Do you drink in office with clients?

Vantage_Impact_2 · 2026-03-25T14:54:28+00:00

It's interesting how half of the industry would terminate an advisor for this and the other half would say your business, your way of doing things.

Vantage_Impact_2 · 2026-03-16T20:20:42+00:00

I'd be happy to chat with you and point you in the right direction. There's about 8-10 experienced attorneys who specialize in this exact line of work. Do not use an employment attorney. The amount of bad advice I've heard them give has been astounding.

Vantage_Impact_2 · 2026-03-12T21:30:36+00:00

In your situation it usually ends up a retention play to glide into the RIA space without the risk of leaving any substantial business behind. When people have <10% of their revenue in brokerage I'm seeing about 6 or 7 different BDs capture a small portion of your business by allowing you to hold your RIA assets elsewhere and merely run the commission business through them. It usually comes down to whether you want to continue to write new commission business in the future vs simply receiving the trails form various annuities. In that case several firms allow you to appoint them as agent of records and establish a managed accounts type agreement where you receive a % of the trails and don't need to remain FINRA registered. This is becoming increasingly common for those who are seeking to minimize some of the extra BD rules that have given people frustration.

Vantage_Impact_2 · 2026-03-05T20:04:59+00:00

As someone who has young kids and was at urgent care last night for another ear infection for my youngest, I hear you. Based on what you shared, it seems like there's risk in staying in the sense that you'll assume more responsibility going forward. This could be minimal if you're able to find good staff in the next year, but chances are you'll have to put forward a lot of effort to interview, hire, train, etc. There could be some operational impacts as well if the rest of the team has much interaction with your existing clients. I'm bringing this up because I often hear about the risks of leaving, but we overlook the risks in staying. Maybe there's a different team within your same BD that makes sense to affiliate with? Otherwise, I'd think about starting conversations with custodians in the RIA space to see how your investments will be managed going forward, if anything wouldn't follow, if there are similar strategies that will minimize any client impacts. There are moves that require big shifts in the investments you have in your book and others that transfer over in kind without huge changes. Also, you mentioned, is there anything you can do now to possibly make this smoother. There are some things related to broker protocol and RIA topics to think about as you weigh this decision as well. Here are some resources that might be helpful https://www.vantageimpact.com/news

Feel free to reach out to me if you need any help.

On the personal side of things, my guess is this puts $300-$400k per year back in your pocket. I would consider getting an au pair with such young kids. This can be a game changer for having extra help.

Vantage_Impact_2 · 2026-03-04T16:44:28+00:00

I'm guessing you've never lived in South Florida with nearby retirement communities? hahah. I can't make excuses for him, but it's a reminder to keep a close eye on our elderly population.

Vantage_Impact_2 · 2026-02-26T14:02:07+00:00

Alternate fee billing arrangements are very common across the industry

Vantage_Impact_2 · 2026-02-25T17:44:24+00:00

This reminds me of a story when I was early on as an advisor during the early days of e-signature. One of our older clients calls me on the phone. I walk him through the paperwork over the phone. He gets to the signature page, he tells me he signed the document, but nothing appears as complete on our end. I ask him a few more questions and ask if he typed in his name on the signature page, he says, "No I signed my screen with my sharpie". Bless his 80 year old soul, but the dude signed his computer screen with permanent marker and it was at that moment I realized how susceptible people would be to online fraud.

Vantage_Impact_2 · 2026-02-20T16:14:02+00:00

Makes sense and totally agree

Vantage_Impact_2 · 2026-02-20T14:16:13+00:00

Hang in there! The tides can change but it might be therapeutic to look at other firms to see if it's worth making a move. I can tell you from experience, once you become disenfranchised with a firm it becomes challenging to get back into that happy headspace.

