WEBVTT - Shirl Penney on Building a $100 Billion RIA Platform (Podcast) 0:00:00.080 --> 0:00:06.080 M This is Mesters in Business with very renaults on 0:00:06.240 --> 0:00:11.000 Bluebird Radio. This week on the podcast, I have a 0:00:11.080 --> 0:00:16.160 special guest, Sheryl Penny. Uh comes from the most humble 0:00:16.239 --> 0:00:19.480 of all roots, and really we want to talk about 0:00:19.560 --> 0:00:25.080 a Horatio Alger story of a person who um essentially 0:00:25.239 --> 0:00:28.080 picked himself up by his bootstraps and and built a 0:00:28.920 --> 0:00:33.120 um career and turned that into a powerhouse business. He 0:00:33.200 --> 0:00:37.840 runs Dynasty Financial Partners, which has over sixty billion dollars 0:00:37.880 --> 0:00:43.240 on its platform. His story is really, i want to say, 0:00:43.320 --> 0:00:47.640 pretty unique in in Wall Street, very very humble origins 0:00:48.440 --> 0:00:52.920 UH and and very much a self educated person who 0:00:53.120 --> 0:00:57.040 was fascinated with finance from when he was younger and 0:00:57.520 --> 0:01:03.160 use that fascination really a motivation to uh self educate 0:01:03.680 --> 0:01:08.199 autodidact is the term for that, and really become one 0:01:08.240 --> 0:01:13.040 of the most impressive CEOs in the financial industry space. 0:01:13.680 --> 0:01:17.039 This is a little inside baseball. It talks about what 0:01:17.240 --> 0:01:22.080 happens when advisers and brokers at big firms like Morgan 0:01:22.160 --> 0:01:25.399 Stanley or Mari Lynch or Ubs decide they want to 0:01:25.440 --> 0:01:29.399 go independent and leave those big firms to set up 0:01:29.440 --> 0:01:33.360 their own shop. What Dynasty does is provides a pathway 0:01:33.400 --> 0:01:36.040 to do that, either so that the person can become 0:01:36.040 --> 0:01:41.600 independent or the person ends up on um Dynasty's platform. Uh, 0:01:41.640 --> 0:01:46.080 this is a pretty fast growing space. We've seen major 0:01:46.200 --> 0:01:51.160 changes in the financial services industry over the past twenty years. 0:01:51.480 --> 0:01:55.600 Most of that acceleration took place after the financial crisis, 0:01:56.040 --> 0:02:00.720 where I think the once mighty brands no longer carry 0:02:00.760 --> 0:02:04.400 the same cash because of their involvement in in what 0:02:04.520 --> 0:02:07.640 took place with subprime and CDOs and all that not 0:02:07.720 --> 0:02:11.280 so much fun stuff. Anyway, if you're at all interested 0:02:11.520 --> 0:02:17.799 in financial services, registered investment advisories, anything along those lines, 0:02:17.960 --> 0:02:21.920 I think you'll find this to be a fascinating conversation. So, 0:02:22.320 --> 0:02:27.519 with no further ado, here's my discussion with Dynasty Financials 0:02:27.680 --> 0:02:34.320 Ryl Penny. This is mesters in Business with very results 0:02:34.360 --> 0:02:41.760 on Bloomberg Radio. Ryl Penny, Welcome to Bloomberg and Barry's 0:02:41.840 --> 0:02:44.240 so great to be here. I am a huge fan 0:02:44.520 --> 0:02:47.359 of the show, so I'm thrilled to be a part 0:02:47.400 --> 0:02:50.720 of it. Thanks so much for the invite. Well, my pleasure. 0:02:50.760 --> 0:02:54.120 This is this is long overdue. We're gonna talk about 0:02:54.320 --> 0:02:58.280 Dynasty in a little while. I want to start discussing 0:02:58.400 --> 0:03:01.919 your background because in the world of finance, your story 0:03:02.040 --> 0:03:05.000 is kind of unique. Would you mind sharing a little 0:03:05.040 --> 0:03:09.560 bit about your background with us? Sure, I'm happy to look. 0:03:09.600 --> 0:03:12.520 We're we're all living our own unique version of the 0:03:12.520 --> 0:03:15.200 American dream. But I'll tell you a little bit about mine. 0:03:15.280 --> 0:03:18.040 So I'm from a little fishing village the easternmost point 0:03:18.480 --> 0:03:22.320 in the United States in Maine called Eastport, Maine, population four. 0:03:23.600 --> 0:03:26.600 I was raised there by my step grandfather. When I 0:03:26.680 --> 0:03:29.880 was eleven years old and my grandfather was in his 0:03:29.919 --> 0:03:33.480 early seventies, the house that we were living in was condemned, 0:03:33.720 --> 0:03:36.680 literally fell down around us, and for three years when 0:03:36.720 --> 0:03:39.600 I was eleven twelve thirteen, we were homeless, lived with 0:03:39.720 --> 0:03:43.800 various neighbors. Obviously very cold in winters in Maine, but 0:03:44.040 --> 0:03:47.880 a great motivator when you're cold and hungry at times. 