Ever wondered how to navigate the complexities of financial advising or carve out a successful career within it? Let the sage advice of Harry Abrahamsen, a luminary in finance and the esteemed author of "Money Rules," steer your ship through the stormy seas of personal finance and professional growth. In an intimate conversation, Harry recounts his post-9/11 entrance into the financial realm, the hurdles he overcame, and the pivotal decisions that shaped his illustrious career. This episode is a treasure trove for anyone seeking a clear compass on which advisory path to take, how to align with a company's culture, and the profound impact of mentorship.
Hold onto your hats as Harry takes us on a journey that goes beyond mere number crunching; it's about educating, empowering, and enabling clients to make solid, informed decisions for their wealth-building strategies. Prepare to be enlightened by his use of simple explanations, vivid analogies, and relatable stories, all designed to demystify financial concepts. If you're venturing into the financial advising industry or simply thirsting for actionable career wisdom, Harry's heartfelt insights and the joy he shares in guiding clients to their retirement dreams will inspire you to approach your clients—and your professional aspirations—with renewed vigor and a grateful heart.
Ever wondered how to navigate the complexities of financial advising or carve out a successful career within it? Let the sage advice of Harry Abrahamsen, a luminary in finance and the esteemed author of "Money Rules," steer your ship through the stormy seas of personal finance and professional growth. In an intimate conversation, Harry recounts his post-9/11 entrance into the financial realm, the hurdles he overcame, and the pivotal decisions that shaped his illustrious career. This episode is a treasure trove for anyone seeking a clear compass on which advisory path to take, how to align with a company's culture, and the profound impact of mentorship.
Hold onto your hats as Harry takes us on a journey that goes beyond mere number crunching; it's about educating, empowering, and enabling clients to make solid, informed decisions for their wealth-building strategies. Prepare to be enlightened by his use of simple explanations, vivid analogies, and relatable stories, all designed to demystify financial concepts. If you're venturing into the financial advising industry or simply thirsting for actionable career wisdom, Harry's heartfelt insights and the joy he shares in guiding clients to their retirement dreams will inspire you to approach your clients—and your professional aspirations—with renewed vigor and a grateful heart.
Today is a pleasure for me to be with Harry Abrahamson. He is a amazing financial advisor. He's part of the million dollar round table, but not just part of the million dollar round table. At the top of the table, which is the elite level of the million dollar round table, he was recognized as 10 of the most dependable wealth managers in the mid-Atlantic region. He's appeared on CBS, fox and so many other publications. He's gonna talk a little bit about his book that he wrote called Money Rules. So, harry, thanks for being here.
Speaker 1:
How did you get into the business? I got into the business after 9-11 happened. I had another business and everybody was in shock. I sat back and I really asked myself a question If I was on one of those claims that I have everything set up correctly myself, and the answer was I didn't. I called up all my advisors, I called my CPA, I called up my insurance person and he was talking about life insurance and I was talking to my financial guy and he was talking about investments and I said that I didn't mind doing business with people, but I wanted to have this master plan strategy. One thing led to another. The next thing I went to one of my advisors and said by the way, what do you do? I know you set up a picture plan for my company, but I was thinking about maybe a career change and then I started my journey. It wasn't the easiest thing to start off with, that's for sure. I'm glad you said that, because I feel like a lot of people have that struggle in the beginning. So what was the biggest struggle for you when you started? It's so important in the beginning to get clarity around what you do. And the other thing and that's really important is to be honest with yourself. You need to just be honest with yourself and find out what type of advisor are you gonna be and can you potentially help?
Speaker 1:
In the very beginning, I got exposed to something called LEET. It was a macro planning tool that was just like a sponge sucking it all up. I love it. But what ended up happening? Probably like six months in? At the time I only had my insurance license. I didn't have my securities license. I was frustrated because I wasn't really making any money.
Speaker 1:
And then my mentor, he and I, went out for a beer and he said to me Harry, can I issue a question? And I said, why? Because you know what business thing you're in and they go I don't really know, because I'm doing umbrella policies and car insurance and I wasn't telling it but helping keep it fixed. And he said, harry, you're in a life insurance business. And I said, are you kidding me? So I said they didn't really tell me that was the business I was in because it was masked by this planning.
Speaker 1:
That was like the start of my career, which was a little bit rocky, but I think it's important to get real clarity around what you do for a living. That's interesting that you say clarity. The people that you talk to on a daily basis and maybe some other advisors that you've spoken with, how many of them do you think actually have clarity on what it is that they do? I personally think that even some really top advisors that I'm actually friends with, they listen to things like speaker and thought media, but I don't think a lot of people have clarity about what type of an advisor they really are. This is an example.
