Financial Planner Search

Finding a financial advisor is easy. Finding the right one is hard. Most advisors look the same on paper — credentials, services, a polished website. But what you actually need to know is how they think, how they treat people, and whether you'd even enjoy working with them. That's what Financial Planner Search is for. Each episode, we sit down with an independent financial advisor for an honest, in-depth conversation. No sales pitch. No jargon. Just a real look at who they are, how they work, and who they're best suited to help. By the end, you'll know what they’re all about. Whether you're approaching retirement and looking for a fiduciary for the first time, thinking about leaving your current advisor, or simply want to make a smarter hiring decision — this show gives you the inside access you need.

Financial Planner Search is a business podcast hosted by Gregory Wilnau, with 46 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80. PitchCentric scores this show on Booking Probability, Listen Score, and live audience signals refreshed every 24 hours.

Gregory Wilnau hosts Financial Planner Search, a business show with 46 episodes published.

Our AI reads these to draft pitches. Use them as grounding for a pitch that cites a real guest and a specific topic.

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  Financial Planner Search

  Retire as You Desire with Bill Bloom | Financial Planner Search

  Sep 2, 202633 min

  In this episode of Financial Planner Search, Bill Bloom, founder of Bloom Financial, shares his "Retire as You Desire" philosophy, helping clients plan for their money to last to age 100 while rediscovering purpose before they stop working. Bill's path started with childhood money scarcity and a college professor who pulled up in a Cadillac Escalade in West Virginia, a sign that he could figure this out too. He launched Bloom Financial at 28 after six years at Prudential, lost every client to a non-compete, and rebuilt from $24,000 in net revenue his first year. That scrappy beginning shaped a practice built on family-first relationships, tough conversations, and planning that goes far past the numbers into the soul of retirement. Bill walks through the four phases of retirement, the free Retire with Purpose course he built to help people avoid the "lost" phase, and why he tells clients to plan for 100 even when no one in their family has lived past 75. Takeaways * Plan for your money to last to age 100 and let your beliefs catch up to the math * Retirement has four phases; purpose (not the portfolio) is what falls apart in phase two * A family-first approach means tough conversations, not fluff * The Retire with Purpose course helps couples map time, health, and meaning before they retire Chapters * 00:00 Retire as You Desire * 02:31 The Cadillac in West Virginia, origin story * 04:24 Prudential in 2008, and leaping into Bloom Financial * 06:47 Who finds Bloom Financial, the family-first approach * 09:32 Herman Miller, and learning from the veterans at lunch * 11:36 First meetings, childhood money stories and the "why" * 13:45 A tough conversation with a widow and two houses * 16:41 Giving retirees "pay raises" and planning for inflation * 18:02 The four-meeting client experience * 23:00 Plan to 100, and the vision for $1B AUM * 26:34 Shout-outs, Ozaic, Dan Sullivan, and the people who shaped the practice * 29:04 The Retire with Purpose course, the four phases of retirement * 33:10 How to reach Bill Bloom You can find them at: https://www.bloomfinancialco.com/ If you are a financial advisor looking to grow your business you can find out more about Wilnau Design at https://www.wilnaudesign.com/ #financialplanning #retirementplanning #retireasyoudesire #financialplannersearch

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  Financial Planner Search

  Divorce, Money & Starting Over with Leah Hadley | Financial Planner Search

  Aug 27, 202629 min

  In this episode of Financial Planner Search, Leah Hadley, founder of Intentional Wealth Partners and Intentional Divorce Solutions, discusses her work supporting people through divorce and the financial transitions that come with suddenly being on your own. Leah never planned on a career in finance. She was a burnt-out teacher drowning in student loans when she took a temp job on a trading floor and discovered there was an entire language around building and protecting wealth that nobody had ever taught her. That humbling moment set her on a path from equity research analyst to founding her own firms in 2016. Today she helps people, most of them newly single, widowed, or freshly divorced, who are responsible for their finances for the first time and waking up at night worrying about money. Having been through her own divorce, Leah brings a rare empathy to the work, and her philosophy is simple: no two divorces are the same, so meet people where they are, give them grace and space, and remember it's their plan, not hers. Takeaways * Divorce financial planning is "financial planning on steroids" * Clarity starts with getting money worries out of your head and onto paper * A settlement is only as good as the plan behind it * Confidence to spend matters as much as confidence to invest * It's okay to get support — you don't have to figure it out alone Chapters * 00:00 Meet Leah Hadley & Her Two Companies * 01:07 From Burnt-Out Teacher to Equity Research Analyst * 05:50 Why Leah Specializes in Divorce * 08:03 Who Comes to Leah for Help * 12:36 The Woman With the Million-Dollar Settlement * 17:45 First Steps to Get Centered * 21:12 The Vision: It's Okay to Get Support * 25:38 What Onboarding Looks Like You can find them at: https://www.intentionalwealthpartners.co If you are a financial advisor looking to grow your business you can find out more about Wilnau Design at https://www.wilnaudesign.com/ #financialplanning #finance #financialplannersearch #divorce #womenandmoney #lifetransitions

