Brad Wales on Transitioning to the RIA Model

Brad Wales is the Founder of Transition To RIA, a consulting firm focused exclusively on helping financial advisors transition and adopt the RIA model. He helps advisors understand the intricacies of RIA - from understanding the “how” and “why” to transitioning their practice successfully. With nearly two decades of industry experience, including direct RIA-related roles in compliance, finance, and business development, Brad has amassed a wealth of knowledge and expertise to help financial advisors learn how to benefit from and implement the RIA model. He holds a Master’s degree in Business Administration from the University of West Florida and has served well-known financial advisory firms throughout the Tampa and St. Petersburg, Florida regions.

Brad joins me today to share why he decided to transition his career from working in the corporate world to launching his own consulting firm. We discuss the advantages and disadvantages of transitioning to the RIA model, how his company helps advisors smoothly transition, and why the RIA model may not be suitable for all financial advisors. We discuss the importance of leaning into your strengths and understanding your weaknesses before deciding which RIA path you want to take. We discuss the legal challenges many advisors face when trying to transition their clients to an RIA model and why some of your current clients may not make the transition with you. We also highlight the importance of shifting your mindset from working as a financial advisor to becoming a media company that happens to offer financial advisory services and how it can impact your success as an independent Registered Investment Advisor.

“You have the flexibility to choose, on your own, who you want to work with.” - Brad Wales

This week on The Model FA Podcast:

• What inspired Brad to pivot his career to become an entrepreneur 
• Why many financial advisors decide to transition to the RIA model
• How Brad’s company helps advisors make the transition to RIA
• Why the RIA model may not be suitable for everyone
• The three primary paths many advisors take when transitioning into the RIA model
• Understanding your strengths and weaknesses before deciding to transition your practice
• Fee-only vs. fee-based models and determining which model is right for you
• Setting realistic expectations regarding the number of clients that will be willing to move to the RIA model with you
• Legal challenges often involved in transitioning clients to the RIA model and the process for working through most of these challenges
• Identifying the vendors your RIA practice should partner with
• Shifting your mindset to be successful
• Brad’s favorite business-related books and how they impacted his life
• Common mistakes many advisors make when transitioning to the RIA model

Resources Mentioned:

• Video: Q18 - Will I keep 100% of my clients if I start my own RIA?
• Crushing It!: How Great Entrepreneurs Build Their Business and Influence - and How You Can, Too by Gary Vaynerchuk
• The Man Who Solved the Market: How Jim Simons Launched the Quant Revolution by Gregory Zuckerman
• The Art Of The Deal by Donald J. Trump

Our Favorite Quotes:

• “The first couple ‘innings of the game’ is simply education.” - Brad Wales
• “It’s not a ‘firm problem,’ it’s a structural problem. As long as you’re at a firm with thousands of advisors, you start falling into some of these traps of where you get lumped in and it is going to confine you.” - Brad Wales

Connect with Brad Wales:

• Transition to RIA
• Email: [email protected]
• Transition to RIA on LinkedIn
• Transition to RIA on Twitter
• Brad Wales on LinkedIn

About the Model FA Podcast

The Model FA podcast is a show for fiduciary financial advisors. In each episode, our host David DeCelle sits down with industry experts, strategic thinkers, and advisors to explore what it takes  to build a successful practice — and have an abundant life in the process. We believe in continuous learning, tactical advice, and strategies that work — no “gotchas” or BS. Join us to hear stories from successful financial advisors, get actionable ideas from experts, and re-discover your drive to build the practice of your dreams. 

Did you like this conversation? Then leave us a rating and a review in whatever podcast player you use. We would love your feedback, and your ratings help us reach more advisors with ideas for growing their practices, attracting great clients, and achieving a better quality of life. While you are there, feel free to share your ideas about future podcast guests or topics you’d love to see covered. 

Our Team:

President of Model FA, David DeCelle

If you like this podcast, you will love our community! Join the Model FA Community on Facebook to connect with like-minded advisors and share the day-to-day challenges and wins of running a growing financial services firm.

Kirk Lowe is the Founder and CEO of ProudMouth, an influence accelerator on a mission to “free the world’s experts from sales.” For over 20 years, Kirk and his business partner, Matt Halloran, have helped financial experts and advisors produce, publish, multiply, share, and boost their thought leadership. Kirk and his team are shifting the way experts approach marketing. He is a frequent contributor to Nasdaq, the featured expert on the Top Advisor Marketing Podcast, and the co-host of the BeYourOwnLoud podcast. Kirk regularly speaks and writes on topics related to building authority, becoming a micro-influencer, marketing, and podcasting.

