Always On for Financial Advisors Podcast

The old rule was simple: earn your stripes the hard way, then make the next generation earn theirs too. Alex Murphy thinks that rule is exactly what’s holding the industry back.

As Chief Operating Officer at Cedarwood Financial Partners and host of the Beyond the Trees podcast, Alex helped found Cedarwood in 2022 with a vision to bring a family-focused approach to business and life. That philosophy shows up everywhere in his work, from how he mentors advisors just starting out to how he thinks about scaling a practice without losing what makes it personal.

Join Duncan MacPherson as he sits down with Alex and digs into what it really takes to build a next-generation advisory business. They cover the full arc of an advisor’s career, from the earliest days of learning to manage volatility and become a client’s first call, to the middle years of navigating mentor-protege dynamics and deciding whether to specialize, all the way through to the final stretch of a career and the shift from generalist to owner of real enterprise value. Along the way, they explore why so many advisors chase growth for its own sake, and what it looks like to build a business that serves a fuller life instead of consuming it.

Key Highlights Include:

Why bigger isn’t always better.

Teaching new advisors the power of firsts.

Building mentorship with purpose, not just skill.

Growing down, zooming out, leveling up.

The case for niching down over generalizing.

If you’re building a team, mentoring the next generation, or aiming to make your last five years your best five years, this episode delivers a practical roadmap.

Promotions:

Toolkit CRM by Pareto Systems: toolkitcrm.com

Pareto Systems: Practice Management Index (PMI)

Connect With Duncan MacPherson:

Website: ParetoSystems.com

Toll Free: 1.866.593.8020

Learn More: Schedule a Call

LinkedIn: Duncan MacPherson

Connect With Alex Murphy

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/alexmurphycfp

Website: cedarwoodfp.com

Podcast: Beyond the Trees

About Our Guest:

Alex Murphy is a financial advisor, Chief Operating Officer of Cedarwood Financial Partners, and host of the Beyond the Trees podcast. In 2022, Alex helped found Cedarwood Financial Partners with a vision to bring a family-focused approach to business and life. He is an Accredited Asset Management Specialist with more than twelve years of experience in wealth management and is passionate about leadership, relationships, and helping others build a more fulfilling business and life. Outside of work, Alex enjoys traveling and spending time with his wife, Tricia, and their three daughters.

What if the greatest opportunity to grow your business isn’t finding more clients, but creating more value for the ones you already have? In this milestone 100th episode, Duncan MacPherson explores how advisors become indispensable by deepening relationships and becoming the first call long before money goes into motion.

Join Duncan MacPherson for a milestone conversation with Chris Jeppesen, head of the advisor consulting group at First Trust Portfolios and, fittingly, the very first guest this podcast ever had. Duncan and Chris take the Pareto Principle a level deeper, the 80-20 within the 20, exploring how advisors can identify their ideal clients, build continuity for affluent families, and integrate alternative investments into a process that creates lasting value.

Key Highlights Include:

The Pareto Principle within the Pareto Principle

Defining your ideal client profile

Becoming the “chief continuity officer” for a family’s legacy

Building a family continuity blueprint

Creating a Value Added Support Team of strategic partners

Positioning alternatives as process, not product

Tune in for a milestone conversation on why the next chapter of your business may be less about acquisition and more about legacy.

Promotions

Pareto Systems Coaching: paretosystems.com

Practice Management Index (PMI): paretosystems.com/pmi (use coupon code BDR25 for a free breakdown report, a $99 value)

Connect With Duncan MacPherson

Website: ParetoSystems.com

Toll Free: 1.866.593.8020

Learn More: Schedule a Call: paretosystems.com/schedule-a-call

LinkedIn: Duncan MacPherson: linkedin.com/in/duncanmacpherson

Connect With Chris Jeppesen

Website: ftportfolios.com

LinkedIn: Chris Jeppesen: linkedin.com/in/chris-jeppesen-316a27

About Our Guest

Chris Jeppesen joined First Trust in 1997 and has since met with thousands of brokers, advisors, and wealth managers, learning the elements that have the most meaningful impact on delivering a consistent investment experience, scalable growth, and predictable revenue. He heads the advisor consulting group at First Trust Portfolios, coaches a select group of advisors, and collaborates with the business development areas of firms with long-standing relationships with First Trust. Chris is the co-author of The Advisor Playbook and The Blue Square Method, and shares what he’s learned with thousands of advisors each year as a frequent guest speaker at financial advisor conferences across the country.

Why do some of your best clients, the ones with real revenue and a great attitude, never actually refer you to anyone? Terry Gronbeck-Jones calls this the mystery of the double A, and in this episode, he joins Duncan MacPherson to finally solve it.

Join Duncan MacPherson for an in-depth conversation with Terry Gronbeck-Jones, a business development consultant who has been coaching financial advisory teams since the late 1990s, the majority of that time spent at Pareto Systems. Terry and Duncan have known each other for nearly forty years, and this marks Terry’s return to Always On after his earlier episode on avoiding a plateau. Together, they unpack Pareto’s triple-A classification system: assets, attitude, and advocacy, and explain why the double A, the client with the first two but not the third, is one of the most overlooked growth opportunities in any practice. The gap between a good client and an advocate isn’t complicated once you see what’s missing.

Key Highlights Include:

Why double A’s sit on untapped gold

The three real reasons great clients don’t refer

Why the little things are the big things

Positioning referrals as a service, not a favor

Why strategic partners refer three times more often

Tune in for a warm, practical conversation on turning your best relationships into your best source of new business.

