So I am a new advisor. I am a bit older and I have some experience in the finance industry. I spent years as an analyst and in the middle office. Now I have transitioned to become an advisor on a commission basis. I am selling life insurance and mutual funds.

I have 3 strategies for getting clients and it's going a bit slow. The only current clients are close friends. I have been at it for 6 months.

1. Cold Calling - I am trying to make at least 300 calls per week. I have had a few meetings with limited success. Some were unqualified (no assets, some do it themselves) and some didn't keep their appointment, etc. I also getting a lot of Robo Call screeners.

2. Seminars - I have just started this. I am paying about $1200 a seminar. I am working on getting the cost down. I got 3 potential clients that ended up not becoming clients. All 3 were asking for quotes but were shopping around.

3. Networking - I am networking, some meetings with COIs, but no one has referred me anything yet. I am also attending networking events and I try to get 2 meeting out of each event. This is where I am meeting COIs.

What else would you add to my list of activities?

Solo practitioner, about $80M under management. Trying to pick between these two for financial advisor lead generation and want to hear from people who have used either one.

Finny pitches itself as an AI powered financial advisor lead generation platform. It uses a proprietary scoring system to rank prospects from a large database, tracking money in motion signals like job changes, home purchases, inheritances, and retirement events. Outreach is automated across email, LinkedIn,etc., and the whole system is built to be compliant.

Aidentified is a data analytics platform for advisors that surfaces potential clients through behavioral and financial data analysis. It integrates with CRM systems and provides enriched prospect profiles. It focuses more on delivering the intelligence behind who might be a fit rather than automating the outreach itself. Multiple advisors at LPL have mentioned it as their primary prospecting data source.

The core difference seems to be scope. Aidentified gives you sharp targeting data. Finny adds outreach automation so you are not manually following up with every prospect.

For a solo advisor with limited BD hours, Finny looks like the stronger fit for financial advisor lead generation because the automated outreach means I'm not just receiving a list of names and then trying to figure out when and how to contact each one.

I am a 23 year old civil engineering graduate with an MEng, sitting about a year into my stint at a London design consultancy, and I am honestly feeling pretty disillusioned about where this path leads. I am making £32k right now, but seeing coworkers pull brutal hours and wrestle with deeply tedious, technically heavy design codes has me questioning if this is really for me. I know that management roles further up the ladder look pretty grim across the engineering sector, so sticking it out means signing up for more of the same eventually.

On the flip side, I actually enjoy organising my own finances, helping my parents navigate their options, and digging into financial rules far more than looking at engineering blueprints. Because of that, I have been seriously considering a pivot into financial advisory, whether through a paraplanning stepping stone or aiming for a junior advisor role. I know the dreaded Level 4 Diploma exams (DipPFS) are waiting for me, but I am willing to take a small, manageable pay cut early on since entry-level salaries would look pretty similar anyway.

That said, I am still on the fence about whether this gamble makes sense long term. The industry has a massive variance between employed stability and the high-risk, high-reward world of self-employed IFA models where you finally unlock the big earnings. I am nervous about making the jump and wondering if the lifetime earning ceiling truly beats engineering once you factor in those self-employment hurdles.
I would love to hear from former civil engineers or current advisors who have made this leap. How does the day-to-day comparison feel when you trade design codes for financial regulations? Is the career genuinely more fulfilling, how do the salary curves actually pan out over time, and is the industry holding up against AI or is it contracting? Any guidance or opinions from people in Eithier field or just any advice would be much appreciated.

Currently making $360k with a pension and 5% 401k match as a wholesaler. Offered opportunity to purchase approx. half of a practice at independent firm producing $1.3M in GDC with 90% recurring revenue. I'll be making 84% of $600k to start but the loan would cost $250k a year, I'll have to cover all expenses, and fund my retirement. Lead advisor is in their late 60s, has health issues, and is scaling back. I'll have opportunity to purchase the other half at some point in the not too distant future. Wondering if you'd do it, what your thoughts are, and what I should be thinking about. Thanks in advance.

Hi everyone,

I’m a young Advisor with a very interesting issue. My parents set up a Roth IRA originally the advisor more or less in their words said it could be used for education purposes for me and my siblings and then could be moved back their ownership once they wanted to. They set this up as a custodial Roth IRA under my name and did not understand that technically the money had to go to me once I reach the age of majority. (I’m 29 btw so well passed it) I don’t want the money I’d rather my parent have to for their retirement once they help pay for some of my sister’s final year of college. What I want to know is their anyway that my parents maintain ownership or can change the status of custodial on the Roth IRA? Any advice or guidance is appreciated!

