Insights & Perspectives from Deborah Aronson

By Deborah Aronson, WealthManagement.com - Long before the pandemic hit, the independent space was gaining traction among advisors craving greater control over their business lives along with a better way to serve clients. Yet, there’s a population of advisors who watched from the sidelines as their respected colleagues made the leap. That is, advisors who had growing frustrations with their firms’ and yearned for the freedom and flexibility of independence, but were besieged by concerns about leaving the comfort, familiarity and infrastructure of the brokerage model.

By Deborah Aronson - Consider this: You’re the senior most advisor on a multi-generational team managing nearly a billion in assets at a firm you’ve been with for three decades. Over the years, you’ve assembled a stellar group of seasoned, mid-career advisors, as well as several more junior partners. And it’s a great team—clients consistently acknowledge the high level of service they receive.

By Deborah Aronson - A new breed of service providers has emerged, designed to cater to the needs of a growing population of financial advisors who have their sights set on independence. For a population of advisors that previously had limited options in the independent landscape, a new world awaits.

By Deborah Aronson - While some may argue that the importance of culture is overrated, it’s hard to deny its significance when it comes to attracting, developing and retaining talent. Culture embodies the ideology of a firm—it’s the organizational glue that binds together leadership and employees. It can also make some companies fantastic places to work at while others, unfortunately, toxic.

By Deborah Aronson - It’s natural to begin an exploration process with preconceived notions, guided by confirmation bias; that is, the desire to “prove” our thoughts are well-aligned with reality. Yet, as the due diligence process unfolds, you may find yourself more confused than when you started—maybe even losing sight of what prompted you to explore in the first place.

By Deborah Aronson - Growth doesn’t happen by accident—it begins by knowing where you are today and where you want to be tomorrow. If you’re an advisor at a wirehouse, you’re likely limited to growing organically; that is, one client at a time. But for those who really want to turbocharge their growth and take it up a few notches, organic growth alone is typically not enough.

By Deborah Aronson - Whether you’ve been married to a broker dealer for the past several years and are searching for a new partner, or you’re exploring the independent broker dealer space for the first time, there’s a new set of factors to consider in a post-DOL world.

By Deborah Aronson – After months of performing thorough due diligence, you’ve finally decided to pull the trigger and make a move. You may even have a start date on the calendar. Now what? While you may feel that you’ve covered all of your bases, there are steps that every advisor should take to ensure your transition goes smoothly. Moving to a new firm requires a degree of preparedness and should be well thought-out. In fact, we often recommend that advisors begin preparing for their transition three months before their anticipated move date.

By Deborah Aronson - Going independent is an opportunity for advisors to gain greater flexibility and control over their businesses, but actually breaking away from an employee model can be daunting. The good news is that there’s an option available that allows advisors to gain many of the advantages offered by independence, yet without being bogged down by the day-to-day requirements of running a business or the feeling that they’re going it alone.

By Deborah Aronson - In an industry where firms are offering transition packages at high water mark levels, it’s easy for advisors to get caught up in the economics surrounding a potential move. While a transition package may be among the top things on an advisor’s mind when contemplating a move, bringing up economics on a first meeting is often considered taboo—especially with the new Broker Disclosure Rule on our heels.

By Deborah Aronson - Zen Buddhism teaches the concept of a “beginner’s mind”—meaning to have “an attitude of openness, eagerness and a lack of preconceptions just as a beginner would.” It’s that state of mind you exhibit any time you embark on something new: While there’s a clear sense of purpose, the mind is uncluttered and open to all possibilities.

By Deborah Aronson - Among the myriad of challenges that advisors face today are the limitations that their own firms are imposing on who they can do business with and how. Minimum household requirements, mandates on how advisors price their fee-based business and changing compensation grids come with the territory of being an employee these days. And while strategic adjustments such as these aren’t necessarily a new phenomenon – given every publicly traded firm’s mandate to maximize shareholder value – today’s regulatory climate coupled with an increasing cost of doing business has made for a more difficult operating environment.

By Deborah Aronson - The independent broker dealer (IBD) space has experienced a transformation of late, just short of the consolidation we witnessed in the wirehouse world during the financial meltdown of 2008. Today, a changing regulatory environment and an increase in the overall cost of doing business has placed an enormous burden on independent broker dealers, no matter their size. Small broker dealers that lack the scale necessary to invest in their compliance and overall infrastructure are rapidly becoming an endangered species.

By Deborah Aronson - Financial services is a people business—advisors spend years cultivating relationships, earning their clients’ trust and building their businesses. There’s a highly human element involved and many entrepreneurs are personally intertwined with their businesses. That said, thoughtful business owners recognize that there’s more at stake than themselves as they need to ensure that their clients and staff will be well taken care of, if and when the time comes that they can no longer serve as CEO.

By Deborah Aronson - Financial advisors often feel bound to the fiduciary mindset – that is, putting their clients’ best interests before their own – when it comes to making any and all decisions. What happens when your clients are happy, but you’re questioning whether you’re in the right place to best serve both your needs and theirs? How do you even contemplate replacing your current business card with a new one?

By Deborah Aronson - As a trusted advisor, you’re always thinking three steps ahead in order to ensure that your clients’ needs are met and their expectations exceeded. It would stand to reason that you should do the same for yourself when it comes to your business. So, while you may be running on all cylinders and you worry about getting distracted, conducting due diligence at a time of relative calm is often the most opportune.