Latest / Financial Planner Search / Putting the Person in Front of the Numbers with Marcel V. Quiroga | Financial Planner Search
Transcript
- Gregory Wilnau: Hey Marcel, how are you doing today? Marcel V. Quiroga: I am doing well, Greg. How about you? How are you? Gregory Wilnau: I am doing awesome. Thank you so much for coming on the podcast. I've been looking forward to to speaking with you. Marcel V. Quiroga: Likewise, I'm excited to be here. Gregory Wilnau: Yeah, thank you so much. All right, to get started, maybe you could take a moment to tell us a little bit about your practice, kind of what you specialize in and and what you do. Marcel V. Quiroga: Absolutely. So I have a registered investment advisory firm called TQM Wealth Partners that I started 10 years ago with the purpose of adding more of a human element to the financial planning and wealth management experience. TQM stands for Total Quality Management, which is a business management philosophy. That espouses quality at all levels. But to me, TQM is also meaningful because in some Spanish-speaking countries it stands for te quiero mucho, which means I love you very much. So I think the best way to achieve quality is by putting your heart into it. And that's what we do for our clients. We help them have clarity around their finances. We act as their personal CFO so they can make educated decisions that give them confidence in what they are doing and give them as much control as possible throughout the process. Gregory Wilnau: I love it. I love it. Okay. Well, maybe you could take a moment and explain kind of what inspired you more to do this. I know that you said that the human side was very important to you. but maybe we could go into a little bit more about, you know, your inspiration for starting the firm and a little bit more about a little bit more about that. Marcel V. Quiroga: Yeah, so my lifelong dream, at least till my early twenties, had been to work in the United Nations because I wanted to make a difference in the lives of others and just some personal experiences led me to believe that that's the space where I could have impact. But Life often has other plans, and I found myself in a situation where I needed to provide for my children as a single mother. and I decided to study business and finance and had the opportunity to join a foundation for sustainable development where I was connecting small and medium-sized business owners with banks basically and other institutions that could provide them finances. Bottom line, without going into all the details, is that what I learned is that people have different experiences and different relationships with their money. And my journey led me to work with very successful people who had created wealth, wanted to make good decisions, very smart at what they did and what they were doing, but definitely needed guidance to optimize, to create efficiencies, and to allow them to focus on the things that they're good at and that they enjoy doing. and so, you know, many years in financial services and working At brokerage firms, as a financial advisor. The one thing I noticed, in my opinion, was missing the most was seeing the person behind the numbers and actually putting the person in front of the numbers. because what is money if it's not a tool for us to improve the quality of our lives and to help our loved ones and ultimately Gregory Wilnau: Mm. Marcel V. Quiroga: To help others. Gregory Wilnau: Absolutely. I love that. I love focusing on the things that you're you're good at. People have different relationships with money. That's very true. All right. Well, let's go into a little bit more about kind of who you work with. Maybe you could take a moment to describe the kind of person who comes to you. What's the typical situation that they need you to lead them through? You mentioned that, you know, they're smart, sometimes business owners, really busy. But yeah, maybe you could just take a moment to talk about like what's a typical Marcel V. Quiroga: Yeah, my experience has resulted in that people are coming to me oftentimes when they have come into a lot of money. Maybe it's because they sold a business, maybe because they've reached a point where they have so many stock options or restricted stock units, RSUs. oftentimes it's due to a divorce and Or you know, somebody's lost a spouse or parents, and ultimately the the common thread is suddenly they see themselves in a situation where they have a lot of money and they may have spent a lot of time building towards that moment, or they may be surprised to find themselves in the situation. or somewhere in the middle, but regardless of where they are in their journey, what they really want is clarity. They want to understand is this money going to last them, you know, an X number of years? Can they spend at a certain level without putting themselves at risk? Are they paying too much in taxes? Which is one of the big, big areas where we like to focus on because we strategize so for tax minimization purposes. And are they taking too much risk? But the interesting thing is oftentimes clients that are that we work with they're coming because they're maybe wondering if they're asking the right questions. What Gregory Wilnau: Mm. Marcel V. Quiroga: Is it that I don't know that I should be aware of? sometimes they may already be working with another financial advisor, wealth manager, and it's not that the relationship has gone sour most of the time. It's am I covering everything I should be covering? And they come to us through