Podcast appearances and mentions of raymond james

Join Billy Derrick and former Vanderbilt kicker Joe Bulovas on another edition of "Star-V Sundays" presented by Bulovas Wealth Management of Raymond James. They preview this week's matchup vs. Austin Peay, predict how the QB snaps will be split, and break down what to watch for on Saturday night.Financial success creates opportunity, but it can also bring complexity. At Bulovas Wealth Management of Raymond James, we provide personalized private wealth guidance tailored to your goals, values, and long-term vision. Whether you're planning for retirement, building generational wealth, or navigating important financial decisions, we're here to help you move forward with clarity and confidence.Partner with a team committed to helping you grow and preserve what matters most.Bulovas Wealth Management of Raymond James - Comprehensive Wealth Management for Today, Tomorrow, and Generations to Come.Phone: 615-645-6742Email: joe.bulovas@raymondjames.com1033 Demonbreun St. Ste 500, Nashville, TN 37203Raymond James & Associates, Inc., member New York Stock Exchange/SIPC

Smylie and Charlie are back to break down Scottie Scheffler's win at the Tour Championship — his second FedEx Cup, his third title of the year, and the moment he passed Tiger Woods for the all-time PGA Tour money record. They dig into the stats, his Jack Nicklaus comparison, and his pointed press-conference comments on East Lake's pin positions and setup.Plus: the full breakdown of Brian Rolapp's 2028 PGA Tour overhaul — the Championship Series schedule taking shape around GO by Raymond James and 14 sponsors chasing the final four spots, the new two-week match play finale format, Rory McIlroy's 15-event rule likely going away, LIV players' return conditions, whether East Lake stays in the Tour Championship rotation, and the wishlist of historic clubs (Olympic Club, Baltusrol, Cypress Point) that could host a reimagined postseason.Lastly, SK and Charlie dive into the Presidents Cup discussion as we look ahead to Medinah.Before all that: Charlie makes his first-ever albatross on Saturday — and discovers a fan who shares his name made one on the very same day.Don't forget to like, comment, subscribe, and follow us on socials @thesmylieshow!Chapters0:00 Intro & toasting the 2026 PGA Tour season's end2:05 Charlie's albatross and the "other Charlie Hume"6:15 Ryan Gerard's murky tour status6:37 Scottie's FedEx Cup playoff run10:39 Scottie's loose press-room mood & the Brandel Chamblee shoutout12:36 Scottie's 2026 season in review: near-misses & the Nicklaus comparison16:24 By the numbers: strokes gained, scoring records & passing Tiger on the money list18:21 The two stats behind the leap: proximity and putts made from 25+ feet23:53 Scottie's East Lake pin-position rant, in his own words26:14 Course architecture debate: this year's setup vs. old East Lake31:34 Should East Lake stay in the Tour Championship rotation?35:13 Brian Rolapp's leadership style & the state of the 2028 overhaul38:19 Championship Series update: GO by Raymond James and the chase for the final 4 events40:21 Scarcity by design: how the new model out-leverages LIV on star power42:29 Board meetings, FedEx's sponsorship future & criteria for the last 4 spots43:27 LIV return conditions, Rory's 15-event rule going away & a fall "world tour"47:43 Inside the new 2-week match play finale format49:59 The "no winner after week one" problem & the TV coverage challenge52:29 Group of death, tournament luck, and the case for match play54:19 Separating the season-long trophy from the finale spectacle57:19 Venue wishlist: Olympic Club, Baltusrol & golf's most exclusive clubs59:29 Smaller crowds, bigger engagement — the Cypress Point/Walker Cup comparison1:01:56 "What is amateur golf in 2026?" — why the top clubs are still cautious1:11:40 Presidents Cup discussion#golf #pgatour #scottiescheffler #tourchampionship #golfrecap #golfhighlights #smylieshow 

Join Billy Derrick and former Vanderbilt kicker Joe Bulovas on another edition of "Star-V Sundays" presented by Bulovas Wealth Management of Raymond James. They discuss the ongoing QB battle, most important players on the team, Clark Lea's best defense yet, and the FirstBank Stadium upgrades.Financial success creates opportunity, but it can also bring complexity. At Bulovas Wealth Management of Raymond James, we provide personalized private wealth guidance tailored to your goals, values, and long-term vision. Whether you're planning for retirement, building generational wealth, or navigating important financial decisions, we're here to help you move forward with clarity and confidence.Partner with a team committed to helping you grow and preserve what matters most.Bulovas Wealth Management of Raymond James - Comprehensive Wealth Management for Today, Tomorrow, and Generations to Come.Phone: 615-645-6742Email: joe.bulovas@raymondjames.com1033 Demonbreun St. Ste 500, Nashville, TN 37203Raymond James & Associates, Inc., member New York Stock Exchange/SIP

  Nearly three-quarters of U.S. workers experience financial stress, from worrying about unexpected expenses to navigating major life decisions — and those concerns don't disappear during the workday. Explore new SHRM research on the state of employee financial wellness with Ragan Decker, director of commercial research at SHRM, and Kristen Koluch, retirement plan advisor at Raymond James. They discuss how financial wellness influences engagement, productivity, and retention — and why closing the gap between employee needs and employer support is becoming a business imperative.  Subscribe to Honest HR to get the latest episodes, expert insights, and additional resources delivered straight to your inbox: https://shrm.co/voegyz   ---  Explore SHRM's all-new flagships. Content curated by experts. Created for you weekly. Each content journey features engaging podcasts, video, articles, and groundbreaking newsletters tailored to meet your unique needs in your organization and career. Learn More: https://shrm.co/coy63r 

Billy Derrick and former Vanderbilt kicker Joe Bulovas kick off the first Star-V Sundays of the 2026 football season.They answer mailbag questions, react to listener comments and questions, and break down three of the biggest storylines heading into Year 6 of the Clark Lea era.Star-V Sundays is presented by Bulovas Wealth Management of Raymond James.Financial success creates opportunity, but it can also bring complexity. At Bulovas Wealth Management of Raymond James, we provide personalized private wealth guidance tailored to your goals, values, and long-term vision.Whether you're planning for retirement, building generational wealth, or navigating important financial decisions, we're here to help you move forward with clarity and confidence.Partner with a team committed to helping you grow and preserve what matters most.Bulovas Wealth Management of Raymond JamesComprehensive Wealth Management for Today, Tomorrow, and Generations to Come.Phone: 615-645-6742Email: joe.bulovas@raymondjames.com1033 Demonbreun St. Ste 500, Nashville, TN 37203Raymond James & Associates, Inc., member New York Stock Exchange/SIPC.

In this episode of For Advisors By Advisors, host Evan J. Mayer sits down with Oscar Castellanos and Melvin Perez, who joined the Fortuna Wealth family in April, for an unfiltered conversation about a career where almost every firm change was somebody else's decision, the FDIC knocking on the door the week their bank went under, why leaving the employee side was taboo inside the branch, and why the answer was always Raymond James.Oscar Castellanos and Melvin Perez's participation in the For Advisors By Advisors podcast is independent of their activity as financial advisors with Raymond James.

Stocks are rallying on strong earnings and another decline in oil prices as the Dow and S&P 500 hit new all-time highs on Tuesday. Kelly Evans and Dominic Chu chat with Raymond James' Matt Orton to get his take on the market rally with each major average hitting 2% gains during intraday trading. Later, Macquarie's Head of U.S. Software and Services Research, Steve Koeing, joins the show to break down his predictions for SpaceX's first quarterly earnings report which will come after the markets close. Meanwhile, CNBC's MacKenzie Sigalos reports live from the San Francisco Bureau to give the latest details on the ongoing legal battle between Apple and OpenAI,  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Will and Trevor are back for a BEEFY Sunday edition of The Dore Report featuring the return of TDR's prodigal son, Billy Derrick, alongside former Vanderbilt kicker Joe Bulovas.Billy, the founder of TDR, is officially returning to the network and will host Star V Sundays, a new podcast launching this fall with Joe. The fellas discuss the new show, Billy's return, Joe's experience playing at Vanderbilt under Clark Lea and everything TDR has planned for a jam-packed college football season.Bulovas Wealth Management of Raymond James is also joining the TDR family as the official sponsor of The Dore Report's 2026 Vanderbilt football coverage. The group looks ahead to the upcoming season before diving into Vanderbilt fall camp, which begins Wednesday, August 5. Will will be there covering practice while Trevor is lazily enjoying vacation with absolutely no gritPlus, as always, the TDR Cocktail Break and Premium Message Board Questions.Let's have ourselves a Monday.Subscribe to TDR for just $1 AND get 50% off your first year - https://www.on3.com/sites/the-dore-report/join/

Brianne Gardner, portfolio manager & senior wealth manager at Velocity Investment Partners, Raymond James, shares her outlook on Canadian & U.S. Large Caps.

