Shownotes
- Apprenticeship Matters: Cody’s journey from investment operations to advisor and eventually shareholder underscores the value of learning the business from the ground up, even when it means being patient and resisting the urge for immediate advancement.
- Ownership Is a Big Commitment: Becoming a shareholder in a financial advisory firm is a major undertaking—financially and personally. It requires careful deliberation, family discussions, and a firm belief in the firm’s mission.
- Leadership Beyond Management: Moving into ownership is not just about management; it’s about genuine leadership—inspiring others, setting an example, and mentoring the next generation of advisors.
- The “Tortoise and the Hare” Career Path: Choosing the slower, steadier growth path—one that offers room for advancement and aligns with personal values—can yield far greater long-term rewards than chasing the quick buck.
- Find Your Fit & Use Your Network: Cody emphasizes the importance of finding the right cultural fit in a workplace, using your network, and seeking advice from loved ones, rather than accepting the first appealing offer that comes along.
Transcripts
This is Eric Brotman, the host of Don't Retire Graduate, the podcast that asks you what you want to be when you grow up so you can graduate into retirement with a purpose and a passion. Welcome to our Diary of a Financial Advisor segment where we interview financial advisors about their professional journeys and their passion for helping others succeed. Today, I'm pleased to be joined by Cody Niedermeier. He's a second time guest here on Diary of a Financial Advisor. Cody joined BFG Financial Advisors as an Investment Operations associate in October of 2019 and transitioned to the advisory team at the end of 2020. In 2023, he advanced to the role of advisor and became a company shareholder in 2025. And we're going to talk a lot about that today. Cody's passionate about guiding people and families through all stages of life.
Eric Brotman [:He's played a tremendous role in supporting the firm's financial Planning for All initiative. And he graduated from the University of Maryland, where he studied marketing and captained the soccer team as the goalie. Cody, welcome back to Diary of a Financial Advisor.
Cody Niedermeier [:I am excited to be here. Surprised you invited me back.
Eric Brotman [:Well, everyone is surprised to see you again, actually. I. So. So the last time you were here, if I recall, you, you were newly becoming a shareholder, and now, now you own part of this. This crazy organization. I want to talk a little bit about your. Your journey to getting here from deciding you wanted to do this for a living to. To getting to the point where you said, I am not only on this bus, but I'm putting my money where my mouth is.
Cody Niedermeier [:Yeah, truly. And I mean, it all comes back to our first conversation way back when, which came through a mutual friend. And networking. Networking. Networking is the name of the game of how we got here.
Eric Brotman [:Well, you. So you started in marketing, you studied marketing, which, you know, everyone knows business degrees are really tough to earn, except for marketing. So we understood why you. Why you did that as a D1 athlete. That made a ton of sense.
Cody Niedermeier [:Yeah.
Eric Brotman [:I'm only kidding to you marketing folks out there. Please don't. Don't come after me on Twitter or anything. You're. You're. You started here. You. You went through all the different roles, You.
Eric Brotman [:You learned the business, you did your licensure, you sat sort of sidesaddle for the better part of five years. That's a hard thing to do. It's a very hard thing to get young people to be willing to do that. Basically an apprenticeship. And sometimes people are in a hurry. I know you certainly aren't. But young people are in a hurry. They want to be CEO and have the corner office right away.
Eric Brotman [:And I will tell you, that takes a little bit of time, but what was that like, knowing that you had an extensive journey ahead of you and that it wasn't going to be a click your heels twice and poof, you're a financial advisor like you see at some of the organizations out there.
Cody Niedermeier [:Yeah, definitely not easy, especially coming from my background, sports, all throughout high school and college, you know, getting into the industry and figuring out and coming to the realization, you know, I want to be an advisor. I want to be a leader at this firm. And to be quite honest, there were a lot of hard conversations along the way, which I needed. I needed to. I needed to learn the process, especially starting back in investment ops, learning the back side of things before I could move my way and earn my way up through each position to get where we are now. You know, becoming an advisor, becoming the go to for my clients and our clients as a whole, and then from there, just digging more and more into believing what we do here at BFG and, you know, putting my money where my mouth is, like you alluded to in. In January of this past year.
Eric Brotman [:So becoming a shareholder of an organization like this is a. People may not realize it's a major financial undertaking. Yeah, it's a mortgage. And. And it is a mortgage for the. For the better part of a decade. So that had to be something that you and your. Your wife thought about long and hard before you decided that that was a thing.
