The S&P 500 is sitting near record highs, the VIX has barely moved, and your clients are still asking if a crash is coming. Knowing what's happening beneath the surface, and knowing what to say about it across the table, is a big part of an advisor's job right now. For this quarter's market check-in, Adam Koós sits back down with John Kosar, CMT, founder of Asbury Research and a four-decade market veteran who started his career on the floor of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, and Jack Kosar, Asbury's VP of investment strategy.

Together they dig into why this year has had far more sideways trading days than normal, the new tool Asbury built to spot a trendless market early and cut down on whipsaws, why downside protection works like insurance, and why style diversification deserves a spot next to asset allocation. Adam also walks through the loss recovery and withdrawal math every advisor should be able to explain to a retiree. Whether you run a tactical book, stick with buy and hold, or land somewhere in between, you'll walk away with real data and talking points for your year-end client conversations.

00:00 Welcome back, and meet John and Jack Kosar

02:00 Calm surface, rough underneath: is this a healthy market?

06:00 Whipsaws, and why nobody buys the bottom and sells the top

08:00 Asbury's new tool for spotting sideways markets early

14:00 Downside protection as insurance, and playing the fourth quarter

19:00 Midterm year and the four-year election cycle

21:00 Why advisors need a plan before the next real crash

23:00 Style diversification and blending models

27:00 The loss recovery and withdrawal math clients need to hear

29:00 Fundamentalists vs. technicians

💡 Sideways markets are where trend followers get chopped up. Since 2017 the market has averaged 82 sideways days a year. As of mid-October this year, it was already at 123.

💡 Nobody buys the bottom and sells the top. Clients agree with that on day one and forget it after the first whipsaw, so set the expectation early and keep repeating it.

💡 Downside protection works like insurance. It has a cost, and some years you pay it and the house doesn't burn down.

💡 Losses compound against you. A 20% loss takes a 25% gain to get back to even. A 50% loss takes 100%.

💡 A crash hits retirees twice. A $1M portfolio withdrawing $50K a year can come out of a deep decline needing to earn 10% a year just to stay even.

💡 Diversify by style as well as asset class. Blending a trend following slice with buy and hold can help soften drawdowns.

🗣 "There's no forecasting, there's no guessing, we're not trend predictors, we're trend followers." Adam Koós

🗣 "It's like metaphorically paying your home insurance and then getting mad at the end of the year 'cause your house didn't burn down." John Kosar

🗣 "We don't have to guess what the market's gonna do next. We just have to read what the data is telling us." Adam Koós

Website: www.asburyresearch.com

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@asburyresearch

John Kosar

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnjkosar/

Email: john@asburyresearch.com

Jack Kosar

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jack-kosar/

Email: jack@asburyresearch.com

Facebook: https://facebook.com/adrenalineadvisorconsulting

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/adrenaline.advisor

Threads: https://www.threads.com/@adrenaline.advisor

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/adrenaline-advisor-consulting/

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@adrenalineadvisor

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@AdrenalineAdvisor

Email: info@adrenalineadvisor.com

Website: www.adrenalineadvisor.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamkoos

Website: https://www.adrenalineadvisor.com

In this episode of The Advisor's Fuel, Adam Koós breaks down why financial advisors build detailed plans for every part of a client's financial life, retirement income, tax strategy, insurance, estate planning, and almost never do it for themselves.

Adam walks through the four-part planning framework he revisits every year: values, vision, mission, and goals. He shows how to rank what actually matters, audit where your time really goes, and turn big personal and business goals into a plan you'll actually execute instead of just talk about.

Whether you're a solo advisor trying to get out of reactive mode, a practice owner scaling a team, or a CEPA-credentialed advisor guiding business owners through their own planning, this episode gives you a process to start with.

