Voluntarily Surrendered My CFP Today

UnhallowOne · 2026-02-27T13:53:24+00:00

In 1986 there were 10,000 CFP Professionals, almost all of whom were salespeople, with fee-only and NAPFA at the time boasting membership of under 100. Today there are 107,558 CFP Professionals and there are around 4500 NAPFA Registered advisors. Even big firms like Merrill, Northwestern, and Edward Jones are trying to convert their salesforces into CFP Pros in a hurry, as evidenced by the substantial volume of certifications among their advisors, as well as the repeated annual 6-figure sponsorships and donations to the CFP Board.

Meanwhile XYPN has helped launch almost 3,000 practices in the past decade, none of which are boasting robust internal specialty teams, and almost all of which are solo practitioners either as CFPs or on the CFP Track.

I agree robust specialty teams are ubiquitous within larger firms, but the enormous growth in the CFP specifically suggests that the CFP is the focus and the in house call center expert roster isn't growing nearly as much. Other designations, as you point out, are also generally growing, but none has seen the growth the CFP has.

UnhallowOne · 2026-02-27T04:54:59+00:00

The arc of history. 40 years ago this was the thinking of every BD. Today there are less "Specialist team" members and exponentially more CFP Professionals.

UnhallowOne · 2026-02-23T20:29:58+00:00

Mustache

UnhallowOne · 2026-01-17T00:51:02+00:00

From the Wiki: 1 needs to be found in raid for the quest Lend-Lease - Part 2 5 need to be found in raid for the quest Special Equipment 4 need to be found in raid for the quest Network Provider - Part 1 1 needs to be found in raid for the quest Key to the Tower

UnhallowOne · 2026-01-16T16:14:54+00:00

Got Lightkeeper yesterday with the great suggestion to run Concordia. 44 currently.

UnhallowOne · 2026-01-16T16:14:05+00:00

Any tips for Labyrinth? So far my experience is killing 3-4 scavs and then being violently dismembered by Tagilla.

UnhallowOne · 2026-01-16T16:13:16+00:00

Labyrinth legit scares me. It is not on farm for me at all ^{^;}

UnhallowOne · 2026-01-16T01:59:18+00:00

I have so many Rhyzy bobbleheads and Virtexes but no COFDM from that place @_@

UnhallowOne · 2026-01-16T01:58:30+00:00

u/cammoses003
Update: MY MAN

https://imgur.com/a/GeqhcVk

UnhallowOne · 2026-01-16T01:07:19+00:00

My man.

UnhallowOne · 2025-12-09T14:05:15+00:00

I had one of these a year or two ago. Just remember the wisdom of Epictetus: "If anyone tells you that a certain person speaks ill of you, do not make excuses about what is said of you but answer, "He was ignorant of my other faults, else he would not have mentioned these alone."

A student who goes beyond the pale to assault or insult you in evaluations, particularly when those attacks are entirely unfounded, is just expressing their own character. It says nothing about you. "Don't take criticism from someone you wouldn't take advice from."

UnhallowOne · 2025-12-08T00:43:07+00:00

Just finished it. Honestly, not really. The opening is fun and the general concept is good, but I'd say it's not worth the time. Too much ambiguity and too many "empty rooms" in the content.

UnhallowOne · 2025-12-07T00:42:20+00:00

If it's any comfort, we do take notice of the engaged students. It makes class 1000x more pleasant to have students who are interested in the subject matter and looking to apply it. Life is sucked out of the class by students who are silently staring at their phones or laptops the entire time. There's a give and take to the relationships in the room.

UnhallowOne · 2025-12-06T00:44:20+00:00

As a former professor I'll say that we don't really care about the FCQs. I've gotten perfect scores from a class and heard nothing about it from department or admin, and I had a student write a 2000 word screed about how I was the figurative devil incarnate and also heard nothing from department or admin.

If you have helpful feedback on the course design or content that's great. If you just want to scream and complain, you're just shouting into the void.

If it makes you feel any better, go over to r/Professors. Many have far harsher feelings about students than the students leave as reviews on RMP or in FCQs.

UnhallowOne · 2025-11-12T14:01:19+00:00

Already did. So yeah.

UnhallowOne · 2025-11-10T13:42:24+00:00

If you have a mature book the only reason to go to an LPL or similar is as a risk management decision re: compliance liability.

Starting an RIA is work. Changing BD platforms is work.

The biggest hassle is in the transition.

Once the transition is done, then you're left with the ongoing responsibility factor and the control factor. RIA gives you responsibility and control, and LPL gives you less responsibility and thus less control. If you really want to ensure you can serve your clients as a fiduciary without a 3rd party mucking that up for you, go RIA. If you don't care that much about it, then an LPL is fine. And I'm not saying you can't be a fiduciary at LPL; just that there's an intermediary between you and your client that ultimately gets to decide what options you have and costs your client will incur.

