Going Independent

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1.  More control and flexibility.

The one thing advisors should know about transitioning to the RIA channel is really control and flexibility. If I was going to part one thing on you, the single biggest benefit, beyond financial, beyond great outcome for your client, is the ability to control your business and structure it in a way that you just feel fantastic getting up every day and going to work. And I think that gets really underestimated because it seems a little esoteric when you’re considering it, but every RIA owner that I’ve worked with that’s made the move has just raved about the outcome for them, their team, and their families.

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2.  Your clients want you to go independent.

When you look at the market of US household wealth and what channel it's being serviced by, it's been going in one direction, and it's straight to the independent channel.  So when you look at it and say, 'Wow, investors have choice and that's where they're voting with their dollars, and advisors have choice and that's where they're voting with their dollars,' and you look at larger teams and you read in papers, and they're are voting with transitioning, wow, that just sets up for great momentum in the future for the RIA channel.

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3.  The economics.

We're all human. What we bring home to our families is really important. And what I can tell you is there's a lot of myth out there, there's a lot of 'perhaps it's harder to run your business' out there.  But what I can tell you, and I can assure you, because we've helped larger teams, is the return on going independent is real.

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Information as of November 16, 2017.

Information included during this video is intended to be an overview and is subject to change.

Experiences expressed by advisors may not be representative of the experience of other advisors and are not a guarantee of future success.

Schwab does not supervise third-party firms and takes no responsibility to monitor the services they provide to you. Experiences expressed are no guarantee of future performance or success and may not be representative of your experience.

Schwab does not provide legal, regulatory or compliance advice. Consult professionals in these fields to address your specific circumstance.

Schwab Advisor Services™ serves independent investment advisors and includes the custody, trading, and support services of Schwab.

Independent investment advisors are not owned by, affiliated with, or supervised by Schwab.

©2017 Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. ("Schwab"). All rights reserved. Member SIPC. (0718-8HNR)

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1. You have to do it all yourself.

The early pioneers into this space really had to grind it out.  They had to be do-it-your-self-ers, they had to be willing to deal with some decline in capabilities from the pretty comfortable wirehouse or brokerage they left behind.  That's not the case anymore.  Now all you need to do is walk around a conference like Schwab IMPACT and as you turn around, you're surrounding by service providers and vendors, who are willing to fill in with all sorts of utility.

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2. Too many legal and compliance pitfalls.

The truth of the matter is there haven't been many significant regulatory developments over the past decade, decade-and-a-half, but nonetheless advisors are anxious.  And the reason they're anxious is because throughout their employment they were told that they can't do this or they can't do that, it's a compliance issue, compliance doesn't want you involved in this, compliance says you can’t do it.  The reality is very little of that was regulatory compliance. A lot of that was risk management, employment practices, and valid restrictions that an employer needs to impose when there’s thousands of employees.  But when there's 5, 10, 20, 30 employees, your perception of risk is different, and the way in which you need to manage risk is different.

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3. Independence isn't for big teams with big dreams.

So early on in Market Council, we considered a sizeable advisor, one who can really earn a living by being an investment advisor. Those tended to be firms that had in excess of $50 to $100 million of assets.  Over the years, that increased, and larger firms became firms that had 300 million or $500 million of assets. But many years ago, we crossed that billion-dollar threshold, and we started to do it quite regularly.

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Information as of November 16, 2017.

Information included during this video is intended to be an overview and is subject to change.

Schwab does not supervise third-party firms and takes no responsibility to monitor the services they provide to you. Experiences expressed are no guarantee of future performance or success and may not be representative of your experience.

Schwab does not provide legal, regulatory or compliance advice. Consult professionals in these fields to address your specific circumstance.

Schwab Advisor Services™ serves independent investment advisors and includes the custody, trading, and support services of Schwab.

Independent investment advisors are not owned by, affiliated with, or supervised by Schwab.

©2017 Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. ("Schwab"). All rights reserved. Member SIPC. (0718-8HNR)