No. 8 ADAM ESTES, 36
Hilliard Lyons Bloomington, Ind.
Production: $4.3m
AUM: $623m
For Adam Estes, getting into the financial advisory business meant entering the family business. His father started his practice at Hilliard Lyons in 1972. "So it's always been in my blood," Estes says.
In his early years though, even with dad's entrée, the son experienced some gut-checking moments. "Is this ever going to go up?" he remembers asking his dad about the sliding NASDAQ during those dark days.
Client development also took Estes' time and patience. He recalls the time he drove an hour and a half to meet with a prospective client, who had just inherited assets. The catch: Her husband was a broker. He went after the business anyway and won the client.
Estes is part of a team of four advisors (including dad). He delegates responsibilities for many of his 500 clients to other advisors. "It took me time to learn to delegate," he says. Estes spends most of his time advising his "A Group," clients with higher asset levels who are willing to take his advice.
Estes believes that the key to achieving sustained success as a financial advisor is to be sincere and "do what you say you are going to do," he explains. "I have to separate what I am going to make from how I am going to do right by my clients," he says. "Then I make sure that I always focus on doing right by my clients."
