Fresh off a private equity infusion and billion-dollar valuation, one of the largest hybrid RIAs is investing in financial advisor content with a new hire for its coaching arm.
Carson Group — the firm whose minority stake was acquired last week by Bain Capital — appointed ex-FPA Publications Editor-in-Chief Ana Trujillo Limón to be the wealth manager’s director of coaching and advisor content. Trujillo Limón joined the Omaha, Nebraska-based firm on June 1 after seven years at FPA overseeing Journal of Financial Planning and two other publications, as well as leading discussions and launching the FPA Latino knowledge circle.
In her new position, Trujillo Limón is working with Jamie Hopkins, Carson Group’s managing partner of wealth solutions, and collaborating with the firm’s coaches on internal and external articles while adding to its media library of practice management, training and client resources. Wealth management entrepreneur Ron Carson’s firm spans 110 partner offices managing $17 billion in client assets and its advisor coaching arm, Carson Coaching, provides training and professional development services to 1,400 practices.
Content carries the potential to boost advisors’ businesses while ushering in a new generation of planners to replace retiring ones in coming years, Trujillo Limón said in an interview, citing the “powerful why stories” about advisors choosing the profession as an example.
“It can help the consumer see that, ‘Oh, I need that type of planning,’” she says. “It plays a role in both inspiring consumers to get themselves a planner or advisor and also inspiring people to get into the profession.”
Trujillo Limón praises FPA but she says she couldn’t pass up the opportunity offered by Hopkins when Carson Group first reached out to her in March and April. In late May, FPA hired Trujillo Limón’s replacement, veteran financial journalist Danielle Andrus, to her previous post.
“Ana was a valuable member of the team who worked diligently to ensure each issue of the Journal of Financial Planning met its expected high standards and the content supported the development of financial planner competency,” FPA spokesman Ben Lewis said in a statement.
FPA members chimed in with words of support for Trujillo Limón and their thoughts on what Carson Group’s hiring of her suggests about the importance of content in wealth management. Advisor Dan Moisand of Melbourne, Florida-based Moisand Fitzgerald Tamayo worked with her as the journals practitioner editor.
“Carson group got a real winner in Ana,” Moisand said in an email. “Ana took over amid the pandemic and CEO/leadership change and had to adjust on the fly. She and her team really kept things going, showed a lot of grit, intelligence and passion for the publication. Her replacement Danielle is fantastic and I am excited about the future of the JFP but I am also excited for Ana and the possibilities for her.”
Ocala, Florida-based CFP and Rutgers University professor Barbara M. O’Neill “thoroughly enjoyed working with Ana” during her four years as the academic editor of the journal, she said in an email.
“She is well-versed in financial planning research and content creation and has so many valuable financial planning industry contacts,” O’Neill said. “Ana’s new professional role will leverage her knowledge, people skills, editorial skills and perspectives as a young Latina. The Carson Group is very fortunate to have Ana on their team.”
Her hiring reflects how “Carson continues to hire big talent and to see big growth follow,” Evan Beach, the director of wealth advisory at Alexandria, Virginia-based Campbell Wealth Management said in an email.
“Ana has lived at a very rare intersection of academia and practice within financial planning,” Beach said. “My guess is she will be able to apply a swath of research that is basically untouched across a mega RIA. Combine that with the background of Hopkins and I think you’ll see more growth and best practices applied on the ground.”
Trujillo Limón had a range of experiences at FPA after 15 years as a reporter and editor. Besides the FPA’s journal, she led discussions based on its articles and served as editor-in-chief of FPA Next Generation Planner and the Practice Management Blog. At Carson, she’ll have a lead role in the firm’s coaching and content development programs, Hopkins said in a statement.
“Her time with the Financial Planning Association, working with their authors, editing academic research papers, preparing practice management content and interacting with their members gives Ana a unique insight into how advisors think and what they need to do their jobs better,” Hopkins said.
As cases in point on the practical tools for advisors, Trujillo Limón pointed to workbooks and checklists for advisors to consult before leading a family discussion among their clients or before entering into a strategic partnership. Compelling stories and explainers also remind people of how planning contributes to wellness, offer advisors resources to share with clients and build planners’ media skills, she says.
“Consumers in general like to hear from the subject matter expert themselves,” Trujillo Limón says. “It’ll help bring awareness to consumers the more that financial advisors get their voices out there.”