It’s a competitive world, and we all have peers that we respect and would welcome the right opportunity to join forces with them. The conversation usually stalls when we start thinking about how a move to work together would create a high level of disruption. New client agreements, new custodians, new staff, new processes. The list goes on.

The financial services industry has changed dramatically over the past decade. Independent firms have more flexibility than ever before, yet many advisors still think in terms of competition instead of collaboration. The rise of Registered Investment Advisor (RIA) firms has created a tremendous opportunity for open-minded leaders willing to challenge traditional ways of doing business. If one of your peers offers a service that you don’t have the time or desire to pursue, why not figure out how you can work together on it?

A handful of firms have embraced this model, but we believe it’s still vastly underutilized. One area that we’ve successfully collaborated with other firms on is retirement plan consulting. This is a business that we’ve found to be a challenge for a lot of advisors. If you’re an RIA or independent advisor, why force yourself to become an expert in an area outside of your core competency when you can partner with a specialist and provide an even better experience for your clients?

We have decades of experience doing retirement plan consulting and have developed great processes over the years. We can share them with other firms to help them take care of their clients while acting as a seamless extension of their team. We handle the investment advisory work that includes developing the investment policy, building and monitoring the fund lineup, generating the reports, and evaluating recordkeepers. They maintain the relationship, conduct the review meetings, and do the employee education. Most importantly, they remain the trusted advisor. We are as involved in it as they want us to be, and it is all clearly defined in a legal document.

Retirement plan consulting is one area where we’ve seen the model work, but that’s just scratching the surface. We’re excited about the changes taking place in the industry. Instead of looking at other independent advisors, banks, and RIAs as competitors, we are choosing to look at them as peers. We’re looking for advisors and firms that we feel comfortable collaborating with who share the same values and commitment to their clients. If you are an advisor or leader at a bank, an RIA, or an independent firm and want to explore collaboration opportunities, we would welcome the conversation.