Episode Timestamps

[00:00] Welcome to the show

[01:03] Why "winging it" catches up with advisors

[02:05] The planning framework, built like a house: values, vision, mission, goals

[04:00] Ranking your top values and auditing where your time actually goes

[08:00] The "perfect day" exercise: designing your ideal life 5, 10, and 20 years out

[13:00] Turning goals into a business plan (and the income-to-hourly-rate math)

[17:00] An old-school trick for making your goals stick

Key Takeaways

💡 Advisors build detailed plans for every part of a client's financial life, but almost never for their own.

💡 The framework works like building a house: values are the foundation, vision is the framing, mission is the finish work, and goals get the car out of the driveway.

💡 Ranking your top values and comparing them to your actual calendar exposes the gap that leads to burnout.

💡 The "perfect day" exercise only works if you get specific, down to what you smell when you wake up and what you eat for breakfast.

💡 Big goals only become real once you break them down from a 3-year target into a 1-year, quarterly, and weekly plan.

💡 What you're willing to give up matters as much as what you're trying to gain.

Key Quotes

🗣 "We plan everything for our clients, but we rarely plan for ourselves."

🗣 "Whatever it is you want in life, you have to be willing to give up something of equal or greater value to get it." - Matt Halloran, quoted by Adam

🗣 "The truth is that the top 5% make the time to plan these things, because if they don't plan it, it's not gonna happen."

Connect With Adrenaline Advisor

Facebook: https://facebook.com/adrenalineadvisorconsulting

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/adrenaline.advisor

Threads: https://www.threads.com/@adrenaline.advisor

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/adrenaline-advisor-consulting/

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YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@AdrenalineAdvisor

Email: info@adrenalineadvisor.com

Website: www.adrenalineadvisor.com

Connect with Adam Koos: Adam Koos, CFP, CMT, CFTe, CEPA

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamkoos

Website: https://www.adrenalineadvisor.com

Most advisors are good at what they do. The problem is their brand does not show it. Their website, their message, and their pitch sound like every other advisor down the street, so prospects have no real reason to lean in. On this episode of The Advisor's Fuel, Adam Koós sits down with Natalie Hales, an advisor positioning strategist with more than 15 years in financial services marketing and deep compliance experience, who helps experienced advisors clarify their niche and attract higher-quality clients without the constant chase.

Adam and Natalie break down the niche funnel and why it flips the traditional prospecting model on its head, the reason a generic website works against you even when it feels safe, how AEO and zero-click search are already changing the way clients find advisors, and the exact order to build in: positioning first, then branding, then marketing. Natalie also walks through how she helps advisors land on a niche by starting with patterns, moving to natural connections, then sharpening it into a real strategic advantage. Whether you are two years in and stuck, fifteen years in and coasting, or somewhere in between and tired of sounding generic, this one gives you a clear place to start.

Episode Timestamps:

00:00 - Why marketing is really psychology plus finance

03:00 - The signs your brand has gone generic

05:00 - The niche funnel and why it flips prospecting around

07:00 - The fear of niching, and putting it on your website

11:00 - How AEO and zero-click search are changing lead flow

14:00 - Finding your niche: patterns, natural connections, strategic advantage

17:00 - Positioning, branding, marketing (in that order)

22:00 - What actually changes after the makeover

24:00 - Advisor A vs Advisor B: two very different conversations

25:00 - Rapid fire: mistakes, beliefs to drop, and first steps

Key Takeaways:

💡 Targeting everyone means resonating with no one. When you speak to a specific person's pain points, the right prospects lean in before the first call.

💡 A generic website feels safe, but it mostly ends up talking about you and your team. Clients care about their own problem first, so specific beats broad every time.

💡 Do the work in order: positioning first, then branding, then marketing. Most advisors start with the marketing and wonder why it falls flat.

💡 Zero-click and AI search are already routing leads. The advisors who talk about a clear specialty on LinkedIn, YouTube, and social are the ones getting surfaced.

💡 Finding your niche is a process. Start with the patterns in your calendar and inbox, tie them to a natural connection in your own story, then sharpen it into a strategic advantage.

💡 Niching down is a longer game, roughly a year from foundation to fully running, but it reshapes who you work with and what you get to talk about every day.

