Episode Summary

Marcel V. Quiroga, CEO of TQM Wealth Partners, is a trailblazer with a personal, purpose-driven approach to financial planning. Marcel’s journey as a single mother, daughter of immigrants, and woman navigating a male-dominated industry, highlights her philosophy of authenticity and inclusion. Her focus on empathy, connection, and actionable steps challenges traditional norms, encouraging financial professionals to move beyond transactional advising toward enhancing clients’ overall quality of life.

In this episode of the Heart of Advice Podcast, Marcel explains how her leadership style, shaped by her experiences overcoming cultural and systemic barriers, prioritizes empathy, listening, and creating opportunities for others. Marcel stresses that financial advising is not just about numbers but about empowering clients, fostering trust, and aligning financial strategies with values, healing, and dignity. Her mantra “If you don’t have a seat at the table, build your own,” symbolizes her belief in breaking barriers and creating inclusive opportunities for representation within the finance industry.

Here’s What You’ll Learn in This Episode

• On Being Intentional for Best Results
• Creating Opportunities: Sponsorship and Mentorship
• Helping People Is at the Heart of What We Do
• Focusing on Values to Help Clients Live Their Legacy
• Leverage Technology to Spend More Time with Clients
• Importance of Teaching Advisors to Walk Clients Through Client Portals

Resources Mentioned in This Episode

• TQM Wealth Partners
• UNICEF
• CFP board
• Girls Inc. of Boston and Lynn

Quotes

“I think there’s been progress made. I started here in the United States at a large brokerage firm in 2005, and my experiences until I started my firm were that women were more in support roles, the customer service roles, the administrative roles, which are all very valuable, very important, and should be recognized as such.  But it was surprising that I didn’t have more peers as financial advisors, or that I did not see any women or very few women in executive roles at the management level. So I think there has been some progress made. It’s my understanding that a 2025 report found that women represent about 24 percent of U.S. advisors now. That’s up from 18 percent earlier, but that is still a pretty low number. Right? We’re almost at a quarter of the advisor population. But in the general population, we are more than half of the general population. ”

“All of my female employees, if they’re in a supporting role, they have an opportunity if they would like. They don’t have the obligation, but they have the opportunity if they would like to transition into an advisor role, to get on that track. And they do receive training. So, for example, I think it’s opportune to say they receive training on how to use eMoney, and how to help a client use their portal. I think those are specific steps that some companies can take. For the larger companies, where there’s more structure in terms of the role and what you can do and what you can’t do…maybe they’re an advisor at a large company, but they don’t own the company. Right? So, they’re not dictating how programs are run or what a track to an advisory role looks like. But sometimes it’s just about inviting someone, maybe in a supporting role, or maybe someone earlier in their career outside of the company, to learn.”

“I strongly believe that we live our legacies, and we live them every day with every action that we take. We all have a legacy, just like we all have a financial plan. Right? The question is, is it what we want, or is it just happening by default without intention? So when it comes to legacy, the best way that I can help clients live their legacies, first of all, is to articulate what their values are.”

“We can all be philanthropic, and we can be philanthropic every day, and by being philanthropic every day, in demonstrating our love for humanity… and of course we have bad days where we may not feel like smiling and saying hi to everybody we come across, but…obviously, this could improve society if we all thought that way and if we all acted that way. I think at its core, most people want to be kind, but I think we get so busy that it’s easy to forget to be kind, and not because you’re being mean, just because you’re being kind of neutral in the whole process.”

Transcript

Sasha: Welcome to the Heart of Advice Podcast presented by eMoney. I’m Sasha Grabenstetter.

Connor: And I’m Connor Sung. We’re your eMoney experts. Today on the podcast, we have Marcel Quiroga. Marcel didn’t just earn her seat at the table; she built her own. As a Latina woman, single mother, and daughter of immigrants, she carved out a space in this industry that wasn’t designed for her.

Today, as the founder and CEO of TQM Wealth Partners, she brings a personal purpose-driven approach to wealth management, one that’s rooted in authenticity, inclusion, and a lot of heart.