0:03:48.440 --> 0:03:50.960 And always had great love and support of my my 0:03:51.000 --> 0:03:55.240 step grandfather, but was fascinated by by numbers, was always 0:03:55.280 --> 0:03:58.720 good and math. Convinced my high school teachers to have 0:03:58.800 --> 0:04:02.080 the stock market game added at the school. And I 0:04:02.160 --> 0:04:04.360 used to tell people, you know, someday I'm going to 0:04:04.440 --> 0:04:07.200 go to college and U and head off to Wall Street, 0:04:07.840 --> 0:04:11.000 and people kind of chuckled because not only had no 0:04:11.040 --> 0:04:14.200 one in my family ever gone to college, no one 0:04:14.320 --> 0:04:17.760 from that part of the state had ever gone off 0:04:17.800 --> 0:04:21.320 to New York to build a career in finance. I 0:04:21.440 --> 0:04:23.520 used to ask a lot of the tourists who would 0:04:23.560 --> 0:04:28.200 come visit to bring me copies of financial publications. And 0:04:28.520 --> 0:04:32.440 I was self taught, just always fascinated by finance and 0:04:32.480 --> 0:04:36.719 wealth management and was determined to somehow, some way find 0:04:36.760 --> 0:04:40.160 my way to building a career and in finance. And 0:04:40.240 --> 0:04:43.039 my grandfather always told me, look, you can do anything, 0:04:43.040 --> 0:04:45.359 even though he only had a fifth grade education. He 0:04:45.400 --> 0:04:47.920 always told me can do anything you want in life 0:04:47.960 --> 0:04:50.560 if you work hard enough towards it. And and I 0:04:50.600 --> 0:04:53.520 believed him. And it's been quite a journey. So you 0:04:53.600 --> 0:04:58.120 go to not the usual Wall Street feeder schools. You 0:04:58.240 --> 0:05:01.520 end up at Bates College, which is a small liberal 0:05:01.600 --> 0:05:05.359 arts school. How did you find your way into the 0:05:05.440 --> 0:05:10.599 financial services industry from that education? We are blessed in 0:05:10.640 --> 0:05:13.320 the state of Maine with three great lebo art schools, 0:05:13.320 --> 0:05:16.920 Bates and Bowden and Colby. Many people would know those schools. 0:05:17.320 --> 0:05:19.359 Part of going to Bates was I could stay in 0:05:19.440 --> 0:05:23.799 Maine and thankfully, very the day before I graduated from college. 0:05:23.880 --> 0:05:26.840 My step grandfather, who had raised me and meant so 0:05:26.920 --> 0:05:29.120 much to me, as you can imagine, he died in 0:05:29.200 --> 0:05:31.960 my arms, and I had the opportunity to give him 0:05:32.000 --> 0:05:35.080 my diploma before he did pass. I bought a suit 0:05:35.240 --> 0:05:38.600 for thirteen dollars at the Salvation Army UH and I 0:05:38.640 --> 0:05:41.400 wrote a bus a couple of days past my graduation 0:05:41.680 --> 0:05:46.080 to New York City and I interviewed at Smith Barney, which, 0:05:46.160 --> 0:05:48.400 as many of your listeners will know, is now part 0:05:48.440 --> 0:05:52.000 of Morgan Stanley. And I had interned my junior year 0:05:52.480 --> 0:05:57.480 at Dates at the branch location in Portland, Maine at 0:05:57.480 --> 0:05:59.480 Smith Barney, so I got to know some people there. 0:06:00.120 --> 0:06:03.600 Basically traded a summer's worth of work for an interview 0:06:03.880 --> 0:06:06.800 in New York. I rode the bus sixteen hours, and 0:06:06.880 --> 0:06:10.120 my biggest challenge that morning, Barry was making my way 0:06:10.160 --> 0:06:12.760 through a revolving door, which I had never seen at 0:06:13.240 --> 0:06:15.920 point in my life, getting up an escalator which I 0:06:15.960 --> 0:06:20.120 had also not seen again being from a very small town, 0:06:20.279 --> 0:06:23.360 you know, fishing village in Maine, making my way through 0:06:23.440 --> 0:06:27.440 multiple elevator banks, and arriving there at my interview, which 0:06:27.440 --> 0:06:30.279 I was a half hour early four uh, And I 0:06:30.320 --> 0:06:33.640 just said, look, you know, I'll here's my my main roots. 