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  Financial Planner Search

  Turning a Big Number Into a Paycheck with Josh Ackerman | Financial Planner Search

  Aug 25, 202633 min

  In this episode of Financial Planner Search, Josh Ackerman, financial planner and second-generation owner of Context Financial in Lexington, Kentucky, discusses how he helps successful people translate a lifetime of savings into a retirement they can actually understand. Josh's father started the firm in 2000 with a simple conviction: don't sell product, sell advice. That idea shaped everything — including a piece of coaching Josh still carries today: "two numbers and a story that connects them." It's the difference between handing a client a balance sheet and handing them something their brain knows how to process. Josh walks through what happens when "the switch flips" and a prospective client realizes retirement is going to happen to them, why the question keeping them up at night is almost always "how do I turn this into a paycheck?", and how a post-it note on a client's refrigerator became one of his favorite planning tools. Takeaways The "switch flips" when retirement stops being abstract and becomes real Two numbers and a story beats a balance sheet every time Turn a big number into a paycheck-sized number clients can actually understand The value of a plan is in the planning — the conversations, not the document Speak English, not financial Chapters 00:00 Meet Josh Ackerman & Context Financial 03:29 Two Numbers and a Story: Lessons from Dad 07:52 Who Josh Serves — When "The Switch Flips" 10:23 The Question Keeping Clients Up at Night 13:05 Turning a Big Number Into a Paycheck 17:52 Where Clients Come From: Referrals 19:57 Vision: From 60 to 100 Households 23:03 The Process: Fit Meeting to Ongoing Planning 27:37 The Post-It Note & "The Value Is in the Planning" 36:07 Red Ocean vs. Blue Ocean & the Identity Conversation 39:12 "You Don't Talk Like a Financial Advisor" You can find them at: https://www.contextfinancial.com If you are a financial advisor looking to grow your business you can find out more about Wilnau Design at https://www.wilnaudesign.com/ #financialplanning #finance #financialplannersearch #retirementplanning #financiallifepanning #lexingtonky

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  Financial Planner Search

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

  Aug 20, 202635 min

  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. 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. 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. Takeaways * Why true independence was the only way to work for the client * How complex corporate benefits get overlooked in most financial plans * The rise of semi-retirement and walking away from the grind early * Building a firm that outlasts its founders Chapters * 00:00 Meeting at MetLife and finding common values * 04:19 The TV announcement that started it all * 07:47 Who Strata Capital serves * 11:24 What keeps clients up at night * 12:50 The semi-retirement conversation * 20:00 Raising the standard of advice in the industry * 24:21 Onboarding and the war room approach * 29:13 A year in the life of a Strata client * 34:39 How to get in touch You can find them at: https://www.stratacapital.co If you are a financial advisor looking to grow your business you can find out more about Wilnau Design at https://www.wilnaudesign.com/ #financialplanning #finance #financialplannersearch #fiduciary #corporatebenefits #semiretirement

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  Financial Planner Search

  Garden-Glove Service for Family Offices with Jack Dwyer | Financial Planner Search

  Aug 18, 202632 min

  In this episode of Financial Planner Search, Jack Dwyer, President of Sunpointe Investments, talks about why he left a giant consulting firm to build a practice that shines a bright light on fees and conflicts and why he thinks of advising as garden-glove work, not white-glove waiting. Jack came to this as an Army engineer who commanded a bridge company in Iraq. He still uses that same instinct: take the fog of war, markets, taxes, family dynamics, a job change and boil it down to what actually matters for this family. He and his partner grew Sunpointe out of family-office work at Hammond Associates and Mercer, serving established offices alongside tech entrepreneurs and even other finance professionals. One moment that meant a lot to him: a fellow CFA charterholder hired them, first for his aging parents, then for himself. The through-line is what money is supposed to carry. Jack sits with kids as young as sixth grade to talk about how markets actually work. He helps grandparents put a family mission and five core values in writing. As he puts it, pass along personal values at the same time you’re passing along account values. Takeaways Garden-glove service: digging in beside families instead of waiting on them Pass personal values with account values Next-gen education as early as sixth grade A family playbook so you can adjust when life happens Even people who “could do it themselves” still hire a coach Chapters 00:00 From Army engineer to family-office advisor 03:03 Why they built Sunpointe for transparency 07:17 Family offices, entrepreneurs, and the CFA who hired them 10:18 Preparing kids and grandkids for wealth 15:27 Family playbooks when the plan meets real life 21:29 Garden-glove service, not white glove 22:29 Building out family governance, education, and giving 26:52 How working together actually looks 30:18 Where to start a conversation You can find them at: https://sunpointeinvestments.com If you are a financial advisor looking to grow your business you can find out more about Wilnau Design at https://www.wilnaudesign.com/ #financialplanning #finance #financialplannersearch #familyoffice #nextgenwealth

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