In part two of our three-part blog series about the variety of paths that Forum Financial Management, LP (“Forum” or “Forum Financial”), parent company to the Wealth Advisor Alliance (WAA), offers for financial advisors, we look at the support that Joey Schultz received as he switched careers to become a Financial Advisor at Forum.
In part one, Beginning the Financial Advisor Journey, we highlighted the experience of Nicole A. Campbell, CFP®, CDFA®, AEP® who joined Forum as she embarked on a career as a financial advisor. Part three, Supporting Entrepreneurship, follows the journey of Henry Bragg, who left a larger, more established practice to strike out on his own. For a deeper dive into Henry’s experience, read our Case Study: Leverage for Scale on how the WAA, in conjunction with Forum Financial, helped support Henry with the structure needed during his crucial startup period. The WAA provides registered investment advisor (RIA) firms with support and structure to deliver better service and serve more clients with scalable technology and back-office support.
NOTE: While this three-part blog series explores the avenues open to financial advisors establishing their own practice, Forum Financial also offers opportunities for growth for established RIAs through the WAA. For further insights, read our Q&A session with Jennifer Cray, CFP®, who, along with her partner, Julie Schatz, CFP®, joined Forum Financial and the WAA in 2023.
Changing Careers Mid-Stride
Switching to a career in financial planning can be an exciting and rewarding move for a successful business professional, but it comes with its own set of challenges. Building a client base, learning the intricacies of financial products and staying current with ever-changing regulations and market trends can be daunting, especially for those new to the industry. The time commitment involved—from networking to grow your practice, to providing excellent customer service and managing administrative tasks—can feel overwhelming.
We spoke with Joey Schultz, Financial Advisor, about how he pivoted to financial planning from a successful career in corporate finance and why he chose to join Forum Financial.
Contemplating a Career Move
Joey spent the first four years of his career in public accounting and then moved to a variety of positions in corporate finance and sales. He began to explore a career in financial planning after he and his wife sat down with a financial advisor to discuss their finances. He explained, “We walked away with a tremendous amount of clarity and confidence. I remember thinking to myself, this is what I want to do. So, I started poking around the edges of pursuing this career, but it was very scary because I was in a stable job with a growing family to support.”
As he contemplated a career move, Joey narrowed down his options. “I could try to start my own RIA and go through all the layers of complexity that come along with that. But I knew I had no idea what I was doing, and I didn’t even want to think about it. Option two was to go work for somebody else in a salaried capacity. However, there were implications of doing that in terms of my earnings potential and my right to own the relationships that I was building.” After meeting with Forum, Joey realized there was another business model option that exists for investment advisory representatives (IARs)—one in which he would be provided with the tools and resources he needed so that he could focus on building client relationships.
Finding the Right Fit
One of Joey’s main concerns was finding a firm that would allow him to utilize his existing business acumen while honing his skills and knowledge in financial planning. “I’d built relationships my whole professional life, but I didn’t know the first thing about delivering a financial plan or what that should look like in practice.”
As Joey continued to explore joining Forum Financial, he was impressed with their open approach to addressing his concerns. He described his experience, “Forum set up a couple of conversations for me with people who had been in my shoes, and they helped educate me on what it was like to work at Forum for someone with my background. They told me where they thought I had holes and educated me on the steps I was going to need to take to be successful. They explained that not only would they teach me, but they also talked about their mentorship framework where they could give me real world experience.”
Onboarding for Success
Forum Financial’s multi-layer approach to advisor onboarding enabled Joey to hit the ground running. He explained, “They have built an internal team around ensuring that new advisors are successful. There are concurrent tracks of education for new advisor onboarding. The first track is to meet with operational staff who teach you how to use internal tools and processes. The second layer is an advisor study group which is a concentrated series of weekly educational discussions led by various leaders throughout the firm who discuss topics such as Forum’s investment philosophy, best practices for running your practice, generating and delivering a financial plan, servicing existing clients and talking with prospective clients.”
