Mindy Diamond Quoted
By James Connington

Advisers are looking for ways to be independent without building a business from scratch, and finding shortcuts to head upmarket

Next year will see the rise of advisers who want independent but don’t want to run their own businesses, as the rapid reorganization of the advice landscape continues, according to top industry executives.

Advisers now have a large number of tools available to outsource nearly every aspect of their business, from billing and client relationship management, to asset allocation. Beyond that, there are a number of new structures emerging for advisers who simply want to slot into an existing business, but still gain control over the work they do for clients.

“One of the most exciting and fastest growing categories is the quasi-independence space,” said Mindy Diamond, founder of Diamond Consultants, which specializes in adviser recruitment.

“It’s a very appealing model. Advisers like the idea of having more control, being part of a high-end community, and the look and feel of independence without building from scratch,” said Diamond.

As large, productive wirehouse teams leave to pursue independence…

“[Wirehouses] are always looking for ways to add mandates, become more bureaucratic, tie advisers up more and take away and semblance o control they have,” she said.

The great the degree of control they attempt to exercise, the more advisors feel the push to leave, said Diamond. At the same time the independent ecosystem makes setting up shop easier than ever.

It’s a momentum thing. The more high quality, best-of-the-best leave to go independent, the more people pay attention to it,” she said.

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