Latest / Financial Planner Search / Tax-Efficient Wealth for High-Earning Professionals with Francisco Blanco | Financial Planner Search
Transcript
- Gregory Wilnau: Hey, Francisco, how are you doing today, Francisco Blanco: Good, Greg. How are you doing, Gregory Wilnau: I am doing awesome. It's a beautiful Florida day, as you know, being out of South Florida yourself. Gotta love that Florida weather. It's great. A little more than half the year than the rest of the time in the summer is just terrible, but gotta love it, Florida. Francisco Blanco: Yes. Yeah, yeah, no, I was just in Boston for an event and I got back last night and I was very much so looking forward to being back in the 85 degree and sunny weather. Gregory Wilnau: Yeah, it's beautiful this time of year. Starting to get hot, but you know, that's okay. All right, so thank you so much for being on the pond. Been looking forward to chatting with you. ⁓ Let's go ahead and dive in here. Why don't you take a moment to kind of tell us about your practice and what you specialize in. Francisco Blanco: Yeah. Yeah, so what I normally, what I specialize in the most right now is, is dealing specifically with doctors, attorneys and business owners. And the reason why that is, is because we do ⁓ tax strategies that are, that are different, ⁓ you know, for specifically tailored to those types of individuals. And You know, we tailor different things ⁓ that benefit them tax wise more ⁓ so than anything. Gregory Wilnau: Interesting. I could see why ⁓ those types of professionals would need tax strategies. So generally more higher income, people with more complex situations. Francisco Blanco: Yeah, mean, yeah, the way I look at it is nowadays, ⁓ you could go on chat, GPT, Claude, whatever, and just type up, hey, I have. X amount of money, am, you know, aggressive, how can I invest this money and know, Chad, GVD, Claude will tell you but once you get, you know, into these types of professions, doctors, attorneys, like a doctor, for example, if you're a surgeon, you know, you're going to pre-op early in the morning, then you're operating, then you are ⁓ debriefing, then you are going to meet with the patient. ⁓ And then you're going to your office doing notes, seeing other patients, you don't have the time of day to be worrying about these things, nonetheless, be tax efficient. So, you know, that's why we, we believe that that's where we can add the most value and really show why ⁓ ⁓ They need us and should be working with ⁓ us. And same thing with attorneys. Attorneys have depositions, they're traveling, they're working on cases around the clock and we are there to relieve them on the financial side as well. Gregory Wilnau: Yeah, definitely busy days for those professionals for sure. Maybe you could tell us a little bit more about kind of what inspired you to do this. How did you get into it? Was there any moments or many experiences that you had? you just like, I really like these guys, I can help them? Yeah, maybe just a little bit more about what inspired you to start the firm and do what you're doing. Francisco Blanco: Yeah, so I ⁓ ever since I was little, I've always wanted to own my own business, but I never knew of what ⁓ my mother I'm originally from Puerto Rico. I speak Spanish fluently ⁓ and my mother worked in Chase Manhattan Bank way back in the day. ⁓ Gregory Wilnau: O-G. Francisco Blanco: Yeah, in in Puerto Rico, actually, they had presence in Puerto Rico, and she, she worked on the HR side. But anyways, when I was 19 years old, she walked into Chase Bank, and saw they were hiring, she ⁓ told me to to apply. So I did, I got the job. And I ⁓ was a teller for, you know, short amount of time. Gregory Wilnau: ⁓ nice, nice. Francisco Blanco: And I was around a I was in a branch that had some some pretty you know, good bankers, assertive people, smart people. And ⁓ there was a business banker there at the time that you know, was was was great. He was very good clients loved him. He did well. ⁓ And I told myself, all right, I'm going to become a business banker for a while, create some relationships help you know, people on business banking side, and then maybe I'll get an idea of what business I want to get involved with or what business I want to start. Then I started realizing that, you know, I was, it came natural to me to service people and, you know, go above and beyond in certain situations and, and like the psychology piece of, you know, like behavioral finance piece, if you will. And Gregory Wilnau: Mm-hmm. Francisco Blanco: Then I, know, one of the professionals that was also in that branch that was also very good was the financial advisor. And I became, you know, friendly with him to this day. He's one of my best friends. And I started learning about that side of the business. And then I realized that I could also have my own business as a financial advisor. So it kind