On April 1st, Master’s entered a new phase in our journey as a financial planning business, launching our own Registered Investment Advisory (RIA) firm, Master’s Wealth Management. This follows a year of research, conversations, and planning, as we prepared to make a monumental shift in our business model.
While you do not necessarily need to know all the behind-the-scenes details of the financial advice industry, I am sure you can see that it is complex. There seems to be a ‘financial advisor’ on every street corner, but a little bit of digging reveals that there are many different approaches to operating a financial planning firm. We chose to become a Fee-only RIA with one ideal in mind: serving our clients in the best way possible while giving you access to the technology and advice that should accelerate your personal financial goals. Our move to be a Fee-only RIA will do just that, and we are excited for how it changes our future.
However, you may be asking yourself, why does this matter to me, a client of Master’s? Over the next four weeks, we will highlight our reasons for making this change, and what it means for you as a valued client of our firm:
- Full Independence – Charlie will talk about the history of Master’s and the different affiliation models we have had over the years, ending with why the RIA model gives us full independence going forward.
- Investment Flexibility – Jon will discuss the increased flexibility we have on the investment management side of the business, and how we believe this flexibility can lead to better investment outcomes for our clients.
- Improved Technology – Lyle will highlight a few of our innovative technology partners we have chosen to work with, and why the freedom to choose the provider platforms that are on the cutting-edge of our industry will benefit you.
- Fee-Only – I will wrap-up this blog series with an eye towards the future, discussing our goal to be a fully fee-only firm, putting us on the same side of the table as our clients and fully aligning our advice with your best interests.
As we continue to journey through this transition, we are grateful for your patience, responsiveness, and trust in our team. We certainly appreciate your confidence and hope this blog series will give you a better idea of why this transition was worth it, for you and for Master’s.