Kirk joins me today to discuss how to effectively create a content marketing strategy that builds your credibility and authority as an expert. We discuss the concept of ‘brand depth,’ what it means, and how you can use your content to prove your deep understanding and expertise of the industry you serve. We discuss Kirk’s journey into the world of podcasting and what inspired him and his business partner to launch the ProudMouth brand. We discuss how you can use your content to attract new clients and the importance of staying consistent with your content marketing efforts. We also discuss organic strategies you can use to accelerate your content marketing results, why a small podcast audience can be just as powerful and rewarding as a large one, and how you can determine when your business is ready to hire a PR firm.

“Be patient, do the work that you know is going to make a difference, and when the time comes, that’ll all pay off.” - Kirk Lowe

This week on The Model FA Podcast:

• How to use content marketing strategies to build your credibility and authority
• The evolution of Kirk’s career and the inspiration behind building the ProudMouth brand
• Turning skeptics into fans and prospects
• What the “expertise economy” is and why it’s important
• Creating a system and staying consistent with your content marketing strategy
• How Kirk’s clients have benefited from content marketing and podcasting
• Why you need to tell your audience the steps you want them to take
• Creating a “give to get” offer and the value of smaller audiences
• Creating the customer journey and advancing relationships through your content 
• Navigating compliance hurdles when developing a content marketing or podcasting strategy
• How the intimacy level between blogging and podcasting differ
• Organic strategies to accelerate your content marketing results
• Identifying when you’re ready to partner with a PR firm
• Kirk’s top 3 favorite business books

Resources Mentioned:

• Three Feet from Gold: Turn your Obstacles Into Opportunities (Think and Grow Rich Series) by Sharon Lechter & Greg Reid
• The Compound Effect by Darren Hardy
• Canva
• The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It by Michael Gerber
• Fix: Break The Addictions That Are Killing Brands by Rob Howard and Ryan Gill
• The Story of Lululemon: Little Black Stretchy Pants by Chip Wilson

Our Favorite Quotes:

• “The more specificity that most experts can have when they’re marketing their business, the more you can clearly target and win-over those people,” - Kirk Lowe
• “Find a way to enjoy what you’re talking about because your audience will probably enjoy it more, too.” - Kirk Lowe

Connect with Kirk Lowe:

• ProudMouth
• Influence Accelerator Academy
• Email: [email protected]
• ProudMouth on LinkedIn
• ProudMouth on Facebook
• ProudMouth on Twitter
• Kirk Lowe on LinkedIn
• Podcast: Top Advisor Marketing
• Podcast: BeYourOwnLoud

About the Model FA Podcast

The Model FA podcast is a show for fiduciary financial advisors. In each episode, our host David DeCelle sits down with industry experts, strategic thinkers, and advisors to explore what it takes  to build a successful practice — and have an abundant life in the process. We believe in continuous learning, tactical advice, and strategies that work — no “gotchas” or BS. Join us to hear stories from successful financial advisors, get actionable ideas from experts, and re-discover your drive to build the practice of your dreams. 

Did you like this conversation? Then leave us a rating and a review in whatever podcast player you use. We would love your feedback, and your ratings help us reach more advisors with ideas for growing their practices, attracting great clients, and achieving a better quality of life. While you are there, feel free to share your ideas about future podcast guests or topics you’d love to see covered. 

Our Team:

President of Model FA, David DeCelle

If you like this podcast, you will love our community! Join the Model FA Community on Facebook to connect with like-minded advisors and share the day-to-day challenges and wins of running a growing financial services firm.

This is Part 2 of the conversation between our president, David DeCelle, and Ivan Farber, author of Conversations: How to Manage Your Business Relationships One Conversation at a Time. 

In Part 1 of our podcast, Ivan talked about how to build rapport in a conversation and how to proactively monitor conversation engagement. In this Part 2, Ivan gives us a more concrete formula on how to bring out the specific needs of a prospective client.

In this episode, you will learn how to plan a conversation that will naturally guide prospective clients into discussing their true needs. Once you understand their needs, you’ll be able to show how your professional experience and services can help. 

Ivan breaks the process into five parts in what he calls the CLEAR method... Links and resources

Did you like this conversation? Then leave us a rating and a review in whatever podcast player you use. We would love your feedback, and your ratings help us reach more advisors with ideas for growing their practices, attracting great clients, and achieving a better quality of life. While you are there, feel free to share your ideas about future podcast guests or topics you’d love to see covered.

