When the pandemic was raging in June 2020, with a volatile stock market, financial advisor Dewey Steffen launched the "What Dewey Do?" podcast.
It was to help his clients at Great Lakes Wealth — of which he is founder, CEO and chief investment officer — and others in the community navigate financially and otherwise.
To date, the hit show has scored more than 2.5 million social media views.
Who's listening? Who's viewing? Mainly a younger audience, Steffen tells ThinkAdvisor in an interview. The show's topics have included ChatGPT, the cannabis industry and cryptocurrency.
"When we started, [the podcast] … was geared toward our clients and potential clients," he says. "Then we realized that the clients, and older folks in general, weren't listening to podcasts. But for Gen Z's and millennials, it's totally their thing."
Interview guests have included Kevin O'Leary of "Shark Tank" fame and Jan VanEck, CEO of VanEck investment management, as well as celebrities like swimmer Peter Vanderkaay, a four-time Olympic medalist.
In the lighthearted biweekly podcast, Steffen delves into financial topics with an easy-to-understand approach.
"It establishes us as an expert in the industry," he said in the interview, "and allows [potential prospects] to view us as relevant, established and professional."
Targeting "the emerging affluent," Steffen says, the firm oversees a combined $220 million of assets under management and assets under advisement, including his Great Lakes Private Wealth, which targets clients with $2.5 million and above in investable assets.
Steffen, 52, with 28 years of investment management experience, provides a dozen portfolio models — eight traditional strategies and four custom models — from "super-safe" to "super-aggressive," he notes.
In the recent phone interview with Steffen, who was speaking from Northville, he supplies his view on a possible recession and names the asset class that's "king" right now. Here are highlights of our conversation:
THINKADVISOR: Why is your podcast "What Dewey Do?" so popular with younger people?
DEWEY STEFFEN: When we started, it wasn't geared to the younger listener or viewer; it was geared toward our clients and potential clients in the community.
Then we realized that the clients, and older folks in general, weren't listening to podcasts. But for the Gen Z's and millennials, it's totally their thing.
So we've evolved: We now promote the podcast directly to those generations.
What makes your podcast different?
We go into the topics that are top-of-mind right now, particularly with younger listeners and viewers.
We did one recently on ChatGPT. We've done two or three cannabis interviews and two or three on cryptocurrency investing. [Another is] "Top 5 Ways to Millionaire Status by 30."
What's the basic appeal of "What Dewey Do"?
Probably, the content, the production, the promotion, the passion behind it.
It's a labor of love to give back to the community.
Please describe the show.
Originally, it was just me being interviewed by a co-host about the topic du jour.
Now we have guests on. We have episodes with leaders in the community [and others] that have a story to tell, knowledge to share and advice to give.
