said, hey, I'm going to do this for people from the very beginning and went to school for it. When you jumped into it at that level, what was probably one of the most surprising or most interesting things that you found kind of working through that degree program, I think two things.
Matthew Berti:One is you know, you hear it a lot, especially with clients whose either children are going through school or finishing college. That one there's a lot of unknowns when it comes to personal finance. I mean, you know, I had a little bit of an understanding having a job, you know, through high school. But then you really realize oh, wow there's a lot we're not taught when you're younger, unless your family's really giving you that information or you're seeking it out yourself. And then two, just the level of kind of detail in different areas that you can actually go to in this profession, whether it be you mentioned. You know estate planning, you know investments I know that's Glenn's baby you can go in that direction. There's just an endless amount of opportunities to find really more and more specific sleeves that you find interesting and where you can even better serve clients by being an expert in a specific area. So, those were kind of the two really big interesting takeaways for me from my time in the PFP program at Tech.
Natalie Picha:Well, and now that you've been doing this now, I mean for almost 10 years, what do you think I mean? And we see it. I mean you and I are in meetings every day almost together with clients in different you know, in different parts of their life journey, but also certainly in different parts of their planning journey, and part of what we do is we walk alongside people. So you know, just like markets are not linear, life is not linear. There are a lot of ups and downs along the way. What do you see and I certainly want your perspective also from a generational standpoint what do you see as most valuable to clients along the way or surprising about the planning process for people? And again, I know you've had a myriad of experiences now doing very, very complicated, detailed plans for people. Yeah, just talk a little bit about that. What people find surprising or the most valuable about that process?
Matthew Berti:Sure. So I think most valuable, like the most typical feedback here is it's just nice to have some peace of mind, even if maybe you're not 100 percent on track. The fact that there's some peace of mind is saying, ok, I have some direction and guidance, at least in my off track and my on track. Where am I and what steps do I need to take to get to the places I want to go? Just even having that is some comfort, and so that's a lot of good feedback that we get when we do some planning. And then also having somebody there with you you know whether it's as an advisor with the client or vice versa, a client with their advisor they have somebody on their team. Or if they have a question or something's going on in their life they can come back to and say, hey, you know this is what's going on. Now Circumstances changed, can you help me out with it? And we jump in and say yeah we can help you out with that.
Natalie Picha:Right Also like to explain is that when we're talking about the planning process, we're talking about that planning process across all different levels of wealth. What's interesting is so RHP has three primary service levels. We have what we call an advice level, we have a comprehensive level and then we have what we call our family service level. The reason that we've broken those out into three different levels is because each level requires another level of complexity, and so I've heard people say, well, I don't have enough money to have a plan. Or I've heard on the far, far end of that, well, we have a really great attorney, or we have really this great investment, but they don't have a plan and they've never seen everything all in one place. So, regardless of where you are in your level of wealth, I always say everyone deserves a good plan, from starting out, where you're just accumulating assets all the way to the end, where we're talking about transition strategies, or maybe we're talking about charitable giving strategies, you know, or maybe we're talking about charitable giving strategies you know more towards the end of life. I think that's maybe a fallacy out there on both ends of the spectrum is really everybody deserves a good plan, and just like what you just mentioned is when people see it all in one place, and I mean from the tax strategy to the investment strategy, to the estate planning strategy. Sometimes you just see the light bulbs go off in people's heads where they're like, oh, I've never seen it all in one place and been able to connect all those dots. What do you think, or why do you think, clients avoid starting the planning process in the first place? Because sometimes, I mean, people can come to us and go, oh, that sounds like a great idea, and then it's hard sometimes to keep them engaged right.
Matthew Berti:Yeah, yeah, and it does depend person to person, but you know some common, you know feedback that I've even heard myself is one. It's a misconception, maybe, where it's people hear wealth management and they think I need to be someone with five, six, seven plus million dollars for me to be having something that is meaningful from a planning perspective, and that's really not true. It can be any demographic, really any walk of life, any really amount of wealth or lack thereof. Really it's your own unique circumstances that need to get addressed, so it's certainly not just for the ultra wealthy. A lot of feedback, too, is concerns of being taken advantage of. There is certainly the maybe less helpful we'll call it advisors quote, unquote out there that maybe they're not held to a fiduciary standard or they're really just more of a investment broker. They're not doing any planning. So a client doesn't know what they don't know going into something, especially if they don't have that depth of financial literacy for maybe no fault of their own, but they're walking into a meeting with both hands tied behind their back going. I'm trusting this person across from me to being the expert who's going to look out for me. But maybe that's really not how that relationship is starting off. So not saying everyone out there is like that, but there's certainly, you know, maybe different characters to be wary of. And then I think too, some people may think financial planning is just well, I give you my portfolio to manage, and that's kind of it You're the investments and I'm going to handle the rest, when in reality I think you mentioned earlier you know, investments are just part of the process. It's not you have this portfolio and it's invested and everything is now on your own and you've got it. The planning really covers all aspects beyond just the investment piece.
