An Independent Mindset with Carmine Corino

In this episode of RIA Collective, host Charlie Van Derven sits down with Carmine Corino, the CEO of Cornerstone Planning Group (CPG), to discuss the journey to independence and the importance of building a culture of service and accountability. Carmine shares his passion for fiduciary responsibility and client-centric financial planning, highlighting how CPG sets itself apart by prioritizing the needs of clients and providing personalized guidance.

Discover how personal investment and mentorship play a crucial role in building strong relationships between Carmine and his advisors, ensuring they receive the support they need to provide exceptional service. 

Join us as we delve into the world of independent advising and uncover the secrets to creating a culture that fosters success, accountability, and unwavering dedication to clients.

Carmine Corino
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Transcript

 00:00
Charlie Van Derven
Well, thank you for tuning into another episode of RIA Collective. I'm your host, Charlie Van Durk. I've got a great guest who has been in the industry quite a while and actually has been branded his current brand for almost 20 years, but went completely independent from one of the insurance companies just in 2020. So in the three years since that time, my guest Carmine Carino has brought in an additional eleven advisors into Cornerstone Planning Group. Carmine is located in Fairfield, New Jersey, and I'll tell you what, his firm is different, and I know a lot of people say that, but we're going to unpack that Cornerstone Planning Group. Carmen and I've been getting to know each other for a couple of months now, and truly are they've got a differentiator that I haven't seen in the other interviews. So we'll dive into all that stuff. 

 00:49
Charlie Van Derven
But Carmine Carino, thanks for joining me, man. I appreciate you being my guest today. 

 00:53
Carmine Corino
Thanks, Charlie. Thanks for having me. I appreciate it. 

 00:56
Charlie Van Derven
You got it, man. You've got a really compelling story. And Carmine, through the interviews we've done with RIA Collective, I've identified maybe five or six different reasons that people make that jump. Things like technology and compliance restrictions and flexibility and lifestyle, dude. As we get to know each other, fiduciary is no doubt the reason that you are so focused on Cornerstone Planning Group. I love what you're doing with culture at your firm. 

 01:27
Carmine Corino
Thanks. 

 01:28
Carmine Corino
It's been a heck of a journey and I've learned a lot and I've made some mistakes. And I think we're in a really good place now with the group of advisors we have and the staff people. And when I really pride ourselves on culture because every advisor here has wanted the same thing, a conflict free environment. 

 01:46
Carmine Corino
In order to provide their clients with unbiased guidance. 

 01:50
Carmine Corino
Right? So when an advisor is in a very conflicted environment, it's impossible to do that. It's either one or the other. And where I was very similar to a lot of firms out there. And it's not just the firm I was at, it's an industry issue. The independent channel is the only way. 

 02:09
Carmine Corino
To be able to be completely conflict free. 

 02:12
Carmine Corino
No blurred lines, no conflicts of interest. The purest advisor client relationship that's known in the industry is the pure independent channel. 

 02:21
Charlie Van Derven
And that's awesome, man. Our careers match each other as far as length is concerned. Of course, I've always been on the outside of the industry serving. Right. And kudos to guys like you have been serving clients for that time. I have gotten to know the broker dealer world very well, did websites exclusively for broker dealers. I got to know the independent broker, the IBD world, and independent advisors quite well. And now most of the work we do is with RIAs. And your words, they mean so much. Right. Because it truly is the only opportunity you have to serve a client without product pressures, quotas, kind of high pressure, even sales environments. Before we unpack all that, because I want to dive into what makes CPG Cornerstone Planning Group different in that regard, because there's a lot of ras out there, and I know you got a huge differentiator what attracted you to financial services in the first place? 

 03:21
Charlie Van Derven
Carmen. Carmine. Sorry? My wife's name is Carmen. I just called you Carmen. 