0:06:33.720 --> 0:06:36.239 And I had a job since I was ten years old, 0:06:36.279 --> 0:06:38.480 had to and just said, look, you know, I may 0:06:38.480 --> 0:06:40.640 not be the smartest person in the room, but out 0:06:40.640 --> 0:06:44.400 work everyone. I'm self taught, and I had studied a 0:06:44.440 --> 0:06:48.240 lot about you know, Sandy Wile and City Group and 0:06:48.320 --> 0:06:52.200 Smith Barney. And they said, look, come back next week 0:06:52.240 --> 0:06:54.920 for a second round interview. And I said, you understand 0:06:54.960 --> 0:06:56.280 what I had to go through to get here. I 0:06:56.320 --> 0:06:58.159 gotta go all the way back to Maine and come back. 0:06:58.800 --> 0:07:01.240 And the first time that I ever flew on an airplane, 0:07:01.520 --> 0:07:03.920 Barry was. They bought me a flight to come back 0:07:04.120 --> 0:07:07.320 the following week for the second round interview, which went well, 0:07:07.400 --> 0:07:09.920 and I was hired and and off I went to 0:07:09.960 --> 0:07:12.800 New York, not knowing anyone but to start my career 0:07:12.840 --> 0:07:15.800 in finance. So tell us a little bit about your 0:07:15.800 --> 0:07:18.840 experience at Smith Barty. What did you do, what roles 0:07:18.880 --> 0:07:22.520 did you hold, and and how long did you stay there. 0:07:22.880 --> 0:07:27.600 The punchline is I, before starting Dynasty Financial Partners, I 0:07:27.800 --> 0:07:30.360 spent a little over ten years at Smith Morning and 0:07:30.400 --> 0:07:33.800 it was a great place to learn the business. I'm 0:07:33.840 --> 0:07:37.360 a huge believer in mentorship by committee. I had some 0:07:37.440 --> 0:07:41.640 great mentors when I was there. I moved around the country, 0:07:41.720 --> 0:07:44.560 which was fantastic. I went to l A, I went 0:07:44.600 --> 0:07:48.440 to San Francisco. I helped open some private wealth offices there. 0:07:48.520 --> 0:07:51.200 And I tell a lot of people that are looking 0:07:51.240 --> 0:07:54.320 to build careers and finances stay close to the field. 0:07:54.920 --> 0:07:56.840 I think some of the challenges that some of the 0:07:56.920 --> 0:08:00.400 larger firms have right now is management has not ever 0:08:00.520 --> 0:08:03.720 really spent any significant time in the field to really 0:08:03.840 --> 0:08:07.040 understand where the rubbery hits the road in terms of, 0:08:07.360 --> 0:08:10.840 you know, the advisor client relationship. You know, I've had 0:08:10.880 --> 0:08:13.760 the good fortune very my whole career the lens through 0:08:13.800 --> 0:08:16.640 which I see the world as I work for advisors. 0:08:16.680 --> 0:08:19.800 And I've been fortunate enough that advisors have entrusted me 0:08:20.400 --> 0:08:22.920 over the course of my career to be their partner 0:08:23.400 --> 0:08:26.440 in their life's work, to help them get new clients, 0:08:26.600 --> 0:08:30.080 take care of their best clients, grow their business. Uh. 0:08:30.080 --> 0:08:32.640 And that mentality I've brought you to to this new 0:08:32.640 --> 0:08:36.079 business here. I was pushed a lot at Smith Warney 0:08:36.280 --> 0:08:39.960 and given a lot of responsibility again understanding, you know, 0:08:40.000 --> 0:08:43.640 I was homeless kid from from Maine who you know, 0:08:43.880 --> 0:08:47.959 was on welfare and food stamps and trying to work 0:08:47.960 --> 0:08:51.120 odd jobs and my granddad worked odd jobs to make 0:08:51.240 --> 0:08:55.280 ends meet. And now, at the age of twenty seven, 0:08:55.440 --> 0:08:58.760 I think five years into my career, I was actually 0:08:58.800 --> 0:09:03.560 put in charge of private management, which big responsibility of 0:09:03.600 --> 0:09:08.600 introducing the firm's top clients and prospects to Sandy while 0:09:08.720 --> 0:09:12.079 and the senior executives in the firm and showcasing, you know, 0:09:12.240 --> 0:09:15.200 all of the capability of the organization. Sitting there with 0:09:15.240 --> 0:09:17.640 these billionaires