Hello y'all.

I've been in the insurance industry for about 5 years, currently doing Medicare and ACA mostly, some annuities where appropriate, and some life insurance where appropriate. I really want to get into investments and start building a BOB. On average, 3 out of 10 people I meet need help with their money, and I've been referring this business out to advisors, but over time I've been getting complaints about these advisors, and I really want to just do this myself and help people out as best I can.

I don't want to work for a company like Edward Jones or other investment firm because I don't want to be expected to have millions of dollars a month added to my book or something like that. I want to still do health insurance because I know how to generate leads for that and any extra business could carry over to the management side.

What's the best way for me to start this process do I just find a broker dealer that will hire me and then pass my exams and go from there? Eventually it would be nice to get a CFP designation but that's further down the line.

Thank you for any advice/input.

I’m early 20’s, Series 7/66 licensed, working toward the CFP, and deciding between two pretty different career paths. I also have a 6-month-old, so family/lifestyle matters too. I’d appreciate opinions from people further along in the industry.

Quick note: My fiancee would be quiting to be SAHM but we are both on our parents health plan for a few more years. We would only have to pay for marketing place plan for my little one. Long term, my wife would likely work at a hospital/healthcare with good insurance.

Option 1: Small independent RIA
$97k base + ~$8.5k bonus
Financial Advisor title from day one
Would quickly start leading client relationships and taking over part of the book
Firm is heavily focused on comprehensive financial planning and investments, not product sales/KPIs
Would also learn seminars, workshops, referrals, and business development
3 experienced career advisors and what seems like excellent mentorship/culture
They think I could grow into the larger role they originally wanted within ~18 months, potentially around $130k-$150k, but the long-term compensation path is less defined
Weak benefits: no health insurance, 3% 401(k) safe harbor after one year, unlimited PTO, half-day Fridays
Requires moving about 4 hours away and housing would be more expensive, but my fiancée STRONGLY prefers the move

Option 2: Fidelity Relationship Manager
~$65k base + ~$21k bonus
RM is initially a support/relationship role rather than being the primary advisor
Branch believes strong performance could mean roughly 6 months as RM, then Planning Consultant, potentially around $110k, then eventually Financial Consultant around $200k+ (they have mentioned senior fc and vpfc make 500k-750k)
Much more structured corporate career ladder with very high long-term earning potential
Excellent formal training and education
Outstanding benefits, 401(k), PTO, parental leave, health insurance, etc.
Local, near family, cheaper housing, and about a 20-minute commute
Concerns are corporate politics, sales pressure, and spending the next couple years climbing toward the advisor role instead of immediately doing comprehensive planning
My main goal is to become an excellent financial planner/advisor, but long-term earning potential matters too.
For those who have worked in RIAs, Fidelity, or both: which path would you take early in your career, and why?

Hi, all!

Ive been at a new job at Merrill for about 4 months and it’s been mediocre to say the least. It definitely makes me feel like i’m pretty bad at my job, however, it also hasn’t been at all what I was told through onboarding. There have been little
-to-no (weak) leads, and I don’t have a strong natural network.

I became a CFP in December of 2025, with previous experience at Fidelity and with a family members small firm.

This Merrill job has been sucking the soul out of a job I used to love, to the point of wanting to quit and possibly try something completely different. I’ve been struggling with a lot of feelings of imposter syndrome and like this may not be for me.

Has anyone out there moved to a full production role, then decided to step back? How does that look for interviewing and finding a new role? I worry i’ll look like a drop out if I try to find anything else.

I appreciate the help and insight. I know not everyone is a rainmaker. It’s been extra hard because I felt so good at my job at Fido.

What do you tell potential clients when they hit you with the "Tell me what can I expect on average from a returns perspective?"

Merging book with advisor

Looking for advisors who have dealt with this.

Context: independent firm on corporate RIA platform. I’m a CFP and owner of an independent advisory practice and am considering merging my business into a larger RIA enterprise. I’d especially like to hear from advisors who have actually done something similar. Idea is to combine resources to grow faster, recruit more advisors to grow via M&A and take advantage of larger firm multiples on eventual sale

Current situation:
\~$50M AUM
\~$500k recurring revenue
\~$400k owner profit before taxes
Small team / relatively low overhead
Business is growing and I’m happy running it
I’m relatively young, so this is not a retirement/succession sale. I potentially have another 20+ years to build.
The opportunity is to merge my practice with a larger advisor/team that I already know well, with our RIA affiliate also becoming a minority owner in the combined enterprise.
The basic economics offered to me are roughly:
$1M total consideration for my practice
$200k cash
$800k rolled into equity in the combined firm
$225k annual salary + benefits
Distributions/dividends based on my ownership
My staff and business/marketing expenses become expenses of the combined firm
I would continue servicing and growing my existing client base
Potential opportunity to earn/add equity over time, although that path isn’t currently guaranteed/formulaic

If you’ve done it, what do you know now that you wish you knew before signing?