With Josh Tomolak, Vice President of Independent Advisor Services, Diamond Consultants Louis Diamond and Josh Tomolak unpack today's IBD vs. RIA landscape, explaining what has changed, where each model excels, and how to determine which path best supports the business you want to build. In Summary The independent wealth management landscape has changed dramatically, making the decision between an independent broker dealer (IBD) and an RIA more nuanced than ever before. Louis Diamond welcomes Diamond Consultants' Vice President of Independent Advisor Services, Josh Tomolak, for a practical discussion of how the independent space has evolved, what truly differentiates the IBD and RIA models today, and how advisors can evaluate which path best aligns with the business they want to build. The Storyline Not long ago, the decision to become independent was relatively straightforward. Advisors either remained with a traditional firm or pursued independence through one of a limited number of models. Today, the conversation is far more complex. Independent broker dealers have significantly expanded their capabilities, offering stronger technology, larger transition packages, greater flexibility, and even pathways to RIA ownership. At the same time, the RIA ecosystem has matured into a sophisticated marketplace supported by multiple custodians, outsourced service providers, institutional capital, and enterprise platforms that rival many of the industry's largest firms. As these developments have unfolded, the traditional distinctions between an IBD and an RIA have become less obvious. Advisors evaluating their options are no longer simply asking whether they should become independent—they're asking which model best supports the clients they serve, the business they envision, and the lifestyle they want to create. In this Industry Update, Louis and Josh unpack the realities behind the IBD vs. RIA decision. They discuss where the two models overlap, where meaningful differences still exist, and why factors like service, technology, economics, operational responsibility, enterprise value, and long-term optionality often matter more than labels alone. Whether you're considering changing independent firms, launching your own RIA, or simply want a better understanding of how the independent landscape has evolved, this conversation provides an objective framework for evaluating today's choices—and preparing for tomorrow's opportunities. Topics Covered Independent Broker Dealer (IBD) vs. RIA models The evolution of supportive independence Technology investments across the independent space Transition support and advisor mobility Capital solutions and recruiting economics Business formation and enterprise value Launching an independent RIA Multi-custodial platforms and open architecture Minority investments and succession planning Future trends shaping advisor independence > Download a transcript of this episode… Listen and Learn Highlights for Advisors Why are already-independent advisors reconsidering their current model? (5:27) Josh explains why service, technology, economics, and growing optionality are causing advisors to reevaluate their existing affiliations. How have independent broker dealers and RIAs become more alike? (19:28) Louis and Josh discuss the growing convergence between the two models and why the distinction is becoming less obvious than many advisors assume. What really separates an IBD from an RIA? (25:04) A practical discussion of autonomy, compliance, flexibility, custody, economics, and advisor experience. What misconceptions keep advisors from launching an RIA? (36:29) Josh outlines the “Four Pillars” of launching an RIA and explains where advisors tend to either overestimate or underestimate the operational realities. Which advisors thrive most in each model? (33:12) The conversation explores why there isn't a universally “better” model—only one that's better aligned with an advisor's goals. What trends are quietly reshaping independence? (42:13) Minority investments, enterprise value, business formation, and changing revenue models may have an even greater impact than advisors realize today. Key Takeaways Independence has evolved from a destination into an ongoing strategic decision. Independent broker dealers have significantly improved technology, transition support, economics, and flexibility. The RIA ecosystem has matured into a highly sophisticated marketplace with broad outsourcing and support options. Choosing between an IBD and an RIA should begin with long-term business objectives—not industry perceptions. Building a valuable business depends more on business structure and scalability than simply growing assets. Advisors considering independence should evaluate models with an open mind rather than relying on outdated assumptions. The next decade will likely bring continued convergence between independent business models. https://youtu.be/jHDVso2TsmQ Quotable Moments “The question is no longer, ‘Do I want to go independent?' The question is, ‘What kind of independence makes the most sense for my clients, business, and goals?'” “Business formation is far more important than assets under management.” “The way you build your business will ultimately determine how valuable that business becomes.” “Everything in an RIA is going to cost you either your time or your money.” FAQs Is there still a meaningful difference between an IBD and an RIA? Yes. While the two models increasingly overlap, they differ in areas such as flexibility, compliance structure, operational responsibility, economics, and control. Why are more independent advisors changing firms today? Improved technology, stronger transition support, evolving economics, and better service models are prompting many advisors to reassess whether their current platform still fits their business. Is launching an RIA easier than it used to be? Yes. Supportive independence, outsourced service providers, and improved custodial resources have significantly reduced many of the historical barriers. Does every entrepreneurial advisor belong in the RIA model? No. The best fit depends on an advisor's appetite for ownership, customization, operational responsibility, and long-term vision. What matters more: assets under management or how the business is built? Josh argues that scalable business formation often has a greater impact on enterprise value than AUM alone. What's the biggest mistake advisors make when evaluating independence? Starting with assumptions instead of objectives. The most effective due diligence begins by defining the business you're trying to build, then identifying the model best suited to support it. Yes. While the two models increasingly overlap, they differ in areas such as flexibility, compliance structure, operational responsibility, economics, and control. Improved technology, stronger transition support, evolving economics, and better service models are prompting many advisors to reassess whether their current platform still fits their business. Yes. Supportive independence, outsourced service providers, and improved custodial resources have significantly reduced many of the historical barriers. No. The best fit depends on an advisor's appetite for ownership, customization, operational responsibility, and long-term vision. Josh argues that scalable business formation often has a greater impact on enterprise value than AUM alone. Starting with assumptions instead of objectives. The most effective due diligence begins by defining the business you're trying to build, then identifying the model best suited to support it. Related Resources IBD vs. RIA Comparison Guide IBD vs. RIA Revisited: Two Independent Pathways for Advisors to Consider NOTE: The views and opinions expressed by the guests on this podcast are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of Diamond Consultants. Neither Diamond Consultants nor the guests on this podcast are compensated in any way for their participation. View the transcript of this episode… IBD vs. RIA: A Special Industry Update on Independence A conversation with Louis Diamond and Josh Tomolak, Vice President of Independent Advisor Services at Diamond Consultants.      Louis Diamond: Welcome to the latest episode of our podcast series for financial advisors. Today’s episode is IBD vs. RIA: A Special Industry Update on Independence. It’s a conversation with Josh Tomolak, our Vice President of Independent Advisor Services. I’m Louis Diamond, and this is the Diamond Podcast for Financial Advisors. Mindy Diamond: At Diamond Consultants, we help elite advisors identify the right environment for their businesses to thrive, whether that’s at a wirehouse, boutique, or independent firm. With nearly three decades of experience, we’ve guided thousands of advisors and represented more than a quarter of a trillion dollars in assets transitioned. And each year, one in four advisors managing a billion dollars or more who change firms are our clients. Our process is education driven and based on building relationships, starting as your strategic partner well before you’re even thinking of a move. To schedule a confidential conversation, call us at (908) 879-1002. Wondering why advisors change firms and where they’re headed? Are transition deals going up or down? Those very questions and more inspired us to create our annual advisor transition report. It’s the award-winning data-driven resource designed for advisors that connects the dots between the motivations around movement and the firm’s appetite for top talent. Arm yourself with the knowledge you need to make smart decisions. Download your copy at diamond-consultants.com/transitionreport. Louis Diamond: For a long time, going independent would suggest the destination. Today, it’s often the beginning of a different conversation. As the independent space has matured, advisors have more choices than ever before. Broker-dealers have expanded their capabilities. The RIA ecosystem has become increasingly sophisticated. Capital is more readily available and support models now exist that would’ve been difficult to imagine a decade ago. The result is that many advisors who are already independent are taking a fresh look at whether their current affiliation still aligns with what they’re trying to build. My guest is Josh Tomolak, Vice President of Independent Advisor Services here at Diamond Consultants and our resident expert on independence. Josh spends his days helping advisors evaluate independence in all its forms from independent broker dealers, the fully independent RIAs and everything in between. And his knowledge is critical because the distinction between these models is often blurred. Many broker dealers now offer pathways to greater autonomy while supported independence has made RIA ownership more accessible than ever before. So the question is no longer simply, “Do I want to go independent?” The question is, “What kind of independence makes the most sense for client, business, and goals?” Josh shares what he’s seeing across the landscape, the misconceptions that continue to shape advisor thinking and the factors that matter most when evaluating the next chapter of an independent business. There’s a lot to discuss, so let’s get to it. Josh, thanks for joining me today. Joshua Tomolak: Thanks for having me, Louis. It’s a real privilege to have come. This is a full circle moment for me going from being a student of your podcast, to working alongside you, to being a guest. So I appreciate you having me. Louis Diamond: Amazing. I’m excited for this one too, because you have a fresh and in the weeds perspective that a lot of our guests simply don’t have. So why don’t you start off, you spend your time helping advisors evaluate independence every day. So working with advisors who are already independent, for the most part. And to me, it feels like the independent space has really evolved dramatically over the last decade. I mean, this podcast is really the epicenter of that to prove that out, but give us a little background on your past roles in the space and then we can get into what you’re seeing right now. Joshua Tomolak: Yeah, I’d be happy to. So I took a very non-traditional path into wealth management. I spent a decade as a deep sea Navy diver, and upon completing my service there, I ended up working for TD Ameritrade. And in my role there, I spent about six years doing nothing but helping financial advisors explore the RIA space, whether that was to join or partner with an RIA, sell to an RIA, or in most cases, launch their own RIA. And one of the things that I ultimately came to terms with is it’s just not the right model for everybody. While I’m a huge advocate for it, we would often lose business to the major broker-dealers of the world. And at the time, I really didn’t understand why. In the last six years at Diamond Consultants has been a very interesting purview into what a lot of the broker-dealers have done and are doing to make themselves more RIA-ish and be very compelling to the right advisor. Louis Diamond: Perfect framing. Your background is incredibly germane to the folks you work with. So let’s start off with the softball here. What are you seeing right now? Joshua Tomolak: It’s not so different than the rest of the industry, the wirehouses, the regional firms, things of that nature, that if you took 10 firms, they’re all likely to go different directions, even if they were identical practices. That could be… A third would go from an independent broker-dealer to another independent broker-dealer. Certainly the supported RIA space is growing every day and has created a lot of very fun and unique solutions for advisors, very customized and curated. And then I think there’s still a lot of really great sophisticated teams and individual contributors that are making the decision to go hyper entrepreneurial and launch their own individual RIA. So the movement’s really all over the board from my perspective. Louis Diamond: It does feel like it’s no longer independence is an alternative option or it’s on the fringes. It’s very front and center whether for breakaways, which is a big topic on our podcast, but in general, the infrastructure has become much, much more sophisticated today than ever before. Advisors have way more tools in their toolbox to serve clients, whether in the private markets or through technology. And it’s no longer that if an advisor’s independent, they’re in the minor leagues where they don’t have the same ability to serve clients like they did if they’re at a big bank or a private bank or a wirehouse. Do you agree? Joshua Tomolak: I absolutely agree. And I’m reminded of a question I got one time from a great team that I worked with in New York. They asked me, “Are there really more options than ever before? Because all we see is one firm selling to another.” And I think that’s a really great point. There’s far less broker dealers on the street than there were even five years ago. But for every Commonwealth, for example, that sells to an LPL, up pops three or four really cool private equity-backed, sophisticated RIA platform firms that are built to service their own unique advisor base. Louis Diamond: I think that’s right. Sitting on the sidelines, sitting on top of everything going on in the industry, I feel like capital is always an interesting topic forever. If an advisor wanted to move within the independent world or break away from a big firm to go independent, the only way to get capital was to go to an independent broker dealer. So we still see that, but I feel like today between all these minority acquisition opportunities, we’re seeing firms acquire practices at time of transition, which is somewhat new. There’s debt solutions, recruiting deals are way up for firms that are paying forgivable loans. RIAs now would, in some cases, will pay a forgivable note. What are you seeing there as far as the availability of capital and just deals in general? Joshua Tomolak: It’s a great question and I didn’t want to take the low-hanging fruit, but capital’s been a huge innovation, I guess, in the last five years I’d say. Just to give you rough quotes, please don’t hold me to it, but traditional transition broker-dealer deals were five years ago, 40 to 60% of Trailing Twelve revenue today are somewhere between 90 and 120%, sometimes north of that for the right team. That’s really meaningful money for the team that is thinking about foregoing a wirehouse deal, for example. I’d also say a lot of these firms are getting hyper-creative in how they solve for capital. The minority investment piece that you mentioned is very interesting. We’re seeing a lot of privatized forgivable notes in the RIA space where third-party or private lenders are basically lending the money and the RIA is making the payments on that forgivable note as long as the advisor is affiliated with them. So there’s been a recognition among the RIA space to get away from the, “Oh, they just took a check” type of mantra, and to say, “Look, I understand there are capital needs. These people are taking a risk. We need to solve for that.” So we’ve seen a lot of that in the marketplace. Louis Diamond: Very interesting. I think another thing financially, and then we’ll keep the train moving, that I know I’ve seen, and maybe you can weigh in if you’ve seen the same, is the cost to an advisor or a business owner to join an independent BD or to join an RIA has come way down, probably in part because of Schwab going to zero on trading. That’s been a catalyst. But it feels like we used to say independent BDs were expensive relative to the RIA world. And in some cases, they certainly could be. And if you’re at scale, maybe you can pick up a point or two being in the RIA world versus a BD. But when you have some of these BDs that have a basis point admin fee or no admin fee at a certain size and the payouts I feel like are similar, maybe have gone up a little bit, but it’s more so like the administrator fees, the platform fees, the program fees. Anyone who’s not in that world, it’s like, “What are you talking about?” But basically the way that these broker-dealers make money, it seems like there’s been a pretty big differential in the exchange of value where advisors now get more services, better technology, get more money to join them and get it at a lower cost. Do you agree? Joshua Tomolak: I absolutely agree. I think that maybe that’s one of the larger changes that we’ve seen, and it’s probably one of the benefits from a lot of the industry consolidation on that independent broker-dealer side. The economies of scale of these folks have allowed them to increase their tech spend, increase their service capacities all while offering it to the advisors at a cheaper price. And when I was at TD Ameritrade, one of the biggest pitches was the idea of a 100% payout and you control the fixed expenses, your technology compliance, et cetera. But what’s changed is that broker-dealers are pretty darn comparable on the expenses. All of those admin fees and things you mentioned will still exist, but they’re on a much smaller scale. And I think the question a lot of advisors are asking is, “Am I getting congruent value from my broker-dealer for what I pay for?” And while that answer might’ve been no a couple years ago, today the answer is more often yes. Louis Diamond: Yeah, I would agree. A lot of times we work with advisors who are starting an RIA or affiliating with an RIA or going to a BD and they see how big the deals are in the independent BD world and the payouts are really high and the fees are relatively low. And honestly, it is a hard decision or calculus to make, like, “How does it make sense for me to turn down this extremely lucrative deal when my ongoing economics are going to be somewhat similar in the BD world versus in the RIA space?” I think it’s just an interesting dynamic and we’ll get more into that distinction. One of the stars of the show right here is we’ve seen a ton of advisor movement across the industry. Our annual advisor transition report said that in 2025, over 11,000 experienced advisors changed firms, which is a large number. A lot of those numbers are within the independent world. So advisors who are 1099 through a BD or through an RIA transitioning to another platform or organization or starting an RIA. So why do you think we’re seeing so many advisors reconsider their current firm or their platform or their broker-dealer today than in years past? Joshua Tomolak: It’s a jarring number. 11,000 is definitely a significant amount of advisor movements. To me, it comes down to a few things, but I will say that it’s almost always a conglomeration of pushes and pulls. Pushes being inherent frustrations with your status quo, pulls being the new sexy, shiny things that you see in the marketplace that could be really impactful for your business. To me, it typically comes down to one of three things, at least on the push front, that drives advisors to movement. Service being number one, technology being number two, and economics being number three. And if we were just going to unpack those, I think service being, “Can you call somebody that knows your business, that knows your name? Are you getting the correct answers? Are you being pushed through a phone tree? And even if you’re not doing it, is it taking up a meaningful amount of time of your staff’s free time?” On the technology front, there’s very significant tech spends happening in the industry right now. I think Raymond James and LPL reported, for example, they spent 500 million in 2025 on a tech spend. So advisors are going to the places that are making their life easier. People are looking for a mechanism to really scale their business without having to add staff and a lot of expenses to the bottom line. And technology is just the fastest, most efficient way to do that most times. And then economics, certainly a lot of advisors and teams have built phenomenal businesses and they’ve made a great living without really stressing out about the economics. And they eventually get to a point in their business where what they were giving up as a million dollar producer is far different than what they’re giving up as a $4 million producer. And back to the congruent value, it perhaps stops to make as much sense. Louis Diamond: Well said. I always say when the cost-to-value ratio is out of whack, that’s when advisors sit up and take notice. And not to name names of firms, but there definitely are firms that are more expensive. And even if you look at how much a wirehouse or a Ed Jones advisor paid their firm, it’s like, “What got me here is not necessarily what’s going to get me there.” And while the name on the business card, the resources were incredibly impactful, and I’m so grateful for what my firm, my broker-dealer did for me when I was just starting or when I was smaller. Now the business is bigger, I rely upon different resources or I don’t need the firm as much. So I’d rather plow the cost savings either into income for myself or invest it in areas that are most germane to my business. And it’s usually when that kind of light bulb moment goes off, that’s one of the major pushes that cause advisors to evaluate other options. So I agree with you, those are the major push factors, but then what are the pull factors? What are the major advancements or changes across the independent space that’s causing advisors to say, “Hey, okay, I might have some frustrations, but at the same time, I also need to find something that’s more than marginally better than the firm I’m at. Otherwise, why am I going to go through the hassle, take the risk, et cetera? So what are some of the pull factors that advisors are latching onto today? Joshua Tomolak: Sure. And I might say with one final push factor, there’s a straw that breaks the proverbial camel’s back when you’ve been told for however many years that this change or that change is coming down the pipeline and it never happens. And it translates well into the pull factors is do they do what they say they’re going to do? The talking points really for the pull factors are exactly the same. So the counterpoint to service is perhaps having a direct relationship with the chief compliance officer at a firm or having a dedicated service representative that knows their stuff inside and out and can get you the answer even if they don’t know it off the top of their head. Having the technology to rebalance a household in two clicks instead of two hours. In economics, I think it’s really a transparency of economics. We’ve both worked with some really significant firms that have looked at their P&Ls and said, “where the heck is the money going?” And we’ve looked at the same P&Ls and said, “I have no idea,” because it’s so convoluted. People are happy to pay for good service, good technology, good products, but they just want to know where the money’s coming from. So I think it’s a yin and yang. The same things that they’re the push are often the pull. Louis Diamond: Definitely. I’ll give you a couple other from my perspective. I’ll say first specific to the independent BD world, and then we’ll dive into the RIA, I think it’s a little bit different. But I think some other will say innovations or changes that are causing advisors to really perk up and listen and really make the case to themselves that life will be better at this new organization than the status quo or staying put. We’ve seen major advancements in transition support, whether it’s being able to do a transition without a shred of paper, being able to… I mean, we’ve seen some independent advisors move their entire book within two weeks, which never would’ve happened before. So the firms that I’d say are playing offense, the larger firms that are winning, they have insane headcount around transitions and are always investing in technology, whether now on the AI front or in general. And we’ve seen transitions, they’re never easy. So that’s not a comment to say it’s easy, but a lot of the friction, a lot of the manual work has been taken away, which is massive. You definitely mentioned the significant technology spend. I mean, just the innovations going on across the industry. There’s definitely some firms that are laggards on technology and others that are light years ahead, whether because their tech is more integrated or they’ve built out their platform to be more, we’ll say modular, to plug in different third-party softwares where an advisor can really customize and create their own tech stack. I think there’s been some changes on compliance. It used to be if you’re at an independent BD, you had to be the OSJ by yourself or you had to roll up under an OSJ. But now most BDs offer home office supervision, so a big friction or pain point is taken away. And then I’ll give you a bridge to talk about what we’re seeing on the RIA side. But we’ve also seen, I would say, a real blurring of the lines between what you would traditionally think of as an independent broker dealer versus what was an RIA. So whether it’s an internal pathway where it’s like, “Start off on our independent BD platform, get the big deal, get the support, but then you can ditch that and just use this as a custodian or you can sell the business to us when you want to retire and convert to W2.” So in that vein, transitioning internally to an RIA, give me the same points like, “What are the major advancements or changes you’re seeing on the RIA side today?” Joshua Tomolak: I love that you said that because it’s been one of the most interesting changes to watch. Independent broker dealers becoming more like RIAs, and to your point, being more flexible, having more optionality, a more curated experience in some cases. And in many cases becoming closer to independent broker dealers with some of these massive shops that we’ve seen be created over the last five years that now have hundreds, if not thousands of advisors. To your question on the internal RIA slide as we sometimes call it, this really didn’t exist many places a few years ago. And I think it’s been created as both originally a retention tool in many places for the advisors that were with a major independent broker dealer and they ultimately wanted to have their own ADV and their own RIA. And the firm didn’t want to lose all the assets to an independent custodian so they gave them the green light to… And it’s ultimately became a sales tool in many cases. Just to use a couple of examples across the industry, I mean, Raymond James has Raymond James Custody Services, which has attracted a lot of really sophisticated teams. I know Wells Fargo Finance done something similar and even the counterparts over at Cetera and Osaic are trying to do the same thing. So it’s a recognition in my view that we want to keep the best talent possible. And if these folks are ultimately going to go RIA anyway, it’s less about the money and more about the flexibility and control that it offers them. So what can we do to keep those folks on board? And rightfully so, a lot of senior management of these firms have said, “Let’s not lose these teams. It’s going to be a lower margin business for us, but at the rate that they’re growing, it’s going to pay off in the long run.” Louis Diamond: Well said. RIAs are now more mainstream. And some of these RIAs, they’re either resembling independent BDs or I would even go so far to say the valuations that are even publicly available on some RIAs is definitely having people take notice. I mean, Cerity Partners recently raised capital at an over $8 billion reported valuation. Crescent was well over a billion. Firms like Mariner, Creative Planning, Mercer, Wealth Enhancement Group, and there’s many that I’m missing, are all worth a couple billion dollars or more and growing. Do you think that’s had an impact on the legitimacy or the staying power of the RIA model? Joshua Tomolak: Oh, absolutely. There’s no doubt about it. I mean, those groups that you mentioned and many more are winning some of the biggest teams on the street. I mean, if you pull up a run-of-the-mill advisor hub article, for example, you’ll see as many of those RIAs win significant businesses as you will their broker-dealer counterparts, partially in my opinion, due to the massive valuations these firms are fetching. And it’s much more of a partnership in the sense that joining a Crescent or a Wealth Enhancement Group, as you mentioned, you’re a part of a boutique group of maybe a couple of hundred very sophisticated high-producing advisors all playing under the same banner, all rowing in the same direction, and that creates substantial growth. Louis Diamond: Exactly right. I think two other things to me that’s driving the legitimacy or the growth of the RIA segment, there’s so many different outsourcing solutions that have popped up, whether it’s more of a… We’ll say a bundled or a package outsourcing solution through firms like Dynasty and Sanctuary. LPL has done a ton with having a shared services outsourcing model. So you have those. But you also have, I mean, probably 10 different firms I could think of that can be an outsourced chief compliance officer. You have tons of marketing agencies that specialize in helping RIAs. You have all these FinTechs popping up to support the RIA space. Really, it’s like anything and everything can be outsourced now. And even the big Wall Street banks like UBS, Merrill, et cetera, they’re attempting to sell and distribute product into the RIA space. Venture funds, private equity funds, anyone you talk to is trying to get a piece of the RIA space, which means there’s more product and platform availability than ever before. And I think it’s massive because one, it’s a catalyst for teams who say, “I love everything about the RIA world. I just don’t want to do it on my own,” or, “I don’t know where to start.” But also it means that they can look their clients in the eye and say, “Hey, not only do I have the same stuff that I had for you at XYZ firm, I can actually do more for you.” And even if you look at what the custodians are doing on the lending side now, Schwab owning a bank is massive and being able to facilitate mortgages, securities-backed loans, things that didn’t really exist in the past. I think it’s a very exciting time for advisors either that are independent or are considering the independent space because you have all these choices and it’s really like, “Choose your own adventure. Give me your top five things you want.” I’m sure it exists and we can find it and make it happen. And I don’t think we’d have the same confidence in that statement 5, 7, 10 years ago. Joshua Tomolak: I couldn’t agree more. That’s such a huge development is the marketplace of third party vendors in any kind of capitalism environment. There’s problems that people encounter and there’s really smart people that are trying to make a lot of money that go to market to solve them. And we’ve seen a ton of that over the last few years. Louis Diamond: Exactly right. Yeah, it’s like also… If an advisor looks around and says, “Hey, this is what I want,” and it doesn’t exist, oftentimes that’s a light bulb moment to be like, “Okay, I’ll go build it. I’ll do it on my own.” Whether it was Stewart Partners when they launched a number of years ago or Hightower, Dynasty, et cetera. They were all started by people that said, “Hey, I see a big gap in the ecosystem. Let’s create a business and raise capital to go solve it and then deliver this service to other like-minded advisors or business owners.” Honestly, it’s a treat to be able to watch all this happen in real time. We probably should have laid the groundwork with this next question, but I think it’s an important one. What’s the difference between a independent broker-dealer and an RIA? Really basic foundational. It sounds like the lines are blurred. There’s probably a lot of similarities. Advisors are successful in both. It’s not like one’s better than the other. How would you explain the differences, if a client of ours asked, “What’s the difference between an independent broker-dealer and IBD versus an RIA”? Joshua Tomolak: Get into the core of it. Again, the lines are blurred, and I’ll stay very high level on the strategic differences, but I like to use this example. I drive a Toyota Tundra. Really like the truck, gets me from A to B. Now, if I were getting to a point where I wanted a new vehicle, if I were to go get another Toyota Tundra because I really like a lot of aspects of it, but I want the one with the bigger screen and the bigger tires and the power seats, and I have rolled down windows because I have a fear of drowning. But if I want a lot of the bells and whistles, but I want to keep the foundation, that’s what I align to a independent broker-dealer to independent broker-dealer. You like the foundation of everything all under one roof. You like a lot of the resources, but you have some meaningful frustrations and you want to see if another provider in the market can solve for those or you can upgrade. If I instead, Louis, decided that I wanted a sports car or a Jeep Wrangler or something, I would be looking at a different category altogether. That’s how I articulate the platform space. They provide the same services and support in many cases that an independent broker-dealer does, think of marketing and a tech stack and regulatory oversight and a fellowship in a community, but they’re built on an RIA TC registered chassis. They’re typically far more customized so you can shop the street to get a lot more of the things that you like, though you are walking away from maybe some of the things that you’ve liked in the independent broker-dealer model. So I guess that’s the highest level I might explain it, just a little bit more minutia in any broker-dealer is going to be a FINRA registered, FINRA member broker-dealer. So they’re subject to the FINRA rules, which basically means it’s the compliance interpretation of those rules that they have to follow. So LPL’s rules may be slightly different than Cetera’s than Ameriprise’s because it’s based on their interpretations of the rules. In the RIA space, everybody really operates on the fiduciary standard. So it’s just a different lens that from a compliance standpoint, business is looked at. And a lot of people would make the argument that it’s just easier to get things done when you’re looking at something from that lens. I might’ve gone too compliance nerd on you there, but I’d be curious what you think some of the major differences are. Louis Diamond: Yeah, I think that’s right. I mean, it sounds like if you’re in the RIA world in some capacity that you as the advisor or business owner are going to have a little bit more control and autonomy and flexibility. One, do you think that’s true? And what are the reasons why that is? Is it platform? Is it strictly just compliance is easier? What are the different ways that an RIA would have more or less flexibility than someone who’s with an independent BD? Joshua Tomolak: Yeah, I think it’s overwhelmingly true, but it certainly depends on your business. Within most RIA platforms, you’re going to be one of a couple dozen, maybe a couple hundred, where you’re going to have people within that firm that really know your business. So the experience in getting things done is much less about, “Can I do this,” or, “Can I not do this?” And it’s, “Louis, I understand you asked for this. We’re going to run into these issues, but let’s figure out how to get to yes.” So it’s far more curated by people that are not operating on black and white rules and can actually figure out how to get to yes for your business. The other thing I would say is that most significant RIA platforms have multiple custodial options. So many times you’ll see as few as two or as many as five. So if an advisor or a team is trying to bring on a new piece of business or do something creative, that might be something they can use a different custodial relationship to accomplish. It might be something that Goldman Sachs does really well but is in its infancy at Fidelity, or it might be international business that’s approved on Pershing’s platform but not Schwab’s platform. So the RIA partner that you’re with can really look at those custodians agnostically and say, “What’s the best home for this business? What’s the best way to get this done for Louis?” There’s a couple examples of where I see the flexibility in practice. Louis Diamond: Yeah, I think one more too would be the concept of being able to shop the street. I’ve heard it described as becoming a buy-side advocate for your clients versus being a professional seller. So meaning, if I’m affiliated with an RIA or I’m operating my own RIA, there’s no selling away like there is at a wirehouse or at certain BDs. So if I have a client who’s trying to get a $10 million loan for a new building that they’re breaking ground on, if I’m at UBS, Merrill, Morgan Stanley, captive to a BD, I can go to my firm and say, “Hey, this $10 million loan, here it is. What are the terms? What are the rates? Will you take on this business?” And the firm will say, “Yes. No. Yes, here are the terms. Here’s the caveats, et cetera.” But it’s a very closed market process and an advisor has to live and die by what their firm says. Versus in the RIA world, it’s, “Okay, I have relationships with nine different banks and I can go to these different banks and private credit funds and whoever and really create either an option process for my client or really just help them in a fully agnostic open way.” And we see the same thing when it comes to alternative investments. No one at a wirehouse, let’s say, is complaining that they don’t have enough alts that they can offer clients. Those firms have done an amazing job with really boiling the ocean and having tons and tons of options for private investments, hedge funds, et cetera. But if you’re in the RIA world, you can take it to the next level and say, “Hey, this $3 million startup company that my friend is starting, I’m going to help them raise capital,” or, “My client wants to get a syndicate of investors together to have a direct investment into a qualified opportunity zone fund that they’re starting. Let’s do it when we can advise on it.” So it really expands what an advisor is able to do on behalf of clients. Like to me, that’s the most interesting or exciting part of the RIA model. You can get some of that within the BD world, but to me, when an advisor’s business becomes more sophisticated as far as what their end client’s needs are, it tends to translate better to the RIA world than the BD world. Not to say there aren’t ultra-high net worth focused advisors at BDs, but because of that additional flexibility, autonomy, customization, et cetera, that speaks more RIA. So again, absolutely not down at all on the independent BDs because I think there’s a massive home for them. Josh, let me turn it back to you. I’m rambling now. Give me the pitch for an independent BD. What are the things that are misperceptions that people have? What are the advantages that an independent broker dealer like an LPL or a RayJ or a Cetera have over RIAs or over other models in general? Joshua Tomolak: Absolutely. And I’d say I’ve learned more over the last six years from some of your ramblings than most people learn in an MBA course, so keep doing what you’re doing. But it’s funny being in this position now, having spent so much time sort of selling against the IBD model within TD Ameritrade, but what I’ve learned is it’s a good home for everybody. And a lot of times the advisors that they’re entrepreneurial enough where they like having their name on the door, but they’re not so entrepreneurial where they want to build everything out themselves, that’s where the independent broker dealers absolutely kill it. Their economics have gotten to a point where they’re really competitive. They offer transition capital that isn’t even going to be comparable in the RIA space unless you’re selling a minority share of your business. And you mentioned LPL, or we could really list all of the major ones, there’s not a department that they don’t have. It could be as nuance as finding 403(b) payroll slots or it could be as mainstream as fixed income or setting up events. There are all kinds of really neat departments that these all under one roof independent broker dealers have invested in. And a lot of times they make an effort to make you very much aware of all of the support because most people don’t use it. So I would say for the advisors that are looking to get their improved Toyota Tundra, then you can get probably 70 or 80% of what you want within the independent broker-dealer world. And you can also keep 20 or 30% of the stuff, maybe more that you really liked at your previous firm. So I think that’s where it really shines. I sometimes call it an incremental change rather than a transformational change. But for many advisors, incremental is really good enough if you get to keep the familiarity of how you’ve been doing business for the last 20-some years, but you’re able to get net improvement on the things that were really bothering you. Louis Diamond: Well said. Something that I’ve seen that’s been… I guess this could be either pro or con depending upon the advisor, but with some broker dealers, letting an advisor co-brand with them or really having a real consumer-facing brand, whether it’s, “I’m a franchise owner with Ameriprise,” or, “I’m independent through Raymond James,” or, “Running my own practice through Wells Fargo FiNet,” or, “I’m independent with Northwestern Mutual.” There’s definitely some brand cache or brand familiarity with some of those firms that may or may not be the same if you’re in the RIA world. So I would agree there’s a lot to like about the independent BD world and there’s a fit for people that is absolutely better with independent BDs than on the RIA side. Even if some people would say RIA is better, we’re cleaner, I wouldn’t say that. To me, it’s all about what an advisor’s goals are and then matching that up with what these firms do. And there’s never a perfect option. I jokingly say, “If there was a perfect firm, we wouldn’t be in business.” Every firm has their advantages or disadvantages. And depending upon where an advisor’s coming from, their style of business, their pain points, that’ll match up really well with on firm or one type of firm or one model than the other. Let’s pivot a little bit to the RIA world. A lot of your comments have been more about advisors affiliating or joining RIAs, this whole supportive version of independence concept. But what about advisors who want to go and start their own RIA? Either they’re leaving a captive firm and taking the entrepreneurial route and starting their own firm, or they’re leaving an independent BD to go start their own RIA. What do you see as some of the biggest misconceptions that advisors have about that move? Joshua Tomolak: That’s probably my favorite topic because there are the most misconceptions I think in this space. Louis Diamond: I’d agree. Joshua Tomolak: And I would say there’s 9 out of 10 conversations that I have with advisors and teams, they start off with the launching an RIA in mind or at least RIA curious and they want to understand what’s out there. And probably less than half the time do these folks end up actually launching their own RIA, which is okay because the ones that do are massively successful and they know they’re dang sure that’s exactly what they want to do. I think it gets a little bit romanticized sometimes that they’ll say, “Oh, I’ll just give Schwab a call,” or, “I’ll just give the custodian a call,” as if they were shopping independent broker dealers. That’s fine. You can do that and they will help you, but there’s quite a bit more to think about. And it’s not, in my opinion, the same as evaluating independent broker dealers. If it’s all right, I was taught the four pillars of the RIA model. I can go through that with you really quickly. So the way to think about the RIA space is in four pieces. And shout out to a friend, Eli Suarez, that taught me this years ago. The first pillar… Thinking of four pillars on a bar stool, if you will. The first one being administration. And this is your compliance, this is setting up your ADV, your LLC, all of your business formation documents. The second piece being technology, what do you actually want to use? Because the benefits of the broker-dealer world and the supported independent world is they’ve already built it for you. They’ve already paid for it and scraped their knees building it. In this case, you have to. And for some people, that’s really exciting to source financial planning software and portfolio management software and your CRM and tax software, et cetera. For some people, it just sounds like a huge headache. The third pillar being custodians. I have them third because you want to make sure that the right custodian can integrate properly with the technology that you’ve sourced that you’re passionate about. And then ultimately transition. What does a transition really look like? What are my legal and regulatory requirements? How does this work? What are the timelines? Things of that nature. So I guess I would say in closing that if those four things are things that you really want to own, then you’re in a really good position to consider an RIA launch. What do you think, Louis? Louis Diamond: I think that’s a great framework to break it down. Not just be like, “Okay, I can tolerate that,” or, “My team can do it,” but I think you have to be pretty excited about rolling up your sleeves and customizing and doing it yourself because in our experience, there’s a nominal differential between the economics of running your own RIA versus affiliating with an RIA or going to an independent BD. All the extra work and responsibility, you’re not really going to make it up, at least on the front end, on a higher net payout. So it has to be more about what the model means to you and having a vision that you don’t think anyone else can accomplish other than yourself. And looking at that crazy ever-expanding Michael Kitces’ FinTech map and there’s 500 different logos on it and being like, “Yes, that’s what I want. I want to go through this. I want to pick the seven pieces of my tech stack that work for me,” rather than getting, “Here’s the tech stack, take a demo, you like it, you don’t like it, take it or leave it.” To me, the two biggest misconceptions people have about the RIA world is one, “I’m going to have to be a full-time chief compliance officer,” and just that compliance is this boogeyman, this terrible, scary thing. In some ways it is. But the reality is most, especially startup RIAs will fully outsource compliance to a firm or they’ll hire a compliance consultant or firms that are big enough even will hire a CCO or repurpose someone on their team to be CCO. But compliance is much more streamlined and simpler than BD compliance. And ultimately, it’s compliance that’s being built for your business rather than compliance that’s being built for a publicly traded multinational company that supports 20,000 financial advisors. So I think compliance is always a big misconception. It’s definitely what a lot of firms will pry upon when they’re saying like, “Oh, you’re going to own all the legal and regulatory requirements. You could, but it’s definitely not a requirement.” And then I think another one is folks sometimes underestimate and overestimate the operational burden and how much work it is to start an RIA. Sometimes people just… They’re perfect for the RIA world, that’s their goal, but they get stopped in their tracks. They don’t really know what to do. But what we’ve seen, we said it earlier with so many different outsourcing solutions and different service providers that have popped up, if you have the fire in your belly to go build something, it doesn’t mean you’re doing it by yourself. I mean, that’s what firms like ours do. The custodians are very helpful. On the flip side though, I have seen advisors chasing payouts say, “Hey, I’m just going to go start an RIA because I want to make another 1 to 3%,” or whatever it comes to and they drastically underestimate what it really takes to build a successful firm. Joshua Tomolak: Exactly right. I think that’s my favorite one, Louis, overestimating and estimating the operational burden there is you could have the same conversation with two teams and it can go the completely different direction. Louis Diamond: Josh, let’s wrap here. I got one more question for you that I think is an exciting one, but give me three key trends or storylines that most people don’t know about or aren’t talking about that you’re passionate about or that you’re sharing with advisors or counseling today. Joshua Tomolak: Sure. This is the free advice portion. And I’ll tell you what, Louis, if it’s all right with you, I’ll give you two and I would love to hear one from you as well. The first one I’ve seen in both the independent broker-dealer and RIA space is the minority investor concept. A lot of folks will talk about the idea of taking chips off a table and starting to partially monetize your business. I think that’s all important, but what I’ve found is that a lot of advisors really want their partner, whether it’s an RIA broker dealer to help them grow. And that could be with M&A opportunities, that could be with traditional recruitment of advisors, that could be building a business plan. But the minority investment part really helps accelerate that for a lot of businesses because all of a sudden, not only are you cashing out a small part of your business, but you’ve just created an ally with the parent entity, it is now much more likely to help you grow in that capacity because they’re insulated from it and they profit when you profit. So I think it’s easy to be shortsighted and say, “Well, my equity’s going to keep growing. Why would I sell you a piece of this?” But I counsel folks often to really think about what that long-term strategic partnership is and making somebody a real equity partner rather than just a vendor that provides you with technology and regulatory coverage. The other one I’d say is that… And this one’s really important to me, that business formation is far more important than your assets under management. Said a different way, the way you build your business is going to make your business far more valuable than the number of dollars underneath your name. And what I mean by that is, just to use an example, a sophisticated, well-built, centralized, scalable and repeatable business, whether it’s an RIA with a broker-dealer that is going to fetch a far higher M&A multiple than a OSJ that’s five times the size that just has a bunch of 1099 independent advisors underneath the umbrella. What we’ve seen in the M&A space is that if you’re going to shell out 50, 60, $80 million for somebody’s business, you want to know that you have this business for the long term. So I would certainly counsel people that have been around maybe far longer than me to take a look at how you’re building this and put together a business plan on what those next 10 years should look like and not necessarily fall into the trap where your only revenue source is the override that you receive from a firm and then you in turn pay to the advisors on your team. Louis Diamond: Well said. I really like that line. We’d probably do a whole episode on what are the tips and tricks for building a business with the end in mind? Like the Covey quote, “Begin with the end in mind.” Transitions are like… They’re a bear. I mean, there’s no way to sugarcoat it. Advisors, when they hear transition, if you ask them, “Don’t think about it, give me your reaction.” “Terrible, risky, a lot of work. I’ll never do it again. My friend did it and it was terrible. What if my clients don’t come?” It’s all these negative emotions. And in many cases, I don’t blame an advisor because it is a big act. But to me, if someone is weighing making a transition, whether a wholesale business model change going from being an employee to being independent, going from being an advisor at an independent BD to starting an RIA, or even going independent BD to independent BD, it’s an opportunity if you rise to the occasion to build with this next act with intentionality. So whether it’s restructuring compensation for your team, converting people from 1099 to W2, putting in place new workflows, changing how investments, instead of it being each individual advisor doing investments to more of a centralized model, cleaning up workflows, really investing in data, investing in AI. It’s something that I think, again, we can have a whole episode on it, but I think it’s a great one. Build the business the right way. And obviously, businesses that are larger, theoretically, sell for more, but we’ve certainly seen businesses that are half the size of a larger one sell for a similar amount or more because they did all the right things and the larger one did the things that really turn off a buyer or detract from a valuation. Let me give you one more and tell me if you agree, but I think we’re in this moment when Altruist, the upstart, a new kid on the block custodian, they launched a basically tokenization of cash in a way to automatically agentically source or sort cash to the highest yielding money market. And you’re like, “This is fricking wonky. Louis, why are you telling us this?” I think this is an important one just to keep a watchful eye on. I have no idea how this is going to shake out, but really the biggest way that independent BDs or even custodians like Schwab and Fidelity really make money, it’s not on their overrides from practices or the admin fee or the custody fee. It’s really on net interest margin. So how much the broker-dealer or the firm is making on client cash and brokerage accounts relative to what they’re paying out the client. It’s essentially like free margin to these firms. And this concept, I think, has massive potential for disruption for the business model. Again, I don’t know what it’s going to look like, whether it means platform fees that are instituted at all these firms, whether it means certain models would be more beneficial than others, whether it means nothing’s going to change, which is probably the right answer given this industry. But it’s something to keep a watchful eye on just if your firm institutes a new platform fee or there’s a fundamental way in which your firm can no longer make money. How are they going to make it up? Are they now going to be uncompetitive? They’re not going to have as much scale or profits to invest in the platform. Is it going to cause even more consolidation in the industry? So to me, that’s the one pretty under the radar, pretty wonky storyline that I don’t think enough people are talking about, but has the biggest possibility for disruption across their space than anything I’ve seen in a while. Joshua Tomolak: Sure. That’s the whole iceberg. Not a lot of people are talking about it. It’s not poking out of the ocean, but it’s going to be continuously brought up. I think it’s a question that a lot of advisors are going to have to ask these firms. And at the end of the day, the firms aren’t the bad guys. They have to make money too to provide a quality product. So where the money comes from matters. Louis Diamond: Exactly. Josh, this has been awesome. I learned a lot talking with you and just having your objective consulting hat on what I think are really the differences between IBD and RIA and some of the key trends and storylines to watch has been instrumental. I’ll also give a plug that on our website and we’ll link to it in the show notes, we have a really helpful one-page reference guide going through the differences between independent BDs or IBDs and RIAs. So feel free to click on it. We’ll make sure it gets in your inbox. Josh, thanks again for joining us today. Joshua Tomolak: Yeah, thanks for having me, Louis. It was a pleasure. Mindy Diamond: As a financial advisor, you hold yourself to the highest standards of integrity, honesty, and credibility. You are successful because you take your professional responsibilities seriously and are dedicated to your clients. But are you living your best business life? Are your goals aligned with your firms or could a better option exist? Should I stay or Should I Go? is a book written with you in mind. It’s a self-guided journey that walks you through the key steps that we take with our advisor clients. This strategic thought process and roadmap to professional self-discovery is designed to help you ask the right questions and think critically and objectively whether you’re considering change or not. Learn how to get your copy at diamond-consultants.com/thebook. IBD vs. RIA: A Special Industry Update on Independence A conversation with Louis Diamond and Josh Tomolak, Vice President of Independent Advisor Services at Diamond Consultants.      Louis Diamond: Welcome to the latest episode of our podcast series for financial advisors. Today’s episode is IBD vs. RIA: A Special Industry Update on Independence. It’s a conversation with Josh Tomolak, our Vice President of Independent Advisor Services. I’m Louis Diamond, and this is the Diamond Podcast for Financial Advisors. Mindy Diamond: At Diamond Consultants, we help elite advisors identify the right environment for their businesses to thrive, whether that’s at a wirehouse, boutique, or independent firm. With nearly three decades of experience, we’ve guided thousands of advisors and represented more than a quarter of a trillion dollars in assets transitioned. And each year, one in four advisors managing a billion dollars or more who change firms are our clients. Our process is education driven and based on building relationships, starting as your strategic partner well before you’re even thinking of a move. To schedule a confidential conversation, call us at (908) 879-1002. Wondering why advisors change firms and where they’re headed? Are transition deals going up or down? Those very questions and more inspired us to create our annual advisor transition report. It’s the award-winning data-driven resource designed for advisors that connects the dots between the motivations around movement and the firm’s appetite for top talent. Arm yourself with the knowledge you need to make smart decisions. Download your copy at diamond-consultants.com/transitionreport. Louis Diamond: For a long time, going independent would suggest the destination. Today, it’s often the beginning of a different conversation. As the independent space has matured, advisors have more choices than ever before. Broker-dealers have expanded their capabilities. The RIA ecosystem has become increasingly sophisticated. Capital is more readily available and support models now exist that would’ve been difficult to imagine a decade ago. The result is that many advisors who are already independent are taking a fresh look at whether their current affiliation still aligns with what they’re trying to build. My guest is Josh Tomolak, Vice President of Independent Advisor Services here at Diamond Consultants and our resident expert on independence. Josh spends his days helping advisors evaluate independence in all its forms from independent broker dealers, the fully independent RIAs and everything in between. And his knowledge is critical because the distinction between these models is often blurred. Many broker dealers now offer pathways to greater autonomy while supported independence has made RIA ownership more accessible than ever before. So the question is no longer simply, “Do I want to go independent?” The question is, “What kind of independence makes the most sense for client, business, and go

