by Founders Financial — There are many complexities that come with managing a high-performing wealth management practice. You want to dedicate significant time and resources to grow and enhance your client relationships – something that should be the foremost priority – but instead often find yourself addressing the day-to-day needs and challenges of operating a successful business. Striking the correct balance between the two is a delicate and often time-consuming venture, with many advisors never finding a healthy equilibrium. As a result, you struggle to build and consistently find the joy you seek through the pursuit of what you love the most — growing and enhancing relationships.
Thankfully, actionable steps can be taken to find the proper balance. In our experience, we have witnessed independent advisors successfully overcome the challenges of serving clients, leading an enterprise, and operating a business. The key is to liberate time by outsourcing functions not directly tied to growing and enhancing client relationships. One such method is outsourcing investment management.
In this article, we’ll describe several opportunities afforded by outsourcing investment management and present a path to liberate time to focus on what you love so that you can become a high-performing leader of your enterprise.
Time is a Finite Gift. Use It Wisely.
We will begin by acknowledging one of the more obvious and immediate shifts one will experience when outsourcing investment management – the gift of time. Think for a moment about what limitations prevent you from growing your enterprise and executing your vision. If a lack of time comes to mind, you are experiencing what many practices commonly struggle to overcome: the inability to scale due to time management and resource constraints.
So, why don’t all independent financial advisors outsource investment management? Well, there are two primary reasons:
- Loss of control. By outsourcing, you are required to let go of the day-to-day work you’re accustomed to. Depending on the advisor, that may be difficult to accept.
- Perceived high cost and increased complexity. Outsourcing can often be viewed as prohibitively expensive — there’s no sugarcoating it. However, when considering the investment required to hire and manage necessary resources, and the opportunity cost of not focusing on relationships and other areas of the business, the cost of outsourcing may very well seem like a bargain.
The thing is, investment management means diligent research, smart asset allocation, communication of investment decisions, trading, rebalancing, etc. No matter how you look at it, investment management is a time-intensive, labor-intensive, and wallet-intensive ordeal. However, those are the exact conditions that usually bring the topic of outsourcing into the equation.
How much time per week would you expect to save by outsourcing the management of your client portfolios? According to a recent report by Orion Research, it could be as high as 12.2 hours! That translates to almost two full workdays that could otherwise be spent focused on growing and enhancing relationships with current and prospective clients. In fact, in that same study, 95% of advisors responded that outsourcing their investment management does save them time. If properly utilized, those 12 or more extra hours can provide you with the balance, harmony, and joy in growing a purpose-rich, servant-led wealth management enterprise. Once you have those elements, everything else begins to fall into place.
But How Will Outsourcing Be Perceived By Clients?
Many advisors may be concerned that outsourcing their investment management will dilute their brand and reduce the value they provide to their clients. However, this can be a misconception depending on the outsourced partner selected. In reality, an outsourced investment management partner can (and should) be viewed as an extension of the advisor’s team, providing a wealth of resources through a group of investment professionals who bring more expertise than an individual advisor alone.
At Founders, we prioritize positioning the advisor’s brand first. We do this through our second-party investment management platform, FCMS™. This way, as the advisor, you stay front and center with the relationship while we operate behind the scenes as an extension of your brand.
By outsourcing investment management, you free up valuable time to focus on what matters most: building trusted relationships with your clients and helping them pursue their goals and dreams. As a result, this becomes a win-win for you and your clients.
So Where Does One Start When Looking to Outsource?
Outsourcing one of the most important services of a wealth management practice can be a difficult decision. There is a sense of losing control that can be hard to come to grips with. The key is identifying and developing a true partnership with the firm you choose to outsource investments through. Look for a partner that elevates your firm and value proposition, rather than their own. Ensure that your missions and values are aligned and that they understand your business and needs. Make sure they are a partner, not a potential competitor.
Many financial advisors, just like you, are burning themselves out by the inability to properly delegate. It does not have to be this way. Outsourcing investment management can be just the thing to help advisors who want to focus on growing and enhancing relationships with their clients. It provides the gift of time necessary for the balance, harmony, and joy in growing a wealth management enterprise driven by purpose. While there may be concerns about losing control or incurring high costs, finding the right partner who understands your business and core values can help alleviate these concerns and empower you to focus on what you love and become the high-performing leader of your enterprise.
For more financial advisory and wealth management insights, subscribe to our blog. If you would like to learn more about Founder’s Financial and our investment management services, we invite you to connect with us today to start a conversation.
Copyright © 2023 Founders Financial. Member FINRA/SIPC and Registered Investment Adviser. All Rights Reserved.