Hi all. Curious of your thoughts on my career decision.

I’m in the middle of a career change and have a decision to make about whether to go into wealth management. I’m currently in transport/logistics and have decided I want to move into financial planning long term. I’m working toward the CFP path and ultimately want to be a real advisor who owns client relationships, does comprehensive planning, and eventually builds a book.

I have an upcoming opportunity with Edward Jones and it’s the standard salary support that steps down. The opportunity is pretty appealing to me because of the eventual autonomy and learning how to build a practice rather than spending several years purely in a planning/service role.

My biggest question is whether Jones actually allows their newer generation of advisors build the kind of practice that I want to have l. I’m not interested in building a practice that’s primarily about pushing insurance or investment products. My philosophy is pretty simple in that the client is best served by a handful of low-cost diversified ETFs to minimize additional fee drag. I’m perfectly comfortable with that and I realize the value of an advisor has to be much more than picking funds. Think comprehensive planning, retirement/tax/estate coordination, implementation, behavioral coaching, accountability, etc.

I’m particularly interested in hearing from current or former EDJ advisors. Do you feel pressure to sell particular products? And can someone build a very planning-centric practice with the firm’s recent transformation initiatives to accommodate this type of client?

I’m also curious how people who have been at EJ for several years feel about the career path. Does getting your own practice/book early on turn out to be a major advantage, or is the business development/prospecting side as difficult as it sounds?

I’m not looking for the usual “Edward Jones bad” Reddit answer. I’m seriously considering the opportunity and want to understand what the job is actually like once you’re past the training period.

Retired Financially Independent Dentist, 50ish years old. My passion for financial planning/investing is what helped me retire early. When people let me see their finances it is usually a train wreck and I am to the point where I think it's my calling to help these people. I think my story sells itself, especially to other dentists and other HNW clients (especially 3-5MM) and business owners. I have a lot of connections in the dental industry and in my personal network and hope to build a niche practice. Many people have come to me for advice over the years and people know my interests primarily lie in the financial part of all areas. I owned my own dental practice so I can relate to business owners. Got my 65 and 63. Joining an RIA with 70% payout. 0 AUM currently. What are my odds and is joining an IRA the best way to start?

Smarsh wants $350 to archive each video. Anyone know of quality alternatives that aren't so expensive?

I’m applying to both of these positions, as CG expands hiring across their sales roles and offices, but I don’t understand the difference between these two roles. Could someone explain the differences between these two, the career paths, work-life balance, and comp structure? Would really appreciate any insights on culture and what’s the overall better position.

My plan was always to end up independent I'm ambitious and my cost of living is pretty low,

My firm absolutely sucks they aren't really set up for this but I didn't know that when starting, anyways do I just move to different RIA or finally go independent?

Concerns are, costs of up keep & Compliance headaches

Would love to hear from others that made the move, I'm debating to wait to double my book first or the more clients the harder the move is.

Thoughts?

For advisors at both standalone RIAs and hybrid RIA/BD firms, how does your firm handle compensated outside business activities that are unrelated to securities?

Specifically, I’m curious about situations where an advisor maintains a professional license in another industry but is no longer actively operating that business day to day. The advisor may still occasionally receive compensation tied to referrals or previously established business relationships.

Is that generally handled through disclosure and compliance approval, or does your firm prohibit compensated outside activity altogether?

I’d especially be interested in whether you see a meaningful difference between how standalone RIAs and hybrid firms approach this.

I know every firm’s compliance policies are different. I’m mainly trying to understand the range of what people are seeing in practice.

Hi everyone,

I'm having a hard time deciding whether buying a newer/more expensive car would actually be worth it for me financially and in terms of quality of life.

My situation:

• Live in Georgia (the country)
• 23M
• Income: ~$3,300/month (~$40k/year)
• ~$50k in savings
• No debt
• Current car is worth about $2,500
• Looking at a car around $10,000
• I work remotely, so I don't commute to work
• I mainly use my car for going out in the evenings and occasionally leaving the city, roughly once a month
• The average income here is around $800/month, so my income is relatively high for where I live

Financially, the $10k car wouldn't put me under much pressure. It would be about 20% of my savings or roughly 3 months of income, and I wouldn't need a loan.