Her path hasn’t been easy or very straight. A moment that could have ended her career instead became her fuel, shaping a company built on the belief that wealth should serve people, not the other way around.

She helps her clients see money as more than math. It’s a tool for healing, access, and dignity. She’s here to remind us that true wealth isn’t about what you have. It’s about how you live and who you lift along the way. Marcel, welcome to the podcast.

Marcel: Thank you very much, Connor and Sasha. It’s a pleasure to be here.

Sasha: Of course. Marcel, one of the big reasons we invited you today is because you can give us insights on what real progress and real challenges look like when it comes to diversity and, obviously, representation in wealth management. So, as a woman leading in a traditionally male-dominated industry and someone who’s navigated life between Bolivia and the United States, how have these experiences really shaped your leadership style and business philosophy?

Marcel: That’s a great question, Sasha, because I think who we are is obviously formed by our experiences, personal and professional, and I started my career in finance in Latin America, specifically in Bolivia, as you mentioned.

Many Latin American countries, including Bolivia, have a culture of machismo that has progressed where there are more opportunities for women, but they are still limited. And so, I learned early on in my career that I really had to fight for my seat at the table. And one thing that I find interesting as a result is sometimes people say I speak very loud, and I’ve thought about why that is.

And it’s because for many years, really until I started my own company, I was sitting in rooms with men, in conference rooms, meeting rooms with men, and in order to be heard, I had to raise my voice.

Sometimes it seemed like I was interrupting, but it was really trying to get a word in edgewise, and I’ve become accustomed to speaking that way so that I can be heard.

My leadership style has been shaped by these experiences, and many more, of course, in that listening is really important for me when I’m sitting with a client and when I’m sitting with my employees. And really, in all relationships, we know that listening is key.

I recently heard an interesting statistic that about 80 percent of the time advisors spend with their clients is spent talking, but advisors think that it’s only 20 percent of the time. And the way this study worked is that they’ve recorded actual meetings.

And so it is experiences like being surrounded by, you know, very capable men, of course, but trying to demonstrate that I am just as capable, and often having to work twice as hard to get the not only the recognition, because recognition for recognition’s sake is really not the goal, it’s to get the doors open, to create the opportunities.

And what I sometimes say is if you don’t have a seat at their table, build your own table, and then you get to decide who you’re gonna invite to that table.

Sasha: I definitely agree with that, Marcel. Obviously, as a fellow woman working in fintech, in a group of women, it’s very rare. And so I obviously have a lovely opportunity to have my voice be heard at the table.

On Being Intentional for Best Results

Marcel: Yeah. It’s really important, I think, to give everyone an opportunity to speak, to be heard. I think part of the success I have with my firm and in my career is because when couples come to meet with me or, you know, divorced women come to meet with me, they often will say, you know, the female will say, this is the first time I felt spoken to and not ignored.

And I think that’s really important. We all need to be validated. We all need to be recognized, and that is a skill set that, if you don’t have as an advisor, you can develop. It takes practice, and I think recording a meeting, if a client allows it, will allow you to improve how you engage with the client, but also practicing at home with your family members or with your friends, and definitely with your coworkers. How are those listening skills working? How much time are you giving others to speak?

Connor: I definitely wanna circle back to the client engagements and some of the other skills and impact of engaging with both spouses or both partners in the relationship, because it definitely leads to tremendously different outcomes and way better implementation, relationship building, trust, and loyalty, and a lot of the sentiment-based pieces. But coming back to some of the advisor diversity and your experiences kind of building your own table for Latinas and other women of color in finance. What progress are you seeing around diversity and inclusion in the wealth management space, and where do you feel like we still have some work to do?

Marcel: Yeah, I think there’s been progress made. I started here in the United States at a large brokerage firm in 2005, and my experiences until I started my firm were that women were more in support roles, the customer service roles, the administrative roles, which are all very valuable, very important, and should be recognized as such.

But it was surprising that I didn’t have more peers as financial advisors, or that I did not see any women or very few women in executive roles at the management level. So I think there has been some progress made. It’s my understanding that a 2025 report found that women represent about 24 percent of U.S. advisors now. That’s up from 18 percent earlier, but that is still a pretty low number. Right? It’s we’re almost at a quarter of the advisor population. But in the general population, we are more than half of the general population.