Our president, David DeCelle, sat down to speak with Ivan Farber, a consultant and an author on a mission to give you a clear formula for conversational success. 
Virtually every financial advisor has heard about (or read) "How to Win Friends and Influence People" by Dale Carnegie.

However, many have walked away from that landmark book wondering about how to implement those ideas in their own conversations. Ivan's work sets out to give professionals specific, practical tools to level up their conversations — and through them, the quality of their impact and positive change. 

In this Part 1 of the episode, Ivan shares tips you can use to proactively monitor conversation engagement. 

What's the level of rapport? 

Does the other party like what's happening?
Do they trust what's happening? 

Do they like you?

More Episode Details 

Did you like this conversation? Then leave us a rating and a review in whatever podcast player you use. We would love your feedback, and your ratings help us reach more advisors with ideas for growing their practices, attracting great clients, and achieving a better quality of life. While you are there, feel free to share your ideas about future podcast guests or topics you’d love to see covered.

If you like this podcast, you will love our community! Join the Model FA Community on Facebook to connect with like-minded advisors and share the day-to-day challenges and wins of running a growing financial services firm.

Our team sat down last month to talk all about Client Experience with Reese Harper, CEO of Dentist Advisors. On this show, Reese Harper joined our host Patrick Brewer to answer questions from our listeners and readers.

What does “client experience” actually mean? What should your clients see, feel, interact with? 

What are the components of an effective, strategically designed client experience?

What are the first steps an advisor can take to evolve the CX into the future?

Tune in to the conversation and get ready to take notes! If you have ever struggled to build relationships that naturally grow deeper as the client’s needs change, then this conversation will help you. In a discussion facilitated by our Executive Podcast Producer Eric Lee, you will hear Patrick Brewer and our guest Reese Harper share strategies for establishing the relational depth that is required to engage in a true financial planning partnership.

Did you like this conversation? Then leave us a rating and a review in whatever podcast player you use. We would love your feedback, and your ratings help us reach more advisors with ideas for growing their practices, attracting great clients, and achieving a better quality of life. While you are there, feel free to share your ideas about future podcast guests or topics you’d love to see covered.

If you like this podcast, you will love our community! Join the Model FA Community on Facebook to connect with like-minded advisors and share the day-to-day challenges and wins of running a growing financial services firm.

Our team and a guest expert Phil Seibel of Collaborative Planning Group sat down last week to discuss insurance planning in a fiduciary firm. Together, they answered questions from our listeners and readers.

• Many insurance products have a bad rep in the financial advisory space. Are there any products that just flat-out should never be sold to anyone?

• How is the process of getting your client into an insurance policy different today vs. 20 years ago?

• How does risk management planning best fit into a holistic financial planning engagement?

• How important is long term care planning for advisors — and for their clients? 

• With all the buzz about “no commission insurance”, is that the optimal solution for a fiduciary? What about fee-based insurance?

• A lot of people feel that a fiduciary should never accept a commission because commissions promote bias. What are your thoughts?

Tune in to the conversation and get ready to take notes. If you are unsure how the insurance industry is changing, how to choose the best insurance products for your clients, and whether or not commissions promote bias, you will walk away with lots of food for thought.

In a discussion facilitated by our Executive Podcast Producer Eric Lee, you will hear David DeCelle, Dan Allison, and our guest Phil Seibel discuss strategies, share personal experiences, and push against some antiquated ways of thinking about insurance planning.

Did you like this conversation? Then leave us a rating and a review in whatever podcast player you use. We would love your feedback, and your ratings help us reach more advisors with ideas for growing their practices, attracting great clients, and achieving a better quality of life. While you are there, feel free to share your ideas about future podcast guests or topics you’d love to see covered.

If you like this podcast, you will love our community! Join the Model FA Community on Facebook to connect with likeminded advisors and share the day-today challenges and wins of running a growing financial services firm.

Our team sat down last week to talk about All Things COI’s.
Together, they answered questions from our listeners and readers.

What am I looking for in a COI?

How do I break through the noise and stand out to a new COI — without looking like I am just fishing for new clients?

What are some of the barriers and best practices for forming an agreement that will allow both parties to move forward with enthusiasm and mutual commitment?

How does COVID impact center-of-influence partnerships?

