A trio of planners including a mother-daughter team launched a business training program for fellow advisors aiming to keep up with the growing demand for financial advice.
3rivers, founded in October by Judy and Lisa VanArsdale and Nancy Knous, is an online service for instructional practice management videos and resources at a cost of $599 per month. The LPL Financial-affiliated advisors plan to donate proceeds after costs to “meaningful” causes such as financial literacy and the advancement of women in business, said Lisa VanArsdale.
The idea came to the trio last March when COVID-19 ruled out live presentations at conferences and they were inspired by a desire to help advisors who are serving a growing base of clients while operating small businesses, Lisa VanArsdale says.
“Our goal is never to make anybody versions of us — if we can help them be the best versions of themselves, that’s where we are really looking to provide guidance and support,” she says.
The lessons include titles like “Creating your company calendar,” “How well do you know your practice metrics?” and “Crisis management 101.” As an example of the tools for advisors, the 3rivers website offers a leadership assessment questionnaire asking if they know specific data like the practice’s overhead as a percentage of clients and the cost of each product or service. The advisors add two new resources every two weeks for the current group of 15 members.
Meeting the needs of a growing client base has emerged as a crucial issue, as shown by the numbers: Clients of SEC-registered RIAs soared by 65% between 2013 and 2020 to 42.1 million, according to the annual Evolution Revolution report by the Investment Adviser Association and National Regulatory Services. Furthermore, 57% of RIAs have 10 or fewer non-clerical employees, which makes practice management critical to gaining scale.
Unfortunately, many advisors run into trouble when it comes to practice management, according to business coach and operations strategist Cameo Roberson of Atlas Park Consulting & Finance.
“One of the biggest questions I see from advisors is how to manage it all,” Roberson says in an email. “Marketing, client service, business development, hiring, etc. The non-exciting aspect of being a business owner. Then comes, ‘How do I make time to get it all done?’”
The advisors are providing some answers for their peers. The VanArsdales serve 800 households between them at their Chicago-area practice, Lakeview Wealth Management, where Lisa VanArsdale notes they pack in 18 to 25 client meetings a week. Knous is the founder and CEO of Memphis-based Benchmark Wealth Management. Advisors who know the women from LPL events and committees view them as a good source of solutions.
Kashif Ahmed of American Private Wealth says he wishes them success in the “crowded space” of practice management coaching. He and Judy VanArsdale serve on the LPL Advisor Council together.
The advisors “have the requisite experience as business owners, which is where most financial advisors fail,” Ahmed says in an email. “Being a great advisor and being a great business owner of the advisory practice are not the same thing.”
Advisor Laura J. LaTourette of Family Wealth Management Group met Lisa VanArsdale on LPL’s Advisor Inclusion Council and knows her mother and their new business partner as well.
“It is not only a program of impact, but is a necessary tool especially right now to encourage all of us on our COVID islands,” LaTourette says in an email. “I think it translates to young advisors getting started as well as senior advisors who are trying to mentor and teach their successors.”
The first crop of members of 3rivers spans advisors affiliated with LPL and other broker-dealers, according to Lisa VanArsdale. She recalls the team’s initial discussions about starting a new business stemming from all of the questions they received from other advisors after they gave presentations at past conferences.
“We are terrible at saying ‘no’ when people ask for help,” Lisa VanArsdale says. “We started putting pen to paper, and all of a sudden, we were like, ‘Wow we have 100 topics we could cover.’”