Ditch the Weekly Scorecard and Focus on What Matters with Sara Baker, Allworth Financial

Don't Do That

Are you beating yourself up over work-life balance every single week?

On this episode of Don't Do That, Kelly Waltrich sits down with Sara Baker, Head of M&A at Allworth, for a candid conversation about leadership, career pivots, and redefining balance. With a background that spans corporate law, financial services, and M&A, Sara shares her unique perspective on navigating growth, both professional and personal.

Kelly and Sara cover:

00:00 Introductions and Sara’s new role at Allworth

01:00 How a career in law led to a passion for solving business problems

03:00 The explosion of M&A activity and what’s changed in the advisory space

06:30 The future of advisory firms: Integration, tech, and client segmentation

08:50 AI’s potential and its actual role in wealth management

12:00 The lonely reality of leadership and why community matters

14:00 How Sara connects with founders making their biggest business decision

17:50 Why client experience is still the ultimate differentiator

20:15 Sara’s personal “Don’t Do That” — stop judging your success in short-term increments

23:00 Making peace with trade-offs and the myth of daily balance

30:00 How AI is making Sara both a better leader and more efficient

33:00 Being a working mom: hard conversations, real lessons, and giving yourself grace

41:00 The power of knowing your gifts, your heroes, and giving yourself space to grow

Connect with Sara Baker

• LinkedIn: Sara Baker
• LinkedIn: Allworth Financial
• Allworth Financial

About Our Guest:

Sara Baker is the Executive Vice President of Mergers & Acquisitions for Allworth Financial. With deep expertise in advisor growth strategies, practice management, and mergers and acquisitions, she leads the firm’s partnership strategy—driving scalable, sustainable growth with a focus on cultural alignment and operational excellence.

Prior to Allworth, Sara served as president of Triad Wealth where she was responsible for setting the firm’s long-term vision. She also previously held high-ranking roles at Edleman Financial Engines, most recently serving as the VP of Advanced Planning where she built out the firm’s tax preparation and planning offering. Prior to that, she served as Senior Vice President, Wealth Management and Strategy Counsel at Mariner Wealth Advisors and was responsible for national partnership growth. Given this extensive background, Sara is also a recognized thought leader in the wealth management space and a frequent speaker at leading industry conferences nationwide.

Sara started her care

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Chapters

1. Introductions and Sara’s new role at Allworth (00:00:00)

2. How a career in law led to a passion for solving business problems (00:01:00)

3. The explosion of M&A activity and what’s changed in the advisory space (00:03:00)

4. The future of advisory firms: Integration, tech, and client segmentation (00:06:30)

5. AI’s potential and its actual role in wealth management (00:08:50)

6. The lonely reality of leadership and why community matters (00:12:00)

7. How Sara connects with founders making their biggest business decision (00:14:00)

8. Why client experience is still the ultimate differentiator (00:17:50)

9. Sara’s personal “Don’t Do That” — stop judging your success in short-term increments (00:20:15)

10. Making peace with trade-offs and the myth of daily balance (00:23:00)

11. How AI is making Sara both a better leader and more efficient (00:30:00)

12. Being a working mom: hard conversations, real lessons, and giving yourself grace (00:33:00)

13. The power of knowing your gifts, your heroes, and giving yourself space to grow (00:41:00)