For Latinas, only about 5.9 percent represent or identify as Latinas of U.S. advisors, and about 2.9 percent identify as women of color. So, I think there’s still a lot more work to do.

Creating Opportunities: Sponsorship and Mentorship

I think part of the work is in the large companies going from mentorship models to sponsorship models, where you’re actually advocating for the person that you’re sponsoring, I guess. And that means making introductions, opening doors, having them sit in meetings with you, which is very different than mentoring. Mentoring is great and it’s important as well, but bringing it up a level where you sponsor, and then another level where you advocate for these women, is really important. But attracting women to the role is just as important, and that takes intention. I think this is a reflection philosophy in life overall, and definitely my philosophy as a wealth advisor’s intention is what’s gonna get you the results that you want. If you don’t know what you’re trying to accomplish, then any road will take you there. So I think companies, whether brokerage firms or RIAs, have to have that on their radar.

But no, I would say not only on their radar. They have to have a purpose, a specific program where how are we going to reach these women, whether you know, white, Latina, or women of color? Are we gonna partner with colleges, with women’s associations, with Latino associations, etc.?

So, I think there’s still a lot of progress because, still today, I’ve given you kind of the stats on the advisors. There are women entering the financial services and investment advisory workforce, but they’re still in very supportive roles, mostly. And, again, I do wanna recognize all those women because oftentimes, they’re the ones that are keeping, you know, things running smoothly, you know, whether it’s managing a calendar, reminding a client of a phone call, helping a client access a document, whatever it may be, all of that is just important because details matter.

Connor: Yeah. That’s where the rubber meets the road. Right? Absolutely.

Marcel: Yes. Yes.

Connor: I just a quick echo. I know that the recently, the CFP board just released some of their October 2025 findings, and it was just about exactly 24 percent of CFP holders are women as of today, which is definitely a drastic increase over the past five or so years. So definitely some good work being done there. But I also want to echo the commendation and appreciation for all of the support roles because it is definitely more where the relationship’s being built, the satisfaction of all of the advice that’s delivered, the implementation of the advice.

But I want to circle back to is that, well, number one, I totally agree that sponsorship is way different than mentorship, and it takes a lot more energy and effort. Do you have some recommendations for folks that are listening today to get a little bit more involved, or can you just speak a little bit more about how you’re participating in that space?

Marcel: Well, personally, I can say that I have been making concrete taking concrete steps to hire more women and to help them grow in this space specifically. I recently just hired another female employee who will be on the advisory track.

Also, all my female employees, you know, if they’re in a supporting role, they have an opportunity if they would like. They don’t have the obligation, but they have the opportunity if they would like to transition into an advisor role, to get on that track. And they do receive training. So, for example, I think it’s opportune to say they receive training on eMoney, how to use eMoney, and how to help a client use their portal. And so, I think those are specific steps that some companies can take.

For the larger companies, where there’s more structure, if you will, in terms of the role and what you can do and what you can’t do. Maybe they’re an advisor at a large company, but they don’t own the company. Right? So, they’re not dictating how programs are run or what a track to an advisory role looks like. But sometimes it’s just about inviting someone, maybe in a supporting role, or maybe someone earlier in their career outside of the company, to learn about that. You know, there are or for example, I sit on the board of Girls Inc. of Boston and Lynn, and they invite women to talk about their careers to the junior and senior students at that organization.

And so, talk about what you’re doing and encourage them and talk about the benefits of doing this, because I think that’s another reason why there’s such low representation is because a lot of women and maybe women in minor of other minority groups so women in are minority. Right? But then you add the Latina or women of color. So, they may have never been exposed to this. And one of the reasons could be that their parents never really knew much about money, especially if they come from a low-income household. So, they never really talked about it. And in general, I think we have an uneducated society when it comes to financial literacy, and that tends to impact women, maybe impact them more than men.

