In May 1961, five days after Bay of Pigs and five weeks after the Soviets put Yuri Gagarin into orbit, President Kennedy stood before Congress and made a promise: America would land a man on the Moon before the decade was out. NASA was less than three years old. The technology necessary to reach the Moon didn’t even exist yet.

In his latest article, CEO and Founder Billy Hopkins draws a direct line from that speech to the decade now facing independent financial advisors.

Roughly 40% of advisors, many licensed in the 1990s like Billy himself, will retire in the years ahead. At the same time, trillions of dollars are about to change hands. Gen X stands to inherit $14 trillion. Millennials will inherit $8 trillion. By 2035, women will control more than 40% of US wealth, up from a third today.

Billy connects these numbers to a bigger shift already underway. Estate planning is turning into a conversation about life, not death. More than 63 million Americans now care for aging parents or adult children, and 16 million of them care for both at once. Clients want more than portfolio management. McKinsey found the share of investors seeking holistic advice grew from 29% in 2018 to 52% in 2023.

Advisors who set a bold, deadline-driven goal now, the way Kennedy did, will own the next decade. Clients expecting family-office-level support as the standard, not the exception, will leave behind the advisors who wait.

 

Read the full article for Billy’s take on what it takes to serve three generations of planning needs at once, and why an impossible goal might be exactly what this industry needs: www.linkedin.com/pulse/todays-clarion-call-independent-advisors-billy-hopkins-brk8c/ 

New partnership provides direct access to tax data and account monitoring, streamlining client onboarding and planning

JACKSON, Tenn.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Silver Oak Securities, Inc., a leading independent broker-dealer and SEC-registered investment advisor, has partnered with TaxStatus to provide its network of independent financial advisors with direct access to IRS-verified financial data and continuous account monitoring. The integration eliminates the traditional back-and-forth of collecting tax returns and financial documents, allowing advisors to access ten years of historical financial data through a simple 60-second client e-signature process.

TaxStatus connects directly to the IRS to pull verified financial information, analyzing over 3,000 data points per taxpayer to uncover held-away assets, business ownership, real estate holdings, retirement accounts, and other financial details that advisors typically spend hours trying to collect. The platform then monitors clients’ IRS accounts in real-time for three years, alerting advisors to tax liabilities, refunds, audits, or filing discrepancies before clients receive official notices from the IRS.

“We’re constantly evaluating best-in-breed technology that helps our advisors grow organically and serve their clients at the highest level,” said Billy Hopkins, CEO of Silver Oak Securities. “TaxStatus solves one of the most time-consuming challenges advisors face: getting complete, accurate financial data. This partnership gives our advisors a significant competitive advantage in both prospecting conversations and ongoing client service initiatives.”

The platform addresses a critical gap in financial planning. Many clients work with multiple advisors and hold assets across various institutions, making it difficult for any single advisor to provide comprehensive guidance. TaxStatus gives advisors visibility into the full financial picture, including businesses, limited partnerships, trusts, and other complex structures that wealthy clients often use to hold assets.

“Financial plans are only as strong as the data they’re built on. With TaxStatus, advisors gain access to the most accurate and timely information available, ensuring recommendations are grounded in verified financial data, not estimates. This empowers advisors to deliver the best possible outcomes for their clients,” said Kevin Knull, CEO of TaxStatus. “We’re thrilled to partner with Silver Oak as they continue providing advisors the tools and support they need to grow and succeed.”

The partnership offers Silver Oak advisors enterprise-grade security through SOC 2 Type II compliance and AES-256 encryption, along with built-in FINRA-compliant KYC verification. Advisors can brand consent forms and insight reports with their own identity, creating a seamless client experience. The platform supports total household management, allowing advisors to monitor financial data for spouses, dependents, estates, trusts, businesses, and investments with at least 1% ownership.

Advisors can access TaxStatus through preferred enterprise pricing billed directly through Silver Oak Securities.

For more information about Silver Oak, visit joinsilveroaksecurities.com. To learn more about TaxStatus, visit www.taxstatus.com.

About Silver Oak Securities
Silver Oak Securities, Inc. is an independent, full-service Broker-Dealer and SEC-Registered Investment Advisor committed to supporting independent financial professionals. With equity ownership opportunities, modern technology, and a high-touch support model, Silver Oak empowers advisors to build meaningful client relationships and grow their practices on their own terms.

About Tax Status, Inc.:
Tax Status, Inc. is a fintech company specializing in providing verified financial data. Founded with the mission of making tax and financial data more accessible and actionable, the company serves financial institutions, wealth management firms, and enterprises seeking to leverage IRS-verified financial data to help render better advice to their clients. Tax Status, Inc. is committed to maintaining the highest standards of data security, privacy, and regulatory compliance while providing turnkey solutions that integrate seamlessly with existing business processes.

 

Contacts

Media Contact:
Hollie Murrin
Director of Marketing
Silver Oak Securities
[email protected]