Writing
Going independent, what it costs, and the parts nobody puts in the brochure.
17 pieces
Independence
The setup invoice is the smallest number in this decision. The expensive part is the part that does not appear on any invoice.
Independence
These get discussed as one decision. They are two, and the honest answer for most advisers is not the one the industry celebrates.
Independence
This is the question every adviser asks first and the one a website is least qualified to answer. Here is the shape of it, and where you have to stop reading and call someone.
Independence
Advisers dread this conversation more than any other part of the move. It is almost always easier than the version they rehearsed.
Independence
You can rebuild a client base in a year. Rebuilding fifteen years of history takes fifteen years.
Independence
The multiple is the easy half. What moves it is a set of things most founders have optimised in exactly the wrong direction.
Independence
The invoices are knowable and smaller than most people expect. Two of the real costs never appear on one.
Independence
The headline rate is not the number. Neither is the number your prospective provider is comparing themselves to.
Independence
Nobody plans this. It arrives one reasonable decision at a time, and by the time it is obvious it is the whole job.
Independence
The launch is exciting and year three is fine. There is a stretch in between that nobody describes, and it is where most of the doubt lives.
Independence
It is public, it is free, and almost nobody reads it. Four items contain most of what matters.
Independence
The word has been applied to enough different arrangements that it no longer tells you what you are getting. Two questions do.
Independence
Founders reach for a second adviser because they are thinking about capacity. The constraint is usually somewhere else entirely.
Independence
Almost everyone who leaves says the same thing afterwards. The reasons for waiting are real — they are just mostly not about the decision.
Independence
Firms evaluate custodians on pricing and brand. Neither is what you will care about in year two.
Independence
Most vendor choices can be undone in a weekend. Two or three cannot, and firms usually cannot tell them apart in advance.
Independence
It is a real solution to a specific set of problems. Advisers get into trouble when they expect it to solve a different set.