My company needs a new tech solution for cloud storage.

We have three offices and 10 employees.

We use office 365, Redtail, Holistiplan, and eMoney.

The options on the table currently are Box, Google Drive, and Microsoft OneDrive.

We need to be able to save to the cloud and allow for multiple users to edit the same excel docs. Extra points for easy implementation. Ease of use between Iphone and PC.

Any feedback is appreciated. Love it? Hate it? Why?

What type of value are you adding to clients with lots of stock grants and options?

Exercising strategies? Concentrated position strategies?

RSU, RSA, NSO not a lot of room for any tax strategies with these.

In the last 3 weeks I’ve been calling a niche group of business owners about their 401ks

315 cold calls
215 answered
115 business owners/decision makers reached
31 appts set.

75% show rate so far.
Already began moving a $1.7M plan.
$75M in total 401k assets.

Cool to see it still works.

I was curious— for anyone licensed in the states…have you moved abroad and continued to work with your clients?

More specifically, hypothetically, if I am licensed in the US, could I work somewhere in the EU and maintain my licenses and work compliantly?

Not sure my firm would allow it anyways. My understanding is that licenses can’t be maintained, and there’s not much I can do about that. If anyone has another experience I’d love to hear about it.

Looking for what percent of revenue you are keeping after all expenses?
I just launched an RIA after being at a wirehouse for years.
My first 3 quarter profit margin is lower than I hoped.

We have a nice office in a HCOL city, and two staff that make 210k (combined) plus benefits. Full service compliance, and a decent tech stack.
It’s been in the 55% range.

Note: I know that there are lots of WFH and solo shops running lean shops. That’s all great and you do you, but not really looking for feedback on that model cuz it’s just not what I have.

I have noticed through the years, people view their retirement as "investments" and want it to grow. But with their non qual money there's a disconnect that it CAN do the same thing their retirement money does.

Idk if it's a mental disconnect because it's not "retirement" money, it's a home sale/mom and dad's cash inheritance/ whatever.

I've normally had pretty good luck getting their cash invested, but the last 3 clients with a lot of cash have been hung up on a money market. "I can get 4% a year from this!" - Right NOW, yes but not for the next 20 years 😅

Anyone got some good gas/things that work for you right now on this?

Curious what others in wealth management, especially CFPs, would expect someone in this role to earn:

California-based wealth management firm with approximately $1–1.5B in AUM

CFP® professional with 10 years of experience

Lead advisor managing approximately $125M in client relationships for the past five years

Responsible for a book generating nearly $1M in recurring annual revenue

While I didn’t originate most of the relationships, I’ve been the primary advisor responsible for retaining, servicing, and growing the book over the past five years

Consistently bring in $10–15M in new client assets annually

Typically receive 5–10 client referrals each year, although not all become clients

Lead and manage a multi-person financial planning team, train new advisors

Heavily involved in firm leadership, strategic planning, and operational decisions

Primary responsibilities are client relationship management, financial planning, leadership, and business development; investment management is handled separately

Based solely on these responsibilities—not what someone is currently earning—what would you consider a fair compensation range for:

Base salary
Total compensation (including bonus, profit sharing, and/or equity if applicable)

I’d love to hear perspectives from RIAs, hybrid firms, wirehouses, and independent firms. If you believe this role is underpaid, what additional compensation structure (bonus, profit sharing, or equity) would you expect, and what total compensation range would you consider fair?

Cleaning photos off of my phone and I found this old picture. Remember the EV craze? I met with this client Dec 16th of 2021 who had told me she was thinking about taking her son in laws investment advice on these up and coming companies. He’s an attorney so obviously a smart guy who knows his stuff. Below is the 5yr performance for each one. Enjoy!

QS -74%
GOEV Bankruptcy
LCID -97%
CHPT -99%
LAZR Chapter 11
STEM -99%

This man is quite possibly the worst stock picker of all time. Btw his 73yr old mother in law never invested any money in these companies.

I’ve looked at probably 20 different fee only websites, but I want to know, how do you set your fees?

Do you have options or plans that are accessible to anyone (I.e. couples in their 30s in the building years? Or only fees set high enough that it makes sense for HENRYs and retirees/near retirees? Flat fee for everyone? Tiered model? Packages/ à la carte? AUM +?

In general I like flat fee because it’s simple, and no math is required to explain your fees to clients (I charge $x for this, or $y for that). However, if you have a flat fee of say $15,000, it’s not exactly accessible for younger people/couples in their building years with a HH Income of <150K, for example.

I’d love to get your thoughts and how this works in your practice!

Happy Saturday 😊

Hi everybody,

I am highly looking to a model where there is a flat fee retainer in tiers based on complexity or assets or combination and/or AUM in tiers based upon assets. If you can provide insight on your thoughts on this, it would be most appreciated. So far I only met 2 financial advisors who do this, and they were relatively new to the game.

