The parent company of Burney Advisor Services (BAS), The Burney Company, has been an RIA since 1974. Through the BAS platform, advisors looking to launch or run their own RIA can now utilize the firm’s investment management resources and technology tools while remaining independent. This article focuses on the firm’s tagline, “The support you need, the income and independence you deserve.”
We met with Lowell Pratt, President of The Burney Company, and Richard Mitchell, Vice President of Business Development for BAS, to take a deeper look into the BAS RIA support platform. The leaders of the firm shared their thoughts on how advisors can launch their own RIAs using services provided by their firm, how existing RIAs can partner with them, and how they’re incorporating innovative tools into their investment management offerings.
General Jack Burney founded BAS parent company, The Burney Company, based on his personal success utilizing his analytical approach to equity valuation to create superior performance. Located close to Washington, D.C., the firm’s primary client base included public servants working at the Pentagon and other government sectors. Experiencing tremendous growth through the years by servicing their clients, The Burney Company made significant investments in their people, technology, and wealth management resources. In August 2022, the firm launched their new division, Burney Advisor Services, built to serve the unique needs of breakaway and independent RIAs.
Building an RIA from scratch can be overwhelming. It takes an investment advisor a tremendous amount of time to get the legal and compliance parts of the firm set up. From there, technology systems are needed to run the practice, but even knowing which ones to subscribe to or develop is a behemoth undertaking. Investments might need to be transferred from an old firm to a new custodian. New branding, marketing, and a website might be needed too. As day-to-day operations eventually normalize, portfolio management and account service responsibilities start to come back into the picture.
BAS offers support to advisors, alleviating the burden of handling everything on their own. When investment advisors partner with BAS, they are given the flexibility to select the level of support they need to run their practice. The firm offers advisors a few primary ways to affiliate, with several customizable service options:
While exploring the RIA model is alluring, there are many obstacles associated with bringing an RIA launch to completion. The costly and time-consuming nature leads to many advisors – who may see the big-picture benefits – falling short of executing on their vision.
Established RIAs greatly benefit from partnering with BAS, especially those who are looking to integrate more services and solutions into their practices through strategic partnerships. BAS also provides solutions for advisors who are evaluating how to go about establishing their own RIAs, particularly advisors with the following characteristics:
BAS offers flexible support options – including research, analytics, active equity resources, CIO support, and full-service portfolio management – and encourages advisors to choose a structure specific to their practices. The straightforward pricing structure appeals to advisors differently depending on whether they’re looking to breakaway or are already an existing RIA needing to outsource certain services.
An important aspect to point out is that advisors receive a 100% payout rate on fee-based revenue. The cost of doing business is determined by the level of support selected.
There are certain services the firm does NOT offer advisors that are important to mention. Advisors who partner with BAS are responsible for establishing their own:
While BAS does not offer these services to investment advisors, they do have preferred vendors and outside providers who make these services available to advisors at negotiated rates when possible.
An agreement to affiliate your practice means you’re still establishing your own RIA with your own ADV. BAS provides support resources that are completely behind the scenes, giving you the option to share as much or as little about your relationship with BAS as you like with clients. When you partner with BAS, you enter into an annual agreement. BAS believes that if an advisor no longer feels they’re benefiting from the relationship, then advisors should have the option to take their business elsewhere. This is a very uncommon practice across the industry. Our biggest takeaways are:
If you want to learn more about Burney Advisor Services or start exploring other options, reach out to us and schedule a consultation. We can dig into the details and take you through the process.