Our weekly insights for advisors: Articles authored by our team designed to broaden your perspective and arm you with knowledge—because knowledge is power.
By Mindy Diamond – The formation of teams within big brokerage firms is often seen as a win-win scenario. For advisors, there is strength in numbers when serving clients and building their businesses. For the firms they work for, teams represent an even bigger advantage and a hidden retention agenda: That is, it’s harder to recruit away a group of advisors than it is an individual because solving for varied risk tolerances and divergent sensibilities amongst multiple constituents can be far more challenging.
By Louis Diamond – Many independent firms reach a point in their business lifecycle where they can no longer sufficiently grow or compete on their own. It’s when discussions around finding a way to gain scale and solve for succession hit a wall that firms often turn to considering a merger or acquisition opportunity. Yet finding the right M&A partner isn’t all that easy.
By Mindy Diamond – There’s a certain level of awe that accompanies a review of the names that appear on lists like the Forbes Top Wealth Advisors and Barron’s Top 100 Financial Advisors. Many of these individuals and others like them have broken through the proverbial billion-dollar ceiling—representing a pinnacle of achievement in the wealth management industry.
By Wendy Leung – Many advisors dream of going independent for the freedom and flexibility to control their business, client service model and bottom line. What sometimes isn’t a part of this “dream” is the prospect of taking on the additional responsibilities that business ownership entails, while emptying your bank account to fund startup costs. The good news is that you don’t have to abandon your dream of independence. An evolved landscape has answered the call—with a vast ecosystem of capital, support and resources available to help you succeed in living out your dream of independence.
By Mindy Diamond – Advisors at big brokerage firms have found themselves in a world driven by a zero-tolerance culture—an environment where compliance departments rule with a heavy hand while management is focused on the lowest common denominator. It’s a transformation that evolved over the last several years as firms became more risk-averse, creating an incongruence between advisors who want to provide a bespoke experience for their clients and a compliance department that wants to put a narrow box around them.
By Barbara Herman – It’s human nature to want to protect the status quo— familiarity is reassuring. Comfort level aside, quality advisors still periodically reevaluate where they are. And those who believe they can do substantially better for their clients and teams opt to move elsewhere.
By Mindy Diamond – It’s undeniable that continuing changes in the wirehouse world have left many advisors feeling frustrated and limited in their ability to best serve their clients and grow their businesses. For top advisors who have an ultra-affluent client base, this pain often comes attached to a false belief that the only way to support the unique needs of high net worth and ultra-high net worth clients is to stay in the ecosystem of the big brokerage firms.
By Allison Brunwasser – An advisor’s choice to go independent is typically driven by a strong desire for greater freedom, flexibility and ownership. Yet with that desire comes what is for many the biggest hurdle in making the leap: Choosing between building your own firm with complete control and 100% equity, or joining an established firm with turnkey operations, infrastructure and an opportunity to gain an equity stake in a more mature business.
April 2, 2019 – By Mindy Diamond – I just returned from an amazing trip to Southeast Asia with my husband Howard and two very good friends of ours. But, admittedly, we embarked upon the journey with some trepidation.
March 19, 2019 – By Mindy Diamond – In a landscape with more opportunity than ever before, some advisors still find themselves chasing a perfect option that doesn’t exist. Here’s how to escape that trap.