Speaker 1:
I don't consider myself an author. I wrote a book. I wouldn't say, oh my God, a third, even though I did write a book. That's not what I'm known for. It's really important to get what type of advisor are you? What are you bringing to the table? And then be honest with yourself about that. That's important. That's great advice. If you took yourself back, you were just starting out, how would you suggest that they get clarity? I think it's super important.
Speaker 1:
Cultural components on who you are as a person. Where do you fit in that place that you're going to go work for or be part of? You fit culture. That's a big thing and in the beginning you have a gut feeling of I felt really good about that or something's weird about that. So I think in the beginning you want to make sure that's really you factoring that and that's an essential thing. Also, what licenses are you going to get Right? In the very beginning, you got to really start right there. Is it going to be a health license? Is this a series 65? That is a series seven. It makes these decisions. If you're licensed with a 65, do you understand what that really means, especially if you're in the beginning? What can you do? In the beginning? You should meet and talk to as many people about all these different areas.
Speaker 1:
It's essential for people to talk to other people, other advisors, other groups and say is this a good fit? Is the two you, worse Is, the two you can do, then make a living as an advisor utilizing the licenses. If you're just starting out but don't have that mentor for the business strategy, what do you suggest to them? I really believe everybody needs a mentor at least one, maybe even a couple because you can learn different things from these people. They'll know the ins and outs. That way you can start to decide where are you going to go with your business? Where are you going to go with your practice? Look at other groups like MBRT and all these other organizations to talk to other advisors to get a sense of oh, that's what they do for a living. Everybody's going to have an angle or niche in the business marketplace. Harry, if someone wants to go to that mentor but they're feeling a little worried, what's that mentor going to think about me? Even asking From your perspective, when someone comes to you and asks you, how do you feel about that? So that was a process to get to where I am right now. If they're in a group or an organization, they can go to their boss or their manager and say I want to be like XYZ, like the top producer or the top person in that agency or organization. Is there a way that you can help me get that person? Can they become my mentor? What are the steps? Sometimes they have things in place inside these organizations. This is an important lesson I'm going to share.
Speaker 1:
When I was in the business very beginning, I called up my mentor and I said hey, can I take you out to lunch? And he said, harry, I'm the top producer in the country, I don't need you to buy me lunch. He didn't need me to go buy him a turkey sandwich. He was busy. He'd answer the phone. I didn't think he'd go. I can't talk, hang the phone up, he would drive me crazy. But that was his prime time. He wasn't on the phone talking and gossiping, and he would say to me things like Derek Jeter was a great baseball player for the Yankees. He was also single. He wasn't out on the field talking to women that were interested in dating him. He was at practice. So he didn't. He did. Seriously, he's getting reined in me.
Speaker 1:
What's your work zone that you're in? How do you work? He said to me I'm going to give you one day a month, one day, wednesday, on this day, and if you can fill up this many people who go to that day. I didn't take him out to lunch. I set that day up and he came up from Hondel into my office at the time, which was in TNIC, and we had seven meetings and I learned it in poor lesson. It was all about the ability to prospect and to fill a calendar, which is really the hardest thing in the business. But I didn't know that, understanding the importance of your calendar, time management and finding the right mentor, a good fit.
Speaker 1:
If you had to start over from scratch, you didn't have anything. You didn't have the business. How would you start the business? What would you do? The only thing I would recommend for people is you want to find out very quickly, early on, if this is the right cast that you're on in your career. If I could go back in time, I would have stayed away from broker deal since my preference. There are a lot of advisors out there that like that environment, that are very good in that environment. That's really important because when that advisor can understand what a broker dealer is. If I'm a broker advisor, am I on the insurance side or is it more of a hybrid?
Speaker 1:
I think finding people that were successful in the business, where they had that balance of life and family and work. That way, it will help that make these better decisions, especially early on in their career. That's a great point that you're making. How important is it to have that balance between family and work and everything else that's important in your lives to be successful? It's absolutely essential, absolutely essential, and everybody can design whatever lights they want. I think it's really important to understand the importance of boundaries, balance of life, family and what's important. It helps even with your goals in the beginning of your year.
Speaker 1:
My calendar is locked out for the entire year. Four o'clock on Fridays, I'm done. You can't book me, you can't come out. Are there exceptions? Of course, right, working the weeks, for the most part, you can't book anything before 10 o'clock. I don't have to think about it, I don't need to check, because they just lock it. I think that's worth it for people to set up their calendar and structure things. I love what you said about setting a boundary.
