In a new episode of the Financial Planning Podcast, financial advisor Xi Qiao of UBS Financial Services explains how she built a practice spanning more than $2 billion in client assets.
Qiao is a 15-year veteran advisor with the San Francisco branch of UBS. For
In the podcast, FP Chief Correspondent Tobias Salinger asked Qiao the following four questions about how she broke into the field and the advice she would share with aspiring planners.
1. When and how did you decide to become a financial advisor?
2. How did you build your practice to this size?
3. What advice would you have for other advisors just entering the field or aspiring financial advisors considering the career?
4. How does it feel to be part of a group of three women who are making up the top 3 brokers on FP's Top 40 Under 40 for the first time ever? What do you think it says about the industry?
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Transcription below:
Tobias Salinger: (
Welcome back to the financial planning podcast. My name is Tobias Salinger, and I am your chief correspondent for financial planning. We have a very special episode today in coordination with our top 40 brokers under 40 list. We have one of the winners with us today. Financial advisor, Xi Qiao of UBS financial services. Thank you so much for joining us.
Xi Qiao: (
Thank you Toby. Very excited to be here.
Tobias Salinger: (
And Qioa is a 15 year veteran advisor with the San Francisco branch of UBS for the second year in a she's one of the FP top 40 brokers under 40 with a practice spanning more than 2 billion in client assets, a regular guest on CNBC and Bloomberg TV and radio. She's also been the number one on Forbes America's list of the top next generation wealth advisors in 22, 20 and 2021. Her practice serves ultra high net worth clients in the us, China and Hong Kong with a concentration of technology professionals and entrepreneurs, as well as venture capitalists and as a standout repeat winner of the top 40 under 40 award, we wanted to ask her about how she broke into to the field and built up her practice to this level. So she, when and how did you decide to become a financial advisor?
Xi Qiao: (
Well, you know, I was always interested in financing the economics and when I was at Cal, I did as many internships as possible and one of them was, was Wells Fargo with private banking and of course discovered, this is exactly what I wanted to do. So when I graduated, I jumped right into the field. Uh, I interviewed with all the big firms, all the big financial firms, Morgan Stanley gave me a chance to interview. And I interviewed with them about 10 times probably spent like you three months just following up, cuz you know, it was hard to get into the industry 15 years ago when you don't have, uh, any connections, you don't have any money. And they're really, uh, it was just gonna be kind of like a shot in the dark if, if they hire hired you. So, you know, I think I got started that way and just by being really dedicated to the business, very dedicated to my goals and succeeding in the business. And um, I think I just follow my heart and, and chased after something I really wanted to
Tobias Salinger: (
Do. And thinking about just 15 years ago, you know, as we speak today, there's been some volatility and the stock market today, but 15 years ago obviously, uh, was the financial crisis. You know, what was it like coming into the industry at that time? And you know, how did you kind of start your practice as you pointed out from scratch in, in the middle of this, this global financial crisis back then?
Xi Qiao: (
Yeah. You know, that's a great question. Cause as I look back now, it was a horrible time to start cause the, you know, I started in 2007 and soon after that the market crashed, you know, 2008 crisis, but I look at back and I think it might be a, you know, it was a blessing in disguise because that was a time where there's so much volatility and being a newcomer into the industry. And I was reaching out to a lot of people that didn't know me. I didn't know them. It opened up doors for conversation, you know, cuz people wanted to just hear from somebody to talk about the market. So talk about what they can do. And, and I think that gave me a lot of opportunity to start working with people and maybe the money wasn't large at that point, you know, I had a small client, first client had gave me $30,000, you know, and I treated him so well, took him out to lunch and just really took care of that money for him.
Xi Qiao: (
And, and I think it opened new doors. And then of course, luckily, you know, after the crisis markets started to really go up and, and stay up. So it really helped if you were getting in at that time and start investing for clients and if you were doing it right, you know, a lot of those assets have, you know, grown a lot and, and the clients have grown a lot as well. And so I think it was just a, it was a, you could say good and bad time to start, but I think I took advantage of it
Tobias Salinger: (
And I know making the best out of a, a challenging situation can be so rewarding in so many different areas of life, including professional areas. And in talking about building up your practice, you know, your, your professional bio kind of list that, uh, you have a lot of ultra high net worth clients, uh, from the, the tech professions and venture capital, how did you build, uh, this $2 billion practice?