 03:25
Carmine Corino
That's super mine. Yeah. That is weird, man. I'm sorry. I am not cooking you dinner tonight for the rest. I started when I was relatively young. I was 24. And the jobs before that all had one common thread. It was helping people. And I got introduced to the industry, and I went and sat and I shadowed, actually, a stockbroker that was at one of the big wire houses at the time, per day. It was someone that my dad knew. And then my buddy's financial advisor said, well, can I go shadow him for a day? And he was more a planning focus. Advisor had a small office in his home. And looking at the differences between basically a day trader back then with clients accounts to one that met with several clients, asked a ton of questions, gathered. 

 04:13
Carmine Corino
Data, hugged a client. 

 04:15
Carmine Corino
I never forget he hugged a client when they were leaving. I said, well, this is what I want to do. And then met with a bunch of firms, and I said, I didn't even know anything from I worked for the phone company before I got into the industry. I was fixing phone lines in manholes and telephone poles. Right. That was my extent. I never went to college, but I saw this as a way to help. 

 04:35
Carmine Corino
People and for me to work for myself. 

 04:38
Carmine Corino
I always knew in the back of my head that working for someone was okay. It just wasn't okay for me. That's what drew me to the industry. 

 04:49
Charlie Van Derven
So you got a chance to take a look at two different types of advisors, but you jump in I don't want to tell the whole story. Right. But you jump in on the insurance side. 

 04:58
Carmine Corino
Yeah. 

 04:59
Carmine Corino
I started out like many advisors. Right. I started with an insurance company and was very clear from Jump Street that I said, I want to do financial planning. 

 05:08
Charlie Van Derven
Not the right environment for that, necessarily. 

 05:11
Carmine Corino
I wouldn't say it's not the best environment. 

 05:14
Carmine Corino
Okay. 

 05:14
Carmine Corino
Because that insurance company, like most, they owned an RA that you could charge fees for planning and manage assets on a fee based platform. And I started in three. I was a CFP by six, charging fees in five. So very early on, I started charging my first planning fees before I even knew what I was doing. And what kind of hung over my head is what I call elevator music is their required product sales per year to keep your contract, to keep the benefits from me and my family, to maintain your payout. So everything was tied to their what they call core product line. Right. Everything was driven by that. And in the beginning wasn't a huge deal because that hurdle for me was rather low. And then one day, they increased it by about 400%. 

 06:04
Carmine Corino
Wow. 

 06:05
Carmine Corino
And they forexed it. 

 06:07
Carmine Corino
And. 

 06:09
Carmine Corino
It happened two days before. I was leaving on a 19 day safari in Africa with my family, where I had no access to there's no TV, no Internet, nothing. One side of my brain said, the. 

 06:19
Carmine Corino
Worst time to get that news, right? 

 06:21
Carmine Corino
Because that was a straw that broke the camel's back. But when I landed after that trip, I had nothing but 19 days to think. 

 06:29
Carmine Corino
And I came back with one phrase. 

 06:31
Carmine Corino
And I said, if I knew then what I knew now, would I have chosen this company to go to? 

 06:36
Carmine Corino
The answer was no. 

 06:37
Carmine Corino
I didn't have to think about it, didn't have to whiteboard it out. My whole life on whiteboarding things. This was a very easy epiphany for me. And I landed I'll never forget. Within two days, were mapping out our exit, and it took about ten months to build CPG from the ground up between our I think we have 22 pieces of technology that are tied to our firm. And we have offices now in Manhattan, Connecticut, outside Philadelphia, Tallahassee, Florida. And we're continuing to grow. And just a blink of an eye, it'll be three years in May. So we're just over two and a half years. And I swear, Charlie, I said this before. I had hair before all this, and it all fell out in the last year. 