and advising them on what to do with 0:09:17.679 --> 0:09:20.600 their money. When you know, seven or eight years prior, 0:09:20.640 --> 0:09:23.560 I'm standing in line and the sticks of main berry 0:09:23.880 --> 0:09:28.360 waiting for a block of government cheese. So pretty profound, uh, 0:09:28.520 --> 0:09:31.160 in terms of you know, uh, you know where my 0:09:31.400 --> 0:09:33.720 life went in a short period of time. I was 0:09:33.800 --> 0:09:38.040 working very hard, you know, seventeen eighteen nineteen hour days 0:09:38.520 --> 0:09:40.880 sometimes because I'm reading all night, trying to come up 0:09:40.920 --> 0:09:45.160 the learning curve with all these various concepts. And what 0:09:45.200 --> 0:09:50.720 I realized early on is that we had remarkable experts 0:09:50.760 --> 0:09:53.360 in all the different disciplines of wealth management, whether it 0:09:53.480 --> 0:09:58.800 was a state planning, capital markets, investment, banking, asset management, 0:09:58.840 --> 0:10:02.120 traditional alternatives, cetera. But we didn't have a lot of 0:10:02.160 --> 0:10:05.240 people who understood how they all fit together in the 0:10:05.320 --> 0:10:08.680 support of an advisor and in the support of a 0:10:08.840 --> 0:10:12.480 large sophisticated client. And that was, you know, over twenty 0:10:12.559 --> 0:10:16.280 years ago, the early formation of these wealth management divisions 0:10:16.600 --> 0:10:19.199 and then private Wealth Management, and I said, I want 0:10:19.200 --> 0:10:21.920 to be the person who is more than conversationally competent 0:10:22.240 --> 0:10:24.440 and all of the disciplines and helped tie it together 0:10:24.880 --> 0:10:27.280 and that really helped me, you know, grow my career 0:10:27.280 --> 0:10:30.960 pretty quickly. So ran Private Wealth, ran the Executive Financial 0:10:31.000 --> 0:10:35.120 Services division, which focused on all the firm's top corporate 0:10:35.160 --> 0:10:37.959 executive clients. Uh, this is you know in the early 0:10:38.440 --> 0:10:42.280 nineties and early two thousands where executive compensation was really 0:10:42.320 --> 0:10:44.680 taking off with stock options and that was a big 0:10:44.679 --> 0:10:47.600 business for us. So had an opportunity to run that. 0:10:48.160 --> 0:10:50.240 And then what I realized is all the firm's top 0:10:50.280 --> 0:10:53.280 clients who sat across the table for me and and 0:10:53.520 --> 0:10:55.560 all these V I P meetings that we did with them, 0:10:56.320 --> 0:10:59.480 for the most part, they were entrepreneurs. And I began 0:10:59.559 --> 0:11:01.760 thinking about, how do I go from this side of 0:11:01.760 --> 0:11:04.200 the table to that side of the table? How do 0:11:04.280 --> 0:11:07.640 I take all of this knowledge and skill set that 0:11:07.640 --> 0:11:13.040 had built up around building platforms for leading advisors, UH, 0:11:13.080 --> 0:11:15.600 and do it in a way that allows me uh 0:11:15.720 --> 0:11:18.160 to be not an employee but an entrepreneur and start 0:11:18.200 --> 0:11:21.839 my own business. UH. And that was the realization of 0:11:21.840 --> 0:11:25.200 of Dynasty. And when I decided to launch, it was 0:11:25.240 --> 0:11:28.520 April of O eight, which in hindsight was both a 0:11:28.640 --> 0:11:31.720 very good and bad time UH to launch. We're headed 0:11:31.760 --> 0:11:35.079 into obviously, the financial crisis later that year, so it's 0:11:35.160 --> 0:11:38.200 very difficult to raise capital. But there was a lot 0:11:38.240 --> 0:11:42.920 of challenges that the large Wall Street brands would face 0:11:43.080 --> 0:11:47.080 over the next several years. So from a timing perspective, 0:11:47.679 --> 0:11:50.200 it worked out really well for this new business model 0:11:50.280 --> 0:11:53.480 that we created in launch, which was to provide an 0:11:53.520 --> 0:11:58.080 integrated platform service model for high end independent advisors. The 0:11:58.200 --> 0:12:00.880 timing was right to bring that on sept to market. 