This is a transcript of unscripted speech, rather than written prose, and therefore should not be relied on for grammatical accuracy. This is not a verbatim transcript. Parts have been slightly modified to improve readability.
Our story of independence. Concentus Wealth Advisors.
Paul Strid
Founding Principal and COO | Concentus Wealth Advisors
Concentus is located just outside Philadelphia in an area called The Main Line. We grew up here so we've been in this area for a long time, and I think that shows in our business and our clients.
Erik Strid
Founding Principal and CEO | Concentus Wealth Advisors
We've really tried very hard to work on developing a family based culture. We try to treat everybody that way as if they were members of our family.
Gerald "Zeke” Strid
Founding Principal | Concentus Wealth Advisors
The culture from the base to the top is integrity, integrity over everything.
The model at the wirehouse was broken. We wanted to have freedom of thought and own our own business.
So we started along the road of looking for the true independence.
The first time I heard about the idea of being an RIA, it really was very early on in my career. I always thought it was the best platform for really best serving your client.
We were introduced to Dynasty Financial Partners through Schwab. They call themselves an outsourced middle office for independent registered investment advisor firms.
They power our independence. They help us go independent and be successful at being independent.
There are a lot of fears about going independent.
The wirehouse has done a very good job of convincing people that it's dark on the other side. Technology's not as good, the products aren't as good, and I found none of that to be true.
The one fear you don't have to have is: "will the clients go with me?” If you're afraid of that then you haven't been servicing them in the first place.
Our clients followed us, and they said repeatedly: "I'm not a client of your previous firm, I'm a client of yours.” That was probably the thing we worried about the most and was the thing we probably needed to worry about the least.
We knew that when we were gonna be going to talk to our clients about the fact that we're recommending they use Charles Schwab as their primary custodian, we weren't gonna have any push-back. That feeling of safety of assets permeated everything that our clients understood about Charles Schwab.
All I had to do was focus on the thing that I'm best at and that I knew was gonna drive our success in this transition. The combination of Schwab personnel and Dynasty personnel, they were there to keep me comfortable, keep me calm and that was super comforting.
If you wanna be independent and you're committed to being independent, and that's what you believe, don't let anything stop you from doing it. There's nothing that should hold you back.
I mean, I am so passionately a believer that the independent registered investment advisor platform is the way to build a successful business.
I knew I was building my own business. It was mine, that I owned it along with my brother and my father. All of the work that I was putting into it was something that was building a firm that I owned.
Well, imagine coming into an office and having two of your sons there every single day. I'm the luckiest guy at the table, believe me.