Key Quotes:

🗣 "When people know exactly who you're for, you don't have to chase anymore. They walk into the conversation already leaning in." - Natalie Hales

🗣 "Niching doesn't mean saying no to business. It means that your value is easier to recognize." - Natalie Hales

🗣 "It's comfortable for you, and it means nothing to anybody else." - Natalie Hales

Connect With the Natalie Hales, Natalie Hales Advisor Marketing

Website: https://nataliehales.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathales/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@NatalieHalesAdvisorMarketing

Follow Adrenaline Advisor:

Facebook: https://facebook.com/adrenalineadvisorconsulting

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Threads: https://www.threads.com/@adrenaline.advisor

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/adrenaline-advisor-consulting/

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@adrenalineadvisor

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@AdrenalineAdvisor

Email: info@adrenalineadvisor.com

Website: www.adrenalineadvisor.com

Connect with Adam Koós (CFP, CMT, CFTe, CEPA):

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamkoos

Website: https://www.adrenalineadvisor.com

Most advisors were trained to sell a story. Find a great company, build a thesis, talk a client into the position, then hope the market agrees. The problem shows up when the stock goes down anyway and nobody can explain why.

In this episode of The Advisor's Fuel, Adam Koos sits down with David Keller, CMT, founder of Sierra Alpha Research and host of the Market Misbehavior podcast, who spent nearly a decade running the technical research department and the legendary chart room at Fidelity. David breaks down what technical analysis actually is once you strip away the voodoo label, why price carries information the same way earnings do, and how a consistent routine protects advisors from the behavioral biases quietly wrecking their decisions. He and Adam get into relative strength, risk management, the biases that trip up clients and advisors alike, and the mindset that separates good investors from great ones. Whether you already run technical models, you are curious about adding them, or you just want a cleaner process for managing risk and client fear, this one is worth your time.

Episode Timestamps

• 00:00 – Why price has information, just like earnings

• 01:00 – Meet David Keller and Sierra Alpha Research

• 02:00 – From music and psychology to Bloomberg and technical analysis

• 05:00 – Nine years at Fidelity and the chart room

• 13:00 – The chairman's hotline: David's favorite Fidelity story

• 18:00 – Technical analysis in plain terms, minus the voodoo

• 23:00 – The quotes: Fama, Buffett, and Templeton on behavior

• 28:00 – Confirmation bias, endowment effect, and changes of character

• 32:00 – What clients actually want when markets go sideways

• 35:00 – Price is fact: stop guessing what markets should do

• 39:00 – Risk management first and the tornado siren analogy

• 40:00 – What separates average investors from great ones

• 43:00 – The three charts David returns to again and again

• 47:00 – Mindset for the next generation of advisors

Key Takeaways

💡 Technical analysis is not a crystal ball. It is a way to read what the market is doing right now instead of guessing what it should do next.

💡 Markets trend because human behavior drives them, and relative strength helps you find what is actually working instead of what you hope will work.

💡 Advisors carry a double load of behavioral biases, their clients' and their own. A consistent routine is how you keep emotion out of the process.

💡 Being wrong is part of the job. Staying wrong when the evidence has changed is the real mistake.

💡 Bull markets are the time to build good routines, because bear markets are when they actually matter.

💡 The best investors are the most self-aware, and they ask better questions than everyone else in the room.

Key Quotes

🗣 "As technical analysts, what we're doing is recognizing that price has information just like earnings do."

🗣 "A consistent but imperfect process is way better than an inconsistent, perfect process."

🗣 "The most successful investors aren't necessarily the smartest ones, they're the most aware."