referrals. They come through us because they heard, you know, our approach is comprehensive. So they understand that we're not just gonna look at their portfolio, which ultimately is their financial capital. We're also gonna look at their human capital, which is their earnings, wherever that money is coming from that they're earning. We're gonna look at their social capital, which usually is social security, could be a pension. Gregory Wilnau: Mm. Marcel V. Quiroga: And we're gonna look at other sources of capital, sometimes licensing deals, royalties, rental income. And we're gonna look at all of that, yes, in in present value to make sure that they can do the things that are most important to them with confidence, without the fear that you know things are gonna change because. Gregory Wilnau: Nice. Marcel V. Quiroga: a scenario like two thousand and eight happens. and I can speak more to that, but that in essence is how the kind of people that are coming to us. Gregory Wilnau: Okay. No, yeah, let's let's maybe we could talk more about that. what we wanna do right now is just understand more about like your clients, where they are when they come to you, what keeps them up at night. You said that some of the questions that they ask are like, you know, am I paying too much tax? Am I gonna be okay? Am I taking too much risk? You know, I don't know what I don't know. Am I even asking the right questions? Right? these are all really important things. Marcel V. Quiroga: Yeah. Yes. Gregory Wilnau: that it sounds like they they come to you for. how about maybe a specific situation? are there any specific situations that to people typically come to you that they need you to lead them through? What is there w something that what's the most common one? Marcel V. Quiroga: Yes. Gregory Wilnau: What's keeping them up at night? Marcel V. Quiroga: You know, I think there's a lot of noise in the environment when it comes to money and finances. Whether you're following somebody on TikTok or you watch the financial or business channels or you read, you know, a financial blog or online newspaper. Whatever it is, there's so much coming at us. It's like overload. and I think people start to wonder is what people start to wonder, and what I hear from people is, you know, I heard that I should be in these kinds of stocks, or that this is not a good time to be in the market, or you know, that I shouldn't have any debt. and sometimes debt is a bad thing, but sometimes debt can help you create more wealth if you use the right type of debt. So I think they come here because they want to know what everything that they're hearing mean to them specifically, and oftentimes they come with a position already, you know, we should. Gregory Wilnau: Mm-hmm. Marcel V. Quiroga: own XYZ stocks, you know, the AI stocks, the tech stocks, or they may own have trusts that own certain investments for their children or grandchildren. The thing that I tell these clients and I tell people is what you're reading could or could not be accurate, but it's definitely not tailored to you. Because whether it's social media, whether it's traditional media, whether it's you know newspapers or magazines, blogs or anything online, they're speaking to a general audience. And what those outlets have in common is that they're looking for viewers. For example, yes, they have a duty Gregory Wilnau: Right. So they could sell advertisements. Yeah. Yeah. Marcel V. Quiroga: To their advertisers to get as many viewers as they can. They don't have a duty to their audience. And I'm not saying they're necessarily being irresponsible, although, you know, I just caution people, look at your sources of what you're reading. And you know, there are many stories where people have regretted following some general piece of advice or someone who sounded smart but maybe didn't have the credentials to back it up or the experience to back it up. What is important is to have someone who's sitting on your side of the table, whose only interest is your success. And that's where we come in. You know, we are fiduciaries, which means we're not only Obligated to do what's in our client's best interest. It's an ethical standard, it's a legal standard, and it's a moral standard for us. So what may be the right thing for your neighbor or for someone you spoke to at a cocktail party may not be the right thing, but it's good to explore, right? Bring those questions to us. Let's have those conversations. What does it mean to you? How does it impact your financial life and well being? Gregory Wilnau: Sure. And it's obviously, you know, important to get you you get to know your clients and better understand who they are, how they think, what their individual and unique situation is so that you can tailor your recommendations, help kind of calm the noise. And then as you said, I think, sit on their side of the table and advocate in their what you believe to be in their personal best interest based on what you know about them. And that's what a fudiciary means, right? Marcel V. Quiroga: That's what it means, Greg. But it has to go beyond what I believe. I have to be able to back it up. And that's why financial planning is core to what we do. So how do I know that a portfolio is invested in the right way for a client? The only way I can know is I've if I've done the work of looking at all of their financial life. You know, it's like going to a doctor. How does the doctor know to treat you with XYZ medicine for whatever it is that you need if they don't know other areas of your health, right? They