The Net Positive Consortium in Wealth Management, an association founded last year by a group of registered investment advisors, has added five to its ranks and gained a strategic partner in consultancy FP Transitions.
The consortium aims to drive positive impact in the wealth management space, including in areas such as team inclusivity and professional development, environmental responsibility and financial literacy for clients and charitable giving.
The five new members are Bogart Wealth, First Pacific Financial, Guiding Wealth, Meria Wealth and Uplifting Capital. The firms pay an annual fee based on their assets under management to participate. For instance, firms under $250 million in AUM pay $1,500 annually, and firms with between $750 million and $2.5 billion in AUM pay $3,500.
The consortium also announced that FP Transitions, a wealth management consultancy based in Lake Oswego, Ore., has joined as its first strategic partner to share and promote its mission and contribute to establishing best practices.
“This is an industry coming together saying let’s do good for our clients, let’s do good for our people and let’s do good for the world,” said Scott Leak, director of business development at FP Transitions, who has a graduate degree in nonprofit management.
Leak said NPC’s mission aligns with FP Transitions’ work with independent financial advisors on long-term growth and sustainability strategies.
“We’re trying to make sure advisors build sustainable, enduring businesses that can last for generations,” he said. “Let’s put in place succession plans, let’s develop equity pathways for second-generation advisors that can come in, become partners, learn the ropes and then continue this business beyond the founder’s career. That is what is best for consumers, and it’s going to be something that will draw more and more young people into the independent sector.”
The consortium’s founding members include Mariner, Modera Wealth Management and Wealthspire Advisors, among others. Those three members are slated to speak at a Goldman Sachs RIA forum next week, where they will discuss how to build a “purpose-driven” and sustainable wealth management firm.
Suzanne Siracuse, an industry consultant and facilitator for NPC, said working on these pillars is particularly important for RIAs to attract and retain young talent.
“The next generation of talent and the next generation of investors is going to expect different things from firms they work for or partner with,” she said. “This type of community-focused, sustainability-focused, pay-it-forward mindset is much more important for the next generation of talent when they are selecting an employer of choice. If firms aren’t starting to incorporate that mindset and these strategies into their overall business philosophy, they are going to have a hard time attracting and retaining the next generation of talent.”
Siracuse pointed to recent reports of a dearth of advisors in the industry and the need for firms to cultivate and keep talented advisors.
Siracuse said RIAs should think of the consortium as a “study group” on how to be successful as a firm by “doing well by doing good.”
FP’s Leak noted that RIAs are not large, publicly traded companies that make public pronouncements about their activities. This means the industry can get siloed regarding information sharing and best practices.
“You don’t really know what your peers are doing, and the NPC provides a safe space for advisors to come together,” he said. “This provides a more structured way to know you’re with like-minded people with like-minded values, and we’re all trying to help each other get better for the good of the industry and our clients.”