of like checked off all the boxes for me. You I could have my own business as a financial advisor. I can service people, which I feel. Gregory Wilnau: Yeah. Francisco Blanco: that it comes natural to me. can help people take the emotion out of investing, is difficult to do. yeah. Gregory Wilnau: Yeah, especially when it's your money. If you're helping other people with their money, it's a lot easier to emotionally detach yourself, right? Yeah. Francisco Blanco: Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. So, you you put all those things together. And that's pretty much what would lead me to, you know, just to start the firm with with my business partner, Joe Mazzucco. Gregory Wilnau: Cool, I love it. So you got some mentorship, you got started ⁓ working at the larger ⁓ firm, you started doing ⁓ financial planning and you're like, ooh, I really like this. I can start my own business doing that. So that's great. Francisco Blanco: Mm-hmm. Yeah, yeah, mean, it's a long, you know, longer story. I could talk about that for probably five minutes, but, you know, just kept moving up within the bank ⁓ and, you know, learned a lot from many different aspects of the business and. ⁓ Gregory Wilnau: Was there anything specific about the financial advisory piece or financial planning piece that really attracted you specifically? Francisco Blanco: Yeah, absolutely. I, you know, you don't go Greg walking around and telling people how much money you have, you know, you don't know, no one does that. And these are these are the conversations that you know, I have every single day and I have, I go very, very, very deep into, you know, I challenge the my clients and the people that I meet with. ⁓ I always say that the more information you give me, the better advice I can give you. So, know, we go really deep and ⁓ while going deep in these conversations, ⁓ you build relationships with these people, you know, with my clients, ⁓ with... Gregory Wilnau: Sure. Francisco Blanco: centers of influences. And that's where I enjoy most about being a financial advisor is just building those relationships, having the conversations that most people don't have on a day to day basis. Having conversations sometimes that, you know, I meet with couples and there's things that sometimes maybe their children don't even know about. And then they have the, you know, the trust and confidence in speaking to me about it. ⁓ So yeah, those deep conversations, building relationships, that's what I enjoy the most. Gregory Wilnau: Yeah, I love it. You said that serving others is something that gives you a lot of meaning and that you enjoy. So how many clients do you have now? Francisco Blanco: So right now I have about 75 households. ⁓ So thank you. Thank you. Yeah. You know, we have the infrastructure to grow. We have, ⁓ you know, two assistants ⁓ that are great. ⁓ And we also have a part-time marketing person with us as well. So. Gregory Wilnau: Congrats. That's awesome. Thanks Francisco Blanco: So yeah, we have the infrastructure to grow. I'm very hands-on with my clients. ⁓ We do events throughout the year. ⁓ Like I said, the relationships where it's almost like we're friends at this point with clients. So call to check in, say hello, send, ⁓ when it's their birthdays, we send them things and it's more of a... friendly relationship more than client financial advisor relationship. Gregory Wilnau: Yeah, I love it. I love it. All right, let's talk maybe a little bit more about ⁓ those clients and the people you serve. So maybe you could take a moment. I know you work with doctors, attorneys, business owners, and you really help them with tax. But maybe you could talk about maybe some typical situations that they'll originally that will prompt them to reach out to you ⁓ that they need your help with or to help them lead to lead them through. Is there a typical situation? Francisco Blanco: Yep. Yep. Absolutely. So let's say a typical situation would be a dentist that owns their own dental practice. They are, you know, at the point of their life where they're financially comfortable. They've, you know, I wouldn't say necessarily past their peak in terms of income and work and things like that. But maybe late 50s, I would say anywhere from you know, late 40s to late 50s around there. ⁓ They have, they're pretty well established. They have a practice that is running pretty smoothly. They're, you know, they're happy. They're making, they're making a good living, but they feel that they're paying more to the IRS than they should. ⁓ Gregory Wilnau: Mm. Francisco Blanco: And maybe they already have a financial advisor they've been working with for 10, 15, 20 years, and maybe they feel like they've outgrown that financial advisor, or the advice is not as tactical or is not as complete as they would like. ⁓ and maybe that advisor has gotten a little bit lazy, a little bit comfortable. ⁓ So that would be the ideal situation. I've also had pretty good success with younger doctors, ⁓ people that are... ⁓ Gregory Wilnau: comfortable, yeah. What do you think that is? What's the difference about the younger doctors than the more seasoned ones? Francisco Blanco: Yeah, I think they get they get the fact that the sooner they begin, the better they will be long term. I mean, you know, you as a doctor, you spend 15 years in school ⁓ to become the most credentialed person in the room. And then you finally start working 10 years after everybody else, you your age has started to begin building their wealth. And ⁓ by the way, probably with a lot more debt than the average college graduate. So, so, yeah, I think that I've been kind of preaching that message to the to the younger generation, if you will, to to just start the foundation correctly. Gregory Wilnau: Mm-hmm. Francisco Blanco: versus someone in their, know, late 50s, 60s, or even maybe late 40s that maybe already paid off their debt already has a good machine already has, you know, an established business, but is just now having those conversations and thinking about, you know, how can I be more efficient tax wise, but also grow my money and keep more my dollars and things like that. Gregory Wilnau: Absolutely. How do your ⁓ clients ⁓ typically find you? Where do you typically find your clients? Where are they coming from? Francisco Blanco: So I have some really strong relationships with estate planning attorneys in the area, CPAs in the area. And that's pretty much how I've gotten most of these clients. ⁓ Also, I get out in the community a lot. do ⁓ a lot of networking. ⁓ frequent different events and things like that. You know, my my office is in Boca Raton, Florida, South Florida, we have clients all over, by the way, my, you know, one of my largest clients lives in New Jersey, for example. ⁓ So you know, that that's another thing that's important to note is that if this, you know, doctor attorney business owners not in South Florida, that's also not not necessarily a problem. ⁓ Gregory Wilnau: Yeah, so you do a lot of remote work with clients as well. Francisco Blanco: Correct, yes, yes. ⁓ So nowadays, thank God for DocuSign, AdobeSign, Zoom, all of those things. I personally like the in-person feel, but doesn't mean we still can't get work done. Gregory Wilnau: Mm-hmm. Yeah, absolutely. I also imagine that the convenience of being able to meet any time that you want from anywhere is something that your ideal clients would appreciate because they're pretty busy people too, right? Francisco Blanco: Yeah, mean, listen, true story. This is a true story. meet, I have a radiologist client that ⁓ I meet with him at 8 a.m. because that's the only time he can meet. And then I also have a actually. And then I also have another radiologist client that we meet at. I've met with them at 9 p.m. before. Yeah, so. ⁓ Gregory Wilnau: Whoo, that's early. That's early for me, man. I'm not a morning person, so good for you. Woo, that's commitment, brother. Francisco Blanco: Yeah, I mean, listen to where we're flexible. We just want to help. You know, I just want to help people and and I really genuinely just want them to see the value, know, the value in. and why I still have a job, why people like me still exist and ⁓ how I can help. Anyone, it's not just put your money in index funds and forget about it and ⁓ things like that, especially with this demographic that we're talking about. ⁓ They need the advice and they need these different tips. Gregory Wilnau: Yeah. So let's talk a little bit more about how you actually work with your clients, ⁓ maybe your values, your approach, your philosophy. Do your clients typically come to you because they want like a ⁓ one-off kind of financial plan or do you work with them on an ongoing basis by managing all of their assets? What's your model? How does this type of ⁓ unique demographic that you serve? prefer to work with you? What does that relationship look like? Francisco Blanco: Yeah, so it's definitely not just transactional and it's definitely ⁓ not financial plan and that's it. We take an approach where we kind of put all of the pieces to the puzzle together. So like I said, when I said 10 minutes ago that we go deep, I... I want to know what's important to them. I want to know their why. I want to know about their family. I want to know about ⁓ where they want to be in 10, 15 years. Do they want to buy that vacation home? Do they want to stay in the state that they're in? ⁓ You know, do they want to exit? Do they want to sell their practice? ⁓ I want to know all of these things to be able to give them the absolute best advice possible. ⁓ So, so yeah, no, it's definitely a whole, you know, ⁓ process. You know, we gather statements to make sure that we dot our I's and cross our T's and we look at the cost basis of, know, if they have taxable