could give you a medicine for I don't know, I'm not obviously a doctor, but let's say they give you a medicine for cholesterol, but if you have high blood pressure, Maybe that medicine is not the right one because it could spike up your blood pressure. That's just an example to say, just like in medicine and finance, knowing all the different areas, both of what is going on and what where the client wants to get to, is so important in order to provide that guidance. So for example, we Gregory Wilnau: Yeah. Marcel V. Quiroga: work with some families who own a lot of real estate. And they're not coming to us for us to manage their real estate portfolio. Usually what they're coming to us for is to design a financial plan that shows them the impact of selling certain properties. And maybe they don't want to be in real estate anymore because they're ready to just enjoy life and stop you know the stress of what they've enjoyed and been successful at for many years, but they're ready to wind down, if you will. But there's gonna be a lot of exactly. Yes, but there could be a lot of tax consequences if it's not structured properly. They also want to make sure that as they plan for their children, what they're gonna leave their children, that they're actually helping and not hindering their children. Gregory Wilnau: Get off get off the treadmill. Get off the treadmill, so to speak. Yeah. Marcel V. Quiroga: And it sounds almost obvious that, you know, or people often think, well, if I give my children money, then I'm helping them. Is that always the case? No. What if you give to the child to the child at the wrong time? When you know they're in the middle of a divorce or a lawsuit, or if they have an addiction, or if they're spendthrifts. So how do you protect your children from too much money? At the wrong time or too much money, period. And from you know, if they're younger, from giving them everything. And that that is a common theme among my clients is I don't want my children to lose motivation. Of course, I want them to enjoy a good life, a comfortable life. And parents are often proud to be able to do for their children what their own parents weren't able to do for them. and that's all good. But having those conversations that go beyond money, the impact it has on the relationship between the parent and the child, on the future of the child, the psyche of the child, so on and so forth. So I think it's probably a a long-winded answer to your question, but hopefully yeah, those are kind of the things that worry clients. Gregory Wilnau: Yeah, you didn't. Yeah. Yeah. N no it's I'm no, I mean that was really helpful, especially when you're talking about, you know, the impact of wealth on on children. you know, one of the things that we do is we interview a lot of our clients' clients. So we work with a lot of independent financial advisors and we interview their clients to learn more about, you know, how they work with the advisor. And a common theme, especially when children come up, is, you know, wanting to pass on money in a way that helps their children also form their own identity, go through their own journey, their own story, their own transformation. And oftentimes first generation wealth creators grow a lot because they've made that decision. And that transformation creates a lot of internal growth, a lot of struggle, a lot of hardship that you overcome on your journey to build that to build that wealth. And if your children don't experience that to some sort of degree on their own, it can create a lot of problems, I think. This is just personal observations on my own. I think that's a lot of something that a lot of parents will will think about. So, Marcel V. Quiroga: Yeah. Gregory Wilnau: But let's take a let let's let's let's move on a little bit. Let's let's talk a little bit about how your clients typically find you. So we've talked about, you know, how they what's on their mind when they find you, but how do they typically find you? You said I think you get a lot of referrals from existing clients. Is that the main way? Marcel V. Quiroga: Would say it's one of the main ways. Another way they find me is through speaking engagements like this, or you know, at a conference or a workshop, etc. I'd say some of them may find me online through our website. maybe they read something that is in our insights section. but yeah, I'd say it's mostly through. referrals and through our participation in in different on different platforms. but usually it's not just like, you know, a reel or I don't know, small I I'm trying to think of X, what they're called, tweets, but they're not tweets anymore. I'm not sure if they're so called tweets or not. It's not that Gregory Wilnau: Yeah, I don't know what they're called anymore. I I have no idea. Yeah. Yeah. So it sounds like the things that are more substantial are the ways that people find you. So client referrals, you get a little bit through online search, but speaking engagements, interactions with these people. Which makes a lot of sense because this is something that's really important. all right. So I wanna I wanna move forward and make sure we have time enough time to get through all the questions, but Marcel V. Quiroga: Yeah. Gregory Wilnau: I want to take a second to understand more about, you know, your vision and where you're taking your practice. So maybe give us a little bit of a glimpse of of the future. when it comes to your practice, where do you see it in the next one to three years? What's your vision? are there any goals you're