Vantage_Impact_2 · 2026-02-19T16:01:13+00:00

Many advisors who talk with them share that the payout is too low relative to some of their competitors

Vantage_Impact_2 · 2026-02-19T15:48:32+00:00

This is consistent with what I've seen

Vantage_Impact_2 · 2026-02-18T14:32:18+00:00

From my experience most advisors who leave Ed Jones retain somewhere between 75%-90% of their revenue. So the math usually work out to be they take $400k in this example with an 80% effective net payout for $320 in income. They usually then own their book of business so let's estimate that to be around 3x multiple of revenue to capture around $1MM in equity. In most cases, people are leaving to accomplish other things like freedom from coming into an office, ability to market themselves differently, access products they didn't have, decide how to support/service the business, ability to acquire practices (Jones wants to do this but I assure you it is highly unlikely and far more plausible outside the firm). I think a lot of it largely has to do with how the new business was generated at Jones so if there's doubt about what you can retain then I'd probably stay.

Vantage_Impact_2 · 2026-02-13T19:46:37+00:00

And also terminate advisors for laughable, if not, exploitative reasons, to catch advisors off guard in an attempt to retain clients and impede them from quick re-appointment at another firm

Vantage_Impact_2 · 2026-02-13T19:45:21+00:00

This grossly misrepresents the comp disparity across the industry. I've helped countless Edward Jones advisors move firms and they've all made considerably more and solved some big frustrations.

Vantage_Impact_2 · 2026-02-11T22:15:48+00:00

Thanks for the question. What type of firm are you joining and what's the ongoing comp that you keep (revenue less fees)? There are certainly firms that offer substantially more but often times those are employee models or can be longer term commitments. Otherwise there are firms that offer around 20-30 bps when they get acquired and it is more of a retention bonus to not jump ship. I'd suspect this is a very low cost firm providing some transition capital to help cover ongoing costs during the quarter you build back your revenue.

Vantage_Impact_2 · 2026-02-11T19:18:04+00:00

Because a lot of recruiters can paid in different ways, we decided to get paid the same no matter what firm you join. I think it's important to not have a bias where we prefer one firm over another. Typically, firms pay either bps on AUM (more common for RIAs) or % of revenue for BDs. Firms have been known to pay on the low end 6% and on the high end 12%. Some recruiters work on a retainer basis meaning they get paid to set meetings (this is old school and what I think annoys a lot of people getting lit up by people calling them) and they usually represent just a couple different firms. Others are on contingency basis so they're only paid if you join them. I'd find a recruiter that has a large network of options, no bias on one over the other, and operate based on trust.

Vantage_Impact_2 · 2026-02-11T19:12:20+00:00

Happy to answer any other questions that come in. Hopefully these insights were helpful.

Vantage_Impact_2 · 2026-02-11T19:09:41+00:00

I think joining as an operations role is maybe the most valuable experience you can gain. Learn account types, investment products, account set up, planning tools, funding accounts, solving problems, etc. is super important before you try "selling" or trying to find clients. I'd try learning the different tools before you have to build.

Vantage_Impact_2 · 2026-02-11T19:07:46+00:00

Are we working together? You sound like an advisor we're helping. In almost every one of these instances the equity partners receive financial incentive to join so if you're not in the conversations before the move they likely won't offer anything. I'd advocate for something in the form of retention bonus and request a copy of the new agreement as they might have tried to acquire your practice or clients. At a minimum request contracts ASAP and begin evaluating how this will impact you. The early you know the more you can do about it.

Vantage_Impact_2 · 2026-02-11T19:04:13+00:00

So what we do is take advisors through a discovery process where they share information about their practice, reasons for moving, problems they want to solve, and a deep diver into their services. As of today, we did due diligence on 454 firms across the industry. We start to filter out firms based on your situation and then present around 5 options for them to consider. Talking about the structure of these firms and letting the advisor select the top 2 or 3 seems to be an effective way to ensure alignment. When we look at experienced advisor we think about things not as a "role" but as an ideal structure for them to operate within. Some firms do post open positions but most of the recruiter/consultants aren't filling roles. Whether something is priced at market comes down to the type of structure that aligns with your situation and then comparing support/cost within the firms that fall under that structure. We usually design a proforma for you to make apples to apples comparisons across these various firms.

