I have spent quite a bit of time on the blog and podcast explaining why it might make sense to go independent--and I’ve spent a lot of my fourteen years in the industry either figuring that out for myself or talking to other advisors and articulating a case for doing so.
I think it is time to have a discussion about when you would NOT want to go independent. Obviously it’s not for everybody. If it was for everybody we wouldn’t need this blog. There wouldn’t be 60,000+ employee advisors concentrated in bank-owned firms. So, I want to go through a list of reasons why you definitely would not want to go independent.
If this is you all day at your current firm and you're happy with your income, maybe going independent isn't the right move for you.
The first reason is a very obvious one. If you fit this one, you probably aren’t reading this. But if you do not want to, you don’t need to, and you like where you are and you see no reason to change, obviously would not want to go independent. I would love to make the argument for why that person who’s comfortable, happy with their income, happy with their environment still might want to look at exploring to have a backup plan in place, look at the options but to be honest, it’s hard to make that case.
I think someone, as I said in a blog post recently, is to have the commitment and mindset, so I don’t think that person to really explore it if they don’t have even the slightest inkling of why they might want to or they don’t want to learn more. I don’t think that person should be pushed because I’ve come to believe that both in industry and life in general, I think you want to look for decisions that don’t feel like they’re forced. So basically, if you’re happy where you are, you’re making good money or you’re comfortable with your income, you don’t see any obvious threats to it, which again, those aren't the ones that get us to choose with the ones we don’t see but obviously that person’s not ready to go independent so they shouldn’t.
So, number one is, you don’t want to, you don’t need to and you like where you are, you’re really happy. So, good for you, carry on.