Part 2 - Neville James examines early voting turnout and voter engagement ahead of the Democratic Primary, highlighting record participation numbers and discussing election trends across the Virgin Islands. Later, Raymond James of Rattan Investments shares the results of the Rattan Poll, offering insight into the gubernatorial, delegate-to-Congress, and senatorial races while exploring voter sentiment, leadership concerns, and key issues shaping the 2026 election.

Evan J. Mayer sits down with Richard Knight and Brent Detweiler, the newest members of the Fortuna Wealth family, who left the bank channel after nearly a decade at Truist to go independent with Raymond James bringing over 95% of their book in under 90 days. They share why they left, what D-Day was really like, and why they'd never go back.Richard Knight and Brent Detweiler's participation in the For Advisors By Advisors podcast is independent of their activity as financial advisors with Raymond James.

In this monthly wrap-up, Craig Hemke for Sprott Money is joined by Bob Thompson, senior portfolio manager at Raymond James in Vancouver, to discuss extreme pessimism in precious metals, silver's historic breakout, mining-stock opportunities, capital rotation, market euphoria, and the growing risks surrounding AI and technology stocks. For investors following the gold price, silver price, gold mining stocks, silver mining stocks, precious metals, or strategies to buy gold and buy silver, this conversation provides essential market perspective.

Alissa Coram and Justin Nielsen walk through Monday's market action with key stocks to watch in Stock Market Today. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

This episode we are joined by Mr. Jeremy McCrea - Managing Director of Equity Research at BMO Capital Markets. Previously Mr. McCrea has held similar positions at Raymond James, AltaCorp Capital and National Bank Financial - with more than 20 years of experience exclusively covering the energy sector. Mr. McCrea also holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Calgary and is a CFA® charterholder. Since 2004, Mr. McCrea's views on energy are frequently sought after by institutional funds, as well as various media outlets including The Globe and Mail, National Post, Bloomberg and BNN. Among other things we discussed 8.3 Million Barrels: Canada's Pipeline Revival.Enjoy.Newsletter: Subscribe HereThank you to our sponsors.Without their support this episode would not be possible:Connate Water SolutionsATB Capital MarketsBunch Projects-*This podcast is for informational and educational purposes only, and is not intended as investment advice. Please do your own research, and consult professionals directly before making any investment decisions.Support the show

What if building wealth has less to do with picking the right investments... and everything to do with having the right plan?In this episode of the Culture Matters Podcast, Jay Doran sits down with Keith Embree, Certified Financial Planner™, MBA, and Financial Advisor at Raymond James, to explore the human side of wealth management. While many people believe financial advisors simply buy and sell investments, Keith reveals that the real value lies in helping families build a framework for life—one that evolves through every season, opportunity, and challenge. Drawing from more than a decade at Raymond James, Keith shares how great financial planning extends far beyond portfolios. The conversation explores discipline, long-term thinking, family legacy, emotional decision-making, and why wealth is ultimately built through consistency rather than chasing the next big opportunity. In this episode, you'll discover:Why the financial plan—not the investments—is the true productHow competitive sports shaped Keith's mindset around discipline and resilienceWhy comprehensive financial planning is much more than managing investmentsThe biggest misconceptions people have about building wealthHow emotions influence financial decisions during volatile marketsWhy starting early matters more than earning moreThe difference between increasing your income and increasing your net worthHow successful families think differently about money, legacy, and future generationsWhy financial advisors often become part strategist, part coach, and part therapistThe importance of making every dollar productiveThroughout the conversation, Keith also reflects on the culture of Raymond James, the mentors who shaped his career, and why serving families—not simply managing accounts—has become the foundation of his approach.Whether you're just beginning your financial journey or thinking about the legacy you hope to leave behind, this episode offers practical wisdom and a refreshing reminder that wealth isn't built overnight. It's built through intentional decisions, thoughtful planning, and the discipline to stay the course.

The biggest risks in energy may still lie ahead.In this episode of Energy Espresso, Jim Wicklund sits down with Marshall Adkins, Managing Director and Head of Energy Investment Banking at Raymond James, to discuss how the Iran conflict, Strait of Hormuz concerns, and shifting global demand have driven oil prices back toward $75.Is the market underestimating what comes next? They explore why crude prices remained relatively resilient despite supply disruptions, China's role in balancing the market, and what's next for oil, inflation, and U.S. production. The conversation also highlights the long-term growth outlook for natural gas, fueled by LNG exports, data centers, and expanding energy infrastructure.00:00 Welcome And Setup00:52 Ceasefire Ends Oil Jumps03:17 Supply Losses And Skepticism05:44 Unprecedented Disruptions06:52 China Demand Management09:46 Refinery Outages Crack Spreads11:10 Why Oil Stayed Low12:42 Inventory Math Breakdown16:52 Tank Bottoms Explained20:12 Politics And SPR Refill21:04 Glut From Trapped Barrels23:41 Hormuz Control And Iran25:51 Iran Regime And Public Optics27:01 IRGC Survival Logic27:54 Hormuz Rerouting Timeline29:09 Product Shortages Inflation30:35 Trump Middle East Leverage32:06 Drill Baby Drill Limits34:55 Oil Market Glut Dynamics37:21 Gas Demand Surge Ahead44:13 Pipelines Unlock Supply47:42 Energy Powers Growth51:57 Final Takeaways Volatility

