6 Proven Growth Tips for Financial Advisors: Avoid 401(k) Rollover Traps & Find Your Support Network

Social Media: Your Secret Weapon for Client Growth

Social media skills can help small RIAs and financial advisors find a big audience — and inflows from new clients. At the recent Kitces Marketing Summit, speakers shared tips on how to build a strong prospect pipeline via social media, online search improvements, and referral strategies.

• Why it matters: Advisors at smaller firms need to figure out not only how to reach their ideal client but how to convince that prospect to hire them. One method that’s proved to have a big payoff for advisor Jason Hamilton is low-cost, smartly targeted social media ads.
• Key quote: "I think this is like the lowest-hanging fruit that every single advisor should be doing, and it's one of the cheapest ways to do marketing, and, for me, it's been really effective." — Jason J. Hamilton, CFP®, founder of Keep It Simple Financial Planning.

Hidden 401(k) Rollover Traps: Don't Let Fees Erode Savings

Helping clients save for retirement via 401(k) accounts has advantages — namely, tax advantages. But what happens if a rollover rolls into the picture?

• Why it matters: Rollovers are notoriously complex, and different fees and stiff penalties for mistakes can quickly erode decades of savings.
• Key quote: "You don't want to just blindly roll the entire 401(k) over to an IRA. If you do, and there's employer stock in that 401(k), and it's highly appreciated … once you roll to an IRA, it's gone. The NUA [net unrealized appreciation] ship has sailed." — Andy Panko, CFP®, RICP®, TPCP®, EA, founder of Tenon Financial.

A New Support Network for Early-Career Planners

For financial advisors trying to build their own book, it can be a tough and lonely road — one whose difficulty is reflected in the industry’s high washout rate for new advisors. Now one former advisor is building a peer network and community to support new advisors’ career longevity and professional growth.

• Why it matters: Career development training and social support can help advisors survive bumpy early years, believes Jeffrey Czajka, CEPA®, the former head of LPL Financial's Independent Advisor Institute. To "help advisors get through the tougher years," he’s launching AGS Advisor Development Community this summer.
• Key quote: "They have no peers to share ideas with, learn from, encourage or commiserate with, so that's where we see the value of this community is, bringing together these folks who are newer in this journey." — Jeffrey Czajka, founder of Advisor Growth Solutions.