AssetMark Blog

As an independent financial advisor, why did you choose to go independent in the first place? 

It’s no secret that there has been a profound shift in the financial advisor community. More advisors are either moving toward (or expanding their reliance on) outsourcing, automation, and fee-based services. Even the fiduciary standard is becoming just that—the standard. 

Fundamentally, financial advisors are “people” people. You’re in the business of guiding your clients’ financial lives, protecting their futures, and helping them accomplish their goals. Meeting these responsibilities requires that a financial advisor puts the client experience first.

Maybe you find yourself providing services to clients that veer outside of your core specialization; maybe the list of things that you’d like to accomplish if only you had the time is growing longer and longer; maybe you want to…

Financial advisors that have worked in the industry for a long time may have noticed a slow but steady change over the years: Their clients have become a lot savvier about their financial advisor’s fee structure.

Ask any financial advisor about their most valuable asset, and every single one would probably tell you—it’s trust.

Great things rarely occur within your comfort zone. Earning your revenue as a financial advisor via commission-based products like mutual funds or annuities might be straightforward and familiar, but it isn’t a sustainable way to grow your practice.

As a financial advisor, you regularly help your clients build responsible plans for their retirement or for transitioning away from their business, even if they feel that it’s too early to start thinking about retirement.

For financial advisors, change is to be expected. Much of our work centers on responding to change—market fluctuations, ensuring positive change in clients’ lives, harnessing the power of growth, and more. But technological change isn’t something that most financial advisors…