Eric Brotman [:What was that decision process like? How did you come up with the decision? Yeah, I'm. I'm on this Kool Aid. I'm in. Let's. Let's make this a career instead of a job. Yeah.
Cody Niedermeier [:And I think it all goes back to my. My time here at bfg, again, believing in what we do. And then you calling us into the conference room one day with the rest of the shareholders and saying, you know, we appreciate everything you guys have done, and we want you to not only be here the rest of this year, but for the rest of our entire. Which is a cool opportunity. And you go home excited to have the conversation with your wife, and then she knocks you back a few pegs of, hey, did you see the dollar bills that are written on this sheet that it's going to take to do this? So, you know, we. We took a few months, and you were respectful enough to give us that time to make that decision. And through many of conversations, we came to the realization that this is the place we want to be. I feel called to what we do here, which is a very cool thing and I think a lot of people in the workforce are looking for that.
Cody Niedermeier [:So I'm lucky enough to have that and then get this opportunity. We decided this is what's best for our family moving forward, and my wife gave me the okay, which is what it ultimately comes down to.
Eric Brotman [:Yeah, we know who the boss isn't. They neither, Miles. No question about it. So when, when you become a shareholder, when you're in that seat, there are some responsibilities that come with that. It's not all unicorns and spitfobbles. Sometimes it's tough conversations, sometimes it's different plans of work, sometimes it's being held to a different standard in front of your peers. So this is. Even if it's not a management position, it is a leadership position and they're very different.
Eric Brotman [:Leadership and management are not the same thing. I consider myself a pretty darn good leader and a God awful manager. So I manage no one and that's.
Cody Niedermeier [:Best for the company. And it was made at a very high level in conversation.
Eric Brotman [:It was, it was done on purpose, but it was done in such a way that there is in fact the difference. And so being a leader in the clubhouse means that you've got a whole nother generation of these folks who are now doing that five year apprenticeship who are looking at you going, hey, I want what he has, I want to do what he did. How much additional pressure does that put on you? You think as a, not just a financial advisor working with clients, but also as a leader in the clubhouse working with teammates, I think it's something that.
Cody Niedermeier [:I truly enjoy and was looking for. Again, going to the sports background of, you know, captaining the soccer team at Maryland, it's. It's something that I've honestly kind of been looking for since soccer ended. And to provide that opportunity here, I mean, it's awesome. I've done so many different roles here that I can relate and talk to people in different positions, whether they want to be on the path that I have gone on or they want to veer off and go down a different path. So I love building those relationships. That's why I also love what I do on a daily basis of working with our clients is I love building the relationships, empowering my colleagues, my clients, to achieve the things that they want to accomplish, which I view as more of an honor than a right to be able to do so.
Eric Brotman [:So in our business, in the financial advisory space right now, there is an enormous amount of pressure on firms to grow and specifically on firms to monetize. Lots of firms are going down the road of private equity where they become corporate owned and they become rolled up and they become some huge part of some huge entity rather than being the size we are. We have 20 people. It's not an accident that we've grown, you know, in the way we have on purpose and that we're adding people to the bus, but the, the real reason for it and for anyone who's watching, who's sort of followed this show and, and maybe our company for all these years, I am in a position where I do not want to do that.
Cody Niedermeier [:Yeah.
Eric Brotman [:I do not want to bring in some buyer for the next generation to come in and then work for.
Cody Niedermeier [:Yeah.
Eric Brotman [:I really think it's going to take 10 or 12 people to be able to do the next generation buyout and be able to perpetuate this into the future. And as far as I'm concerned, Cody, my legacy depends on it. I mean, you know, I am in the process of reinventing myself. I am in fact graduating. Literally, I am going through that now. And you just graduated from being an advisor to being a shareholder and advisor and leader in the clubhouse. And there'll be more in the evolution coming. You know, for me it's, it's been a, it's been a new experience to empower those around me.
Eric Brotman [:What do you say to college students, juniors, seniors, whatever, who are looking for work and are trying to figure out where they're going to go and maybe are being enticed by the quick buck or the shorter path or the, you know, sort of the, the, the back door way to get in someplace. What, what do you say to them having gone through this for, for what really felt like at the time for you? I know, a long time.
Cody Niedermeier [:Yeah, I think it's again, use your network. Number one, don't be afraid to kick the tires at more than one place. That first offer is going to feel real good when it comes across and you see a number on a page and that's not the end all be all it could be, luckily, but most likely you're gonna have to do some research. Use that network around you, but also interview them. Don't just let them ask you questions. You wanna find a place culturally that you wanna be at a place that you enjoy. And I mean, coming from what we do, there's more to life than money. Work to live versus live to work is a very, very real concept that I think people overlook Again, when they're just trying to get that next dollar.