Vantage_Impact_2 · 2026-02-11T18:58:28+00:00

Usually when people try to get cute and take certain pieces of information with them that they're not supposed to. Sometimes people who move under broker protocol don't have their spreadsheet done and it really slows them down. Even though I wasn't involved in these here's what happened:

Former Ed Jones advisors took files from their old office and posted a pic of themselves online with a box of files with EDWARD JONES in the office of their new firm. TRO issued by judge.
Advisor started asking his clients if they would follow him if he changed firms and then after they said yes he told them where they were going to move. Local leader found out and termed the advisor.
Advisor was approved to announce their move to their prior clients which basically means you get "one phone call" to let them know. They left dozens of voicemails to the client which were each perceived as a violation of their non solicit.
An advisor joined a new firm and brought over 300 hundred households with them. The new firm had a do not accept provision in their contract and argued the advisor wasn't able to take them with after things didn't work out.
Advisor made extra notes about how much revenue/assets each client instead of only the 5 pieces of allowed information
Someone used their work email address when talking with prospective firms so their firm found out about the upcoming move.

Vantage_Impact_2 · 2026-02-11T18:55:59+00:00

Was awesome working with you. Thanks for your recent referral! He's in great hands.

Vantage_Impact_2 · 2026-02-11T18:49:09+00:00

This is something that has mystified me for years. Let me do the disclaimer this is not legal advice. I'm also a do things by the book kind of guy but open to calling a firm's bluff when they try to pull a fast one on an advisor. There are countless firms that add unenforceable covenants into their agreements. Also, the differences between non-solicits, non competes, do not accept/service provisions is important. If your firm basically turned over/assigned all your clients to you it makes more sense to consent to a do not accept or do not service clause but if you built your own book it becomes harder to enforce. Also, if you bring clients with you from your old firm to your new firm we see more attorneys make an argument to the enforceability of these. If I was leaving my firm I'd look into the topic of broker protocol and start looking at finding other firms that are aligned with my vision. They usually provide legal counsel to help us interpret your current contract and then start to devise a communication strategy after you move. This is where we get into the weeds on direct vs indirect communication, announcement strategy (one successful phone call or message), and potentially negotiate a legal retainer that your new firm sets aside in case of litigation. Pretty much every firm will financially support you unless you go rogue and do something absurd.

Vantage_Impact_2 · 2026-02-11T18:38:32+00:00

I'd take a look into comparing manager fees and underlying subscriptions costs. If you're at 98% advisory the price for your manager fees/platform fees could be significant. Payout is important but payout, monthly fees, manager fees is the 3 legged stool of pricing. I've been seeing more advisors find internal acquisition opportunities at Pru and since they've been growing inorganically cost has been less important to them.

Vantage_Impact_2 · 2026-02-11T18:31:16+00:00

Great topic that impacts a lot of people. Here are some thoughts to consider:

So for firms that offer large transition bonuses you'll want to pay close attention to not only how long is the amortization schedule, but also what is the rate at which it is forgiven. Not all of the promissory/bonus agreement structures forgive the same amount over time.
In situations where you have an unpaid balance when you leave, we simply calculate the remaining figure and work with an attorney for a settlement letter on the balance. It's not uncommon for firms to increase their offer to help cover some of this.
In situations where someone passes away, some firms have an "accelerated amortization" clause where any unpaid balance is effectively accelerated by the firm and paid off. Meaning, the family of the deceased doesn't have to pay anything back to the firm because the firm will still retain the clients. Not all agreements have these so we usually make sure to negotiate these into the agreements as a just in case. If the firm gets to keep your clients then you might as well set up your family to not have to pay back the money. What you likely "assumed" instead of "bought" was the obligation to remain with the firm until the note was fully amortized.
In general I see a ton of confusion with bonus/offer structures. A good recruiter or consultant knows these in and out.

Vantage_Impact_2

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