Tune into the conversation and get ready to take notes. If you have ever struggled to connect with a COI, explain what you do, or build a relationship where they feel comfortable referring their clients to you, then you are about to get a secret weapon.

In a discussion facilitated by our Executive Podcast Producer Eric Lee, you will hear Patrick Brewer, David DeCelle, and Dan Allison share strategies for establishing mutually beneficial relationships, overcoming objections, and making an impact.

Did you like this conversation? Then leave us a rating and a review in whatever podcast player you use. We would love your feedback, and your ratings help us reach more advisors with ideas for growing their practices, attracting great clients, and achieving a better quality of life. While you are there, feel free to share your ideas about future podcast guests or topics you’d love to see covered.

Our Team
Model FA Creative Director and Executive Podcast Producer, Eric Lee
Model FA Founder and Podcast host, Patrick Brewer
President of Model FA, David DeCelle
Founder and President of the Feedback Marketing Group, Dan Allison

If you like this podcast, you will love our community! Join the Model FA Community on Facebook to connect with likeminded advisors and share the day-today challenges and wins of running a growing financial services firm.

Our team has been working around the clock to support advisors and serve our own wealth management clients through this pandemic. COVID-19 has brought many things to the surface, but there is one area that has demanded a tremendous amount of focus, attention, and energy. How can advisors strengthen and grow their practices in the midst of many unknowns?


Our Creative Director and Executive Producer of the Model FA Podcast, Eric Lee, sat down with our podcast host and Founder, Patrick Brewer. The two were joined by President of Model FA, David DeCelle, and Dan Allison, Founder and President of the Feedback Marketing Group. Together, they spent over an hour answering questions from our listeners and readers.

What do advisors have to change immediately in order to survive?
What needs to change in the next 12 months and beyond?
How is the industry evolving — and what does that mean for advisors today?


Tune into the conversation and get ready to take notes, because guys around this table get real. They don’t hold back as they share how they are leading their teams, what they have personally changed as a result of this pandemic, and where they think the industry is going.


Did you like this conversation? Then leave us a rating and a review in whatever podcast player you use. We would love your feedback, and your ratings help us reach more advisors with ideas for growing their practices, attracting great clients, and achieving a better quality of life. While you are there, feel free to share your ideas about future podcast guests or topics you’d love to see covered.


Resource Link

My guest today is Jim Palumbo. Jim is a veteran of the financial services industry, with more than 25 years of experience in creating and managing organizations that grow and preserve wealth. 

In this conversation, Jim explores different options that are available to today’s advisors who are looking for a path to independence, and why it’s important for an advisor to begin with what his or her vision and purpose of independence is. 

Don’t miss one of our favorite moments, when Jim shares his experience of creating what he calls a “Living Library” at Dynamic Advisor Solutions. It may be helpful to read an article to solve a problem, but it’s measurably better to get access to a community of professionals who have already solved that problem and looked at it from a dozen different angles.

As you think about this conversation, how are you inspired to differentiate your firm? Will you discover new partnerships, practice management systems, business development ideas, or creative and unique client experiences? Whichever area you begin with, take Jim’s advice and connect with a peer group to strengthen your practice and build the life you’ve dreamed about.

Looking for more ideas about growing your practice? Join the Model FA Facebook Community, where you will find expert advice on how to launch, grow, scale, and transform your firm with an incredible client experience. Or, check out our Model FA Accelerator, a premier coaching and practice management program for entrepreneurial financial advisors.

Resource Links

Connect with The Model FA

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David is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of DPL Financial Partners, a network that connects Registered Investment Advisors and fee-based advisory channels with insurance solutions from the nation’s top carriers. 

David started DPL with an idea to distribute variable annuities through RIAs and fee-only advisors. That seemed like a gamble at the time. David’s hunch proved accurate. In just two years, DPL membership achieved an RIA footprint that approached some of the largest, well-established platforms in the industry. 

In this conversation, we discuss how DPL has built a turnkey, product-agnostic insurance platform for RIAs. Insurance is an important part of a holistic financial plan. David argues that advisors can — and should — use insurance products when that’s the best and most appropriate solution for their clients. However, fee-only advisors have historically had to refer their clients to outside insurance professionals because of commissions. DPL eliminated the need to do that. 

Resource Links

Looking for more ideas about growing your practice? Join the Model FA Facebook Community, where you will find expert advice on how to launch, grow, scale, and transform your firm with an incredible client experience. Or, check out our Model FA Accelerator, a premier coaching and practice management program for entrepreneurial financial advisors.