Deena Katz on Practice Management: For Financial Advisers, Planners, and Wealth Managers

This book is an excellent guide to the importance of customer service in the financial planning world. Individuals willing to offer financial advice and service are everywhere - however successful financial planning firms are run by those that have paid attention to the details. A great book to give to new employees to help explain the importance of efficiency and how it correlates to a positive client experience.

Deena Katz, a Certified Financial Planner (CFP) who has given financial advice in magazines and on TV, describes how to set up a practice as a financial planner and adviser. She discusses how to grow your business and manage your clients' lives as well as their dollars. She draws on her experience, interviews and networking with other practitioners to provide a detailed hands-on guide. She considers such issues as recruiting, hiring and firing staff, working with partners, using hardware and software and setting up effective systems. She provides tips on public relations, hiring, firing and refusing clients, and keeping good clients. Her book concludes with a targeted resource section on useful books, journals, magazines, newsletters, software programs and Web sites. We [...] highly recommend this comprehensive introductory guide. Although it is directly targeted toward individuals in the financial planning arena, many of its ideas apply to starting any type of small professional or service business.

Deena Katz's book should be read by anyone even considering a career in independent financial planning, and asset management. Financial planners and money managers obtain technical competence through education and professional designation programs such as the CFP, and CFA. This book assumes that you already know your craft. It deals with the important business of establishing, enhancing and staying in business.Katz is true to her title. She thoroughly addresses all aspects of managing a financial practice... including designing the business, adding a partner, staff structure, hardware, software, positioning, public relations, hiring, firing and refusing clients, as well as, retaining desirable clients. This book has been written for the financial professional who has control of the financial practice management. I have been a practicing financial advisor for over 15 years. I wish Katz's book had been available sooner.

This book makes a difference! It's obvious that "Practice Management for Financial Advisers, Planners, and Wealth Managers" is the practical advantage of skills that lead to success! It is brillant, easy-to-follow step-by-step methods and style to acquire the skills needed for winning at the rules and making them work for you!

I keep Deena's book by my desk as a virtual bible on practice management. There are so many places that are helpful to use for quick reference when I run into a day to day crisis. When I am faced with the long-term strategic issues that will either lead my practice to the place that I want it to be, or cause it to go somewhere else, I can look to Deena's book. I am writing this with bias. Deena had asked that I write the forward to her book, not because she loved my writing style, but because she knew that she had helped me in some key practice areas. Most would term our financial planning company as successful -- I owe much of that to Deena. More importantly, Deena has captured far more things than she had even shared with me in this excellent book.