What are your favorite things about being independent? Do you get satisfaction from helping individuals and families craft unique financial plans? Is there new-found freedom in the way you can shape the future of your practice? Perhaps the priority shift away from gathering assets to focusing on a specific type of client is refreshing? Or do you like the idea of not being beholden to a large broker-dealer’s mediocre tech tools and lack of personalization?

Many aspects appeal to breakaway RIAs in today’s advisory industry. There are challenges, though.

Two specific areas that newly-free RIAs find challenging are developing both an efficient and effective technology stack, as well as a personalized approach to their offering. Halo Investing can help advisors take the reins of their business and run a seamless practice.

Like it or not, you as a financial advisor in 2022 are not only in the people and investment business—your firm is also a technology company. According to Think Advisor, a Cerulli Edge survey suggests that RIAs which are tech-heavy users tend to be larger and, more importantly, better-resourced practices. Halo is the solution to help RIAs stand out, stay ahead, and grow.

How Halo Helps You Build And Run Your Tech Stack

Among the first steps to hitting the ground running as a breakaway RIA are: finding the right clients to work with, and developing the right tech stack. Once you have settled on your target market and size of your business, executing the path forward becomes top-of-mind. It is daunting to consider all of your options—especially for advisors who do not have a massive budget.

Financial capital is not the only constraint. You don’t have an unlimited amount of time to sift through paperwork in addition to all the steps required to build a business and then manage portfolios. Taking a streamlined approach with your CRM, planning tools, and investment management products is paramount to achieving strong client engagement and retention. Having a solid back-end system with efficient billing is also critical. RIAs without the right tech stack end up spending more time on operational tasks rather than on actual financial planning discussions with clients.

Halo’s award-winning platform can provide an ideal solution for seasoned advisors whose clients are concerned about longevity risk and inflation, as well as for younger advisors who demand data and analytics for managing the next generation of wealth. Do you offer white-glove treatment for high-net-worth families? Halo’s tools are designed to work with clients of all levels of wealth. You can learn about Halo’s state-of-the-art customized solutions here.

Your tech stack should not be the same as the other wealth managers you chat with. Their clients are likely much different than your own. When building your tech stack, knowing what’s important to you and what will help your clients the most is our top priority. It’s all about creating value by running your business better.

Personalizing a RIA Shop

A financial advisor needs the right tools that fit their clients. With the growing trend of niche advisors, a broad-based investment offering with cookie-cutter portfolios will not separate you from the pack. What’s more, today’s high stock market valuations and extremely low fixed-income yields can make investing tough. Innovative solutions are needed for this new environment.

Halo offers an independent platform for RIAs to transact protective investments such as structured notes, annuities, and defined-outcome ETFs. We are not owned by any major bank, so you can have confidence knowing we are working to serve the best interests of you and your clients’ unique needs. By working with Halo, you can strategize with our product experts and use our online tools to tailor investments based on the risk and return objectives of your clients.

Our personalized approach sets an RIA apart from the herd. Halo can help breakaway advisors maintain legacy planning solutions with no overhead through Halo’s Outsourced Insurance Desk. Our subject matter experts help transition assets to less expensive and transparent annuity products so your clients can keep more of what’s theirs. A personalized approach helps you increase customer loyalty while instilling confidence in your clients that you are an advisor they can trust.

Conclusion

Breakaway RIAs use Halo Investing to develop an efficient, individualized tech stack to help them build a unique brand. Halo’s team works with advisors to customize investment solutions and help achieve better business outcomes by saving you time, adding technological capabilities, and empowering you to deepen your practice with specialized tools and knowledge.

Please see our Halo Disclaimer for other important disclosures.