The Mission-Driven Advisor: Is the Grass Really Greener for RIAs?

Brokers are fed up with their current institutions.  Their top complaint is the regulatory environment and their firm’s inability to adapt..  Clients are demanding fiduciaries 100% of the time and their conflicted firms can’t provide that platform.  Brokers are increasingly drawn to the RIA channel to solve that problem.

Other top concerns from brokers were firm culture, leadership and compensation.

So, brokers want to move to a 100% fiduciary platform (RIA) with a better culture, leadership and compensation model.  What’s stopping them?

The aforementioned survey lays out three primary stumbling blocks:

• 69% of Brokers Don’t Want to Start Their Own Firm
• 54% of Brokers Say it is “Too Difficult” (legal and compliance)
• 56% of Brokers Worry about their Firm’s Stance on Broker Protocol Agreements
  
  

It appears that the perception of those fears are greater than the reality.  A survey of brokers who made the move to the RIA channel said that the grass is greener:

• 80% said the transition was easier than expected
• 72% said they transitioned all the clients they wanted to keep

As the author of The End of Stress writes, “…97% of what you worry over is not much more than a fearful mind punishing you with exaggerations and misperceptions.” [2]

So, what is holding you back from making the move?

Sources
[1]  https://www.fa-mag.com/news/brokers-looking-to-break-away-to-independence-45739.html?section=43&utm_source=FA+Subscribers&utm_campaign=5010ce7184-FAN_AM_Send_021318_A-B_Split_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_6bebc79291-5010ce7184-236869205

[2]  https://www.huffpost.com/entry/85-of-what-we-worry-about_b_8028368