Speaker 1:
I think that some of the newer advisors, even someone that's just struggling to get business, can come across pretty needy In the beginning. It's hard. They're trying to make a living. It's really challenging. That's why I would recommend Definitely to work with a mentor or a seasoned person. Whatever you're learning in the beginning doesn't make you a master. It's essential when you're really in the beginning find that mentor. You have any tips for people trying to prospect. Prospecting yeah, you need to become Referable yourself. You need to become an interesting person. Make sure whether you're learning about wine or about Staling, or learn about driving cars and you have a hobby, become an interesting human being. Read books, because it will help you meet other people and have conversations. The second thing about prospecting I think is important in the beginning and even as you develop in your career. Whatever age you are, shoot five years younger, five years older. You'll have a 10 year span. Structure it like that because you'll have a lot of things in common with these people. With this group of people. You'll have a lot of comment it doesn't mean somebody can't go after older people if they're younger.
Speaker 1:
Months saying that I found that over the 20 years of my business might really good clients are five years below me and five years above me. There's so many things in common music, places, travel, life events, historical events that you can relate to on a human level. Then these people would become very good prospects with that person. Do you have any funny prospecting stories? I was fortunate because, again, my mentor taught me really about, you know, introductions and referrals. I would get on an annual basis between 200 and referrals a year from my existing clients. The life blood of my business was reverse. I just got very good at it. To get any kind of referral, you have to deliver a tremendous amount of value. If you can deliver true value, we really helping that person out the minute you deliver that value. Yet introductions and referrals from these people super, super important.
Speaker 1:
What are a few different ways that you can add some extra value in the business? The way I do it is I go back to my roots of Having that macro strategy. I had light insurance, I had a pension plan, I had a disability insurance, I had investments, but it didn't have a strategy. Okay, my value is when we work with our clients. We work with people thinking about at or in retirement. I understand their problems. I know their problems, their concerns, because we deal with it on a daily basis. So you want to deliver value to help them, so they're less stressful, they can navigate taxes, they can handle rms or teach them about rms. That's the value as it's not just like looking at investment portfolio and managing risk. That's right. They people make mistakes.
Speaker 1:
What do you think the difference is between helping someone and selling someone? That's a really good question. I think one of the greatest sales people I've ever seen in my entire life was my dad. He was amazing but he never really sold. She was a relationship person. He was fantastic with relationships and I think in this business you have to be careful because there's some good information out there when you talk about like sales. But I don't really think the successful people in this business are selling.
Speaker 1:
I believe they're educating people. I believe that top producers are really Educating people and healthy people. There are places that will train their advisors. But ultimately, if you can really help that person solve some problems that they have and not really selling but really Educating people so they can make an informed decision that really is where I think they can open the door for people completely. You're actually taking the time, you're helping them. You're figuring out what's going on inside of them and the struggles that they have, the fears that they have. You're making it about them. That's what I'm hearing. You say yes, and it could be as simple as explaining Insurance policy. It's an education process where they learn. So I think the newer advisor can learn about how certain things work and then they can explain to their market place.
Speaker 1:
When you're explaining something to your Perspective clients or clients, what level should you be presenting at? Most of them have never heard of some of the things that you're talking about. I personally think you need to not overcomplicate things. I think you don't want to overcomplicate it. You want to be able to communicate effectively, just like you would communicate in a conversation with a person. If a person can use analogies and stories to connect the dots with people, that'll help them communicate effectively. And then the other thing that's important is to have systems and processes in place. So I'll give you an example for me. I deal with people thinking about ad-broad in retirement. There are two types of people. There's people that have a lot of money, and those people that have a lot of money have different problems than a person that comes to these and they don't have a ton of assets. They have money saved, but not a lot. So those two people have two different sets of problems, and so I have a presentation that I do for one that understands their things, and I have a presentation for the other. So I think if you, as an advisor, can think in terms of that, it simplifies what you do and how you can explain things for that particular client or person that you're working with.
Speaker 1:
How important is mindset in this business? It's huge because people are people. People are all different, so whether you're working with a husband or a wife, it's going to be a different dynamic. So you need to have an incredible mindset. I had a business coach way back when and he would always say to me fashion your armor. That's what he would always say to me fashion your armor. In the business, there are people that can say nasty things. They can hurt you. You might be dealing with rejection, so fashion your armor. Be prepared for certain things that may happen. But you need to make sure that, as an advisor, that you surround yourself with positive people. Your spouse or partner needs to be supportive of you, which is super important. Second guessing it becomes very hard. You have to fill your mind up with great things, whether it's reading a good book, setting boundaries up for yourself, being positive and understanding some of the challenges that you may be faced in the business.
Speaker 1:
How about fear? I would imagine that even still, potentially, at times, you're dealing with fear. So fear, just from a non-business perspective, is important to acknowledge as even being, even when you're raising children and the child's free. It's a real emotion. It's real. It's fear From a human component needs to be acknowledged because there is real fear as a human being at the deal. Now, in the business that we're in, I have zero fear.
