Advisor Spotlight with Michael Breard and Ray Hays, baton rouge, LA - Summit Financial Networks
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Advisor Spotlight with Michael Breard and Ray Hays, baton rouge, LA

Advisor Spotlight with Michael Breard and Ray Hays, baton rouge, LA

We are pleased to bring you the next installment of the Summit Advisor Spotlight. These interviews aim to demonstrate how advisors have dramatically increased their production by leveraging tools and services provided by Cetera Advisor Networks LLC and Summit Financial Networks.

This edition of Advisor Spotlight features Ray Hays and Michael Breard of Hays Breard Financial Group, located in Baton Rouge, LA. They recently sat down with Josh Gomez, Summit’s Sr. Relationship Manager, and Gordon Jahnig, Summit’s Director of Sales Support. We are grateful to Ray and Michael for taking time out of their busy day to share their insights. Let’s get started.

JG: Good Afternoon to both of you. We like to start these interviews with an easy question. Can you tell us how you got into the business and how you ended up working together?

MB: I was always interested in finance through college, and I worked as an intern for a broker during my senior year of college. I was dialing 400 times a day for him out of the phone book and I quickly realized, I don’t want to do this. Around that time, I discovered financial planning, and it excited me. I found out that I could work with clients, know who they were and create goal plans for them. I got into the business at the worst time, right when the tech bubble burst, but I was able to find a small financial planning firm that was willing to hire me.

I met Ray at a breakfast meeting in 2001 and he was a manager at a different firm. We hit it off immediately and he suggested that I should come over and work with him. So, I moved my small book at the time and joined Ray.


RH: I have sort of a similar background. I started out studying finance and accounting in college, which led me to a transportation career that lasted 7 years. Then I realized being in transportation ruins Christmas, and I couldn’t have that occur. So, that lead me to joining a broker dealer in 1999 as a commission only advisor. I meet Michael about a year and a half later and we’ve worked together ever since.

JG: Michael you mentioned your interest in financial planning. Is that primary focus for both of you when dealing with clients? Could the two of you talk some about what your approach to clients and their finances?

MB: We are focused primarily on financial planning. When we meet with a perspective client, we first talk about what they want to accomplish from a financial standpoint. From there we explain how we work with our clients to bring value to them. Once a client decides they want to work with us, we’ll then gather their information and provide a financial plan along with recommendations to address their goals. We also establish a time frame around how we are going to work with them moving forward, whether we meet three or four times a year or setting up consultations as needed. We aim to be a one stop shop for all our clients’ financial needs.

RH: Yeah. When prospective clients realize, they can go to one place to answer 99% of their financial questions, that makes it an easy transition to working with us.

GJ: As a follow up, you mentioned your holistic approach to handling clients, do you also use client segmentation?

MB: We do follow a menu of service when we work with our clients, sort of a segmentation. One is an investment-only relationship and I know that’s not financial planning, but that’s our endowments, associations, or nonprofits. For this type of client, we are investment managers, we provide risk guidance, and make recommendations. Our passion is really the financial planning side of things. Here we have our accumulators and it’s maybe a smaller segment, but they tend to be executives, doctors, lawyers, or business owners who are at a stage where they’ve realized they need help. We love working with those clients because we get to grow with them. However, the largest segment of our clients are pre-retired or retired clients who need to make use of their money. They’ve moved past the accumulation phase and have now shifted into the income phase. Their biggest concerns are likely related to running out of money or estate transfer issues, so we spend a lot of our time talking to clients about what multi-generational financial planning means. When you are able start having conversations with clients like that, it becomes powerful for them. Being able to talk about what they can do for their kids and grandkids, it starts to open new thoughts, new questions, and possibilities they didn’t know existed. I have some client relationships that are four generations deep with me, we take care of the grandparents, the parents, the grandkids, and now the great grandkids.

RH: With the amount of saving the baby boomers did and the coming wealth transition, it’s much different than what they experienced. Baby boomers didn’t really have that from their parents just due to the era and it is a whole different mindset. Their parents usually lived more paycheck to paycheck. If you were lucky, you might inherit a family home and the furniture. Now there is real accumulated wealth that will be passed on and it’s a whole new ball game.