Promotions:

Pareto Systems, Turnkey Advisor Membership: paretosystems.com/turnkey-advisor-membership

Connect With Duncan MacPherson:

Website: ParetoSystems.com

Toll Free: 1.866.593.8020

Learn More: Schedule a Call: paretosystems.com/schedule-a-call

LinkedIn: Duncan MacPherson: linkedin.com/in/duncanmacpherson

Connect With Terry Gronbeck-Jones:

Website: paretosystems.com/coach-terry-gronbeck-jones

LinkedIn: Terry Gronbeck-Jones: linkedin.com/in/terry-gronbeck-jones-51463b3

About Our Guest:

Terry Gronbeck-Jones has been a consultant and business coach for the financial services industry since the late 1990s, the majority of those years spent at Pareto Systems. Terry also consults through Mindset Consulting, a company he co-founded in 2014. His primary focus is working with financial advisory teams across North America, helping them implement marketing and business development best practices. He has consulted on corporate projects with firms such as Wells Fargo, Raymond James, and Creative Marketing, and is the co-author of The North Wind and the Sun, a collection of true stories about the importance of relationships in business. Terry is based in Ottawa, Ontario.

Two forces are converging right now that will define which advisors become indispensable and which ones become obsolete. One is artificial intelligence. The other is alternative investments. Duncan MacPherson calls them the two AIs, and in this episode, he and Matt Doran break down exactly what each one means for the future of advisor value.

Join Duncan MacPherson for a wide-ranging conversation with Matt Doran, Leader of Advanced Planning at &Partners, a rapidly growing wealth management firm supporting over 112 practices and approximately $52 billion in prehire assets. Matt brings more than 20 years of experience as a CFP and holds a master’s in taxation from Villanova University. Both forces are raising the bar for what advisors need to offer, and both are creating a gap between those who see the opportunity and those who don’t. The gap between advisors who get this and those who don’t is only going to widen. This conversation is worth your time.

Key highlights include:

Why the public markets universe is shrinking and what it means for advisors

Positioning alts diagnostically, not prescriptively

The shift from COIs to strategic partners

Why the process is the offering

How liquidity events redefine who’s in the room

Why complexity is the greatest fuel for referrals

The iceberg problem: being your own best-kept secret

Tune in for a rich, substantive conversation on the evolving role of the financial advisor, what fee worthiness really looks like in today’s environment, and how the advisors who will be indispensable tomorrow are positioning themselves right now.

Promotions:

Pareto Systems – Turnkey Advisor Membership: paretosystems.com/turnkey-advisor-membership

Alternative Investment Masterclass: paretosystems.com/alternative-investments-masterclass

Connect With Duncan MacPherson:

Website: ParetoSystems.com

Toll Free: 1.866.593.8020

Learn More: Schedule a Call: paretosystems.com/schedule-a-call

LinkedIn: Duncan MacPherson: linkedin.com/in/duncanmacpherson

Connect With Matt Doran:

Website: andpartners.com

LinkedIn: Matt Doran: linkedin.com/in/matthewdoran14

About Our Guest:

Matt Doran is Leader of Advanced Planning at &Partners, a rapidly growing wealth management firm founded by former Wells Fargo leaders and headquartered in Nashville and St. Louis. With more than 20 years of experience as a CFP and a master’s in taxation from Villanova University Law School, Matt has spent his career at the intersection of complex planning and advisor practice development. A former principal at Edward Jones and founder of Sage Wealth Planning, he now helps advisors and their clients navigate the growing complexity of wealth management, with deep expertise in alternative investments, tax planning, charitable structures, and liquidity event strategy. Matt lives in Elk Rapids, Michigan.

What if the single biggest threat to your practice isn’t the market, isn’t AI, and isn’t the competition? What if it’s simply being invisible?

Join Duncan MacPherson for an in-depth conversation with Mitch Slater, Executive Director of Digital Communications at UBS and self-described Chief Visibility Officer. With a career that began working alongside Larry King in all-night radio and later spanning 37 years as a financial advisor, Mitch brings a rare and battle-tested perspective on what it takes to get known in today’s marketplace. Together, they explore why AI and shifting client expectations are reshaping financial services into its most significant era yet, and what separates the advisors who will thrive from those who will be left behind. The conversation is equal parts strategic and personal, grounded in real stories and hard-won lessons from decades at the intersection of media, markets, and client relationships.

Key highlights include:

Answer engine optimization and what it means for advisors

Why LinkedIn comments are your highest ROI activity

Why personal storytelling outperforms credentials every time

How AI should free you up for more high-touch work

The compounding effect of one dedicated hour a day on your business

Two lessons from Larry King that shaped Mitch’s entire career

Tune in for a practical, energizing conversation on visibility, authenticity, and what it really means to get known in the modern advisory business.

Promotions:

Toolkit CRM by Pareto Systems: toolkitcrm.com

Pareto Systems: Practice Management Index (PMI)

Connect With Duncan MacPherson:

Website: ParetoSystems.com

Toll Free: 1.866.593.8020

Learn More: Schedule a Call

LinkedIn: Duncan MacPherson

Connect With Mitch Slater:

LinkedIn: Mitch Slater

About Our Guest:

Mitchell (Mitch) Slater is Executive Director and Chief Visibility Officer, Advisor Marketing at UBS Wealth Management USA. After a 35-year career as a Financial Advisor, Sales Manager, and trainer, Mitch now helps financial advisors and business professionals increase their visibility through LinkedIn, video, podcasts, personal branding, and AI.

A former radio producer who worked with both Larry King and Howard Stern early in his career, Mitch combines media experience with decades in wealth management to help professionals build trust, strengthen relationships, and grow their influence. He is the host of several UBS programs, including Front and Center and Leadership Lounge, and is a frequent speaker at conferences and advisor events across the country.

Mitch lives in Westfield, New Jersey, with his wife Leslie and is passionate about helping people “stop being invisible” and get known for what they do best.