Kindly give our readers an introduction to your business. Please include what your business is all about, in which city you are located and if you have offices in multiple locations/cities.
We are a financial planning and investment management firm (sometimes known as a Registered Investment Advisory firm or RIA firm), with offices in Gainesville, Florida, Jacksonville, Florida, and Roswell, Georgia. Though our clients are primarily in Florida and Georgia, we have clients located throughout the country and serve many of them virtually. We serve a wide variety of clients, from single individuals to large families. Many people who seek our services are pre-retirees and retirees from business and professional backgrounds who wish to outsource the management of their finances so that they can spend more of their time on the things they enjoy. In addition to becoming well versed at serving pre-retirees and retirees, we have become experienced and educated at providing financial planning advice to small business owners, corporate executives, attorneys and other professionals, younger entrepreneurs, and multi-generational family businesses. We are fee-only, which distinguishes us from other financial advisors because we only receive compensation from our clients. This removes much of the conflict of interest inherent in our industry and makes us cost-efficient for our clients. We are true fiduciaries for our clients.
Kindly give us a brief description about yourself (it should include your brief educational or entrepreneurial background and list some of your major achievements).
I spent my first ten years in the industry working as a financial planner with Prudential. In 2015, I left Prudential to launch a fee-only Registered Investment Advisory firm with my family. We decided to name our firm Together Planning for a variety of reasons:
We are a family firm, founded by myself, along with my dad Tom Mallini and my two sisters, Lia Bertelson and Ginny Knoll. We selected the name “Together Planning” because it speaks to our mission on several levels. First, this firm is something we are doing together as a family. We are committed to working together and succeeding together. Second, we view financial planning as a partnership between ourselves and our clients. We work together to develop and implement a plan that will help our clients achieve their goals. Finally, many of our clients are couples or families. Our work with them is collaborative and helps those couples and families align their goals, create a common vision for the future, and agree on a path to achieving it.
Our team members have extensive training and experience with all areas of personal finance, and have significant training and certifications. We greatly enjoy working together and serving others.
What inspired you to (start a new business venture) or (to make significant changes in an existing business)? How did the idea for your business come about?
I knew that I wanted to advise clients without the conflict of interest associated with commissions and other fees that are paid to financial advisors from companies that do not have a fiduciary obligation. I also wanted to be able to use technology to better serve my clients and needed to be completely independent to do so. Together Planning has no boss other than our clients. We are completely free to serve our clients in any way we see fit. This has made serving clients very rewarding for everyone on our team!
How many hours do you work a day on average?
I really enjoy my job, so I encourage my clients to call me whenever they want. I receive calls and texts late at night, early in the morning, and on weekends and holidays. I don’t mind this because it is like getting to talk to my close friends all the time, and I like to be kept up to date with things that are happening with them. Consequently, I work a lot of hours. However, the freedom of my schedule is such that I have almost never missed an important family event in my life, and I get vacation time whenever I want. My work doesn’t feel like work, and it is very rewarding. I am lucky. Also, our team has grown so much that pretty much anything that a client needs can be handled by another one of our team members.
To what do you most attribute your success?
I think that I have always been driven to please people, and I have never been afraid to ask other people for help. Financial planning is a business that requires a lot of coordination between people of different fields of expertise in order to do it well. It also requires true empathy and an emotional connection to people. My strengths in these areas have been helpful.
Additionally, I have been blessed to have an amazing and talented family that wants to help me fulfill our mission. We get along well and are motivated by the same things. This has made creating and growing Together Planning an incredibly rewarding experience for all of us, and we want to reach greater heights together.
Of course, without the contributions of our father, Tom Mallini, Together Planning would be just a shell of what it is today. We are incredibly lucky to have his full and unwavering support, and the benefit of his significant experience to guide us.
How do you go about marketing your business? What has been your most successful form of marketing?
Our greatest form of marketing has always been word of mouth. People like that we are a family-owned and relationship based firm, and this results in many folks recommending their friends and family to us. Unlike some other firms, we are set up to be able to serve a wide variety of people, so we can naturally help big families or groups of people that share a connection but may have different needs.
What is the best way to achieve long-term success?
In the eleven years since we started Together Planning, we have learned as a team that we need to clearly define what we need to do every day in order to succeed. We have built a framework to operate so that we can make the best decisions possible every day. We came up with these daily reminders to help us fulfill our mission:
- Put people before everything else
- Work together
- Continually improve and grow
- Be selfless
- Have fun and don’t miss the important things
- Be very accessible
- Help people worry less and enjoy more
If we do these things as a team, we believe we will surpass our wildest expectations of success, have fun, and have very fulfilling professional lives.
Where do you see yourself and your business in 5–10 years?
We plan to continue to grow, adding more clients, advisors, and employees to serve more clients. We believe that our mission is worthwhile, and want our firm to positively impact as many people as possible.
What kind of culture exists in your organization? How did you establish this tone and why did you institute this culture?
We value the unique strengths that each of our team members brings to our firm. We believe that our mission is important, and we are lucky to be able to do it. We look out for each other like we look out for our clients, treating everyone like they are family and looking out for each other’s hopes and dreams. We believe that we are stronger when we collaborate as a team. All team members are encouraged to voice their opinions and perspectives – it is how we grow and improve. We work hard, have fun, celebrate success, and practice gratitude for all we’ve been given.
How do you define success?
We define success as helping people worry less and enjoy their lives more. This is our mission.
How do you build a successful customer base?
We work best with clients who share our sense of dedication to our communities and find value in the services we provide. When we are a good match with a prospect, a long-term relationship usually results.
How important have good employees been to your success?
We’ve been fortunate to have many amazing employees since we launched eleven years ago. At the top of the list is Melissa Land, our Director of Operations. Melissa has been with us since the beginning, and her significant contributions have touched virtually every part of our firm.
If you were conducting this interview, what question would you ask?
Why did you choose an illustration of mountains, trees, and a sunrise for your 10-year anniversary poster?
We did this because we love the outdoors, nature, and spending time together in beautiful surroundings. We believe life is too short to live unhappily – and the view of a breathtaking vista reminds us that there is much to enjoy. We believe spending more time doing what you love is a worthwhile objective – and one we aim to help our clients achieve.
We think our 10 year anniversary poster captures this idea visually. We love the idea of having an impact on people Today, Tomorrow, and Together.
Is there anything else you think we should know?
We are looking for more people who want to join our team. If there is anyone out there who is hearing this that would like to hear more, please contact me!
