4 Reasons to Formalize Your Business Entity as a Corporation or LLC
Introduction The decision to form an entity structure for your financial practice is a critical step for experienced independent financial advisors. Many advisors address this topic after a specific need for it has arisen, but addressing it proactively allows you to establish the right structure with less stress and take advantage of numerous other benefits along the way. This article highlights the signs indicating when it’s time to establish an entity and the risks associated with not doing so. Business Growth and Liability Protection As an advisor, you likely have errors & omissions insurance to protect your business. But, that only covers you as an advisor, not as a business owner. As your practice grows, you will hire/fire more frequently, your business will become increasingly complex, and thus it becomes imperative to establish an entity structure (e.g., a limited liability company (LLC) or a corporation). This is even more true if you are operating or setting up your own independent Registered Investment Advisor. By doing so, you separate your personal assets from business liabilities, providing a layer of protection against potential legal claims and financial risks. If you fail to establish or maintain an entity structure, your personal assets are vulnerable, putting your hard-earned wealth at stake. Professional Credibility and Permanence Forming an entity lends professionalism and permanence to your financial practice. It demonstrates to clients, colleagues, and potential partners that you are committed to a long-term business venture and take your profession seriously. Without a formal entity structure, your practice may be perceived as a lifestyle practice or temporary endeavor, raising doubts about its stability and sustainability. Tax Efficiency and Flexibility Establishing an entity structure allows you to optimize your tax situation and take advantage of potential deductions, credits, and other tax benefits. Different entity structures offer varying tax advantages, so it’s essential to consult with a professional to determine the most suitable structure for your practice. Operating without an entity structure can result in missed tax-saving opportunities, potentially leading to higher tax liabilities and reduced profitability. It is important to consider your short and long-term growth plans as part of this consideration, as some structures may make your ability to merge/purchase/tuck-in other practices more or less difficult. Extended reading: First DOL, Now IRS Gunning for Advisors Succession Planning and Business Continuity Planning for the future is crucial for any financial advisor, including establishing a workable succession plan and ensuring business continuity. An entity structure enables you to more easily transfer ownership, sell the practice, or pass it on to a successor, maintaining continuity for clients and preserving the value you’ve built. Operating without an entity structure can complicate or hinder the succession process, potentially leading to disruptions and client attrition. For experienced independent financial advisors, the decision to form an entity structure for their practice should not be overlooked or dealt with as a quick “check the box” issue. Establishing the appropriate entity structure will ensure your business is futureproofed and avoid having to rework your entity later. It also provides crucial benefits such as liability protection, enhanced credibility, tax efficiency, and a solid foundation for succession planning. Failing to form an entity structure exposes personal assets to risk, limits professional credibility, and may result in missed tax benefits and future succession challenges. Whether you are a Registered Investment Advisor, a dually registered advisor under a broker dealer, or a hybrid, SRG’s team of entity experts has worked with financial advisors nationwide to evaluate the options and provide recommendations designed to support their business while navigating the nuances of the financial services industry. Learn more about SRG’s Business Entity Services for Financial Advisors
Ensure a Seamless Experience with SRG’s myCompass Platform: A Financial Advisor’s Guide
If you follow us on social media or are a subscriber to our monthly newsletter, you’ve heard about the most recent update to our one-of-a-kind client servicing platform, myCompass. Our latest and largest expansion now facilitates all services that SRG provides to clients, ensuring a streamlined and secure experience. Since these updates are still fresh, let’s dive into the benefits of myCompass and how it can take your projects with SRG to the next level.
Teaming Advice When Preparing for a Merger
If you’re showing up to virtual presentations or conferences, you’ve likely noticed a recurring topic that’s been buzzing around the industry: teaming up and preparing for a potential merger. Hopefully, you’ve sat in on a few of these discussions, and if you’re reading this you’ve probably considered a teaming scenario to some extent. Many advisors we’ve worked with find the concept intimidating, however, with the right approach and some careful planning, you can navigate this process like a pro. So, let’s dive right in!
Selling Your Advisory Practice: What Your Clients Need from You
You’ve decided to put your exit strategy in motion. Maybe you’ve identified a buyer, or you’re considering multiple successors who’ve expressed interest in your practice, or you just decided an hour ago that now is the time to sell. At whatever stage you’re in, your top priority is to protect your clients and deliver a smooth transition that they’ve come to expect after years of working with you.
Acquiring a Financial Practice? Avoid These Common Points of Contention
For anyone who has siblings, or is raising siblings, you might be familiar with the “Fair Share” tactic. Two siblings are told to share the last cookie in the jar. One sibling is tasked with splitting the cookie, while the other gets to choose which half of the broken cookie is theirs to enjoy. Doing so ensures that each sibling gets a fair share of the treat, despite their personal interest, with minimal bickering in the end.
Six Events that Require a Valuation of Your Financial Practice
Most experienced business owners understand valuations as an essential tool to assist in making critical decisions for their advisory practice. Unfortunately, many advisors will invest time and effort in getting their practice appraised, only to find out that the underlying analysis is irrelevant to the specific purpose of the valuation.