 07:17
Charlie Van Derven
Well, now, if they're listening on Spotify or itunes, they can't see. But karma used to have hair. If you're on YouTube, you get it. Let me unpack this real quick, Carmine. I don't want to say you gloss over something, but I think you said something really important that probably you've told this story enough times that you move through it quickly. But I want to unpack it a little bit. You join this industry for financial planning purposes, right. And you land at a firm that has that option for you. But in addition to financial planning, writing plans and bringing on AUM for planning fee right? For fee, you also have to sell products. Whatever the quota is, it quadrupled at one time. But you also have to even though you're a fee based practitioner, right. You still have to jump in and sell proprietary products. I mean, how do you do that. 

 08:21
Carmine Corino
As a Fiduciary so carefully? 

 08:28
Carmine Corino
What kind of the evolution over time? When I was very early on, before as a CFP, before charging fees, all the business was transactional at that point. Right. I couldn't use financial planning software. I couldn't charge fees for planning. I was doing your basic fact finding, coming back with solutions. At the end of the solutions was usually a product from that company, usually. 

 08:49
Carmine Corino
Okay. 

 08:50
Carmine Corino
Every year I'm in the industry, I'm learning more about outside those company walls, because these companies do a really good job at keeping you pretty confined from the outside. When I hired my first business coach, 2008, and still have one today, absolutely recommend it for any advisor that wants to grow is seek counsel from experts. And I've done that every step, including today, getting exposure to people outside of that company. I was going to MDRT meetings and all this other all the things that were out there that most people do. And you're like, wow, I didn't know we can do that as advisors. Well, I mean, I can, but you can. Okay. And I kept on hearing that a lot, and I'm like, all right. And then being able to just check in that box. What I would have to do is work with clients that I wouldn't really target. 

 09:43
Carmine Corino
Let me give you an example. Every advisor has got kind of their ideal client profile, right? And everybody says to build one out net worth of this income of that business owner, executive, whatever. What I would have had to do every year is find clients outside of my ideal client profile. Just that needed product, that needed an insurance policy. We would have to bring those clients on just to check those boxes. 

 10:06
Charlie Van Derven
Wow. 

 10:07
Carmine Corino
But there are a lot of years that I wrote those types of products. I wrote more of those products outside of that parent company because it was. 

 10:15
Carmine Corino
Better for the client. 

 10:17
Carmine Corino
But things would happen. 

 10:18
Carmine Corino
Like these little it's very rare, and. 

 10:20
Carmine Corino
We'Ve emancipated almost a dozen people here, and I've helped another dozen or so leave and go independent elsewhere. So I've been kind of the sounding board for people, and it's never one thing. It's a number of things. So let me give you the example. 

 10:33
Carmine Corino
When best interest came out, this firm changed their rules. 

 10:38
Carmine Corino
Like five two nine plans is obviously our go to option for college savings for the tax efficiencies, right? 

 10:44
Carmine Corino
Sure. 

 10:44
Carmine Corino
When best interest came out, prior to that, were putting clients in no charge or no load mutual funds, right? It didn't cost them anything. We did it as a courtesy. Our clients are trying to save money for college. We don't want to make $3 on that. 

 10:59
Carmine Corino
Right. 

 10:59
Carmine Corino
My best interest came out. We submitted our first application and with a check and got kicked back. No, you can't use those share classes anymore. 

 11:06
Carmine Corino
You have to use the loaded share classes. 

 11:08
Carmine Corino
I said, no, I don't want the money. And long story short, the best interest of the client was to pay the five and a half percent sales charge. And that really I thought I was in bizarre land. I said, I don't want the money. Let me just, you know and they're like, no, you can't have given an advisor the option of loaded or load waived. It could be construed as a conflict and little things like that started happening. And I was on the board. 

 11:41
Carmine Corino
Now this insurance company owned an RA. 

 11:45
Carmine Corino
And I was on their advisory board for, I believe, six or seven years prior to my departure. 

 11:50
Carmine Corino
And they measured their success as an. 

 11:55
Carmine Corino
Entity, as a standalone entity, by how much money left their platform to fund that insurance company's core product. And I'd sit in these meetings, scratch my head and say, isn't the whole point of an RA to grow asset base? Well, no, it's there as really a courtesy to advisors that have been there long that want to offer asset based asset management or charge fees for planning. But at the end of the day, we're going to measure how much money we put into this entity by how much money leaves. And it was just a couple of. 

