Dynasty Pilots Program to Match Wealthy Prospects With Advisors

Dynasty Financial Partners started beta testing Dynasty Connect, an end-client referral program, that it said Tuesday was designed to enable high-net-worth investors across the U.S. to contact Dynasty and connect with an independent financial advisor that’s part of its RIA network.

Dynasty now has more than 300 independent financial advisors on its platform, located across the country. But the firm is initially testing the program with just five financial advisory firms in the Dynasty Network.

Dynasty Connect has made over $200 million in end-client introductions over the past 90 days or so, since the beta launched, it said.

To select which advisors join the Dynasty Network, the firm does an “extensive background check” and “a lot of screening,” and any advisory firm that it supports “would be ultimately qualified to be a part of the program,” Shirl Penney, Dynasty CEO and president, said during an online briefing with reporters during the Dynasty Investments Forum 2021 in Nashville.

“Not all advisors want to be part of the referral program,” he said. But he predicts there will be “pretty high levels of participation” when it expands beyond the initial pilot.

When selecting which firms to include in the beta, Dynasty wanted to have a “geographically dispersed footprint” across the U.S., he told ThinkAdvisor during the Q&A.

The program was in the design phase “for almost a year” and the pilot started about 90-100 days ago, Penney said. He didn’t specify when the full launch is expected to happen. But he said when the launch is announced, Dynasty wants to “feel like we’re in a position to lean in and help execute on it.”

The referrals are being generated by Dynasty’s broad network and relationships, centers of influence, resource partners, events, and both organic and inorganic marketing efforts, according to the company. In addition, the firm plans to leverage the Dynasty brand and its growing list of professional athlete partnerships, it said.

Advisors had been saying they wanted to “leverage” the size and scale of the Dynasty network to “create broader awareness” of the growing Dynasty independent advisor community among investors looking for an advisor, Penney explained.

“We’re going to leverage a whole host of things including social media, digital marketing to really showcase” advisors in the program “as the stars … and really seek to educate consumers around the benefits of having someone who sits on the same side of the table with them as an independent advisor,” he said.

Strong Initial Signs

One of the advisory firms in the beta program is Cyndeo Wealth Partners, an RIA based in St. Petersburg, Florida, that has grown to manage $1.4 billion in assets since it was started in June 2020, Matt Kilgroe, Cyndeo CEO, told reporters.

“We’ve experienced a handful of referrals, either through social media avenues or direct” since the beta started, he said.

Prior to starting the independent RIA, Kilgroe had been with UBS for eight years and, before that, was with Merrill Lynch, he noted. “You didn’t see any referrals coming from those channels directly to an advisor and advisory team,” he told reporters. “If Dynasty can build this out, it just is one more element that makes it an attractive community to be a part of and we’re excited about the program.”

Creating an ‘Authentic Partnership’

The program was designed to create an “authentic partnership between” advisors and their new clients, according to Dynasty.

“High-net-worth investors will experience working with Dynasty’s independent advisors and the cutting-edge platform that Dynasty affords its Network advisors,” the company said. “In turn, client referrals will drive organic growth for the independent advisors in the Dynasty Network. Over time, Dynasty will build out and staff a dedicated referral desk to further curate and match high-net-worth investors with the most appropriate” Dynasty advisor.

“In today’s fragmented market, it can be a challenge for high-net-worth investors who want to work with an independent financial advisor to find one that fits their needs and to connect with them,” according to Joe D’Agostino, director of investment platform and product strategy at Dynasty.

“Investors often rely on word-of-mouth connections and may not be aware of the specialties of certain independent advisors that may align with their situation, including experience with family-owned businesses, business exit strategies, estate planning, restricted stock and corporate executive compensation, divorce, and many other specialties,” he said in the firm’s announcement.

Of the three-day Dynasty Investments Forum that started Monday, Penney told reporters: “This actually is our largest live event that we’ve ever done,” with “almost 235 participants that are here across the ecosystem,” including advisors, custodians, technology service partners and asset management firms.

(Pictured: Shirl Penney, CEO and president of Dynasty Financial Partners)