Fidelity Investments says it has broadened its transition program for breakaway brokers with a tool designed to help wirehouse brokers gauge the financial impact of going independent.
Fidelity's new economic estimator tool enables wirehouse brokers to input information about their practice--from annual production and current payouts to deferred compensation and office location. The analysis covers specific values for more than 50 expense items involving nine different categories including salary, legal fees and insurance.
The tool crunches the numbers to produce a report that estimates annual costs, taxes and payouts over a ten-year period across three independent business models--starting an independent registered investment advisor firm, partnering with a third-party entity or joining an independent broker-dealer.
Fidelity says it offers both a comprehensive tool used in tandem with a Fidelity transition consultant, and a simplified online version that helps wirehouse brokers get enough information to decide whether they want to take a deeper look into going independent.
Meanwhile, Fidelity says it helped nearly 170 individual and broker teams go independent this year through the third quarter. That includes starting an RIA, joining an existing RIA on Fidelity's platform or joining a broker-dealer affiliated with Fidelity's National Financial platform.