The Total Relationship: Four Steps to Breaking the Mold, Transforming the Financial Advisor-Client Partnership and Building True Wealth

By Tyson Jon Ray

Don't settle for anything less than The Total Relationship

When a crisis occurs we tend to count on a few professionals-one of them being our financial advisor. We lean on these trusted relationships to help us navigate the storms of life. Although well-intentioned, some advisors don't deliver true value. Too m

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ethos Collective
• Release date: Oct 5, 2023
• ISBN: 9781636801605

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THE TOTAL RELATIONSHIP

Copyright 2023 Tyson Jon Ray

www.FormWealth.com

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

Published by Ethos Collective

Powell, Ohio

www.EthosCollective.vip

Library of Congress Cataloging: 2023906438

ISBN Hardcover: 978-1-63680-159-9

ISBN Paperback: 978-1-63680-158-2

ISBN E-book: 978-1-63680-160-5

Investments & Wealth Institute™ (The Institute) is the owner of the certification marks CIMA and Certified Investment Management Analyst. Use of CIMA and/or Certified Investment Management Analyst signifies that the user has successfully completed The Institute’s initial and ongoing credentialing requirements for investment management professionals.

The Forbes Top Wealth Advisors Best-In-State 2023 ranking, developed by SHOOK Research, is based on an algorithm of qualitative criteria, mostly gained through telephone and in-person due diligence interviews, and quantitative data. This ranking is based upon the period from 6/30/2021 to 6/30/2022 and was released on 4/4/2023. Those advisors that are considered have a minimum of seven years of experience, and the algorithm weights factors like revenue trends, assets under management, compliance records, industry experience and those that encompass best practices in their practices and approach to working with clients. Portfolio performance is not a criteria due to varying client objectives and lack of audited data. Out of approximately 39,007 nominations, 7,321 advisors received the award. This ranking is not indicative of an advisor’s future performance, is not an endorsement, and may not be representative of individual clients’ experience. Neither Raymond James nor any of its Financial Advisors or RIA firms pay a fee in exchange for this award/rating. Raymond James is not affiliated with Forbes or SHOOK® Research, LLC. Please visit https://www.forbes.com/best-in-state-wealth-advisors for more info.

Source: Barron’s Top 1,200 Financial Advisors, March 2022. Barron’s is a registered trademark of Dow Jones & Company, L.P. All rights reserved. The rankings are based on data provided by 6,186 individual advisors and their firms and include qualitative and quantitative criteria. Time period upon which the rating is based is from 09/30/2020 to 09/30/2021, and was released on 03/11/2022. Factors included in the rankings: assets under management, revenue produced for the firm, regulatory record, quality of practice and philanthropic work. Investment performance is not an explicit component because not all advisors have audited results and because performance figures often are influenced more by clients’ risk tolerance than by an advisor’s investment picking abilities. The ranking may not be representative of any one client’s experience, is not an endorsement, and is not indicative of an advisor’s future performance. Neither Raymond James nor any of its Financial Advisors pay a fee in exchange for this award/rating. Barron’s is not affiliated with Raymond James.

Raymond James Council Advisor membership is based on prior fiscal year production. Re-qualification is required annually. The ranking may not be representative of any one client’s experience, is not an endorsement, and is not indicative of an advisor’s future performance. No fee is paid in exchange for this award/rating.

Securities are offered through Raymond James Financial Services, Inc., member FINRA/SIPC. Investment advisory services are offered through Raymond James Financial Services Advisors, Inc. and FORM Wealth Advisors. FORM Wealth Advisors is not a registered broker/dealer and is independent of Raymond James Financial Services.

The information contained in this book does not purport to be a complete description of the securities, markets, or developments referred to in this material. The information has been obtained from sources considered to be reliable, but we do not guarantee that the foregoing material is accurate or complete. Any information is not a complete summary or statement of all available data necessary for making an investment decision and does not constitute a recommendation. Any opinions of the chapter authors are those of the chapter author and not necessarily those of RJFS or Raymond James. Expressions of opinions are as of the initial book publishing date and are subject to change without notice. Raymond James Financial Services, Inc. is not responsible for the consequences of any particular transaction or investment decision based on the content of this book. All financial, retirement, and estate planning should be individualized as each person’s situation is unique. This information is not intended as a solicitation or an offer to buy or sell any security referred to herein. Recommendations, specific investments, or strategies discussed may not be suitable for all investors. Past performance may not be indicative of future results. You should discuss any tax or legal matters with the appropriate professional.

This material was written with technical assistance from Igniting Souls Publishing.

Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION TO THE TOTAL RELATIONSHIP

SECTION ONE: BREAKING MOLDS

CHAPTER ONE: COMMON MOLDS THAT NEED BROKEN

CHAPTER TWO: BREAKING THE MOLDS OF PAST PERFORMANCE AND STRIVING FOR MORE

SECTION TWO: PARTNERSHIP FORMATION

CHAPTER THREE: FORMING TRUST

CHAPTER FOUR: THE PARTNERSHIP EVERY CLIENT NEEDS

CHAPTER FIVE: PARTNERSHIP BENEFITS

CHAPTER SIX: FOUR PILLARS TO FORM A STRONG PARTNERSHIP

SECTION THREE: A BETTER LIFE SYSTEM

CHAPTER SEVEN: FORMING A BETTER LIFE FOR YOUR CLIENTS

CHAPTER EIGHT: TOTAL RELATIONSHIP PLANNING

CHAPTER NINE: TOTAL RELATIONSHIP (TR) INVESTING

CHAPTER TEN: TOTAL RELATIONSHIP (TR) CARE

CHAPTER ELEVEN: ADOPTING THE MINDSET OF A TR ADVISOR

About the Author

INTRODUCTION TO THE TOTAL RELATIONSHIP

There is a reason only 35% of Americans work with a financial advisor.¹ The beliefs and practices of so many advisors are antiquated and wrong. I have dedicated my entire professional career to wealth advising, and I’ve come to the conclusion my industry needs to shift the focus from money to people, products to plans, and market predictions based on historical data and what is not known about the future results of the markets, economy, and investment rates of return to what is known. This simple redirection allows advisors to concentrate on creating a better life for the client by working in Total Relationship.

This book is my attempt to change what a Financial Advisor can offer a client through what I call The Total Relationship.

The Total Relationship helps the client as well as the advisor understand their roles as they come together to create a mutually beneficial partnership where both lives can become better together.

A great Total Relationship requires a client who wants advice from a professional as well as a professional who knows how to give intelligent suggestions and can lead the client through life. This philosophy offers mutually beneficial incentives to keep the advisor and client together as they live out life, hopefully for the better.

Client’s lives are at stake, and each person is worthy of being saved from a product-focused industry.

Who Am I to Write This Book

The twenty-year bull market of the 1980s and 1990s laid the foundation for my career and formed my initial perspective. Sadly, a large portion of the financial industry and many individual investors remain focused on facts and feelings from that era. Driven by fear and greed, the client gets the short end of the stick.

To prove my point, watch any movie about the finance industry based on real or fictional characters. The 1987 hit Wall Street remained a recruiting tool for banks and firms for thirty years after its release. Subsequently more Hollywood stories offered a skewed portrayal of the worst of the finance industry, sending a variety of negative messages to the world–from the attraction of greed to the fueling of corporate spending and ambition. Unfortunately, these movies and some of the realities they represent have contributed to the fluctuation in the financial industry’s reputation I’ve experienced over the past three decades.

At the end of the twentieth century, the market soared. While many saw significant increases in their portfolios, almost as many experienced exploitation and felt like investment firms had hung them out to dry. Many firms made recommendations on what to buy and sell to individuals based on investments that would benefit the firms more than the clients. Professional investors use the buy low and sell high strategy; however, for this to work, someone else, the unknowing individual investor, must buy high and sell low. This happens even to this day.

My first day in an investment firm revealed that my title of stockbroker would change to financial consultant then financial advisor, yet I felt I needed to be a salesman in order to fulfill the expectation of my employer. Though not at all what I had envisioned, I was instructed to cold-call a lengthy list of potential clients to convince them to invest in the latest promise—the late ‘90s tech growth stocks or an alternative high-dividend-paying utility.

I called 3,000 people three times in six months, held sixteen different speaking events, and was the hardest working, most unsuccessful salesman in our Pensacola Office. What started as a dream to be successful quickly turned into just trying to survive. I felt stressed trying to meet targets and earn enough commission to buy food. Within six months, I’d moved from salary plus commission to straight commission, and couldn’t meet the goals I’d set for myself. In November 1998, my $400 paycheck didn’t cover my rent, let alone my car payment or credit card minimum. So, I did what most young people in that position do: I applied for a second credit card so I could pay my bills.

Money symbolized comfort, but it seemed so far out of reach. I worked twelve hours a day, six days a week with little to show for it. A flattened rummage sale bean bag served as my only chair, and my college television sat on the floor in one corner of my tiny apartment. A throwaway piece of counter sprawled over two broken filing cabinets I pulled out of the dumpster created a makeshift desk in the other corner, but without the funds to buy a chair, it wasn’t extremely useful. If you had walked in, you’d have assumed someone robbed me.

The only sign that someone might plan on living there for any length of time were the few pictures hanging on the walls—pictures that felt like a metaphor for my life. They represented the face of contentment and cheer I painted on every day as I went to work. I hoped the pictures