Xi Qiao: (
Yeah. Um, you know, I could say it was a lot of hard work, a lot of commitment to my clients. You know, I took advantage of the, you know, obviously the area that I live in and here in the Silicon valley, there's a lot of tech wealth here and, you know, almost 15 years ago, it was a lot of more the traditional semiconductor type, but companies, but then soon it was the Google and the Facebook and all the social media. So I think, um, I started working with some of the tech clients in this area, helping them with starting very small, like helping them with the retirement planning, cuz everybody has a 401k, you know, with, with where clients would have assets in that they didn't need. Right. So, so those were kind of a lot of the assets I would, I would work on.
Xi Qiao: (
But then if zoom grew to, uh, helping clients with their stock options, you know, with financial planning, when they, as they, uh, got older and had kids and started buying a house, managing a mortgage, uh, it just, I think the lives of clients, uh, because I started very small, I did not start with ultra high net worth. I mean, no one was gonna give me that kind of money in the beginning, just to be very honest, I mean, but I started very small and, and then, you know, the clients I worked with see the value in, in working with somebody and planning and in, in today, those assets all have just grown significantly. So, um, as I was working with a lot of the tech clients soon that led to working with a lot of the, you know, early startup clients that had, you know, pre I P O shares in the company.
Xi Qiao: (
Um, and those were, were more significant, which led to you working with a lot of the executives of the company than founders of the company. And you just, you know, started just growing. And I think a lot of that growth came from just referrals, you know, and again, it goes back to the hard work and the commitment to your clients, whether it's big or small, if you take care of them, you know, I've would say the business will kind of just grow itself, but then you have to focus on a market, right? I, I mean, I was not all over the place. I had a special specialty. I specialized a certain type of planning, certain type of investments that, you know, suited these type of clients and, you know, and then I became kind of know in their circle and if they needed somebody or their friend were asking for someone, you know, I would probably be the name that comes up. So I think, again, you have to focus if you wanna grow big and then you have to, you know, stay committed to, to what you're doing. Uh, whether the markets are good or bad or the clients are having a D and you just have to kind of stay committed and, and, and work through it.
Tobias Salinger: (
And I know that staying the course is such an important aspect of the wealth management world and listeners were asking you to stay the course with us for just a couple of minutes. We're going to take a very short break, are speaking with Xi Qiao of UBS financial services. And we'll be right back after this. And we're back, we're speaking with financial advisor, Xi Qiao of UBS financial services. I wanted to ask you, you just gave us this great recap of kind of how you came into the industry and how you built your prep for advisors out there, aspiring advisors, wealth management professionals who hear you and say, wow, I I'd like to do that. What advice would you have for, for them, for, for advisors just starting out in a career or for, um, aspiring financial advisors?
Xi Qiao: (
Well, you know, I think the most, most important vibes would be to find your niche market and specialize. Uh, cuz when you start out it could be scary cuz you don't know where to start out. It's always hard to take that first step or get that first client. But then you have to think about, you know, what are you good at? You know, what are you passionate about? You know? So you have to find out kind of know who you are at first. You know, a lot of advisors are, you know, very much into sports, right? And maybe that would be people you wanna go after cuz you can easily strike a conversation with athletes or to talk about entertainment, talk about sports or you know, you may have maybe have family that's connected in certain industry. Like you have a family of doctors, right?
Xi Qiao: (
And then maybe you, you just know people in that area or can get some first intros and then focus, maybe just working with, with doctors. For me, you know, like as I started, I'm based in the Silicon con valley, a lot of the wealth here is tech wealth. A lot of the wealth are young wealth. It's a new, new generation new money. And I thought it worked out for me because we all kind of my clients, I kind of shared the same background where we kind of had nothing. And then, and then we, we were entering into this also this digital age too. So, you know, it's also at a time where in the last decade, wealth management changed a lot from, uh, you know, the traditional financial advisors and then also moving more towards digital platforms, robo advisors and being able to find my value in delivering what we have as a traditional wealth management to a younger generat.
