Morningstar - Q2 2021 - 71

Ramping Up Client Experience

With Miller, Ansell and Christine Damico serve
as the leads in most client relationships, but Miller
wants to fast-track the other advisors. He
says the industry does a poor job exposing young
financial planners to handling responsibility,
leading to attrition of bright people.
By contrast, Miller has created a structure that
involves staff as much as possible with
clients. Virginia Tech has served as a reservoir
of talent; the rigor of financial planning programs
appeals to him. " There are so many incredibly
brilliant students graduating from financial
planning programs across the country that have
the book knowledge to make an immediate
impact, " Miller says.
Christine Damico, who has taught financial
planning at Virginia Tech, handles mentoring,
training, and building the team at the firm.
That includes the development of OLIO's residency
program, which includes Spencer Werres,
who graduated from Virginia Tech in 2019 and
is working on getting his CFP designation.
Miller relies on Morningstar for investment
research, portfolio reporting, management billing,
and risk-analysis modeling. He also uses
the firm's Total Rebalance Expert to best time
trades for tax savings and maintain target
allocations. For investments, OLIO uses low-cost
exchange-traded funds and mutual
funds from fund families such as Vanguard
and Dimensional Fund Advisors.

Andrew Miller, CFP, founder and chief executive
officer, OLIO Financial Planning.
How he caught our eye: Built a firm that emphasizes
mentoring and training young advisors to help
usher in a new generation of financial planners.
Career path: Obtained his bachelor's degree in
engineering from Virginia Tech in 2007, then returned
for a bachelor's degree in finance with a concentration in financial planning, graduating in 2009.
Worked at two firms before founding OLIO in 2016, in
part to be able to train other financial planners and

offer clients a fee structure other than
the AUM standard in the industry. Now working
toward a master's degree in finance at Johns
Hopkins University.
Personal: Single with two dogs: a golden retriever
and a wirehaired pointing griffon. Before starting
OLIO, he gutted and remodeled a house with the help
of YouTube videos. Surfs on the Outer Banks in
North Carolina.

Along the way, Miller and his team stress a
human touch. For example, Miller helped a widow
navigate purchasing a mattress. With another
client, he recommended umbrella insurance six
months before it was needed. For others
on tight budgets, the team teaches how to stretch
a dollar. Regardless of clients' stages of life
and levels of wealth, in the end, Miller says, they
all want the same thing: " They just want to
live a good life without worry. " K
Charles Keenan is a freelance financial journalist.
Photography by Matt Roth.

Favorite Funds: Those from Vanguard and
Dimensional Fund Advisors.

morningstar.com/lp/magazine

http://www.morningstar.com/lp/magazine

Morningstar - Q2 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Morningstar - Q2 2021