When you go independent, nobody tells you that you're just trading one set of constraints for another.

When Conor Delaney went independent in 2012, he started with $40 million in AUM and a blank whiteboard. What followed was a 14-year education in becoming a CEO, a shareholder, and a leader, all while still serving clients. Today, Good Life Companies supports more than 200 advisors across the country, and the firm's advisors grew at 34% annually over the last two years, compared to an industry organic growth average of just 3%.

In this episode, Conor joins Paul and Gabe McManus to talk through the real cost of independence and the model he's built to lower that cost for advisors who are willing to make the shift. He walks through why the advisor is almost always the bottleneck in their own practice, what it actually looks like to wear the hats of advisor, CEO, and shareholder simultaneously, and how Good Life's "Front Office of the Future" is giving advisors back the seven hours a typical new client intake currently consumes.

About Conor Delaney
Conor Delaney is the founder and CEO of Good Life Companies, a Philadelphia-based platform that gives independent financial advisors the infrastructure, technology, and support to run like a firm twice their size. He started his career as a financial advisor at 19 while still a college student, and by 26 was the top advisor out of more than a thousand at his prior firm. He launched Good Life in 2012 and has grown it to support over 200 advisors managing approximately $20 billion in assets. Good Life is ranked among the 2023 Forbes list of America's Top RIAs. Conor is also a marathon runner and father of five.

What We Cover

• Why Conor's father's death at 17 became the defining motivation behind his entire career and the name "Good Life"
• The three roles every independent advisor must occupy — advisor, CEO, and shareholder — and why ignoring any one of them limits practice value
• How Good Life's "Front Office of the Future" cuts a 7-hour new client intake process down to something manageable with automation and a digital workforce
• Why COI relationships fail for most advisors (the advisor is still the bottleneck) and how Good Life executes the referral framework for them
• The 71/73/77 data: the alarming statistics on advisor divorce, health, and family relationships and what's driving it
• Why "supported independence" beats both the wirehouse model and pure independence for building enterprise value

Connect with Conor Delaney

• Website: goodlifeco.com
• Email: CEO@goodlifeco.com
• LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/leadinspireexecute

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Most financial advisors will tell you to save more and invest wisely. Mark Rasner will tell you that's not enough. After 32 years of watching people succeed and fail financially, he has the track record to back it up.

Mark grew up poor on a dairy farm in Upper Michigan, worked his way through college without taking a single student loan, and watched his father transform from a struggling farmer into a financial advisor who changed people's lives. That backstory didn't just shape who Mark is. It became the foundation for The Group A Mindset, a framework built on one core insight: the difference between people who achieve financial freedom and those who don't is rarely about income. It's about mindset, decision-making, and the habits we either build or avoid for decades.

In this conversation, Mark walks us through the Group A and Group B framework, the psychology of financial self-sabotage, and why even high-earning professionals often find themselves stuck. He shares client stories, his own personal transformation through Ironman triathlon training, and the practical tools he uses to help people make a genuine shift.

About Mark Rasner

Mark Rasner, CFP®, ChFC®, CASL®, APMA™, BFA™ is a financial advisor and wealth coach with over 32 years of experience in financial planning and leadership development. He is the author of The Group A Mindset, a book designed to help individuals identify and break the beliefs and behaviors keeping them from lasting financial freedom. After building a successful practice in the Midwest, Mark merged his business with a national advisory team, where he now leads Midwest growth and advisor development. He is a two-time Ironman triathlete and father of three daughters.

What We Cover

• Why only 5-10% of people achieve true financial freedom and what distinguishes Group A from Group B
• The line of consciousness framework and how subconscious decision-making keeps people financially stuck
• The drama triangle (victim, villain, hero) and why escaping it is the first step toward financial transformation
• How Mark went from 260 pounds and sedentary to completing two full Ironman triathlons and what that journey taught him about Group A behavior
• The pie fallacy and why treating wealth as a finite resource is the scarcity mindset's most destructive trap
• A real client story: how Jim went from near-financial collapse at 45 to a 10x increase in net worth in eight years

Resources Mentioned

• The Group A Mindset by Mark Rasner
• The Group A Mindset on Amazon
• The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey

Connect with Mark Rasner

• Website: groupamindset.com
• LinkedIn: Mark Rasner, CFP®, ChFC®, CASL®, APMA™, BFA™

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Most people doing the right things financially still have no idea if they're actually on track.

They're saving, investing, contributing to the 401k — and still lying awake wondering if retirement will actually work out. That gap between doing well and knowing you're okay is exactly what Bernd Steinebrunner has spent nearly two decades helping families close.

Episode Summary

In this episode, Gabe McManus sits down with Bernd Steinebrunner, CFP® and founding partner at Parliament Wealth Management in Costa Mesa, California. Bernd walks us through the core ideas behind his new book, Beyond the Numbers, and shares the framework he uses to take successful professionals from financial anxiety to real clarity. From understanding your personal values before touching a single spreadsheet, to building a financial dashboard that functions like a crystal ball for your future — this conversation is practical, personal, and full of real client stories that will resonate with anyone who's ever wondered, "Am I actually on track?"

About Bernd Steinebrunner

Bernd Steinebrunner is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professional and founding partner at Parliament Wealth Management and Insurance Services in Costa Mesa, California. With a background in software engineering and telecommunications — including 18 years in executive roles — Bernd brings a uniquely systematic approach to financial planning. He has been helping clients with comprehensive financial planning for nearly 20 years and is the author of Beyond the Numbers: Building Your Financial Dashboard for a Life Without Regrets, an Amazon #1 bestseller in multiple categories.

What We Cover

• Why even high earners who "do the right things" end up flying blind — and the specific mindset that keeps them stuck
• Why Bernd starts every financial planning engagement by exploring personal values before looking at any numbers
• The six-area financial checklist — from cash flow and protection all the way to estate planning — and why missing even one area can cost you dearly
• What a financial dashboard actually is and how it gives you the ability to test financial decisions before you make them (including what that Porsche will really cost you long-term)
• How Bernd helped a client named Thomas see he could retire at 65 instead of 70 — and why that discovery changed everything
• Why having a solid plan means nothing without accountability — and how Bernd acts as a CFO for clients who are the CEOs of their own lives

Resources Mentioned

• Beyond the Numbers: Building Your Financial Dashboard for a Life Without Regrets by Bernd Steinebrunner
• stopflyingblind.com — get a complimentary electronic copy of the book

Connect with Bernd Steinebrunner

• 🌐 parliamentwealth.com
• 💼 LinkedIn
• 📧 bernd@parliamentwealth.com
• 📞 (949) 471-5827

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