How This Advisor Grew His Practice 166% with a Planning-First Approach and RightCapital

Patrick Williford, CRPC®, built his practice around a simple principle: the client should always come first. After joining Carolina Financial Advisors and adopting RightCapital in 2024, he found a toolkit that matched his philosophy, and the results have followed.

At a glance

Challenge: Delivering planning-first advice to families with complex financial situations

Patrick's clients are primarily high-net-worth families, many of whom are navigating multi-layered financial lives: business ownership, rental properties, tax reduction strategies, significant charitable giving goals, and preparing the next generation to steward resources.

"Their issues are around being intentional stewards of these resources. How do I leave a lasting impact on my family without ruining them? How can I impact my community in a positive way? How can I minimize my lifetime taxes so the money goes toward things I care about?"

Serving families such as these requires more than an investment account. It requires a planning-first philosophy that addresses the bigger questions: tax strategy, Social Security timing, charitable giving, estate planning, and multi-year Roth conversions.

"We're a planning-first firm. The plan drives the investments, not the other way around.”

To deliver on that promise, Patrick needed software that could:

• Simplify complex situations for clients who may feel overwhelmed by their own financial pictures

• Model long-term tax strategy, including Roth conversions and charitable giving

• Aggregate every account (including those outside the relationship) into a single source of truth

• Engage clients between meetings, not just during annual reviews

• Integrate with the rest of his tech stack so nothing falls through the cracks

Solution: RightCapital as the center of a planning-first practice

When Patrick was evaluating planning software, he demoed countless platforms. RightCapital won on a single criterion: it made complexity feel simple.

"The back-end is impressive, but what won me over was the interface. It was the simplest and best I saw, both for me as an advisor and for clients."

A client dashboard that answers "Am I on track?" in five seconds

"A client can log in and see on one page: here's my net worth, here's all of my accounts, here's my savings rate, or, if they're retired, here's my withdrawal rate. You can see all the important metrics in five seconds. We can generate fancy graphs and 20-page reports, but all clients really care about is one or two pages: Am I on track? Good. Move on."

Roth conversion and tax modeling

A core specialty for Patrick is multi-year Roth conversion strategy. RightCapital's tax allocation module lets him show clients the long-term picture in a way that's hard to ignore.

"Most clients in the affluent, high-net-worth sphere have heard about Roth conversions from their friends. But when they see the tax allocation chart saying 'this much is pre-tax, this much is tax-free, this much is taxable,’ it can be surprising. They've got a tax bomb waiting to go off if we don't do something about it."

Being able to upload a tax return, project taxes years into the future, and partner with the client's CPA on Roth conversions has been transformative.

"Having the power to come to the CPA with recommendations with the data to back it up is pretty exciting for me. And then you can actually quantify the tax savings at the end of the day. That shows real value."

Account aggregation into a single source of truth

"In RightCapital, the client links up their accounts with account aggregation. Having a live feed of all those accounts at one time has been a game changer."

Patrick has also been surprised by a side benefit: families finally have one place where everything lives.

"If something were to happen to the one person who knows where everything is, the family could be scrambling. I tell clients: I'm going to print you a PDF of your balance sheet. Go put it in your fireproof envelope with all your estate documents."

Estate and legacy planning

Patrick uses RightCapital's estate module to project net inheritance, model probate avoidance, and start meaningful conversations with clients.

"We can give them a number, 'based on these assumptions, your heirs are looking at $X million.' Are you okay with that? Do you want to leave them more? Less? That's a tool we use a significant amount."

These conversations often surface goals and priorities that haven't come up in previous discussions, giving advisors the insight needed to align each client's plan with what truly matters to them and their loved ones.

A dynamic client portal that drives engagement

Patrick says one of the defining moments in his use of RightCapital was the first time he sent a client an invitation to log into the client portal and see their Snapshot.

"That was a big one. Clients can log in and check it anytime they want. They can run their own variables if they want."

The result is a noticeable shift in client engagement.

"They're certainly more engaged in their plan, and they understand the big picture because it's been presented as a dynamic site they can go to. We put it up on the screen during meetings, and they can revisit it any time."

A tech stack that works together

RightCapital sits at the center of Patrick's practice alongside his CRM and his custodians.

"It's my financial planning software, my document vault, and essentially my source of truth for any client data. If somebody asks me a question about a client, RightCapital is where I go to answer it most of the time."

"I've never used another software that didn't integrate with RightCapital. My notetaker, my CRM, all of them. It integrates with everything we use."

Practice growth with RightIntel

Patrick uses RightIntel, RightCapital’s business analytics tool, to identify organic growth opportunities inside his existing book.

"I can go in and see who's got outside assets that I don't manage and maybe these assets aren’t being looked after as well as they could be. It's an excellent way to organically grow your AUM without growing your number of clients."

The automated reminders are another favorite.

"I get an email that says, 'this person is going to be eligible to file for Social Security next month.' I never had to even set that reminder. Great, I'll give them a call."

Support that surprises even power users

Patrick is so impressed by RightCapital's support offerings that he initially wondered if the all-human chat box within the platform was AI.

"My response time is minutes. The detail I get back is awesome. I don't have to be the genius know-it-all on every individual case. I can just ask in the chat, and they'll tell me how to build it. The help desk is phenomenal."

In addition to the chat box, advisors can contact RightCapital’s Support Team via email and phone.

Results: 166% growth and a better way to serve clients

Since adopting a planning-first approach with RightCapital at the center of his tech stack, Patrick has seen meaningful growth across every dimension of his practice.

"Not only has my revenue grown 166%, but my quality of life is phenomenal. We work for our clients. It's awesome."

Just as importantly, Patrick has built a practice he's proud of, one where the most important metric is client success.

"Client comes first. The end. The only metric we measure is client success."

Patrick's advice to fellow advisors

For advisors looking to grow, his message is simple: lead with planning, simplify the experience for clients, and choose tools that allow you to do both.

"I'm proud of what I deliver. I'm delivering the best of what's out there. That's what every client deserves."

Ready to deliver planning-first advice like Patrick? Request a RightCapital demo and gain access to a 14-day free trial.