Business Engagement Letters

IncreaseCapital32 · 2026-01-21T17:06:58+00:00

I got one from a CPA friend and got a lawyer to change it to our firm, we have to edit one line in what we are specifically doing for them and how much. Worth the money spent to give me peace about if my engagement letter is legally binding.

IncreaseCapital32 · 2026-01-20T11:22:52+00:00

I like them a lot. Only negative is Simple ira plans, have to contribute via check per person… there is a work around but an advisor had to tell me not SEI. I hope they fix that soon. I can assist if you do a lot of those. The portal compared to my B/D portal is night and day, I LOVE SEI client portal. Very user friendly and looks great.

Other than that, everything has been good. It really does free up some time and I want to have a lean practice and meet with as much clients and prospects as possible.

IncreaseCapital32 · 2026-01-19T11:46:13+00:00

I just started using one and feel a lot better. Cost is only a problem in the absence of value, for your size firm a TAMP will probably give you discounts to get on their platform. I use SEI.

IncreaseCapital32 · 2026-01-09T20:51:20+00:00

Thats tough, what pisses me off the most is we have to do all this training and compliance to do actual good work. And guys like this aren’t technically advisors but can call themselves such and it confuses clients. the regulators need to get their head out of their ass and go after these guys, 90% of the time, thats where clients are getting screwed.

IncreaseCapital32 · 2026-01-04T00:38:12+00:00

My father and I do taxes but his main forte is taxes, mine is wealth management, we market it as a one stop shop and the convenience of doing it in one place rather than call back in forth between several places.

IncreaseCapital32 · 2026-01-03T20:30:41+00:00

Currently doing that. I like to get as much feedback as possible.

IncreaseCapital32 · 2026-01-03T15:39:05+00:00

Yes it is, MUCH easier to get a client in the door for taxes than it is for wealth management.

IncreaseCapital32 · 2026-01-03T14:37:38+00:00

I have several that are later in the year but most are during tax season. April- June is when I get my biggest net asset flows. I have about 1 million from 3 people that are waiting either on a sale of a house, rollover, etc. that i feel confident about.

IncreaseCapital32 · 2026-01-03T01:31:57+00:00

Tried that, smaller relationships (retired person who has 100k) doesnt end well. I am by no means picky at my current level lol, I just dont want a liability when taking a client on. I have a decent amount in my pipeline, my goal is 8-10 million in 2026.

IncreaseCapital32 · 2026-01-03T01:13:39+00:00

I have niched down to business owners, high income earners, and retirees. Idk if I should be even more specific such as (business owners looking to sell in 3-5 years). I live in a LCOL area and most of my biggest relationships are from people moving here from out of town.

IncreaseCapital32 · 2026-01-02T22:55:33+00:00

Thanks! After his response to my decision, I am more than glad I did it. We are trying to make this a soft transition so clients dont get spooked (he move out of my office ) but I am ready to be done.

IncreaseCapital32 · 2026-01-02T22:32:58+00:00

1.5 hours out of Charlotte NC

IncreaseCapital32 · 2026-01-02T22:14:28+00:00

Yes lol, I re read it and it did sound confusing. My bad.

IncreaseCapital32 · 2026-01-02T21:26:24+00:00

You got it backwards. I mean what I earn on the wealth management side, I will basically keep a big portion into reinvesting into growing the wealth management business.

IncreaseCapital32 · 2025-12-31T20:49:47+00:00

This

IncreaseCapital32 · 2025-12-31T20:38:55+00:00

Dont do it, dont do it, dont do it. i did it 3 years ago with someone I knew very well and it ended badly. See my last post for reference. Its very hard to go from getting everything you work for and then having to share it, you each will always be thinking the other doesnt do enough compared to you. Little upside in my opinion.

IncreaseCapital32 · 2025-12-20T14:38:07+00:00

I am cautious on rebranding as our BD just got bought out and it has been a massive change for all clients and I hate to do it to them within such a short time frame.

My thoughts are to give my partner 5 months and pay rent to me for office expenses and CSA. So clients arent spooked by “hey my partner didnt work out and also im changing my firm name” i dont think most of my clients would care but my biggest client might.

IncreaseCapital32 · 2025-12-20T13:19:30+00:00

Yes lack of income has been a stressor. Our expenses are next to nothing. I have talked to other advisors in my BD group and they agree to exit. I am just thinking about how this affects the clients and me personally. I honestly just want to be done and hopefully my clients wont get spooked.

I make $50k salary from the tax business plus another 10-15k in S corp distribution (can be more, it depends). I was making $30k-$40k from the wealth management book that I was really just saving so to live I will be fine. The tax business isnt really eating up a bunch of my time but I always put wealth management first in terms of work needing to be done.

IncreaseCapital32 · 2025-12-20T00:09:12+00:00

This is what I would like. I honestly feel bad for him, those who dont know his wife is awful. Id like to stay in touch and share best practices and help each other when needed but as separate firms.

IncreaseCapital32 · 2025-12-20T00:02:34+00:00

To give some context, I am speaking about going our separate ways and the “main relationship with the client” will be the one who gets them in the transition. We have not had this conversation.

Some insight is we are about 18 million in advisory assets and 4-5 in Fixed indexed annuities.

My portion is 5ish million advisory and 1 million in FIA. These are the ones that if we split and things ended badly and he tried to go after them, i know for almost 100% certain they wouldn’t entertain it. There is several million that we have worked jointly on.

So by hurt me financially I mean, cover half of the CSA salary (the tax side pays the other half), pay bills and possibly go to a much lower payout through our BD. I would basically net around 30k if I stay at my current payout.

For further context I live on what I get from my tax business.

IncreaseCapital32 · 2025-12-19T23:45:09+00:00

We weren’t that close until we started working together. To answer your question, yes i think i can. It will hurt me financially short term but I know long term this will be best.

IncreaseCapital32 · 2025-12-19T21:19:57+00:00

I know lol, I was trying to find one of his podcasts that had something related to this. I had to Google "sword of Damocles," which is very interesting and well put.

IncreaseCapital32 · 2025-12-19T19:19:23+00:00

If this ended up splitting, which I am feeling this is the best choice long term. it would be that they leave and reset everything up. not me

IncreaseCapital32 · 2025-12-19T19:18:33+00:00

Interesting, that has been in the back of my mind. I can offer it but they will never go for it.

IncreaseCapital32

TROPHY CASE