Connect With the Guest

David Keller, CMT – Sierra Alpha Research

Website: https://www.marketmisbehavior.com/

YouTube:@dkellercmt

Follow Adrenaline Advisor

• Facebook: https://facebook.com/adrenalineadvisorconsulting

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• Website: www.adrenalineadvisor.com

Connect with Adam Koos, CFP, CMT, CFTe, CEPA

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamkoos

• Website: https://www.adrenalineadvisor.com

Most advisors know they should be creating content, but the second equipment, editing, and keywords enter the conversation, the whole idea gets shelved. This week on Advisor's Fuel, Adam sits down with Kyle Andree, a podcast strategist and producer who has spent the years since 2018 helping business owners and financial advisors launch and grow shows through his company, In-House Podcasts.

Kyle breaks down the one question every advisor needs to answer before they hit record, why most podcasts fade out around episode 30, and how to choose a format and cadence that actually fits a practice instead of someone else's playbook. Whether you're thinking about launching your first show, trying to fix one that's stalled, or just want to build trust faster than a newsletter or social post ever could, this conversation is packed with practical insight you can use right now.

00:00 — Intro: how Kyle got into podcast production

05:00 — Why "what's your why" is step one before you hit record

08:00 — A good podcast why vs. a bad one (the optometrist example)

13:00 — The biggest mistake advisors make when launching a podcast

16:00 — What to check when a podcast isn't growing

21:00 — Solo, interview, or co-hosted: picking the right format

27:00 — How to actually work with a producer like Kyle

💡 If you can't say why you want a podcast, you're not ready to hit record.

💡 A podcast built for status fades fast. One built to share real expertise doesn't.

💡 Podcasting builds a closeness with your audience that a newsletter or social post can't touch.

💡 Advisors who over-invest in equipment before they're committed usually end up with expensive gear that sits unused.

💡 Pod fade hits around episode 30. Get past it and your odds of sticking with the show go up dramatically.

💡 The best podcast format and frequency is the one you'll actually repeat every single week.

🗣 "If you can't tell me a why, I would ask you to go back and think about that why." — Kyle Andree

🗣 "The authenticity you get from a 30 or 60 minute podcast conversation goes a lot further than a curated Instagram picture or a well written newsletter." — Kyle Andree

🗣 "The best podcast frequency is the one you're gonna use and the one you're gonna stick to." — Adam Koós

Website: https://www.inhousepods.com/

Strategy Call Requests: https://www.inhousepods.com/form-page

Email: KyleAndree89@gmail.com

Facebook: https://facebook.com/adrenalineadvisorconsulting

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/adrenaline.advisor

Threads: https://www.threads.com/@adrenaline.advisor

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/adrenaline-advisor-consulting/

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@adrenalineadvisor

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@AdrenalineAdvisor

Email: info@adrenalineadvisor.com

Website: www.adrenalineadvisor.com

Adam Koós, CFP, CMT, CFTe, CEPA

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamkoos

Website: https://www.adrenalineadvisor.com

Adam Koós welcomes back John and Jack Kosar of Asbury Research for their quarterly market check-in, and this one covers a lot of ground. They dig into why markets climb slowly and fall fast, what the current shift out of tech and into industrials, financials, and healthcare is really telling us, and why a repeatable, back-tested model beats reacting to whatever's on CNBC that day.

Whether you're fielding client calls about volatility or building your own talking points for the next correction, this conversation is packed with the kind of practical, data-driven perspective advisors can put to work right away.

00:00 – Adam welcomes back John and Jack Kosar of Asbury Research for their quarterly check-in

01:00 – Why markets move at different speeds going up versus going down, and the case against shorting

05:00 – Reading the S&P's triangle breakout and what a healthy broadening market looks like

09:00 – The 200-day moving average and reading a market at an inflection point

14:00 – Where the money is rotating: industrials, financials, and healthcare

18:00 – Why breaking a tested model mid-year to chase risk is a dangerous road

22:00 – Cutting through the noise with a data-driven, back-tested plan

25:00 – Coaching clients to turn off the news and actually enjoy their money

29:00 – Inside the Correction Protection Model (CPM) and its 15-year track record

32:00 – Final takeaways: every correction starts with a pullback

💡 Markets tend to climb slowly and drop fast, which is exactly why chasing a short is a much harder trade than most advisors think.

