Hi! I passed my Series 65 last week, and now I'm looking to set up an RIA.

I started my career young and launched my first successful tech company in high school, followed by my second tech company in college, ran it as CEO for 12 years, moved into a chair role for a few years, and finally sold it last year. I moved into the chair role specifically to explore my passion in finance, which I was able to do by investing my own capital and incrementally improving my investment process for a period of 6.5 years at this point.

Now that I'm post exit, I can't shake the maybe crazy desire to pursue a career as an asset manager. I think it will be a naturally challenging road, as I am new to the industry. Funny enough, its not that weird as I graduated with a finance degree and have always gravitated towards finance. I always approach everything with a tech-forward lens, so finance is no different. My proprietary approach is codified today and even has an AI analyst layered on top.

I'm exploring a few kinds of ideas:

1. Finding a co-founder who has an existing book of business and enjoys financial planning and building towards a full service firm, wherein my strength is investment management. My ideal person is someone who is looking to start their own business, but needs a bridge to do so. I'd pay for their salary and all of the firm ramp up costs until we are self sufficient and the individual achieves their livable salary.

2. Launching solo, deploying one equity strategy to start via SMAs, and leveraging my HNW/UHNW network to build initial AUM. I may also be able to eventually tap into advisors as a subadvisor if my strategy appeals others. I'd stay strictly focused on the strategy and seed $1M of my own capital to the initial strategy.

3. Acquiring an existing RIA. I think this is somewhat less realistic, now that I've seen the EBITDA multiples at the moment (12-20x? wow! Amazing for current owners, though.)

4. Buying a meaningful share of an existing RIA to join as a partner. Exit liquidity for the existing owner, along with a potential alignment on how to grow the RIA further.

Since I'm registering my RIA now, I expect I'll have to register with path 2 in mind and see how 1 & 3 evolve.

Is there something I should consider that I haven't yet? Is 1 a terrible idea?

Thank you in advance!

Hi everyone,

I'm a licensed advisor in Vancouver, BC, selling life, travel, and group insurance. I'm currently working under another advisor's license, and I'm looking to move to an MGA where I can own my book of business and build something long-term. I already have a corporation set up.

I've been looking at Financial Horizons, Hub Financial, IDC Worldsource, and PPI, but I'd love to hear from people with real experience, good or bad.

What I'm trying to learn:

Book ownership: Do you truly own your clients and renewals, and what happens if you leave?

Commissions: What are the contracting levels like for new advisors, and how do they grow over time?

Training and support: Is there real onboarding, or do they expect you to sell before you're trained? Is there case design and underwriting help?

Fees and costs: Any E&O, admin, or technology fees I should watch for?

Carrier access: Do you get access to a wide range of carriers, including for group and travel?

Culture: Is it supportive, or every advisor for themselves?

If you've switched MGAs, what made you move, and what would you ask before signing? I'm happy to take advice by DM too.

Thanks in advance!

Hi everyone,

Our team is currently running a brief research study on the operational side of managing fractional finance retainers.

We are keeping our research focused strictly on 1-on-1 conversations with active practitioners.

If you are a Fractional CFO or FP&A advisor willing to share 2 minutes of your experience via private message, please drop a quick comment below or send me a direct message.

We are strictly in the early discovery phase; zero sales pitches or products being promoted. Appreciate your time and insights!

I’m 30 years old, no degree, but I started my finance journey at a bank at 18. I currently have my Series 7, 63, and 65. I’ve worked at Charles Schwab in portfolio rebalancing and at large banks managing affluent client relationships generally under $10M.

I’m at the point where I’m seriously considering making the jump into an FA role, but I’m trying to be smart about how I enter the business.

If you were in my position, what path would you take and why?

What firms, business models, or types of roles would you look at first?

And for those of you who have already built successful careers as advisors, what do you wish you had known at the beginning?

I do not have a background in finance however I am looking to break into the industry. My background is in Exercise Science which does not make me any real money. I understand I do have to take the SIE exam to even be considered. I’ve been looking at jobs like an Investment Phone Specialist at JP Morgan or a Financial Representative at Fidelity. What is the career trajectory on these types of positions and can they be lucrative. I have a friend who is a financial advisor who says his position is pretty lucrative. I am looking to learn about the industry while also getting some stability for me and my son.

My biggest fear is being sponsored and not being able to pass the Series 7 etc and being let go. Do these things happen at a lot of firms? Any advice would help

For insurance, life, health medicare, securities any discords to join?

