As a financial advisor, you’ve built your practice through dedication and client trust. But if your broker-dealer feels more like a roadblock than a teammate, it might be time to rework your playbook.
Too many advisors find themselves stuck in partnerships that limit growth, innovation, and even compensation. And if you’ve spent your entire career under the same broker-dealer, making a move can feel overwhelming.
But here’s the truth: staying loyal to the wrong team could be holding you back from your next big win.
If you’re feeling the friction but haven’t been sure whether it’s time to make a change, here are 5 clear signs your broker-dealer (BD) has you sidelined—and why it might be time to run your own practice.
1. Restrictive Policies Limiting Your Growth
The Experience: You’re ready to expand your practice, perhaps by adding new service offerings or targeting a specific niche market. But every time you try to implement something new, you hit a wall of compliance restrictions and bureaucratic red tape.
The Headache: We’ve seen advisors who want to develop specialized services for specific professional groups face six-month approval processes for any marketing materials and restrictions on discussing certain financial strategies that would benefit their clients. These practices remain stagnant while competitors flourish.
The Good Life Difference: At Good Life Companies, we believe in empowering advisors to grow on their terms. Our compliance framework is designed to protect you while providing the freedom to explore new markets and service offerings without unnecessary barriers. Our compliance team typically returns marketing approvals within 48-72 hours, not weeks or months. (Note: Marketing restrictions for compliance issues are common across the industry, but our approach balances compliance with efficiency.)
2. You’re Losing the Tech Game
The Experience: You spend more time fighting with technology than serving clients. Your broker-dealer’s platform crashes regularly, doesn’t integrate with modern tools, and lacks the features your clients have come to expect in the digital age.
The Headache: Veteran advisors often find themselves losing younger clients who expect seamless digital experiences when their broker-dealer’s technology hasn’t seen a significant update in nearly a decade. Many advisors spend hours each week on manual processes that should be automated, cutting into client-facing time and personal life.
The Good Life Difference: Our technology suite is continuously updated based on advisor feedback. We’ve invested in integrated systems that streamline your workflow, enhance client communication, and provide the modern experience today’s investors demand. We utilize the latest technology solutions, like JUMP AI, Asset Map, Unitifi, BizEquity, and more to keep our advisors up to date with optimized processes and features.
3. High Payout Splits Favoring the Broker-Dealer
The Experience: You do the work, build the relationships, and manage the portfolios—yet an excessive portion of your hard-earned revenue goes to your broker-dealer. As your practice grows, the split becomes increasingly painful.
The Headache: Advisors managing substantial assets often leave tens of thousands of dollars on the table each year due to unfavorable payout structures. Despite growing practices, personal income plateaus, leading to frustration and a sense that hard work isn’t being rewarded.
The Good Life Difference: We believe in fair compensation that recognizes your role as the primary value creator in the relationship. Our competitive payout structure (80% or more based on size and affiliation model) is designed to reward growth and allow you to reinvest in your practice or simply enjoy the fruits of your labor. Good Life advisors typically see an increase in take-home pay within the first year after transition, with our transparent fee structure eliminating hidden charges that often erode advisor compensation at other firms.
4. Limited Investment Options for Clients
The Experience: You know exactly what solutions would best serve your clients’ needs, but your broker-dealer’s restricted product shelf forces you to use suboptimal alternatives. You find yourself explaining to clients why you can’t offer what they’ve heard about from friends or read about online.
The Headache: Advisors specializing in retirement planning are frequently unable to provide clients with access to certain alternative investment strategies that could help manage potential market downturns during retirement withdrawals. Many broker-dealers not only prohibit these products but limit fixed income options to their proprietary solutions, which often carry higher fees and lower yields than alternatives available elsewhere.
The Good Life Difference: We provide access to a comprehensive range of investment solutions across asset classes and product types. Our open architecture approach means you can truly be a fiduciary, selecting the best options for your clients without artificial constraints or hidden incentives.
5. Micromanagement of Advisor Business Decisions
The Experience: From office hours to client communications, your current broker-dealer dictates terms that limit your ability to manage your time, impact how you serve your clients, and run your practice according to your vision.
The Headache: Established advisors who want to implement unique client service models often find themselves restricted by rigid broker-dealer policies. Many firms require all client meetings to be held in approved office spaces and recorded, making innovative service approaches impossible to execute. The frustration of having your entrepreneurial spirit stifled drives many advisors to consider leaving the industry altogether.
The Good Life Difference: We recognize that you’re an entrepreneur who knows your business and clients better than anyone. Our relationship is built on trust and support, not control. We provide guidance and resources while respecting your autonomy to make the business decisions that drive your success. Good Life’s business development team offers optional strategic consulting without mandates, allowing you to implement the service model that works best for your unique client base.
Breaking Free: The Transition You’ve Been Hesitating to Make
If several of these signs resonate with your experience, it may be time to consider a transition. Many advisors who have never changed broker-dealers worry about the process:
“Will I lose clients during the transition?” “How disruptive will the change be to my practice?” “Can I actually transfer my book of business smoothly?”
These concerns are valid, but they shouldn’t chain you to a relationship that isn’t supporting you. At Good Life Companies, we’ve helped hundreds of advisors successfully transition with minimal disruption and maximum retention.
Our transition team provides:
- A customized transition plan tailored to your specific practice
- Client communication templates and strategies to ensure smooth transfers
- Dedicated transition specialists who handle paperwork and administrative tasks
- Technology training and setup before, during, and after your move
- Marketing support to announce your enhanced service capabilities
The data supports our approach, as our advisor’s client retention rate is significantly higher than industry averages.
The Good Life Promise
When you partner with Good Life Companies, you’re not just changing broker-dealers—you’re elevating your practice to its full potential. Our advisors commonly report:
- Significant increases in take-home pay
- Hours saved weekly through improved technology and processes
- Expanded client services leading to deeper relationships and more referrals
- Renewed passion for their profession and business
The relationship between advisor and broker-dealer should be symbiotic, not parasitic. If you’re experiencing the toxic signs outlined above, we invite you to explore what a healthy partnership could look like.
Good Life Companies has been recognized as an RIA that helps take your business and vision to the next level.
Ready to discuss your situation confidentially? Contact our transition team today for a no-obligation consultation about how Good Life Companies can transform your advisory experience.