0:00 Jonathan: Welcome to RIA Confidential, your source for the truth about going RIA. I’m your host, Jonathan Andrews with BraveHearts TV Network, here to explore the questions and concerns financial advisors have about transitioning to the RIA business model. This episode uses AI in production, created from human-created dialog. We’re excited to be embracing the use of AI, and look forward to your feedback. With that being said, let’s dive in.
0:12 Jonathan: Welcome back to RIA Confidential, your source for the truth about going RIA. I’m Jonathan, here with your RIA Mentor, Ray Gettins. There’s a wave of consolidation and M&A sweeping through the industry, and a lot of you are waking up to find your firm just got acquired. Suddenly you’re at a crossroads — do you go along with the new parent company, or is this the right time to step fully into independence?
0:34 Jonathan: If you joined us for Episode One of our Caught in the Shuffle: Merger Survival Series, you heard us break down the shock wave that hits when a merger is announced — the fine print, lowered payout grids, and the hidden costs of staying put. Today we move to the next big question advisors ask: If I go independent, will I lose my insurance and annuity business? Welcome to the show, Ray.
0:54 Ray: Good to be with you, Jonathan. You’re absolutely right — the fear of losing their insurance and annuity business stops a lot of advisors in their tracks. But the truth is, it’s a myth. Independence doesn’t mean losing products. In fact, the insurance carriers know that more and more advisors are going RIA-only, and they are hyper-focused on creating fee-based annuities with the same living benefits as a traditional VA for RIA advisors.
1:14 Ray: DPL Financial Partners works with many of the annuity companies and are here today to share their insight. In this episode, you’ll hear directly from the leaders at DPL about how their commission-free model integrates with independence — giving you access to insurance and annuity solutions without the conflicts or constraints of the old broker-dealer system.
1:35 Ray: So whether you’re already in the middle of a merger or just bracing for the next announcement, this interview will give you clarity — and maybe even the confidence to finally say goodbye to FINRA forever. You’ll hear practical insights, myth-busting, and strategies that can help you make the right call, whether you’re in the middle of a merger today or you see one coming around the corner.
1:54 Ray: All right, let’s listen to this interview together. Here’s our special joint episode with DPL Financial Partners. And stick with us through the end, because after the interview, Jonathan and I will be back to break it all down, give you concrete next steps, and even share some free tools to help you figure out exactly what independence could look like for you.
BEGIN DPL INTERVIEW ===================================================
2:14 Ray: Thank you for joining us for the second of three episodes focusing on broker-dealer / RIA consolidation. As we talked about in Episode One, we’ve seen a little over $180 billion in assets transition in 2025 — and we all know 2024 wasn’t exactly quiet either.
2:28 Ray: On this podcast, we want to tackle the FINRA question. It literally boils down to: Should I stay registered with FINRA? And if I decide not to, what am I going to do with my legacy accounts?
2:42 Ray: So today joining us, we have Mike Harmody, VP of National Accounts, and Hunter Landis, Internal Consultant with DPL. DPL focuses on helping advisors transition those legacy accounts — honestly, they do the heavy lifting, which means evaluating your current variable annuities and the living benefits attached to those. Mike, Hunter, welcome. Thank you for joining us today.
3:04 Ray: Mike, talk to us a little bit about the process, structure, how you guys approach that — I guess we’ll call it legacy FINRA business and so forth. Give us an overview of how DPL looks at that and how they assist the advisors.
3:19 Mike: Yeah, absolutely. So, as we begin processing and talking with advisors who are considering and looking at breaking away from their broker-dealers, a lot of times there are concerns regarding leaving behind the annuity block of business.
3:33 Mike: And the great part about what DPL is giving is a full solution. I’ll start a little bit with the history — in the past and kind of where we’re at today — and what’s happened literally within the past decade and even more certainly within the past five years here within DPL.
3:52 Mike: When you take a look at what’s happened, there’s always been a focus in annuities on the commissionable side of the business — where advisors have had access to make sure they can give those clients retirement income as they go into the latter years of their life, to make sure they can ride off into the sunset feeling comfortable that they can get the income they need.
4:13 Mike: What we’ve seen is that there has been about a 20 to 30 percent internal fee structure built into those commissionable products, which is typically why you see a lot of years where there’s no liquidity — you’ve got 4-, 7-, 10-year timeframes that these clients are being locked into within these products. The reason they do that is to make sure that they, on their side as an insurance company, win on that style of product.