 12:25
Carmine Corino
These little breadcrumbs that I kept on picking up. 

 12:28
Carmine Corino
Go, that's not right, and that's not right. 

 12:30
Carmine Corino
And it kind of took a few years. 

 12:32
Carmine Corino
And then once that happened, I said, whoa, that's the straw. I'm out of here, and never looked back since. 

 12:41
Charlie Van Derven
That's crazy. In previous conversations, you once talked about the secret agent syndrome. 

 12:48
Carmine Corino
Oh, yes, this is good. 

 12:49
Charlie Van Derven
Tell me about secret agents then. We're going to dive, I promise. We're going to dive into CPG. 

 12:53
Carmine Corino
So I have found this, and again. 

 12:57
Carmine Corino
I want to be very clear on a couple of things because I don't want this to sound biased if it already has is there are great advisors that are in these absolutely constrained environments that will always do the best for their clients. I know many of them. I'm speaking more to the environment and I'm speaking to probably maybe even a select few. But this happens. And I think if you're an advisor long enough in the industry you ran into this, where client pays for a. 

 13:20
Carmine Corino
Financial plan and client gets the end. 

 13:24
Carmine Corino
Of this financial plan. 

 13:25
Carmine Corino
And every product recommendation is from that. 

 13:30
Carmine Corino
Advisor'S parent company proprietors. So this client is hiring a Fiduciary, acting in their best interest. And very well, that could have been the best product in that product line. But what I have failed to see is when that advisor actually goes out to market and says, okay, wait, you need life insurance or long term care insurance, which by the way, rewrite a lot of. We recommend a lot of it to our clients. It's a necessity. I own them. You probably own them. You need them for a healthy financial plan, no doubt. Where was the due diligence? And some of these parent companies don't even allow their advisors to write outside or don't give them access to other carriers that may better. Charlie I say this all the time. It's like going to a doctor that you know can only prescribe from one drug company, even if he knows the drug that can help you is from another drug company. 

 14:20
Carmine Corino
Now no one will die from a financial plan recommendation. So let's just call it that. 

 14:24
Carmine Corino
It's not but I view this as if I were a consumer, would I. 

 14:30
Carmine Corino
Want to go to an advisor who's constrained at an insurance company, or would I want to go to someone that's. 

 14:35
Carmine Corino
Completely independent, and I pay for their. 

 14:38
Carmine Corino
Time for specific recommendations, and I get clarity that way. 

 14:41
Carmine Corino
Not the end result is going to. 

 14:44
Carmine Corino
Be a transaction of some sort. I built this whole firm based on empathy. I believe that's the way I would want I know that's the way I would want to be served if I was a consumer. 

 14:54
Charlie Van Derven
That's awesome. You realize, Carmine, that you brought up medical and made that comparison. I had a conversation with an advisor not too many weeks ago, three or four weeks ago, a gentleman that I. 

 15:06
Carmine Corino
Coach that, hey, dude, if you're having. 

 15:09
Charlie Van Derven
A heart attack, your doctor is the most important person in your life. Every other moment, knowing that we're all going to come to the end anyway, right? Legacy is so important. Every other moment, if you're having a heart attack, you need that doctor. You need them now. Every other moment, your financial planner is actually more important than your doctor because they're creating that legacy for you as it impacts next generation. So let's dive into CPG, because you guys are doing some awesome things. Number one, Carmine, the fact that you've got a dozen advisors with CPG in three years, frankly, my friend, blows my mind a little bit. So I know that there's a handful that fly cornerstone Planning Groups, flag. There's others, you call them Affiliate Advisors, correct? 

 15:55
Carmine Corino
Affiliated Partners. 