GJ: When you made the move to Summit last year, by all measures, it was extremely successful. I believe you have over 90% of transferred within three months of joining us. Tell us a little about what drew you to Summit and also what made your transition so successful.

MB: When we decided to make the transition, what we talked about was the “four pillars” of our decision and why we wanted to move.

The first was independence. We wanted to truly be independent, and we felt like that independence was somewhat being taken from us at our old firm. We wanted to control how we were able to work with our clients. We wanted to separate our custodian or clearing firm from our broker dealer. Second, we needed a strong wealth management platform. When we looked at MAA, we saw a platform that would allow us to work with our clients in the way we envisioned. The third pillar was the service. In Summit we found a firm that would provide the same concierge or white glove service we strive to deliver to our clients, and that was a huge draw for us. Lastly, we wanted to find the right culture. We hit it off with Summit right away. When we met with Marshall and Rob, those were really powerful conversations, especially the culture of who we want to be when we work with our clients.

RH: The easiest thing after 20 years would have been to stay at our previous firm, but we knew that wasn’t right. We needed to make a move, one more time, and we are really happy to be here. The assets did move quickly. Patrick Millsap and Misty Lichter with the rest of the transition team deserve a lot of credit. We can’t forget, Barb Simonton or as we call her Super Barb, she was a huge help. We were able to share our expectations early in the process, we said this is going to happen and the clients are coming, and the transitions team didn’t back down, they embraced the challenge.

JG: What advice do you have for other advisors who may be thinking about preparing to make their own transition?

MB: Patience. It’s an overwhelming undertaking, but it is very doable. Just use the resources that are provided. We had to be incredibly detailed and incredibly focused on doing it. We would talk and decide we’re moving these 25 this week and we’re going to get it done. We were focused on getting to the finish line. It really requires staying focused and finishing. My big ego was like, we’ll just flip a switch and move this book, right? But there is so much more to making the move and you just have to be patient and trust in the process and your client relationships. 

RH: Just be prepared for everything to not necessarily go according to plan. It’s incredibly challenging. We won’t sugarcoat it, but when you get over and get to the other side there are no regrets. As a side note, we happened to make this move in arguably the worst year since 2008; the worst bond market in the history of the bond market, the first land war in some time and it all created significant challenges. However, the best relationships you have are the ones that are forged in fire. We stood with our clients the entire time and they stood with us. Now things are great for us, and we can put our full focus on managing our client relationships.

JG: I got to see firsthand your annual Crawfish Boil. This is a big event for your office, and I know it’s one way you show appreciation for your clients. How has doing an event like this helped growth your business and client relationships?

MB: We want to be with our clients outside of our office. We sit across from them and spend time getting to know exactly who they are financially, but they get to know who we are too. Clients want to know we have a family that we go home to, and they want to know our kids. They want to know our staff as well. For us, the Crawfish Boil is about that family group feeling that they are part of something beyond and that part of our relationship is what will pull us through the tough times like this past year.  

RH: We only have one product and that’s to work with our clients. All the other stuff is just noise. They need to know that they’re appreciated and they’re really what this is about. When this started off, Michael and I were doing this in my backyard. We were doing all the cooking and there was a keg of beer in the corner. I’m telling you it’s grown since then. We moved from the backyard to a golf course pavilion to renting the whole backside of the restaurant parking lot in the shadows of Tiger Stadium and we needed more space this year.

It’s one of those events that our clients have been coming to for so long, they’re bringing everybody they know. Clients come, they bring their friends and reunite with friends that they didn’t know before they came to our event. We’ll have client meetings, and they’ll want to know if a certain client is going to be at the Crawfish Boil again this year. We even have clients that now travel together because they met each other at the Crawfish Boil years ago.


MB: Additionally, our families come to the event, and they see firsthand the work that we’re putting in, they see the impact that we have with clients, and how much the clients appreciate what we do for them. My daughters are 15, 13 and 11 years old and they get to come see that dad’s got a business and dad’s doing these important things for other people.

RH: When we started together my kids were babies and they’re in college now and talking about coming in the business. It’s nice because these clients know our kids and God willing, Michael’s going to have one of his daughters come into the business. My oldest son wants to be in this business and our clients already know him. They probably know him better than they know us.

