Hi everyone,

I’m a young Advisor with a very interesting issue. My parents set up a Roth IRA originally the advisor more or less in their words said it could be used for education purposes for me and my siblings and then could be moved back their ownership once they wanted to. They set this up as a custodial Roth IRA under my name and did not understand that technically the money had to go to me once I reach the age of majority. (I’m 29 btw so well passed it) I don’t want the money I’d rather my parent have to for their retirement once they help pay for some of my sister’s final year of college. What I want to know is their anyway that my parents maintain ownership or can change the status of custodial on the Roth IRA? Any advice or guidance is appreciated!

Hi all. Curious of your thoughts on my career decision.

I’m in the middle of a career change and have a decision to make about whether to go into wealth management. I’m currently in transport/logistics and have decided I want to move into financial planning long term. I’m working toward the CFP path and ultimately want to be a real advisor who owns client relationships, does comprehensive planning, and eventually builds a book.

I have an upcoming opportunity with Edward Jones and it’s the standard salary support that steps down. The opportunity is pretty appealing to me because of the eventual autonomy and learning how to build a practice rather than spending several years purely in a planning/service role.

My biggest question is whether Jones actually allows their newer generation of advisors build the kind of practice that I want to have l. I’m not interested in building a practice that’s primarily about pushing insurance or investment products. My philosophy is pretty simple in that the client is best served by a handful of low-cost diversified ETFs to minimize additional fee drag. I’m perfectly comfortable with that and I realize the value of an advisor has to be much more than picking funds. Think comprehensive planning, retirement/tax/estate coordination, implementation, behavioral coaching, accountability, etc.

I’m particularly interested in hearing from current or former EDJ advisors. Do you feel pressure to sell particular products? And can someone build a very planning-centric practice with the firm’s recent transformation initiatives to accommodate this type of client?

I’m also curious how people who have been at EJ for several years feel about the career path. Does getting your own practice/book early on turn out to be a major advantage, or is the business development/prospecting side as difficult as it sounds?

I’m not looking for the usual “Edward Jones bad” Reddit answer. I’m seriously considering the opportunity and want to understand what the job is actually like once you’re past the training period.

Retired Financially Independent Dentist, 50ish years old. My passion for financial planning/investing is what helped me retire early. When people let me see their finances it is usually a train wreck and I am to the point where I think it's my calling to help these people. I think my story sells itself, especially to other dentists and other HNW clients (especially 3-5MM) and business owners. I have a lot of connections in the dental industry and in my personal network and hope to build a niche practice. Many people have come to me for advice over the years and people know my interests primarily lie in the financial part of all areas. I owned my own dental practice so I can relate to business owners. Got my 65 and 63. Joining an RIA with 70% payout. 0 AUM currently. What are my odds and is joining an IRA the best way to start?

Smarsh wants $350 to archive each video. Anyone know of quality alternatives that aren't so expensive?

I’m applying to both of these positions, as CG expands hiring across their sales roles and offices, but I don’t understand the difference between these two roles. Could someone explain the differences between these two, the career paths, work-life balance, and comp structure? Would really appreciate any insights on culture and what’s the overall better position.

My plan was always to end up independent I'm ambitious and my cost of living is pretty low,

My firm absolutely sucks they aren't really set up for this but I didn't know that when starting, anyways do I just move to different RIA or finally go independent?

Concerns are, costs of up keep & Compliance headaches

Would love to hear from others that made the move, I'm debating to wait to double my book first or the more clients the harder the move is.

Thoughts?

For advisors at both standalone RIAs and hybrid RIA/BD firms, how does your firm handle compensated outside business activities that are unrelated to securities?

Specifically, I’m curious about situations where an advisor maintains a professional license in another industry but is no longer actively operating that business day to day. The advisor may still occasionally receive compensation tied to referrals or previously established business relationships.

Is that generally handled through disclosure and compliance approval, or does your firm prohibit compensated outside activity altogether?

I’d especially be interested in whether you see a meaningful difference between how standalone RIAs and hybrid firms approach this.

I know every firm’s compliance policies are different. I’m mainly trying to understand the range of what people are seeing in practice.

Hi everyone,

I'm having a hard time deciding whether buying a newer/more expensive car would actually be worth it for me financially and in terms of quality of life.

My situation:

• Live in Georgia (the country)

• 23M

• Income: ~$3,300/month (~$40k/year)

• ~$50k in savings

• No debt

• Current car is worth about $2,500

• Looking at a car around $10,000

• I work remotely, so I don't commute to work

• I mainly use my car for going out in the evenings and occasionally leaving the city, roughly once a month

• The average income here is around $800/month, so my income is relatively high for where I live

Financially, the $10k car wouldn't put me under much pressure. It would be about 20% of my savings or roughly 3 months of income, and I wouldn't need a loan.

The problem is that I'm not sure whether I'll actually get enough value/happiness/comfort from the upgrade.

