Advisor Talk with Frank LaRosa

Preparation is the key to most every successful endeavor and this certainly holds true when strategizing for your business and its future. It doesn't matter whether you are in financial services or another industry, understanding where your firm is now and where you want it to go provides the solid foundation upon which you will be able to achieve your long-term business goals. In this Episode of...

Online presence, in particular your website, is more important than many advisors give it credit for. In fact, it is the lens through which your peers and clients will view and form opinions about your business and your brand. In the case of firms who are actively recruiting or looking to acquire practices, websites can have an even greater impact, in particular to the bottom line as it is usually...

Compliance for advisors gets trickier and trickier every day. No advisor is a compliance expert and many - unwittingly so - will find themselves in sticky situations which ultimately result in termination. The top priority for the firms when in comes to compliance issues with an advisor is protecting themselves, even when the advisor is unaware that they committed any transgressions. In this episo...

You may think it will never happen to you, but as more and more advisors are discovering, being terminated by your firm is becoming an unpleasant reality for many. In a time when advisors have become more outspoken about both their practices and their client needs, larger firms are retaliating with termination as a 'keep the status quo' strategy. Alternatively, increased FINRA scrutiny has resulte...

Regardless of the size of your advisory practice, defining your core values as an individual, professional, and a business can be a game changer. By understanding your core values, you essentially gift yourself  with a road map that gives structure to your practice, provides the guideposts for how you service your clients, and lends the framework to achieve personal long-term growth.  In this epis...

RIA and Hybrid are financial services buzz words, but do you truly understand these business models and their benefits? In this episode of the 'Financial Advisor's Advisor' Elite Consulting Partners CEO Frank LaRosa breaks these terms down to fundamentals and evaluates the myths surrounding each. From the faulty logic that going RIA allows you to bypass regultory over-site and grow your business f...

Shrinkage can be an uncomfortable subject - particularly when it comes to the 'more is better' mentality that prevails in financial services. Many large firms are eager to push their advisors for more, particularly when it comes to more clients. While on the surface this may seem to be a good strategy, in the end the concept is fatally flawed. More clients means more time spent by the advisor, whi...

When you are in negotiations with a potential new firm partner, it is easy to get enamored with the big numbers a firm may present as part of your transition package. While on the surface the number may seem like a dream come true, it's important to peel back the curtain and find out the specifics of what your offer number is comprised of and what that ultimately means for your NET income. In this...

As the old adages go 'the devil is in the details' and 'you only get one chance to make a first impression'. Picture your own home and the mailbox outside. It's a small detail of the landscape and yet it's care and condition speak volumes about the care and condition of your home. Now flip that script to the office of your financial services firm. If you are a firm actively recruiting advisors, wh...

It's a seller's market in financial services and advisors interested in making a move are being offered unprecedented financial deals by independent and wirehouses firms alike . It's hard to resist the siren call of a big payday but what are the deciding factors in making a transition - other than financial - which ensure an advisor is making a move for the right reason? In this episode of 'The Fi...

The attraction of the independent business model for financial advisors is undeniable. Independence offers financial, operational, and lifestyle benefits that - even if an advisor is not ready to make a move - certainly has them thinking about it. For many advisors considering independence the questions become am I ready to and do I want to run my own business? This gray area has led to the rise o...

Advisors Should Eat Their Own Cooking – Are You Prepared For A Catastrophic Event With Your Business? When financial services firms and their advisors talk about succession planning, they often present a very buttoned-up scenario. An advisor builds a book of business over the course of their career, ages gracefully, and bequeaths their book of business to an eager, young advisor. This; however, is...