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November 09, 2018 at 02:23 PM
Commonwealth Financial is on track for $1.4 billion in revenue this year, executives said at the group’s annual conference taking place in Austin, Texas, this week. That’s up from about $1.15 billion in 2017.
But the independent broker-dealer insists numeric growth is not its focus, and there’s no plan in sight to double its roughly 1,800-advisor headcount.
“We continue to step up our game … which puts us in the best position to help you and your investors,” said CEO Wayne Bloom during Thursday’s general session.
Part of this effort, Bloom says, includes a focus on the growing number of RIAs. There are about 75 advisors who have fully embraced this model, “and more are doing so,” the executive said.
According to CFO Trap Kloman, the firm’s RIA team has 22 employees for a ratio of about three advisors to one support staff. “It’s a separate group … that replicates the services offered by our broker-dealer team,” he explained in an interview during the conference, which drew about 1,175 advisors and 745 other guests.
As a growing number of advisors decide to drop their FINRA license and embrace the fee-only business model, “We are working on new service pods for the [fee] ‘onlies’ to serve them optimally,” said Bloom. “We are looking at where the puck is going.”
The younger generations of advisors and financial planners “are more inclined to be fee only,” John Rooney, managing principal, San Diego, told ThinkAdvisor. “They don’t want the commissions, unlike some of the old timers.”