Natalie Picha:Right. And I think, to add to that, when you work with a team like ours and you work with a financial planner and an advisor, that also is married that investment strategy so tightly to the planning process, you have execution, and I've heard often from people that they might do a financial plan because you can go online and you can use financial planning software and you can do a lot of things yourself and you can go build a plan. But if you build that plan and put it on a shelf and you don't constantly monitor and tweak and consider the life changes that are happening because life happens to everybody, you're not actually executing a strategy. And so when you work with our team that's one of the things that we do we hope you know, for better or for worse, we hold you accountable. I always say it's sort of like working with a personal trainer, right, you may not love to work out and it may not be a thing that you go do, but if you're paying somebody and they're expecting you to show up to work out, you do it right, Otherwise you just need money and you're not getting any results. And I always like to say we're not the hero of the story, we're your personal trainer. You're the hero, you're the person that's building the muscles and executing the plan, and we want to see real life results for you. So I want to just touch on real briefly too, for those out there that maybe have not done financial planning. Some of the strategies that people may not even think about that are out there because, interestingly enough, I mean, we work with some very sophisticated families and very sophisticated companies and investors and occasionally we'll still come across a strategy they're like what is that? I've never heard of that before. Right, kind of go through some of the bigger strategies that you think sometimes people lose sight of. Sure.
Matthew Berti:Yeah, and it's a great point. There is endless strategies that can be done, and also endless strategies that can be done in conjunction with other strategies, and that's because each situation truly is unique. Going back to my time at Tech, our professors would always say financial planning is more of an art than a science, because if it was a science, you could just plug numbers into a calculator and you'd be done. But it's an art because you're looking at each individual circumstance and saying what is going to work the best here and be most effective. So some common, I guess, strategies that maybe people overlook because, again, we could spend 200 podcasts going through all the different strategies that are out there. But things like Roth conversions, something that people might not think about, where they think, well, why do I want to pay taxes sooner than I have to? I'd rather not, but then maybe it makes sense in their situation, based on their goals and their time horizon, where that might be worth a conversation. Charitable giving with donor advised funds they're really common but not everyone knows about them. And so being able to maybe have more control of gifting and the timing of gifts and potential tax deductions and being able to look at your taxes and say when does it make sense to do this? And two, you may not want to, as an individual, say, well, I know I have charitable goals, but I don't want to give all this money to a charity at once. It's a way we can start parsing it out over time but still retain control and be able to time those gifts and when the actual money wants to go out. QCD's if you have RMDs and somebody's in a situation that maybe they don't need those required minimum distributions or maybe not as much of them, implementing a QCD strategy to start making charitable gifts without realizing that as part of your taxable income in a given year. There's things like as far as estate planning and next generation planning, where we're kind of looking at a combination between, maybe, donor advised funds and Roth conversions to say, well, maybe we're taking part of these assets not for my lifetime as the client, but we're taking part of these assets not for my lifetime as the client, but maybe I want to start thinking tax efficiently for my next generation. So we're looking at that. College funding A lot of questions we get is well, I'm not sure if my child is going to go to college or if they do, I don't know how much I feel comfortable paying for. So maybe it's a combination of looking at 529 plans looking at. UTMAs looking at Roth IRAs, even to help fund some of your own retirement planning, but be able to have a bucket to pull from for college. So it really is a. Those are just some common ones that we come across, but there is a litany of strategies out there and some, if not all, of those could be used in one specific situation. For one family. And then we could go to the next family and maybe none of those get used because they don't make any sense to implement. Based on our conversations with that family, what are your goals, what are your values and do these strategies align with that, to make sure you're on the path that's best for you?
Natalie Picha:Right, and we didn't even. I mean again, like you said, we could have hundreds of podcasts on all the different strategies and the ways that you can think through a lifetime of savings. I would say I would say, you know, nickels and dimes don't matter a whole lot until you put them all in a big jar together over a long period of time. And so when we even talk about some of these strategies, it's looking at, you know, tax brackets and all the different pieces of that puzzle over a long period of time. And we didn't even get into like trust kind of structures, right, and estate planning and revocable versus irrevocable trusts, and why would you do that? And just all of the things that are out there. I kind of I want to touch on another piece of this puzzle and there's so much information out there. I mean you can Google anything, right, you can chat, gpt anything now, and wading through the noise is sort of a big part of what we do. Right, creating that customized plan and being available for people, because, at the end of the day, markets are markets, right, we can control the investment portfolios to a certain extent, but markets go up, markets go down, and one of the things that we do for clients is we're really trying to help them focus on what they can control and the strategy, how that investment piece fits with that strategy, their time horizon, all those different things. That's a big part of why we do this. As we mentioned the taxes. But once you have a plan, what you've also done is you've put time on your side, right. I mean, now we know what's going to come down the road and what's going to happen and how can we best manage that journey for people. Once a plan is really put together, and it's kind of what we call humming along, what do you see happening kind of year over year for people, once that strategy is sort of in place and we are in execution mode?