 15:56
Charlie Van Derven
Affiliated Partners. And so you've got six or seven affiliated partners that run a DBA, that maintain their brand, that really use you for back office more than anything else. But you do something different, man. Your business planning with those folks, I can imagine maybe that's a borrowing a little bit from Coach Joe, our mutual friend. Your business planning for those folks, your quarterly consulting with those folks, those are differentiators. I mean, that support, unlike other RIAs are providing in the industry that I've seen anyway, and I've talked to a lot of them. Right. So tell me how that breaks down. How do you guys develop that's a one, a three, a ten year business plan? Let's go through that process and then the impact of that quarterly consulting in keeping people on path for their goals. 

 16:50
Carmine Corino
So every January, we do a 1310 year business plan for each advice. Me and the advisor working together. My office here, I have several whiteboards, so we'll sit here and whiteboard out. We'll also build out their strategic calendar. So we'll segment their client base every year. It's got to be resegmented because things change. Metrics change. Clients move up and down. We identify which each tier gets based on their level. Is it two review meetings a year? One a year, three a year, how many check ins, how many value adds. We build that into our CRM, which is fantastic. It helps us do that. But we build out a strategic calendar in our sense is surge window. So you're going to do your A reviews in January, September. You're going to do your financial planning reviews these two months, your C clients are here. B clients are here. 

 17:35
Carmine Corino
What that enables that advisor and their staff to do is run optimal during those times, but it increases the amount of free time an advisor has. Now, free time doesn't mean it could be going to movies, going on vacation with their family. I have two sabbatical months off a year. The only reason why I could do that is because every client served is our staff is proper. And we had the calendar built out in December even before we hit that year. We know when we're going to see the clients and who we're going to see when. The one, three and ten is that advisor's vision. What does your revenue look like? What kind of clients you want to onboard? What's your client base look like today? Do you need to shed clients? Where do you want to add? What's your marketing initiatives this year? 

 18:22
Carmine Corino
And part of this is selfish too. 

 18:24
Carmine Corino
On my part, because I want to make sure CEO, I want to make sure I'm providing that advisor with every. 

 18:28
Carmine Corino
Single tool that they need to succeed. 

 18:31
Carmine Corino
Now, my mentoring started not when we started cornerstone on the independent side. I was an MDRT mentor for this insurance company since year two or three in the business. And I did that with just fellow people in the office that just needed help. And I've had two or three mentees every year, and I enjoy doing that work. And that's why as a CEO, I've shed and reduced. I've reborn on the servicing advisor to help manage my book. And I don't take on any new clients because I need that time to spend with the advisors, that time with me. I don't ever want to give that up. I mean, at our Christmas party this. 

 19:05
Carmine Corino
Year, I got up and got in. 

 19:08
Carmine Corino
Front of the group and said, I love the fact that I have a perf relationship with every single person in. 

 19:11
Carmine Corino
This room, and that before I go. 

 19:14
Carmine Corino
Out on any vacation, I call each advisor, say, hey, I'm going to be away next week. Anything you need that I could do now? Is there anything you need? You call our operations officer who basically runs the NTD here. But at one, three and ten is. 

 19:28
Carmine Corino
Important, and those quarterly check ins is. 

 19:31
Carmine Corino
Me holding them accountable. Now, we also identifying those meet in January, what KPIs are important to track. So if an advisor is doing a. 

 19:39
Carmine Corino
Marketing initiative, how many conversions do we have? 

 19:43
Carmine Corino
What's the win? What's the target? Let's focus on that because when the vision is clear. Decisions are easy. We have a real clear vision of where that advisor wants to be in three years. The decisions start today of what needs to get done. And one of the biggest things that's helped advisors really get clarity and get traction is identifying what's actionable this quarter. You may have a three year plan of X. What can we do in the next. 

 20:08
Carmine Corino
90 to move the needle? 

 20:10
Carmine Corino
And those are the things we track. So our next quarterly meeting, we use great software to track this. We will then reorganize. Okay, these seven we got wins. We got seven things done. What's the next group of things? Next quarter? And that relationship is something I don't see me ever getting away from. 

