What Independence Really Takes – A Real RIA Launch Case Study

Jonathan: [00:00:00] 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 being said, let’s dive in. 

You’re listening to RIA Confidential. I’m Jonathan Andrews here with my co-host and a guy who’s helped a whole lot of advisors go independent, Ray Gettins. Ray, good to be back with you. 

Ray: Yeah, Jonathan, good to be with you too.

I always look forward to these. This is kind of my favorite thing to talk about. 

Jonathan: So today we’re gonna push back on this idea that going RIA is [00:01:00] one big jump off a cliff. You know the LinkedIn announcement, the new logo, the champagne picture? 

Ray: Yeah, the highlight reel, right? Everybody sees the finished office photos, the we did it post, but you don’t see the thousand decisions that had to happen before that one post went up.

Jonathan: Exactly what what we want you to hear in this episode is that independence is not that one moment. It’s a chain of decisions. Some big, most small, and each one either moves you toward real control over your practice or keeps you basically in the same spot with a different logo on the door. 

Ray: And I’ll add this for every highlight.

Real story out there. You’ve also heard the horror stories. Compliance is killing me. Tech is a mess. I never see my family. I wish I’d stayed, put. Advisors get whiplash from those two extremes. 

Jonathan: The fair, the fairytale, and the nightmare. This show lives in the middle, [00:02:00] what actually happens? Plain language, no hype, no scare tactics, just real advisors walking through real decisions in real time.

Ray: And that’s what we’re doing today. We’re going to set a simple framework here in the studio. Then you’re gonna hear a full conversation with Ski from Kinetic Wealth. After that, Jonathan and I will come back and break it down. What mattered, what didn’t, what you can use for your own journey. 

Jonathan: So think of today’s episode in three parts.

One, this quick setup you’re hearing now. Two, the full ski awe with kinetic wealth story. Start to where he is now. Three, our post game breakdown where we connect the dots and pull out what really matters. If you were even thinking about going independent. 

Ray: This is a great interview because this isn’t some theory thing.

This is a guy running a fee only firm building it day by day, and you’re gonna hear the unvarnished version, not the Instagram version. 

Jonathan: Alright, let’s set up the questions we want you to keep in the back of your mind. Then we’ll roll [00:03:00] into the case study with Ski and Kinetic Wealth. 

Ray: Perfect. Let’s get into it.

Jonathan: Ray, let’s give people a simple filter before they hear skis story you’ve told me. You always bring it back to three questions before anybody even talks custodian or tech stack. 

Ray: Yeah. And they’re not fancy. First one is, who are you actually building this thing for? Not anyone with a pulse and a portfolio.

I mean, who do you really wanna serve for the next 10, 15 years? That’s it. Second question, what experience are you really delivering? Are you a planning first shop? Are you investment heavy? Are you the call me before you sign anything? Family advisor? If you can’t describe that in simple language, your clients definitely can’t.

Jonathan: It did this through. And the third one you like is the one most people wanna skip. What support system do you actually have? Not what you hope to have, what you have today in your real life. 

Ray: Yeah, at home in your network and in your business, [00:04:00] who’s got your back when stuff breaks because stuff will break.

If you’re the sole breadwinner with three kids and no savings and no community around you, your decisions about timing are different than someone with a year’s expenses in the bank and a spouse who’s on board. 

Jonathan: So, um, as you listen to this next segment, listen for those three things underneath Skis story, who he’s building kinetic wealth for, what experience he’s trying to deliver for those clients and what support and community he actually has, not just what’s on a slide deck.

Ray: And I’d add a couple more to have your ear tuned for motivation and timing. Why now, not five years from now, the support and community around him. The tools and this big one that every independent advisor underestimates, wearing all the hats, advisor, CEO, ops, janitor, therapist, you [00:05:00] name 

Jonathan: skis, firm Kinetic Wealth is a fee only RIA based in Knoxville.