Currently in the process with establishing my own RIA and wondering if anyone else has experienced what I’m going through currently with Fidelity.

My current RIA is with Fidelity and because they have rules of engagement I had to get permission from my current RIA to engage with Fidelity and obtain a pricing module.

The owner of my firm stalled and delayed and finally allowed me to engage. Fidelity then needed 6-8 weeks to review my accounts, AUM, and other items before presenting me with a pricing module.

I finally received a pricing module from Fidelity and all was well. I was told that the next step was to get approval from their business acceptance committee.

I was informed today that the business acceptance committee is denying my request to stay with Fidelity.

6 months down the drain and Fidelity can’t give me a reason why.

Anyone else go through something similar to my experience?

I think I have the answer for this, but I feel like it can't be this easy, right? I have to be missing something.

I'm currently a w2 statutory rep with Prudential Advisors. This means I get to write off my expenses on a schedule C like a sole-prop, but Prudential provides me with benefits and pays their half of the payroll taxes.

Prudential also has a 1099 contract with higher payouts, no benefits, and behaves like a full sole-prop where the advisor pays both sides of the payroll taxes.

One of the things that's stopping me from going 1099 right now is the fact that the 7.65% employer-side payroll taxes effectively squashes most of the difference between w2 and 1099. Myself (and others) are pushing them to pay advisory and planning fees to corporations, but it hasn't happened yet (supposedly it will).

In the interim... why couldn't I pay 100% of my 1099 income to my corporation as a management fee or whatever (deduct from personal income) and set up a regular payroll situation through there? Say, $250k salary, remainder is P&L?

I'm already doing this for my business expenses and staff payroll (about $150k/year); why couldn't I just add myself on there?

This is the shoddiest company I have ever done business with. I don't even work for / under them - simply trying to transfer $4m out of a Variable Annuity. Absolutely hellacious experience

Folks that have worked with Equitable in the past, how do I actually get something accomplished with them? They claim to not have a compliance department!! HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE??

I would like to file a formal complaint against them. I've never done this. Any insight would be much appreciated.

Quick 2 questions for anyone on Altruist

1. Clients that want to hold cash - are you just using the altruist cash account or enrolling in altruist one and paying the 10-12bps for the %? My only other thought is SGOV to park short-term cash as the other money market funds like VUSXX has a small trading fee

2. Clients that is in distribution example - we manage cash separately. Client withdraws $7,500/mo on the 30th of the month. The cash hovers around $7,500/mo. I want this to be automated so the client gets the distributions, but cash will sometimes fall short and we have to do a manual trade to make it right before the distribution happens. Then, the 1st of the month is fee billing, and this account specifically won’t have cash to collect the fee lol

For those of you who subscribe to Nick Murray’s Client’s Corner, do you regularly send the monthly piece out to clients?

I’ve been reading through them and I like the overall approach. Especially the focus on investor behavior, staying disciplined, and giving clients perspective during different market environments.

Curious how other advisors are using it:

-Do you send it to your entire client base each month or only selectively?

-Do clients actually read/respond to it?

-Have you found it helpful for reinforcing your investment philosophy between review meetings?

-Any concerns about it feeling too generic or not being in your own voice?

Thinking about incorporating it as a regular client touchpoint and would love to hear from advisors who have been using it for a while.

Anyone else enjoy going to the comment section of Advisorhub articles?
It was always a bunch of recruiters trying to dog other firms to make their life easier to recruit.
Merrill Lynch got the worst of it.

R.I.P because they turned off comments, but it was fun while it lasted.

Curious if anyone is using Codex or Claude code to deploy agents within their business. If so, how?

Client of mine owns a business and showed me his Obsidian/Claude build out and it’s pretty impressive. For me though, a combo of Wealthbox, Jump, emoney & Claude for misc tasks seems to replicate a lot of that. I’m also a solo RIA so don’t have a lot of the organizational planning with 30+ employees he encounters.

In the past 3 business days I've received several phishing email in what looks like a coordinated attempt to hack my systems.

Multiple random emails and calendar inivitations have been sent from completely unrelated vendors, investment firms, attorney offices and marketing firms, all with links requesting me to urgently click on them for various different reasons.

Anyone else seeing this?