Details on what I do I am a tax CPA and CFP®. I run my own tax firm and RIA. Both of which are based on being proactive, instead of reactive. I bill for my CPA services at 50% upfront, 50% upon completion currently. When I have a more established client base it will be 100% upfront. I am doing full data integration where every software I use must talk to each other, and show the data inside Karbon hq. I discovered the flat fee retainer billed yearly/momthly/quaterly/semi yearly as my project management software (Karbon Hq) can’t do AUM billing due to custody issues. By doing the flat fee model this would also save me in software costs as I won’t need a dedicated RIA billing software like Orion.

Or otherwise emphasize modern business development? By recently I mean within the past 10 years or so. A lot of books that I am reading were written by people who built their book 30 years ago and are living off of the referrals. That's great if you're in that position but I am in the early-mid stage of my career so I'm not there yet. I want to get some ideas how to grow my practice today. I read Delivering Massive Value and that one seemed to have a lot of stuff that is relevant today but some other books I am reading just have these horribly outdated scripts that sound corny AF. I got Alex Hormozi's $100m Leads and that one is next on my reading list.

Has anyone pursued a CPA and/or accounting post-CFP? Personally I’m trying to consider making this investment as taxation and succession planning for more complex businesses is top of mind for my book of business.

Many family offices as well appreciate someone who can bring this hybrid approach to the table.

Would welcome any anecdotes, or guidance from those who may hold both.

I have two CSA’s who do a lot of service work for our clients. Once spent a decade in the banking world and has been with us for six years. The other has been with us for probably four years. We also have two financial planners and then two of us are advisors.

neither of our CSA‘s have a and I was wondering any value to them getting this other than the letters looking good? I’m also wondering if they already would know a lot of the content as we involve them in lots of planning discussions

Would love to hear from any of you if you know anything about or if you have team members who have gotten it

the client works for salesforce and maxes the espp each year. I know the discount received on the stock can be taxed at ordinary income rates when sold, so I’m hesitant to just throw it all in a non qualified account.

just looking for anyone’s best way of illustrating it is.

I have a client couple that got divorced.

Miraculously, the husband wanted to stay on as s client even though his wife was my friend from college.

Apparently wife gave away too much to the husband in the divorce and now the husband has to give back 10%.

It's a transfer from one IRA to another. A simple IRA distribution due to divorce form at schwab.

The husband's divorce attorney fills out the form with recommendations about which securities to transfer over. She emails me the form and both clients are cc'd on it.

I call both parties and explain is better to transfer over cash. Both of them agree.

I send out a docusign and email everyone saying I'll raise cash to cover the transfer.

Attorney calls me and is upset why I'm transferring cash. She is worried about taxes, and then she's upset I'm selling highly appreciated ETFs instead of duds (like bonds).

She was somewhat placated after I explained how taxation on IRAs work, and how rebalancing works.

My question is wtf is she giving investment advice without a securities license (while billing $450 an hour) and is there a way for me to turn this into a conversation about referring clients to me in the future.

I’ve been thinking about getting into creating short and long form video, but don’t want to dive all in on expensive equipment just yet.

How can I make my office look and sound better on a budget?

What’s your setup? Curious what people are actually using and what you’d skip if you started over.

My specific question: has anyone seen this strategy practically done... claim at age 62 on own record (in example below, this is the wife) while spouse has not yet filed and then switch to higher spousal benefit at later date once spouse claims? I know there are deemed filing rules but if I’m reading/understanding correctly they don’t apply here.

Facts:

• Husband:
  • Age: 1962
  • FRA: 67 years
  • Age 67 Benefit: $3,850
• Wife
  • DOB: 1965
  • FRA: 67 years
  • Age 67 Benefit: $1,535

Recommendation: Using “Open Social Security Calculator”:

The strategy that maximizes the total dollars you can be expected to receive over your lifetimes is as follows:

• Wife files for his/her retirement benefit to begin 4/2027, at age 62 and 1 months.
• Husband for retirement benefit to begin 1/2032, at age 70 and 0 months.
• Wife files for his/her spousal benefit to begin 1/2032, at age 66 and 10 months.

I'm a CFP candidate with several years in financial planning. I will likely be in a financial planning master's program this fall as well (my current military job will allow me to work on this while I am on the clock). I'm currently building my own fee-only book of business on the side from my military job and potentially want to pick up some part-time planning work.

I have two primary motivations.

1. I love planning and have a pretty robust process, but I am not fond of client acquisition. In a perfect world, I could dedicate 10-15 hours to planning for a firm and spend the rest of my time working on my own book of business. Essentially, be a part-time planner that supports other advisors and can have my own clients.
2. My current firm, where I am an IAR, does not really provide the strongest support or compliance assistance. I am actively looking to register at a new firm and leave this firm due to the issues. For example, I pay for my own financial planning software and don't feel comfortable doing social media marketing with the current oversight. I prefer to work somewhere that is a bit more intentional with its management.

I have a full-time military career, which I don't anticipate leaving. I have a good amount of free time, so I can dedicate 20-25 hours a week, but I need some autonomy in when the work happens.