5:00 Mike: So what we’ve looked to do — and what insurance companies have looked to do within the past ten years — is figure out a way they can take care of the RIA firms. These fee-based annuities, or commission-free annuities as you may hear, are really focused on the end consumer — providing them with the same kind of retirement income they’re looking for, making them feel safe — yet also accommodating the RIA advisor space and fitting their business model.
5:25 Mike: Typically, RIAs are looking at relationship management, investment management, and ongoing servicing. So insurance companies have been building products to fit the RIA business model — taking care of the end client goals and fitting the fee-based advisor’s model.
5:44 Mike: What we’re doing here at DPL — in the past five years — we’ve rolled out our Breakaway Accelerator Program. Not only can we offer products that remove the fees from commissionable products and offer liquidity to the end client, but we also give a way that, if your client is already in the best possible solution, you don’t have to do a 1035 exchange that hurts them.
6:12 Mike: We can help clients get into better solutions via 1035 exchanges when it makes sense and increase your overall revenue as an advisor, but we also offer a way that you don’t have to leave those assets behind at your old broker-dealer or make them house accounts. We can become the broker-dealer on them, we can be the agent on those contracts, and still offer the data you’re looking for — leveraging us as subject-matter experts to walk through these fee-based annuities and fit your client’s overall goals.
6:45 Mike: You can put clients into better solutions on one side via 1035 if it makes sense, and then bring it all together with agent-of-record changes where it makes sense for the end client.
7:00 Ray: Wow. Okay, so I heard a couple of things that caught my attention. Starting at the top — you said DPL has been working on this for 10 plus years. So this is not something new for you guys — this is not a “let’s see if it works” scenario.
7:15 Mike: Yeah, correct. We’ve been in the business for over ten years. Started off focused on 1035 advisory-based annuities to open up that market because we had to be able to distribute the products that were being released ten years ago. Over that time we saw a need — advisors and RIA firms still had assets left behind or were dealing with FINRA because they had to do agent-of-record changes to another broker-dealer.
7:43 Mike: We found a way through bringing in what we call Johnson Broker Services — our own broker-dealer — where not only does DPL own that, but we’re also the agents on those contracts. We offer third-party authorization that allows the advisor to maintain visibility into those contracts, and we pull all that data into our systems so you get a similar experience to what you had on the broker-dealer side even after transition.
8:10 Ray: Okay, so if I break this down, what we’re looking at with the Accelerator Program feels like a Plan A and Plan B. Plan A — there’s a chunk of existing legacy variable annuity products I can reposition to a fee-based product where my client’s as good or better off. Then I may have some contracts that have awesome living benefits and it isn’t in the client’s best interest to get out of that contract. You’re telling me you’ve got a solution for both?
8:34 Mike: Absolutely — and it’s all client-centric. As a fiduciary, that’s where we focus. We live in the best-interest world. We still deal with FINRA on our side, but we align to the fiduciary model you all have. So you have Plan A — help clients where it makes sense — and if they have a great product, we’re not looking to transition them. We’re truly consultative partners with RIA firms.
8:57 Ray: Thank you, Hunter. Let me ask you a direct question — let’s get into the nuts and bolts. I’m thinking seriously about resigning from FINRA. I know I’ve got a four-to-five-year window where I can change my mind, but Hunter, I’ve got this list of annuity contracts. I’m in transition — taking care of my fee-based accounts because that’s the bulk of my revenue — and now I’m looking at this pile of annuities. What kind of resources are you bringing to help with that situation?
9:25 Hunter: Yeah. Our main goal is really just to make life easier for both the advisor and the client in getting them into a better annuity solution. As long as we have a recent statement, that’s all we need. Depending on the client goal — income, accumulation, etc. — I can help show different tools on our platform for those purposes. I’m here to facilitate the ease of moving that client into a better solution.
9:55 Hunter: We see a lot of old variable annuities with pretty high fees, so we try to cut those out. Once you get into DPL’s website —
10:00 Ray: Hunter, I’m going to ask the dreaded loaded question here. A couple of advisors in our group recently transitioned and told me, “Hey Ray, it’s this easy.” Literally, I talk to Hunter, he sets up a ShareFile, I find a recent statement, I provide simple info — client wants income now, later, or never — and maybe focus on death benefit. If I provide that information, what happens next?
