Ep #85: Surviving the Wirehouse Trap - The Career of Brian Face

February 01, 2017

When you join the free XYPN Radio VIP Community, you'll have an opportunity to interact with experts like today's guest, Brian Face. Brian offered advice in the VIP Community about how to transition clients into fee-only customers and now we get to pick his brain for an entire episode.

Brian is the owner of Face 2 Face Financial Planning, a fee-only RIA in Kalamazoo, Michigan. He's a second generation planner who was introduced to the industry by his father and in 2007, he started his career in a wirehouse, but found the work unsatisfying after two years. The environment wasn't conducive to helping clients without significant wealth.

Brian bounced around between various industries before finding his way back to financial planning. He ultimately learned that he could serve customers in a way that provides value while earning a living at the same time. His experience is a wonderful case study describing how to establish a new firm, convince clients to join you, and transition from an existing RIA without burning bridges.

Listen to the Full Interview:

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What You'll Learn from This Episode:

An overview of the working environment in the wirehouse industry
The benefit of getting out the office and building relationships through conferences and other networking venues
How Brian developed his fee schedule and business model
The agreement signed with a prior boss that allowed him to take certain clients to his own firm
How Brian transitioned to his new firm with help from the XYPN Network and his process for transferring clients
Why the financial incentives associated with certain types of annuities are not a good fit for many people
The messaging he used to convince clients to follow him when he started his own fee-only firm