Matthew Berti:Sure. So if everything's been executed well, one it's continuing to monitor that, because just because we've executed something, it doesn't mean a year later maybe we need to oil a wheel, so to speak. It's getting squeaky, we need to do something there. But then typically, if we get a good strategy in place and especially again, I tie it back to what's the right strategy for each individual client or family, because if we can get a really tailored strategy, then hopefully it's not something that's a burden or overbearing on their lifestyle or how they want their quality of life. So it is pretty I don't want to say easygoing but at least it's not something that's going to be on the forefront of their mind every time they're going to bed at night. It's just almost set it and forget it. Plan's going, but at the same time life changes and so just because we've implemented a plan doesn't mean that a year later the client may say well, I've actually decided I want to do something completely different, I've been inspired by something or my family dynamics have changed, and so we need to pivot and alter the plan to then align with what's their current goals and their current values and really how they want to live.
Natalie Picha:Yeah, oh, and let's not forget that the IRS might just come in and change everything as well. Oh, and let's not forget that the IRS might just come in and change everything as well. And they came in and changed everything. I had a big change with estate tax limits, right, and we've seen that number. If you go back and look at that, historically it's been all over the map. So don't forget, you know, it's not just our lives change, but the laws change and the tax laws change. And I mean we get a lot of questions about the Medicare surtax and things like that.
Matthew Berti:Change, almost it feels like at the drop of a hat. So, yeah, yeah, it's always. That's always something to be careful of and that's something where, when we're looking at planning, taxes are part of that equation and it's trying to make a right tax balance as well when we're looking at different strategies, because the future's uncertain.
Natalie Picha:That's right. That's right. So I you know, kind of to wrap this up and thank you, matt, for just being on and really kind of sharing some of your insights. We are very excited about episode two to this because Matt and I just had a quick conversation about okay, now how do we split this up? Because there's just so much that we can to make episode two really about the emotional part of planning and the emotional stumbling blocks that we can see, you know, with clients and really kind of dive in a little bit deeper to why people avoid planning and how they can sort of face that fear and get on track. Because, again, we're not here as a team to say, well, you should be further along or you're probably not going to make it. We're here to give you all the tools and the information to make really good, sound decisions, and sometimes we have some emotional hangups around that. So, please, this is just part one. Please tune in to the next one, because we're going to have a fun conversation about the emotional part of planning and money, because I always say money is very emotional and if you want to know what somebody cares about, just look at their credit card statement or their bank statement and you'll know exactly what they care about. And so just to wrap up here, matt, was there anything else that you'd like to add to the conversation? When it comes to the financial planning portion of what we do for our clients, yeah, real quick.
Matthew Berti:I'll just say it's never too early to start planning Real quick. I'll just say it's never too early to start planning. So even if you haven't engaged before. It is worth just popping open the hood like you would a car. Get your car checked out, go to the doctor, get a checkup. Just the sooner you start the better, and then it just gives you more time to achieve maybe goals you didn't think were possible.
Natalie Picha:Awesome. That's great. Well to our listeners, thank you for joining us. Thank you, Matt, for being with me today and letting me kind of pick your brain. If you can, please take a moment and subscribe to RHP Market Talk and leave us a rating and review. You can also find us on LinkedIn and Facebook for additional content, which will include Glenn Royal, our Chief Investment Officer, our CIO, his Market Minute, which right now, markets are very, very volatile. We are up and down. There's a lot of information and news in the media, so you'll want to catch his Market M inute where he shares his economic insights each month. If you have any questions or you'd like to discuss today's topic, please get in touch with us through our website at www. royalharborpartners. com. Whether you're beginning your financial journey now or you've already taken steps towards your ultimate life goals, we're here to guide you. Experience the difference of working with a firm that empowers your life, a firm that focuses on what matters most you that focuses on what matters most you.
Natalie Picha:Disclosure
Natalie Picha:Royal Harbor Partners is a registered investment advisor and the opinions expressed by Royal Harbor Partners on this show are their own. Registration of an investment advisor does not imply a certain level of skill or training. All statements and opinions expressed are based upon information considered reliable, although it should not be relied upon as such. Any statements or opinions are subject to change without notice. Information presented is for educational purposes only and does not intend to make an offer or solicitation for the sale or purchase of any specific securities, investments or investment strategies. Investments involve risk and, unless otherwise stated, are not guaranteed. Information expressed does not take into account your specific situation or objectives and is not intended as recommendations appropriate for any individual. Listeners are encouraged to seek advice from a qualified tax, legal or investment advisor to determine whether any information presented may be suitable for their specific situation. Past performance is not indicative of future performance.