accounts of a stock or fund that they bought years ago, what tax implications is that going to have on them today? We dissect. Gregory Wilnau: Mm-hmm. Sure, sure. Francisco Blanco: everything and we leave no stone unturned because again that's what I believe that you know they need and that's just not you know it's not just doctors and attorneys and business owners that need that I believe every every client of a financial advisor ⁓ should get that type of service. Gregory Wilnau: Yeah. So let's talk a little bit more about about your practice. Maybe ⁓ where do you see in the next one to three years? Where are you taking it? ⁓ What's your vision? Are there any goals that you're working on? Francisco Blanco: Yes, so one to three years, ⁓ you know, I want Stonebrook Wealth Partners to be known and Francisco Blanco to be known as, you know, the guy in the community for, you know, this demographic to go to with questions. ⁓ You know, I want I want to be known within the again, the community in in in with women doctors, attorneys in the area, business owners that you know, one neurosurgeon speaks to another and they're talking about the IRS and how much you have to pay in taxes and, and what their portfolio is done. And then I want one of them to say, Oh, well, you know, you should you should give you should give my guy a call Francisco he specifically works with with, people like you and I, ⁓ and he's showing me some cool stuff, give him a call. So you see if, you know, if there's something that he can do to add value. So that, that's the type of practice I see creating in the next one to three years. ⁓ Another piece, Greg is that we, so I went from a, from JP Morgan Chase ⁓ bank channel to full independence to become an independent financial advisor. Gregory Wilnau: Mm-hmm. Francisco Blanco: that is something that's, you know, most advisors go from, you know, the bank channel to a wire house, which is like a, you know, Merrill, a Morgan Stanley, something like that, correct. And then maybe down the line, if they even do it, they go independent. So ⁓ because, and by the way, my business partner as well, Joe Mazzucco did the same thing also went from ⁓ Gregory Wilnau: Right, a larger, yeah, a larger, yeah. Francisco Blanco: bank, JP Moore and Chase Bank Channel to full independence. You we believe we have the blueprint and the map for other ⁓ financial advisors that want to go independent, but don't know how. You know, we want to be a resource to them as well. ⁓ You know, if there's an opportunity of them to join Stonebrook, of course we would, you know, gladly. ⁓ Gregory Wilnau: interesting. Francisco Blanco: discuss those things. ⁓ You know, we built out an office, a brand new office in Boca, if they see that they need office space. ⁓ You know, we have a pretty, a good following on socials, you know, on Facebook, LinkedIn. ⁓ We have a good marketing system, we have a nice website, we have all these things in place that, you know, an advisor that wants to go independent but doesn't know how wouldn't have to worry about. Wouldn't have to worry about ⁓ building all of those things out. They would just essentially plug into Stonebrook ⁓ and we would take an override on their revenue based on the services that we would give to them. And they can, that way they can focus on, you know, their clients and their clients only, not have to worry about the business side of things. So that's, that's another piece of the business that, we're working on. We are 100%, you know, money managers, financial advisors first. But we also want to help the advisor community, you know, go into independence. Gregory Wilnau: Nice. Nice. And I'm checking out your site and I see that you have a whole section dedicated for advisors and attracting them to your team. So that's great. Francisco Blanco: Yep. Four advisors. Yep. there's a, uh, correct. If you know, go to stonebrookwealth.com, you go to the four advisors page there, you can see some of the services that, that we offer for advisors if they're interested in plugging in, or if, know, if just an advisor has questions, you know, Hey Francisco, I've been, I've been at Wells Fargo for 15 years. I'm doing, you know, I'm doing well. But I know there's more out there, but you know, you don't know what you don't know. Gregory Wilnau: Sure. Francisco Blanco: And I've been there, you know, my business partner, Joe, he's been there. And, you know, we, we've done the research, we've done the due diligence as to what else is out there. And we can be of guidance to, to other advisors, you know, whether you go independent, OSJ, a wire house, do I plug in, do I start my own? How do I start my own? What platform do I use? You know, there's, there's so what CRM do I use? What's the phone tree system going to look like? How? do I speak to for marketing? How do I build the website? What's my email, you know, set up like all