If you’ve ever built a house, or added onto your home, you know you need a detailed blueprint before breaking ground. Your contractors won't just start framing without a plan in place for the materials, costs, roles, and process. A…

According to Wealthmanagement.com’s recently released 2023 M&A Outlook, advisory firm activity was on fire in 2022. Seventy percent of respondents to a survey conducted by Wealthmanagement.com and Informa Engage indicated that their firm had explored an acquisition, sale or merger…

“I can’t wait to hear another ‘no’ from compliance” – said no one, ever! Despite advancements in the financial advice industry, many financial professionals continue to run up against archaic rules, broken infrastructure, and an out-of-touch product and service model. …

Schwab’s Insurance Requirements and New SEC Regulations Drive Up Barriers to Independence In 2019, commission-free trading was the shot heard ‘round the custodian world—arguably, the shot that launched the race to the bottom as the proverbial big guns, Schwab, TD…

Use the term ‘broker-dealer’ and the connotations are instant: Behemoths. Slow-moving. Inflexible. Stuck in antiquated ways of running a business. Oil tankers or freight trains, if you want to get metaphorical about it. And the traditional broker-dealer service model evokes…

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…

It’s been over two years since the SEC introduced the Regulation Best Interest – better known as RegBI – to establish, as the name suggests, a “best interest” standard of conduct to be followed by financial professionals when they make…

Insurance brokers are bound by rules that other financial professionals aren’t. Both individual firm policies and industry regulations can create significant challenges, especially if you dream of independence and the freedom to run your business the way you want. But…

We’re hearing a lot of questions and conversations lately about what’s coming next for the market. We’ve been dealing with uncertainty and unpredictability for so long that it feels like we may never make it through to the other side,…

Most of us in the financial services industry don’t think of ourselves as educators. Sure, we’re ready to help our clients better understand how to invest, save, and budget, but not many of us put teaching at the core of…