 20:25
Carmine Corino
So when it comes to scaling, I. 

 20:28
Carmine Corino
Don'T think CPG will be 100 advisors in one day down the road, because at that point, I lose that connection. 

 20:34
Carmine Corino
I love the fact that an advisor. 

 20:36
Carmine Corino
Called me this morning with a question, right? When was the last time an advisor worked at a firm where they could call the CEO and just get them on the phone with a quick question about a complicated case they're working on with a client about tax efficiencies? Awesome. That's the relationship I love, and that's the culture, and that's something I don't think I'll ever get away from, because. 

 20:55
Carmine Corino
I think that's what really makes us different. 

 20:58
Charlie Van Derven
I agree with you immediately, that was your differentiator. And I'll tell you, I've interviewed enough people through RIA Collective or just people I've met throughout my career, that they crave structure. And the fear in departing a large firm that provides that structure is not having that accountability. I can tell you, anybody I've ever coached that's come to us for paid for coaching was paying for accountability. That's primary, right? Some people need fresh ideas and things like that, but primary is the accountability on that stuff. So that is a huge differentiator, and I'm glad that you recognize that, because people leaving a Morgan or a Merrill environment or one of the big insurance companies, they come out of a sales environment where they know what's expected of them, and they go into a free environment where, listen, man, if they're not motivated, it's pretty tough to build their business. 

 21:57
Charlie Van Derven
Right? And now they kick themselves a few years later when things have crumbled. So that's pretty amazing. I love the culture you've created. It's obvious, Carmine, in talking to you, that you're passionate about the fiduciary side of this business and your responsibility to not only your clients, but also the affiliated partners and the advisors that fly that CPG flag. 

 22:18
Carmine Corino
The accountability piece is big, and it's been a huge factor. Again, my first business coach was Dan Sullivan 2008, and I haven't stopped I've had multiple coaches since then. But I always bring this up about accountability as Weight Watchers, right? It's the most successful weight loss program. 

 22:32
Carmine Corino
That'S ever been available, not because their. 

 22:35
Carmine Corino
Food is good, because every Monday night you got to weigh yourself in front of a room full of strangers, right? 

 22:40
Charlie Van Derven
No doubt. 

 22:40
Carmine Corino
Talk about mass accountability, right? Yeah. We're just taking that to the next level where this is not only impacting, we provide the advisors with the actual framework of how to frame out their one, three and ten and on there's personal goals. So I've gotten in the weeds. I've done financial plans for some of the advisors because maybe they need some up in the financial piece. I'm trying to alleviate that for them. You'd be amazed how many really deep conversations we've had. And the advisors are free to talk about the personal end that they want, but that's just as important. And what coaching has taught me over the years is you want to change your business, right. You got to change who you are first. So if an advisor says I want to double my revenue in three years, great. You can't be the person you are today if you double the revenue. 

 23:26
Carmine Corino
Right, great. What does your staff look like? What does your technology look like? What is your client segmentation look like? What kind of clothes you're wearing? Where's your office located? So these are the things that we identify because you can't keep the same identity making you're not able to do that in the same form. And coach Joe Lucas has helped me greatly. This is a guy that's been coaching advice for over 25 years. 

 23:53
Charlie Van Derven
For those listeners who are not aware, check out Magellan network joe's. 

 23:58
Carmine Corino
Awesome. 

 23:59
Charlie Van Derven
Love Joe. 

 24:00
Carmine Corino
Yeah. So he's been pivotal in the fact that I'm sitting here today and where we are on an asset level and an advisor level and impact level. Really having him in my corner has been instrumental. But now every advisor on board has full I have Joe coming into New Jersey in May to do a full one day session with our group. So between that and the mastermind meetings we have throughout the year, we have two to three a year with just the advisors. I want to bring that impact. That how he's impacted me to every. 

 24:29
Carmine Corino
Single person in this firm because I. 

