Falling in love with journalism despite the haters
Posted On March 14, 2024
Why would anyone want to go into journalism these days? It’s a consolidating industry where the jobs are decreasing, and the public seems increasingly hostile toward the profession. But people are still going into journalism, whether they be college students or others joining the trade later in life. Our guest in the latest episode of “What’s Working with Cam Marston” is someone who transitioned into the field from the financial industry, and considers herself lucky for having done so. Jill Schlesinger is a certified financial planner who moved into media and is now a business analyst at CBS News. She… Read More
Categories: Blog, Financial Services, Wealth, What's Working with Cam Marston
With fraud rampant, risk management is essential in banking and payment processing
Posted On April 2, 2023
Few of us write checks regularly anymore. They’re primarily used for things like insurance payouts and the like. But while the use of checks continues to fall each year, instances of fraud involving checks continues to rise. “Even as the number of checks reduces 10 percent year over year,” said Rusty Pickering, President and Chief Operating Officer of Ingo Money, “the amount of check fraud attempts that we see is going up something like 30 percent annually.” Pickering’s firm is a payment processing company based in Alpharetta, Georgia, but a large part of his job is risk management – managing… Read More
Categories: Blog, Financial Services, Podcast, What's Working with Cam MarstonThe Wild West of Check Fraud – A Conversation with Ingo Money’s Rusty Pickering
Posted On March 20, 2023
The sophistication of check fraud is something I knew nothing about until chatting with my old friend Rusty Pickering and then, only days later, hearing from two colleagues who had it happen to them. Rusty is President and COO of payment processing company Ingo Money in Alpharetta, Georgia. He and I chat about how check fraud happens, who’s at risk, who is at fault, and how to avoid having to constantly replace your credit card or debit card. Special bonus podcast version with extra content at the end – an off-script chat with Rusty and me. Show Sponsors: E3 Termite… Read More
Categories: Financial Services, Libsyn, Podcast, What's Working with Cam Marston
Is virtual banking the wave of the future?
Posted On February 24, 2023
What is a virtual bank? And when might one be right for you? The short answer, Megan Owens says, is that it’s a bank that doesn’t have brick-and-mortar branches. And if you’re a small business owner looking for a loan, Owens has just the bank for you. “The way of branch banking is going by the wayside,” said Owens, who works in Mergers & Acquisitions for Live Oak Bank, a completely virtual bank that specializes in Small Business Administration loans. “We see internet banking, virtual banking, coming to our customers’ offices, as the wave of the future.” Owens, our guest… Read More
Categories: Blog, Financial Services, Podcast, Succession Planning, What's Working with Cam Marston
The most common money mistakes normal people make
Posted On July 30, 2022
Arindam Nag will tell you the 2008 financial crisis wasn’t really caused by Wall Street. It was caused by the general public’s lack of financial literacy. That’s a problem Nag has been trying to solve as CEO and co-founder of CentSai.com, a financial education platform that seeks to provide the public with the financial guidance it needs to make informed decisions. In the latest episode of “What’s Working with Cam Marston,” Nag explains why 2008 was a lesson that just because you can doesn’t mean you should. He also shares why, with longer life expectancies leaving some people retired for… Read More
Categories: Blog, Financial Services, Podcast, What's Working with Cam Marston
On the road again with the Gen-Savvy Financial Advisor
Posted On July 28, 2022
When I was asked to propose a half-day program for financial advisors I was happy to dust off the contents of the Gen-Savvy Financial Advisor – update the data, refresh the slides, rehearse the content – and deliver the program at the annual LPL Focus event in Denver. The last time I did two half day programs on the topic with in 2019 with LPL in Boston. This time I added an hour of content on recruiting and retaining talent. These small-office advisors struggle with finding and retaining talent just like other businesses do. They need some understanding of the… Read More
Categories: Financial Services, Recruiting, What's Working with Cam Marston
How Dr. David Bronner rebuilt Alabama’s retirement system, and its image
Posted On July 14, 2022
Dr. David Bronner wasn’t the first choice to lead the Retirement Systems of Alabama when the job was last open back in 1973. He wasn’t the second or third choice. He wasn’t even the 100th choice. But he was the right choice. Bronner, who grew up in Minnesota before coming to Alabama for law school, ended up running the state’s retirement system because neither of the two most powerful men in the state at that time – Gov. George Wallace and Paul Hubbert, then head of the Alabama Education Association – knew who he was. And therefore, after about 160… Read More
Categories: Advertising, Blog, Financial Services, Podcast, Real Estate, Succession Planning, What's Working with Cam MarstonIncreasing 401k Plan Contributions – Our Successful Campaign
Posted On November 14, 2019
Showing off a bit of our work with an independent recordkeeper who we’re working with to increase plan contributions in test groups. This will be seen by 20-24 YO Males Enrolled in their plan. It will arrive to them via email and USPS on / near the same day. You should ask, “Is it working?” Answer: YES. Quite nicely, in fact.
Categories: Financial Services, Product Design, Work
Gen X won’t be overlooked by financial industry for long
Posted On August 22, 2019
As the Baby Boomers enter retirement and millennials are now the largest segment of the workforce and the consumer base, we’ve noted before that Generation X has somewhat of a middle child syndrome. This might seem particularly true in the financial industry, where Boomers essentially built the industry as we currently know it, and millennials are the group that seems to have grabbed its attention as investors. That leaves a generation in the middle that, despite being in its peak earning years, has gotten less attention from the financial industry despite likely needing it the most, according to a story… Read More
Categories: Financial Services, Generation X, Retirement
Banking in the digital age means doing more with less
Posted On September 26, 2018
During the recession about a decade ago, many banks found themselves saddled with bad debt and forced to freeze their lending. This created an opportunity for new banks to gain a foothold – smaller, more nimble institutions with fewer branches and more flexibility. One such institution was ServisFirst Bank, a Birmingham-based bank that’s now operating in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and Tennessee. Our guests in this episode of “What’s Working with Cam Marston” are two of the leaders of ServisFirst’s operations in Mobile – Bibb Lamar, who serves as President and CEO for the region, and Alex Arendall, Senior… Read More
Categories: Financial Services, Podcast, Recession Economy, What's Working with Cam Marston