The Importance of GIPS
Ronald Reagan made famous the Russian proverb, ‘Trust, but Verify’. Forbes magazine writer Frank Armstrong III also wrote an article a few years ago using that proverb as its title. In that article, he stresses the importance for investors to adopt that same mantra when dealing with financial advisors. He also states a good advisor…
What You’re Missing By Not Working With a Retirement Plans Team
Your Advisory Business may be Missing Out by Not Partnering with a Retirement Plans Team. Studies have indicated you are not alone. Most individual advisors only manage a handful of small retirement plans, acquiring these plans as an extension of an existing client relationship. This could be a potential weakness in your business model. You might…
The F Word
Your Solution to Managing a 401(k) Plan Have you examined your fiduciary status in your book of business? Have you ever been asked to manage a 401(k) plan? Plan sponsors need advisors, too. Managing a 401(k) can be a lucrative business, as you can imagine it means you have the AUM of an entire plan…
NFT Whats? Unpacking NFTs
One of the top searches on Google this year was the term ‘NFT’. Given the explosive growth in interest, we thought a blog post about the topic would be appropriate as we say goodbye to 2021 and hello to 2022. Terminology First off, NFT stands for Non-Fungible Token. It essentially just means a unique item.…
10 Things WealthPlan Advisors Have to be Thankful for this Holiday Season
As the year comes to a close and we find ourselves right in the thick of this holiday season, we’re reminded just how much there is to be thankful for—and for us, that’s our advisors. To show our appreciation for our partners spread out across the country, we’re always thinking of new ways to provide…
There’s More Than One Career Option as a Financial Advisor
Do you have what it takes to be an entrepreneurial financial advisor? At some point, it’s a question that most advisors ask themselves as they think about their career and where they want to end up. And increasingly, the answer is being found in the Registered Independent Advisor business model. According to InvestmentNews research, RIA…
Why do advisors choose the RIA model?
Why do some advisors choose to work as an employee for Northwestern Mutual their whole life, some advisors choose to open and build their own registered investment advisory firm, and still others spend their careers working at an RIA instead of owning one? There’s no one right way for every advisor to create their career,…
5 Ways to Improve Your Advisory Firm with Business Management Processes
Why does your firm buy new technology? It could be for a whole list of different reasons, right? You might add a new client portal because you want to enhance your digital client experience, and making sure you have an easily accessible online portal is a great place to start. You might purchase trading and…
How to Make the Most of Your Advisor Tech
How many pieces of technology does your advisory firm use to help run your day-today workload? If you’re like most firms you likely have a CRM or financial planning application to help you manage work for clients. You may also have a portfolio management platform for client reporting and trade order management. But that’s just…
Delivering A Modern Client Experience
The sum of everything we need to do in the world today is at our fingertips. Need to get somewhere? Call a car from an app. Want to buy groceries? Throw everything in a virtual cart and never leave your couch. Need a prescription from a doctor for a cold that won’t go away? Don’t…
The One Piece of Tech Every RIA Needs—But Isn’t Using
Technology advice for RIAs is everywhere, but most of it is wrong. As the Head of Internal Sales for Orion Advisor Solutions for almost 4 years, I helped hundreds of advisory firms build out their tech stacks and I can confidently say that most advisors begin the process with good intentions but the wrong focus.…
Common Exit Options for Retiring RIAs
Why did you start your RIA? Pretty much every advisor has an answer ready for that question. You may share your value proposition, mission or vision statement to give an idea of your firm’s why. Here’s a question that gets far less consideration: Why are you selling your RIA? Of course, there’s the obvious answer:…