0:12:01.760 --> 0:12:05.320 Really interesting. So let's talk a little bit about what 0:12:05.640 --> 0:12:10.280 Dynasty does. UM. What are your core services? What's the 0:12:10.559 --> 0:12:18.520 short version of of the UM product solution that you offer? Okay, thanks, Barry. 0:12:18.920 --> 0:12:22.079 The short version of what Dynasty does. We're in four businesses. 0:12:22.920 --> 0:12:27.199 One is a consulting business that advises advisories based upon 0:12:27.240 --> 0:12:29.120 where they are in their life cycle. If they want 0:12:29.120 --> 0:12:31.560 to launch a business, we help them do that, you know, 0:12:31.679 --> 0:12:34.839 breaking away from a wire house, etcetera. If they are 0:12:34.880 --> 0:12:39.000 thinking about succession planning, if they're thinking about selling their business, 0:12:39.600 --> 0:12:42.559 will help them with those types of things as well. 0:12:42.640 --> 0:12:46.079 So that's our consulting business. Our second business is our 0:12:46.160 --> 0:12:49.559 core services running all of the middle and back office 0:12:49.960 --> 0:12:56.280 for an advisory practice. So technology, compliance, billing, reporting, all 0:12:56.320 --> 0:12:58.640 the things that most advisors don't like to do that 0:12:58.720 --> 0:13:01.360 freese up their time UH to take care of their 0:13:01.360 --> 0:13:04.480 clients and get new ones. They're outsourcing that middle and 0:13:04.480 --> 0:13:07.200 back office to us in what we call our core 0:13:07.280 --> 0:13:12.240 service package. Third business is our investment platform. Many people 0:13:12.360 --> 0:13:15.200 refer to that as you mentioned earlier, the TAMP turnkey. Yes, 0:13:15.280 --> 0:13:19.160 that management platform, separate managed account access u M as 0:13:19.679 --> 0:13:24.920 advisor as portfolio manager, trading tools, access to alternative managers, 0:13:25.000 --> 0:13:30.280 feeder funds, structure products, access and investment banking network that 0:13:30.360 --> 0:13:34.040 advisors can refer business to for the business owner, clients, etcetera. 0:13:34.400 --> 0:13:37.440 That is an ala carte business. UH. The advisors can 0:13:37.520 --> 0:13:40.280 choose to use it or not on behalf of their clients. 0:13:40.800 --> 0:13:43.120 And as you reference, we have about twenty seven billion 0:13:43.679 --> 0:13:47.960 UH now making us a top six UH tamp uh 0:13:48.000 --> 0:13:51.360 in the in the independent space. UH. And then the 0:13:51.440 --> 0:13:56.199 last business is our capital business, Dynasty UH Capital Services, 0:13:56.280 --> 0:14:01.280 which is both a debt and inequity UH offering to 0:14:01.480 --> 0:14:05.640 advisors and oftentimes that capital gets used by advisors looking 0:14:05.640 --> 0:14:08.800 to launch a business to fund succession. A lot of 0:14:08.840 --> 0:14:11.960 the capital gets deployed if somebody wants to do a 0:14:11.960 --> 0:14:14.160 recap kind of practice what they preach, take a few 0:14:14.240 --> 0:14:16.600 chips off the table, or if they want to grow 0:14:16.679 --> 0:14:22.359 inorganically UH and drive their business by acquiring other advisors. 0:14:22.360 --> 0:14:24.000 We have a whole m and a team in house 0:14:24.320 --> 0:14:26.760 that will go out source a deal, help get the 0:14:26.800 --> 0:14:31.840 deal done, do the transition, the onboarding, and finance that transactions. 0:14:31.880 --> 0:14:34.920 What will probably do twenty m and a deals across 0:14:35.440 --> 0:14:39.480 the fifty firms or so over the course of this year. 0:14:39.760 --> 0:14:42.720 And the last thing I think that's unique that that 0:14:42.840 --> 0:14:46.960 people UH sometimes don't understand about our business where that 0:14:47.040 --> 0:14:51.400 little intel sticker buries. So the advisors own the vast 0:14:51.440 --> 0:14:53.800 majority of the equity in their business, if not all 0:14:53.840 --> 0:14:56.800 of it, and Dynasty works for them. We are an 0:14:56.800 --> 0:15:00.520 integrated service provider that provides all the infash structure and 0:15:00.560 --> 0:15:04.600 capital consulting in support, but all of the enterprise value 0:15:04.640 --> 0:15:07.520 and growth of that which the advisors can monetize and 0:15:07.560 --> 0:15:10.040 a tax efficient way down