Breakaway / RIA Set Up
SubscribeBlog Posts Published Since Inception
‘Perfection’ Can Be the Enemy of
A Successful Advisor Transition
It is simply unrealistic and counter-productive to assume there will be no hiccups of any kind when transitioning hundreds, if not thousands, of accounts in a short amount of time. As with most...
Breakaway Lessons from
Wolfgang Van Halen
In our work with breakaway advisors, who are venturing out on their own and leaving behind the branding and operational resources of a larger wirehouse or independent broker dealer, we find that the...
As RIAs Evolve, C-suite
Specialization Begins to Emerge
When RIAs add professional managers beyond the founding group of advisers to add professional managers, they can finally achieve the levels of growth and profitability the advisers envisioned upon...
How Long Does It Take
to Launch an RIA?
By tackling the largest and most time-consuming tasks first, we believe advisors can launch their RIA in four to six months. When looking to leave the captive employment model and establish their...
Is It Easier or Harder to Go
Independent During a Pandemic?
I recently had the honor to participate in a BNY Mellon Pershing webcast titled, “Breaking Through – Navigating the Path to Independence.” My fellow panelists were Pablo Bizjack of BNY Mellon...
The Fear of Change, Part 3:
The Emotions of Breaking Away
The Fear of Change: A 3-Part Series for RIAs As the RIA industry matures, consolidates, grows, and evolves, many of our clients contemplate M&A transactions, changing their technologies or...
Video: PFI Advisors’ Take on the
Breakaway Advisor Movement…
PFI Advisors is often asked our opinion of the breakaway advisor movement. Given our line of work, our answer may surprise you…
Fixed Income Solutions
for Breakaway Advisors
Wirehouse advisors are often sold the idea that the independent channel cannot support sophisticated investment solutions. Therefore, a major concern for every breakaway advisor as they make...
It’s Like a Relationship:
Don’t Rush Things!
As part of our work with breakaway advisory teams, we help coordinate the various RIA systems needed for advisors moving to Independence. We work with the selected technology providers to design an...
Fixed Income Solutions in the RIA
Industry for Breakaway Advisors
We announced today the release of a new industry report (the seventh in our continuing educational series) on the increasing number of fixed income solutions available to RIAs in the Independent...
Scott Belsky’s “The Messy Middle”: A Must Read for All Breakaways
Scott Belsky is an entrepreneur, investor, best-selling author, MBA Harvard graduate, and one of Fast Company’s 100 Most Creative People in Business. That being said, I had never heard of him until...
Should Breakaway Advisors Leverage a Wrap-Fee Program?
As breakaway advisors consider their move from a wirehouse to their own RIA, the question of whether to provide a wrap fee program will undoubtedly arise. Before we get into the weeds, what is a...
Calling All Misfits, Dreamers, and Rugged Individualists
PFI Advisors has not been around long enough for me to start giving entrepreneurial advice, but the entrepreneurial conversation does come up quite often in our day-to-day discussions with breakaway...
Dual-Contract SMAs vs. Single-Contract SMAs
The most common question we receive from breakaway advisors is, “If I start an RIA, how do I recreate the products and services I’ve always had available to me during my career in the wirehouse?”...
Ops Team to the Rescue! Reducing Advisor Stress During a Breakaway
A wirehouse team amidst a breakaway transition requires a fast learning curve in a short period of time during which the entire advisory team-turned-RIA needs to run full speed ahead. This...
Don’t Let the Wirehouses Lie to You About Technology…
It has become widely acknowledged and accepted that the technologies available in the RIA channel are more sophisticated and up-to-date than the technologies offered by the large wirehouses. ...
A Discussion On “The Ins and Outs of Breakaways”
CEO Matt Sonnen recently sat down with Folio Institutional President Greg Vigrass to discuss, among other things, the Top 3 Questions Every Breakaway Advisor Asks: Should I Stay (at the wirehouse)?...
A Discussion On “What it Really Takes to Build an RIA Firm”
CEO Matt Sonnen sat down with Mindy Diamond to discuss the lessons he learned from launching Luminous Capital 10 years ago, as well as the advice he gives billion-dollar breakaway teams today that...
Advisor Moves
to Expect in 2018
Wirehouses' withdrawal from the broker protocol will only boost advisers' interest in the independent space Citigroup recently announced that it will be following Morgan Stanley and UBS' lead in...