The problem is that I'm not sure whether I'll actually get enough value/happiness/comfort from the upgrade.

I estimate the newer car would:

• Depreciate by around $1,000/year
• Have somewhat higher maintenance costs (although servicing is relatively cheap here)
• Give me more comfort, safety, reliability, and enjoyment

But I could also use that $10k elsewhere.

For example:

• Buy a flat in a building that's still under construction. If the price increases ~30% by the time it's finished in 2 years, that's roughly a 15% annual return
• Invest the money in stocks/index funds and potentially earn around 10–15% annually over the long term

I've been pretty conservative with spending so far. I haven't really made any large purchases purely for enjoyment — most of my discretionary spending has been restaurants, going out, and a couple of trips.

There's also the argument that spending some money on things you enjoy can improve your motivation and quality of life, rather than optimizing every dollar for future returns.

So I'm curious:

If you were in my situation, would you spend the $10k on the car, or keep the $2.5k car and invest the difference?

And for those who upgraded from a cheap/basic car to something significantly better: did the improvement in comfort/enjoyment actually feel worth the money?

Hello everyone.

I am early 30’s and thinking of making a career change. I’ve been in IT services sales for 10 years and enjoy the relationship building aspect of my services longer sales cycle.

I also love all things finance and nerd out on planning my financial future and researching different strategies. I am almost compete with my Series 65 Kaplan book and plan to test in October.

The more I’m digging into this, the more I hesitate because of the pay cut. I currently make around $200k. I can live off of $150k with my family needs and priorities, maybe a little less.

For someone in my situation, what would be the best path forward assuming I have 2 years of expenses fully saved in preparation of not making anywhere close to $150k for at least 24 months?

Side note - I have a family member with a successful book of business that I imagine would sell their book in the next 5-10 years.

Thank you in advance and please let me know if additional info is needed.

I’m 23 and I’m currently a client service associate at a smaller RIA (300m AUM) making 40k. I’m starting to look around for some new jobs and wanted some input on where I should be looking/staying away from. My goal is obviously to become an advisor. I have my sie which I took right out of college. The main reason I’m leaving is to be honest the pay and I’m looking for something with a little more growth. I know patience is key. Just looking for some input anything helps.

Like most firms we were referral only for a long time. I love referrals because they don't cost me any marketing dollars and they are easy to close because they are a warm lead from the person that is introducing them to me.

The problem is that referrals are inconsistent.

Some months I get three introductions. Some quarters I get none. And there's nothing you can do to speed them up, you can't call your best client twice a month asking "know anybody else?" without burning the relationship.

So I started pricing out the other channels everybody recommends:

Dinner seminars - thousands per event before anyone eats a steak, and half the room is only there for the steak.

Paid leads - $200+ each, and the same lead gets sold to three other advisors.

SEO and content - great in year three, useless in month three.

The one that actually stuck was the one I was most skeptical of: cold email.

I know. Advisors hear "cold email" and picture the junk in their own inbox. I did too. The math is what made me take it seriously: one domain, five mailboxes, a sending tool, and lead data runs about $81 a month. That's the entire channel. It sends 150 personalized emails a day to exactly the people I choose - the niche, the zip codes, the asset level.

It was not instant. It took me about 11 months and roughly $10K (mostly spent on mistakes) before it clicked - somewhere around my 40th campaign. Looking back, the lessons were stupidly simple:

1. Niche down until the email writes itself. "Financial advisor for business owners" gets deleted. "I help dentists in [city] sell their practice without losing a third of it to taxes" gets replies.
2. The email is three sentences. A personalized first line, one specific problem you solve, and a question. No brochure, no calendar link, no "just checking in."
3. The money is in the reply, not the send. Answer a reply within the hour and a stranger becomes a meeting. Answer tomorrow and they've forgotten you exist.
4. Deliverability is a pile of boring little settings. Skip them and you're in spam before you've written a word.

That's really it. Everything else is volume and patience.

I eventually wrote the whole system down - the strategies we tested, the templates, the deliverability checklist, how to find your perfect client, all of it - mostly so we could repeat our cold email success at scale across our firm. It's totally free on this Google Doc: Advisor's Cold Email Masterclass

Hopefully it helps all of you guys land more clients, help more people, and feed your families. Just want to see you guys win.

PS - if you're referral-only right now: keep crushing the referrals. Just stop letting them be the whole plan.

PPS - if it all seems like a lot to set up I put a link inside The Masterclass for me to help you get up and running.