Swamped by Tony Robbins' referrals, Ajay Gupta launches national venture with Jemstep and United Capital as notable partners

Rightly or wrongly the common understanding is if you are with a wire-house you can’t be as responsible as an RIA. The RIA is being positioned as a fiduciary that is above the wire-house “brokers’. I cry foul and say it is all false pretence and Anthony Robbins hasn’t done his homework and is contributing to a huge misunderstanding. (promoting his son’s employer basically-thanks Dad!) Read this article for my evidence:

http://www.financial-planning.com/news/Advisor-income-RIA-Wirehouse-Surprisingly-Close-aite-says-2683758-1.html

“The study also found that commission income is an important revenue stream for both channels. Across the board, revenue from commissions makes up 40% to 47% of total revenue for RIA practices and large wirehouse practices, according to the survey — indicating that the business models are not as different as many believe.”

Yes it says commissions—you can’t be a fiduciary and earn commissions of any kind and yes a percentage of AUM is still commissions.

The bottom line is what makes the difference is the individual advisor, how he conducts himself and how people perceive you and the relationship they have. Everything else is irrelevant.

But I must say, as usual, nice marketing to Anthony Robbins and his team as usual—spinning the truth to suit his own means and usual ulterior motives.

Hi Dave,

I’m not sure I see much spinning or ulterior motives here. This is a fee-only RIA making referrals to other fee-only RIAs. There may be plenty of brokers out there wearing halos but steering clear of commission-earning advisors doesn’t seem to be bad. And as far as I can see, Tony himself is pretty removed from equation.

Brooke

I didn’t and wouldn’t read the book. It does seem odd for someone to write a book which essentially, as I understand, is intended to be educational and helpful yet at the same time promote a firm his son works at. Not very credible but who cares I betcha his son gets equity any day now. I would agree with the comment that Robbins genuinely wants to 'make a difference’- I just view this as he wants to make a difference for his son and his son’s firm.