Financial Advisor Success Ep 165: Navigating Broker Protocol When The Firm You Start With Isn't The One You Want To Stick With - with Steve Kampschmidt
Feb 25, 2020
Steve Kampschmidt, founder of Freedom Found Financial and former Merrill Lynch advisor who went independent. He discusses navigating broker protocol when leaving a big firm. He explains cold-calling to build a book, researching breakaway logistics, choosing custodian and tech, and shifting to fee-for-service tiers and planning memberships.
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Build A Runway Before You Switch Careers
- Build a personal financial safety net before switching roles so you can tolerate the income gap while starting an advisory practice.
- Steve used a guaranteed base salary and savings to create runway before leaving his management role to become an advisor.
Targeted Cold Calling Scales Client Acquisition
- Cold calling can still build a meaningful book quickly if executed at scale with targeted lists and consistent follow-up.
- Steve scraped ZoomInfo for director-level leads, dialed 100–200 calls/day, and converted ~1–2% into meetings that became clients.
Choose A Supportive Custodian Early
- Evaluate custodians early and build relationships; choose a custodian that will assemble a transition team and support you at launch.
- Steve chose Fidelity because they were private, responsive, offered higher cash sweep options, and created a transition team.