Now and Next – The Evolving State of the Broker Protocol
Here is a replay of a conversation our CEO Matt Sonnen recorded with Pershing Advisor Solutions’ Ben Harrison, MarketCounsel’s Sharron Ash, and Jordan Schultz of Schultz Consulting. Listen here:
The Ins and Outs of Breaking Away in the Post-Protocol World
First, a disclaimer: We are not lawyers, and this post does not contain legal advice of any kind. As operational consultants that advise financial advisors on the nuances of starting an RIA,...
Broker Protocol News: Opportunity for Savvy RIAs
Last week’s news of Morgan Stanley exiting the Broker Protocol, most likely encouraging other major wirehouses to follow suit, elicited a knee-jerk reaction. Advisors and industry professionals...
The Rise of Alternative Investments in the RIA Industry
Many wirehouse advisors are “brainwashed” into thinking they won’t have access to sophisticated investment solutions if they start their own RIA. PFI Advisors’ latest white paper highlights...
Why Operations Teams are the Unsung Heroes Behind Breakaways
The breakaway movement has continued to gain headlines as more teams have made the leap to the RIA channel. Most articles surrounding recent breakaways tend to focus on how much assets the adviser...
Top 3 Questions Every Breakaway Advisor Asks – Part 3
As discussed in our previous posts (See Part 1 and Part 2), many wirehouse advisors have concluded that while their current employment situation clearly has its faults, for the most part, they have...
Top 3 Questions Every Breakaway Advisor Asks – Part 2
Wirehouse advisors do not launch RIAs on a whim. After years of toiling away in the captive employee model, building a book of business and having the privilege of earning client trust and...
Top 3 Questions Every Breakaway Advisor Asks – Part 1
As breakaway transition consultants, we are often asked, “What are you hearing from wirehouse advisors these days? What’s on their mind?”
A New Twist on Succession Planning Urgency
Although the drumbeat for succession planning has been getting louder over the years, the industry continues to remain woefully unprepared. We have all seen the headlines screaming about the more...
Big RIAs Now Face Their Own Breakaway Movement
There is some debate as to the official launch of the breakaway advisor movement, when advisors began leaving the shackles of the captive wirehouse environment for the freedom and independence of...
Innovative Lending Solutions in the RIA Space for Breakaway Advisors
We have determined that advisors thinking of breaking away should not let the fear of inadequate lending solutions for their clients deter them from considering the independent space. In this white...
“The Long Game”
of Starting an RIA
The recent DOL FAQ released on October 27th has driven recruiters and their advisors into a tizzy. Howard Diamond of Diamond Consultants declared it the “most hectic week” they have ever...
The Push vs. Pull for Breakaway Advisors
I had the privilege to address the CFA Society of Los Angeles this past Wednesday night, and we inevitably discussed trends in the breakaway advisor movement. While many have detailed the fact that...
4 Necessary Considerations Before Going Independent
Financial Planning Magazine recently reached out and asked us to contribute to their "30 Days 30 Ways" series detailing Advisors in Transition. We wrote the following piece to educate advisors...
Breakaway Advisor Movement, Version 2.0
Once You Break Free of the Wirehouse, You Need to Run From the Platforms and Aggregators, Too! There is always a dark side to success. The RIA market has been booming for years, consistently...
The Trend
Has Begun…
Billion-dollar firms are realizing financial independence is the ultimate destination for RIAs. PFI Advisors was quoted in this RIABiz article highlighting PagnatoKarp’s ‘breakaway’ from...
New Transition Models for Billion-Dollar Breakaway Teams
This is the first in a series of industry content from PFI Advisors designed to help advisors build their dream firm and achieve Financial Independence. View white paper
Guest appearance on “How to Go Independent”
Our CEO and Founder, Matt Sonnen, discusses transitioning billion-dollar teams to financial independence in Sean Kernan's "How to Go Independent" blog. Listen to the podcast here.
Breakaway Artist Confesses ‘Mistakes’ He’s Made
A breakaway artist confesses the 'mistakes' he made in ushering PBIG's Hou-Sear team. With its elevators, synchronized watches, office hijinks and voice-over IP, Luminous Capital was a virtuoso...