working on? Marcel V. Quiroga: Yeah, we have very specific goals. Our primary goal is to continue to enhance the client experience. Our existing clients are our primary focus, making sure that they continue to receive the level of service that we've accustomed accustomed them to and that they deserve. And then that translates into anyone new coming. Gregory Wilnau: Yes. Marcel V. Quiroga: through the door, receiving that same level of experience. And I think it's very important to stay focused on that. If we're gonna espouse total quality management, that I, as I said at the beginning, means quality happens at all levels. It's you know how you answer the phone, how you answer an email, how you deliver a service, what ideas you bring to the table. how well coordinated is the team from onboarding to continual communication and service? One thing we've developed with this in mind is a cadence where at a minimum we are meeting in the spring and in the fall with every single client. So that means that as we grow, our team has to be able to have the capacity, or we have to bring in new team members. And and obviously we are meeting with our clients more often than that because we meet with them based on when they want to meet, but we are giving them a certain structure so that they know, it's the spring, I'm gathering all my tax documents out. And by the way, I'm gonna meet with the team at TQM Wealth Partners. So I have everything. And we're gonna be able to update their financial plan and make sure that their portfolio is still meeting the goals that maybe have changed, maybe have been adjusted, or new things have happened in their lives. And we wanna make sure that we're not stagnant because actually financial planning is a dynamic process and the plan. Gregory Wilnau: Absolutely. Marcel V. Quiroga: is a decision making tool. And so we want to make sure that that's a continuous conversation, but that their structure also set the so that the clients aren't, you know, caught off guard like, now she wants to know, you know what happened with X, Y, or Z that we had talked about at the last meeting. I I don't even remember that. Yeah. So Gregory Wilnau: Definitely. Well, I what I w I wanted to talk about this a little bit more because you're what you're talking about is your process, right? So maybe we could take a second to to talk about that. maybe you could walk me through, walk us through, you know, your actual process. So when somebody let's say somebody becomes a client today, right? What happens the first couple of weeks? What does onboarding look like? what does it look like to work with you during the course of a calendar year? You've you kind of mentioned some of these things, but let's maybe you could just kind of take us through it. Marcel V. Quiroga: Yeah. Yeah. Sure, it's my pleasure, Greg. Onboarding involves really getting to know our client better and get and our client getting to know us better. So even if it's somebody that outside of this type of relationship we know, there are certain aspects that we want to connect with. So one of the first things we do is have what we call our working meeting. You know, our first meeting is a working meeting. we do in advance send some information and a checklist of things that we're gonna go through, if you will, documents they could prepare in advance. But we know that our clients are really busy people. So Gregory Wilnau: Yeah, yeah. Marcel V. Quiroga: In that meeting, instead of saying, you know, you're gonna send me all these documents, which some clients like to do that, and we have, you know, we create their portal where they upload those documents. If I wait for the client to have time to do that, things may never or will often take a long time in moving forward. So in that working meeting, the client has his or her laptop with them. If it's a couple, they each have their laptops with them. maybe it's a meeting online and they're, you know, working off of their computer there. Maybe they've come to the office and brought their laptops, or maybe we've gone to their home and that's where we're doing it. But the important thing is that that's where we're going through the list together. So instead of giving them homework, it's a collaboration. And Gregory Wilnau: Yeah. Marcel V. Quiroga: They're we're saying, okay, we do need to see your 401k statement. They may be downloading it during that meeting. But basically what we've done is we've created this dedicated time for them to do something, but for us to be able to ask them questions along the way. There is something that we do ask them to reflect on that is not financial related. least not in an obvious way. but we ask if if it's a you know if it's spouses for example, we'll ask each of them to fill out a values questionnaire. It's very short, very to the point, but we are asking them to pick out their top five values and then put them in order from the the most important to the I wouldn't say least important, but to prioritize them. So that when we start Gregory Wilnau: Mm-hmm. Marcel V. Quiroga: building their financial plan, we remember that, for you know, Greg, adventure is really important, but for Sally, you know, security is really important. So how are we gonna balance that in those scenarios? Yes, yes, they are. They're so interesting. Absolutely. Gregory Wilnau: That sounds like an interesting conversation to have. How are we gonna balance adventure with security? Marcel V. Quiroga: And then after we've gathered the information from the client, we create a draft financial