About this episode…

Jim Gold first visited our show back in March 2019. At the time, Steward Partners was just over five years old and already considered a success with 104 advisors in 17 offices and $10.9B under management while still operating under the Raymond James Independent Contractor Platform.

Today, just three-and-a-half years later and with less than a decade under its belt, Steward is managing some $27B in assets with 350 partners, 200 of which are financial advisors, in 30 locations throughout the United States.

Plus, Steward has expanded their custodial options – making headlines as one of the first to sign on to the Goldman Sachs custodial platform – and the firm now offers a 1099 option as well as its original W-2 path.

In this episode, Jim discusses the evolution of Steward Partners with Louis Diamond, including:

• The gap in the landscape that Steward first sought to fill—and how the firm’s goals and value proposition have grown over time.
• The choice to move off the Raymond James Independent Contractor Platform—and how that impacted their ability to expand options for advisors.
• Breaking new grounds with the Goldman Sachs custody platform—and how Steward’s custody options have made the firm more attractive to a broader swath of advisors.
• The factors around the firm’s extraordinary growth—and how the firm gained incredible traction over recent years.
• The value of equity vs. cash—and what advisors considering Steward need to know about the economics.
• Plus, Jim shares his thoughts on a very evolved independent space—and what advisors associated with Steward can do that they could not under a wirehouse umbrella.

Just as the wealth management landscape has evolved, so have relatively young firms like Steward Partners. Less than a decade ago, they created a firm that took a “common sense” approach, as Jim put it, to offer advisors a blend of what worked in the large firms and those things advisors lacked, adding in greater freedom and control. And Steward’s growth over the years is a testament to the formula’s success.

It’s an episode that demonstrates the evolution of the independent space—offering an insider’s perspective on change in the landscape at large.