Connor: Yeah. And it’s difficult to consider managing somebody else’s money if you don’t have your own money to manage. And then as you think about the the pitch of becoming a financial advisor or whatever, you know, whatever your first step is into the advice industry, it’s so monetarily focused when some of the actual value, at least that I personally glean from it, is the satisfaction, the relationship building, like some of the nontangible aspects of helping somebody else to get to that level of confidence or be able to achieve fulfillment or success goals and see that that buildup of, you know, emotion and love and some of that that more sentimental pieces.

Helping People Is at the Heart of What We Do

Marcel: I love that you said that, Connor, because I think that there may be a misconception around advisory careers in that it’s all about numbers, and it’s all about finance. And, of course, that is central to what we do, but that is not to use, obviously, your language. It’s not at the heart of what we do.

What’s at the heart of what we do are people. And if we are going to do this right, we’re here to help people. And as you were speaking, Connor, I was thinking how, for example, teaching and nursing are two careers that traditionally have been on the radar for women mostly. You know, some colleges were originally just teaching and nursing colleges for women. Obviously, now women have opportunities in a greater variety of careers, and they have demonstrated that they can stand out and that they do stand out.

But one thing that comes to mind is that our practice of helping people have clarity, confidence, and feel control around their financials, around their money, and around their futures is a practice of care. It’s a practice of education, and it’s a practice of leading, so that the quality of life is improved. Quality of life is improved on so many levels, from sleeping better at night because you’re not worried about your financial future, to the actual results, that you do have the money you need to do the things that you need and want to do, that you’re preparing the next generation if you’re going to transfer wealth so that they’ll be responsible with that wealth and that the wealth won’t actually ruin them.

So, there’s so much responsibility from the human side that it is so rewarding when you approach it from that perspective. Again, obviously, having the appropriate training, the skill set in terms of the numbers, math, and investments. But without that piece of care and without the heart really in it, I think you can actually misguide clients instead of leaving them with a better result.

Sasha: Marcel, I obviously very much think most of you most if you’re a routine listener; you’ve heard me talk about empathy and emotional intelligence. And yes. We, you know, obviously work to help with one of the things I do. Obviously, eMoney is helping advisors to find that emotional currency and really learn how to build those skills because it is hard; it is a skill. It’s a hard skill if it’s uncomfortable.

So, but I really do want to transition because I think this is kind of where I think we were headed next. But you’ve actually said that we actually live our legacies, not just leave them behind. So how do you help clients live their legacies? Is that through philanthropy, or is it value-based investing, or family conversations about money? I’d love to hear a little more about that.

Focusing on Values to Help Clients Live Their Legacy

Marcel: Yeah. I strongly believe that we live our legacies, and we live them every day with every action that we take. We all have a legacy, just like we all have a financial plan. Right? The question is, is it what we want, or is it just happening by default without intention? So when it comes to legacy, the best way that I can help clients live their legacies, first of all, is to articulate what their values are.

And so we all know and have a sense of what our values are, but rarely do we actually need to articulate them. One of the exercises that we ask our clients to do is to select from a list of values that we give them, and then we obviously leave some blank spaces for them to fill in their own values. But to select their top five and then to prioritize them, you know, which of those five are the most important.

Just going through that exercise and then connect your actions. So what am I doing? So if, for example, if I say that family is my number one value, well, how am I demonstrating that? Am I spending time with family? I remember one of my clients, a few years ago when I first started TQM Wealth Partners, shared with me that because they were so busy working, they never sat down to have dinner together.

And so they were there in the house, but it was like the last email, the phone call, so the kids would grab whatever they had on the table.

And just in conversations, well, how about if you can’t have dinner together every night, why don’t you start with one night a week? And then push it up to two nights, to three nights, because your kids are gonna remember conversations and those moments more than they will anything that you could say to them if all you’re saying to them is, you know, you are really important to me. So you have to demonstrate it. Right? But I think a lot of times when we think about legacy, we immediately go to philanthropy, or we immediately go to inheritances. The true meaning of philanthropy in the first place means love for humanity, that’s the root words of philanthropy.

