Nick Garofalo: A Warm Handshake Beats a Thousand LinkedIn Posts

Nick Garofalo is a fee-only financial planner and the founder of Openhanded Wealth. Host Daniel Hill asks him how a brand-new advisory firm earns trust, and Nick's answer is simple: a warm handshake is worth a thousand LinkedIn posts. Connect with Nick on LinkedIn.

Nick explains financial planning with a five-letter framework (retirement, investments, insurance, taxes and estate), tells the story of the 401(k) plan that got him into the industry while he was working in his dad's bootstrapped business, and walks through how he tests marketing channels in the second year of running his own firm.

Read the full recap: Nick Garofalo on why a warm handshake beats a thousand LinkedIn posts

In this episode

• The RIITE framework: retirement, investments, insurance, taxes and estate
• Why "financial planner" sounds like "I'm an artist" to most people
• The 401(k) that worked out for his dad, the employees and the business
• Fee-only planning and why the relationship has to create more value than it costs
• Niche down or go broad? The cart-and-horse problem in year two
• Giving advice away for free to earn trust
• His four marketing channels: podcasting, blogging, short-form video and local networking
• Why short-form video lets the platform find your audience for you
• One idea, one week: turning a podcast episode into a blog, a LinkedIn post and shorts
• Why his wife is his most honest critic

Connect with Nick

• Website: openhandedwealth.com
• Resources, blog and podcast: openhandedwealth.com/resources
• YouTube: @nick.garofalo
• LinkedIn: Nick Garofalo

More from Unscripted

• Short-form video as free distribution, the SEO Arcade take
• Trust-first marketing for professional services
• Rich M. Smith on why growth is not an accident

Nick Garofalo is the founder of Openhanded Wealth, a registered investment adviser. This conversation is general education only and is not financial, investment, tax or legal advice. Recorded June 2025.