 24:32
Carmine Corino
Saw how important it is to me and I know there's just we can really make a lot of people hit those goals. And something I always say to the advisors, I always say is this goal necessary? 

 24:45
Carmine Corino
It could be anything. 

 24:46
Carmine Corino
Lose 15 pounds or hit 500,000 in revenue, whatever that number, whatever that is. And the answer is like, well yeah. And my response is, and you know me, I'm a pretty straightforward person and I say, well then the work you have to do to get there is irrelevant. It doesn't matter how much work you have to do that's necessary for you and your family, your clients, your health. It doesn't matter what you have to do day to day just get it done. And it's worked very well. We've more than doubled in size in two and a half years, and we're growing as we're sitting here today because of the culture. 

 25:20
Charlie Van Derven
Yeah. That's awesome. Carmine, there's a few questions I'd like to ask everybody, because I think the folks that we're impacting, right, are typically those people who were at an insurance firm like you got started or maybe at a wire house, who know they're no longer in the right place for them and are looking for some options. I like to think, of course, we give information and knowledge, but we give confidence as well. But let's let people learn from your experience. Carmen, if you look back on the almost 20 years of your time in the industry and having made that transition a few years ago, is there anything that you look back on and you were like, I did this really well. This is one of the reasons that I've got the success I've got today. 

 26:09
Carmine Corino
I think having the mindset prior to the transition was really important because getting all your data in order and all that basic blocking and tackling is pretty standard. What advisors don't understand when they break away is the mental part plays a huge role. I'm actually writing a book through Forbes right now about the independent advisors. Should be out the end of the year, and there's almost a half a chapter on the mental. I think I did a really good. 

 26:37
Carmine Corino
Job because I thought about worst case scenario, and for me, worst case scenario happened, but I was expecting it. 

 26:47
Carmine Corino
So when I found out worst case scenario was happened, I said, all right, roger that. Check the box, move on. So it didn't really impact me. It actually empowered me because I did hit some roadblocks during transition that was very specific to me, not to advisors in general. And I think the mindset part of being prepared mentally was the factor that changed everything. 

 27:10
Charlie Van Derven
That's awesome, man. And being prepared for worst case scenario. Right. So to your point, when it happens, it's not a panic moment. There's a plan in place, right? That's awesome. All right, here's the flip side of that question. Is there anything carmine, you look back on? You gosh, I wish I'd have done that a little differently. 

 27:29
Carmine Corino
You asked some hard questions there, Charlie. 

 27:32
Carmine Corino
So I can say nothing went wrong. Hey, we've transitioned eleven people. 

 27:41
Carmine Corino
We haven't had one issue during eleven transitions, which is rare. I had a minor tech issue where we lost some data because we got bad information from the tech vendor that were able to port our data, when in fact weren't. 

 27:58
Carmine Corino
But. 

 28:02
Carmine Corino
Life makes chicken salad out of chicken s***, right? And I was forced to look at another tech, which was far better. So we're in a better place for it now anyway. So it did turn out to better, but initially it. Was a little gut punch, but other than that, it went very well. I can't say anything went wrong. 

 28:19
Carmine Corino
That's awesome. 

 28:21
Charlie Van Derven
Let's talk a little bit about the future of Cornerstone. Right. So, again, we might have some people listening that are thinking about what the next iteration of their career looks like. I don't want to put any words in your mouth, Carmine, but maybe I will. You guys are still in growth mode. You still got room for the right advisor? 

 28:38
Carmine Corino
Yes. Cool. 

 28:42
Charlie Van Derven
What is an ideal advisor look like for you? 

