Insights

As advisors scale and grow their business, they constantly have to toggle between strategic, big picture thinking and tactical doing.    

Advisors have been vehemently encouraged to break away and stand on their own, defying a source of oppression (the wirehouse). Empowering advisors to be independent and highlighting the need for registered investment advisor (RIA) firms to better meet clients’ needs, does not mean being independent is doing everything alone. Going independent entails an immense amount of work that, depending on the size of the practice, can quickly become untenable. We like to offer an alternate vision for advisors to consider when pursuing the independent model.  

Three tried-and-true best practices to get more clients.    

More than half of all independent financial advisors say they would cut ties with their affiliated brokerages if the only other alternative under a proposed federal rule is to become a direct employee. So suggests a study released on Jan. 18 by the Financial Services Institute, an industry group and lobby representing roughly 160,000 advisors and 85 financial services firms. The report warns that a Department of Labor rule proposed on Oct. 11 to prevent abuses of independent contractors could not only drive large numbers of advisors to end their affiliation with larger brokerages but also give them further incentives to work exclusively with well-to-do clients. Click here to read the full article.

As an advisor, it’s easy to get distracted by noise in our industry. Every day you are inundated by hundreds of articles, blogs and webinars telling you what you have to do in order to build a successful business. What this advice often fails to include is the disclaimer that what works for one advisor may not necessarily work for you. There are many different ways to build a practice today and just because one strategy seems to be trending right now in our industry, doesn’t mean it requires your focus this year. Click here to read the full article.

Advisorpedia interviewed Penny Phillips, Co-founder & President of Journey Strategic Wealth, at the Riskalyze Fearless Investing Conference in October 2022.

As conference season comes to a close, avoid paralysis by analysis by taking concrete action on marketing your practice.

A Huge New Hybrid RIA Emerges, Women-Led Firms Conduct Strategic M&A And Three Big Firms Make Executive Promotions From Within. Journey Strategic Wealth Brings On Three Advisory Teams With $210 Million In Assets. Woman-led Journey Strategic Wealth (JSW) is adding three teams with six advisors, representing a combined $210 million in new AUM for the boutique financial advisory firm. Richmond, Virginia-based Mark Newfield, Seattle-based Laurie Adams and traveling advisor Kathleen Barlow bring their practices to JSW, which itself has offices in Summit, New Jersey, and Alamo, California. Newfield’s team also includes advisor Angela Lessor, financial planner Melissa Clark and operations leader Danielle Handshaw.

While financial advisors face serious business challenges, these tough issues also serve as opportunities for them to reshape their firms and the industry, according to several RIA leaders who spoke Monday during a panel discussion at the Future Proof conference in Huntington Beach, California.