By Louis Diamond, WealthManagement.com – Traditionally, a wirehouse advisor looking to monetize his business had few choices: Either move to a firm paying a “recruiting deal” or signing on to his firm’s sunset program. But what are the options for entrepreneurial advisors looking at the independent space but still needing capital? Actually, quite a few.
By Louis Diamond – A growing trend of departures from Northwestern Mutual has left many of the firm’s advisors wondering what’s driving their colleagues away from the broker dealer, and what they are finding on the other side.
By Louis Diamond, InvestmentNews – An interesting trend is developing amongst the largest and most successful independent broker dealer (IBD) practices. It’s a high-class problem to have—one that we see at every IBD when the top 5–10% of individual practices (those typically generating in excess of $3-5mm of GDC) reach a point where they begin thinking about their end game and how they will monetize their life’s work. They are essentially “growing themselves out of the market.” That is, their practices have reached a point in which there is not a viable successor within their broker dealer network.
By Louis Diamond, WealthManagement.com – With so much uncertainty and negativity pervading our lives, it’s helpful to imagine a future where we witness positive effects of the crisis on the RIA industry.
By Louis Diamond, WealthManagement.com – The wealth management industry was already evolving rapidly to match the needs of clients and advisors, yet the COVID-19 crisis is likely to accelerate the pace even faster. While each segment of the financial services ecosystem will no doubt be impacted, there’s one area in particular likely to evolve more than others: the Independent broker dealer (IBD) channel.
By Louis Diamond – While bigger isn’t always better, the fact remains that smaller independent practices can benefit by understanding the example set by larger firms when it comes to “scale.” Simply put, most larger RIAs have optimized the management of capital, infrastructure, buying power and resources, resulting in a well-oiled machine that has mastered an optimal balance of organic and inorganic growth.
Louis Diamond Quoted – By Oisin Breen, RIABiz – Former LPL Financial senior executive Derek Bruton now heads his own independent broker-dealer, after Kingswood Holdings bankrolled and spun off two subunits of Keith Gregg’s start-up, Chalice Wealth Partners (CWP). Bruton’s Post-LPL career has consisted of shorter stints at smaller enterprises and just under two years at old-line broker-dealer Oppenheimer & Co.
By Louis Diamond – While mergers and acquisitions are typically associated with existing RIAs and independents, the fact of the matter is that anytime an advisor is offered a recruitment package from a brokerage firm, that firm is in essence “buying” a business and conducting its own due diligence process to assess value—so understanding that value is imperative.
By Louis Diamond – Conversations throughout the wealth management industry have escalated around the topic of “enhanced” sunset programs with talk that the advisor elite at Merrill Lynch will be offered a “retention deal” in the near future.
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.
