For wirehouse advisors contemplating a move away from the wirehouse, the idea of successfully navigating a transition can be intimidating. After all, it’s one thing to understand that a move might best fit your business plan, or might offer you the freedom to run your practice in a way that better suits your business and personal goals, but quite another to actually contemplate making the leap from the relative security of the wirehouse. Overcoming this “fear gap” can be a challenge, but for advisors looking for an alternative to the lowest-common-denominator management and investment style of the wirehouse, it’s a challenge worth taking on. Understanding how to overcome the fear gap can empower you to create a financial advisory practice that truly reflects your philosophy and values.
What Is The Fear Gap?
The fear gap has been described as the distance between where you are, and your vision of where you should be. The fear gap is characterized by a perception of “imminent danger” or risk — be it personal or financial, a perception that there may be no “escape hatch” or way to reverse the decision, and uncertainty about what the future might hold.
Together, these factors can cause understandable anxiety for advisors contemplating a change. Fear and self-doubt are natural responses for anyone undertaking a new path. However, with the right plan, you can overcome — or even eliminate — the fear gap and find confidence as you pursue a path as an independent advisor.
Understanding Your Plan
A big part of overcoming the fear gap comes from understanding yourself. What do you want out of your career as a financial advisor? Are you seeking a greater work-life balance? Are you ready to maximize your own potential without the artificial constraints of the wirehouse? Are you ready to create a firm culture that reflects your philosophy and values? Do you want to pursue an RIA, a broker-dealer model, or a hybrid firm?
Understanding what you want — and more importantly, what you don’t want — independence allows you to be able to ask and answer questions which will get you to the next level and choose the right independent model for you. Creating a business plan can help to ensure that you’re considering every aspect of independence and help you to eliminate the uncertainty that can characterize a move away from the wirehouse. In addition, a comprehensive business plan can help you to ensure that your transition is as strategic and seamless as possible.
Getting The Right Advice Can Help You Eliminate The Fear Gap
A great deal of the anxiety advisors feel about leaving the wirehouse is caused by worry about the unknown. For advisors considering independence, knowing what to expect, and how to address the inevitable bumps in the road, can make the difference between an uncertain transition and a confident, supported one.
The transition professionals at Terrana Group can help. We offer all of the options, advice, and transition resources you’ll need as you consider your next steps after the wirehouse. Our recruiting team at Terrana Group isn’t just about filling positions, it’s about finding the best possible fit for each individual advisor, ensuring that your transition is successful — not just in the short-term, but over the course of your independent career. Terrana Group helps advisors evaluate each firm’s culture, technology, transition support, and economics, helping advisors manage the entire transition process from start to finish.
Supported Independence Can Be A Great Way To Manage Anxiety About Your Move
For some, the idea of true independence — managing a new business from top to bottom, from finding office space to managing compliance, legal, technology, client communication, and marketing — might seem appealing. However, for most advisors, building a new company from the ground up is a prospect that can be more than a little intimidating. After all, an advisor’s expertise is in providing financial advice to clients, not creating a business from scratch.
A supported independence or turn-key breakaway model can help those advisors who want to leave the wirehouse to focus on an independent practice without managing the day-to-day of a new business. In a turn-key or supported independence model, an advisor outsources compliance, administrative, technology, and even marketing functions to a third party, leaving the advisor free to focus on the advisor’s core business. And as time goes on, as you feel comfortable taking on a greater entrepreneurial role, you can use a supported independence model to create a business plan that truly works for everything you want your business to be.
Want to Keep the Conversation Going?
All of us at Terrana Group welcome the opportunity to consult with you to determine the right platform for you going forward — one that satisfies your long term objectives and is also best for your clients!
Over the course of over 30 years, we have helped facilitate thousands of professional placements for Advisors, with client assets transferring exceeding $67 billion dollars. We have completed placements in most every major city throughout the United States, while building deep relationships with the advisory world’s most sophisticated and notable firms — including Wall Street brokerages as well as most Regionals, Boutiques, Banks, Independent Broker Dealers, and RIAs. We have a broad knowledge of the deals that are currently being offered and will ensure that you are being presented with the offer which will be best for you.
Confidentiality, professionalism, and respect are protocol to our practices and beliefs; we handle each and every step of the placement process with complete communication, keeping you informed while making the process smoother from beginning to end.
We are proud to always be considered as a great asset by our clients because of our proven expertise, many years of knowledge, and acute attention to detail. Financial Advisor Recruiting Services are not all created equal; we guarantee that the TG experience for clients and candidates is always world class.
We are based in Chicago, with a nationwide reach. Let us know you are interested by contacting us today. To get the conversation started, email info@terranagroup.com or give us a call at 312.655.8380 today.