Cody Niedermeier [:So find a place that's going to feel like home. Find a place that you want to grow in. And it's okay if that changes over time. And I think realizing that is key too.
Eric Brotman [:Let's. That's very qualitative and, and I, I'm in total agreement with you. Make total sense. Let's also now do some math because we're in the math business. If, if you were to be coming out of school and you were to get a job offer, and let's say that job offer was paying you $10,000 a year more than job offer B, but job offer B allowed not only for you to do the things that you want to do, but to grow into and have a path, whereas job offer A was going to have, you know, 2 or 3%, the standard of living increases and not a whole lot of room for advancement. It reminds me a little bit of the tortoise and the hare. You know, not to get all philosophical here on you, Cody.
Cody Niedermeier [:English major, but.
Eric Brotman [:Well, yeah, it was the extent of my, of my literary background. But every time I hear that, the tortoise wins.
Cody Niedermeier [:Yeah.
Eric Brotman [:Because it's not where you start, it's where you finish. And I know that as an athlete you've done some runs, 5Ks, 10Ks, marathons. Maybe you know that the best way to win a marathon is to come out of the gate sprinting.
Cody Niedermeier [:Yep.
Eric Brotman [:Of course, that's. You want to sprint as hard as you can so that the next 25 miles you're walking. Yep. As opposed to just pacing yourself. And of course I'm kidding. So, so in situations like that, how do young people who are sometimes blown away by some of these numbers, I mean, right now it's interesting. The pendulum has swung a little bit. It's hard to get a job right now.
Eric Brotman [:It was very easy for a while and then Covid hit and some other things happened and it's become more difficult and AI is replacing some humans in different ways. That's a show for another day. But how do you turn down something that, that might feel like a life changing thing? How do you do that? What, what, what does that require? Does it require talking to your, to your friends and family? Is it using your, using your, your. Your tribe, so to speak? Like, what do you do?
Cody Niedermeier [:I mean, the simple answer to this is it is not easy. It is very difficult. Personally, what I've done throughout my total process, even coming to the decision to accept a job offer from Eric Brodman, himself to come here. Back in the day, it was using the people around me. Family was definitely a big thing, close friends. That sometimes you can get so distracted by what's right in front of you. It helps to get another perspective. Kind of like I'm an advisor who has a different advisor here at BFG because I'm so fixated on my stuff.
Cody Niedermeier [:But I still need help. I need a different perspective to speak wisdom into me. So I think using the people around you is definitely a resource I've taken advantage of and I would provide the advice to any of the next generation to use that to its fullest potential.
Eric Brotman [:So I tell people that we hire who want to be financial advisors that you're going to be overworked and underpaid for the first five years of your career and overpaid for the rest of your life, which means now you're being grossly overpaid. Cody and I congratulate you for getting there. You worked for it. But it really, it's. You hear these stories and sometimes companies aren't being honest. Yeah, They're. They're waving something in front of you where it's got bells and whistles on it. Or it's a sales job and you have to.
Eric Brotman [:You have to do things that you're uncomfortable with potentially. Did we keep every promise that we. That we set out to keep with you?
Cody Niedermeier [:I would say. And more. And again, now I'm in the position where I get to speak that into the people who might lose track along the way, too.
Eric Brotman [:I'm closing the show with that. That's a mic drop moment. I'm going for it. Cody, thanks for coming back. I love having you on the show because I never know what you might say. It's actually alarming.
Cody Niedermeier [:You're on your toes.
Eric Brotman [:I'm glad the show isn't live sometimes, but. No, this was great. Thank you.
Cody Niedermeier [:I appreciate it.
Eric Brotman [:I'd like to thank all of you for listening and watching today. If you enjoyed the show, please subscribe so we can continue to be a part of your journey to financial independence. We'll be back next week with another engaging guest and in two weeks with another entry in our diary of a financial advisor advisor. For now, this is your host, Eric Brotman, reminding you don't retire. Graduate securities offered through Kestra Investment Services, llc. Kestra is member finra, sipc Investment Advisory Services offered through Kestra Advisory Services, llc. Kestra as an affiliate of Kestra is. Kestra is or Kestra as, are not affiliated with Brotman Financial or any other entity discussed.