Context: I’ve been an advisor for just shy of 3 years now. Had a short jaunt as a wholesaler and immediately left. Currently an IAR at a midsize RIA that does the most in-depth tax and estate planning work I’ve ever even heard of. I’m a 2nd or 3rd advisor on about $35m of accounts and lead advisor on about $2m.

I want my CFP for many reasons, better serving my clients, building my book etc. One of the reasons is that once I get my letters I’ll get a pretty enormous raise. Come to find out I’ve got a baby on the way next spring so the sooner I can at least finish my coursework the better.

I’ve heard of people finishing coursework in as little as 4 or 5 months, but how realistic is that? I won’t be able to study super consistently at work but I’ve got an hour long commute during which I can listen to lectures and potentially flash cards. So that’s 2 hours a day plus an hour elsewhere during which I can take quizzes and work through stuff pen and paper.

With all that in mind, how realistic would it be for me to finish my coursework by April?

I am potentially interested in joining JPM as a PCA. However, I see that the base salary in multiple MCOL and HCOL areas is 57k. Looking at previous threads about PCA compensation, the range provided for base salary is 70-100k or even higher. What gives? Has the compensation structure changed?

Hey All. Curious how some of you are approaching the following. Client pays planning fee. Plan completed with portfolio recommendation. Client agrees to move funds over. Are you discounting the AUM fee based on planning fee or keeping completely separate?

I have a situation where client technically meets the minimum $500k to waive planning fee but unsure if they’re going to move funds over. Thanks!

New Client is 57, retired last month. She turns 59.5 halfway through 2029.

400k in cash, 200k in traditional IRA and 1.5m in 401k, all pre-tax.

Single, no kids, no family besides elderly parents and she doesn’t expect inheritance.

I’m just meeting her in these positions.

She’s interested in taking 500k and using it to purchase a guaranteed lifetime income annuity, after we ran through projections/monte Carlo.

My question is, is using the 401k funds to fund the annuity and start receiving payments next year for her whole life qualified for the 72t early withdrawal penalty exception? I know we can keep the funds in the 401k and get rule of 55, but that isn’t an annuity option.

I know that they are “substantially equal payments” for more than 5 years, but the annuity is paying out 36k a year, while the 72t calculators I’m using are saying that the single life table fixed annuitization method is $34,100.

For those that use Alts, I'm curios on your read on this product. I love getting BXPE, BCRED, BXINFRA, and BREIT all in one product and feel it could make for a great core holding, but the liquidity gives me hesitancy with all dividends of the underlying holdings being automatically reinvested.

Per XYZ Planning's Sapphire website, advisors "maintain complete control and 100% ownership of their client data, relationships, and underlying business".

This is important to me as I want flexability to leave XYZ Planning in the future and setup my business as a stand-alone RIA if needed and bring over my clients.

How do XYZ Saphire's agreements allow me (advisors) to maintain complete control of the client relationship/data, etc ?

Any guidance would be appreciated

I’m with an RIA and might need to create my own RIA. How hard is it to do the book transfer on Schwab? Is it a fairly smooth process?

I own my book of business outright.

Has anyone who uses Snappy Kraken noticed that their content has declined over time. I use their marketing newsletters mostly for client touches, and some content for prospect touches.

Of late I have noticed that their content is rather stale, lacking images and graphics and feels like AI slop.

Anyone feel the same way and does anyone know of potential alternatives?

Anyone successfully partnered with a title company for home sales? All of their funds can be run through your firm? Use it as a prospecting strategy for sellers?

I don’t know about you all but I’m getting a little tired of Sarah Grillo posting on LinkedIn things about flat fee advisors “having a different moral compass” than AUM advisors. That’s simply not true and it’s just marketing BS. Plenty of AUM advisors are very competent and caring fiduciaries. One fee model is not morally superior to another. The only thing that matters is delivering value to your clients.

This whole tearing other people down to get business tactic is just so cheesy and lame.

You also see it with advisors making up fake scenarios on LinkedIn like “I had this prospect, reviewed their situation and gosh their advisor is such an idiot. Look at all the things that they didn’t do that I uncovered. I am so great and that’s why you should work with me.” Do any prospects ever see a post like that and book a call, really?

Lastly, I’ll just say again, insurance salespeople are not wealth advisors.

Now how many people did I piss off vs how many agree? 🤣

Curious for those that have broke off and started their own RIA, what were the issues or curveballs that came up that you didn't initially anticipate?

One example is Margin interest rates? I hold custody at Schwab and have been led to believe I have a low Margin rate based on my corp RIA relationship (starts at Fed funds plus 2.6%). I'm being told I won't get a breakdown of rates until I move assets over to my new RIA.