Focus Financial Partners

MENU Toggle navigation Becoming Independent Meet Our Partner FirmsBuilding your RIAGrowing your RIAFor RIAs Meet Our Partner FirmsGrowing your RIASuccession Solution Focus Successions PartnersFocus International For AdvisorsCanadaChina中国Hong KongSingaporeUnited KingdomFor ClientsChina中国Hong KongFor Individuals Our AdvisorsThe Focus AdvantageAbout Focus The Focus AdvantageMeet our Team我们的团队News & Events NewsEvents MENU Toggle navigation Becoming Independent Becoming IndependentMeet Our Partner FirmsBuilding your RIAGrowing your RIAFor RIAs For RIAsMeet Our Partner FirmsGrowing your RIASuccession Solution Succession SolutionFocus Successions PartnersFocus International For Advisors: CanadaFor Advisors: ChinaFor Advisors: 中国For Advisors: Hong KongFor Advisors: SingaporeFor Advisors: United KingdomFor Clients: ChinaFor Clients: 中国For Clients: Hong KongFor Individuals For IndividualsOur AdvisorsThe Focus AdvantageAbout Focus The Focus AdvantageMeet our Team我们的团队News & Events NewsEvents Focus Financial Partners to receivesignificant investment from Stone Point Capital and KKRClick here to read the press release. Focus named to Inc. Magazine’s list of America’s fastest-growing private companies for the fifth time.Click here to read the press release. RIAs:Looking to grow your business?A Focus partnership offers value-added benefits that can help growth.Advisor Teams:Looking to go independent?We help brokerage teams break away and launch their own wealth advisory firms.Clients:Looking for a Focus Advisor?Get to know our Partners and find the Advisor that’s right for you. Focus Financial’s home run: Aggregator PE deal worth $2BIt looks like RIA aggregator Focus Financial Partners has hit a home run.Two top tier private equity firms, Stone Point Capital and KKR, are set to acquire a majority stake in the 11-year old New York-based company, one of the industry’s leading consolidators, valuing Focus at approximately $2 billion. How to pick a partner on the road to independenceIn the midst of enormous change, many elite advisers find themselves at a crossroads, trying to determine the next stage for themselves, their teams and their clients. Often the path to independence is among the options considered. You’ve spent decades building and nurturing your practice. It’s not just a business — it’s truly a part of you. UPGRADE YOUR PRACTICE FOR OPTIMAL SUCCESSION PLANNINGOdds are high that you have not given much thought to your firm’s succession plan, but it would be better for your business if you did.In June, the SEC proposed making such considerations mandatory for RIAs. If that proposal becomes a regulatory requirement, you may have significant catching up to do. But succession planning is not just a chore. It’s a process by which RIA owners can evaluate the current state of their business, determine a reasonable valuation for it and pursue upgrades to enhance that valuation. Succession Planning: You Owe it to Your EmployeesThis is an all too common refrain in our industry. Most advisors have great client service people and administrators but not necessarily folks who can run their business on their behalf. Being an entrepreneur and thinking like one does not come naturally to most people. Advisors Shouldn’t Count On Their Children As Continuity Plans“My succession plan is pretty set – my kids are graduating from college and will be joining the business in 1-2 years.” ― Advisor X.And this is the most common response in the industry. Advisors believe their children will be the perfect succession plan they and dwell in that false sense of comfort. Below is one such real life example from an advisor I’ll call Tom.* Bring the iPhone Approach to Your PracticeThe pace of RIA-focused technology development in the last 12 months feels like 10 years wrapped into one.My team and I have had a bird’s eye view of this development across some of the most profitable RIAs in the business due to our work at Focus Financial Partners. Whether it’s a partner firm or one of the prospective RIAs I sit with each day, the same questions get asked: “What is going on in the RIA fintech space?” and, “Should I buy XYZ to solve for my issues?” Succession Planning: Not Just a Defensive TacticOne of the most common traits of successful RIAs is succession planning. Sometimes a robust business continuity plan helps attract new clients while retaining the existing ones. Below is one such real-life example from a partner I’ll call Peter.