Acquiring a Financial Practice? Avoid These Common Points of Contention
Introduction For anyone who has siblings, or is raising siblings, you might be familiar with the “Fair Share” tactic. Two siblings are told to share the last cookie in the jar. One sibling is tasked with splitting the cookie, while the other gets to choose which half of the broken cookie is theirs to enjoy. Doing so ensures that each sibling gets a fair share of the treat, despite their personal interest, with minimal bickering in the end.
Five Best Practices To Create An Effective Compensation Plan
Many companies have spent significant time and effort in recent years to move away from the traditional one-size-fits-all type compensation plans and instead favor a more customized solution. However, the challenge to achieve desired results in attracting and retaining talented workers, within company means, remains prevalent. While at times the issue may be poor job role, poor culture fit, or external circumstances beyond the employer and/or the employee’s control, more often than not the lack of success is the result of a misalignment of the compensation plan with the worker’s role in the company and incorrect implementation practices. Most of these occurences can be avoided if the following best practices are maintained: 1. Tailor the Compensation to the Employee’s Specific Role To create a compensation plan that achieves the desired results, it is important to provide compensation elements that incentivize certain behaviors. Here, the focus should be on an employee’s particular role and strengths as well as the company’s needs to maximize the return for the expended efforts and the compensation paid. For example, if an employee excels at business development, the bonus structure should reward him or her for new business brought to the firm rather than for a certain quantity of financial plans produced or client meetings held. If, on the other hand, an employee is skilled at client service but, typically, does not bring in a lot of new business, the bonus structure should emphasize the service element such as the number of financial plans produced, and pay an attractive bonus. It is important to keep in mind that additional bonuses may still be paid on other activities that are beneficial to the company but do not pertain to the employee’s particular job role or strengths. However, such bonuses should not be the main element of the compensation plan. 2. Communicate Expectations and Results A compensation plan is only as good as the company’s communication of its expectations and intended results. Such communication is more effective if it acknowledges a reciprocal relationship between an employee and the company and therefore includes the expectations and results for both parties. This is typically accomplished by outlining the employee’s qualifications and responsibilities as well as the company’s commitment to career progression and compensation in a career path summary for a particular job role. The details outlined in the career path summary should then correspond with the elements of a compensation plan that is specifically tailored to a particular job role level. Both career path and compensation plan should be reviewed periodically and potentially adjusted to make sure they are clear and achieve the desired results. 3. Use SMART Goals As an employee’s goals are determined, it is best practice to set SMART goals to maximize his or her performance and promote job satisfaction. SMART goals are: Specific (direct/detailed) Measurable (quantifiable) Attainable (realistic) Relevant (aligning with the company’s mission) Time-based (deadline driven) Using these metrics will ensure that team members do not feel overwhelmed and challenge themselves to achieve their goals. 4. Align Performance & Compensation When it comes to using compensation as a means to incentivize performance, timing is everything! For best results, compensation should closely follow performance. This ensures that the employee associates the reward with their behavior and is more likely to repeat the desired behavior. The more time passes, the weaker this association will be. 5. Stay Within Company Means The pressure on companies to offer attractive compensation plans is tremendous given today’s competition for talented workers. As a result, many companies use compensation studies to determine how much they will need to pay an employee to beat the competition. Compensation studies, however, should be used with caution since they can include a broad range of participants and often communicate only one particular aspect of the employment relationship – compensation – and they might therefore lack information with respect to required work hours, level of skills and responsibilities, other perks, etc. For some firms, the use of compensation studies can put significant strain on the company’s financial health if the compensation benchmarks exceed the company’s financial resources. To avoid profitability issues, it is therefore important to ensure that: Revenue ranges are determined based on the company’s financial means, Any overlap in compensation is eliminated (i.e., paying multiple bonuses for the same activity), and The calculation of the bonus amount is predictable. To avoid profitability issues, some companies are inclined to impose caps on bonuses paid. However, depending on the circumstances and the type of bonus paid, the bonus amount may not need to be capped, for example, if the generating capacity of any new business sourced by the employee exceeds the bonus payment. A bonus cap has the tendency to restrict high performers and slow down company growth. In summary, for a compensation plan to yield the desired results, the process should start with the end goal in mind and then focus on how each employee can help reach such goal based on their particular job role. Once the goal for the company and the associated goals for the employees have been established, a compensation plan can be created that drives the behaviors needed to accomplish the company goal by tying behavior to compensation.
Five Building Blocks of an Attractive Compensation Model
Hiring and retaining talented employees is a top priority for most business owners. Effectively doing so has become increasingly difficult in the financial services industry. The number of advisors approaching retirement and exiting the industry far outweighs the number of new advisors joining. This gap is further exacerbated by the Great Resignation. As a result, organizations are struggling to find the human capital needed to grow their business and plan their internal succession.
Buying a Book of Business- How to Acquire a Financial Practice
Whether you are just starting out as a financial advisor or you are simply looking to expand your established business, buying an existing book of business could be the right move for you. Opportunities for business acquisitions are becoming ever more common, as the average age of many financial advisors edges closer to retirement.