10:25 Hunter: We really just get moving with our Apply Now feature. We’re trying to make life easier for both advisor and client. The Apply Now generates everything — suitability questions, client and advisor information — then we generate a DocuSign attachment. We can still do paper apps if needed, but from there it’s DocuSign and we get the money from the surrendering company. If it’s new business, even better.
10:55 Ray: So you guys are chasing down paperwork, helping get everything filled out. I give you the client, say “Give me 1-2-3 options — an index option, a fee-based option.” You do all of that work?
11:10 Hunter: Yes sir — any client goal we can meet. If they already have a great product, often better to stay put. We can eyeball the statement to see what they’re getting now and what we can find on our side.
11:27 Mike: With our technology we can simulate outcomes through Monte Carlo analysis across 20 carriers and 60 products. We highlight the best outcome and stack rank them, so you see who’s best for the client’s income needs — #1 Jackson National, #2 TransAmerica, #3 another company — all ranked by product. From a compliance standpoint it shows you’ve done due diligence and research. It’s all client-goal focused. And hey — if you’re charging fees, you get 100 percent of them. Win for client, win for advisor.
12:00 Ray: All right, guys. Looking at it overall — we started this three-part episode talking about industry consolidation and how it impacts advisors in both acquired and acquiring firms, and of course the end client.
12:20 Ray: The big question is: does it make sense for me to deal with FINRA if I can just work with the SEC? Not saying one regulator’s better, but common sense says SEC tends to be fee-focused, FINRA commission-focused. If the bulk of your business is fee-based, then the work DPL is doing lets you turn it all into fee business — one regulator, one set of rules — simpler life.
12:45 Ray: Speaking of simplifying — like Hunter and Mike detailed — you provide the information, log onto their website, and they’re doing the heavy lifting. So one hurdle out of the way when you’re deciding whether to maintain FINRA registration.
13:10 Ray: Mike, Hunter — really appreciate the time today on the podcast. Amazing service, and you’ve been doing it for over a decade, so we know we’re working with folks who understand that side of the business. Thank you for joining us.
END DPL INTERVIEW ====================================================
13:25 Jonathan: All right, we’re back. What a powerful conversation with the team at DPL. If you’ve been worried about losing your annuity trails in the move to independence, I hope that gave you some clarity and maybe even some confidence.
13:43 Jonathan: The bottom line is this — independence doesn’t mean giving up annuity trails. Instead, with the higher interest rate environment and the commitment of the largest annuity carriers to create fee-based products, now may be the time to upgrade your annuity book of business and provide a better living benefit, death benefit, or both.
14:10 Ray: And for many advisors, this is the moment they finally say goodbye to FINRA forever. All right, here’s what to do next. Step one, run your own numbers at RIAcalculator.org. It’s free, confidential, and shows you exactly what independence could mean for your bottom line. Again, that’s RIAcalculator.org.
14:42 Jonathan: And step two — don’t navigate this alone. Book a confidential call with me at RIAMentor.com.
14:54 Ray: No pitch, no pressure, just a conversation about your options.
15:02 Jonathan: That’s right, you have an incredible resource right here. Ray is an advisor to advisors, and he really helps you sort through your options without any pressure to do this or that. Once more, book a confidential call with Ray at RIAMentor.com.
15:24 Jonathan: And remember, this is episode two of our three-part Caught in the Shuffle series. Don’t miss Episode Three, The Survival Blueprint, where Ray and I lay out the step-by-step plan to build your independence roadmap with clarity and confidence.
15:45 Ray: Looking forward to sharing the survival blueprint and providing the three action steps that will help build and maintain your independence.
15:58 Jonathan: That’s all for today. Thanks for listening to RIA Confidential. Subscribe, leave a review, and share this with another advisor who needs to hear it. Until next time, keep moving forward toward the practice you’ve always imagined.
16:20 Jonathan: United Advisor Group (UAG) is a federally registered investment advisor under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940. Registration as an investment advisor does not imply a certain level of skill or training.
16:35 Jonathan: The oral and written communications of an advisor provide you with information about which you determine to hire or retain an advisor. UAG Form ADV Part 2A and CRS can be obtained by visiting https://adviserinfo.sec.gov and searching for United Advisor Group.
16:58 Jonathan: Neither the information nor any opinion expressed is to be construed as solicitation to buy or sell a security or personalized investment, tax, or legal advice.