 28:45
Carmine Corino
An ideal advisor for us, and it's kind of like our avatar, but we not only have insurance company advisors here, one advisor that's with us now was with an NDRA, just very limited. Right. So it's an advisor that has limited capabilities. Where they're at now, they're maybe stuck with sales quotas, and there's a brick wall in front of them acting as a true fiduciary to their client. That's the ideal advisor. And maybe ideal advisor would be someone insurance company that's charging fees for planning, that sees the value in financial planning and is growing their asset management business. I mean, that seems to be the common thread between just about everyone and they see the value in being independent. They actually care about the clients. And I've said no to more advisors than I've said yes to because they're more in a culture match. Who wouldn't be a fit here to be someone that's transactional that wants to sell a product and move on. 

 29:39
Carmine Corino
And we're not a sales organization. We're service organization. It's much different. 

 29:43
Carmine Corino
Awesome. 

 29:45
Carmine Corino
So, yeah, that's why we consider avatars. That advisor that's doing planning, sees the value and impact in planning and is not like Tony Robbins talks about the six of human emotions. That significance isn't the top one because these companies do a great job at the leaderboard, and you get this trip and all this other nonsense for selling all their product. The good advisors I know, they could care less about that leaderboard. They could care less about the trip. The client comes first, and that's the people that we want. 

 30:16
Charlie Van Derven
Completely agree. Man that's awesome. Great. Final. Carmine corino, man, you're awesome. Your team is going in the right direction. You're doing it the right way. If we've got anybody who has questions, wants to reach out to you and maybe talk about joining the team or just wants to tap into your experience, are you okay being a resource? 

 30:35
Carmine Corino
Of course. 

 30:36
Carmine Corino
Yes. 

 30:36
Charlie Van Derven
Cool, man. 

 30:37
Carmine Corino
What's the easiest way to find you Cspgllc.com? There's a link, I believe partner with us, and there's a link to get on my schedule, and we can just see and take that exploratory conversation to see if independence makes sense for someone. If it doesn't, I'll be the first one to tell you. And if it does, and at least we can further that conversation from there. 

 31:00
Carmine Corino
Awesome. 

 31:01
Charlie Van Derven
So, again, the website CSPG LLC, cornerstoneplanninggroup llc.com. 

 31:08
Carmine Corino
That's right. 

 31:09
Charlie Van Derven
Right. 

 31:10
Carmine Corino
Awesome. 

 31:10
Charlie Van Derven
Final. Carmine corino. Dude, I'm excited about growing a friendship with you. I'm glad to know you. You're doing things the right way, and you do have a true differentiator that's a tough word to say at the end of the 25 minutes interview. 

 31:26
Carmine Corino
Yeah, right. 

 31:28
Charlie Van Derven
The fact that you've got personal investment in each and every one of the advisors that you're working with, swear to God, man. It may not seem like it's different, but it's completely different. The ten year planning and the quarterly consulting, that's a huge differentiator. All things being equal, that's awesome. 

 31:53
Carmine Corino
I would tell you, Charlie and I do appreciate your friendship. Cover from you means a lot. Knowing how embedded you are in our industry, it's great. Makes me feel good. But I would tell you, I have a responsibility teach advisor. So I take that responsibility very seriously. Because if there is a miss, if there's a failure, that's on me as a leader, and I'm going to do everything in my power to make sure no one fails on my watch. 

 32:18
Charlie Van Derven
That's awesome, man. So anybody who's listening, listen. If you're looking for a place for the next iteration of your career cornerstone planning group, cspgllc.com, check them out. Carmine Carino, thank you so much for hanging out with me today. 

 32:32
Carmine Corino
Thanks, Charlie. 

 32:33
Charlie Van Derven
You got it. For all of our listeners, thanks for taking a little bit of time to listen to me and Carmine explore his journey in this industry and appreciate you listening to RIA collective. If you know anybody that needs to listen to this interview with Carmine or any of our others, please pass along. That's how we grow. We are not looking for sponsorship. This is not a revenue play for whatsoever. It's our opportunity to help this industry become more independent. Because, like Carmine thinks, I think that's the only place you can truly serve a client as a fiduciary. So thanks again for tuning in. Share this episode of RAA Collective give us a like, give us a review. We appreciate all that stuff.