those things? Correct. So we got that all figured out. And yeah. Gregory Wilnau: Wow, that sounds confusing and complicated. That's, that's like too much work, Well, that's a big hurdle to cross. So I think anybody who doesn't want to deal with that, ⁓ speaking with you would be a very compelling and interesting thing, an interesting direction to take. So if you're an advisor who is interested in that, go to stonebrookwealth.com forward slash for advisors to learn more about how you could work with Francisco. All right, let's move on to the next question. Want to keep us going along? Francisco Blanco: Yeah. ⁓ Yep. Exactly. Gregory Wilnau: So one of the that I like to ask is, nobody does this alone, right? So as your practice has grown, are there any maybe programs or trainings that have kind of shaped how you approach and positively impact ⁓ how you serve your clients? Is there anyone that you'd like to give a shout out to? Francisco Blanco: Yeah, I mean, there's a lot. There's a lot of ⁓ mentors and people that have helped me get to where I am today. One that comes to mind is ⁓ Tom Bartella. So Tom Bartella was a branch manager when I was a banker at Chase. And he taught me a lot about just how to speak to clients, to, you know, kind of when to, when to press, when not to press, how to be more organized, ⁓ you know. Gregory Wilnau: Mm-hmm. Francisco Blanco: what certain things and how to draft up certain emails and things like that. And he really took the time on a young Francisco and really, really helped shape me. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Yeah, definitely. And then also, Joe, my business partner. Gregory Wilnau: He mentored you. Yeah. Francisco Blanco: There's a lot that I've learned from him as well. Joe is very detail oriented, likes things to be done a certain way. I'm the same way as well in terms of, I want to put out the best product as possible or the best, exactly. So we... Gregory Wilnau: Nice. Sure. Something you're proud of. Yeah. Yeah. Francisco Blanco: We make a good team. There's things that I see that he doesn't there's things that he sees that I don't and You know, I've learned a lot from him going into the independent world, you know as a financial advisor Which is totally different than you know when you are at a big bank So, ⁓ you know, and also and the confidence that we've, you know, built in the brand and the name and the firm and all that stuff is a lot due to him. Gregory Wilnau: Sure, sure. I love it. Maybe you could intro me to him and I'll feature him on the podcast. Sounds like a guy that I would want to have on that would have a good perspective too. Francisco Blanco: Haha, yeah. Yeah, he has has cool cool stories also for sure Gregory Wilnau: Yeah, well, we'll talk about that in a bit. But for now, I really want to understand a little bit more about what it looks like to work with you. When you start working with an advisor, you arrive at a certain place. And then you ideally want to ⁓ go somewhere and end up at a destination. And these are things that you work on. So maybe you could take a moment just to describe kind of what it looks like to work with you over the course of a calendar year. I think you already talked a little bit about what the first couple of weeks and months might look like with onboarding and how you get started. But maybe you could just take us through, like somebody signs up with you today, becomes a client today. What does that look like over the course of the first 12 months? Francisco Blanco: Mm-hmm. Yeah, so the beginning, like you just mentioned, Greg, there'd be the due diligence process, making sure that we have a full understanding of what your financial situation is. Then we would move if you have existing assets, which most of the people I work with do. have existing investment accounts, taxable accounts, ⁓ IRAs, maybe some previous ⁓ 401ks, 43Bs, things like that. We would transfer all those as is and then begin to make changes. ⁓ We would hold the client's hand essentially where I'm very big on educating. ⁓ For a lot of people, what we do can seem very confusing. And I always say, you're not gonna understand 100 % of everything that we're doing. but I wanna get you as close to that as possible because if you don't understand, you're not gonna make a decision and you're not gonna see ⁓ how this will benefit you. So we do a great job at a lot of communication in the beginning, updating them, whether it's via email or a phone call as to where we are in the process. We have a process where ⁓ Gregory Wilnau: Right. Francisco Blanco: after 30 days of them starting to work with us, there's a call set up with me to see what questions they have on anything. And then after, yeah, and then after that, ⁓ you know, like I said earlier, I'm very hands on. So the client, ⁓ I'm a very proactive financial advisor. I don't really wait for the client to reach