Mike’s New Book Coming Out Oct 1st 

How To Fire A Friend

Mike Ross tackles one of the most uncomfortable challenges business owners and professionals face—changing trusted advisors when the relationship is no longer serving their needs.

Whether it’s your accountant, attorney, financial advisor, consultant, or another long-time professional, ending the relationship can feel deeply personal. In this practical, straightforward guide, Mike Ross provides proven strategies for making difficult decisions with confidence, handling sensitive conversations with professionalism, and protecting valuable relationships along the way.

If you’ve ever stayed with an advisor simply because it was easier than having the conversation, How to Fire a Friend offers the clarity, courage, and communication tools you need to move forward while preserving mutual respect.

Mike’s New Book Coming Out Oct 1st 

How To Fire A Friend

Mike Ross tackles one of the most uncomfortable challenges business owners and professionals face—changing trusted advisors when the relationship is no longer serving their needs.

Whether it’s your accountant, attorney, financial advisor, consultant, or another long-time professional, ending the relationship can feel deeply personal. In this practical, straightforward guide, Mike Ross provides proven strategies for making difficult decisions with confidence, handling sensitive conversations with professionalism, and protecting valuable relationships along the way.

If you’ve ever stayed with an advisor simply because it was easier than having the conversation, How to Fire a Friend offers the clarity, courage, and communication tools you need to move forward while preserving mutual respect.

HoW To Fire A Friend

A Practical Guide for Tough Decisions: Changing Advisors Without Damaging the Relationship

One of the hardest decisions you’ll make in business isn’t hiring the right advisor—it’s knowing when it’s time to move on.

Whether it’s your accountant, attorney, financial advisor, insurance agent, consultant, coach, or another trusted professional, changing advisors can be emotionally challenging. These relationships often span years, even decades, evolving into friendships built on trust, loyalty, and shared experiences. But what happens when that trusted relationship is no longer meeting your needs?

Too often, people stay with an advisor because they fear an awkward conversation, don’t want to hurt someone’s feelings, or simply don’t know how to make a change gracefully. The result can be missed opportunities, unnecessary frustration, and decisions that ultimately hold back both personal and professional growth.

In How to Fire a Friend, Mike Ross provides a practical, compassionate roadmap for navigating one of the most uncomfortable conversations you’ll ever have. Drawing on years of professional experience and real-world insights, he shows readers how to evaluate advisor relationships objectively, recognize when it’s time to make a change, and communicate that decision with honesty, respect, and professionalism.

Inside this book, you’ll discover how to:

  • Recognize the warning signs that an advisor relationship has run its course.
  • Separate loyalty and friendship from sound business decision-making.
  • Prepare for difficult conversations with confidence.
  • Deliver your message respectfully while preserving dignity on both sides.
  • Transition to a new advisor with minimal disruption.
  • Maintain valuable personal relationships even after ending a professional one.
  • Avoid common mistakes that create unnecessary conflict or resentment.

This isn’t a book about burning bridges. It’s about making thoughtful decisions that serve your future while honoring the relationships that helped shape your past.

Whether you’re a business owner, executive, entrepreneur, or anyone who relies on trusted advisors, How to Fire a Friend offers practical guidance, relatable stories, and actionable strategies to help you navigate change with confidence and integrity.

Because sometimes the most professional thing you can do—for yourself and for the other person—is have the conversation you’ve been avoiding.

About the author

Michael Ross is a co-founder of the Academy of Certified Portfolio Managers and has been managing stock and bond portfolios for wealth management clients for almost a quarter of a century. Having survived six bear markets in his career, Ross is a maverick, disagreeing with most traditional asset allocation and financial planning approaches. He believes that when you manage risk well, the returns take care of themselves.

Through this philosophy, Ross and his team have managed well over a half-billion dollars of overall portfolio funds, with an average individual account value of about $500,000—as well as assisting other investment advisors throughout the US in managing both taxable and IRA accounts.

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