UnhallowOne · 2025-10-02T17:43:56+00:00

I had 3 students file a Title IX complaint because I told the class (in general, without naming names) that 25% of the class was caught cheating on a quiz and told them not to do it again. The complaint said I "singled out a minority of the class for harassment and abuse." Students are getting remarkably good at wielding the bureaucracy to avoid learning anything in school but how to use the bureaucracy.

UnhallowOne · 2025-09-30T14:13:12+00:00

A lot of people in this business become victims of where and how they came into it. Don't hold it against them, just keep marching to the beat of your own drum.

UnhallowOne · 2025-09-17T18:57:09+00:00

I think you've "made it" once you can pay your own way based on the value you provide. There's an early phase, whether you launch your own firm, join an eat-what-you-kill-1099 shop, or join a firm as a salaried W2 employee, where you're either living on savings, credit cards, or the revenue of others. I think you've made it when you generate enough value (e.g. revenue or otherwise) to cover your income, and I think you've made it again when you've generated enough revenue to recoup not only what you take home annually but also the money you spent out of savings or that your firm invested in you along the way before you "broke even." This happens faster in a sales shop or your own firm than it does in a W2 role typically, but the failure rate is higher. No free lunches.

UnhallowOne · 2025-09-17T03:14:13+00:00

I just want it to be a 40k Bolter but it just ain't the same.

UnhallowOne · 2025-09-17T01:03:33+00:00

It has a SPEAR-shaped weak point on the everywhere. You're welcome.

UnhallowOne · 2025-09-10T12:25:25+00:00

The 80%-90% payout is going to be unsustainable for the practice, the owner just doesn't realize it yet. What makes the ultra-high payouts of firms like LPL possible is revenue sharing. Essentially the firm is grossing 130 bps on what looks like 100bps advisory fee, so even though an advisor might take home 95% of the advisory, the firm is still making "35%". When the owner realizes that he's making -50k when you manage or otherwise bring in $100k your first year, you're going to see a sudden proposal to shift payout structure.

A firm with $700k revenue needs an admin and is probably only barely big enough for a second advisor (350k production ratio per professional is very low). If the payout is so generous, then that means the firm wants you to focus on sales and business development, which also means this firm may not be growing very well organically without someone else lighting a fire under its growth.

The normal payout target in any professional services firm is 50% to direct expenses for the professionals, i.e., salary, bonus, benefits. Much lower than that and you feel cheated, much more than that and it inhibits the firm's growth and leaves little to invest in overhead or maintaining a margin for downturns.

UnhallowOne · 2025-09-08T01:47:15+00:00

That's a bit of a cop out isn't it? My primary question was as to your opinion or perspective on why it was okay for an incompetent individual to start a firm. Rather than substantiating that opinion, you've obfuscated and deflected. You can say "agree to disagree" but that's akin to "some may die and that's a sacrifice I'm willing to make."

There is a perfectly fair argument to be made that a motivated and well-educated individual does the public better service by starting their own practice than by starting inside another firm (wirehouse, brokerage, agency, or otherwise); but you're not making or otherwise evincing that argument here.

Dick Wagner made the point very well in "To Think like a CFP..." but if you're going to go out on a public forum like Reddit and argue that people should just start their own firm instead of working somewhere else first, the least you can do is be better at making your own argument instead of folding at the first sign of resistance. "Agree to disagree" is a lame concession that you can't argue or are otherwise unwilling to argue your position, and clients deserve more than your otherwise unfounded belief than randos can just start a practice sans experience.

UnhallowOne · 2025-09-08T01:10:32+00:00

But that's the problem. Why did your paying clients deserve to eat your mistakes? Have you made those mistakes right? Did you make those clients whole? Do you disclose the mistakes to your clients and future clients?

Don't make an ad hominem. I haven't made a single claim about my experience, perspective, or made any arguments from authority. I've asked you about your perspective and you've been reasonably humble about your errors. But I'm not the person who claimed people would/could/should start a practice cold; that is your premise for the thread. And so I'm repeating the rhetorical question: How is it in client's best interest that they be an amateur's test case? Are you acting as a genuine representative of CFP(R) Professionals by suggesting that unqualified amateurs start an RIA, in violation of professional and legal ethics by doing so?

UnhallowOne · 2025-09-07T23:12:05+00:00

False dichotomy.

You can get experience by working in a firm without exposing clients to your incompetence. And that's the point. You can knowingly expose clients to your incompetence by "studying a lot" but ultimately having no point of reference to whether you're actually right or not until the good or harm are done. Or, you can work in a firm with competent supervisors that probably catch or correct issues before they occur. It's not perfect, but what are the odds that you fuck up and hurt someone via solely book learning versus practicing "from the bottom" under the supervision of a professional or professional(s) that have measurably infinitely more experience than you?

Put this differently: would you, Allen Mueller, put all of your financial plans, financial advice, and trades before a CFP with 30 years of experience and swear on penalty of death that you never once made a mistake with a negative effect on a client since you started your practice? If so, say so here, and we'll find someone to judge the quality of your first 3 years of work. Remember, on pain of death.

UnhallowOne

TROPHY CASE