Why own bonds in your portfolio? Earlier this year, we did an episode explaining bonds. But we often hear that folks understand what bonds are; the question is why do I want them in my portfolio, especially if stocks have historically produced higher long term returns? The answer starts with understanding that stocks and bonds have different jobs. A successful portfolio is not built by choosing one perfect investment. It combines investments that support different goals. Stocks generally provide long term growth. Bonds can provide stability, income, and flexibility. Stocks have delivered stronger returns over many decades, but those returns come with greater risk. Markets have experienced severe declines, including the technology crash, the 2008 financial crisis, and the rapid decline in early 2020. It is easy to claim comfort with risk when markets are rising. That confidence can change quickly during a major downturn. Bonds can help reduce portfolio volatility and make it easier to remain committed to a long term plan. The current interest rate environment also strengthens the case for bonds. For many years after the financial crisis, bond yields were extremely low. Bonds offered limited income, even though they still helped control risk. Higher interest rates now allow many high quality bonds to produce more meaningful cash flow. This can be especially valuable for retirees who depend on their portfolios to fund living expenses. Bonds also help address the danger of selling stocks during a market decline. A retiree with an all stock portfolio may be forced to sell investments at depressed prices to cover withdrawals. Those sales lock in losses and leave fewer shares available to benefit from a later recovery. A portfolio that includes bonds and cash may give the investor another source for distributions while stocks recover. This issue is known as sequence of returns risk. Two retirees can earn the same average return over 25 years and still experience very different results. The investor who suffers major losses early in retirement may run into trouble because withdrawals occur while the portfolio is declining. Bonds can provide income and liquidity during those periods. For example, a retiree with 40 percent in bonds and a 4 percent annual withdrawal rate may have roughly ten years of potential distributions available from the bond allocation, even before considering growth or rebalancing. The unusual market environment of 2022 does not mean diversification stopped working. Stocks and bonds both declined as the Federal Reserve raised interest rates aggressively to control inflation. Diversification is not designed to protect investors during every short period. It is designed to improve the range of possible outcomes over time. The central lesson is that successful investing is not about earning the highest return every year. It is about creating the greatest probability of reaching financial goals while taking only the risk that is necessary. Bonds are not competitors to stocks. They are complementary tools that can provide income, stability, and flexibility when markets become difficult. You can always email Alex and Ed at info@birchrunfinancial.com or give them a call at 484-395-2190.Or visit them on the web at https://www.birchrunfinancial.com/Alex and Ed's Book: Mastering The Money Mind: https://www.amazon.com/Mastering-Money-Mind-Thinking-Personal/dp/1544530536Any opinions are those of Ed Lambert Alex Cabot, financial advisors, RJFS, and Jon Gay, and not necessarily those of RJFS or Raymond James. The information contained in this report does not purport to be a complete description of the securities, markets, or developments referred to in this material. There is no assurance any of the trends mentioned will continue or forecasts will occur. The information has been obtained from sources considered to be reliable, but Raymond James does not guarantee that the foregoing material is accurate or complete. Any information is not a complete summary or statement of all available data necessary for making an investment decision and does not constitute a recommendation. The examples throughout this material are for illustrative purposes only. Raymond James does not provide tax or legal services. Please discuss these matters with the appropriate professional. Diversification and asset allocation do not ensure a profit or protect against a loss. Past performance is not indicative of future returns. This information is not intended as a solicitation or an offer to buy or sell any security referred to herein. Future investment performance cannot be guaranteed, investment yields will fluctuate with market conditions There is an inverse relationship between interest rate movements and bond prices. Generally, when interest rates rise, bond prices fall and when interest rates fall, bond prices generally rise. Investing in small cap stocks generally involves greater risks, and therefore, may not be appropriate for every investor. The prices of small company stocks may be subject to more volatility than those of large company stocks. Bond prices and yields are subject to change based upon market conditions and availability. If bonds are sold prior to maturity, you may receive more or less than your initial investment. Holding bonds to term allows redemption at par value. There is an inverse relationship between interest rate movements and fixed income prices. Generally, when interest rates rise, fixed income prices fall and when interest rates fall, fixed income prices rise.Risk Considerations:There are special risks associated with investing with bonds such as interest rate risk, market risk, call risk, prepayment risk, credit risk, reinvestment risk, and unique tax consequences. To learn more about these risks and the suitability of these bonds for you, please contact our office.Bonds are subject to risk factors including:Default Risk - the risk that the issuer of the bond might default on its obligationRating Downgrade - the risk that a rating agency lowers a debt issuer's bond ratingReinvestment Risk - the risk that a bond might mature when interest rates fall, forcing the investor to accept lower rates of interest (this includes the risk of early redemption when a company calls its bonds before maturity)Interest Rate Risk - this is the risk that bond prices tend to fall as interest rates rise.Liquidity Risk - the risk that a creditor may not be able to liquidate the bond before maturity.Securities offered through Raymond James Financial Services, Inc. Member FINRA/SIPC. Investment advisory services offered through Raymond James Financial Services Advisors, Inc. Birch Run Financial is not a registered broker/dealer and is independent of Raymond James Financial Services. Birch Run Financial is located at 595 E Swedesford Rd, Ste 360, Wayne PA 19087 and can be reached at 484-395-2190.Any rating is not intended to be an endorsement, or any way indicative of the advisors' abilities to provide investment advice or management. This podcast is intended for informational purposes only.Links are being provided for information purposes only. Raymond James is not affiliated with and does not endorse, authorize, or sponsor any of the listed websites or their respective sponsors.Raymond James is not responsible for the content of any website or the collection or use of information regarding any website's users or members. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Netflix maakt zich zorgen over zijn eigen klanten. Ze kijken minder lang en ook minder vaak naar series en films. Er worden (op dit moment) niet veel abonnementen opgezegd, maar toch is Netflix gewaarschuwd. Want: minder kijktijd kan leiden tot minder advertentie-inkomsten en er is een kans de mensen alsnog hun abonnement opzeggen. Daarom heeft Netflix een aantal maatregelen verzonnen. Waaronder een hele opvallende: de streamer wil veranderen in een 24uurs zender. Waardoor de hippe streamingdienst ineens een ouderwetse televisiezender wordt. Deze aflevering kijken we of die stap Netflix écht aan nieuwe abonnees helpt. Ook hoe ze weer een hit van hun aandeel maken. Dat is namelijk in een jaar met 40 procent gedaald! Hebben we het ook over Easyjet. De overname door private equity-partij Castlelake was zo goed als rond. En toen vloog opeens Apollo voorbij. Die overbieden hun concullega's met een paar honderd miljoen en EasyJet zou dat wel zien zitten. Beleggers ook: het aandeel schiet omhoog. Verder hebben we het over de Fed, over de missie van Kevin Warsh. Hij zet meerdere werkgroepen aan het werk die de toekomst van de Fed moeten onderzoeken. Een van die mensen is de oud-topman van Walmart. Ook in deze aflevering: Polymarket is belangrijk voor het rentebesluit SK Hynix is nu ook een beetje Amerikaans Komt er dan toch geen massaontslag bij Volkswagen? SpaceX-aandeel kan naar 800 dollar Te gast: Marc Langeveld van het Antaurus AI Techfund BNR Beurs is een journalistiek onafhankelijke productie, mede mogelijk gemaakt door Saxo. Over de makers: Jelle Maasbach is presentator van BNR Beurs en freelance financieel journalist. Zijn favoriete aandeel om over te praten is Disney, maar daar lijkt hij de enige in te zijn. Sinds de eerste uitzending van BNR Beurs is 'ie er bij. Maxim van Mil is presentator van BNR Beurs en journalist bij BNR, waar hij zich focust op de financiële markten en ontwikkelingen in de tech-wereld. Je krijgt hem het meest enthousiast als hij kan praten over ASML, of oer-Hollandse bedrijven zoals Ahold of ABN Amro. Jorik Simonides is presentator van BNR Beurs, economieredacteur en verslaggever bij BNR. Hij wordt er vooral blij van als het een keer níet over AI gaat. Je hoort hem ook in de BNR-podcast Moerdijk: dorp van de rekening. Milou Brand is presentator van BNR Beurs, freelance podcastmaker en columnist bij het Financieele Dagblad. Jochem Visser is presentator van BNR Beurs, maakt Beursnerd XL en is redacteur bij de podcast Onder Curatoren. Vraag hem naar obscure zaken op financiële markten en hij vertelt je waarom het eigenlijk nóg leuker is dan je al dacht. Over de podcast: Met BNR Beurs ga je altijd voorbereid de nieuwe beursdag in. We praten je in een kleine 25 minuten bij over alle laatste ontwikkelingen op de handelsvloer. We blijven niet alleen bij de AEX of Wall Street, maar vertellen je ook waar nog meer kansen liggen. En we houden het niet bij de cijfers, maar zoeken ook iedere dag voor je naar duiding van scherpe gasten en experts. Of je nu een ervaren belegger bent of net begint met je eerste stappen op de beurs, de podcast biedt waardevolle inzichten voor je beleggingsstrategie. Door de focus op zowel de korte termijn als de lange termijn, helpt BNR Beurs luisteraars om de ruis van de markt te scheiden van de essentie. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A Special Industry Update, With Jason Diamond and Mindy Diamond Jason and Mindy Diamond revisit how advisor due diligence is evolving—from AI and enterprise value to firm stability, ownership, and optionality—and why those questions matter more than ever. In Summary Due diligence has always been about finding the right fit. But what advisors are evaluating has expanded considerably. In this replay of an Industry Update, Jason Diamond and Mindy Diamond revisit The Advisor Transition Playbook to explore how advisor priorities continue to evolve. Beyond the traditional reasons advisors consider change, they discuss newer factors shaping decisions today—from artificial intelligence and enterprise value to ownership structure, firm stability, and long-term optionality. The conversation reinforces that while every advisor's motivations are personal, the evaluation process has become far more strategic. Today's advisors aren't simply comparing recruiting deals or platforms. They're considering how today's decisions may influence the value, flexibility, and future of the businesses they're building. The Storyline For years, advisor movement was largely driven by familiar themes: bureaucracy, management changes, technology frustrations, and the desire for greater independence. Those factors remain important. But the conversations Diamond Consultants has with advisors today increasingly include questions that rarely surfaced just a few years ago. How should AI factor into firm selection? What is the long-term value of building enterprise value instead of simply maximizing a recruiting package? How important is a firm's ownership structure? And how should advisors think about stability in a marketplace where acquisitions, recapitalizations, and private equity investment have become commonplace? Jason and Mindy revisit the transition framework introduced in Part 1, focusing less on the mechanics of making a move and more on the evolving criteria advisors are using to evaluate their options. The result is a broader discussion about due diligence—not simply as a transition exercise, but as an ongoing strategic process for advisors seeking to build their best business life. Topics Covered Advisor due diligence Traditional vs. emerging drivers of advisor movement Artificial intelligence in wealth management Enterprise value and advisor ownership Recruiting deals versus long-term economics Reverse due diligence Firm ownership and stability Private equity in wealth management Advisor optionality Building a long-term advisory business Blubrry Player > Download a transcript of this episode… Listen and Learn Highlights for Advisors Why are the traditional drivers of advisor movement still relevant? (4:00) Jason and Mindy revisit the longstanding push-and-pull factors that continue to influence advisor decisions, from bureaucracy and management frustrations to the desire for greater ownership and control. How has AI become part of the due diligence process? (13:50) The discussion explores why advisors increasingly expect firms to demonstrate a clear AI strategy—and why investment, integration, and vision may become meaningful competitive advantages. Why should advisors care about enterprise value, even if they don't technically own their business? (24:30) Jason and Mindy explain why more advisors are evaluating decisions through the lens of long-term business value rather than solely short-term economics. What does reverse due diligence really involve? (37:15) The conversation highlights why advisors should evaluate prospective firms with the same rigor firms use when evaluating advisors. How does firm ownership affect advisor optionality? (38:00) Private equity, acquisitions, and changing ownership structures have made it increasingly important to understand what happens if a firm's strategy changes after an advisor joins. Why has due diligence become more strategic than ever? (45:30) The episode concludes with a broader discussion about defining one's “best business life” and making decisions that align with long-term goals rather than reacting to short-term frustrations. Key Takeaways The reasons advisors evaluate change have expanded well beyond traditional frustrations such as bureaucracy and compensation. AI has become an increasingly important component of firm evaluation, not because it replaces advisors, but because it can enhance productivity and client service. Enterprise value is becoming a consideration even for advisors who currently work within employee models. Reverse due diligence is just as important as a firm's evaluation of an advisor, particularly when assessing ownership structure, capitalization, and long-term stability. The most effective transition decisions balance immediate economics with long-term flexibility, ownership, and optionality. Every advisor's definition of success is different, making clarity around personal goals the foundation of any due diligence process. https://youtu.be/WZbUZJZK1yc Quotable Moments “Every advisor deserves to live their best business life.” “Just because you're frustrated doesn't mean you should move. You need something worth moving toward.” “The question isn't simply what you're paid today. It's what you're building over time.” “Knowledge is power. Understanding what your business is worth should be part of every advisor's decision-making process.” FAQs Why are more advisors expanding their due diligence beyond compensation? While transition economics remain important, advisors are increasingly evaluating technology, AI capabilities, enterprise value, ownership opportunities, and long-term flexibility as part of the decision-making process. How should advisors evaluate a firm's AI strategy? Rather than looking for finished products, advisors should assess whether a firm has a clear vision, meaningful investment, and an integrated approach to using AI to improve advisor productivity and client experience. What is reverse due diligence? Reverse due diligence is the process of evaluating a prospective firm as thoroughly as the firm evaluates the advisor. It includes understanding ownership structure, financial stability, culture, technology, leadership, and long-term strategy. Why does enterprise value matter for employee advisors? Even advisors who do not currently own their businesses may benefit from understanding how different business models create opportunities for ownership, long-term value creation, and future monetization. How has private equity changed advisor due diligence? Private equity has introduced new opportunities for growth and capital, but it has also made it more important for advisors to understand ownership structures, investment horizons, and what future transactions could mean for their business. What does Diamond Consultants mean by an advisor's “best business life”? It refers to aligning an advisor's business model, goals, client experience, compensation, flexibility, and long-term vision in a way that best supports both the advisor and the clients they serve. While transition economics remain important, advisors are increasingly evaluating technology, AI capabilities, enterprise value, ownership opportunities, and long-term flexibility as part of the decision-making process. Rather than looking for finished products, advisors should assess whether a firm has a clear vision, meaningful investment, and an integrated approach to using AI to improve advisor productivity and client experience. Reverse due diligence is the process of evaluating a prospective firm as thoroughly as the firm evaluates the advisor. It includes understanding ownership structure, financial stability, culture, technology, leadership, and long-term strategy. Even advisors who do not currently own their businesses may benefit from understanding how different business models create opportunities for ownership, long-term value creation, and future monetization. Private equity has introduced new opportunities for growth and capital, but it has also made it more important for advisors to understand ownership structures, investment horizons, and what future transactions could mean for their business. It refers to aligning an advisor's business model, goals, client experience, compensation, flexibility, and long-term vision in a way that best supports both the advisor and the clients they serve. NOTE: The views and opinions expressed by the guests on this podcast are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of Diamond Consultants. Neither Diamond Consultants nor the guests on this podcast are compensated in any way for their participation. Related Resources The Advisor Transition Playbook: The Latest on Due Diligence, the Move, and Everything In Between – Part 1 Annual Advisor Transition Report Top 10 Tips for a Strategic Due Diligence Process Should I Stay or Should I Go? View the transcript of this episode… The Advisor Transition Playbook: The Latest on Due Diligence, the Move, and Everything In Between – Part 2 A Special Industry Update with Jason Diamond and Mindy Diamond. Jason Diamond: Welcome to a replay of one of the most popular episodes from our podcast series for financial advisors, The Advisor Transition Playbook: The Latest on Due Diligence, the Move, and Everything In Between. It's Part 2 of a 2-Part Industry Update with Mindy Diamond. I’m Jason Diamond and this is the Diamond Podcast for Financial Advisors. Mindy Diamond: At Diamond Consultants, we help elite advisors identify the right environment for their businesses to thrive, whether that’s at a wirehouse, boutique, or independent firm. With nearly three decades of experience, we’ve guided thousands of advisors and represented more than a quarter of a trillion dollars in assets transitioned. And each year, one in four advisors managing a billion dollars or more who change firms are our clients. Our process is education driven and based on building relationships, starting as your strategic partner, well before you’re even thinking of a move. To schedule a confidential conversation, call us at 908-879-1002. Wondering why advisors change firms and where they’re headed? Are transition deals going up or down? Those very questions and more inspired us to create our Annual Advisor Transition Report. It’s the award-winning data-driven resource designed for advisors that connects the dots between the motivations around movement and the firm’s appetite for top talent. Arm yourself with the knowledge you need to make smart decisions. Download your copy at diamond-consultants.com/transitionreport. Jason Diamond: There’s been a noticeable shift in how advisors are approaching decisions about their business, not necessarily in whether they’re exploring change, but in what they’re focused on when they do. Mindy is back with me for a continuation of our earlier conversation on the Advisor Transition Playbook. Last time, we spent time on the mechanics, how due diligence works, what a move actually entails, and how to think through the process. What’s become more apparent since then is that the inputs into that process are evolving. The traditional drivers are still there, but layered on top are a set of considerations that didn’t carry the same weight before. AI is one of them, and not just as a tool, but as a differentiator that advisors are starting to diligence more seriously. Enterprise value is another. Showing up in conversations, even for advisors who don’t technically own their business, but are thinking more critically about what they’re building over time. And then there are questions around stability, ownership, and flexibility. What happens to the firm itself and whether advisors retain the ability to adapt again if circumstances change. None of this is theoretical. It’s showing up in real time conversations. What we want to do here is unpack those new triggers of advisor movement and what they suggest about how decisions are being made today. So let’s get to it. Mindy, the legend, thank you for joining me. So glad to have you on. Mindy Diamond: Thank you. I’m so happy to be here. Jason Diamond: Great. Let’s dive right in. I’ll set the stage really quickly one more time. When we spoke about this topic last, we talked about the drivers of movement, what we’ll call in this conversation as the old or the legacy drivers of movement, and we spoke about the mechanics of the move. Before we get into the new drivers of movement, which I want to be the meat of the conversation, remind us, when we talk about the legacy drivers of movement …. And by the way, by saying legacy, I by no means want to suggest that they’re not valid today, because they’re equally valid, if not more so today than they were then. But when you think of the classic drivers of movement in our industry, what are they? Mindy Diamond: Yeah. So I would say, first of all, let’s start by saying that for every advisor, they’ve got a unique set of needs. So the first thing to say is that while you and I can talk about the categories of frustrations or things that might bother an advisor, they show up differently in each advisor’s life. So it’s important to note that everyone is unique. But generally speaking, if I had to package them, I’d say it’s number one that shows up most of the time is too much bureaucracy. A feeling that a firm or a model is just too hypervigilant in terms of compliance and it’s too bureaucratic and too hard to get things done. Number two would be some sort of change in or frustration with management. Something is going on that the person or persons that are responsible for managing the business are just not … They’re not the wind at their back. They’re obstreperous. They’re causing difficulty and frustration. And probably the third one would be less about a pain point and more about the desire to be something that they couldn’t where they were. The notion that they want to be more independent, they want to be a business owner and they just can’t do that. That doesn’t exist within the model where they work. Those probably have been the three ones top of mind, but I bet you’ll have some … You’ll add to that. Jason Diamond: I’ll add a couple. But before I do, I’ve heard you talk about this topic, maybe said another way as pushes and pulls. Can you explain what you mean by that? Mindy Diamond: Yeah. So I think that we think about the pushes, the frustrations, the things pushing somebody out the door, the factors that make it less easy or less fluid to do business. And there’s almost always pushes that exist when somebody comes to us, where they’re frustrated to some degree or another about certain things. But we tell people all the time that just to be frustrated should never be enough, because if all you’re doing is running from one set of problems, you’re very likely to run into maybe a different set, but still problems elsewhere. So a move needs to be driven in equal part, if not more, by pulls. Being pulled toward an opportunity that can be needle moving enough or better enough than where you are now. Pushes and pull. Jason Diamond: I love it. So let me ask you a little bit of a pointed question. Is a recruiting deal a valid pull factor? Mindy Diamond: So look, it’s different for every person. We’ve had advisors come and say, “I just went through a divorce and the most important thing to me is to recapitalize. And so a recruiting deal is really important.” And while I would never be one to say that’s not valid, it can be … And by the way, any advisor should want to and expect to better their financial situation. There should be economic gain. But it shouldn’t be the only or the primary reason for the move. So you want to monetize. The notion of wanting to monetize in the short term should be a factor in what model you pick, but it shouldn’t be the primary driver for a move. Jason Diamond: I agree with that wholeheartedly. I was going to say something I think maybe would’ve surprised you a little, which is like, yeah, I think recruiting deal is a very valid pull factor because what we’re saying is, it shouldn’t be the only pull factor. And sometimes it is and it makes us a little bit sad, I think, when that’s the case. But all of these factors you mentioned, and the ones I would add, I think that maybe technology would be another kind of factor that drives movement, all of these factors are not one specific reason. If you did the exit interview, either actually conducted the exit interview with advisors or thought exercise exit interview, I think they would point to a confluence of all of these factors. Compliance was a headache. I wanted to launch a podcast. I wanted to be able to send a timely communication to my clients. We used to hear that one during COVID a lot, right? By the time compliance approved something to send to clients, it was already stale. So do you agree with that, that it’s generally a confluence or a combination of these? Or in your experience, is it advisors are like, “No, compliance or the tech is so bad, I’m out”? Mindy Diamond: Yeah. So most often there’s a straw that breaks the camel’s back incident or thing where they’re willing to put up with a series of minor paper cuts, if you will. And then almost always there’s something that happens. You and I got a call the other day from a team that said that they had split from their partner and the management of the firm was favoring the ex-partner, making it harder for them to stay or making it less fun or feel good for them to stay. So while they gave me a laundry list of things that were imperfect, I don’t know that any one of the things that were imperfect up until then would’ve been enough to drive them out. But when that one thing, that feeling that they were a second class citizen came up, that was the straw that breaks the camel’s back and went from a minorly frustrated to, “I’m out of here.” Jason Diamond: Yeah. And there’s probably a hundred examples you could walk us through. And I wanted to just highlight too, this concept is not limited to the wirehouse or employee or captive firm world, this is equally relevant for independent advisors. Granted, some of the pushes and pull factors, some of the triggers are not necessarily the same, but the idea that advisors outgrow a broker dealer or an RIA or either need or want or desire in some way, shape or form, greater autonomy, flexibility, freedom, control is certainly not limited to the employee space. I just wanted to make that point. Mindy Diamond: And I think that’s absolutely right. I think the notion of that frustrations or limitations or bureaucracy only existed if you were a W2 employee at a bulge bracket firm. That went out the window. As the industry landscape has expanded and there’s more and more valid ways to be a financial advisor, there’s more and more ways for a firm or a model or an infrastructure to frustrate an advisor. And that’s not being overly negative. It’s just to say there is no perfection anywhere. Jason Diamond: Yeah, 100%. And by the way, to play a little bit of devil’s advocate on that, and then we’ll move on, I would just say there are pain points that might come from a firm being small and subscale as well. My firm doesn’t have efficient technology. They don’t invest enough in the business. They don’t provide a lead mechanism. They don’t have a robust banking and lending or investment solutions platform. So this stuff cuts both ways. An advisor can be frustrated or limited and an advisor can be excited. Pushes and pulls I think touch on, we’ve heard from advisors in every single pocket of the market, this is a relevant concept. Mindy Diamond: The theme of this is that every advisor deserves to live their best business life. That’s what people are in search of when they reach out to us or when they engage with us. What they’re looking for more than anything, and this is irrespective of where they work or how long they’ve worked or how much they manage, every advisor is in search of their best business life. And what defines their best business life is having the best quality of work life, but also the best ability to do what they want to do with their business, to serve their clients without limitations, to grow the way they want, to be paid a fair wage, and ultimately set up to maximize the value of the business they’ve built. Those are the definitions of one’s best business life. Jason Diamond: I used an even simpler definition of best business life and I stole it from you, which is the true north concept, which is if your true north is maximizing enterprise value and chasing the dollar and trying to build something that’s scalable and saleable, then great. If your true north is to build a lifestyle practice, there’s plenty of advisors who are successful and happy and content in that regard as well. And I think that’s what we’re talking about, is finding your true north and then it’s possible. I mean, that’s the beauty of the landscape. We’re talking about this, a lot of this is pain points or things that advisors experience. The exciting part of this is there’s never been a better time to be an advisor because of the breadth of choice they have and the ecosystem that’s been born to support advisors, to your point, across the spectrum. Mindy Diamond: Yeah. And it’s also, I think, worth saying that it starts with really good crystal clear clarity around not only what’s frustrating you, but what you want ideal to look like. Because I can’t tell you, or I can tell you because … I can’t tell our listeners, I can’t stress enough how often we get calls from advisors that tell us where they think they want to be or tell us they want to move. They have clarity about what’s frustrating them or what they want to change, but they don’t really have clarity about what they want it to look like. And the less clarity you have, the less likely you are to be successful in finding the exact right solution. So our work, the thing we probably do best is really work with advisors to help them. It doesn’t take long. In an hour conversation, we can help them to really get crystal clear on what they’re looking to solve for. Jason Diamond: Absolutely. All right. Great appetizer. We set the table. Let’s dive into the main course now. I want to talk now about what I’m calling the 2.0 triggers or the new triggers of movement. And to be clear, it’s not that these are more important or better or more significant drivers of movement. In fact, you could argue they’re probably at present less significant than the ones we just listed. But I think what we’re saying is these are triggers that are starting to come up more and more in conversations and we expect them to only proliferate further. And in that regard, they’re noteworthy and important for advisors because advisors should be reconciling not just what are the things I need to be worrying about today, but also what are the things I need to be potentially worrying about five years from now. So with that in mind, let’s dive in. I think the first one we have to start with is AI. And I always chuckle a tiny bit when we mention AI, we used to have to specify what are we talking about. Are we talking about artificial intelligence or alternative investments? And now it’s very clear. Everybody knows we’re talking about artificial intelligence. So the direction of the industry, no over-dramatization to say is at stake here. It’s that important of a topic. Let me ask you just very simply first, is this coming up in conversations with advisors? Mindy Diamond: Oh, all the time, but it’s almost table stakes. So I think the way it comes up is that people assume, advisors assume, and by the way, have the right to assume that AI is part of the tech stack. The notion that if I’m evaluating a firm and part of what frustrates me or part of what’s really important to me is cutting edge, really robust technology, part of what I am expecting is that a new firm is going to have really robust technology. And part of that is really robust access to AI. And has honed the AI in a way that’s user-friendly, that really answers or delivers on making me a better … Not replacing me as an advisor, but making me a better, more efficient advisor. Jason Diamond: 100%. And I would also add, so as I think about this AI topic, I don’t want this to become a conversation around, is AI going to replace advisors, because I think we both agree that’s not going to be the case. Especially at the top end of the market for quality advisors, I think they’re not going anywhere. But in my view, when we think about the trigger of movement, AI has the potential to be transformative because a couple kind of use cases or trigger cases come to mind, and I’d love to hear your thoughts. One is, do you think advisors will potentially consider a move because they’re worried about this? So in other words, play this logic out with me. I’m 55 years old and I’m like, “Oh man, AI might be coming from my job.” And there’s firms offering 400% of revenue to move my book. Maybe I should take that check and kind of de-risk and monetize while I can. What are your thoughts on that? Mindy Diamond: I absolutely think we’re already working with that fall into that category, but to say that is the only reason for the move would be wrong. I’m grateful that people trust us enough to be transparent with us. So they let us know that underneath the notion that they want to better serve clients, they ultimately want better access to A, B, and C, they want to be able to do D, E and F with less restriction, is really the main reason for the move. But underneath it, the notion that my book, I want to protect myself. My book may well be the biggest it’s ever going to be. It is going to be worth more today than it could be in the future if things don’t go my way. And if I know I’m going to move and one of my goals is to monetize, I might want to do