Going independent
The choice gets framed as a matter of ambition. The real question is which set of problems you would rather own.
An advisor leaving a wirehouse or a broker-dealer faces a choice that gets framed as a matter of ambition — start your own firm if you are serious, join an existing one if you are not.
That framing is useless. The real question is which set of problems you would rather own, because both doors lead to work and the work is completely different.
You own the entity, the brand, the equity and the enterprise value. You also own registration, compliance, the technology stack, vendor contracts, errors and omissions cover, cybersecurity policy, the annual review, and every decision nobody else is going to make.
The part people underestimate is not the setup. It is that the operational and compliance obligations are permanent and they arrive whether or not you have clients that month.
Someone else owns those obligations. You get infrastructure on day one, a compliance function that exists, and colleagues.
You give up equity in what you build, you accept their investment approach and technology, and you are subject to decisions you do not control. The economics are usually better in year one and worse in year ten.
| Question | Points to your own firm | Points to joining |
|---|---|---|
| Do you want to sell a firm one day? | Yes | Not particularly |
| Is your investment process yours? | Yes, and it matters to you | You are comfortable adopting one |
| How much operational work will you tolerate? | Some, permanently | As little as possible |
| Can you fund a slow first year? | Yes | Not comfortably |
| Do you want colleagues? | Not essential | Yes |
You can own the firm and not run the operation. Register your own entity, keep the equity and the brand, and place the operational and investment machinery with a partner who does it at scale.
That is materially different from joining someone else's firm, because the enterprise value accrues to you — and materially different from doing it all yourself, because you are not personally the compliance department and the trading desk.
For most advisors leaving with an established book, this is the option that actually matches what they want, and it is the one nobody describes to them because neither recruiter is selling it.
What your book is worth as revenue in year one, what your fixed obligations are in year one, and how many hours a week you are prepared to spend on things that are not clients.
What launching actually costs →
Questions this did not answer? Ask them directly — that is what the twenty minutes is for.
Book 20 minutes with Kyle