NORTH LITTLE ROCK, Ark.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Daryl Seaton, President of Sowell Management, a privately held Registered Investment Advisor (RIA) that serves financial advisors nationwide, said his firm has experienced marked success in 2023 by guiding advisors to value scalability over saleability – or well planned, focused growth versus a desire for immediate profitability. It’s a concept, he said, that is often overlooked by financial advisory firms focused solely on quickly growing their books of business.
“Sowell Management understands that scaling the right way – by using resources efficiently without sacrificing performance – is the key to long-term growth,” Seaton said. “Our model of scalability includes a focus on growth, efficiency and succession. To that end, we encourage financial advisors to spend their time doing what they do best – fostering relationships with clients that ultimately lead to growth. And we support outsourcing the complicated, time-consuming elements of the job that are best done by the experts,” Seaton said.
Sowell Management, he said, provides advisors with an array of services, from marketing and billing to financial planning and insurance and technology tools. FLEX Connect, its end-to-end technology solution, for example, empowers financial advisors through every stage of the wealth management life cycle and reduces the time advisors spend on day-to-day tasks.
Seaton said Sowell management prides itself on meeting financial advisors wherever they are on their journey and custom scaling their businesses to take them where they want to go. “We start our work with our clients with the end in mind, sitting down and planning where they want to go, then working together to determine the best strategy for getting there. This year we partnered with advisors at every stage of the game – from start-ups to those in the succession-planning process – guiding their growth. Their successes, especially at a time where the financial markets have been uncertain, tell us this is a solid approach,” he said.
Josh Morales, who launched his Missouri firm Nest Financial about a year ago, is one of Sowell Management's clients who is scaling effectively, Seaton said.
Morales said he turned to Sowell Management before launching his firm. “I looked to Sowell to help me name the business, create the website, and get me up and running. Now, I work with them as a partner, and they handle the suite of services that includes everything from compliance to custodial support and investment models to billing. In turn, I have the time to live the mission of my firm, which is to educate the everyday man to achieve financial freedom,” he said.
“At Nest Financial, we say we offer ‘real-life solutions for real-life people.’ We can’t do that spending 15 minutes with a client over the phone. We’re truly invested in those we serve and that takes time. So, we take that time to do what we promise and trust Sowell to coordinate much of the rest. Nest Financial is in its early stages, but we’re already growing and scaling at the rate we anticipated. And through Sowell’s guidance, we have a bright, well-planned future ahead,” Morales added.
Seaton said another success story is Arkansas’ Tim Poole, AAMS and CRPC, who was already managing a healthy book of business when he transitioned to Sowell Management as his RIA. “After a rebranding by the marketing team at Sowell, Tim discovered he deeply trusted the company’s approach and advice and believed Sowell was capable of taking his firm to the next level – to grow in a way he hadn’t experienced previously,” Seaton said.
APEX Asset Advisors, Poole’s firm, has upped its social media game, utilized Sowell Management’s investment models, implemented technology tools and much more. The result? “I have had the time to follow up on the leads I need to and I’m gaining new clients. I’m sitting down face-to-face with current investors to determine how we can best grow their portfolios. I’m focused on what I do best because I have the breathing room for it. My business is growing as a result – and at a rate that I believe will continue,” he said.
And in Cayucos California, longtime wealth manager Scott McManus, CPA and CFP®, was looking to rebrand his flourishing firm – Cayucos Wealth – when his son, John, joined the firm. Succession planning is a Sowell Management strength, and early this year they went to work putting plans in place that will allow Cayucos to scale appropriately through its transition.
“Sowell’s tools and support migrated us out of a difficult area. Those solutions, some of which we hadn’t considered, greatly expanded our capabilities. We’ve been given breathing room from an RIA that eagerly guides us toward growth, for our clients’ wealth and our practice,” McManus said.
Seaton acknowledged that Sowell Management’s commitment to helping advisors scale at the pace that helps them grow the right way isn’t common, but he said it’s rewarding. “We don’t enforce doing it all, doing it fast and adding clients no matter who they are. We’re about thoughtfully enabling the firms who work with us to adapt and grow flexibly and cost-effectively, all while maintaining a high level of service, quality and compliance.
"In the end, we have found that our advisors across the country are experiencing success from this model. We plan to continue to expand our offerings as the financial industry evolves so our clients can scale the right way,” he said.
About Sowell Management
Sowell Management is a privately held Registered Investment Advisor (RIA) and a trusted partner to financial advisors. They are a Forbes and Barrons* top 100 RIA and were founded in 2001 on the principles of fee-based fiduciary investing. Sowell Management provides a platform of services and solutions that leads advisors on the path of independence – including end-to-end technology and portfolio management – meeting advisors where they are and taking them where they want to go. Sowell offers a diversity of services and has a nationwide client base, with $4 billion in AUM/AUA* as of December 2022. Sowell Management – there for the advisors; there for the journey.
*Regulatory assets under management (AUM) are assets where Sowell provides continuous and regular supervisory or management services to client portfolios. Assets under administration (AUA) is a measure of the total assets for which Sowell provides administrative services. Third-party rankings and recognition from rating services or publications are no guarantee of future investment success. Working with a highly rated advisor does not ensure that a client or prospective client will experience a higher level of performance or results. These ratings should not be construed as an endorsement of the advisor or by any client, nor are they representative of any one client’s evaluation. Generally, rankings and recognition are based on information prepared and submitted by the advisor. No fee was paid for consideration of this award, and consideration for Barron's top 100 RIAs was published in Sept 2020. No fee was paid for consideration of this award, and consideration for the Forbes 2022 Top 100 RIAs was conducted by interview on June 29, 2022. The report was published in October, 2022. Josh Morales (CRD# 6555167), Tim Poole (CRD# 4800886), and Scott McManus (CRD# 4275688) are investment advisor representatives (“IAR”) registered with Sowell Management and are not being compensated for sharing their opinion and experience with Sowell Management. Nest Financial, APEX Asset Advisors, and Cayucos Wealth is a trade name and DBA used for marketing purposes, and have been disclosed as other business name on Sowell Management’s registration with the SEC. Our IARs do and may receive compensation through advisory and financial planning fees. Any compensation creates a conflict of interest and our IAR’s comments may not be representative of any other person's experience with the firm. Any testimonial is not representative of the experiences of other clients, and there is no guarantee of future performance or success. Additional information about Sowell Management (CRD# 127145/SEC# 801-63991) is available on the SEC’s website (https://adviserinfo.sec.gov/) or FINRA’s BrokerCheck (https://brokercheck.finra.org/). Advisory Services offered through Sowell Management, a Registered Investment Advisor.