that now. Jason Diamond: I agree. And that’s where the top deal story comes in also. Firms paying a top deal is a part of that story. It’s what you just said, plus advisors know firms are willing to pay incredible multiples. I mean, as we speak, UBS is in market with one of the largest deals in history. So those two narratives side by side, I agree. I think this becomes more of a kind of catalyst or driver movement. It’s come up in my conversations on both sides of the spectrum. It’s the tech savvy, AI savvy advisors who are excited about this, who are like, “I want to be the most AI enabled version of myself I can be. It’s going to make me a rockstar and it’s going to widen the gap with my peers,” but it’s also come up with the people who are, I think, rightly scared and fearful about what this might mean for their job. Mindy Diamond: Let me ask you, what are examples of the way you’ve seen some of the best firms who have embraced AI? What is their narrative? What is it that they’re saying to advisors that if you come here from a tech or AI perspective, you’ll be better because we’re able to do … Fill in the blank. Jason Diamond: Yeah. So a couple that come up. First of all, I want to make the important point. Advisors do not expect that firms, either their current firm or firms that they are diligencing prospectively, have this figured out or solved. Everybody understands this is a fairly new area that firms are still very much kind of developing their strategies in. What advisors want to see is a few things. They want to see though leadership, they want to see investment, and they want to see a strategy, right? Effectively, they want to see a step in the right direction, really. So I’ll give you a couple examples. There are a number of tech savvy RIAs, very tech-enabled, AI-focused RIAs, because I think this is easier to be nimble. I think where you’ll see this quicker probably is in the independent space. That what they’re doing is things like this. An advisor logs on to their workstation in the morning and their system queues them proactively, Mr. and Mrs. Smith may be good candidates for a Roth IRA conversion. And then if the advisor decides to contact the client in some way about it, the system will of course help them draft the communication, but then it’ll take it a step further and actually help them to process and transact that conversion. So soup to nuts, ultimately driving efficiency. That’s the name of the game. That’s why firms, I think, are excited about AI, at least the good firms. Because what I think they realize it will do is, the stuff that’s a waste of time that could be automated that advisors, and probably even more so their associates, client associates are spending time on, that should be a massive time saver for advisors. And I think if you play that story out, what does that mean? It should mean bigger books of business and therefore more productive advisors because they have more time to prospect and focus on their clients. Thoughts? Mindy Diamond: Yeah. So I think you said it perfectly, but it raises the question then. You say that the RIAs can be more nimble. You’re right. I mean, the big story around the biggest firms was like moving a battleship, it takes a long time to turn it. It’s not as nimble. So what and how are the bigger firms competing against the RIAs with respect to AI? And second question, we still always get questions, and rightly so, about Morgan Stanley has more money to invest… Jason Diamond: That was going to be part of my answer. Mindy Diamond: … than fill in the blank RIA. So how does that all work? Jason Diamond: That is absolutely going to be part of my answer, is that I have heard this question posed almost presumptively both ways. “Oh, it’s got to be that the RIAs are going to be the clear winners in this.” And I’ve also heard, “Oh, it’s got to be that the wirehouses are going to be the clear winners in this.” I don’t think it’s going to be channel specific like that. I think it is going to be firm specific. I think there’s going to be firms that are going to do this well and firms that are going to not do this well. But there’s going to be winners in the wirehouse space. There’s going to be winners in the regional firm space, with firms like Raymond James who are clearly trying to be on the cutting edge of this. There’s certainly going to be winners in the broker-dealer space. LPL is investing heavily in this, as are many of their broker-dealer competitors. And then of course the RIA space, where sometimes they may not have the budgets, but they have a couple things. They have private equity backing, sometimes. They have the custodians that they’re built on, right, or the tech vendors that they’re built on. So Schwab and Fidelity or Orion and Addepar. They have other ways to access these innovations. One of the things that comes up with this that your question I think gets at is, a similar question that was raised around technology stacks, which is strength of offering versus integration. And that’s where I think a firm like Morgan Stanley really will shine, is they should … Because they don’t put anything out that’s not well integrated. The big firms have generally done a pretty good job of that. Versus the RIAs. Sometimes we’ve heard feedback where, yes, you have access to you name it, right? You dream it up, you can go and buy it. But the left hand may not speak to the right hand quite as well. Mindy Diamond: Yeah, that’s actually a really good point. And integration is probably one of the biggest … If you ask an advisor when they talk about technology as either being one of their pushes or pulls, probably what they’re referring to more than anything is not only having the capability, but having the integrated capability. So that’s a great point. And I think your point is right, that the final chapter on this has not been written. Nobody thinks that it has. And so whatever answers you and I can talk about today about who’s winning this race, or this tech race or this AI race, will be totally different tomorrow. We all know that. But I think for purposes of this conversation, to say that an advisor having an expectation that their technology be outstanding and that AI be on the table, that a firm is embracing it and heading in the right direction, if you will, has the right thought leadership and the right willingness to invest in it is what advisors are really looking for right now. Jason Diamond: Absolutely. And this is a question too from the firm’s perspective, if you are a firm of any size, you must be able to answer that. This has become question 1A. And again, I don’t mean to suggest that I think AI is the number one most important factor driving advisor movement today. It very well might be at some point down the road. I don’t think we’re there yet. But I do think it’s the topic du jour or the hot topic, where every advisor is asking about this. So that means if you’re a firm, you need to be prepared to tell the story or at least have the vision. And I think what we’re hearing from both advisors and from firms is this, AI is going to … What is right now a gap between the good and the bad, the quality and the non, is going to become an absolute chasm, right? An absolutely mountainous gap between the best firms and the firms who are able to adapt this technology or this AI. And the same thing at the advisor level, between the AI-enabled superpowered advisor versus those who are in the dinosaur ages, for lack of a better term. Mindy Diamond: Yeah. And we’ll move on, but it is worth saying that the day of the standalone independent, the one man or one woman band who hangs out a shingle, and to use your term, running a lifestyle practice, nothing wrong with that, but it would be near impossible to imagine a world where a standalone independent can compete with a private-equity-backed RIA or an RIA that has a big pool of capital behind them or to compete with the major firms. And our point is the ability to compete is probably more important with respect to this topic than just about any other. Jason Diamond: Totally agree. Thank you for tying a bow on that because I think that’s a good place to leave the AI topic, at least for now. I’m certain we’ll have more to say on this one. By the time we release this episode, we’ll probably have more to say on it. So we’ll have to do a follow-up again. But I want to talk now about enterprise value. And this is one where if you’re an RIA or if you’re an advisor at an independent firm, this might sound like a duh, but hear me out on this one. The idea is as follows, if I’m a wirehouse advisor or any sort of captive advisor, I don’t technically own anything. Agree? Mindy Diamond: Agreed. Jason Diamond: Okay. So if that’s true, that I don’t technically own anything, I technically don’t have any sort of enterprise value or ability to monetize. But my premise here and why I would argue that enterprise value has become a driver of movement is even wirehouse advisors know … They see teams like OpenArc, a massive RIA that launched last year. They see their corner office peers breaking away, starting independent firms. They see them selling to asset managers, private-equity-backed RIAs, private equity firms in their own right for these massive multiples. And what I guess I’m getting at, and I’m curious if you agree is, if a wirehouse advisor, let’s say, sees their colleagues sell to a private equity firm for 20X, doesn’t that have to become a little bit of a catalyst for movement in its own right? Mindy Diamond: Without a doubt. Historically … Actually, let me date myself. When I started this business now 32 years ago, there was zero way for an advisor who was a captive employee of a firm, of any firm, to monetize their business. It’s why there was so much movement, because the only way they could monetize was to get paid a big fat transition deal to move from one firm to the other. Jason Diamond: Yep. Mindy Diamond: Obviously, we all know that first it started with the big firms, and then just about every brokerage firm on the street began to offer a retire-in-place program. And that is the big firms or a traditional brokerage firm’s way of allowing advisor to monetize in place from their perspective to stave off attrition. And for an advisor that believes that the status quo serves them well, that finishing their career, that leaving their legacy, that leaving their team at their firm is the best thing to do, then those retire-in-place programs, like Merrill’s CTP or Morgan’s FAP or UBS’s Alpha or a name at every firm has them, is the best gift to advisors there is. But the problem is that the next generation at those firms are buying an asset they don’t own. And so when we talk about enterprise value or the desire to build enterprise value as a real driver of movement, what we’re talking about is not only that advisors want ownership of an asset, because ownership translates into more control and autonomy and agency over building it the way you want to, but it also translates into maximizing the value of the business that you’ve built. So that’s a long-winded way of saying that the OpenArc deal you are referencing, for anybody not familiar, is a Merrill Lynch team, a legacy Merrill Lynch team in Atlanta that was managing more than 120 billion in assets, part retail, ultra high net worth client assets, and part institutional consulting assets. And believe me, I don’t want to make it sound like it was a snap that one day they’re happy and the next day they’re going independent. Over a 10-year period became more and more aware, driven by the pushes and more aware of the pulse. But ultimately, while there was a long list of things they wanted to be able to do that they couldn’t to best serve clients and grow the business, the real driver at the end of the day, or I shouldn’t say the real driver, but a major driver was the notion of building and owning enterprise value. Yes, they could have all gotten very attractive deals and retired with your Merrill CTP, but they wanted to own the business, they wanted cap gains treatment. And so they went through the sweat equity big time of building what they’re calling OpenArc for the ability for probably five, 10, 20 years, because there’s partners with all different ages, so at all different times, to be able to really maximize the value of the business they’ve built. Jason Diamond: Can I push back on that for … It’s a super helpful example, but my one thought is, okay, yeah, of course, 130 billion in assets, they should be concerned with enterprise value at that size. And the delta between caring about enterprise value and not is too great because those guys have, by all accounts, a phenomenal business that is rivaled by very few in the industry. Most of our audience does not fit into that stratosphere. So what about advisors in, let’s call it the million to $10 million space? Should they still care about this concept? Mindy Diamond: Again, it’s an inside job. It’s a personal thing. Some don’t. But the answer is yes. And if I were them, I would. Why? Because whether I am generating a million a year in revenue or $10 million a year in revenue, at the end of the day, I’ve got an asset. I’ve built a valuable asset. And I have the choice at the end of the day or the middle of the day to decide a million things about that asset. How do I want to live my business life? How do I want to serve my clients? Where do I want to work? But one of the biggest factors to determining where and how they want to work is, ultimately, do I want to be able to maximize the value of the business that I’ve built? And while there are few things that are really definitive in this industry, the one thing that is absolutely indisputably definitive is that if you build an independent practice like the ex-Merrill Lynch churned RIA OpenArc team did, you will ultimately build enterprise value exponential multiples greater than any way you could monetize the business as a traditional employee. Jason Diamond: And that math absolutely still holds up even at numbers smaller than we’ve mentioned. I totally agree with that. I’ll give you one other reason why I think you should care. And I’d love your thoughts on this one. I’ll ask it two ways maybe. I’ll tell you my take and then I’ll ask you yours. Morgan Stanley, let’s use as an example. Who are Morgan Stanley’s competitors? In my opinion, the legacy answer to that is, well, of course the wirehouses are Morgan Stanley’s competitors. Merrill, UBS, Wells Fargo, what maybe used to be a longer list, but today those four. I don’t think that’s the answer anymore. I think those are the direct competitors. But because of this enterprise value conversation, I think Morgan Stanley’s competitors are anyone and everyone who recruits financial advisors with books of business. Because if you think about it, an advisor who has a $3 million business at a wirehouse, even if they’re not actually going to do this, they don’t have any entrepreneurial spirit, no desire to go independent, they still know that they could. This is an option and a viable option. And firms are even figuring out ways to cut out the middle step, right? Because this was historically a two-step process. You’re a wirehouse advisor or a W2 advisor. You break away, launch an independent business to establish your enterprise value, begin building it, and then you monetize it. If you could cut out the middle step, or even if you couldn’t, I still think it’s pretty clear that if you’re an advisor, this is important because the firms know … Like when Morgan Stanley’s writing a recruiting deal, they’re kept honest by RIAs and acquirers just the same as their direct peer set. Do you agree with that or do you think I’m reading too far into this? Mindy Diamond: Oh no, I agree a thousand percent. I think that it is naive for anyone recruiting for or on behalf of a traditional firm to think that the only competition is another traditional firm. The days of pomposity for a senior leader at a traditional firm to say, “We’ve got the best technology, the best everything fill in the blank. We have no competitors.” That’s just naive. Because even if it’s true, you’ve got the best platform infrastructure fill in the blank, there is a multitude of advisors that value things different than what you can provide. Beauty is in the eye of beholder is probably a good way to say that. But at the end of the day, what we’re really talking about is when I started the business, because there was no way, no really good way for an advisor to really monetize their life’s work, the only thing they could or were focused on from a personal financial gain perspective was the short-term deal. What are they paying? What’s the transition deal? Now, of course they’re concerned about that. But almost to a person, they’re equally concerned about what I can build and what will this allow me to build in terms of the value of the business I’m building in the long term. So let me ask you, if we’re talking about an advisor that has the ability to monetize in the short term for what could be 4X and in some cases more than that these days, and we’re talking about the ability to maximize enterprise value, and we talk about the concept of moving once and monetizing twice, what kind of numbers are we talking about? Fill in the blanks there. Jason Diamond: It’s such a hard question to answer because I do genuinely believe recruiting deals, when you talk about 300 to 400% revenue deals in the recruiting space, they vary a little bit, but I feel pretty comfortable quoting those types of numbers that most firms are somewhere in the 300 to 400% of T12 realm. There are some outliers, we mentioned UBS. But the multiple or EBITDA based or enterprise value M&A market where we’re doing these legitimate buyout transactions, the valuations do vary quite a bit. But here’s how I think about it. First of all, most firms are not purchased or sold at top line revenue. Most are sold at some sort of adjusted EBITDA number, which factors in local expenses, platform expenses, but also advisor compensation. And then that adjusted number is typically multipled. The multiples are anywhere from 8X for small kind of, let’s say, million dollar revenue businesses up to, we’ve seen deals struck at north of 20X for some of these mega cap RIAs. Typically, just back of the envelope, if I had to quote, I typically estimate around 5X top line at capital gains is a good kind of ballpark valuation. But there is quite a bit of nuance to it, more so than the traditional recruiting space. And I do think, shameless plug, part of the value in working with somebody who’s an expert on the entirety of the industry landscape is just that. It’s the idea that you need to run the horse race across multiple verticals. The good advisors who work with us typically are looking at a wire like a Morgan Stanley or a Merrill. They’re looking at a boutique firm like a Rockefeller, or they’re looking at a regional like an RBC or a Ray J. They’re looking at an independent firm like an LPL or a Sanctuary. They’re looking all across the spectrum. Mindy Diamond: I think that’s exactly right. But the topic of enterprise value, you can see how powerful it is and how wise it is. For an advisor today, when considering their personal economics to consider not just the short term, but to weigh in or add in or factor in, what could I be building and what ultimately will that business be worth at the end of the day? Jason Diamond: Yeah, 100%. Short of going out and selling your business, what can advisors do then? So I’m an advisor, okay, I’m curious about this. Or is it just as simple as, “Yeah, you should know what your business is worth if you’re an advisor”? Mindy Diamond: Definitively yes, because I mean, we always believe that knowledge is power. And just like it’s important for you to understand what your options are within your own firm, how can I ultimately retire out and monetize my business where I am, I think it’s really hard to make a decision in a vacuum without having other perspective. And getting other perspective doesn’t have to be that you have to go out and take 20 meetings. It’s not that hard for you to figure out what your business is worth to make it a data point for whether or not you’re ultimately best to retire in place or go elsewhere. Jason Diamond: Yeah, that I think is the main takeaway. And the education point is so important. I think because these are relatively new concepts for a lot of advisors that haven’t formally shopped a business before, there’s a lot of resources available. And we’ll certainly link some as well on the page for the episode. Let’s shift gears now, our kind of final trigger 2.0, which is stability and ownership structure of the firm. And this has been a little bit of a hot topic. It’s honestly been a hot topic every year because it seems like things pop up every year. And a lot of times advisors don’t reconcile the question of who owns the firm or how stable is the firm until something happens. The firm gets bought, the firm goes bankrupt, like the First Republic scenario. What should a good advisor do proactively about the idea that if you’re a W2 employee or even an employee who’s affiliated with a broker dealer, you saw this with Commonwealth, you just don’t really have control over what the firm decides to do. Give me your thoughts on this. I know it’s a big topic. Mindy Diamond: Yeah. First of all, using Commonwealth an example, it’s a good one. Because for those unfamiliar, Commonwealth is a boutique broker dealer that was privately owned and whose tagline was, “We love our privately owned status and we are never going to sell,” until one day they did. And not only did they sell, but they sold to the biggest independent broker dealer in the country, ala LPL. That’s not good nor bad, it’s just a fact. So if Commonwealth, who had definitively said we’re never up for sale, suddenly sells, any time you’re an employee of a firm, you never know what tomorrow brings in. You’re not in control over whether it’s sold. So that’s one example. But as you’re talking about this, I’m thinking about, I’m probably going back 20 years, so I’m 10 years into my career and I talked to someone who had been a very successful Merrill advisor. So I’m going to say he was probably generating around $5 million in revenue at the time. Going back 20 years, that’s a pretty significant book of business. He was courted for years by what he thought was a top RIA. And in those days, remember 20 years ago, the RIA space wasn’t nearly as mainstream as it is now. But the story the RIA told him was that ultimately, one, he was going to be a partner in the firm, that was very appealing to him. So he was going to have equity in the firm and much more freedom and control. And locally, by the way, the RIA was a really high quality brand. He worked on a lot of the economics, the short term and the long term with them. They did a ton of due diligence on his book of business. But he failed to ask … And I didn’t represent him. I just know this story. He failed to ask or do enough due diligence about the stability of the firm. What we think is really important, we talk about this expanded landscape. If you’re looking at Morgan Stanley, I don’t think you necessarily need to see Morgan Stanley’s balance sheet. If you are talking to a firm that is anything but a bulge bracket or anything but a large firm, it’s really important to do what we call reverse due diligence and to really understand if a firm expects you to open your kimono and show everything about your business to prove your worth, it is equally important that you do the same for them. In this new world order where private equity has come in and there are so many different ways for a firm to be owned and to be capitalized, it’s very important that an advisor understand what’s going on behind the scenes. And one of the questions around stability, if a firm is private equity backed, is it permanent capital? Is it patient capital? Is the private equity firm going to look to sell and monetize in five years? And then who would the likely buyer be and what does that mean for you? So the question is a big question and it’s really important. Jason Diamond: I love everything you just said, except I do think even the wirehouses, wirehouse advisors, honestly, as much as anybody should be asking these questions. And I’ll give you an example right now, UBS. And UBS, it’s not a story of balance sheet stability. I don’t think anybody has concerns that UBS is going to fail. But UBS management has been very publicly, “Oh, we’re cutting costs.” There’s been some rumors, I think for years, probably dating back 30 years to when you started the business about UBS’s commitment to the US wealth management business. I think those questions about stability and ownership structure are still valid. And to me, the implication of it is twofold. One, what you said, reverse due diligence, ask the questions, plan B. But also the concept of the exits or the off-ramps or how many bites of the apple do you get. So if you’re an advisor and you sell your business to somebody and you sign garden leave and non-competes and non-solicits, the question of ownership structure of that firm becomes less relevant because you have no off-ramps and no ability to exit that business anyway. A lot of times that’s how advisors get comfortable with this concept. And that’s what firms will tell them too, frankly, and we’re living through the middle of this, by the way, with Commonwealth and LPL, is vote with your feet, right? To the extent advisors can, the offer … And this is like, you used the example of private-equity-backed firms. This is how Rockefeller addresses the question of their private equity ownership. If we sell to UBS, all of our advisors will leave. They have that built-in put option. So knowing where the off-ramps are or how many bites of the apple an advisor gets, I think is a big concept that ties into that. But we’re absolutely seeing this pop up, probably largely because of those two examples, Commonwealth and UBS this year, more so Commonwealth, to your point. Janney’s another example last year or two years ago now where KKR comes in and buys Janney. So when these examples happen, it seems like it triggers advisors to say, “Is this something that could happen to me and should I be thinking about this?” Mindy Diamond: Yeah. So let me ask you a question. You’re talking, you’ve mentioned UBS offering this outsized deal. So how does the notion of stability and ownership factor in? If an advisor is considering an unprecedented deal from UBS, what are the caveats or concerns with respect to stability and ownership? Jason Diamond: It’s the same list of considerations you should and would ask of any other firm you’re diligencing, except I think amplified even more in the case … If I was counseling an advisor who was looking at UBS, that would be what I would say, is exactly that. You’re seeing all of these departures and defections, and I would want to have conversations with those advisors and understand exactly why and have guarantees or assurances that I’m not going to suffer from those same pain points that force them to leave. Or, and I say this a little bit flippantly, but it’s a little bit true, I understand the devil that I’m getting into bed with, but for 550%, or whatever the deal might be, I can suck it up. And that’s something that some advisors might well say as well. Mindy Diamond: Yeah. Jason Diamond: I don’t want to end on the negative note of overly large transition, not there’s anything wrong with large transition deals, but as you look out, is there anything that’s coming up in your conversation with advisors that you view as the next wave of this? I’ll give you one that maybe you could touch on, and if you have another one, feel free to offer it in conclusion, but do you think age or advisors starting to succeed out of the business will become more of a driver of movement, even though to your point, advisors can access sunset deals? Mindy Diamond: I do actually, because I think the more the average advisor age increases, the more likely that those advisors are going to want to move on to do something else to monetize the business. And so much of the wave of movement we see is driven not so much by the senior advisor, because many seed advisors are happy enough with the ability to monetize their business in place. Even though it may not maximize the value of the business, it’s a close enough approximation and it means I don’t have to disrupt the apple cart. So we support that 100%. But where we get the calls is from the next generation that says, “Yeah, but hold on a minute. It’s a good way for me to take on a book of assets that I not otherwise have access to. And it’s great for my senior partner, my father, my mother, my whatever to monetize the business. But I’m buying an asset again that I don’t own and I ultimately don’t have control over all these things we’re talking about, the AI investment, the ability to create enterprise value, the stability, the cost cutting, all of it.” So I think it’s all of the above. You say, “What else is there?” I think that’s it. It’s all of the above. It’s anything and everything that drives movement. One, it’s personal, it’s highly unique, it’s different for every advisor. There are certainly themes, and we’re talking about them, but there’s a million different things. It’s personal. And while there are an awful lot of pushes, things that can frustrate an advisor, it is the most exciting time in our view to be an advisor, particularly a high quality one, because the options abound, the ecosystem is big, because the ability to monetize both in the short term and the long term is big, mammoth, exponentially bigger than it ever was before. And the true ability to really build an enterprise has never been greater. And I think all of those things, the desire for an advisor to be the best that they can be and live their best business life is probably the biggest driver of all. Jason Diamond: It’s really true these days, if you can dream it, you can probably build it. And we’ve said in the past, if you build it, they will buy it. It’s a great place to end. This was a really fun topic. I think that’s a spot on kind of fourth trigger, by the way, too. This sort of next gen is almost like the force multiplier or the amplifier of like they see all this other stuff and they’re asking these questions even more so. Because if I’m 60 years old, none of this matters all that much. It matters, but I’m out of the business in five to 10 years. Versus the next gen advisors are the ones who often bear the brunt of this. So I think a lot of really smart stuff. Thank you for sharing your wisdom and expertise. In the episode page, we’ll be sure we have our Industry Transition Report. And we’ve also created a tool, the top 10 tips for a strategic due diligence process, which is a great kind of practical hand-in-hand companion for this topic for advisors looking for more pointed tips on the due diligence process. So Mindy, thank you again. This has been a blast. Mindy Diamond: My pleasure. Thank you. Jason Diamond: Thank you for joining us. We'll be back with a new episode next week, so be sure to listen in. Mindy Diamond: As a financial advisor, you hold yourself to the highest standards of integrity, honesty, and credibility. You are successful because you take your professional responsibility seriously and are dedicated to your clients. But are you living your best business life? Are your goals aligned with your firms or could a better option exist? Should I Stay or Should I Go? is a book written with you in mind. It’s a self-guided journey that walks you through the key steps that we take with our advisor clients. This strategic thought process and roadmap to professional self-discovery is designed to help you ask the right questions and think critically and objectively, whether you’re considering change or not. Learn how to get your copy at diamond-consultants.com/thebook. The Advisor Transition Playbook: The Latest on Due Diligence, the Move, and Everything In Between – Part 2 A Special Industry Update with Jason Diamond and Mindy Diamond. Jason Diamond: Welcome to a replay of one of the most popular episodes from our podcast series for financial advisors, The Advisor Transition Playbook: The Latest on Due Diligence, the Move, and Everything In Between. It's Part 2 of a 2-Part Industry Update with Mindy Diamond. I’m Jason Diamond and this is the Diamond Podcast for Financial Advisors. Mindy Diamond: At Diamond Consultants, we help elite advisors identify the right environment for their businesses to thrive, whether that’s at a wirehouse, boutique, or independent firm. With nearly three decades of experience, we’ve guided thousands of advisors and represented more than a quarter of a trillion dollars in assets transitioned. And each year, one in four advisors managing a billion dollars or more who change firms are our clients. Our process is education driven and based on building relationships, starting as your strategic partner, well before you’re even thinking of a move. To schedule a confidential conversation, call us at 908-879-1002. Wondering why advisors change firms and where they’re headed? Are transition deals going up or down? Those very questions and more inspired us to create our Annual Advisor Transition Report. It’s the award-winning data-driven resource designed for advisors that connects the dots between the motivations around movement and the firm’s appetite for top talent. Arm yourself with the knowledge you need to make smart decisions. Download your copy at diamond-consultants.com/transitionreport. Jason Diamond: There’s been a noticeable shift in how advisors are approaching decisions about their business, not necessarily in whether they’re exploring change, but in what they’re focused on when they do. Mindy is back with me for a continuation of our earlier conversation on the Advisor Transition Playbook. Last time, we spent time on the mechanics, how due diligence works, what a move actually entails, and how to think through the process. What’s become more apparent since then is that the inputs into that process are evolving. The traditional drivers are still there, but layered on top are a set of considerations that didn’t carry the same weight before. AI is one of them, and not just as a tool, but as a differentiator that advisors are starting to diligence more seriously. Enterprise value is another. Showing up in conversations, even for advisors who don’t technically own their business, but are thinking more critically about what they’re building over time. And then there are questions around stability, ownership, and flexibility. What happens to the firm itself and whether advisors retain the ability to adapt again if circumstances change. None of this is theoretical. It’s showing up in real time conversations. What we want to do here is unpack those new triggers of advisor movement and what they suggest about how decisions are being made today. So let’s get to it. Mindy, the legend, thank you for joining me. So glad to have you on. Mindy Diamond: Thank you. I’m so happy to be here. Jason Diamond: Great. Let’s dive right in. I’ll set the stage really quickly one more time. When we spoke about this topic last, we talked about the drivers of movement, what we’ll call in this conversation as the old or the legacy drivers of movement, and we spoke about the mechanics of the move. Before we get into the new drivers of movement, which I want to be the meat of the conversation, remind us, when we talk about the legacy drivers of movement …. And by the way, by saying legacy, I by no means want to suggest that they’re not valid today, because they’re equally valid, if not more so today than they were then. But when you think of the classic drivers of movement in our industry, what are they? Mindy Diamond: Yeah. So I would say, first of all, let’s start by saying that for every advisor, they’ve got a unique set of needs. So the first thing to say is that while you and I can talk about the categories of frustrations or things that might bother an advisor, they show up differently in each advisor’s life. So it’s important to note that everyone is unique. But generally speaking, if I had to package them, I’d say it’s number one that shows up most of the time is too much bureaucracy. A feeling that a firm or a model is just too hypervigilant in terms of compliance and it’s too bureaucratic and too hard to get things done.