the road is owned by 0:15:10.040 --> 0:15:14.720 the adviser themselves. Very interesting. So, so let's talk about 0:15:15.320 --> 0:15:18.760 when you launched, how did you find the first team 0:15:18.960 --> 0:15:22.040 that joined the platform. Tell us a little bit about 0:15:22.080 --> 0:15:27.000 what that process was like in the early days when 0:15:27.080 --> 0:15:29.440 when you're when you're taking that leap of faith and 0:15:29.560 --> 0:15:33.560 launching a brand new business. Who who comes along at 0:15:33.600 --> 0:15:38.320 the very beginning. Yes, so obviously when you're starting a business, 0:15:38.360 --> 0:15:41.280 you know, signing up those first few clients is a 0:15:41.320 --> 0:15:43.640 bit more difficult than it is today with you know, 0:15:43.680 --> 0:15:47.520 sixty billion and a longstanding track record that that we 0:15:47.600 --> 0:15:52.680 have our first r I a outside client. UH is 0:15:52.720 --> 0:15:55.320 a firm called Pact the Lists there in the DC 0:15:55.560 --> 0:16:00.520 market run by a gentleman name Alan Harder. I had 0:16:00.600 --> 0:16:04.120 known Alan because he was at Smith Barney, so we 0:16:04.160 --> 0:16:09.160 had had a previous relationship, you know, working together there UH, 0:16:09.200 --> 0:16:12.040 and he launched his firm a little over ten years ago. 0:16:12.560 --> 0:16:18.400 He's had remarkable success growing the business organically and adding 0:16:18.800 --> 0:16:22.600 new clients and and and new services. But it was 0:16:22.640 --> 0:16:25.680 a tremendous leap of faith. And it's not lost on us. 0:16:25.720 --> 0:16:29.240 We we love all our clients obviously, but in particular 0:16:29.320 --> 0:16:33.320 those those early clients when we were you know, an 0:16:33.360 --> 0:16:36.280 idea of like this new concept and we said, you know, 0:16:36.360 --> 0:16:39.360 trust us, we understand it's your life's work. Uh, and 0:16:39.400 --> 0:16:41.720 we're going to execute on your behalf. But we're going 0:16:41.760 --> 0:16:44.480 to jump out this window together and that handshoots gonna 0:16:44.480 --> 0:16:46.840 go up, and it's gonna work, and you're gonna have 0:16:46.960 --> 0:16:50.200 that safe and stoff landing. Uh. You know, it was 0:16:50.680 --> 0:16:54.600 you know, obviously very stressful times with the first five, six, 0:16:54.640 --> 0:16:58.680 seven transitions, but you know, knock on wood, those aul 0:16:58.760 --> 0:17:02.680 went well and they continue to go well since. But 0:17:03.280 --> 0:17:06.760 you know, our original you know, first handful of clients 0:17:06.800 --> 0:17:09.920 will always have a special place in my heart because 0:17:09.960 --> 0:17:13.639 all we were was a business plan, a new concept, 0:17:13.720 --> 0:17:16.520 and they trusted us that we'd make it work for him, 0:17:16.560 --> 0:17:20.600 and thankfully we did. So it's now twelve years later. 0:17:21.200 --> 0:17:24.680 How has the process changed? What have you learned over 0:17:24.720 --> 0:17:31.080 those dozen plus years? How different does that onboarding new 0:17:31.119 --> 0:17:36.720 advisor relationship look today versus when you were first starting out? Yeah, look, 0:17:36.760 --> 0:17:40.000 I'm biased when I say this very obviously, but if 0:17:40.040 --> 0:17:43.520 you talk to a lot of third party players, custodians, 0:17:43.560 --> 0:17:45.800 et cetera in our space, I think they would say 0:17:45.840 --> 0:17:49.400 that Dynasty, uh, you know, has the best transition process 0:17:49.440 --> 0:17:52.159 really of of anyone in the space. We've done it 0:17:52.240 --> 0:17:54.840 more than anyone. You know, We've onboard it and broke 0:17:55.000 --> 0:17:58.399 broken away. If you talk about Breakaway advisors over the 0:17:58.440 --> 0:18:01.280 past you know, just under a dozen years, over a 0:18:01.359 --> 0:18:05.760 hundred and fifty you know, significant teams, some of which 0:18:05.800 --> 0:18:08.440 we help them launch their own firm, some of which 0:18:08.480 --> 0:18:11.879 we helped tuck in or join or sub aggregate other 0:18:11.960 --> 0:18:15.439 firms that we that we had on our platform. We 0:18:15.520 --> 0:18:18.879 do an extensive debrief fund every single one, you know, 0:18:18.960 --> 0:18:22.120 thinking about how we can get better. And I would say, 0:18:22.160 --> 0:18:24.760 like a lot of businesses that are you know, north 0:18:24.840 --> 0:18:28.160 of ten years in uh. You know, there's a huge 0:18:28.200 --> 0:18:32.000 focus on the professionalization of the business. In the early days, 0:18:32.640 --> 0:18:35.760 you're in startup mode, everyone's kind of doing everything to 0:18:35.840 --> 0:18:38.440 get clients in and to actually get to a point 0:18:38.480 --> 0:18:41.400 where you have a business. Uh. And then once you 0:18:41.680 --> 0:18:43.520 have a business, then it's how do you make that 0:18:43.560 --> 0:18:46.560 business better? How do you professionalize it? How do you 0:18:46.680 --> 0:18:50.320 scale it UH, and we've really focused on the last 0:18:50.359 --> 0:18:55.280 five years, in particular the technology enabling of all aspects 0:18:55.320 --> 0:18:58.679 of our business. So if you know to your question, 0:18:58.800 --> 0:19:01.960 you know what's different today a an advisor who's joining 0:19:02.040 --> 0:19:05.159 up with us to do a transition. Today there's a 0:19:05.200 --> 0:19:10.480 lot more uh digital support, technology support, UH, a lot 0:19:10.520 --> 0:19:14.200 of practice management around a transition. We have our own 0:19:14.280 --> 0:19:18.280 proprietary app where we have the hundred and fifty steps 0:19:18.320 --> 0:19:21.160 that you'll go through in the transition, all laid out 0:19:21.200 --> 0:19:24.560 in detail, uh, in a password protected app that an 0:19:24.600 --> 0:19:27.840 advisor would have on his or her phone. And when 0:19:27.880 --> 0:19:32.320 everything goes from red to green across I mean and 0:19:32.320 --> 0:19:34.520 we were were the staples easy button. We find your 0:19:34.520 --> 0:19:37.800 real estate, negotiate the lead, design, your name, your logo, 0:19:37.880 --> 0:19:41.879 your branding, your marketing, your PR strategy, your launch strategy, 0:19:42.320 --> 0:19:45.480 helping you on the legal strategy around the move, setting 0:19:45.560 --> 0:19:50.080 up your client documentation, helping you select your custodian, doing 0:19:50.119 --> 0:19:54.199 all the paperwork in transition, training your staff on the 0:19:54.240 --> 0:19:57.440 new TEP like you name it, we do it, uh, 0:19:57.440 --> 0:20:00.480 and we've done a lot of it. So, like a 0:20:00.480 --> 0:20:03.840 lot of things in life, UH, there's no substitute, you know, 0:20:03.920 --> 0:20:08.120 for experience. We have at this point a lot of experience. UH. 0:20:08.119 --> 0:20:11.560 And we've tech enabled, We've invested, given the success of 0:20:11.600 --> 0:20:14.919 our business and people UH in the professional development of 0:20:14.960 --> 0:20:18.520 those people who support the advisors. UH. And perhaps our 0:20:18.560 --> 0:20:23.680 biggest competitive advantage UH is something that I mentioned earlier 0:20:24.440 --> 0:20:27.800 is that everyone who works at Dynasty, they're all an 0:20:27.840 --> 0:20:30.840 equity owner. UH. They either bought equity in the firm 0:20:31.000 --> 0:20:34.520 or we have a UH and options and equity program. 0:20:34.600 --> 0:20:37.280 Every single person an owner, So they act like an 0:20:37.280 --> 0:20:39.840 owner and they wake up every morning and understand that 0:20:39.880 --> 0:20:42.040 we have one fundamental job, which is to work for 0:20:42.160 --> 0:20:45.960 and support our advisors. UH. And if a transition doesn't 0:20:45.960 --> 0:20:49.360 go well, that will set that advisory firm way back, 0:20:49.440 --> 0:20:54.200 sets us back. We'll get fired, right. The philosophical alignment 0:20:54.560 --> 0:20:56.440 is the advice. You know, we work for the advisor 0:20:56.560 --> 0:20:59.640 and the advisor works for the end client. We're comfortable 0:20:59.640 --> 0:21:02.879 standing and deliver delivering on behalf of our client advisor, 0:21:03.280 --> 0:21:05.399 just like they have to do for for their client. 