plan that we're going to present to the client. Usually in it'll be in 10 to 15 business days, depending on schedules. but as long as we have all that information, why a draft plan instead of a final plan? Because now we're gonna talk through the plan and we're gonna discover. Whether the client would be comfortable with some preliminary recommendations. So for example, if I have to tell a family, you know, you you can't buy that vacation home this year. And these are people who are very successful and don't expect a delay. And if I'm saying you can't do it, it's not because they need my permission. I'm talking from a financial perspective. And I have to be able to say, you know, these are the reasons why I recommend you wait a year because, you know, this other money is gonna come in, it's gonna make more financial sense. Ultimately, we are the CFO and they are the CEOs of their lives. So we're giving them the data. The information and we're showing them the potential outcomes, whatever they decide is always going to be the right thing for them. even if it's not what we recommended. Now, there's I guess a caveat to that. There could be times where clients are taking on too much risk or unnecessary risk, and we can see that that is not the right thing for them. But that's ultimately their decision. I would say we are successful in helping them understand when to reel things in, when to delay something, or when to reconsider something. And they're they're wise people. And as long as we can show them why and what the alternative, and that's the beauty of financial planning. You see outcomes. Gregory Wilnau: Yeah. Marcel V. Quiroga: before you pull the trigger, right? The other thing that happens in our process is that now we're gonna look at the investments within the framework of their financial plan. It's not that they're gonna have the asset allocation, you know, 60-40 because that's what everybody else has and what everybody feels comfortable with. Maybe the right allocation for them is 50-50 or 70-30. But it's only decided by what their actual needs are. What's their minimum required rate of return for them to meet their goals? What is their liquidity need? What is the capacity they have to take on risk versus their tolerance for risk? And if they're diametrically different, how do we? make balance that out, right? So as much as numbers can give you guidance, the psychological aspect, which often in our industry we all say, you know, peace of mind. But there's no point in doing something that on paper looks good if you're really gonna be stressed about it. Right. So I always tell clients if there's something that and and this happens Gregory Wilnau: Mm-hmm. Right. Absolutely. Yeah. Marcel V. Quiroga: maybe this is one of the reasons clients come to us. They're like, Well, I was working with somebody, I didn't really understand why we were doing this. So if you don't have clarity, that can create a little bit of stress, right? Or they really wanted me to do this, I wasn't comfortable, and I'm not sure if I should do this. Then there's no confidence in that decision. So Gregory Wilnau: Yeah. Marcel V. Quiroga: What is an alternative? A what would give you confidence? Gregory Wilnau: No, I love that. I love how you walk your clients through all of those things. You get to know them, you check in regularly, you make sure they understand why you get that financial plan going, and then line it up with investments and then help plan for possible outcomes in in different scenarios. So I really love it. love the process. okay, so to land this thing in in time, yeah, yeah. maybe just take a moment. Marcel V. Quiroga: Thank you, Greg. Yeah. Gregory Wilnau: for somebody listening who wants to get in in touch with you, what should they do next? Where where should they go? Marcel V. Quiroga: Yeah, I I would suggest they go to our website, tqmwealthpartners dot com and click on the contact us and they can schedule a meeting there. They can just click on the schedule the meeting button, it'll take them to my calendar, and we can have an informational session where we just get to know each other, no commitment, but I think everything starts with a relationship. Do I feel comfortable talking with this person? Because money is a very intimate issue. So take the time to have the conversation, whether it's with me or with someone else. Make sure it's somebody you feel comfortable opening up to, sharing your deepest, darkest, darkest money secrets. one thing I love hearing from my clients is it's good talking to you because I don't feel judged. Gregory Wilnau: Yes. Yeah. Marcel V. Quiroga: The last thing we want is to work with someone who's like, you did that, or you did this other thing, or you bought that, or whatever it is, who am I to judge? That's not my role. my role is to help guide and to help create clarity. But whatever the client does, ultimately they own that, and I'm there to. you know, cheer them on, help them out and and give them that sense of control which is completely judgment free. Gregory Wilnau: love it. And that's one of the reasons why they come to you, I'm sure, because they also feel safe. Well, thank you so much, Marcel. Really appreciated the conversation. Thank you for taking the time to talk about talk about your your firm but all more importantly to talk about your clients and how you serve them. So thank you. Marcel V. Quiroga: Yeah. My pleasure, Greg. Thank you. Thank you, Greg. I really appreciate it. It's a pleasure. I'll see you. Bye bye. Gregory Wilnau: All the best.