James Gnefkow, President, Peachtree Planning

In an interview with Focus:, James Gnefkow, president of Peachtree Planning, highlighted efforts to guide clients through the current economic landscape and the firm’s efforts to prepare the next generation of financial professionals. “Our mission is to empower people to create generational impact,” he said.

What have been some key milestones for the firm in the last year?

We have successfully completed our internal acquisition process. We are now laser-focused on where we are going as a firm over the long term. We have grown in a lot of different metrics, such as the number of clients that we serve and the number of financial professionals that we have. Our mission is to empower people to create generational impact. Also, we are evaluating new markets to expand into along the Southeast.

How are clients’ behaviors and decisions changing in the current economic landscape?

A big part of being an advisor focused on the entirety of a client’s financial life is to create a roadmap for success over the long term, and helping them contextualize short-term uncertainty and volatility. For the most part, our clients are well prepared from a planning standpoint and also from an emotional standpoint, where short-term fluctuations in the stock market are just one piece of a client’s financial strategy. As a result, short-term volatility is not overly concerning. We seek to educate as we create plans for our clients. The noise and uncertainty can create concerns and fears, so there is a lot of proactive outreach to clients letting them know that we are here to talk to them through anything and to keep them focused on the long term.

How have planning strategies for business owners evolved over time?

When we work with the closely owned business owner community, we help them see that there are professional services that can help them create a plan for their business transition. This is desperately needed. We continue to find that there is a lot of opportunity in that space. As we work with business owners, we help them specifically identify the levers they can pull that will increase the value of their businesses over time. We aim to bring more specificity to exactly what those value acceleration options are at their disposal. We do this through an assessment framework where we ask them specific questions about their business and their goals and really hone in on specific actions they can take to increase the value of their business over time. Through planning, clients can receive optionality. This creates multiple potential paths, which can expand and enhance the ability to exit their business on their terms, for example.

How do planning strategies align with clients’ personal values?

Everything we do is values-driven. We spend a lot of time with our clients upfront, focusing on their values. We walk clients through value clarification exercises, which are very enlightening. We help whittle down values and identify three to five core values. We are focused on what is important to our clients, and if, from an investing standpoint, a client has sustainability or other unique investment preferences, we can customize portfolios to meet those needs. We have highly customizable strategies, which are all values-driven. If you think about having financial goals, there are values that underlie our goals. As advisors, we work in a very intimate space, which is someone’s finances, and we help clients align their money with a meaningful life. We revisit these values annually, understanding that as people grow and their families evolve, their values may shift as well.

How is the firm supporting the growth of the next generation of financial professionals?

This continues to be one of our focuses: to build the bridge for the next generation. We find that people who have the desire to do meaningful and impactful work are drawn to this career. There are people who truly want to help other people. Depending on the level of the advisor, whether it’s someone new to the industry or a seasoned advisor, we have a robust advisor development program that is focused on helping people better serve clients. There is a lot that goes into it. We can help an advisor clarify their vision and what they would like to create over time. It is almost like planning for the planners. We tend to seek people who are growth-minded and service-oriented. We have many resources available to advisors. We are in the people business, so the more that we understand ourselves and the more we seek to understand others, that is where the magic happens.

How is technology helping reshape the financial services industry?

We are on the leading edge of integrating technology in our planning process. Our planning software is integrated at the client level. It is an app-based software, and having transparency is the key. Clients have access to everything, all of their accounts, and it is all app-based, so it is all at their fingertips. Advisors and the clients operate using the same platform, so this allows us to be on the same page at all times. The process of being organized brings a lot of empowerment to the client. Many times, as life moves forward, we tend to acquire a junk drawer of things financially related, so just simply being organized and putting it together in an app-based platform is key and allows us to do our planning on an ongoing basis. Additionally, where progress toward a financial objective struggles is in the making of intentional choices of what to do once our money hits our checking accounts. Typically, we are spenders by default, and have to exert energy and effort to save. Our software has allowed us to flip this dynamic on its head and allow our clients to become savers by default and then spend intentionally. If we have systems that can automate savings behavior, it will help people take the necessary steps to save more.

What other initiatives is the firm working on?

Historically, this industry has been male-dominated. We are making very intentional inroads at attracting female advisors. That is a specific objective for us this year. We have done well and have many female advisors, but we want to create a bridge for females in the industry or not yet in the industry. We have elevated females into leadership positions to help us focus on bringing more females into the industry.