After joining Texas Tech University as an associate professor, Katz set about creating a rigorous financial planning course that is now held up as the model programme to universities across the US.
She attributes her success to being good at connecting people and industries, and has been instrumental in attracting big-name asset managers such as Charles Schwab to sponsor resources for her students.
This includes funding PhD positions, providing scholarships and internships and building a technology laboratory at the school in 2009.
“When I started at Tech, there weren’t many connections between academia and the industry, and I’m very proud that the research we are doing is meaningful for advisers and the industry.
“The money and support we are getting from the industry is vitally important for training the next generation,” says Katz,
She believes succession planning is an issue for advisers worldwide and says the profession needs to make “a concerted effort” to educate and bring in new people.
Katz points out that most advisers suffer from what she calls “the founder’s syndrome”, where in theory they are looking for a successor but in practice are often reluctant to relinquish control of their business.
“I’ve done many talks on successor planning and it always starts with management succession, not control of the company. I tell people that unless you want your practice to be worth nothing if you get hit by a truck, you need to find good people who can do what you do,” she says.
Branching out
Meanwhile, husband Evensky teaches in the same department, specialising in behavioural finance and wealth management.
Consequently, the couple decided to up sticks in sunny Florida and move to the university’s home city of Lubbock, Texas, where they opened a second branch of Evensky and Katz in May 2008.
As chairwoman of the firm, Katz has less involvement in the day-to-day running of the business these days, having groomed a number of successors to take over. However, she still ensures the “philosophy and culture” she built is kept intact.
Given her unique perspective as an international speaker, Katz is well-placed to evaluate the various regulatory regimes she has encountered in the course of her hugely successful career.
Closer to home, in April the US Department of Labour (DoL) was expected to introduce the long-awaited fiduciary rule, requiring financial advisers to act in the best interests of their clients.
Widely regarded as the US equivalent of the UK’s Retail Distribution Review (RDR), former president Barack Obama’s administration finalised the fiduciary standard last year to put an end to hidden fees and high-commission investment products in a bid to help Americans save for retirement.
However, the reforms have faced fierce opposition from asset managers, brokers and life insurers, similar to that seen in the run-up to the implementation of RDR.
Critics argue the rule will limit the ability of advisers to serve clients who cannot afford to pay for advice and must use products that carry commissions or other indirect costs.
