Welcome everyone! Welcome to the 513th episode of the Financial Advisor Success Podcast!
My guest on today’s podcast is Neela Hummel. Neela is the CEO of Abacus Wealth Partners, an RIA based in Santa Monica, California, that oversees $3.4 billion in assets under management for 1,550 client households.
What’s unique about Neela, though, is how she rose through the ranks of Abacus from starting as an unpaid intern to becoming CEO, giving her a valuable perspective on what it takes to build a successful career within the same firm.
In this episode, we talk in-depth about how Neela was initially attracted to the financial planning industry based on its ability to make a meaningful difference in clients’ lives (even though she didn’t have an academic background in financial planning), how Neela started gaining client-facing traction within her firm by offering value to more senior advisors (for example by managing technology and taking notes during client meetings), and how Neela built the confidence to take the lead on client relationships herself at a relatively young age (in part by being responsive to client needs and leaning into her technical expertise).
We also talk about how Neela made the jump to become a leader at the firm, first by learning how to juggle client and team management with the impetus to source new clients, how Neela later became the firm’s chief of advisory services (and started to help the firm’s leadership team professionalize the firm and its processes), and how Neela eventually became the co-CEO at the firm (finding that this two-person leadership structure was helpful in navigating major transitions for the firm and in her personal life).
And be certain to listen to the end, where Neela shares her views on equity ownership (and how Abacus is now entirely employee-owned), how Neela organizes her schedule to focus on being in high-impact meetings at set times during the week (allowing her to prioritize what’s most important and meet both her professional and lifestyle goals), and how Neela has found that a sense of curiosity has supported her throughout her career and can be a key contributor to success for newer advisors.