💡 The 200-day moving average is a simple gut check on trend. Cracking below it has lined up with real trouble before.

💡 Right now the rotation out of tech and into industrials, financials, and healthcare points to a market getting more defensive, not one that's about to fall apart.

💡 A repeatable, back-tested model beats reacting to headlines, and breaking that model mid-year to chase performance is a dangerous habit.

💡 Every correction starts with a pullback, and every crash starts with a correction, so the plan has to exist before clients start calling.

💡 Clients don't need to beat the market. Most just want smaller drawdowns and a good night's sleep, and that's a conversation advisors can have today.

🗣 "Nothing good happens below the 200-day moving average."

🗣 "Every correction starts with a pullback, and every crash starts with a correction."

🗣 "The market goes up like an LP, and it goes down like a 45."

Website: www.asburyresearch.com

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@asburyresearch

John Kosar

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnjkosar/

Email: john@asburyresearch.com

Jack Kosar

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jack-kosar/

Email: jack@asburyresearch.com

Facebook: https://facebook.com/adrenalineadvisorconsulting

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/adrenaline.advisor

Threads: https://www.threads.com/@adrenaline.advisor

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/adrenaline-advisor-consulting/

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@adrenalineadvisor

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@AdrenalineAdvisor

Email: info@adrenalineadvisor.com

Website: www.adrenalineadvisor.com

Adam Koós, CFP, CMT, CFTe, CEPA

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamkoos

Website: https://www.adrenalineadvisor.com

Part 2 of a four-part series on working with the wealthiest segment of the population, business owners. In Part 1 Adam covered how to start the exit planning conversation and get owners to the table. This one is about the thing every owner needs whether you're doing exit planning or not: a real financial plan for the owner and their spouse.

Adam is taking you through our process at the office, meeting by meeting. The discovery meeting that runs two to two and a half hours, sometimes longer. The education meeting where we stop asking and start teaching. The planning meeting where we build the cash flow and then break it on purpose. The six-week follow-up. And the Safe Haven Kit, which might be my favorite part of the whole thing. If you've never done planning in your practice, or you do it but want a cleaner process, this episode is for you.

00:00 - Intro and the four-part series

01:00 - Why every owner needs a plan (the business is ~80% of net worth)

02:00 - The discovery meeting, and why it runs so long

04:00 - Soft questions first, numbers last, and a 90%+ conversion rate

05:00 - The education meeting: teaching investing and the risk assessment

07:00 - The financial planning meeting and cash flow analysis

08:00 - Breaking the plan on purpose with stress tests

09:00 - Ancillary advice: income, tax, estate and insurance

11:00 - The six-week follow-up and how they run review meetings

12:00 - The Safe Haven Kit, start to finish

15:00 - How Adrenaline started (the Leo story)

💡 The discovery meeting is the longest one they run, two to two and a half hours and sometimes more, with no forms sent ahead and no shortcuts. Soft questions come first, the numbers come near the end. That process converts north of 90%.

💡 For most owners the business is around 80% of their net worth, so it has to live inside the plan as an asset. Value it conservatively, because owners almost always guess high.

💡 The risk assessment measures what a client wants. The plan output tells you what they need. The whole job is getting those two to line up.

💡 Once a plan looks good, break it on purpose. Push expenses up, pull the retirement date in, and show the client how much room they actually have.

💡 The Safe Haven Kit gets a client's whole financial house into one place, documents, passwords, an encrypted vault, and gives the executor access with one switch when the worst happens.

🗣 "A dream without a plan is just a wish."

🗣 "We're not going to use this risk assessment to determine how we invest your money. That's what the financial plan output is for."

🗣 "Okay, your financial plan looks great. Now let's break it."

Facebook: https://facebook.com/adrenalineadvisorconsulting

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Email: info@adrenalineadvisor.com

Website: www.adrenalineadvisor.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamkoos

Website: https://www.adrenalineadvisor.com