By Mindy Diamond – The high-profile terminations of top advisors in the recent past have put fear into even the most long tenured, productive and “cleanest” FAs. While I completely sympathize with this reaction – and even understand it – I do think it is a bit overblown and unwarranted.
By Barbara Herman – The good news is you don’t “have to”—independence can be as “independent” as you want it to be.
By Mindy Diamond – Who are the independent firms that have the greatest enterprise value—the ultimate worth of one’s life work? They are the ones that have solved for predictability of revenue, profitability, growth, streamlined operations, have a solid return on assets, achieved scale, and probably most important, solved for succession by broadening equity ownership beyond the original founder(s).
By Debbie Wallen – You work in a small market office of a wirehouse firm and are the only game in town—which can have its advantages, like dominating the market place: both a great feeling and economically rewarding.
By Mindy Diamond – “Whether bound by the fiduciary standard or not, most advisors see themselves as fiduciaries to their clients. As such, the onus is on you to be certain that you are in the best place to serve those clients.”
By Wendy Leung – Too often, advisors assume that all of the major wirehouses are the same and that moving from one to the next would be going from the proverbial frying pan into the fire. But, is that really the case?
By Mindy Diamond – Ask any Business Development Officer from any custodian or service provider to the RIA space and they will tell you that the vast majority of their new business is coming from those in the Independent Broker Dealer (IBD) world. I was surprised to hear this too—until I realized that a large percentage of the advisors we are working with are independent with broker-dealers and looking to us to help them assess whether a move to the hybrid/RIA space makes sense.
By Deborah Aronson – Over the past several years, movement among advisors has risen to record levels and as a result, most firms have the onboarding and transition process down to a science. That said, a change in employment for a financial advisor is unlike a career move in any other industry—there’s no 2-week notice given to your employer and no exit interview to be had.
By Mindy Diamond – You’ve spent a professional lifetime building a thriving business. You worked hard for your clients – many of whom are friends and family – to both protect and build their assets. Now it’s time to think about the legacy you want to leave; not only who will replace you as steward and who will go on to serve your clients, but also how you will monetize your life’s work.
By Mindy Diamond – There’s no doubt we have seen a dramatic shift in the industry – the transference of power from the firm to the advisor – yet many advisors still complain of feeling “stuck”. Their concern: facing unforgiven retention deals or recruiting packages that have not yet fully amortized. After all, many advisors jumped from one firm to another some 7 or 8 years ago when the industry was in free fall and the landscape looked very, very different.