So we can all be philanthropic, and we can be philanthropic every day, and by being philanthropic every day, in other words demonstrating our love for humanity and of course we have bad days where we may not feel like smiling and saying hi to everybody we come across, but for the most part, if we can be intentional, I want to make the mail carrier feel appreciated, so, Oh, thank you. Maybe even going to the door to greet them if you have a moment, or the Uber driver. I understand sometimes we just want to chill in the back of the car and not talk, but at least ask them how they’re doing and wish them a good day.

This goes beyond the impact it can have on our own lives and on those we love. Obviously, this could improve society if we all thought that way and if we all acted that way. I think at its core, most people want to be kind, but I think we get so busy that it’s easy to forget to be kind, and not because you’re being mean, just because you’re being kind of neutral in the whole process.

So those kinds of conversations that are really maybe not so related to money, but when I’m talking with clients about, well, what do you want for your children? Or what would you say to me would be a successful result of your journey in transferring wealth to your children, and if they answer, well, that I transferred it tax-free or that I got them, you know, twice as much money than I have now, well, that’s okay. We can talk about that, and we will. But what else? Is this money going to help them in their lives be better people, better professionals, better citizens, or is it gonna harm them and make them lose motivation, feel entitled, and suffer from affluenza?

So, I know it’s a long-winded answer, but what I’m trying to say to sum it up is that being intentional and connecting your values with your actions is really the best way that I can think of to live your legacy.

Connor: I’m glad that you said that because I, throughout your answer, I was thinking about how quickly we went from how are we helping clients get to values alignment or, you know, family conversations into my the way that folks interact with their Uber driver on the you know, on any given day, just kind of riding around. And it is amazing how fast that happens, now talking about the true value of advice or advisors and that alignment to well, helping align themselves to their own values, and then helping others align themselves with their values. And then I think math, the financial aspect of that, comes pretty quickly afterwards.

I’m curious if you have any other opportunities where you feel like advisors can be more intentional. Obviously, we talked about values alignment and just day-to-day behavior aligning to those top-level values. But as it pertains to advisor-client relationships, you talked about going through, like, a values card-type exercise and prioritizing them. But are there other things that you either do with your clients or that you coach your team to do with all clients that you feel like really may help make a difference with folks, like getting across that message of, like, Hey, if family is the thing, then you need to treat your delivery person this way, your Uber driver. If you could just shed a little bit lighter there, that would I’d really appreciate it.

Marcel: Yeah. Well, I could cover this in many different ways. From a numbers perspective, I’ll start with that. One of the things that we do is start all planning with the net present value balance sheet. And the reason why I mentioned that is because the result of that exercise is showing the clients the size of their cushion. Cushion represents both risk capacity, so how much risk they can afford to take, which may be different to how much risk they want to take. And it also represents the cushion also represents their capability for new opportunities.

And one way that clients and that we try to help clients think about these new opportunities are not only, you know, maybe a private investment in a tech company or in an AI company that maybe for your core portfolio would be too risky, you know, if that’s their interest, you know, I have clients asking me about those types of investments. But maybe the opportunity to do some kind of travel with your children is service-oriented.

So, for example, I used to sit on the New England regional board for the U.S. Fund for UNICEF, and they have what they called field visits. And so for donors at a certain level, they will take you to a country where you will see their work in action. And they do family trips. They do, like, mother-daughter trips. They do, you know, trips that are more just for the adults, depending on the region you’re going to and the type of programs that you’re gonna see.

And so I had the opportunity to go with a group of women from Boston to Bolivia, actually, talk about going full circle, to see the work that UNICEF does in remote areas of Bolivia with what they call communal banking programs. So giving indigenous women loans about 80 to 100 dollars so they can start these micro-businesses, maybe selling flour and milk and eggs, or some kind of artisanal project, you know, making belts and wallets to sell and things like that. And I introduced one of my clients to this program, and she came on the trip with her daughter. And we visited schools where UNICEF has given support and give support for the children to be educated, And they’re also educating these women in these communal banking programs so that they’re not only learning how to run a micro business, they’re learning how to raise their children better, and the whole purpose of the program is if these women can make a little bit of money, they can actually send their kids to school instead of having them work in the fields or shining shoes or cleaning homes.