He’s not a unicorn, he’s not a celebrity advisor. He’s a smart, intentional guy building something durable in a normal American city. That’s why his story is so useful. 

Ray: So while you’re listening, don’t just think, wow, that’s cool for ski. Ask, okay, where does my story fit with his and where is it Totally different because that’s where your own decisions start to form.

Jonathan: We’re gonna roll the full conversation with ski and kinetic wealth. Now, stick around afterward because Ray and I are coming back to sort the noise from the signal. What actually matters if you’re thinking about independence in the next six to 24 months? 

Ray: Perfect. Let’s get into it. 

Good afternoon. This is Ray Gettins with RA Confidential and super excited to have an opportunity to sit down with ski and talk a little bit about his.

I’m gonna call it adventure or transition to, to RIA and so forth. Ske, tell us a little bit about yourself and, you know, kind of how you [00:06:00] work with clients, how you approach the business. 

Skee Orr: Thank you very much, Ray. I’m, I’m super excited to be here and, and to share more and, and learn along the way. So, my name is Skee.

My wife Amanda and I are the founders of Kinetic Wealth, which is a fee-only financial planning firm here in Knoxville, Tennessee. We serve people. Really, we are convicted in the power of real financial planning, and so we want to introduce that to as many people as we possibly can. We work with people across the spectrum, all the way from just getting started to entering retirement at common.

Denominator among lots of our clients is they are skeptical or maybe you would say cautious. So. Somehow in a roundabout way, I think it’s my personal mission to show people that financial planning is approachable and it is human and, and so we, we set out to make that process very enjoyable. [00:07:00] 

So you hear a lot about advisors say they have a niche and so forth, but yours is not an, an a, a particular segment of the population.

It’s focused on financial services Then. 

Skee Orr: Yeah, so I have done a little bit of digging into like if I were to say a niche, the top demographic that we serve are business owners. A close second is engineers. So historically I have served a lot of engineers and I know our industry. Maybe kinda haws away from engineers.

They ask a lot of questions and tough questions and analytical and I like that. So my approaches, yeah, I think my approaches is, is welcoming. I’m kind of a teacher at heart and I think engineers may come across the roadway sometimes, but really what I’ve found is they just wanna learn and I wanna teach.

So that’s a good relationship. 

Sounds like a perfect mix. So, terrific. Well, let me ask you a specific question. What [00:08:00] was your motivation? What made you decide to focus on RIA, creating your own structure, your own firm there? Tell me a little bit about what motivated you. 

Skee Orr: Yeah. I would say at the highest level, our motivation for doing this is our clients, and so our industry is changing.

At the end of the day, I’m less of a company, man. I’m a client guy, so I felt like it was the right stage of, of my career to, to take this leap and, and maybe if I had waited. A few years longer, I may not have done it. If I had done it sooner, I wouldn’t have been ready yet. So the timing each day that goes by the, it becomes more and more clear that we made the right decision.

Having a wife and two children at home, obviously to take a huge risk to do this. But again, going back to our conviction and what we believe and, and maybe our tenacity of, of just showing up day after day is, so far it’s paying off. And [00:09:00] we’re very grateful that we had this opportunity. 

Ray: What’s been your biggest surprise?

Skee Orr: Well, there are a few things that come to my mind. The, the first thing is going back to the technology, and I’m still impressed at how good technology is and how far it has come, and it’s still got a long way to go. Being able to serve clients better with more efficient tools is very surprising. Another thing that’s surprising is.

I have used LinkedIn and almost since LinkedIn first existed, but I’ve, I’ve never really engaged with it a whole lot. And so after starting the business, I had been much more active on LinkedIn. And so the thing that surprises me there is there are so many great financial planners out there who are willing to give their time, energy to helping each other.

And so. I’ve had so many one-on-one meetings with people who have kind of [00:10:00] come before me in, in the steps that I’m following, who have, you know, shared their wisdom and, and shared what went well and what didn’t go as well. And so that has been super helpful. But yeah, the, the, the community and not only with financial planners, but also our community here in Knoxville has ha has truly embraced us.

I think that we’re kind of a, a startup business friendly city. And so we literally couldn’t have done this without all the support that we’ve gotten. 

Ray: It’s interesting you say, you know, I think we all, you know, heard way back when that technology would level the field. It, it feels like it’s even done more than just level the field.

It’s that you’ve, you’ve had better access to technology that you may not have even known was out there or been able to get your hands on before hanging your own shingle, so to speak. 

Skee Orr: And there’s maybe a little bit more to that. I mean, we meet with people all the time who we’d never met before, but they need financial planning and maybe they found us on NFAs [00:11:00] website or saw us in the newspaper, and they’re looking for a fee only fiduciary.

Also they’re looking for a smaller shop just because they know that there’s more one-on-one service. And you know, there are definitely pros and cons to any type of business model, but I think that we are appealing to the people who kinda want the mom and pop feel whenever they’re working on financial planning.

So I think that’s kind of cool. 

Ray Yeah. How many of the folks of your clients are local? 

Skee Orr: I’m originally from North Carolina, so we are actually in the process of registering in North Carolina. We’re primarily here in Tennessee. So have some clients in North Carolina have a client in Florida. I actually was fortunate to be able to go on a hunting trip last year and someone who I met on that hunting trip in Colorado as a client.

So we’re, we’re not limited here to Tennessee. As long as someone’s willing to talk on the phone or have a virtual meeting, we can essentially help people [00:12:00] anywhere. 

Alright. So it gave us a good feel for where we’re looking at from a technology standpoint. Any, any big surprises, both good and bad that you, you didn’t mention before?

Skee Orr: Well, so I would say that as a business owner and as a financial planner, I could see how people would be very surprised at the amount of work that goes into wearing all of the hats now. I have my wife, and so my wife is a nurse practitioner, so she is not a financial professional. However, she has knowledge and skills that I don’t have, and so that has been a huge help and, and complimentary to what I do.

She’s able to take some of the organizational stuff, offered my plate so that I can focus more time on investments and planning and, and, and spending time with clients. It is a lot. [00:13:00] It’s a lot. 

And 

Skee Orr: you know, I just as an encouragement, if anybody’s considering doing this, I would, I would just recommend that you take a deep, long, deep conversation with yourself about the willingness to put in the work.

’cause it is worth it. But it is a lot of work and the technology can normally do so much. 

Okay. Okay. So it’s a, it’s an awesome tool, but somebody’s gotta pick up that tool and put it to work, huh? Right. 

Skee Orr: That’s exactly right. 

Alright, terrific. Well, excuse, thanks for taking some time to, to share with us kind of your insights on, on making the change to a, a, like you said, a fee-based planner.

Before we wrap up a, any advice you would give another advisor beyond understanding, you know, the, the amount of work, regardless of how good the tools are, any other things that you would share that you, you think folks would want to hear or know about what have you? 

Skee Orr: And this kind of goes back to one of the first things you said about the, the state of the industry and, and leveling the playing field.[00:14:00] 

There are so many good advisors out there. So my encouragement would be for, for younger advisors, or maybe you’re entering the, the industry or maybe you’re, you’re kind of getting into the middle of your career if you want to work for a company. There are lots of good companies out there to work for, and you kinda had the hierarchy and career paths and all those types of things.

If, if that’s what you want, there are good options out there. If you feel like you have an entrepreneurial spirit, now is probably the best time I’ve ever seen to start a business in this world because. The technology is so accessible. As I mentioned earlier, we have altruist as our custodian, and that is literally a game changer.

And so the future going forward I think is gonna be a very good environment for a firm to start, even if you’re starting from scratch. So all that to say, do what you love and if you don’t love [00:15:00] what you’re doing, do something else. But the worst thing can happen, you start over. It’s okay. So. Hopefully that’s a word of encouragement.

Yeah, it’s hard, but everything in life is hard and, and nothing that’s worthwhile is easy. 

Ray: Thank you, uh, ske, appreciate your insights on things and so forth. You, you mentioned a lot of great stewards of the business, other financial planners that have been around a while look at you as one of those as well.

So thank you so much for sharing. Appreciate your insights and hope to talk again soon. Thank 

Skee Orr: you. Yes sir. Thank you very much. 

Jonathan: We are back in the studio. Ray, every time I listen to that conversation with ski, I’m struck by how normal it sounds. In a good way. 

Ray: Yeah, it’s not fireworks, it’s not a horror movie.

It’s just a series of pretty simple decisions stacked up that add up to real independence. That’s what it actually looks like in motion. 

Jonathan: Uh, let’s pull out a few things were, first one I wrote down was how often [00:16:00] ski came back to the client. Not the firm, not the platform, the client. 

Ray: Client first as a decision filter.

He didn’t say it in those words, but you heard it. Is this better for my clients? Kept winning the internal arguments. That’s what drove the move to fee only. That’s what shaped his planning process. That’s how he thinks about growth. When you’ve got that, a lot of decisions get simpler, even if they don’t get easier.

Jonathan: Second takeaway for me was timing. He didn’t say, well, markets were up, so I jumped. It was more about capacity, mental and emotional bandwidth. His family, his runway. 

Ray: Right timing as capacity, not as market timing. Was he ready to take on the extra load of wearing all those hats for a while? Did he have space in his life to build the thing?

That’s a much healthier question than is the s and p at the right level for my announcement. Nobody cares. 

Jonathan: Um, you also heard community all over his story. [00:17:00] Other advisors platform support, local connections. He wasn’t just a lone wolf out in the woods. 

Ray: Community is infrastructure. That’s the way I think about it.

It’s not just nice people to grab a beer with. It’s who do I call when my custodian portal is glitching and I’ve got a transfer stuck who has templates, so I’m not writing every email from scratch. That’s real, tangible support. 

Jonathan: Uh, last one, and you, and you touched on it earlier, throughput, the, the, the reality of wearing all the hats.

He was honest about that. The energy it takes, the trade offs, the fact that sometimes client work wins and the website waits. 

Ray: Yeah, and that’s okay. The key is being realistic about your own throughput. How many meaningful client relationships can you truly handle? How much ops can you absorb before you need to hire or outsource?

Independence gives you choices, but it doesn’t give you [00:18:00] extra hours in the day. 

Jonathan: So if you’re listening and you’re trying to make sense of your own situation, here’s the 

bottom line from today. Independence is a chain of decisions, not one magic leap. Run those decisions through a simple filter client first, your real capacity and the community and tools around you.

Ray: And don’t try to do that in your own head at midnight staring at the ceiling. If you wanna see what your numbers look like as an RIA, go to RIA calculator.org. Plug in your real book, your real expenses. It’s simple, it’s private, and it’ll give you something firmer than just a gut feeling. 

Jonathan: Um, if you heard yourself in, in parts of your skis story and you’re thinking, okay, I need to talk this through, that’s exactly why this show exists.

We do confidential calls with advisors all the time. 

Ray: Yeah, no, just, here’s where you are. Here’s what has to be true before this makes sense. Here’s what those first three months would really [00:19:00] look like. If that sounds helpful, reach out through ria confidential.com. We’ll set something up. 

Jonathan: As always, Ray, appreciate you walking through this with me.

Ray: Always a pleasure, Jonathan, and I really hope somebody listening today heard what they needed to hear. Freedom is great, but freedom with support is where the magic happens. 

Jonathan: We’ll leave it there for this episode of RIA Confidential. I’m Jonathan Andrews. Thanks for listening, and we’ll talk with you next time.

And remember, if you want help between episodes, head to ria confidential.com. The resource hub is full of useful tools and articles. No forms, uh, no email address required. It’s all right there on the site. Just tools and guidance built for advisors making real decisions. Bye for now.[00:20:00] 

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