From FOMO to JOMO: How RIAs can regain control

Overwhelmed by burgeoning technology choices, demographic shifts and an unpredictable market, RIAs right now have their hands full.

Your firm might be experiencing one of three ailments affecting the industry at the moment: shiny ball syndrome, analysis paralysis and change allergy. 

How do you overcome these challenges? Let’s break them down.

Commit to your vision

We can’t underestimate the importance of being stubbornly committed to your firm’s vision and values while seeking adjustments to your strategy and culture as you grow. 

Focus on operationalizing your vision using a strategic plan. We’ll share some quotes we’ve gathered from RIA executives to give context on common challenges and how to overcome them.

• TIME CRUNCH - "We didn’t dedicate enough time to do the planning up front."
• COMPLEXITY - “Our team is smart. Sometimes we overcomplicate things!"
• DATA AVAILABILITY  + ACCURACY - "It's not easy to get the info I want… And once I find it, I don’t know if I can trust it.”
• UNREALISTIC GOALS - “Halfway through the year, our team checked out on our revenue goal…we knew we couldn’t hit it”
• CONSENSUS-BUILDING - “I didn’t spend enough time getting buy-in from my management team.”
• AMBIGUITY DUE TO LOW ACCOUNTABILITY - “We didn’t give specific clarity on who is ultimately responsible for what.” 
• ACTIONABILITY - “The outcomes of our plan were great at a high level. But we didn’t outline ‘how’ we would get there.”
• COMMUNICATIONS - “Our goals didn’t take root. We probably didn’t share our plan broadly or frequently enough.”
• FOLLOW-THROUGH + ONGOING TRACKING - “We get busy running the business…and we don’t always check in effectively to see how we’re doing” 

You have to be nimble when ‘real life gets in the way’ of your best-laid plans. 

It’s one thing to set a vision. It’s another thing to keep your team rallied to it on a daily basis. Important topic. 

Embrace a Platform Mentality

At AdvisorEngine, we lean into the notion that every RIA needs to embrace a “Platform Mentality.” 

Meaning: viewing your business itself as a platform – and focusing on unifying data, connectivity and experience across it.

We’re proud to showcase operational dashboards in our platform, which allow firms to track progress towards key goals for metrics like revenue growth, net new assets and client satisfaction. We are also evolving our platform’s capabilities in trading/rebalancing and have added alerts to make life easier for advisory firms. 

One exercise you can do is take stock of your firm’s data foundation across people, processes and technology. 

There is a reason we keep hearing people talk about these themes – it’s because they are still incredibly relevant! As RIAs grow and become more complex, the importance of adopting a platform mentality increases.

Pursue true partnership

There are important dynamics that RIAs should consider when picking a Platform provider. They included vision, values, service levels, data security, proactive communication, reactive responsiveness to feedback, ability to innovate and corporate stability. (Things BEYOND capabilities that some people overlook when picking technology.) 

We challenge the audience to be more open and vulnerable with their providers. If you’re not sharing your vision, values and plans with your most important providers…how are they supposed to become partners with you?

It’s true – partnership is a two-way street. And your providers will always remain ‘vendors’ if you keep everything close to the vest. 

By taking these 3 steps, RIAs can convert FOMO into JOMO.