Leaving Product Sales Behind with David D'Albero & Carmine Coppola | Financial Planner Search

<p>In this episode of Financial Planner Search, David D'Albero and Carmine Coppola, co-founders of Strata Capital, talk about the moment they decided they couldn't keep working for the company instead of the client.<br /></p><p>They met at MetLife's Premier Client Group, where the job was to sell a product and move on. They watched on a TV in the office as the news broke that they'd been sold to Mass Mutual, and when the new management told advisors to drop their planning and investment licenses and focus on "core product," that was the moment they looked at each other and knew they were leaving. Their next firm started better and ended the same way. Carmine describes a six-month stretch where he tripled his assets under management and watched his income go down, because he wouldn't sell someone a life insurance policy just to hit a goal.<br /></p><p>Today Strata Capital works almost exclusively with Fortune 500 professionals at the VP level and up: people with complicated benefit packages nobody has explained to them, tax bills they suspect are too high, and a growing question that David says is showing up in nearly every conversation now, which is whether they can walk out of the big stressful role early and still keep the purpose and the social side of work. David and Carmine build plans around the worst case rather than the best one, run every recommendation through a tax lens, and put the whole team in the room on every client case so no one is the single point of failure.<br /></p><p>Takeaways</p><p>* Why true independence was the only way to work for the client</p><p>* How complex corporate benefits get overlooked in most financial plans</p><p>* The rise of semi-retirement and walking away from the grind early</p><p>* Building a firm that outlasts its founders<br /></p><p>Chapters</p><p>* 00:00 Meeting at MetLife and finding common values</p><p>* 04:19 The TV announcement that started it all</p><p>* 07:47 Who Strata Capital serves</p><p>* 11:24 What keeps clients up at night</p><p>* 12:50 The semi-retirement conversation</p><p>* 20:00 Raising the standard of advice in the industry</p><p>* 24:21 Onboarding and the war room approach</p><p>* 29:13 A year in the life of a Strata client</p><p>* 34:39 How to get in touch<br /></p><p>You can find them at: <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.stratacapital.co" target="_blank">https://www.stratacapital.co</a><br /></p><p>If you are a financial advisor looking to grow your business you can find out more about Wilnau Design at <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.wilnaudesign.com/" target="_blank">https://www.wilnaudesign.com/</a><br /></p><p>#financialplanning #finance #financialplannersearch #fiduciary #corporatebenefits #semiretirement</p>