The last bull market, which ended in 2020, lasted 3,999 days. That means if you have been a financial advisor for less than a decade, you are now experiencing the first protracted market downturn of your professional career—and it’s stressful. Like parenthood, no matter how much you’ve studied…
Financial advisory practices have changed over the years and are increasingly shifting away from commission-based models toward fee-based models. To understand this trend and the forces that are influencing it, we examine the pros and cons of different compensation models.
When talking about increasing practice revenue, the terms growing and scaling are used almost interchangeably, sometimes implying that one is a requirement of the other, as in “scaling for growth.” The implication, in this case, is that increasing operational efficiency facilitates exponential growth.
Managing invoicing, investment research, staffing, and the small galaxy of other back-office tasks leaves little time left over to focus on your own future. How do you grow your practice when you're already spending all your time managing the day-to-day operations?
It’s a financial advisor’s job to look after their clients’ finances, including creating a financial plan based on their overall financial goals and specific investments. While most advisory firms offer some form of a financial plan, not every firm offers a comprehensive, white glove plan as a premium-level…
An old adage attributed to P.T. Barnum says, “There’s no such thing as bad publicity.” Unfortunately, the adage doesn’t apply to marketing. For financial advisors starting out, the learning curve may resemble an obstacle. Michael Kitces asserts that financial advisors are for the most part, “really, really bad at…
Starting an RIA (Registered Investment Advisor) firm can be a massive opportunity for financial advisors who want to build monetary value in an independent business. While leaving the comfort zone of an existing firm or brokerage may be intimidating, there is no better time to act than right…
It’s an ongoing debate – working with a wirehouse vs. being an independent advisor – and there are passionate proponents on both sides. Still, if you are a financial advisor pondering a move, you must get past all the noise and look within. Why? It’s a personal decision,…
More than half of Gen Z and Millennials wish they had made different investment decisions in the last year. With half of Gen Z already venturing into the world of investments and a fifth of them wanting to learn how to invest, it would seem like an opportune…
As we mentioned in a recent blog post, the financial planning industry is always evolving, but one thing that remains constant is the best method for advisors to differentiate themselves from competitors: offering trusted advice. This is especially true for advisors looking to move upmarket or retain a…
Who doesn’t love independence? From fireworks to parades, independence is cherished and celebrated in small towns and big cities alike across the US.
What makes clients happy? Unfortunately for advisors, each person’s recipe for “happiness” is different. So, how do advisors work toward a goal of making clients happy when “happy” is so subjective?
Independent financial professionals wear a lot of hats… but a magician’s hat is not one of them. If you’re like most advisors, you wouldn’t mind waving a wand and pulling some free time out of a hat. After all, your most valuable asset is time. It’s a finite,…
The past decade has seen a rise in the use of terms such as “holistic financial planning” and “financial wellness,” but what do these terms really mean and does a change in industry vocabulary really foretell any actual impacts to how financial advisors do business?
In our most recent Impact of Outsourcing study, we asked over 750 financial advisors to report on why, what, and how they outsource elements of their business. Ultimately, we found that advisors are outsourcing a wide array of business functions ranging from front office to back:
