Advisors evaluating advisor independence should also review guidance from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and FINRA to better understand registration, supervision, and compliance expectations.
Beyond the House of No: How Chris Tasik Built His Advisor Independence
[00:00:00] Opening
Jonathan Andrews: 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 dialogue. We’re excited to be embracing the use of AI and look forward to your feedback.
With that said, let’s dive in.
Welcome to RIA Confidential, your source for the truth about going RIA. I’m Jonathan Andrews, and as always, I’m joined by your RIA mentor, Ray Gittens. Ray, great to have you here.
Ray Gittens: Thanks, Jonathan. Great to be here.
Jonathan Andrews: Today we’re excited because we have a conversation that I think is going to resonate with a lot of advisors who have been asking themselves a very important question:
Is there a better way to build this business?
Chris wasn’t anti-discipline. He was tired of unnecessary constraint.
He looked at his business and realized that, by his own estimate, about 90% of what he was already doing was on the RIA side anyway. So the question became pretty practical:
Why keep dragging along a broker-dealer affiliation that no longer matched the way he actually served clients?
[00:01:00]
Ray Gittens: It was a really insightful conversation.
What makes Chris’s story so compelling is that this wasn’t some impulsive leap. It was thoughtful. It was deliberate. It was really about looking at the next version of his business and deciding he wanted a different kind of environment, a different kind of support system, and a different way to serve clients.
Jonathan Andrews: You nailed it.
Chris talks candidly about moving away from what he calls the “House of No” — too much bureaucracy, too many barriers, and too many limitations around what was possible.
Ray Gittens: Exactly. And I loved how he broke down the whole thinking process.
What he was really searching for was a true RIA environment, open architecture, and the freedom to build more intentionally.
Jonathan Andrews: Great conversation. Let’s get into it.
Ray Gittens: Absolutely. Here’s my conversation with Chris Tasik.
Interview
[00:02:00]
Ray Gittens: Chris, thanks for doing this.
Let me start with this: What does your business look like now, and what did it look like before?
Chris Tasik: My core hasn’t changed, but everything about delivery has, and everything about environment has.
I’m still focused on making sure clients have plans and investment strategies that support them. I still enjoy working with my surgeons, and about half my clients are female. I also have some clients in the culinary space, so not necessarily niches, but definitely client segments I really enjoy working with. It’s a good mix of businesses and individuals.
Before the move, I felt constrained by what I’ve always called the House of No.
Any good idea you have is generally met with a no, instead of, “How can we help you?”
The support and open architecture at United is something I’d never experienced before. I’ve got access to tools and strategies that really let me serve my clients better, and serve them the way they deserve to be served.
Ray Gittens: Terrific.
So when you decided to make the move, what were you really looking for? What mattered most to you?
[00:03:00]
Chris Tasik: I was looking at my production over time, and really, 99% of what I was doing was already on the RIA side.
So I wanted to drop the broker-dealer affiliation.
And of course, I kept thinking about that every October when I got that enormous bill, which is not exactly the time you want to be making the decision.
This wasn’t really about blaming where I was or where I’d been. It was more about asking: Where is the next version of my firm going to be? How do I want to build it? What do I want?
I knew I was tired of bureaucracy, forms for the sake of forms, and being told that good ideas were good ideas, but they just weren’t going to work in someone else’s model.
I also felt like I was living on an island, working from a home office in relative isolation. Looking back 15 months later, I think that really did affect both my growth and my happiness doing a business I genuinely enjoy.
As you like to say, Ray, I wanted to stop talking to that volleyball.
Ray Gittens: Perfect.
Chris Tasik: Two years ago, I said to my wife on January 1, “I better make this move. I’m thinking about it now. You can ask me once a week. I need an accountability partner.”
And that’s how we launched.
January is the time to make an October decision.
[00:04:00]
Ray Gittens: Obviously, you gave this a lot of thought. Talk to me about the process.
What was your criteria in finding a new RIA? What were you looking for in the next version of your business model?
Chris Tasik: If you know me well enough, Ray, all my friends and clients know I’m the guy with the guy.
So I went to my people. I went to colleagues, industry partners, and people I trusted and told them what I was seeking. Those folks had a vested interest in keeping me happy, because they wanted to keep me as a client, so I got some good leads on places to start.
A couple weeks into January, I met somebody local who was also thinking about making a similar move. We started talking about maybe doing it as a partnership and forming our own RIA.
As we spoke to a few firms initially, we quickly realized there’s a world of difference between being an RIA that grew out of a broker-dealer and being born an RIA.
We knew we really wanted a pure RIA, one that truly understood what this business is versus that business, especially around compliance and operations.
We also realized that having our own little RIA was probably too time-consuming and too risky for two of us to try to manage while also building the business and doing everything else.
[00:05:00]
Chris Tasik: At some point, he had some family concerns and decided to stay put, but I was committed to making a move.
The initial conversations I had with other firms included some good shops, but they all felt similar. It was like trading the devil we knew for the one we didn’t.
Ray Gittens: So then how did you come across United Advisor Group?
Chris Tasik: One of my industry partners, someone I know and trust, arranged an introduction to one of the partners here.
We had a couple of good conversations, and while it sounded very different from anything I’d ever heard or any business I’d ever seen run, I found it compelling. It took me a while to wrap my head around it.
But it felt like a group of people sat down and made a classic list of everything they liked and everything they didn’t like, and then said:
“Let’s build a business around the things we like. Let’s eliminate as much of what we don’t like as possible, and let’s make the rest bearable.”
I still picture you all in a room with the blinds closed, flip charts everywhere, putting this thing together.
[00:06:00]
Chris Tasik: After a few more conversations, I met a couple more partners locally and thought, this is really interesting. I like this. I’m getting a good feel for the people, and the people are what matter.
I got invited to your conference in Louisville. I had other commitments that week, so I was there for about 18 hours total, but it was enough.
It confirmed that everything I thought was true really was true, and you guys were great.
I came back pretty quickly with a verbal commitment, and I said to my wife, “This all seems too good to be true.”
But the due diligence boxes kept checking out. People I trusted worked hard to find red flags for me, and they couldn’t even find yellow ones.
And I framed the task this way: not “make me do this,” but “make me not do this.” Convince me this is the wrong move.
And they came back and said, “We can’t find anything to convince you otherwise.”
A lot of people in this business have been sold a beautiful song by firms, myself included, and then once you’re inside, it’s the beta version instead of the real thing. Night and day.
I told my wife, “One of two things is going to happen. In a year, I’m either going to be ecstatic, happier, and doing great business, or I’m going to be in the same church, just in a different pew.”
Ray Gittens: And I’m guessing you’re not in the same church in a different pew.
Chris Tasik: I’m not even in the same religion, Ray.
[00:08:00]
Ray Gittens: From our perspective, you’ve shown a lot of leadership in a relatively short amount of time. What made you decide to contribute the way you have and become such a thought leader inside the firm?
Chris Tasik: As people get to know me, they realize I’ve always done a lot of work with nonprofits and different organizations. I like to get involved instead of just sitting back.
I joined the firm around October, and by January I was at the first annual meeting. I heard about the tech committee and thought, “Well, I’m a giant nerd. That sounds pretty good.”
Throughout my career, I’ve often felt like a kid looking through the pastry shop window while being told I couldn’t go in. There were always these technologies I wanted to explore, but the answer was usually no, or we’re not adopting that.
This felt like a chance to help shape real outcomes and maybe bring some interesting things to the table.
I also learned something I hadn’t fully appreciated before: a lot of firms get wholesale pricing on software, then add a markup so it feels like you’re getting a deal, while really improving their own profitability.
And apparently, if you give Ray an inch, he takes a mile and a half, and suddenly the new kid is chairing the committee.
Ray Gittens: If you’re going to be on the tech committee, you might as well run it.
Tech That Works
[00:10:00]
Ray Gittens: I’ve heard you use the phrase “tech that works” versus “tech that just fits.” Explain what you mean.
Chris Tasik: A good example is the AI-assisted path we went down last year.
At this point, having AI assistance is a game changer. I can’t imagine life without it. But we didn’t just want any AI tool. We wanted something with the right features, something compliant, and something that met our expectations.
I think the natural tendency at a lot of firms is to say, “There’s one rolling out with the CRM, and that’s what you’re going to use.”
But we wanted to be more thoughtful than that. We asked: What works? What can we demo? What can we trial? What actually meets our needs?
And then we got to choose what the committee and others in the firm tested and believed was best in class.
To me, that’s tech that works. It’s not just filling a box on a tech stack. It’s choosing technology that genuinely meets advisor needs.
[00:11:00]
Ray Gittens: So part of it is looking at where the technology is today, where it’s headed tomorrow, and how it integrates with everything else.
Chris Tasik: Exactly. And we’re not wed to any technology forever.
That’s the nice thing about open architecture. If quality declines, or something better comes along, or users say something isn’t working, we can reevaluate and pivot if it’s worth the effort.
That ability to stay nimble matters. It means we can keep putting the best possible tech in front of advisors.
The improvements we’ve made to compliance technology in the last few months have been fantastic too.
Ray Gittens: That’s been a big part of the committee’s work. Better systems make the compliance experts more efficient, which lets their talent have a bigger impact.
What Changed Most
[00:13:00]
Ray Gittens: If you step back and look at the big picture, what has changed the most since you joined?
Chris Tasik: Everything has changed.
At a basic level, margins are up. That’s due to adding new clients, yes, but also lowering overhead.
I’m taking money that used to go toward markups and redirecting it into better technology.
I used to joke with vendors that every product was “only” another $62 a month, but all the “onlys” add up. Now I actually have room in the budget to invest in things that matter without robbing other areas.
