A financial advisor can’t serve everyone.

In fact, to start a successful practice, an advisor has to find a niche, said Jane Newton, managing partner and wealth advisor of Morristown, N.J.-based RegentAtlantic at the 2017 Invest In Women conference in Dallas last week.

“Being a generalist in this industry is the kiss of death,” Newton said. “There is a risk in narrowcasting, but there’s a bigger risk in trying to go after everything else.”

After a stint at a major bank serving New York’s financial district, Newton has developed a niche working with high-powered women on Wall Street.

Yet financial advisors’ niches don’t always need to focus on high-asset, wealthy individuals, said Rianka Dorsainvil, founder of Your Greatest Contribution, a location-independent planning firm working with young professionals.

Through she decided she wanted to become a planner at a young age, she didn’t always have a niche in mind.

“When I started, I took on everyone, but I eventually figured out that I couldn’t do that,” said Dorsainvil, who also spoke at the conference.

Dorsainvil took an additive approach to creating a niche. As a younger planner just growing her book of business, she was able to design her practice from the ground up.

While still a college student, Dorasainvil began providing advice to her peers, realizing that she wanted to work with young people.

After college, Dorsainvil took a job with a more traditional financial firm, blogging and helping her peers on the side. She found that her company would not let her work with her niche, so she started Your Greatest Contribution and set out on her own.

First « 1 2 3 » Next