The Value of Mentorship
Joey found Forum Financial’s mentorship framework invaluable in providing him with real world experience as he built his own book of business. Joey is an enthusiastic supporter of Forum’s mentorship program, noting, “I was shadowing calls with existing and prospective clients, really seeing how the things that I was learning through the training modules are put into practice in real life.” Joey continued, “Within three to four months I was at a point where I felt ready and comfortable and frankly, empowered to start having those types of conversations with prospects of my own.”
The Advantages of Joining Forum Financial
100% Ownership
One of the key factors in Joey’s decision to join Forum Financial was the fact that he owns 100% of his book of business. He shared, “I could literally walk away from Forum tomorrow with no financial repercussions. It felt unique from all the other conversations that I had when I was looking to begin my financial planning career.” One aspect that Joey didn’t initially consider when selecting a firm to join was the business model of the firm. Joey noted, “One thing I didn’t realize was big, but I really appreciate now is the fact that Forum is 100% Advisor owned. They do not take any outside capital and are not trying to increase profits for some third party and that is important to me.”
Advisor Networking
Joey finds Forum Financial’s networking opportunities helpful in keeping current on market trends and processes as well as providing a support group of like-minded advisors and peers. He noted that Forum’s semi-annual advisor conferences which offer an opportunity to gather in person with fellow Forum advisors to learn about the latest technologies and processes from the operations staff and to discuss what is happening in the market.
Forum’s peer groups also offer a more informal and more frequent way to network with other advisors and discuss current best practices from a practice management and client communication standpoint. Joey explained, “This is literally a group of people sharing ideas because they want to be there helping each other, and that’s a super powerful thing in my mind. We talk about things such as ‘What are you hearing from clients? What challenges are you facing in your practice? What are questions that you have?’.”
Client First Philosophy
“I never have to think about anything other than ‘How do I serve my clients?’ I don’t have to worry about the back-office responsibilities that are involved with compliance, legal, trading, and so on. I feel like Forum has stood by its promise to make the advisor’s life easier through technology when it comes to client engagement and interaction.”
Joey noted that it comes down to a company-wide attitude of how to scale technology in a way that adds value to advisor’s time in servicing clients.
Future Opportunities
Forum Financial’s internal succession and mentorship program provides numerous paths for Joey to grow as an advisor as senior advisors pare down their book of business or retire. He has had the opportunity to take over existing client relationships from other advisors. This, combined with clients he has brought in, has resulted in a strong client referral base. Joey looks forward to the opportunity to pay it forward by developing relationships with younger, next-generation advisors as he shapes his own book of business. He noted, “Working at Forum allows me to grow my business in a way that fits where I am in terms of my career and my personal life.”
Final Thoughts
Asked for his final thoughts, Joey commented, “Forum’s investment philosophy which utilizes the best academic and empirical evidence to maximize long-term returns for clients has had a profound effect on me. I’d never heard it articulated so succinctly, and it grabbed me right away because it so strongly tied to my personal beliefs. That was a very important thing to me.”
Regarding the ongoing support that Forum provides, he added, “What excites me most for the future is that Forum allows me to enhance my client engagement and interactions so that I can continue to help more people. But there’s only so much of Joey to go around, so anything that makes more Joey go around is a great thing.”
Get to Know Forum Financial
As Forum Financial, advisors are entrepreneurs — as such, we are an advisor-owned firm and intend to stay that way. Everything we do — from our ownership model to the client experience we help you provide —is built by advisors, for advisors. We know that every advisor must prioritize client-facing activities above everything else. We enable you to better leverage your time and increase the chances of raising your client engagement, referral and revenue rates. The same efforts that define your success are the priorities of our incredible team and technological investments: it is all about you. Contact us if you’d like to discover more about how Forum Financial can help you achieve your professional goals.
We help advisors establish and grow successful wealth management practices. To learn more about how we can help you amplify your life’s work, contact us at team@waalliance.com. You can follow us on LinkedIn.