Going independent
What it costs to launch, what you can take when you leave, how to tell your clients, and how long switching really takes.
Going independent
Start your own, or join one? →
Framed as ambition, which is useless. It is about which problems you would rather own.
Going independent
Telling your clients you're leaving →
They are not weighing your reasons. They are working out whether this will be hard for them.
Switching
The gap in your performance history →
Custodians commonly retain three years. Most firms have been operating far longer.
Going independent
What it costs to launch an RIA →
The quoted figure is setup. Setup is the smallest part of year one.
Switching
What it costs you in hours →
Every platform quotes weeks of their effort. Almost none quote the number that affects your calendar.
Going independent
What you can take when you leave →
Governed by documents most people signed years ago and have not read since.
Independence
Your first ninety days independent →
Almost everything advisors worry about beforehand turns out manageable.
Independence
Non-competes and non-solicits for advisors →
Two different promises, routinely confused and enforced very differently.
Independence
Errors-and-omissions coverage for advisors →
What it covers, what it does not, and the claims-made mechanic that catches firms at exactly the two moments it matters most.
Independence
Choosing a custodian →
The hardest arrangement to change later, because changing it means asking every client to sign something.
Going independent
What you give up joining someone else's RIA →
The back office in exchange for the registration. What actually transfers, the question nobody asks in the first meeting, and where the trade genuinely makes sense.
Questions? Ask them directly — that is what the twenty minutes is for.