out to me to say they need something or want something. also very, ⁓ I listen more. Gregory Wilnau: Mm-hmm. Nice, nice. Francisco Blanco: speak. So I, I'm very aware of something that the client mentioned that where worries them, you know, maybe they are sensitive to the market. So if the market goes down, even if it's a little bit, you know, I reach out, check in, see how they're doing. Gregory Wilnau: How do you typically reach out, like phone call, email, text? What do your clients typically prefer, phone? Wow. Pick up the phone and call. What a concept. Francisco Blanco: Phone, yeah, mostly phone. Yeah. Yeah, just easy, You know, this is it's not rocket science, you know, we and proactive is most important thing, you know, just ⁓ yeah. Gregory Wilnau: Yeah. For me, I get so many spam calls, I don't even answer my phone anymore. If I don't know who it is, I don't even pick up. Francisco Blanco: Yeah, yeah, I mean I Same, same, but I do tell them, listen, save my number, this is me. So it's me calling and I tell them the same thing for my assistant Abby. ⁓ We don't call them assistant, we call them associates. So for my associate Abby, I also tell them to save her number because she will also be reaching out ⁓ to them as well. So ⁓ yeah, no, I... Gregory Wilnau: Sure. course. Perfect. Francisco Blanco: you know, I'm very, ⁓ throughout that calendar year, very proactive and hey, you know, we place this trade in your account. This is why, this is how it's gonna benefit you. know, how is, you know, your family doing things like that? And listen, you can argue that right now at 75 households, maybe that's something that is manageable, but ⁓ Francisco, what happens when you grow? And I, you know, I Gregory Wilnau: That's good. That's good that you do that. Yeah. Well, that's why you're attracting the other advisors, right? Yeah. Francisco Blanco: Correct. also, well, yeah, I mean, the other advisors wouldn't necessarily be working for us. They would just be plugging in and they would have their own book of business and manage their own clients. But the infrastructure that I want to build ⁓ is driven, is geared towards that, geared towards that client that appreciates that going above and beyond proactiveness. Gregory Wilnau: Okay, that makes sense. Francisco Blanco: communication. Like I'll give you an example, Greg. I have a client that ⁓ lives in the Fort Myers area. Fort Myers, those listening that aren't familiar with Florida, is about two hours ⁓ northwest of the Fort Lauderdale area. I spoke to her about estate planning, that that's important and that she needs to incorporate that piece. into her situation and she said great that's fine but I want someone that's local to me and you know that I can meet with in person. So I said perfect this is what I'm going to do. I'm going to you know tap into my network find two to three estate planning attorneys in the area that I would hire myself personally. and I'm going to interview them and I'm going to set up calls with them and interview them. I'm going to send you an email with a description of the highlights, what I liked, what I didn't like about the conversation and how they can benefit you. And then we will reconnect and choose one, essentially. So, you know, we also do that sort of thing. That's almost like a family office feel. But, you know, for no extra cost, I'm willing to do those things for clients, again, to go above and beyond and give them, you know, for them to see the value in working with me and give them what the service and the things that they deserve to be successful. Gregory Wilnau: Yeah. Yeah, I love it. You said you're serving others is something you're really passionate about and you had that realization early on ⁓ where you were that you started business and the business could be with ⁓ being a financial ⁓ planner, financial advisor. So I love it. All right. So for somebody listening who's interested in getting in touch with you and explaining how you might work together, ⁓ what should they do? Where should they go next? Francisco Blanco: So the couple things they can find me on LinkedIn, Francisco Blanco. I'm pretty active on LinkedIn as well. ⁓ But most importantly, on the website. So stonebrookewealth.com. If they go to the our team page, they click on Francisco Blanco's picture. There is my direct office line and my email address. The best thing to be would be to either, you give us a call, either myself or Abby will answer that phone every single time someone calls or send us an email if you're more comfortable and we'll set up a time to get to know each other, see what you got going on, see how I can add value and that's it. Gregory Wilnau: Well, thank you so much for coming on the podcast. Really enjoyed the chat and talk to you soon. Francisco Blanco: Yeah, thank you, Greg. Thanks for the opportunity. And I appreciate it. We'll speak soon. Take care.