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Advisor Spotlight: Eric Rodriguez, WealthBuilders

For this Advisor Spotlight, we welcome Eric Rodriguez, CFP® and the Founder of WealthBuilders, LLC to chat about taking a more life-centered approach to financial planning.

By Alison Considine

Business Development Manager, Betterment |

Published Mar. 09, 2022 | Updated Nov. 16, 2022

Advisor Spotlight: Eric Rodriguez, WealthBuilders Nov 16, 2022 9:19:40 AM For this Advisor Spotlight, we welcome Eric Rodriguez, CFP® and the Founder of WealthBuilders, LLC to chat about taking a more life-centered approach to financial planning. Non-paid client of Betterment. Views may not be representative, see more reviews at the App Store and Google Play Store. Advisor: Eric Rodriguez Firm: WealthBuilders, LLC Bio: Eric is a Certified Financial Planner® and the Founder of WealthBuilders, LLC, an independent, virtual RIA based out of San Diego, CA. Eric is the author of R.E.T.I.R.E. On Your Terms: 6 Steps To Build Wealth and Co-Host of The Avocado Toast Podcast. He started his career as a registered rep for a broker-dealer that was heavily focused on product sales. That firm left him with a bad impression of the financial industry, so he switched careers to strategic B2B sales where he thrived. About eight years later, Eric was introduced to real financial planning when he started working at LearnVest. He was inspired to launch his own firm, WealthBuilders LLC, in 2017. Firm Bio: WealthBuilders is an independent fee-only fiduciary wealth management firm. WealthBuilders specializes in working with progressive early to mid-career professionals and business owners who are passionate about aligning their wealth with their values. Why did you decide to become an advisor? My parents didn’t talk about money growing up. They argued about it. I wanted to change that for us. I wanted to normalize talking about money and building wealth, and I wanted to make it a positive experience. This is what inspired me to become a CFP®. What are some questions that you wish more clients would ask? How do you measure success with your clients? Why? What do you think is the biggest mistake people make with their money? Not having a customized wealth plan that aligns their key values with their money. Having a wealth plan that includes a vision for your ideal future, key values, the unexpected, and goals to achieve can have a profound impact on your financial success. What does your firm's current tech stack look like? How has technology impacted your work? I run a solo practice —having a solid tech stack is essential to running my business successfully, especially with back office responsibilities. Having a partner like Betterment helps me streamline client onboarding and ongoing investment support so I can focus on other aspects of my business. Want to see Betterment for Advisors in action? My firm's tech stack includes Betterment for Advisors as my custodian; G-Suite for all business functions; Asset-Map for initial client conversations; eMoney for complicated financial plans; Riskalyze for risk tolerance; Holistiplan for tax planning; AdvicePay for retainer client fees; Calendly for prospect/client bookings; Wealthbox as my CRM; Mailchimp for client communication and newsletters; Quickbooks for accounting; Canva for marketing and one page plan creation; Loom for custom client videos; and Adobe Acrobat for contract management and editing. How have the recent trends toward remote and hybrid work impacted your relationship with clients? I work with a lot of clients in tech and most have always been hybrid. Prior to the pandemic I was meeting with my clients virtually about 70% of the time. Now it's 100% virtual. It saves us both valuable time and money. What do you think is the biggest opportunity for advisors today? Automating their portfolio management and back office and focusing more time on truly helping clients align their resources with their life goals. Evidence shows that a more life-centered approach to financial planning can help clients make better decisions and improve financial wellbeing and life satisfaction. If you won the lottery, what would you do with the money? I'd love to give my family and close friends enough money to fund some of their dreams. Give to non-profit organizations focused on closing the racial wealth gap and climate change. Take our immediate and extended family on a big annual trip and pay for everyone. Hire a full time helper like Jeffrey from the Fresh Prince of Bel Air! Invest the rest wisely. If you could only give one piece of financial advice, what would it be? Prioritize your immediate goals and take action. For example, if a down payment is at the top of your goal list, then open an investment account and aggressively start saving.

Non-paid client of Betterment. Views may not be representative, see more reviews at the App Store and Google Play Store.

Advisor: Eric Rodriguez

Firm: WealthBuilders, LLC

Bio: Eric is a Certified Financial Planner® and the Founder of WealthBuilders, LLC, an independent, virtual RIA based out of San Diego, CA. Eric is the author of R.E.T.I.R.E. On Your Terms: 6 Steps To Build Wealth and Co-Host of The Avocado Toast Podcast. He started his career as a registered rep for a broker-dealer that was heavily focused on product sales. That firm left him with a bad impression of the financial industry, so he switched careers to strategic B2B sales where he thrived. About eight years later, Eric was introduced to real financial planning when he started working at LearnVest. He was inspired to launch his own firm, WealthBuilders LLC, in 2017.

Firm Bio: WealthBuilders is an independent fee-only fiduciary wealth management firm. WealthBuilders specializes in working with progressive early to mid-career professionals and business owners who are passionate about aligning their wealth with their values.

Why did you decide to become an advisor?

My parents didn’t talk about money growing up. They argued about it. I wanted to change that for us. I wanted to normalize talking about money and building wealth, and I wanted to make it a positive experience. This is what inspired me to become a CFP®.

What are some questions that you wish more clients would ask?

How do you measure success with your clients? Why?

What do you think is the biggest mistake people make with their money?

Not having a customized wealth plan that aligns their key values with their money. Having a wealth plan that includes a vision for your ideal future, key values, the unexpected, and goals to achieve can have a profound impact on your financial success.

What does your firm's current tech stack look like? How has technology impacted your work?

I run a solo practice —having a solid tech stack is essential to running my business successfully, especially with back office responsibilities. Having a partner like Betterment helps me streamline client onboarding and ongoing investment support so I can focus on other aspects of my business.

Want to see Betterment for Advisors in action?

My firm's tech stack includes Betterment for Advisors as my custodian; G-Suite for all business functions; Asset-Map for initial client conversations; eMoney for complicated financial plans; Riskalyze for risk tolerance; Holistiplan for tax planning; AdvicePay for retainer client fees; Calendly for prospect/client bookings; Wealthbox as my CRM; Mailchimp for client communication and newsletters; Quickbooks for accounting; Canva for marketing and one page plan creation; Loom for custom client videos; and Adobe Acrobat for contract management and editing.

How have the recent trends toward remote and hybrid work impacted your relationship with clients?

I work with a lot of clients in tech and most have always been hybrid. Prior to the pandemic I was meeting with my clients virtually about 70% of the time. Now it's 100% virtual. It saves us both valuable time and money.

What do you think is the biggest opportunity for advisors today?

Automating their portfolio management and back office and focusing more time on truly helping clients align their resources with their life goals. Evidence shows that a more life-centered approach to financial planning can help clients make better decisions and improve financial wellbeing and life satisfaction.

If you won the lottery, what would you do with the money?

I'd love to give my family and close friends enough money to fund some of their dreams. Give to non-profit organizations focused on closing the racial wealth gap and climate change. Take our immediate and extended family on a big annual trip and pay for everyone. Hire a full time helper like Jeffrey from the Fresh Prince of Bel Air! Invest the rest wisely.

If you could only give one piece of financial advice, what would it be?

Prioritize your immediate goals and take action. For example, if a down payment is at the top of your goal list, then open an investment account and aggressively start saving.

Eric Rodriguez, CFP® is the Founder of WealthBuilders. Discover more Advisor Spotlights from Betterment for Advisors here.