Going Independent: A Practitioner's Guide to Launching Your Advisory Firm

Going Independent: A Practitioner's Guide to Launching Your Advisory Firm is a step-by-step playbook for financial advisors who want to leave a bank, wirehouse, or insurance platform and build a truly independent RIA on their own terms. This is the field manual advisors wish they'd had before launching their own firm.

Drawing on more than forty years in the industry- this practitioner's guide is designed for serious advisors who want control over their business model, client experience, and long-term economics-not just another recruiting deal. Poch explains the real trade-offs between hybrid platforms and full independence, how to think about private equity capital, and why "more money" is the wrong primary reason to leave your firm. You'll find detailed, time-sequenced checklists, concrete examples, and candid warnings about the legal, compliance, operational, and emotional challenges that can derail a launch.

Inside, you'll learn how to:

• Decide whether independence, a hybrid model, or staying put is right for you.
• Build a timeline (12 months to launch) that sequences regulatory filings, vendor selection, technology, and staffing.
• Select custodians, portfolio management systems, CRMs, and middle-office providers.
• Structure your new entity, manage compliance, and prepare for your first SEC exam.
• Fund your new firm, navigate deferred comp, forgivable notes, and avoid common mistakes with private equity money.
• Execute departure day professionally and legally, then onboard clients efficiently in the critical first 90 days.

The book includes a comprehensive 210-item "Going Independent" checklist, sample communications (including a resignation letter and memo to prospective team members), and practical guidance on culture, marketing, and brand positioning for growth-minded RIAs. Whether you manage $75 million or $5 billion, this is a clear-eyed, experience-tested roadmap to owning your future as an independent advisor.

If there was only one book to read before Going Independent, this is the book.

Christopher F. Poch is the founder and CEO of Promethium Advisors, a wealth management firm serving family offices and high-net-worth individuals. As founder and head of Citi Private Wealth Management at Citigroup Smith Barney, Chris is recognized as a global leader in advising ultra-high-net-worth families. He has held senior positions at Bessemer Trust, the Private Bank, and Citibank's International Private Bank. Over his four-decade career, he has received numerous industry awards and has been widely quoted in Barron's and The Wall Street Journal. Chris is an avid basketball fan and involved in philanthropic activities with organizations that include Villanova University, the Society of the Sacred Heart, and the Order of Malta.