ADVERTORIAL
David Fischer presenting at the 2026 IFG National Conference in San Diego.
our firm. At our recent National Conference in San Diego, nearly 80 % of our advisors attended, many with their families. They come together to exchange ideas, spend time with one another, and build real relationships with our leadership and Home Office teams.
So, when we recruit, we’ re looking beyond what someone produces today. We’ re asking whether this is someone we want to build the next chapter of IFG with, and whether IFG is the place they want to build theirs.
FA: IFG ranks # 1 for Women as a Percentage of Producing Advisors. What do you think has helped IFG become a place where women advisors can thrive?
Fischer: We’ re very proud of that recognition, but even more proud of the women it represents. We have an impressive group of women advisors at IFG who have built highly successful businesses, earned the trust of their clients and become leaders within our advisor community.
Our current Advisor of the Year is a great example. The same female advisor has earned that distinction for five consecutive years, which speaks to her incredible consistency and the caliber of women we’ re proud to have at IFG.
This is also something that has been important to us for a long time. Years ago, when IFG was ranked # 8 in this category, we talked about the need for our industry to do a better job recruiting and supporting women advisors. Seeing IFG now rank # 1 is meaningful because it shows how far we’ ve come.
At the end of the day, the recognition belongs to the women who have built their businesses here and continue to raise the bar. We’ re proud to have them representing IFG and helping shape the future of our firm. FA: What sets IFG apart from other firms? Fischer: What it actually feels like to be an advisor here. That’ s the differentiator.
Advisors can compare payouts, technology and product platforms all day long, and those things absolutely matter. We compete very well in all of them. But what doesn’ t show up on a spreadsheet is whether the people supporting you know who you are, understand your business and are there when you need them.
At IFG, our advisors are known. Our sales and business consultants are in the field with them, learning their businesses, understanding where they want to go and helping identify opportunities for growth. That same personalized approach carries through to our operational service teams, where advisors have direct access to people who understand their business and can help move things forward. Our advisors also have access to leadership, so support here feels personal at every level.
That matters more as our industry continues to consolidate. Firms keep getting bigger, and advisors are increasingly asking whether bigger actually means better for their business.
We’ ve built IFG to offer the resources and capabilities of a substantial national firm with the relationships and responsiveness of a high-end boutique organization. As we scale, protecting that balance is incredibly important to us. Bigger has to mean better for the advisor, not more distant.
FA: As consolidation continues across the industry, why is remaining privately held so important to IFG and its advisors?
Fischer: Being privately held is one of our greatest advantages. We don’ t
answer to Wall Street, private equity or outside shareholders. That gives us the freedom to make decisions based on what we believe is right for IFG and the advisors we serve.
That freedom is especially valuable today. Our industry continues to consolidate, firms change ownership and priorities can change along with them. At IFG, we control our direction. We decide where to invest, how we grow and, just as importantly, what we’ re not willing to compromise along the way.
There’ s something fitting about an independent broker-dealer maintaining its own independence. Our advisors are entrepreneurs who value having control over the businesses they’ ve built, and we operate with that same mindset. We’ ve built IFG on our terms, and we intend to grow it the same way. FA: How long has IFG been developing these strategies? Fischer: Twenty-four years in, every step has been intentional. When we founded IFG, we were competing against firms that already had decades of history and enormous scale. We knew we weren’ t going to differentiate ourselves by trying to become another version of them. Instead, we focused on building something that felt genuinely different for the advisor.
Today, we’ re competing alongside firms that have been around three and four decades. IFG now ranks # 14 overall by revenue in Financial Advisor’ s broker-dealer ranking and is the second-largest privately held independent broker-dealer by gross revenue. I’ m proud of those numbers. I’ m even prouder of how we got there.
We’ ve grown on purpose, not by simply adding advisors to increase headcount. What’ s different now is that we have the recruiting infrastructure to match the story we’ ve always had to tell. We know the type of advisor who thrives here, and we have a proven track record behind us.
“ Successful advisors shouldn’ t have to choose between running their business their way and having exceptional support behind them. At IFG, we don’ t think that should be a choice.”
— David Fischer Co-Founder & Chief Marketing Officer, IFG
The strategy hasn’ t changed. What’ s changed is the scale of the opportunity in front of us and how many advisors are ready to hear our story. FA: How does IFG want to grow in the future? Fischer: We want to grow significantly, but on our terms and with the right advisors beside us. Our long-term vision is to take IFG from approximately $ 320 million in gross revenue today to a $ 1 billion firm built around $ 1 million + average production per advisor. How we get there matters just as much as the number. Recruiting the right advisors is going to be an important part of getting there, but so is helping the great advisors already here continue to grow their businesses. We want growth to come from both: attracting accomplished advisors who fit the IFG model and giving the advisors who already know and trust us the resources to reach their next level.
That means continuing to invest ahead of our growth in recruiting, onboarding, technology and, above all, the people supporting our advisors every day. We want to provide our advisors with great technology, but just as importantly, help them implement and use those tools in ways that make their businesses better. As IFG gets larger, the advisor experience has to get better, not more diluted.
That’ s what makes this next chapter exciting to me. We know who we are, we know the advisors we’ re looking for, and we have a proven model behind us.
SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2026 | FINANCIAL ADVISOR MAGAZINE | 27