Evan J. Mayer sits down with Tiago Lima, partner at Sovereign Wealth Strategy Group out of Colorado Springs, the first FABA guest who made the leap from the captive insurance world to the independent channel.Tiago Lima's participation in the For Advisors By Advisors podcast is independent of his activity as a financial advisor with Raymond James. 

In this episode of Nurturing Financial Freedom, we talk about the growing risk of modern scams and why the old advice of “I would never fall for that” no longer works. Scams have become more polished, more personal, and much harder to spot. Fake emails now look professional. Text messages can seem legitimate. Phone calls can appear to come from banks, credit card companies, hotels, or utilities. With artificial intelligence, scammers can now create convincing language and even clone voices. The tools have changed, but the goal has not. Scammers still want people to act before they think. Alex shares two recent close calls that show how sophisticated these scams have become. In one case, he received what appeared to be a fraud alert from American Express. The caller ID looked legitimate, and the representative sounded real. The call only became suspicious when the questions became more specific, including requests for parts of his Social Security number. Alex hung up, called American Express directly, and confirmed the call was fake. In another case, he received a text about a real hotel reservation. The message had the correct hotel name, dates, and details, but it included a deadline to update payment information. Alex contacted the hotel directly and learned their system had been hacked. We also talk about why these scams are so effective. They are no longer built from complete fiction. Criminals use real information from hacked systems, public records, or social media, then insert themselves into real events. That makes the scam feel believable. Caller ID spoofing, email spoofing, fake websites, and AI voice cloning all make the problem worse. Ed explains the best defenses. Slow down. Verify independently. Do not click suspicious links. Call the number on the back of your card or go directly to the company's website. Use multi-factor authentication where it matters most. Use strong, unique passwords, ideally with a password manager. Talk openly with family members, especially older relatives, about scams before they happen. The episode also covers the grandparent scam, where a caller pretends to be a grandchild in trouble and asks for money quickly. With AI voice cloning, these calls can sound even more convincing. The best response is to have a family plan. Verify with another family member before sending money. The main message is simple. You do not have to understand every new scam or every new technology. You just have to recognize pressure, urgency, fear, or confusion. Pause, breathe, and verify before acting. You can always email Alex and Ed at info@birchrunfinancial.com or give them a call at 484-395-2190.Or visit them on the web at https://www.birchrunfinancial.com/Alex and Ed's Book: Mastering The Money Mind: https://www.amazon.com/Mastering-Money-Mind-Thinking-Personal/dp/1544530536Any opinions are those of Ed Lambert Alex Cabot, financial advisors, RJFS, and Jon Gay, and not necessarily those of RJFS or Raymond James. The information contained in this report does not purport to be a complete description of the securities, markets, or developments referred to in this material. There is no assurance any of the trends mentioned will continue or forecasts will occur. The information has been obtained from sources considered to be reliable, but Raymond James does not guarantee that the foregoing material is accurate or complete. Any information is not a complete summary or statement of all available data necessary for making an investment decision and does not constitute a recommendation. The examples throughout this material are for illustrative purposes only. Raymond James does not provide tax or legal services. Please discuss these matters with the appropriate professional. Diversification and asset allocation do not ensure a profit or protect against a loss. Past performance is not indicative of future returns. This information is not intended as a solicitation or an offer to buy or sell any security referred to herein. Future investment performance cannot be guaranteed, investment yields will fluctuate with market conditions There is an inverse relationship between interest rate movements and bond prices. Generally, when interest rates rise, bond prices fall and when interest rates fall, bond prices generally rise. Investing in small cap stocks generally involves greater risks, and therefore, may not be appropriate for every investor. The prices of small company stocks may be subject to more volatility than those of large company stocks. Bond prices and yields are subject to change based upon market conditions and availability. If bonds are sold prior to maturity, you may receive more or less than your initial investment. Holding bonds to term allows redemption at par value. There is an inverse relationship between interest rate movements and fixed income prices. Generally, when interest rates rise, fixed income prices fall and when interest rates fall, fixed income prices rise.Risk Considerations:There are special risks associated with investing with bonds such as interest rate risk, market risk, call risk, prepayment risk, credit risk, reinvestment risk, and unique tax consequences. To learn more about these risks and the suitability of these bonds for you, please contact our office.Bonds are subject to risk factors including:Default Risk - the risk that the issuer of the bond might default on its obligationRating Downgrade - the risk that a rating agency lowers a debt issuer's bond ratingReinvestment Risk - the risk that a bond might mature when interest rates fall, forcing the investor to accept lower rates of interest (this includes the risk of early redemption when a company calls its bonds before maturity)Interest Rate Risk - this is the risk that bond prices tend to fall as interest rates rise.Liquidity Risk - the risk that a creditor may not be able to liquidate the bond before maturity.Securities offered through Raymond James Financial Services, Inc. Member FINRA/SIPC. Investment advisory services offered through Raymond James Financial Services Advisors, Inc. Birch Run Financial is not a registered broker/dealer and is independent of Raymond James Financial Services. Birch Run Financial is located at 595 E Swedesford Rd, Ste 360, Wayne PA 19087 and can be reached at 484-395-2190.Any rating is not intended to be an endorsement, or any way indicative of the advisors' abilities to provide investment advice or management. This podcast is intended for informational purposes only.Links are being provided for information purposes only. Raymond James is not affiliated with and does not endorse, authorize, or sponsor any of the listed websites or their respective sponsors.Raymond James is not responsible for the content of any website or the collection or use of information regarding any website's users or members. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

For advisors considering independence, this episode is full of real-world perspective.Evan J. Mayer sits down with Paul Wood of Agility Wealth Management to talk about why advisors leave wirehouses, what holds them back, and how the right independent platform can create room for growth. They also discuss recruiting, succession, private equity, RIA models, and what it takes to support advisors across multiple locations.

In this episode, we look at a question many investors are asking right now: why own international stocks when U.S. stocks have done so well for so long? We start with the reality behind the question. Over the past decade, the S&P 500 has far outpaced developed international markets, and that gap has made investors wonder whether international exposure still matters. Ed explains that this skepticism is understandable. Many large U.S. companies, including Apple, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Amazon, already sell products around the world and benefit from global growth. That makes it easy to think a U.S. stock portfolio already provides enough global exposure. But the other side of the issue is concentration. The U.S. market now represents roughly 60 to 65 percent of global market capitalization, which means a U.S. only investor is choosing to leave out about 35 to 40 percent of the global stock market. Now, this is not an anti U.S. argument. U.S. companies remain dominant, innovative, and important. The point is that diversification asks whether it makes sense to concentrate entirely in one country, even one as strong as the United States. The discussion then turns to history. Alex explains that market leadership is never permanent, even though it often feels permanent in the moment. Investors are shaped by what they have recently experienced. Today, many younger investors have only known an environment where U.S. equities beat international markets. That can make diversification feel unnecessary. But in earlier periods, international stocks, emerging markets, and even fixed income led for meaningful stretches of time. The lesson is not that international stocks are guaranteed to outperform next. The lesson is that no one knows what will lead next. Alex describes diversification as an exercise in humility. We do not diversify because we know what is going to happen. We diversify because we do not know. Trying to build a portfolio around yesterday's winners can turn investing into performance chasing. That may work for a while, but history shows that trends change, valuations shift, currencies move, and leadership rotates. Our main takeaway is that diversification can feel frustrating during long periods when one asset class dominates. But its purpose is not to win every year. Its purpose is to build a portfolio that can handle many different market environments over time. International exposure remains part of that discipline because it adds different currencies, economies, industries, demographics, and market cycles to a long term investment plan. You can always email Alex and Ed at info@birchrunfinancial.com or give them a call at 484-395-2190.Or visit them on the web at https://www.birchrunfinancial.com/Alex and Ed's Book: Mastering The Money Mind: https://www.amazon.com/Mastering-Money-Mind-Thinking-Personal/dp/1544530536 Any opinions are those of Ed Lambert Alex Cabot, financial advisors, RJFS, and Jon Gay, and not necessarily those of RJFS or Raymond James. The information contained in this report does not purport to be a complete description of the securities, markets, or developments referred to in this material. There is no assurance any of the trends mentioned will continue or forecasts will occur. The information has been obtained from sources considered to be reliable, but Raymond James does not guarantee that the foregoing material is accurate or complete. Any information is not a complete summary or statement of all available data necessary for making an investment decision and does not constitute a recommendation. The examples throughout this material are for illustrative purposes only. Raymond James does not provide tax or legal services. Please discuss these matters with the appropriate professional. Diversification and asset allocation do not ensure a profit or protect against a loss. Past performance is not indicative of future returns. CDs are insured by the FDIC and offer a fixed rate of return, whereas the return and principal value of investment securities fluctuate with changes in market conditions. The S&P 500 is an unmanaged index of 500 widely held stocks that is generally considered representative of the U.S. Stock Market. Keep in mind that individuals cannot invest directly in any index, and index performance does not include transaction costs or other fees, which will affect actual investment performance. Individual investor's results will vary. This information is not intended as a solicitation or an offer to buy or sell any security referred to herein. Future investment performance cannot be guaranteed, investment yields will fluctuate with market conditions. International investing involves special risks, including currency fluctuations, differing financial accounting standards, and possible political and economic volatility. There is an inverse relationship between interest rate movements and bond prices. Generally, when interest rates rise, bond prices fall and when interest rates fall, bond prices generally rise. Investing in small cap stocks generally involves greater risks, and therefore, may not be appropriate for every investor. The prices of small company stocks may be subject to more volatility than those of large company stocks. Securities offered through Raymond James Financial Services, Inc. Member FINRA/SIPC. Investment advisory services offered through Raymond James Financial Services Advisors, Inc. Birch Run Financial is not a registered broker/dealer and is independent of Raymond James Financial Services. Birch Run Financial is located at 595 E Swedesford Rd, Ste 360, Wayne PA 19087 and can be reached at 484-395-2190. Any rating is not intended to be an endorsement, or any way indicative of the advisors' abilities to provide investment advice or management. This podcast is intended for informational purposes only.Links are being provided for information purposes only. Raymond James is not affiliated with and does not endorse, authorize, or sponsor any of the listed websites or their respective sponsors.Raymond James is not responsible for the content of any website or the collection or use of information regarding any website's users or members. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

