Financial Advisor: Full Service Firm
Traditional full service firms continue to dominate the industry in number of clients and amount of assets. As an advisor of this model, you practice as an employee of the firm's broker-dealer. This usually means operating inside the branch office of the broker-dealer, which will provide you with full support for every business need–freeing you to focus on growing your practice. The full service model is typically branded, prominently featuring the name of the broker-dealer, providing you the association and credibility of a well-recognized name in the industry. Depending on your preference, you can choose from a wide range of full service firms, which range in size from the largest Wall Street wirehouses to smaller, regional, and even single-office firms.
The full service model surrounds you with help and resources, eliminating the need to manage operations or staff. If you want to focus on servicing clients and have no interest in management, this business model provides the highest level of support. While you have to adhere strictly to the operations guidelines of the firm, the productivity gains offset that requirement. While you will not create equity in your practice, most broker-dealers have a deferred revenue or a practice buy-out program that addresses a portion of equity accumulation.
Dually Registered Advisor Within a Full Service Firm
Most full service firms have a registered investment advisory arm that allows you to work with clients under an advisory agreement, provided that you hold the appropriate registrations. Often called a Corporate RIA, this setup is common across all broker-dealers–including independent, full-service, and banks–and represents over 200,000 advisors who offer fee-based advisory services.