But I heard from her that this was the most impactful experience her daughter had ever had, seeing other children living in conditions that were something she couldn’t even imagine, but that were still happy and were still grateful, and feeling that sense of empathy and compassion and the ability to use money for good. So, modeling that, I think, is incredibly valuable, and it’s not just me saying that. I mean, it’s the clients. It’s hearing it from their own children.

Another thing that we like to do for our clients is meet with the children individually. And this usually starts around age eleven, where we’ll teach them the concept of budgeting and investing and saving, but also the concept of giving. And so those conversations really help clients feel like their money has more meaning and their like their children are being shepherded towards a more purposeful life, if you will.

Sasha: I just want to follow up with that, and then I promise to transition. But, you know, I think that that’s the idea of having these service-oriented vacations, not vacations, I guess, you know, trips. Let’s call them trips. That’s the best better way to say it. My family and I did the Salvation Army Angel Tree last year, and we picked children who are close to my kids’ age. It was, like, the very first time they’ve ever gotten to, like, understand, like, oh, not everyone has what we have. And it was a very humbling moment for them, and they got to learn a lot of empathy that day. So, yeah. Which I’m very, very grateful for.

But I do want to transition over to obviously, we will love talking about eMoney. So as fintech continues to kind of reshape our identity, how are you and your team at TQM using technology, whether that’s digital tools, those data analytics, client platforms, meeting that high-touch relationship first experience?

Leverage Technology to Spend More Time with Clients

Marcel: Yeah. That is something that is important now more than ever, I would say. I love that tech can help us be more productive. I strongly believe that the role of tech is to help us do a better job for our clients, to be more productive in our companies, and to deliver the quality that our clients deserve.

One way we’re using AI, for example, is and I think most, and I hope most advisors are using it, at the very least, this way is for note-taking.

You may have heard of a tool called Jump AI, which was designed for advisors, and I’m so excited because we’ve been using it. And I learned just recently that it, we can use it along with eMoney. So, it’s an integration with eMoney.

So, and I think that’s a recent thing that came out of the Summit. That’s one of my advisors told me that, so we’re very excited to see how we’re gonna integrate that.

But speaking of eMoney, using what we like to call it the client’s wealth site instead of a website, it’s their wealth site. I know it’s called a financial site, but we encourage all our clients to use it. It’s not just a “nice to have,” I think it’s a very important tool for clients to really see everything in one place, to be able to monitor their spending because, you know, we do work with high-net-worth families.

And so sometimes there’s, I think, also a misconception around the idea that people with money have no problems. They’re always going to have money. You know? And we I’d say, you know, most people listen to this, and definitely the three of us here, very aware that it’s not just about how much money you have, it’s how much money you keep. So having a budget, even if you’re a multimillionaire, is really important. We’ve all heard of the famous athletes or celebrities that had multimillion-dollar contracts and then went broke because they weren’t managing their spending. And so, I love that feature of the eMoney site for clients.

And we’ve gone from, you know, doing planning with eMoney to really learn more and more of all the different features it has to incorporate into the different work that we do. So, for example, for that net present value balance sheet that we do, we used to do that completely separate to eMoney for a long time. And now we’ve learned to use some of the features so that we can build it using eMoney.

Ultimately, I think there’s a lot more out there that can be used, and we keep learning about that. You know, we obviously do everything from accounting to compliance to marketing; we’re using tech for that.

I do believe strongly that the more we use that, the more important it is that we spend more time with our clients, and it gives us the ability to spend more time with our clients, and we actually give them that value of human touch. Because if we’re gonna turn everything into technology, then there’s gonna be this gap in terms of the interaction with clients if you’re not careful. And again, I’ll use this word, intentional, about really spending that time with the clients, listening to them in a way that no technology can listen to them.

Connor: Yeah. And productivity has definitely been shown across our research, extremely valuable as far as time savings across a financial planning process.