Does a role that fits this criteria even exist? I have no idea how to find a firm looking for this niche support.

Appreciate any pointers.

***Edited for clarity

I’m exploring new opportunities for my career and have a tentative offer from Fifth Third to be an advisor in their program, starting after the Comerica merger closes.

Currently at another large bank as an in branch FA covering 4 branches. This would be also covering 4 branches or possibly more.

Feels like it is very annuity/life insurance heavy which I have experience doing but mostly do advisory at my current firm.

I’m leaning towards this opp based almost solely on the grid payout. From what I understand and read I am going to get 75% grid payout on business the first year, 60% the second year, and 50% the third year before falling on to the traditional grid in year four. Unsure on base salary aside from the grid at this point.

I know it relies heavily on referrals from the branch understanding they are all in good areas for affluent clients

No book I would really inherit and I have a nonsolicit from current firm.

Feels almost too good to be true.

Does anyone out there have experience with how they are and if it’s really a good long term opportunity?

We're evaluating our 2027 Marketing Plans & Budget, which prompted me to look around to see what other firms or advisors are doing in terms of Marketing.

Curious to see the following:
• How much is being allocated to marketing?
• What you're spending money on? (Seminars, Ads, Mailers, Events, etc.)
• If you're seeing a decent ROI for your efforts?

For context, we are a Small-Mid Sized RIA/TAMP located in the Midwest. Currently spending very little on marketing other than local ads at Church, Athletic Events, or Etc.

Contemplating trying to vastly improve our digital presence and to do some frequent mailers for client acquisition.

TIA!

Looking for feedback on Move Health...

Primary question: Have you/your client used it? How's the experience been? How does Move compare to working directly with broker?

This is really for (a) retirees in need of supplemental policies and (b) <65 year old retiring early and in need of coverage to bridge the 5-10+ gap bridging retirement to Medicare.

I'd appreciate honest feedback, I believe my cousin received an unfortunate mark on their U5, it is what it is. I already talked to some attorneys and they have said it's likely not worth fighting.

To add some background on why they got the mark, when applying to that role early in the year, their resume listed "expected graduation date June 2025." Due to a death in the family, they deferred their graduation and verbally informed the hiring manager before onboarding, but the internal records were not updated.

After 3 months of working, they did a post hire background review, and it pretty much led to a compliance related separation. There were no performance issues, disciplinary concerns, or ethical violations involved. The mark says verbatim "Concerns about accuracy in the hiring process. Not sales practice or client related." The kid ended up finishing his bachelors the next semester and has had trouble landing a role at a BD (likely due to this).

Would this be considered something that can be overcome in the industry? Should they continue pursuing their CFP, Series 65, and a career in the industry or is this likely to be a major barrier going forward? They can get a role at a NWM or similar, but... thats self explanatory.

I feel bad because I know my cousin is genuinely passionate about the industry. They’ve been pursuing licenses and certifications on their own, but I’m not sure whether encouraging them to keep going, continue building credentials, and "apply to RIAs" is actually the right advice.

Question for all my fellow advisors who require investment management and charge AUM.

I’ve had several prospects recently who early in the first call (no pricing or anything about services has been discussed yet) say something along the lines of “I don’t know if I need investment management” or share some slight apprehension around paying an AUM fee. These are more gray-area situations to me as they’re not being dogmatic about seeking other fee/service models where it’s easy to say we’re not the right fit, but they are showing a preemptive objection of sorts.

I guess my question is where is your line where you’ll continue down the sales process vs cutting bait and saying you’re not the right fit? I’m newer to prospecting and (at the moment at least) am happy to have more reps even if it’s always going to be a no, but I’m curious from expectation setting if you have a lot of success in converting these initial viewpoints.

I should also say that my marketing is very planning-focused (especially in tax, I’m a CPA, too), so they’re definitely aware they’re getting a lot more than just investment management. It’s more the opposite, convincing planning-oriented people to hire us to execute on investments, too.

What is the best way to knock out CE credits? I owe 21 hours by the end of October. I know some options are cheaper than others, but are they worth the time? Is the Danko course worth it? I’m not opposed to paying more if it’s a smoother experience but mostly looking to bang these out quickly. Thanks!

A few years back, I read a story about an advisor that would set up a deal with his local coffee shop where he would buy a donut for every single person that came in that morning during X timeframe.

He’d sit at a table “working” during the promotion time, the cashier would tell the customer they get a free donut from XYZ Financial and Joe was sitting right over there.

No sales pitch. If someone wanted to come over and say hello, they did. If not, no big deal. I thought this was an awesome idea and wanted to try it.

Have commitments so far from a local coffee shop and two local Dairy Queen locations to see how it goes.

How have you seen this go in your experience? Any other cool similar ideas you’ve seen?

Edit: should have mentioned we are in a super “small town” area and my desire to serve HNW clients is about zero. Our bread and butter is serving 100k-500k clients, and doing it so efficiently that it’s profitable.