A couple had done everything right — dual income, debt-free, millions saved in tax-deferred accounts — and they were on track to hand $10 million to the IRS. Not because they made bad decisions, but because nobody had ever shown them what "doing everything right" actually costs without proactive planning.In this episode, Gabe sits down with Rob Bedinghaus, Ph.D., CFP® — founder of Bedinghaus Wealth Planning and author of Beyond the Numbers — to dig into the retirement planning conversations most advisors never have. Rob brings a teacher's instinct to every client meeting, and this episode reflects that: clear frameworks, real scenarios, and a perspective on legacy that goes well beyond the balance sheet.Listeners will walk away with a clearer picture of the income gaps retirees face, a practical mental model for surviving market volatility, and a compelling case for why tax planning and retirement planning are the same conversation.About Rob BedinghausRob Bedinghaus, Ph.D., CFP® is the founder of Bedinghaus Wealth Planning, an independent practice in Lebanon, Ohio affiliated with Raymond James. A second-generation financial advisor, Rob spent six years in higher education at Indiana University before joining his father's practice in 2015. He has worked with hundreds of families navigating retirement transitions, previously overseeing more than $130 million in client assets at Edward Jones before building his own independent firm. He is the author of Beyond the Numbers: Your Smart Guide to Retirement Income, Tax Efficiency, and Lasting Legacy.What We CoverWhy the shift from saving to spending is harder than most retirees expect — and how Rob helps clients break a 30-year saving mindsetThe bucket framework: how organizing money by time horizon keeps clients from panic-selling during market downturnsHow one couple's disciplined 401(k) savings had them on track for $700,000 in annual required minimum distributions and a projected $10 million lifetime tax billThe Roth conversion strategy that cut one couple's projected tax bill from $10 million to $2 millionWhat "living a legacy" means: giving while you're alive, seeing the impact, and passing values alongside wealthWhy qualified charitable distributions are one of the most underused tax tools for charitably-minded retireesResources MentionedBeyond the Numbers: Your Smart Guide to Retirement Income, Tax Efficiency, and Lasting Legacy by Rob Bedinghaus, Ph.D., CFP® — free e-copy available at beyondnumbersbook.comConnect withWebsite: bedinghauswealth.comBook website: beyondnumbersbook.comLinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/robbedinghausSupport the show

Investors digest cybersecurity earnings, AI developments and shifting risk appetite. Mandy Xu of Cboe explains how options traders are positioning and where speculative activity is building. Palo Alto Networks headlines earnings. Saket Kalia of Barclays breaks down the results and what they signal for cybersecurity spending, enterprise demand and the broader software landscape. Ulta and GitLab add fresh reads on the consumer and technology spending. A major conversation on AI in healthcare: our Kate Rooney sits down with Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman and Mayo Clinic CEO Dr. Gianrico Farrugia to discuss how artificial intelligence is transforming medicine, research and patient care. Sunhaina Sinha of Raymond James discusses the capital raising environment and whether funding conditions are improving for companies and investors. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Brianne Gardner, portfolio manager & senior wealth manager at Velocity Investment Partners, Raymond James, shares her outlook on North American Equities.

According to the 2025 National Conversations in the Workplace Study, 85% of working Americans believe leaders should be held to a higher standard for communication and preparation. In today's workplace, leadership is no longer just about strategy or authority. It's about clarity, emotional intelligence, and the ability to create trust before pressure-filled moments arrive. People follow leaders who communicate with intention, empathy, and authenticity. On this episode, I'm joined by Sandy Gerber, an award-winning Certified Communication Coach, Emotional Intelligence Trainer, bestselling author, keynote speaker, and host of the Magnetic Communication Podcast. With more than 25 years of experience helping leaders and organizations transform the way they communicate, Sandy has become one of North America's leading voices on emotionally intelligent leadership and human connection. Sandy is the creator of Emotional Magnetism, a groundbreaking communication framework now taught in academic programs, implemented in leadership development initiatives, and published in three languages. Her internationally acclaimed book, Emotional Magnetism, has earned 24 international awards and continues to help readers strengthen relationships, deepen self-awareness, and communicate with more confidence and compassion. In this conversation, Sandy shares the deeply personal experiences that shaped her work, including rebuilding her life after two failed marriages, raising two children as a single mother, and scaling NEXT Marketing Agency from her bedroom into one of British Columbia's Top 100 Fastest Growing Companies. She explains how the same emotional intelligence and communication principles that transformed her personal life also became the foundation for her professional success in high-pressure industries like finance, technology, and construction. Throughout her career, Sandy has worked with globally recognized brands including A&W Food Services of Canada, Molson Coors Beverage Company, TELUS, British Columbia Lottery Corporation, Grand Marnier, Raymond James, and St. John Ambulance, helping organizations improve engagement, collaboration, workplace culture, and retention through emotionally intelligent communication strategies. Sandy also discusses the leadership lessons behind her proprietary frameworks including The EQ Switch, Connection Cues, Honest Questions, and Connected Conversations, and why emotional awareness has become one of the most valuable skills in modern leadership. Her insights reveal how leaders can navigate conflict more effectively, foster psychological safety, and create environments where people genuinely feel seen, heard, and understood. Recognized with honors including the 2025 Women of Influence Creative Innovator Award, the Fast Company World-Changing Ideas Award, the Women of Worth Award, the Real Leaders Impact Award, and the Transform Global Marketing Award, Sandy continues to inspire audiences through her coaching, speaking, podcast, and live experiences designed to help people communicate with more truth, compassion, and connection. This episode is a powerful conversation about leadership, resilience, emotional intelligence, and the life-changing impact of learning how to truly connect with others. And yes, you'll also hear why Sandy still considers winning a limbo contest at age 14 one of her proudest accomplishments.   For more information: https://sandygerber.com/ Discover More https://sandygerber.com/drift-quiz/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Javed Mirza, quantitative and technical strategist at Raymond James, shares his outlook on Canadian Stocks.

Lisa Detanna has spent decades helping families, founders and executives navigate wealth, markets and uncertainty - and in this episode of the Why Not Now? podcast, she joins Amy Jo Martin for a candid conversation about AI, investing, financial psychology and what the future of money may actually look like.   As Managing Director and Senior Vice President of Investments at Raymond James, Lisa has guided clients through multiple market cycles, economic shifts and technological revolutions.   Together, Amy Jo and Lisa unpack some of the biggest misconceptions surrounding artificial intelligence and the economy, including whether AI is truly replacing jobs, how companies are reallocating capital toward innovation, and why market volatility doesn't always mean panic.   They also explore the emotional side of money: behavioral finance, psychological safety, decision-making under pressure and how AI tools are beginning to help people better understand not just their finances, but their time, habits and energy.   You'll hear Lisa's practical insights on investing during periods of uncertainty, diversification, retirement planning, compounding wealth, longevity planning to age 120 (yes, 120!), and why staying informed matters more than reacting to headlines.   This episode is both grounding and forward-looking - a conversation about embracing change without losing perspective. If you've been trying to make sense of AI's impact on markets, careers, investing and everyday life, this discussion offers clarity, context and a refreshing dose of calm.    Learn more about Lisa here.    Amy Jo has a professional partnership with Lisa and her team at Raymond James via the Renegade Multi Family Office. If you'd like to learn more about working with Lisa, reach out to Amy Jo at amy@amyjomartin.com.   Amy Jo Martin speaks globally on Humanizing AI, Leadership, Decision-Making, and the Future of Work. Learn more about keynote topics and availability: amyjomartin.com/speaking   Learn more about Amy Jo: https://amyjomartin.com/ Get Amy Jo's newsletter: https://amyjomartin.com/newsletter Watch Amy Jo's Speaking Reel: https://amyjomartin.com/speaking   Follow Amy Jo… Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/amyjomartin/ X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/amyjomartin Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AmyJoMartin/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@AmyJoMartinRenegade Why Not Now? Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/whynotnow/ Buy Amy Jo's book: https://amyjomartin.com/book Follow Renegade Global: https://www.instagram.com/renegade_global

She helped advisors make the move for two decades. Then she had to make it herself. A headhunter called. Shannon said she would do a five minute call just to give a name. Several months later she was the new president of Ozark. This is not a story about being unhappy. Shannon loved Raymond James, still does and is still a shareholder. This is a story about a harder kind of decision: the one where everything is fine and something still pulls you toward more. The turning point came from advice she had already given her own daughter. Kaylee got into the Naval Academy while her friends headed to Florida State. Shannon told her: if you don't try this, you will be my age wondering what if. That same question came back when she was sitting with her own decision about Ozark. Now she is leading a firm that calls itself a four billion dollar startup. Ozark completed its Journey to One consolidation last summer, meaning it has only operated as a single unified firm for nine months. It is multicustodial, working with BNY, NFS, Schwab, and Investnet. And it is building a platform it describes as adaptable, designed to put new tools in front of advisors fast, including AI tools already in use across the firm. Frank and Shannon also get into what AI actually means for advisors. Not that it will replace them, but that advisors who use AI will pull ahead of those who do not. The advisor of the future will manage AI the way today's advisor manages a team of managers. And the thing that will matter most in that world is the one thing AI still cannot replicate: a real human being picking up the phone.   Questions answered in this episode include: How do you walk away from a firm you genuinely love after 22 years? What is the mental exercise that helped Shannon finally decide to join Ozark? Why did Ozark describe itself as a four billion dollar startup? What does multicustodial really mean for an advisor trying to grow their practice? How is AI changing the day to day work of a financial advisor? Will AI replace financial advisors? What does it look like for a firm to build a platform for the future rather than just the present?   Chapters: 1:00 - Introduction: Shannon Reid, President of Ozark 3:01 - The Conversation That Started Everything 6:44 - What If You Never Try 9:41 - Ozark: A $4 Billion Startup 11:03 - Journey to One and What Comes Next 14:29 - The Multicustodial Advantage 18:35 - AI and the Future of the Financial Advisor   Learn more about Elite and our resources: Elite Consulting Partners | Financial Advisor Transitions https://eliteconsultingpartners.com Elite Marketing Concepts | Marketing Services for Financial Advisors https://elitemarketingconcepts.com Elite Advisor Successions | Advisor Mergers and Acquisitions https://eliteadvisorsuccessions.com JEDI Database Solutions | Technology Solutions for Advisors https://jedidatabasesolutions.com Elite Wealth Management Insights Report https://eliteconsultingpartners.com/insight-report Listen to more Advisor Talk episodes https://eliteconsultingpartners.com/podcasts/

In "Reducing TCO Through Renewable Natural Gas" Joe Lynch and Scott Brinner, Vice President of RNG Solutions at Nopetro Energy, discuss how fleets can cut emissions while boosting their bottom line. Efficiency meets sustainability. About Scott Brinner Scott Brinner serves as the executive Vice President of RNG Solutions at Nopetro Energy, where he is responsible for developing and executing the division's strategy, business development and expansion. His prior experiences include working as a CPA with Ernst & Young, executive vice president, Corporate Development & Strategic Accounts, at OmniTRAX, and as an investment banker with Wells Fargo and Raymond James, where he advised companies in transportation/logistics and waste/environmental services. Scott has an MBA from the University of Chicago and received both a BS, in Accounting and Finance, as well as a Master's in Accountancy, from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.  About Nopetro Energy Founded in 2008, Nopetro Energy is a vertically integrated energy leader focused on the production and distribution of renewable natural gas (RNG) for heavy duty transportation and industrial consumption. The company provides end-to-end energy and transportation management solutions, helping government agencies and companies strengthen fuel independence and create lasting economic value. Nopetro designs, builds, finances and operates both renewable natural gas production plants and fueling stations, allowing fleets to transition to this substantially less expensive, cleaner and domestically produced alternative to diesel. Visit www.nopetroenergy.com to discover how Nopetro is leading the way to a more energy-independent and financially predictable future. Key Takeaways: Reducing TCO Through Renewable Natural Gas In "Reducing TCO Through Renewable Natural Gas" Joe Lynch and Scott Brinner, Vice President of RNG Solutions at Nopetro Energy, discuss how fleets can cut emissions while boosting their bottom line. Efficiency meets sustainability. RNG as a Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) Driver: Unlike many "green" technologies that require a financial sacrifice, transitioning to Renewable Natural Gas can actually lower the total cost of ownership. While the trucks may have a higher upfront cost (roughly $70k–$90k more), the significantly lower and more stable fuel prices can lead to a payback period of just 2 to 3 years. The "Closed Ecosystem" of RNG: RNG is a vertically integrated solution that captures organic waste from landfills, dairy farms, and wastewater treatment plants. By cleaning these molecules and putting them into the pipeline, Nopetro turns a potential environmental pollutant into a high-performance fuel that can achieve zero or even negative carbon emissions. The Game-Changing Cummins X15N Engine: Historically, the trucking industry lacked an engine with the power and torque required for heavy-duty, 80,000+ lb loads. The new 15-liter natural gas engine from Cummins is a "workhorse" that matches diesel performance, range, and horsepower, removing the primary technical barrier for over-the-road fleets. Fuel Price Stability vs. Diesel Volatility: Because RNG is domestic and tied to stable natural gas indices rather than global oil markets, it protects fleets from "spikes" caused by international conflict. This allows for predictable budgeting and even the potential for long-term, fixed-price fuel contracts—unheard of in the diesel world. Proven Success in Adjacent Sectors: While OTR trucking is in the early stages of adoption, the waste management and transit industries have already proven the model. Nearly 50% of waste refuse trucks and 40% of transit buses in the U.S. now run on natural gas because it is more economical and easier to maintain. Infrastructure and "Behind the Fence" Solutions: Fleet owners don't have to wait for a public station on every corner. Nopetro specializes in building dedicated fueling stations directly at or near truck terminals. This "hub and spoke" approach ensures that dedicated routes have reliable, high-pressure fueling exactly where they need it. Sustainability as a Competitive Edge: Large shippers (the Scope 1 and Scope 3 emission-focused companies) are increasingly looking for "greener" partners. Trucking companies using RNG can offer a cleaner solution at the same or lower price than diesel, often securing longer-term contracts (5–7 years) by providing the carbon-neutral results that customers demand. Learn More About Reducing TCO Through Renewable Natural Gas Scott Brinner | Linkedin Nopetro Energy | Linkedin Nopetro Energy Nopetro Projects Nopetro Info Email The Logistics of Logistics Podcast If you enjoy the podcast, please leave a positive review, subscribe, and share it with your friends and colleagues. The Logistics of Logistics Podcast: Google, Apple, Castbox, Spotify, Stitcher, PlayerFM, Tunein, Podbean, Owltail, Libsyn, Overcast Check out The Logistics of Logistics on Youtube

From buying into a mismanaged family business on his mother's advice to selling at an incredibly high multiple to a PE-backed acquirer, Nate Collins shares how he built a transferable licensing company, what the post-exit "liminal period" really looks like, and why personal well-being is a greater predictor of company success than the reverse. In this episode of the DealQuest Podcast, host Corey Kupfer sits down with Nate Collins, a former CEO who managed a successful exit of his international theatrical licensing company to a large PE-backed music licensing company. Nate now works as a financial advisor and certified exit planning advisor at Raymond James, helping business owners, CEOs, and their families navigate exits both financially and emotionally. WHAT YOU'LL LEARN In this episode, you'll discover why switching from cash to accrual-based GAAP accounting early creates enormous buyer confidence, how cloud-based systems reduced licensing time from four weeks to four hours, and what makes a business truly transferable. Nate explains the "liminal period" that researchers have identified in post-exit CEOs, why feelings of worthlessness can persist for years even with significant wealth, and why a Dutch study found that personal well-being is a greater predictor of company success than the reverse. NATE'S JOURNEY Nate's path to business ownership started with a phone call from his mother. A privately held theatrical licensing company owned by about 16 different families had shares available. His mother owned some from her mother, and she told Nate he needed to buy in. By any professional investment standard, it made no sense. No dividends. An overpaid CEO. No reinvestment in the business. But he trusted his mother, the price was low, and he bought in. About eight years later, the existing CEO had to be fired, and Nate stepped into leadership. He had been working in private equity and investment banking on the capital markets side and held an MBA, but none of that fully prepared him for the CEO role. He describes himself as a CEO operator, not a CEO salesperson, someone who looked at the org chart upside down and focused on supporting the rest of the team rather than being the public face. Over eight to nine years, Nate transformed the company. He oversaw roughly a 97% attrition rate while rebuilding the team, switched to accrual-based GAAP accounting on his CFO's advice, and invested in a cloud-based tech stack that made the company fully remote in 2012, two weeks before Superstorm Sandy knocked out power in lower Manhattan. The company reduced licensing time from over four weeks to under four hours. When it came time to sell, the buyer, a music licensing company roughly ten times larger, adopted the entire tech stack for its own future growth. The company sold at what Nate describes as an incredibly high multiple. Then the real challenge began. THE LIMINAL PERIOD Nate references research by South African researchers who identified the "liminal period," the time between leaving one chapter and finding the next, marked by feelings of worthlessness, confusion, and depression. Nate experienced it for three to four years, with stretches where he would sleep only three or four hours a night, flooded with anxiety. He had significant money in the bank, was an expert in financial planning, and was still convinced he would be living out of the back of his car with his family in ten years. He talks about purpose, community, and identity as the elements that collapsed overnight. A business coach later helped him add a fourth dimension, health. Together, these capture what disappears when you sell. The purpose of supporting a team every day. The community of colleagues. The identity of being CEO. And the health foundation that gets undermined when income shifts from a regular paycheck to capital you don't know how to relate to. KEY INSIGHTS Exit readiness and operational excellence are the same pursuit. Nate didn't build cloud systems or switch to GAAP accounting to sell. He did it because he hated putting out fires. Every improvement that made the business better to run also made it dramatically more transferable and valuable. Purpose comes from relevance, not soul-searching. The advice to "go find a purpose" is too abstract. What works is finding where you are relevant to others, where your presence is improving someone's life. Personal well-being predicts company success. A Dutch study found that personal well-being was a greater predictor of company success than the reverse. Business owners who wait until after the exit to invest in their own health are leaving both fulfillment and business performance on the table. Wealth management has three legs, not one. Tax strategy and asset protection are as critical as investment management, especially for business owners whose wealth is concentrated in a single illiquid asset. Build community and purpose outside your business while you still have it. The people in your business will forget you existed the day after you sell. Relationships and meaning outside the company are how you avoid the worst of the liminal period. Perfect for business owners planning exits, entrepreneurs thinking about transferability, and founders who worry about what comes after the sale. FOR MORE ON THIS EPISODE https://www.coreykupfer.com/blog/natecollins FOR MORE ON NATE COLLINS LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nate-collins/ Company: https://www.raymondjames.com/founderwealthstrategies/events FOR MORE ON COREY KUPFER https://www.linkedin.com/in/coreykupfer/ https://www.coreykupfer.com/ Corey Kupfer is an expert strategist, negotiator, and dealmaker. He has more than 35 years of professional deal-making and negotiating experience. Corey is a successful entrepreneur, attorney, consultant, author, and professional speaker. He is deeply passionate about deal-driven growth. He is also the creator and host of the DealQuest Podcast. Get deal-ready with the DealQuest Podcast with Corey Kupfer, where like-minded entrepreneurs and business leaders converge, share insights and challenges, and success stories. Equip yourself with the tools, resources, and support necessary to navigate the complex yet rewarding world of dealmaking. Dive into the world of deal-driven growth today! Episode Highlights with Timestamps [00:03:23] - Introduction and bio [00:07:05] - First deal, buying into a family-owned licensing company on his mother's recommendation[00:09:19] - Transforming the company with 97% attrition and building a dynamic team[00:14:03] - How theatrical licensing works, from school plays to international tours [00:18:52] - Switching to accrual-based GAAP accounting and the impact on buyer confidence [00:20:25] - Cloud systems, surviving Superstorm Sandy, and reducing licensing time from four weeks to four hours [00:25:30] - Written processes and procedures as a transferability driver [00:30:04] - Being a CEO operator versus a CEO salesperson [00:32:12] - The liminal period, post-exit depression, and the smallest violin problem [00:36:08] - Losing purpose, community, and identity overnight after the sale [00:41:04] - Finding purpose through relevance to others [00:45:51] - Dutch study linking personal well-being to company success Guest Bio Nate Collins is a former CEO who managed a successful exit of his international theatrical licensing company to a large PE-backed music licensing company in 2019. The company was a mid-market business with roughly 100 employees and mid-eight figures in revenue. Before becoming CEO, Nate worked in private equity and investment banking. He now works as a financial advisor and certified exit planning advisor at Raymond James, helping business owners, CEOs, and their families with tax mitigation, estate planning, financial planning, and preparation for life after exit. He runs a quarterly business exit planning workshop and is completing a workbook to guide business owners through the exit process. Host Bio Corey Kupfer is an expert strategist, negotiator, and dealmaker with more than 35 years of professional deal-making and negotiating experience. Corey is a successful entrepreneur, attorney, consultant, author, and professional speaker deeply passionate about deal-driven growth. He is the creator and host of the DealQuest Podcast. Show Description Do you want your business to grow faster? The DealQuest Podcast with Corey Kupfer reveals how successful entrepreneurs and business leaders use strategic deals to accelerate growth. From large mergers and acquisitions to capital raising, joint ventures, strategic alliances, real estate deals, and more, this show discusses the full spectrum of deal-driven growth strategies. Get the confidence to pursue deals that will help your company scale faster. Related Episodes Dave Hersh: The Psychology Behind Successful Exits (referenced in this episode for the "smallest violin" concept around post-exit struggles) Episode 366 - Jodi Hume: Founder Exits and the Emotional Journey Behind Major Business Decisions Episode 328 - Richard Manders: Post-Exit Transitions and Finding Purpose After Selling Your Company Episode 302 - Laurie Barkman: Preparing for a Successful Exit with Business Transition Insights Episode 330 - Pete Mohr: Building Enterprise Value and Exit Readiness Keywords/Tags post-exit depression, liminal period, exit planning, business transferability, CEO identity crisis, company valuation drivers, personal well-being business success, accrual-based accounting, exit readiness, licensing business model, sell your business preparation, post-sale anxiety, purpose after exit, mid-market exit, roll-up acquisition, business systems documentation, cloud-based operations, wealth management entrepreneurs, tax strategy business owners, certified exit planning advisor