Speaker 1:
If you do have fear, you have to maybe ask yourself are you really in the right business? Are you doing the right thing? What do you want? In my office we have conversations. He's oh, you're not going to believe what I'm going through. I go into, like I go. You're complaining about a form that just needs to be updated. Look, it's a piece of paper I said. There are people that are in buildings at night protecting us at three o'clock in the morning and getting shot at. Or a doctor that is pulling an old lighter and is blood all over, like those are the real life events you know saying for people.
Speaker 1:
I think it's important for a person that has a problem where they have a lot of fear Maybe they should be thinking about another job or another niche in the business, another role, when you first started driving your car, how did you feel the very first time you got behind the wheel? Was there any fear there for you? There wasn't like a ton of fear only because I wrote a lot of motorcycles and golf cards. So I was pretty comfortable with the motorized sport Because you had a lot of experience doing it. So, in other words, you started doing that and that gave you the confidence to then get behind the wheel because you had been doing it for a while.
Speaker 1:
I'm interested to hear your opinion on this. I think with a lot of advisors, it's getting that experience that gives you the confidence that takes away some of that fear. But it's the doing that does that. Do you agree with that? Definitely, absolutely. It's again repetition practice and it goes back to what type of advisor are you? What do you do? Do you love what you do? I love it. I love it. It's great. You mean, we get to meet with so many interesting people and I love asking them hey, what do you do when you work? And hear all the stories about what they did, because they're in a different phase of their life and it's nice to be able to see them enjoy retirement and travel the world and send us pictures and come in with stories and you're like it's so cool, I could write a whole encyclopedia Britannica on like how to retire, with all the stories. It's fascinating.
Speaker 1:
Let's talk about your book. Money Rules is the book that you wrote. Did you ever think that you would write a book? I always wanted to write a book because I'm very goal oriented. I went back and still have all of my life goals from that was like 16 and 17 years old and it was on the first page and a little, tiny little book write a book. Why? I have no idea why I wanted to write a book. Maybe all the self help books I was reading and motivated. I didn't know what the topic was going to be on and it had no idea when it was going to happen. But yeah, I always wanted to write a book. I think my teachers that would go to high school but Harry book book. Okay, so tell us a little bit about the book.
Speaker 1:
So the book is my journey in financial world as an advisor. It took me a year to write the books and there's a lot of interesting stories inside of the book in terms of philosophy that I learned from my mentor in the very beginning a bunch of my mentors and it really highlights the type of planning that I do in terms of micro versus macro. It's a cover heads of book that I put together for people to think about finance, even from an advisor standpoint. I realized where I was in the very beginning. I wasn't in the right spot, so I had to pivot out to get to that chapter. That chapter is all about looking at the bigger picture. How do you strategically plan with people? How do you have that very big, broad scope on planning and strategies with your particular client? And every advisor is a micro, every person is a micro, so it depends on what type of micro that you really are. And then the macro is really that big picture mindset of how do you structure this overall strategy from a wealth building standpoint.
Speaker 1:
It sounds like there's a lot of learning. Whether you're a beginning level advisor or even an advisor that already has a lot of experience could probably benefit from reading this. They can benefit. Also, what I included in there are strategies and tactics. So they can like learn about 72t and then how do you apply it, or they can learn about certain strategies that are important, whether it's an action max strategy, and there are tons of other books that go into super detail, but this just gives you a good little snippet of why I really like this strategy or really like how they could use that so they can learn how to bring value right inside of all those strategies that are in the book, each and every one is a value I bring to the table with a client. It depends on what I'm going to pull out or use, depends on their situation, but that is probably a really good understanding of that's all the value that I can bring to the table. At least that's what's inside of the book currently today.
Speaker 1:
If someone's interested and they want to get that book I know you had said that you are going to do a little bit of a special offer for the people that are listening to the podcast Tell us a little bit about that. So it's on Amazon. If somebody goes to Amazon, they can just type in money rules and it might be like fourth and fifth on the list, depending on the day. Nine rules to massive wealth. Or they can type my name in, harry Abrahamson, and the book will pop up for a week. We're going to reduce the ebook down by 50%, so anybody that wants to buy the ebook, it's going to be reduced for a week for people that are listening in to your podcast.
Speaker 1:
Harry, I just want to say I'm grateful for you. I'm grateful that you're giving your time. I know your time is very valuable and thanks for giving it to the audience. If you could give someone one last piece of advice, what would that be? It would be to ask questions and listen to everyone. Ask questions and listen, and when I listen and you and I both know when I'm talking about being in the present get all the thoughts out of your brain, sit down, ask some questions and you literally take the time to listen to what that person is actually saying to you and to uniting back to you. I think that would be a great step for people to take and start their career with. I love that. Thanks again, harry. I want to thank everyone for listening and make sure to get that book. The link will be listed below, so click that link and get that book. Thanks, harry. I appreciate you again being here today. Great Thanks for having me on.
