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Hacks for Your Succession Plan: Part II
Without a succession plan, a small advisor firm could lose virtually all its market value in a single instant—leaving family and heirs with nothing. The good news: succession planning doesn’t have to feel overwhelming. In our previous post, we broke down succession planning tasks into smaller...
Still No Succession Plan? Try These Three 5-Minute Hacks
If you’re one of the 73% of advisors with no succession plan, this post is for you—especially if your firm is small. Imagine that one day, you stop showing up at the office and never return. Perhaps there’s an accident, a medical emergency, or something else unexpected. Whose job is it to keep...
Our New Ebook Is Out! Big Changes Ahead for Custodians
It’s finally here. You can download a copy of our new ebook, Imagining the Custodian of the Future: 6 Ways Forward-Looking Custodians Are Making a Break from the Past. It’s designed as a practical guide to help you select a custodian today you won’t regret choosing in a year or two. The book...
Your Clients Will Hold Crypto. But Will It Be with You?
Many advisors watched the growth of cryptocurrencies with caution, even skepticism. Were they a fad? Did such volatile assets belong in a portfolio? How could advisors incorporate them? Many advisors held back, waiting to see whether crypto eventually became...
How to Get Out of the IT Business, and Back to Your Business
When you first became an independent registered investment advisor, you probably didn’t realize you’d also be moonlighting as an IT manager, a technology systems integrator, web developer, data entry clerk, migration specialist, troubleshooter, and customer support representative! Technology has...
Advisor Challenges — You Embrace Alternative Investments, but your Custodian Doesn’t
Have you been broadening your clients’ exposure to alternative investments over the past few years, especially in areas like real estate, private equity, or private debt? If so, you’re not alone. A long run of low interest rates has prompted advisors to...
What does Service Mean to you and your Business?
We’ve all seen the recent headlines about declining service to advisors. You may even be facing issues yourself. Imagine: A custodian takes its business in a new direction, and suddenly, simple service requests that once took 24 hours now take weeks to...
Blurring Lines: Is your Custodian Competing for your Clients?
You broke away for a reason. You wanted to control your own destiny, build your own brand and provide a superior client experience, without bureaucracy getting in the way. To you, independence meant seeing your own name on the door. You’d take the wins and losses, and your growth would be limited...
Is this what Freedom is Supposed to Feel Like?
As industry consolidation narrows options, small and medium-sized independent RIAs who custody with the Big 4 custodians are starting to feel like their futures are in lockdown. Here’s why—and how—advisors should break free. If you’re an independent advisor, you may be starting to wonder how much...