Ben Cruikshank of Flourish Financial - Our Love Hate Relationships with Cash and Annuities

Orion's The Weighing Machine

Today, Rusty and Robyn are joined by Ben Cruikshank. Ben is President of Flourish, where he oversees all client-facing teams, including Sales, Relationship Management, Partnerships, and Support. Ben is a frequent commentator on issues related to investment advisors and has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Barron's, Marketwatch, and numerous industry publications. Prior to Flourish, Ben was a founding member of the Betterment for Business team and led the 401(k) sales team. Prior to Betterment, Ben discovered his love for start-ups at NewsCred, a marketing technology company where he ran the Financial Services sales vertical and built the sales operations organization as the company grew from 15 to 200+ employees. Outside of Flourish, Ben spends time with his wife and son, volunteers for Hour Children, an organization that helps families impacted by incarceration, and is fixing up an 1880s farmhouse in upstate New York. Ben has a passion for personal finance, which directly led to his work with financial advisors and their clients. Ben holds a degree in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania and holds his Series 7, 24, 63, and 99 licenses. Fun Fact: Ben is dedicated to brewing the perfect cup of coffee, including roasting his own beans.

Key Takeaways

• [03:34] - Ben’s professional background and more on his current role at Flourish.
• [06:40] - What makes Ben’s team at Flourish so cool and interesting and what world records does he hold?
• [08:25] - Why is cash management so important and how is Flourish helping investors in this space?
• [15:17] - What are some best practices to consider when it comes to how much one should hold in cash?
• [18:40] - How much are investors losing if they aren’t optimizing their cash reserves and how is Flourish helping advisors and investors to optimize their holdings?
• [24:13] - What is Ben’s market outlook for cash interest rates moving forward?
• [27:27] - Ben walks us through some of the more popular annuity options.
• [37:14] - What are the basic pros and cons of utilizing annuities?
• [40:45] - As President of a Fintech firm, how does Ben define success?
• [44:03] - What helps make firms successful when rolling out innovative, new solutions and how has Ben seen client expectations, about their advisors, change in recent years?
• [49:54] - What is Ben’s favorite investment idea for the remainder of 2024?

Quotes

[12:15] - “[There are]...four different academic studies, surveying high net worth individuals directly, that show high net worth individuals hold 20% + of their wealth in cash. So you’re looking at this 1%, fighting tooth and nail to minimize cash drag in the portfolio, and that’s all really important, [but] did you know how much cash your clients have sitting on the side?...Inevitably, 99 times out of 100, the advisor would say ‘interesting point, [but] not my clients, I know where every single dollar is [and] my clients don’t hold anywhere near that much cash, that’s just not possible.’” ~ Ben Cruikshank

[54:05] - “I gave myself permission to just read anything I was interested in…I love science fiction and things like that. Just read. Don’t worry about it being the most productive book, don’t worry about it moving your business forward or your professional life forward, just read. Read like a kid, read for the enjoyment of it. I have seen, since doing that…just tremendous improvements in focus, in mood, in new ideas and energy and I think there’s just so much benefit…to snoozing notifications, closing the laptop, and again, finding that childlike wonder.” ~ Ben Cruikshank

Links

• Ben Cruikshank on LinkedIn
• Flourish Financial
• “Hells Bells” by AC/DC
• For the Love of Money by The O’Jays
• Michael Kitces’ Piece on Cash

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Disclosure(s) - Orion Portfolio Solutions, LLC, an Orion Company, is a registered investment advisor.

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