Custodian assembles council of advisors who have been there and done that. Schwab Institutional has formed a new advisory council to guide advisors who leave traditional financial-service companies to start their own independent firms. The council is made up of advisors who have themselves made similar transitions.

"Those who have lived it are the best resource for advisors considering a transition, and we believe they will be instrumental in helping us fine-tune our offering," says Barnaby Grist, Schwab Institutional's business development head. "The average new advisor at Schwab Institutional has more than $100 million in assets and grows at about 30% in the first year. With that kind of successful business at stake, there is a real premium on getting it right the first time."

Names

Members serve two-year stints on the council. The inaugural council is:

John Burns: Burns Advisory Group, Oklahoma City, Okla. Jeff Flohr: Lakeside Capital Management, Seattle Michael Hebert: First National Corporation, Rockland, Mass. John Krambeer: Camden Capital, El Segundo, Calif. Felipe Luna: Concert Wealth Management, San Jose, Calif. Bill Spiropoulos: Corestates Capital Advisors,Newtown, Pa.

The council met for the first time in Austin, Texas, last month. Members identified technology implementation as the most time-consuming aspect of making the transition, according to Schwab Institutional. As it happens, Schwab Institutional provides consultants to help firms define best practices and help pick appropriate technologies for their advisory businesses.

The second most time-consuming transition element was meeting legal and compliance requirements. Schwab Institutional has scheduled a webcast on this topic for 26 June 2007.

Schwab Institutional, a division of San Francisco-based discount brokerage Schwab, custodied $524.5 billion in client assets for around 5,000 advisors on 31 March 2007. -FWR

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