Birds do it. Bees do it. Planners with complementary philosophies should probably do it.
Coupling up, in the business sense, can increase income by 32% or even more, according to a
Just ask planners Jeremy Kisner, 43, and Robert Luna, 38, of SureVest Capital Management in Scottsdale, Ariz. The two say they have both more than doubled the size of their previous separate practices since joining forces about five years ago.
If you want to get the $2 million to $5 million accounts, Kisner says, you have to have a team. You have to have credibility.
The Fidelity study identified advisor teams as a trend that will become increasingly important to the future of the advice industry. The survey of 1,207 advisors in all types of firms (RIAs, B-Ds, banks, insurance companies and wirehouses) found that although the majority (52%) still work alone, advisors in teams were generally more successful, with both higher revenues and AUM.
SPURRED TO ACTION
One possible reason: The survey also found that advisors in teams take more action, from participating in industry groups and networking events to adopting new business strategies and firing low-margin clients.
Although just 13% of respondents told Fidelity that they were working exclusively in teams, another 35% were working in teams part-time. Our thesis is that [they] were trying it out, says Alexandra Taussig, a senior vice president of marketing at Fidelity.
Theres also a generational component to the shift, she adds: Teaming up is also becoming a significant trend as Gen X and Gen Y advisors emerge as a real force.
Childhood friends Derek Holman, 40, and Brian Parker, 39, started out as a team, co-founding EP Wealth Advisors in Torrance, Calif., 14 years ago. The partnership has proved so successful that the firm, which has $1.3 billion in AUM, has since added a third spouse: planner Patrick Goshtigian, now the firms president.
At the end of day, its more than just a marriage, says Holman. We spend more time with [each other] than we do with our spouses.
WIREHOUSE ORIGINS
Wirehouses discovered the partnership payoff years ago. Wirehouses routinely urge their advisors to work in teams, pairing up individuals and, sometimes, directing them to engage in daily huddles to discuss strategy, says Winnie Sun, 39, the cofounder of rapidly growing Sun Wealth Group in Irvine, Calif.
Sun and her cofounder, Brandon Chang, 36, met more than a decade ago at Smith Barney, where they became friends and discovered they had complementary skill sets. At Smith Barney, both Sun and Chang were expected to find their own clients -- and Chang, a natural analyst and number-cruncher, knew he needed help, recalls Sun, who comes off as a natural people person.
He had a prospecting opportunity that he knew he needed a partner for, she recalls. She accompanied him to that meeting, and then others. The two ultimately found they worked so well together that they decided to start their own firm, with Sun as the majority partner. Today, Chang is director of investments for the five-person firm, while Sun spends most of her time on business development.
We are almost complete opposites in every way, Sun says, except that we have similar ethical standards and a similar value core. We get along and we have a lot of trust in one another.
Sun and other advisors offered several pieces of advice for planners looking to build their practice by finding a partner:
1. SHARE VALUES & PHILOSOPHY
As with romantic relationships, successful business partnerships require real trust, planners say.
Christina Mangino, 34, became a third partner at SureVest a couple of years ago, after leaving two other failed partnerships. In both of those instances, she had teamed up with older planners in insurance firms who had promised mentorship.
They said, Ill do the investment planning and you can do the financial planning, Mangino says. Come join me and kumbaya.
Over time, however, the relationships fell short; one partner didnt actually want to share control, she says, while in the other she felt like she was doing the lions share of new business development. I was bringing everything in, she says.
Mangino says her partnership with Kisner and Luna has been a big improvement. With previous firms, I thought there was trust there, but there wasnt, Mangino says. At SureVest, we all respect each other immensely for our talents and our knowledge I know that they really know what they are doing, so theres definitely a confidence there in their skills.
Its critical to share ethics and values.
Shared beliefs must extend to investment philosophy as well, says Holman.
We both agree that active management can outperform passive management, for one, and that market timing is extremely difficult to impossible Holman says.
2. FIND COMPLEMENTARY SKILL SETS
Although values and philosophies must align, the advisors interviewed for this story all said its critical to partner with planners who have different skill sets. Holman oversees investments for EP Wealth, while Parker runs business development. Luna and Kisner have a similar breakdown: Luna spends his days analyzing investments, while Kisner is the marketing guy.
The two met at a top-producers conference for their former broker-dealer, more than six years ago. Kisner said he decided to go around to all the old-timers and ask their advice for what a young person in the profession should to do grow his business.
I was not gaining insights, Kisner recalls. Then he started talking to the guy sitting next to him: Luna, who had been a derivatives traders and a risk analyst for TD Ameritrades precursor Waterhouse Securities. I quickly found out that he knew more than anyone else in the room, Kirsner says.
Lunas analytical skills proved a strong combination for Kisners managerial and promotional ones, he says.
3.DEFINE RESPONSIBILITIES CLEARLY
Just saying that one partner will handle analytics and the other marketing doesnt guarantee that a firm will run smoothly. People dont spend enough time talking about goals and responsibilities within a partnership, says Holman. Theres a lot of time that needs to be spent on this subject. Theres a lot of nuance.
Continually discussing and redefining the roles of each partner will clarify and evolve the relationship, he says.
4. TAKE IT SLOW
Sun and Chang had worked together at Smith Barney for several years before starting their firm. Parker and Holman actually met in middle school in San Diego at age 15. We had a very long interview process, so to speak, Holman says.
Kirsner and Luna got to know each other for about a year before they considered working together. And they began their partnership tentatively by sharing just one client, with Luna working from his offices in Scottsdale and Kisner in Las Vegas.
I said, Ill bring on the client and you manage the money, Kisner recalls. But I still had my own company and my own company name. And then, over time, we started doing all our business together.
5. SPELL IT ALL OUT
Kisner and Luna also wrote up a contract specifying what would happen if one of them became disabled or died. The contract also stipulates that the surviving member would continue to pay income to the injured partner or his widow in the case of death.
Then they did the same for Mangino, when she joined the firm. I know if, heaven forbid, I got hit by a car tomorrow, she says, theres someone who can take care of my clients.
6. CONSIDER BRINGING ON A THIRD
Successful partnerships often expand and morph into teams, with multiple partners and increasing numbers of support staff. Right, now EP Wealth employs more than 30 people.
Having multiple partners is working for SureVest, too, and Sun says its the next step for her firm: I need another me.
7. NURTURE HEALTHY COMPETITION
One reason that partnerships foster growth may be the way pairs or groups of advisors naturally push each other.
Theres a feeling of not wanting to be outdone by the other person, Holman says. He and Parker grew up playing pickup basketball together; today, they are both runners who try to outdo each other.
That sense of competition spills over into the workplace, he says: If one of us is bringing in new business, that leads the other one to wanting to bring in new business.
8. BE GENEROUS
While growing SureVest incrementally, Kisner and Luna took pains to show each other good will, Kisner recalls.
At one point [Luna] said lets split all the relationships, no matter where they came from, says Kisner, who remembers he was impressed and touched by this offer. (He agreed to the split.) If you have people who look at a relationship as a negotiation -- and think, What can I get out of it? -- that doesnt work well, Kisner says. You dont want to be in a marriage like that.
9. HANG OUT
Kisner and Luna often spend weekends together with their families, as do Holman and Parker. Chang and Sun have taken everyone in their small firm, along with their families, to the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas for the weekend.
Its important to do something social together as often as once a week, Sun says.
You have to really, really like each other, she says. If you dont get along, its not going to work.
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