0:21:05.480 --> 0:21:08.840 And I think a lot of ways and this really started, 0:21:09.000 --> 0:21:12.280 you know, for years ago with some of the old 0:21:12.280 --> 0:21:15.119 partnerships you know Bury on Wall Street starting to go public. 0:21:15.760 --> 0:21:21.840 That alignment got misaligned right with shareholders and management and 0:21:21.880 --> 0:21:25.159 advisors and clients. But we've brought a lot of that 0:21:25.240 --> 0:21:29.639 purity of the alignment back, which I think, uh culturally 0:21:29.720 --> 0:21:33.520 is a huge competitive advantage for us. So so last 0:21:33.600 --> 0:21:37.960 year Investment took a minority share with you, guys. I 0:21:38.040 --> 0:21:42.119 assume that capital is going to give you some serious 0:21:42.160 --> 0:21:46.359 firepower to do some things with. What are the plans 0:21:46.920 --> 0:21:51.480 to to use that that capital um to fund your 0:21:51.600 --> 0:21:56.720 future growth? Yeah, thanks for that question. I am a 0:21:56.840 --> 0:22:00.560 very loyal person and maybe it's in part my my background, 0:22:01.000 --> 0:22:02.840 but you know a lot of the firms that backed 0:22:02.920 --> 0:22:04.879 us when I was in my garage with the business 0:22:04.880 --> 0:22:07.760 plan that says a lot. It means a lot to me. 0:22:07.960 --> 0:22:11.800 And one of those firms was Investment, UH. And you 0:22:11.840 --> 0:22:14.520 know Judd Bergman, who you know we we all lost 0:22:14.600 --> 0:22:19.200 too soon, was a very close personal friend of mine, 0:22:19.760 --> 0:22:21.480 as well as Ed Swinson. You know some of the 0:22:21.520 --> 0:22:25.640 other co founders here H and Bill Craigor uh longstanding 0:22:25.880 --> 0:22:29.159 you know, very close personal friend and you know we 0:22:29.200 --> 0:22:32.240 had talked over the years about finding more ways that 0:22:32.320 --> 0:22:35.800 we could work together. You know, we utilized some of 0:22:35.800 --> 0:22:41.360 their technology on on our camp and what we decided 0:22:41.440 --> 0:22:44.800 to do was to launch something that we're calling the 0:22:44.800 --> 0:22:50.360 Advisor Services Exchange, which is a joint venture. It's run 0:22:50.400 --> 0:22:53.040 by Ed Swinson, who's the president of that entity, is 0:22:53.080 --> 0:22:57.480 also the chief operating officer of Dynasty. Where we're bringing 0:22:58.040 --> 0:23:01.840 value ad business service is to r as that our 0:23:01.960 --> 0:23:07.679 current clients of investment, so helping them run more efficient businesses, 0:23:07.720 --> 0:23:11.600 more tech enabled businesses, helping them outsource things that are 0:23:11.640 --> 0:23:14.760 not core strategic to their firm, helping them manage their 0:23:14.800 --> 0:23:18.080 expenses to build more profitable p n l s, which 0:23:18.160 --> 0:23:22.000 ultimately result in more valuable businesses, etcetera. And we're off. 0:23:22.080 --> 0:23:24.480 You know, we've launched that about six months ago. We're 0:23:24.480 --> 0:23:26.879 off to a great start. There's been We built the 0:23:26.920 --> 0:23:31.520 whole technology interface around data, so the advisors can use 0:23:32.040 --> 0:23:37.200 the data around their business to make better decisions on 0:23:37.240 --> 0:23:39.680 how they want to run their business, to do business planning. 0:23:40.080 --> 0:23:45.560 They can leverage our capital programs, compliance marketing, UH, they 0:23:45.600 --> 0:23:49.480 can outsource aspects of their investments to us. Again, all 0:23:50.000 --> 0:23:53.359 designed to create scale and efficiency in the business. The 0:23:53.440 --> 0:23:58.520 other things that yeah, and and and it's great and 0:23:58.560 --> 0:24:02.240 it's a fast growing l of of our business because 0:24:02.280 --> 0:24:06.240 a lot of advisors are looking to outsource the non 0:24:06.720 --> 0:24:09.720 core things. I mean, the biggest difference very If we 0:24:09.720 --> 0:24:12.000 were to look at a billion our average r A 0:24:12.280 --> 0:24:14.240 is about a billion two. If you were to look 0:24:14.320 --> 0:24:16.919 at a billion to advisor, let's say that we've launched 0:24:16.920 --> 0:24:20.159 as a breakaway versus the average billion to r i 0:24:20.320 --> 0:24:24.840