6 months in at a new firm, thrust into launching an RIA: The Ladder

A little over a dozen years ago, planner Stephen Rhodes resolved to launch his own registered investment advisory firm rather than remaining with a brokerage that didn't share his vision. 

Just about six months into his tenure, the company had informed him that, "We don't really want to pursue this model anymore and, so, sorry," recalled Rhodes, the founder of St. Louis-based Signify Wealth. He had already begun laying the groundwork toward a strong client base today that includes professional athletes and entertainers, so he left the brokerage to launch an RIA as a means of "trying to survive" and "trying to maintain" in a difficult industry, he said an interview for Financial Planning's professional development series, The Ladder. 

"Actually I started the RIA out of necessity," Rhodes said. "I go from really excited about the opportunity to, like, 'Holy smokes, what do I do?' I've just convinced my clients to move here and move all their accounts. And they did so because they trusted me. And I didn't have enough time to even do research. I couldn't go back to where I just came from."

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Success in the mission

The evidence of Rhodes' success shows clearly in the firm's office, which is decorated with pictures of the clients and motivational quotes around desks and other spaces for Signify's burgeoning ranks of 15 employees. 

For financial advisors seeking to advance their own careers in a similar fashion and wealth management companies aiming to work with them through supportive services, the telling lesson stems from Rhodes' determination to create a business designed according to his values and principles and the practice's ideal target clients. And that goes back to creating his own RIA instead of remaining with a brokerage whose executives had expressed interest in collaborating on that approach — only to reverse course.

"I figured out, OK, I've got to find out something that fits me" and "allows me to not always be at the whim" of someone else, Rhodes said. "I set up the RIA and contacted Charles Schwab. And I begged them to allow me to come aboard because I didn't have enough assets to meet the minimums. Graciously, they're like, 'All right, we'll give you a year.'"

At a size of nearly 100 client households among National Basketball Association and National Football League players, entertainers, educators and other customers whose assets amount to a quarter of a billion dollars, Signify has now reached the kind of scale that attracts custodians, other vendors or investors begging to work with an RIA. However, he politely declined to publicly identify any of the clients and neglected to mention his 2019 book, "Make Your Money Matter: How To Do What Most Athletes Won't So You Can Live Like Most Can't."

His advisory practice's accomplishments came from "God just doing some tremendous and amazing things that I cannot describe any other way," Rhodes said. 

St. Louis roots

As an advisor born and raised in nearby Webster Groves, and a graduate of the Washington University in St. Louis, Rhodes is also providing pro bono planning services to West End residents who are participants in the Invest STL Rooted program. The 45-year-old and his wife, Sabrine, have four children: Seth, 18, Shiloh, 16, Shane, 14, and Salem, 12. For the son of a single mother whose family was on food stamps at times during his childhood and a career-changer from a tenure as a teacher just after college, the setup of his RIA and the volunteer work with Invest STL takes on added significance.

"Given all of that background, obviously, I think it gives more context as to why doing the pro bono stuff means so much to me," Rhodes said. "I think about, 'Man, who could have been around to help my mom?' My mom needed help, but she didn't fit the model. So when I started out, all my clients were teachers. They needed help."

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Importantly, the gratitude of one teacher — who was appreciative of receiving advice that was free of any product sales pitches a little more than 15 years ago — led her to connect Rhodes with her son, who "just so happened to be a part owner in one of the the largest baseball agencies in the Midwest," he noted. 

Rhodes — a former athlete who "grew up living in two different worlds" as "the only Black face in most AP classes" — won an assignment to be the advisory firm working with the agency's Major League Baseball and minor league players, he said. He has since moved more into working with football and basketball players, alongside entertainers — the type of client base sought by many advisors but not always won over by them. 

"Athletes and entertainers have a lot of people that treat them like fans treat them, and they don't respect that," Rhodes said. "There is no way to 'win them over' per se. The only thing you can do, in my opinion, is be who God made you to be. And that will naturally attract the right sort of people. And I think it will repel others. I used to spend a lot of time trying to think about the right thing to say and the right way to do it and all those things. And I've just discovered now that it's really about getting in front of people, communicating who you are, being real, being authentic."

'Making it matter'

The quotes adorning the wall of Signify's office reflect that focus. On one wall, a Bible verse from 1 Corinthians 4:2, "Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful," concerns Signify's duty to its clients, noted Rhodes, whose family attends the Refresh Community Church in University City.

"We're here to actually be stewards," he said. "These aren't our dollars. We didn't work hard to get them. They actually belong to others, and they are entrusting us to help guide them and give them guidance. And our goal is, we want to be found faithful like that. We have so many clients that are in really great spots, but they have so many people who love to take advantage of them. And we want to be a safe space where they can trust the advice and they know the recommendations we give them are what are in their best interest."

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Another quote in black and red letters on the office's wall reads "We understand that our success and the success of our clients is greater than our own ability. We strive for greatness. We never settle." And the firm's name, Signify, takes up a third wall in the main area of the office — itself the product of a rebranding effort a few years ago and a reminder that this is an independent firm owned by a planner who took a leap of faith at a pivotal time in his career.    

"The definition talks about, 'to represent something, to stand for something, to have meaning,'" Rhodes said. "And so the question that I think it's been in the back of my mind, and one that we now pose to clients is, 'What do you want your life to signify?' So you've got a bunch of money in an account, or you've accomplished whatever thing that brought you in the door, but what's the larger purpose? What's the larger thing that you want your life to signify, you want your legacy to be about? Whatever that is for you, then our passion and our mission is to help you make it matter."