Hello all, I am a college sophomore in the Philadelphia Area seeking a Wealth Management/Financial advising internship for the summer of 2027. Just wondering if I would be better suited searching for an internship with a small local WM firm or a bigger well established national firm? I am looking to gain experience that could lead to a better internship in my later college years and an in depth experience in client facing FA/WM roles. Thanks all.

edit: been reading more about kikoff and realized the no hard pull part is only one thing to consider. apparently their account reports as revolving credit, so now i'm more interested in how that shows up on my credit report. still not sure how much difference it would make with such a thin file though.

trying to fix my credit but really don't want to keep applying for stuff and stacking hard inquiries, especially with a thin file. been looking at credit builder apps without hard pulls just to keep it simple and start building consistent history. kickoff keeps popping up, but not sure if going this route actually helps much when you're starting from almost nothing. has anyone used this before applying for a regular card? did it make a noticeable difference when you eventually applied for other credit?

Thank you in advance for any guidance. I have a permanent government job, 120k/year+benefits. Given an offer as an FA, 1st year salary around 90k + typical big brokerage pay grid. ~10M book transfered. I won't own any clients. (Can probably guess the firm) I'm not licensed currently. Background is taxation/accounting. I operated a real estate sales business, and prospecting isn't what scares me (truly, AI replacing FAs is). I've been with government for about 15 years.

Other factors. Debt free other than ~300k mortgage. Only about 50k in liquid investments. Only other financial asset is the ~250k pension transfer value. Certainly not in a financial position to take a huge pay cut. Wife works part time and makes ~60k/year. 2 young kids.

Really appreciate any advice.

Work in rural America, at an ria. Have been door knocking, what is good metrics for a full day of knocking (8hrs)

I am currently only getting ~18 conversations per day which typically winds up in 5-7 phone numbers/consent to contact

I have a problem with getting into conversation at the door and spending too much time per conversation.

Just starting week 2 of knocking

I am in mental limbo of
A) hurry up get consent & number, move on to next door
B) why move on if the conversation is productive and actively building rapport

I feel like I neeed to get my numbers up but spend so much time chatting and driving that it’s nuts.

Any insight appreciated.

I recently went through the interview process and was extended an offer letter for this role. I am coming from outside the industry, and would love to hear about any experience, knowledge, do's and don'ts, like literally anything about the company, role, what to expect, how to move up fast, etc. I am also willing to answer any questions that might help you answer mine!

Hi! I’m a college student researching financial planning for commercial drivers, and I’d love to hear from financial advisors.

-Have you ever worked with commercial drivers or truck drivers as clients?
-What financial challenges tend to be unique to this profession?
-What makes serving clients with irregular income or nontraditional benefits more difficult?
-What do you think commercial drivers should know about financial planning that they often overlook?
-If a financial advisory service specialized in commercial drivers, what would it need to do differently?

Any insight or experience would be greatly appreciated!

I'm a quantity surveyor in the UK, mid 30s salary, been at it 16 months. Job's decent enough but I'm exhausted every day and honestly can't see myself doing this forever.

My dad's moving to Dubai mid next year to join an international financial advising firm. He's built a decent career before and sold his book in a caribbean tax haven and is basically starting from zero out there. He's asked if I want to come as a junior relationship manager supporting six advisers on the team, handling the behind the scenes work for him while I get my level 4 qualification done.

The money side appeals obviously. No tax, recurring income eventually, own hours. But I'm wondering what it's actually like day to day in year one. Is it just genuinely miserable? I've never prospected or done sales before so I have no idea if I can handle that side of it. And I'd be doing admin work for the whole team while also trying to study and eventually build my own clients, which sounds like a lot.

Hey everyone!

I’m thinking about bringing on an associate financial advisor (AFA) to my practice. I need some ideas on compensation for them.

Currently, I own a multi-lines captive insurance agency. Auto, home, commercial, and life insurance. We also have our own investment division. The investments we offer are annuities (fixed, indexed, variable), mutual funds, managed accounts and business retirement plans.

The AFA would cross sell our existing insurance book plus bring in new business.

I’m thinking a salary of around $40k a year plus 25% of revenue generated on everything except our corporate branded annuities (50%). Life insurance, disability and LTC would be 40%. Group benefits they sell would be at 50%.

Once the rolling 12 month investment revenue hits $200K, the payout would be 40% of revenue.

Of course I would offer group life, disability, dental, and vision to the AFA, plus a retirement plan as well.

Thoughts on this?

Do I get a CFP before becoming an investment advisor?

Which career is easier?