September 2022 • www . fa-mag . com

Reducing The Tax Sting Roth conversions can help clients with Social Security .

KNOWLEDGE FOR THE SOPHISTICATED ADVISOR

Crypto , Meet

Volatility Digital assets won ’ t likely go away , but they will change .

HIS SUMMER , I HAD THE OPPORTUNITY TO SPEND TIME with three young advisors under the age of 40 . They shared stories about being bombarded during the pandemic by headhunters looking for younger people to take over the businesses of more senior advisors in their local or adjacent markets .

The offers they received varied . One was offered the chance to buy into a firm , another to buy out an older founder , and another to work for a private equity investor who would make them a minority partner . These random conversations were purely anecdotal and don ’ t represent a meaningful sample . But sometimes a focus group of three people can provide more insights than a poll of thousands . They also underscore how desperate this business is for talent .

For what it ’ s worth , these three all seemed satisfied with their choice of careers . They also sounded reasonably satisfied at their firms , though more than one was open to making a move — if it were the right one . One young advisor said the RIA firm he worked at was increasing its compensation because of the advisor shortage . The firm was also planning to spread its equity more broadly .

What I didn ’ t sense in these smart young advisors was a desire to put together their own acquisition vehicles and start buying up other firms available for sale . Perhaps they saw that the space is already crowded with private

Sometimes a focus group of three people can provide more insights than a poll of thousands .

Decades after the financial planning profession emerged , the question of who gets to use the name is still dividing people .

The Lifestyle Threat Is Real

A talk with Tom Connelly about inflation and your clients .

equity firms rolling up RIAs and other advisory businesses .

Maybe they didn ’ t want to engage in financial engineering and take on debt to start buying established entities . All three of these advisors came of age during the financial crisis , and when asked what they were hearing from client contemporaries , the cost of housing and mortgage rates were at the top of the list of worries .

There was a tone of caution , but at the same time , the three advisors weren ’ t necessarily afraid of making entrepreneurial moves . Ultimately , the idea of creating their own business with clients whom they considered “ theirs ” clearly held a lot of appeal .

Luckily for them , they enjoy a wideranging variety of career options within the advisory profession . Over the next five years , we ’ re going to find out what career choices the next generation of advisors favor the most .

Evan Simonoff

Email me at esimonoff @ fa-mag . com with your opinion .

8 | FINANCIAL ADVISOR MAGAZINE | SEPTEMBER 2022 WWW . FA-MAG . COM