* One-Trick-Pony Practices Must Share the ReinsMost registered investment advisers are built around the genius of one entrepreneurial leader. Yet every study shows us that the top-decile firms, whether measured by growth or profitability, are those that have been able to extend their leadership by leveraging the larger team. Succession Planning Through Smart GrowthThe best succession plans are the ones put into place long before they are needed. Rarely, however, does this actually happen. Below is a real life example* of what occurred when an RIA founder actually practiced what Cushing preached. Having a Partner is Not Necessarily a Viable Succession PlanWhen it comes to succession planning, one of the most common misconceptions we see is “I have a partner in the business. The future of my firm and clients is protected”. Succession Planning: Not Just For the Old and Nearly RetiredOne of the most common misconceptions regarding succession planning is: “I’m young and healthy. I’ll think about succession planning when I’m closer to retirement.” Getting Clients to Spontaneously Sing Your PraisesEvery marketing guru tells financial advisors to consistently ask clients for referrals, which is very good advice.But there is something better than a client supplying a name when asked to, and that is getting that client to offer unsolicited praise in a social setting about an advisor’s services, especially when the advisor isn’t present. Voices: Rajini Kodialam, on Proactive Succession PlanningVoices is an occasional column that allows wealth managers to address issues of interest to the advisory community. Rajini Kodialam is co-founder and managing director of Focus Financial Partners in New York. Focus Financial Obtains $1B for GrowthFocus Financial Partners says it has nearly doubled its credit facility to $1 billion to further support its growth plans. Bank of America, SunTrust, J.P. Morgan, Citizens Bank, U.S. Bank and other financial groups are extending the funds to the wealth-management partnership. M&A Advisor Names ‘40 Under 40 Emerging Business LeadersThe M&A Advisor, a New York-based advisory firm offering intelligence about merger and acquisition activity, recently announced the winners of the 6th annual “40 Under 40 Emerging Leaders Awards.” Raft Of Executive Hires At Focus Financial Partners Former Merrill Exec Joins Focus Financial Board Sontag Joins Board of Focus Financial The Wealth Management Industry at a Turning Point Culture: Hard to Define, Impossible to Ignore Lack Of Succession Plans Is ‘Scary’ One-Third Of Advisers Plan To Exit Business Within A Decade Advisers Go Extra Lengths to Keep Wealthy Clients Adviser’s Death Can Leave Clients Scrambling Don’t “Lean In” to Stereotypes, Just Be YourselfHas the financial advisory industry disenfranchised women because they are expected to emulate male stereotypes? Hear Rajini Kodialam’s take on women and wealth management in InvestmentNews. Technology and Work Flow: Keystones in Valuing a Firm Lack of Succession Planning Poses Industry ChallengeHear industry expert Michael Paley discuss the challenges of succession planning within our industry, and what advisors should be doing now to prepare for their next generation. Focus Financial Partners and Partner Firm Buckingham Named to the Inc. 5000 List of Fastest Growing Companies Pulling In Breakaway BrokersRich Gill, who heads up the firm’s business development and acquisition activies, said RIAs looking to grow by hiring “breakaway brokers” from the wirehouse world need to tread carefully to take advantage of this opportunity. How Focus Financial Partners Works We are always interested in meeting with quality independent registered investment advisers. If you are an independent RIA and would like to learn more about the Focus partnership of RIAs, please watch this video. GELFAND, RENNERT AND FELDMAN JOINS FOCUS FINANCIAL PARTNERS• BOSTON-BASED LAKE STREET ADVISORS JOINS FOCUS FINANCIAL PARTNERS• FOCUS SUPPORTS STRATEGIC TRANSACTION OF MW LOMAX, CONTINUING MOMENTUM IN AUSTRALIA• FORMER MERRILL LYNCH ADVISORS LAUNCH CAMPBELL DEEGAN FINANCIAL WITH THE SUPPORT OF FOCUS FINANCIAL PARTNERS• TEXAS-BASED FIRM CFO4LIFE JOINS FOCUS FINANCIAL PARTNERS• FOCUS PARTNER FIRM BENEFIT FINANCIAL SERVICES GROUP EXPANDS WITH SECOND MERGER• FOCUS PARTNER FIRM THE COLONY GROUP CLOSES MERGER WITH JONES BARCLAY BOSTON• FOCUS FINANCIAL PARTNERS WELCOMES CRESTWOOD ADVISORS TO THE PARTNERSHIP• FOURTH FORMER BROKER TEAM JOINS FOCUS FINANCIAL PARTNERS• FOCUS FINANCIAL PARTNERS NAMED TO INC. 5000 LIST FOR THE FIFTH TIME• FOCUS FINANCIAL PARTNERS HELPS FORMER WELLS FARGO ADVISORS LAUNCH GYL FINANCIAL SYNERGIES• FOCUS FINANCIAL PARTNERS AND J.P. MORGAN ASSET MANAGEMENT PUBLISH WHITE PAPER ON SUCCESSION PLANNING• FOCUS FINANCIAL PARTNERS EXPANDS INTO AUSTRALIA WITH MW LOMAX• GRATUS CAPITAL MANAGEMENT EXPANDS PRESENCE IN THE GREATER ATLANTA AREA• FOCUS FINANCIAL PARTNERS CONTINUES MOMENTUM IN Q2• FOCUS PARTNER FIRM MERRIMAN WEALTH MANAGEMENT JOINS FORCES WITH SUMMIT CAPITAL MANAGEMENT• WADDELL & ASSOCIATES JOINS FOCUS FINANCIAL PARTNERS• FAST-GROWING RIA CARNICK & KUBIK JOINS FOCUS FINANCIAL PARTNERS• FOCUS STARTS 2016 STRONG BY HELPING ITS PARTNER FIRMS CLOSE THREE MERGERS• FOCUS FINANCIAL PARTNERS ADDS DOUGLAS C. LANE & ASSOCIATES• KOVITZ INVESTMENT GROUP JOINS FOCUS FINANCIAL PARTNERS READ MOREThe Focus AdvantageThe Focus TeamMeet our Partner FirmsGrowing your RIAYour Customizable PlatformSuccession SolutionNewsPressContact us The Focus AdvantageThe Focus TeamMeet our Partner FirmsGrowing your RIAYour Customizable PlatformSuccession SolutionNewsPressContact us Copyright ©2017 Focus Financial Partners, All rights reserved.