Xi Qiao: (
So I found my niche market and I took that even step further that I realized, oh, by the way, I'm also, you know, Chinese and I also speak Chinese and I also understand Chinese culture. And at the same time China was growing the entrepreneurs there was growing too, the technology was growing. So I basically kind of put it all together that I can focus not only on tech entrepreneurs here, but I can also focus on the entrepreneurs in China or other parts of Asia, which I made that into kind of my, my niche market. And as I worked this market and became, uh, more reputable in the market, I felt like my business was just kind of growing itself.
Tobias Salinger: (
And, and certainly it, it was, as we can tell, as I mentioned at the beginning that this year you are again receiving an award from FP for being one of the top 40 brokers under 40 and this year is a really special year. It's a, it's a milestone. I think we're going to be seeing this in future you years, of course, but it's it. And it's long overdue given that we are speaking to each other in 2022, but this year we'll mark. The first time that we have three women in the top three positions in the ranking and you know, it's unprecedented to have one woman in those top three spots to have all three of them be women I think is a really special milestone for the industry and for the elite group of advisors who are recognized under this award, how does it feel to be a part of that group?
Xi Qiao: (
And what do you think it says about the industry? I'm very excited about this. I mean, I feel like we are making history here and I'm just lucky and just excited and I'm part of all this and you know, and I'm not as surprised because I feel like with all the strong social and corporate efforts for gender equality, I feel like just even our firm, I mean, UBS has been working very hard for a more inclusive workplace and it's not just with our firm. I think society, uh, in general is working towards that. And of course there's gonna be bumps in the road, but we are really getting there. And, and this speaks, you know, three women on top of this is, you know, speaks for herself and how, and, and how the efforts are coming to realization. You know, so women just in this last decade has just become more informed, more educated and in, in reality are taking more control of their finances and their money.
Xi Qiao: (
So, you know, like when I start it, this business, it it's a, it's a male dominated industry. It's actually an older generation, uh, male dominated industry. So for decades, wealth management has just, you know, not only that advisors are male dominated, but the, the clients are also men. And we see that this mostly men making the financial decisions, not the woman, but you know, things has changed so much in the last decade as, um, I think through education, through technology, women are more informed, more educated. And now also with the baby boomers, because you know, a lot of baby boomers represents a huge, uh, amount of us, affluent household investible assets. And, um, as the men are passing a little earlier than the woman we see, uh, women are taking control of that money. And along with the demographic changes among older women, younger affluent women are getting more financial savvy too.
Xi Qiao: (
So I feel like, you know, there's this trend that we're gonna see more wealth in the women's hands. So compare with five years ago, you know, we would say a lot more, probably married women are making financial investment decisions, but now women are controlling that in their household. So this gives us, uh, as female investment advisors, more opportunity to engage, to, to talk to women and to show what, what, what kind of value we can bring to the, and what I really like about working with women as well. And I have both men and women clients. Okay. And I have very intelligent clients. I always say I'm very lucky cuz I learn a lot from my clients, uh, every day, not just women but men, but I do see that women's approach to wealth management. It's somewhat very different from men. I mean, I, I see that when women are more likely to seek professional advice and less likely to feel confident about their own skill of financial decision making, you know, versus men are more, Hey, this is what I wanna do.
Xi Qiao: (
This is why I think it should be done, but women are more focused on, you know, planning and life goes and they're less risk tolerance. So it really gives advisors like myself, the chance to do my job, to be able to, you know, not, not concentrate on any asset class, uh, not focus just on responding when there's a, a life event happening, but actually planning ahead planning a diversified portfolio planning, you know, how to meet life's goals. So, you know, all of this is very exciting and I feel like, you know, the market is just gonna, it, it is gonna, there's gonna be more equality, you know, for both, I mean men and, and women, and you're gonna see both men and women, you know, whether advisors or clients are, are both gonna participate in this
Tobias Salinger: (
Industry and there you have it listeners, the world is changing. And part of that change is being led by amazing advisors. Like Xi Qiao, thank you so much for joining us and congratulations on winning the top 40 under four again this year. Thank
Xi Qiao: (
You. Thank you for having me.
Tobias Salinger: (
And thank you for listening to the financial planning podcast. This episode was produced by horizon with audio production by Kelly Malone special. Thanks this week to Xi Qiao of UBS financial services rate, USS review us and subscribe to our content@www.financial planning.com/subscribe from financial planning. I'm Tobias Salinger. Thanks for listening.