"The primary asset of any high-performance organization is not its capital, but the quality of the decisions made by its leaders. And quality decisions require a clear mind." — Ray DalioSunaina Sinha is Global Head of Private Capital Advisory at Raymond James, with $1.7 trillion in assets under management.In an industry where "red-lining" toward burnout is a badge of honor, Sunaina has spent 15 years honing a different weapon: radical stillness. Through a dedicated meditation practice, the finance executive has transformed mental fitness into a measurable business ROI, proving that composure is the ultimate competitive advantage in volatile markets.Sunaina has been recognized by the Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones as one of the most influential figures in private equity. She is also dual-degree graduate of Stanford and Harvard, a certified sommelier, and mother of three.In this episode:• The secret to high-stakes presence and productivity.• How to balance career with family.• The #1 way to start any important meeting.• Why the long game is the only game worth playing.Before we begin, the right bit of inspiration can completely change the trajectory of someone's life, so if there's a friend or loved one who needs to hear this episode or could use some help to Win the Day, share it with them right now.Let's WIN THE DAY with Sunaina Sinha!_

Send us Fan MailIn Episode of Coffee N5, Lara Schmoisman chats with Ilya Seglin, Managing Director at Raymond James. Ilya dives deep into the world of finance, explaining what it takes for a brand to raise growth capital or achieve a successful strategic exit. They discuss the reality of "alphabet soup" fundraising (Series A, B, and beyond) and why having a "forever brand" is the ultimate goal for major acquirers.• Key Topics Covered:The difference between Strategic Acquirers and Private Equity (The "Marriage vs. Divorce" analogy).When is the right time to stop self-funding and look for outside investors?The importance of unit economics, repeat purchase behavior, and product differentiation.Why a Sephora or Ulta launch could either make or destroy your business.The "Halo Effect": How digital data informs retail success.3 Things a brand should NEVER do when trying to scale.• About Ilya Seglin: Ilya Seglin is a seasoned investment banker specializing in the consumer and beauty sectors. With years of experience at firms like Raymond James, he has been a key player in some of the most significant deals in the industry. He helps founders navigate the complexities of raising capital, finding the right strategic partners, and preparing their businesses for long-term sustainability and eventual sale. Stay Connected with The DARL:  Instagram: thedarlagency  Facebook: thedarlagency  LinkedIn: about  X: https://x.com/thedarlagency  Website: https://thedarl.com/ Don't forget to like, comment, and subscribe for more expert advice on marketing, branding, and career growth!#MarketingCareer #CoffeeN5Podcast #IlyaSeglin #BrandExit #InvestmentBanking #BeautyIndustry #StartupFunding #DigitalMarketingAgency #TheDARL #BusinessGrowthlinkedin.comTHE DARL | LinkedInTHE DARL | 17,178 followers on LinkedIn. We are breaking the rules. We are raising the bar. | We are a boutique agency that's breaking the rules and raising the bar. We are visionaries who love challenges. We are creative without limits.The Darl (@thedarlagency) on XAs a boutique marketing and production agency, we offer a dynamic approach to the new digital media era.X (formerly Twitter)The DarlIntegrated MarketingThe No-Agency Agency means lean, agile, and transparent marketing built for your brand's success.Support the show

In this episode, Nate Collins from Raymond James shares insights on how sophisticated capital evaluates companies beyond revenue and EBITDA, emphasizing the importance of building a scalable, well-structured business to attract premium valuation and prepare for liquidity events.

CONVENTION SPONSORS: Bird Dog Whiskey and Cocktails, Benelli, & Raymond James.The Ducks Unlimited National Convention is more than a meeting — it's a celebration of people, conservation, and one of the greatest fundraising achievements in conservation history.In this episode, host Jimbo Robinson is joined by DU President Bob Spoerl, National Convention Chair Jared Brown, and Managing Director of National Conferences Pattie Kempka for a full preview of the 2026 Ducks Unlimited National Convention in Tampa, Florida. From opening night at the Florida Aquarium to the culmination of DU's historic $3‑billion conservation campaign, this conversation breaks down why the national convention is unlike any DU event at the state or local level.The group walks listeners through the full week — fishing tournaments, conservation tours, business sessions, recognition events, keynote speakers, and the energy that comes with gathering more than a thousand committed DU volunteers and supporters in one place.Whether you're a longtime volunteer, a first‑time convention attendee, or someone who has supported DU in any way over the past few years, come hear why Tampa is the place to be!REGISTER NOW! @ Convention.ducks.orgSPONSORS:Purina Pro Plan: The official performance dog food of Ducks UnlimitedWhether you're a seasoned hunter or just getting started, this episode is packed with valuable insights into the world of waterfowl hunting and conservation.Bird Dog Whiskey and Cocktails:Whether you're winding down with your best friend, or celebrating with your favorite crew, Bird Dog brings award-winning flavor to every moment. Enjoy responsibly.

This hour: David Faber, Sara Eisen, and Michael Santoli kicked off the hour with the latest takeaways from earnings before diving into the market outlook with Piper Sandler's Chief Investment Strategist. Plus: how to trade Tesla as shares fall post-results with one analyst forecasting more pain to come... and a deep-dive on the health of the economy with the CEO of Raymond James, fresh off record numbers from their company.  Elsewhere this hour: exclusive results from CNBC's latest All-America Survey, exclusive comments from IBM's CEO, and more on software's  slump in the early trade... And don't miss a discussion on whether AI's future is open source with the CEO of Nvidia-backed AI company 'Reflection'.  Squawk on the Street Disclaimer Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Longevity Planning with Eliot Weissberg Hosts Brad and Cory speak with Eliot Weissberg of The Investors Center Our guest on this episode is Eliot Weissberg. Eliot is President of The Investors Center, a financial planning and longevity planning practice. Their goal is to guide people to discover and leverage their capacity to age confidently, in part by utilizing "TimeLining" which Eliot created and trademarked in 2009. Eliot is a CFP and a CAPS (Certified Aging in Place Specialist). He is a member of the National Aging In Place Council (NAIPC) and the MIT AgeLab They discuss:  What a Certified Aging in Place Specialist is  Longevity planning and how it can help grow your business  How to implement an investment strategy to compliment longevity, and to what age Contact Eliot: www.theinvestorscenter.com     Eliot Weissberg, CFP®, CAPS is a Branch Manager with Raymond James Financial Services and President of The Investors Center. He can be reached at 860-677-8808 / 70 E Main St. Ste 5, Avon CT, 06001. Securities offered through Raymond James Financial Services, Inc., member FINRA / SIPC. Investment advisory services offered through Raymond James  Financial Services Advisors, Inc. The Investors Center is not a registered broker/dealer and is independent of Raymond James Financial Services.

So, what is next for this record setting rally? We discuss with Partners Group's Anastasia Amoroso. Plus, airline analysts are cutting their forecasts ahead of a busy week of earnings for the sector. We discuss with top analyst Savanthi Syth from Raymond James. And, Capital Wealth Planning's Kevin Simpson breaks down his latest trades. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Every firm says they have great culture. Very few can back it up. Raymond James can. And in this episode, they explain exactly how. Frank LaRosa sits down with Jodi Perry, Head of Advisor Recruitment and Business Development and Todd Ferguson, Chief Information and Security Officer at Raymond James, for a wide ranging conversation recorded live at the Ignite Conference. The group breaks down what it really means to put the advisor in the driver's seat, why the freedom versus independence distinction matters more than most advisors realize and how Raymond James has been doing for 25 years what other firms are only now starting to talk about, including putting the advisor's ownership of their business in writing through the Advisor Bill of Rights. The conversation also gets into AI and technology in a way you will not hear anywhere else. The group breaks down how Raymond James is investing $1 billion in technology to give advisors more time for the relationship side of the business, how their opportunities platform surfaces client service gaps before they become problems and what every advisor needs to know about protecting their clients from bad actors and digital fraud in today's environment.   Questions answered in this episode include: Why is Raymond James a strong option for financial advisors right now regardless of where they are in their career? What is the difference between freedom and independence at Raymond James? What is the Advisor Bill of Rights and why does no other W2 firm offer it? How is Raymond James investing $1 billion in technology to help advisors grow their practices? Will AI reduce headcount in an advisory practice or expand its capacity? What should advisors do right now to protect their clients from bad actors and digital fraud? How does Raymond James approach advisor recruiting differently from other firms?   Chapters: 01:02 – Welcome: Ignite Conference Edition with Jodi Perry and Todd Ferguson 02:03 – Why Raymond James Now: Flexibility Across Every Stage of an Advisor's Career 03:38 – Culture Is Experiential: What That Really Means at Raymond James 05:31 – Freedom vs Independence: Why W2 at Raymond James Is Different 08:29 – The Advisor Bill of Rights: Putting Ownership in Writing 10:46 – AI and Technology: How Raymond James Is Using a $1 Billion Investment 15:57 – Bad Actors and Cybersecurity: What Every Advisor Needs to Know 25:20 – Quality Over Quantity: How Raymond James Thinks About Growth   Learn more about Elite and our resources: Elite Consulting Partners | Financial Advisor Transitions https://eliteconsultingpartners.com Elite Marketing Concepts | Marketing Services for Financial Advisors https://elitemarketingconcepts.com Elite Advisor Successions | Advisor Mergers and Acquisitions https://eliteadvisorsuccessions.com JEDI Database Solutions | Technology Solutions for Advisors https://jedidatabasesolutions.com Elite Wealth Management Insights Report https://eliteconsultingpartners.com/insight-report Listen to more Advisor Talk episodes https://eliteconsultingpartners.com/podcasts/

Most financial plans cover the numbers, but what about everything else? In this episode, Patti Brennan welcomes Frank McAleer, Key Financial's new Vitality Planning specialist, to introduce a concept that goes far beyond the balance sheet. Drawing on his personal caregiving experience and years of longevity planning at Raymond James, Frank explains why being financially prepared is only half the equation. Together, Patti and Frank explore the resources, tools, and conversations that help clients age with confidence. From aging-in-place assessments to Medicare navigation, family organization, fraud protection, and the MIT AgeLab's research on thriving in retirement, this episode is packed with resources you don't want to miss.

Raymond James sees more growth opportunities ahead for Okta Inc. (OKTA), according to the firm's latest upgrade on the company. Diane King Hall adds that dissipating headwinds and AI trends offer a bigger runway for the cybersecurity firm. It's a stark contrast from Flutter (FLUT), which got a double downgrade from Citi. Diane notes another downgrade on PayPal (PYPL) to neutral from outperform. ======== Schwab Network ========Empowering every investor and trader, every market day.Options involve risks and are not suitable for all investors. Before trading, read the Options Disclosure Document. http://bit.ly/2v9tH6DSubscribe to the Market Minute newsletter - https://schwabnetwork.com/subscribeDownload the iOS app - https://apps.apple.com/us/app/schwab-network/id1460719185Download the Amazon Fire Tv App - https://www.amazon.com/TD-Ameritrade-Network/dp/B07KRD76C7Watch on Sling - https://watch.sling.com/1/asset/191928615bd8d47686f94682aefaa007/watchWatch on Vizio - https://www.vizio.com/en/watchfreeplus-exploreWatch on DistroTV - https://www.distro.tv/live/schwab-network/Follow us on X – https://twitter.com/schwabnetworkFollow us on Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/schwabnetworkFollow us on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/schwab-network/About Schwab Network - https://schwabnetwork.com/about

In this episode of Carlsbad: People, Purpose and Impact, host Bret Schanzenbach welcomes JP Witkop, Vice President at Raymond James & Associates.JP shares his journey from Rochester, New York to Carlsbad, California, including his background as a collegiate hockey player and how those connections helped launch his career in financial advising. He discusses his transition from research and corporate finance into building his own advisory practice and now leading the Carlsbad office for Raymond James.The conversation highlights what sets Raymond James apart, including its advisor-first culture, flexible business models, and strong emphasis on independence and entrepreneurship. JP also discusses the firm's growth strategy on the West Coast and its commitment to community engagement in Carlsbad.Additionally, JP shares insights into his evolving focus on helping business owners navigate exit planning, leveraging Raymond James' investment banking and wealth management capabilities.Whether you're a business owner, financial professional, or Carlsbad local, this episode offers valuable insight into leadership, growth, and building a meaningful career. Did this episode have a special impact on you? Share how it impacted youCarlsbad Podcast Social Links:LinkedInInstagramFacebookXYouTubeSponsor: This show is sponsored and produced by DifMix Productions. To learn more about starting your own podcast, visit www.DifMix.com/podcasting

Marley Kayden covers the latest analyst upgrade on Walt Disney (DIS). Raymond James lifted the stock to Outperform from Market Perform, citing a “very attractive valuation.” Scott Bauer sells an iron condor example options trade on Walt Disney.======== Schwab Network ========Empowering every investor and trader, every market day.Options involve risks and are not suitable for all investors. Before trading, read the Options Disclosure Document. http://bit.ly/2v9tH6DSubscribe to the Market Minute newsletter - https://schwabnetwork.com/subscribeDownload the iOS app - https://apps.apple.com/us/app/schwab-network/id1460719185Download the Amazon Fire Tv App - https://www.amazon.com/TD-Ameritrade-Network/dp/B07KRD76C7Watch on Sling - https://watch.sling.com/1/asset/191928615bd8d47686f94682aefaa007/watchWatch on Vizio - https://www.vizio.com/en/watchfreeplus-exploreWatch on DistroTV - https://www.distro.tv/live/schwab-network/Follow us on X – https://twitter.com/schwabnetworkFollow us on Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/schwabnetworkFollow us on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/schwab-network/About Schwab Network - https://schwabnetwork.com/about

The Enlightened Family Business Podcast Ep. 156: The Hollow Win: What a $30M Exit Taught One CEO About Money, Purpose, and What Actually Matters with Nate collins   In this episode of the Enlightened Family Business Podcast, host Chris Yonker, interviews Nate Collins, of Raymond James on why family businesses should prepare for a potential sale even if they have no intention to sell. Collins shares his experience taking over a 170–180-year-old New York City licensing company owned by 16 families, receiving an unsolicited offer, and completing a financially strong but imperfect exit due to limited preparation and lack of independent board oversight. They discuss reducing key-person risk, documenting processes, upgrading accounting and systems, strengthening management teams, and regularly revisiting future org needs as markets change. Collins emphasizes clarifying business, personal, and financial goals; using advisors as investments; and starting with an exit planner to coordinate M&A, legal, tax, and wealth planning. He also addresses post-exit purpose, community, and wellbeing, and offers a free quarterly exit planning workshop.   ·       02:35 Meet Nate Collins ·       03:59 Running a Multi Family Firm ·       05:53 The Unplanned Sale Lessons ·       09:40 Build to Be Transferable ·       15:45 Succession Org Planning ·       18:28 Next Gen Reality Check ·       23:00 Assemble the Exit Team ·       26:04 Wealth Without Ruin ·       29:53 Purpose After the Exit ·       37:46 Resources and Farewell Websites: ·       fambizforum.com. ·       www.chrisyonker.com ·       Raymondjames.com ·       Linkedin: @nate-collins   Nate Bio: Nate is a former CEO who managed a successful exit to a large, PE-backed media company. He now works with a limited number of business owners, CEOs, and their families to help ensure they are achieving their financial goals. As a Financial Advisor and Certified Exit Planning Advisor, he provides in-depth tax mitigation and estate planning strategies, as well as financial planning and investment management. Nate helps owners understand exit readiness and options, wealth transfer, gain family alignment, and prepare for "life after exit."  

In recognition of International Women's Month, I'm releasing a montage of advice from some of the most accomplished women in our industry.   These remarkable leaders have navigated one of the most demanding and historically male-dominated corners of business and have done it with conviction, resilience, and extraordinary leadership.   If you're a young professional, a student considering this industry, or a leader developing the next generation of talent, this episode is worth your time.   Sunaina Sinha - Global Head, Private Capital Advisory, and Senior Managing Director, Raymond James https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/private-equity-fast-pitch/id1359329939?i=1000667167867   Shannon Zoller - Founder, Tephra Advisors https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/private-equity-fast-pitch/id1359329939?i=1000552841977   Neha Markle - Managing Director, Morgan Stanley https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/private-equity-fast-pitch/id1359329939?i=1000633494095   Caroline Stevens - Investor, MPK Equity Partners https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/private-equity-fast-pitch/id1359329939?i=1000597747344   Chrisanne Corbett - Managing Director, KPMG https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/private-equity-fast-pitch/id1359329939?i=1000432826264   Deborah Smith - Co-Founder and CEO, The CenterCap Group https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/private-equity-fast-pitch/id1359329939?i=1000557619821   Devon Kirk - General Partner, Portage Capital Solutions  https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/private-equity-fast-pitch/id1359329939?i=1000658066071   Franny Jones - Partner, Investor Relations, The Sterling Group https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/private-equity-fast-pitch/id1359329939?i=1000452341799   Gina Luna - Partner, GP Capital https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/private-equity-fast-pitch/id1359329939?i=1000555838972   Gretchen Perkins - Partner(Origination), Avance Investment Management https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/private-equity-fast-pitch/id1359329939?i=1000453890941   Kristin Johnson - Managing Director, Altamont Capital Partners https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/private-equity-fast-pitch/id1359329939?i=1000726285319   Lauren Moohalland - Waypoint Ridge Capital https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/private-equity-fast-pitch/id1359329939?i=1000468986627   Lucy Heintz - Partner, Head of Energy Infrastructure, Actis https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/private-equity-fast-pitch/id1359329939?i=1000701104377   Michelle Noon - Founder and Managing Partner, Clearhaven Partners https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/private-equity-fast-pitch/id1359329939?i=1000733152917   Neda Vakilian - Partner, Actis https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/private-equity-fast-pitch/id1359329939?i=1000713638680

Carl Quintanilla, Sara Eisen, and David Faber kicked off the hour with some alternative data points around AI disruption fears - before breaking down where Piper Sandler thinks you should put money to work with their Chief Strategist. Plus: Wall Street takeaways from last night's State of the Union Address with Raymond James' policy head... and more on how to trade Nvidia ahead of results tonight.    Also in focus: a morning of huge movers in the spanning earnings and media news... What NFL negotiations have to do with it - along with the latest developments in the fate for Warner Brothers Discovery, including details on Paramount's newest offer... And hear a read on EV demand with the interim CEO of Lucid - who joined the team fresh off quarterly results there.    Squawk on the Street Disclaimer Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Jittery investors continue to punish stocks of companies that may (or may not) face major disruption from artificial intelligence. Last week, it was software firms, then insurance brokers. Now, it's financial brokerages that offer people planning advice — the likes of Charles Schwab, Raymond James, and Ameriprise. But what's lost when we lose human capabilities in financial services? Plus, U.S. allies like Canada and the U.K. are increasingly turning to China for trade deals.

Jittery investors continue to punish stocks of companies that may (or may not) face major disruption from artificial intelligence. Last week, it was software firms, then insurance brokers. Now, it's financial brokerages that offer people planning advice — the likes of Charles Schwab, Raymond James, and Ameriprise. But what's lost when we lose human capabilities in financial services? Plus, U.S. allies like Canada and the U.K. are increasingly turning to China for trade deals.