And honestly, I love coming to work.
When I decided to leave the island and put the volleyball in the closet, the local UAG partners I had met happened to have office space available. So now I share space with two other UAG firms.
Fifteen months earlier, they would have been competitors. Same space, same business category, different styles and scales, but still competitors.
Now they’re office mates, friends, colleagues, and sounding boards.
[00:14:00]
Chris Tasik: When you tell other advisors that, they look at you like, “Wait, you do what?”
But that’s the environment here. People genuinely want to help each other become more successful.
There’s constant internal communication: “What should I do about this?” “What do you think about that?” “Why should I use A over B?”
That kind of support is incredibly valuable.
Recently, I also had the opportunity to become part of the American College of Surgeons Personal Financial Wellness Program, which is a new initiative they’ve rolled out.
I don’t think I could have executed something like that in most other environments.
In a lot of places, the first response would have been, “Here are all the reasons you can’t do it.”
Here, the response was, “This is something you should be doing. What do you need? How can we help? What calls can I get on to help make this successful?”
And because of the network we have, if something comes through where a client wants boots on the ground somewhere in the country, there’s probably someone in the network close enough to help.
Ray Gittens: That’s a huge compliment, and I’m glad it’s fit your model so well.
Looking Back on the Move
[00:16:00]
Ray Gittens: Let me wrap it up this way: looking back over the last year and a half, what stands out most? Biggest surprise? Biggest takeaway?
Chris Tasik: A few things.
First, happiness in this industry doesn’t just come from serving clients. It also comes from working with a team, and working with a good team.
I think a lot of people, and I was one of them, settle into complacency. It’s fine. You don’t love it. You don’t hate it. It’s just fine.
Now, I love it. I’m happy.
I missed the firm conference this year because of some commitments, and I found myself genuinely disappointed to miss it, not just because you were in Puerto Rico while I was in an ice storm, but because I missed spending time with the people, deepening those relationships, and learning from what was happening there.
I’ve learned that you really can run this business differently, but you have to have people who want to think differently.
And I think that’s what this partnership is. That’s what this firm is. It’s people who thought differently and continue to think differently as we evolve.
[00:17:00]
Chris Tasik: I think independence is achieved by working with people.
It’s not about being alone. It’s about being with people who have your best interests at heart, and in turn, you wind up having theirs at heart too.
It’s not talking to a volleyball on your own island like everyone assumes.
I’m grateful for what I learned before coming here, and I’m very grateful for what I’ve learned and been able to achieve here.
The move was about building the next version of my business and improving my client experience. And client experience is what this is really all about.
As advisors, we want to take care of our clients. We want to deliver the best. And I think independence turns out to be not only about control, but also about support and community.
That surprised me.
You hear the word independence and picture yourself standing alone, but that’s not what this has been at all. You’re surrounded by people who support you and give you a strong sense of community and shared knowledge.
Ray Gittens: Thank you, Chris. We’re fortunate to have you in the group. You’ve made significant contributions, and we’re better because of you and a number of other like-minded advisors.
Chris Tasik: Thank you. I appreciate it.
Post-Interview Wrap-Up
[00:18:00]
Jonathan Andrews: Wow. Ray, really strong conversation. What stood out to you most?
Ray Gittens: What stood out to me is that Chris wasn’t just trying to leave something behind. He was trying to build something better.
That distinction really matters.
This wasn’t just about frustration. It was about strategy. It was about recognizing that the next version of his business needed a different environment, different support, and different possibilities.
Jonathan Andrews: And one of the most powerful things he shared was that independence doesn’t have to mean being alone.
In the right environment, independence can actually bring more collaboration, more support, and more community.
Ray Gittens: Exactly. So many advisors hear the word independence and picture risk, isolation, and uncertainty.
But Chris described something very different: better alignment, better people, better tools, and a stronger ability to serve clients well.
[00:19:00]
Jonathan Andrews: Exactly.
If this episode got you thinking about your own next chapter, that’s why RIA Confidential exists.
Visit RIAConfidential.com to explore the resources, use the free tools, and be sure to check out the RIA Calculator if you want a clearer sense of what independence could mean for your business.
And if you want a thoughtful, pressure-free conversation about your options, book a confidential call. We’re here to help.
Be sure to follow RIA Confidential, subscribe to the podcast, and share this episode with another advisor who may be wondering what comes next.
Ray Gittens: Thanks, Jonathan.
And to everyone listening, thanks for joining us. We’ll see you next time on RIA Confidential.
Disclaimer
[00:20:00]
The investment strategies and themes discussed herein may be unsuitable for investors depending on their specific investment objectives and financial situation.
Information obtained from third-party sources is believed to be reliable, though its accuracy is not guaranteed.
Opinions expressed in this commentary reflect subjective judgments of the authors based on conditions at the time of publication and are subject to change without notice.
Past performance is not indicative of future results.
