Financial professionals are stuck between a broker-dealer rock and the hard reality of independence.
On one hand, most broker-dealers are behemoth, slow-moving organizations stuck in antiquated ways of thinking. Financial professionals are forced to sell certain products, their legacy technology platforms don’t support the expectations and desires of today’s modern clients, and operational and administrative challenges go unresolved for hours, if not days.
On the other hand, the challenges of going independent and establishing an RIA can feel insurmountable. From retaining clients after the transition to managing all back-office responsibilities to technology costs and implementation, many financial professionals can’t fathom doing it all themselves.
So what is a financial professional looking for the benefits of running an independent firm – control, autonomy, greater flexibility, more opportunities for growth – but the compliance, trading, billing, and operational support of a large broker-dealer supposed to do?
Let’s forget the labels for a second. After all, many broker-dealers may have a corporate RIA – but they certainly don’t act like RIAs. And with merger and acquisition activity reaching a fever pitch, private equity can look alluring to independent financial professionals, until they come to realize that the cost of private equity is high pressure to achieve greater returns and more compromises on the way they want to run their firms and serve their clients.
What’s most important, what any financial professional considering independence needs to be crystal clear about, is what they’re actually looking for in a firm.
Most financial professionals tell us they want:
- Access to powerful, relevant technology that empowers their best work
- The autonomy to serve their clients their way (including determining their niche, fee structure and products and services)
- Back-office operational support that enables their focus on their clients
- The opportunity to earn more revenue and drive business growth
- Leadership that values them as people, not numbers, and listens to their needs and ideas
What these financial professionals really need is an advisory firm of the future. Not a traditional, slow and stuffy broker-dealer, and not an RIA they have to try to run, operate and scale all on their own.
That’s where Silver Oak comes in.
As a fully integrated RIA, we’re able to offer comprehensive broker-dealer support and services without requiring a per account fee for most common investment products. We think about compliance, trading technology, billing, operations, reconciliation, and brand building so that our financial professionals don’t have to – and we also offer a direct line to leadership because we believe the future of Silver Oak should be built by all of us.
Who are we? We’re part entrepreneurial RIA spirit, part rock-solid broker-dealer support, and one complete firm of the future.
We call ourselves a little bit country, a little bit rock and roll – and a whole lot of punk. Get to know us a little better by clicking here.