Latest / The Efficient Advisor: Tactical Business Advice for Financial Planners / 166: Ideas to Implement - What’s the Right Business Structure for my Advisory Firm w/ Guest Stephen Taylor, JD, CFP

Transcript

166: Ideas to Implement - What’s the Right Business Structure for my Advisory Firm w/ Guest Stephen Taylor, JD, CFP · The Efficient Advisor: Tactical Business Advice for Financial Planners

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Welcome back.
• 0:01
  Speaker 1: I am so glad you're here.
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Every week.
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: I want to create a follow-up episode that is short, sweet and all about the action steps from this week's longer podcast.
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: So the goal is to distill the episode down into a couple of really actionable bullet points that you can act on immediately to make a big impact in your business.
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: I want to take what we've learned in the longer episode and actually do the dang thing.
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: I am your host of the Efficient Advisor, libby Gwaiwi.
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: I built a 100% referral-only planning practice that I grew to seven figures as a solo advisor, all while working just three days a week and taking off 14 weeks a year.
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: And I am here to walk alongside you and to show you how to do exactly the same and to help you to take immediate action on the most important strategies for scaling, organizing and just creating less stress and overwhelm in your business.
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: We are about to transform your practice.
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: So move over.
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: Advisor ADD, get out of the way exhaustion.
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: It is time to take that one right next step to build a business and a life that you love.
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: So this week's episode was with my guest attorney turned CFP, stephen Taylor, and we were talking about all things moving from a broker-dealer to RIA to just different types of business structures that exist.
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: So every month in the Efficient Advisor community over on Facebook it's a free community filled with 2,000 plus advisors and operational folks from advisory practices I do a post.
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: That's like hey, what would make an interesting podcast episode for you right now.
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: And one of the things that is repeatedly mentioned in the comments is should I go independent?
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: What's all involved?
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: What does that transition look like?
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: So, because it's mentioned all the time, I have put together a just a list of guest speakers here that are going to be recording podcasts with me over the next month or so so that we can bring you just a variety of opinions about this topic.
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: You know, we all tend to think the grass is always greener on the other side, and there's definitely a lot of viewpoints to consider when it comes to do I make an adjustment from a broker-dealer to an independent broker-dealer, to an RIA?
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: Can I?
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: Should I keep my licensing?
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: Should I do fees-based planning?
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: Should I structure my compensation like this?
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: What's the right way?
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: What's the wrong way?
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: What are all the things that I need to consider before making this transition?
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: So I recorded an episode with my friend, alana Phillips Her episodes around I think it's number 85 on is the grass always greener?
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: And some exercises for you to do if you're just starting that thinking process and starting to determine am I in the right place, am I not in the right place?
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: And I want to preface this with I was at a broker-dealer my entire career.
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: I would have made the jump had I stuck with the business longer after the 16 years that I ran my practice.
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: If I hadn't sold, I probably would have moved into a hybrid version that my broker-dealer was offering, which was a RIA version that allowed you to keep some of the BD benefits.
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: So, with that being said, there's no one right way to do this business.
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: One of the things I love the most about this career is that you can do it five gazillion different ways and they can all be very successful, and there is no right compensation structure.
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: There is no right business structure.
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: There is a right compensation structure and a right business structure for you and what you're trying to do with your business, for the type of clients that want to work with you.
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: So I know there's a lot of I don't know rhetoric, rigmarole whatever you want to call it on LinkedIn about the right way to charge, the wrong way to charge premiums versus not premiums, discount broker versus, you know, overpriced whatever, like.
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: I just don't get involved in any of that because there is no one right way to do this business well.
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: And, with that being said, there are definitely things to consider in order to determine what is the right business structure for you.
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: So today, in this episode, we dove into a couple of different ideas that are some of the typicals that I hear when someone is thinking about what do I do if I am wanting to move to a different structure, like what are some of the things to consider?
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: What are some of the barriers?
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: So Steve is kind of an interesting guest because he was first an attorney and then became a CFP.
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: So he shares his kind of sorted past with us and some of his experiences and what ultimately led him to the structure that he's in now.
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: And then we get into well, what does it really look like and entail to manage your own compliance?
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: What does it really look like and entail to build a tech stack?
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: What do you want to be considering when it comes to portfolio management?
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: What are some of the things to consider, like commission trails and buyout packages and some of the other stuff that comes along with making a jump from a commission standpoint.
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: What about attrition?
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: What about this, what about that?
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: So there is a lot of advice from Steve and his experience and, as I roll out these new episodes about moving from a broker dealer to an RIA or vice versa, maybe you can go the other direction.
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: You're not satisfied with the place that you're at and you're wanting to look for more ease of doing business.
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: These are gonna be some of the topics that we're gonna continue to cover from a variety of perspectives.
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: One of the things that I love that Steve shares candidly in this episode are some of the benefits of sticking with a BD or an IBD and some of the reasons that you might want to leave.
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: I like how he gives kind of both sides of his experience and what he considers reasons to stay and reasons to grow, to go and, like I mentioned, there is no one right way.
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: So I appreciate whenever a guest even if they're super passionate about what they landed on for them that there are two sides to every coin.
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: I also kind of pressed Steve a little bit for what software he is using and why he chose it what Tampee's using?
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: Just right, like if someone's using something and they're very satisfied or happy with it, why not share those details?
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: So anyways, those are kind of the highlights of this week's episode with Steve Taylor.
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: I'd love for you to go back and take a listen if this is something that has been on your mind or on your heart, or maybe even just like nagging at you a little bit.
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: Or sometimes I feel like when we're out on LinkedIn or we're listening to podcasts that like everybody's doing everyone's making a jump right, like there's a popular trend right now and like should we be considering that, even if I'm really happy and content where I'm at?
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: So even if that's you, I say, still take a listen to the episode and it might just, if nothing else, affirm that you are in the right place for your situation.
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: All right, so that's it for this week.
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: As you know, I like to hang out in the Efficient Advisor community on Facebook and if you've got any podcast episode ideas, I would love for you to DM me on LinkedIn and let me know what would be most helpful for you guys.
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: Ask and you shall receive, or you can head out to the Efficient Advisor community on Facebook, answer the questions, join the group and you can chime in there on the threads that get posted periodically, looking for podcast ideas and, of course, you can ask a question to the community, get answers.
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: I mean, one of the things I love the most about this community is it's so cool because people will post a question and they'll get like 35 answers within like 24 hours.
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: And I love it cause it's a variety of opinion.
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: It's a diverse group of advisors coming from all walks of life, serving all different types of demographics, from all different geographic locations US, non-us all different types of business structures, different types of compensation structures.
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: It's just a really great variety of all of us doing the same thing in the same industry, and you know how I feel about all ships rising together.
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: Thanks so much and hope you guys have an amazing rest of your week.
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: I'll see you guys next week.