I do want to just drill down one in one other spot on your use of eMoney, and I think that you may have taken a a different approach to adoption of the tool than many of our advisors that have used eMoney for a long time where they started using it for primarily for financial planning purposes, and then they started, you know, pushing the client, the Client Portal is our our featured name, but the wealth site out to your clients, as your primary starting place. Can you just give, any other advice to any of the advisors that are maybe struggling a little bit with experiencing some of the value of adoption of the portal, regardless of client demographics, as you think about the way that you guys are using the wealth site?

Importance of Teaching Advisors to Walk Clients Through Client Portals

Marcel: Yeah. I think that one important thing to do, I mean, I think there are various important things to do, but there’s a lot of training that can be done on how to use eMoney. And I love that there’s always improvements coming out and that we can give feedback and ask for certain features. But ultimately, the portal becomes a way to engage with the clients in such that even if they’re not calling you for something, if they’re logging into the portal, it’s a connection with you. Right? Our logo is there. You know, we’ve input a lot of information, and that information is reflected on the Client Portal. They’re sharing information. So, we upload all reports to the Vault in the portal. So that forces the client to log in and to use the portal. But another thing that we like to do in our discovery meeting is walk them through how to use the portal and help them connect their accounts.

Because, yes, you can give them the instructions, and there are videos, and that goes back to maybe the different personalities of clients. Some are more tech-savvy than others. But at the very least, give them a brief walkthrough. And if they’re not that tech-savvy, teach them how to use it.

Have a session with them. And if you, as the primary advisor, don’t have time, there should be somebody on your team that you’re gonna tell the client, Jordy is gonna call you, or Maya is gonna call you, and set up a time so they can help you learn how to use the portal. And then when we do our review meetings, we’re referring back to what they see in the portal. You know, I’ve noticed that there’s, you know, this level of spending, and most clients are okay sharing their spending with you. I mean, it’s a trusted relationship, and I don’t care what clients spend on in the sense that I’m not anyone to judge. I just wanna know if I can help them.

So if I see, you know, that a client’s burn rate is really high, and I can help them identify areas where they may want to consider making some changes, they’re like, Oh, I never thought of that, or I just didn’t realize how many streaming services I signed up for, and I only use one or two of the 10 I’m signed up for.

Whatever it is, because, you know, just like with investments and the power of compound interest that helps investments grow with spending, it’s the same thing. The power of compound interest, because of inflation, is also impacting our cash flows if we have ongoing spending and things that aren’t really adding any value to our lives, and maybe they’re actually eroding our wealth.

Sasha: Marcel, we’ve covered a lot of ground today, but I do want to circle back just quickly to, you know, this idea of those advisors who were listening and listening to you kind of bring that value for clients. I think you have a really wonderful hands-on touch approach.

Obviously, walking them through that Client Portal really helping them understand where they’re getting from point A to point B without them having to guess. I think that gives them such a high touch point for them. So I thank you for that. But as we wrap up, I just want to ask you. This is the question we ask every guest on our podcast. Lastly, how would you define the heart of advice when it comes to financial planning?

Marcel: The heart of advice to me is you are giving advice because you love humanity, because you love people. And that goes back to the name of my company, which is TQM Wealth Partners, Total Quality Management, yes, but also, which means I love you very much. And I’m proud to say we love our clients. We want them to do well, and so you can only do that with true heart.

Sasha: Marcel, I would just wanna thank you for being on the podcast, for sharing your background from coming from Bolivia to the United States, from all the diversity conversation we had. I think our advisors can really benefit from thinking about how can we add more women into this profession, more women of color, and also bring more heart to the profession as well. So, thank you.

Marcel: My pleasure, Sasha and Connor. Thank you very much. It’s a privilege to spend some time with you.

To listen to this episode and other full episodes of the Heart of Advice Podcast, visit our YouTube, Castos or our Spotify channels.

DISCLAIMER: The eMoney Advisor Blog is meant as an educational and informative resource for financial professionals and individuals alike. It is not meant to be, and should not be taken as financial, legal, tax or other professional advice. Those seeking professional advice may do so by consulting with a professional advisor. eMoney Advisor will not be liable for any actions you may take based on the content of this blog.

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