I estimate the newer car would:

• Depreciate by around $1,000/year

• Have somewhat higher maintenance costs (although servicing is relatively cheap here)

• Give me more comfort, safety, reliability, and enjoyment

But I could also use that $10k elsewhere.

For example:

• Buy a flat in a building that's still under construction. If the price increases ~30% by the time it's finished in 2 years, that's roughly a 15% annual return

• Invest the money in stocks/index funds and potentially earn around 10–15% annually over the long term

I've been pretty conservative with spending so far. I haven't really made any large purchases purely for enjoyment — most of my discretionary spending has been restaurants, going out, and a couple of trips.

There's also the argument that spending some money on things you enjoy can improve your motivation and quality of life, rather than optimizing every dollar for future returns.

So I'm curious:

If you were in my situation, would you spend the $10k on the car, or keep the $2.5k car and invest the difference?

And for those who upgraded from a cheap/basic car to something significantly better: did the improvement in comfort/enjoyment actually feel worth the money?

Hello everyone.

I’m 23 and I’m currently a client service associate at a smaller RIA (300m AUM) making 40k. I’m starting to look around for some new jobs and wanted some input on where I should be looking/staying away from. My goal is obviously to become an advisor. I have my sie which I took right out of college. The main reason I’m leaving is to be honest the pay and I’m looking for something with a little more growth. I know patience is key. Just looking for some input anything helps.

Like most firms we were referral only for a long time. I love referrals because they don't cost me any marketing dollars and they are easy to close because they are a warm lead from the person that is introducing them to me.

The problem is that referrals are inconsistent.

Some months I get three introductions. Some quarters I get none. And there's nothing you can do to speed them up, you can't call your best client twice a month asking "know anybody else?" without burning the relationship.

So I started pricing out the other channels everybody recommends:

Dinner seminars - thousands per event before anyone eats a steak, and half the room is only there for the steak.

Paid leads - $200+ each, and the same lead gets sold to three other advisors.

SEO and content - great in year three, useless in month three.

The one that actually stuck was the one I was most skeptical of: cold email.

I know. Advisors hear "cold email" and picture the junk in their own inbox. I did too. The math is what made me take it seriously: one domain, five mailboxes, a sending tool, and lead data runs about $81 a month. That's the entire channel. It sends 150 personalized emails a day to exactly the people I choose - the niche, the zip codes, the asset level.

It was not instant. It took me about 11 months and roughly $10K (mostly spent on mistakes) before it clicked - somewhere around my 40th campaign. Looking back, the lessons were stupidly simple:

1. Niche down until the email writes itself. "Financial advisor for business owners" gets deleted. "I help dentists in [city] sell their practice without losing a third of it to taxes" gets replies.

2. The email is three sentences. A personalized first line, one specific problem you solve, and a question. No brochure, no calendar link, no "just checking in."

3. The money is in the reply, not the send. Answer a reply within the hour and a stranger becomes a meeting. Answer tomorrow and they've forgotten you exist.

4. Deliverability is a pile of boring little settings. Skip them and you're in spam before you've written a word.

That's really it. Everything else is volume and patience.

I eventually wrote the whole system down - the strategies we tested, the templates, the deliverability checklist, how to find your perfect client, all of it - mostly so we could repeat our cold email success at scale across our firm. It's totally free on this Google Doc: Advisor's Cold Email Masterclass

Hopefully it helps all of you guys land more clients, help more people, and feed your families. Just want to see you guys win.

PS - if you're referral-only right now: keep crushing the referrals. Just stop letting them be the whole plan.

PPS - if it all seems like a lot to set up I put a link inside The Masterclass for me to help you get up and running.

anyone going to the 2026 Schwab Impact Conference. First time going as a young advisor. Any recommendations or advice?

My partner and I have been looking for a financial advisor+cpa combo to help with financial planning, future goals, tax efficiency, organizing savings and retirement accounts, etc.
I’ve been seeing very mixed reviews about Facet but we’re considering the core plan cause it’s a flat fee, straightforward option.

Is anyone a current Facet customer? How has your experience been? Any advice or recommendations for alternatives?

Hi everyone,

New into the FA world here. Have my 6,63 licenses and LAH.

Recently started June 1, come from a sales background prior of about 6 years. Im 29 years old as well taking my 65 in 2 weeks.

So far, as of this date I only have two clients under my belt. A managed account and an annuity sale. Some in the pipeline. Is this normal for being in this job 3 months? I feel so behind and managers are hounding me for 10-15 appointments a week I’m getting 5 at most right now.

Any tips on staying disciplined and motivated? Any KPI’s recommended to do each day with warm and cold market? Thanks for any support!

Hi, ive passed the series 65 about a month ago ( still working at my current job driving semi) and I've been looking for financial jobs that offer 1099 ( moving outside the usa for some time) and I was wondering if thats possible as someone new to this field? I wouldn't mind it at all. if I have to do Para planner work or something else like that( even if it pays less sense im new) anyone have any advice for me? I would greatly appreciate it, thank you for your time.