When you think about the financial services space, what comes to mind immediately probably isn’t Loretta Lynn, Johnny Cash, Kurt Cobain, Tom Petty or Joan Jett.
But sometimes we think in music metaphors at Silver Oak. And for a long time, we’ve considered ourselves to be the financial industry’s equivalent of the classic Donny and Marie Osmond song: A Little Bit Country, a Little Bit Rock ‘n’ Roll. What we’ve always tried to do here is bring together the entrepreneurial spirit of the RIA world – scrappy, agile, innovative – with the rock-solid support characteristic of larger broker-dealers to create a place for financial professionals to rediscover their passion for what they do.
We believe financial professionals do their best work when they’re serving their clients their way, when they have the space to grow and when they feel like what they do matters – to their clients, to their firm and to themselves.
That requires freedom and autonomy along with a foundation of support and resources.
There’s something else, though – an underlying but increasingly insistent bass beat building in our space. It’s the sound of discontent, of an uprising, of a revolution.
It’s the Ramones, The Clash, Bikini Kill, Green Day. It’s what we call a whole lot of punk, as independent financial professionals sound the alarm to the larger establishment.
For too long, they’ve tolerated their broker-dealers’ inadequate service model and rigid restrictions, simply because there seemed to be no attractive alternatives available.
But that’s changing.
More and more, financial professionals are realizing that cashing in a big check from their broker-dealer isn’t worth what they have to give up – which is their vision for running the firm they’ve always dreamed of.
Let’s face it: No one grew up hoping to be a cog in the wheel of a massive firm. Independent financial professionals got into this business to make a positive impact on their clients’ lives, and to build their businesses their way. As a means to that end, large broker-dealers are falling way short.
The punk rock piece of Silver Oak is the passion financial professionals rediscover when they realize they can do business the way they want to and still be successful. It’s the assurance that low broker-dealer standards don’t have to hold financial professionals back from being wildly in love with the work they do.
So consider this your anthem. Break up with visions that don’t align with your own. Break up with operational structures that treat you like nothing more than a number. Break up with anything stifling the passion that brought you to this industry in the first place.
It’s your firm, it’s your clients, it’s your life. Do it your way.