JG: I think it is fantastic that you’re working to build an intergenerational business. We have previously discussed your interest in growing the office and have had some success already. Can you talk what your vision for growth is and why advisors would want to work with you?

MB: We believe we have a really good story to tell, not just to clients but other advisors about how we can bring value. We truly believe in independence and that the effort you put in is rewarded. The big thing for us has always been that we want to work with people who we like. Before we brought on Richie Burtt, we had a good vetting period with him to make sure that he believed in the same things we believed in. There’s no quota here, we don’t beat people over the head or demand they do more dialing. If you’re here with us, then you’re doing this for you, because you want to and not because you have to be here.

RH: We can help them get to this side of the business. It’s not for everybody and it doesn’t make sense for every advisor. Not everybody wants to take this on and truly be independent. You really must be a self-starter, self-motivated, and self-driven individual who knows that the harder you work, the luckier you become in business. We’ve got infrastructure and space to fit advisors. We can help them recognize that there’s got to be a better way to do this business and we can support them. Whether it’s being underappreciated from a work product standpoint or compensation, we want to work with advisors chasing the carrot and not running from the whip.

GJ: Now to the fun questions. We have asked this question to almost everyone we’ve interviewed, and the answers have all been good. What is your favorite movie and why?

RH: Mine would have to be “We Were Soldiers”, because I’m a military brat. And Hal Moore was incredible – just the things they went through, the training, the discipline, the pressure and their calmness in the face of it.

MB: One of my favorite movies is, and it’s hard to pick one, but the original Point Break with Patrick Swayze. I even named my dog Bodhi. I like the action. It’s good guy/bad guy and you’re not really sure if you should like Patrick Swayze’s character or not. But there’s a lot of freedom in what they do. I’m a beach guy, grew up at the beach, lived in San Diego and I’ve always loved that movie.

JG: What do you like to spend your time doing when you’re not in the office?

RH: I’m an empty nester now, so I like to travel.I go back to Europe a lot. Michael and I both travel to Europe a lot. I went twice last year. I liked visiting Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.

MB: We travel a lot. We love the beach and we travel other places as well. We were in London this summer for the Queen’s Jubilee, and my mom’s side of the family is from England. Getting to be there for the jubilee and then also being there right before she passed away, my daughters understood the magnitude of what we were experiencing. I’m really happy we’ve been able to travel with the kids and for them to experience things. As they’ve gotten older, they seem to remember more of the super fun times from our travels and it’s great they have all these experiences to pull from.

Did we mention LSU sports? LSU sports is a big part of this whole group here. We tailgate every home game. it’s literally a system. Ray is my set it up on Friday, take it down on Sunday morning guy. I just get to show up and enjoy the food and drinks. I would say we have one of the top 10 tailgates on campus. And if you’ve ever seen the tailgating at LSU, is really saying something. We’ve got a trailer, tents, margarita machines, a fully stocked bar and we fully cater the whole thing. It’s a good time.

JG: Last question, it’s Mardi Gras season down there. Do you have a favorite king cake?

MB: We were talking about this yesterday. We were at a friend’s house, and we had rival king cakes from different bakeries, and we had all the kids pick which was the best. They chose one from Rouse’s which is a local grocery.

RH: There is a barbecue joint here and they make a boudin king cake with cracklin’ and candied bacon on the top of it. That’s a food coma right there. You better believe it. You can eat about 3 bites. It’s so rich and filing. It’s painful but good.

JG: My mom makes a homemade boudin king cake with cane syrup and peppered bacon on top. It’s good. Not a traditional king cake but hard to say no to.

Ray and Michael again we want to thank you for taking the time to do this. We’re very happy you joined us and we look forward to supporting your business in however we can.


Ray Hays and Michael Breard – Registered Representatives offering Securities and advisory services through Cetera Advisor Networks LLC, member FINRA/SIPC, a broker/dealer and a Registered Investment Adviser. Summit Financial Networks is a region of Cetera Advisor Networks LLC, Cetera is affiliated and under separate ownership from any other named entity. 

Branch Address:

5035 Bluebonnet Suite A

Baton Rouge, LA 70809

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