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July 11, 2019 at 4:26 AM
Stephen Winks
Edelman, Bold, WELA and to some extent United Capital, Dynasty, High Tower all are advancing modernity in advisory services beyond the self imposed limitations of the brokerage business model. These firms seek to make highly personalized expert fiduciary counsel safe, scalable, easy to execute and manasge as a high margin business at the advisor level. The difference is whether the model directly supports consumers or supports advisors who support consumers.
The missing links that advance modernity beyond the brokerage business model are (a) authenticated prudent process which make advice safe to acknowledge, (b) advanced technology which support transparency, a more sophisticate approach to portfolio construction, and continuous comprehensive counsel required for fiduciary standing, (d) work flow management at the Advisor, CAO, CIO levels which makes advice scalable, easy to execute and manage as a high margin business, (e) expert advisory services support for each of the ten major market segments advisors serve, to facilitate highly targeted advanced marketing, not possible in a brokerage format which does not acknowledge advice is being rendered.
Whoever can bring large scale institutionalized support for the highly personalized advice of fiduciary standing, not possible in a brokerage format, will win massive market share with a far superior value proposition at a lower cost than a packaged product.
The window of opportunity is very wide open and when you look at Brent Broadeski’s Savant Capital (several billion) of Fielding Miller’s CapTrust ($40 billion), Dick Smiths the Cap Group (several billion), Ron Carson at several billion, there is a convergence of free market forces which will bring modernity to the advisory services business that out dates commission sales as a high cost low value added alternative. Scale and an authenticated prudent investment process (asset/liability study, investment policy, portfolio construction, monitoring and management) are the ties that bind and out date the conventional brokerage business model.
A strategic aligment of these firms would accelerate innovation and reduce R&D cost and would be a wonderful catalyst to restore the trust and confidence of the investing public.
SCW
