Celebrating 25 Years of Supported Independence

What kind of person starts a broker-dealer? A crazy one.

I Got Next

I’ve been competitive my whole life. I had to be. My dad was a basketball coach, and he saw that I had that fire, so he’d send me around to pick-up games in gyms around town with kids who were bigger, faster, and more athletic than I was. Running game after game against current and future D1 athletes could be brutal, but he knew that playing against better competition would improve my game.?

And it did! I played point guard in high school and ultimately played my way through college at Division II Lambuth. When you’re 5’9” and 100 pounds, you have to find creative ways to win on the court. You have to use your mind, your skill, your finesse. I was always punching above my weight class, but it was an incredible learning experience and one I’ve carried with me ever since.?

Let’s Go!

After 20 years in coaching, my father decided to transition into financial services, and brought me into his business when my basketball days came to an end. Once again, he threw me into the pool to sink or swim–I’d run the weekly meetings with his reps, where I had to quickly overcome any misgivings I might have had, and learn how to coach these grizzled insurance vets. What did I know? I was just a kid at this point, but it was here that I learned the ins and outs of working for an independent firm and developed the grit that would help me succeed later on.

After a few years of honing my sales skills, I saw an opportunity to start a firm of my own.? I knew it was crazy, but I pitched the idea to my family, “Let’s start a broker-dealer.”?

My father didn’t flinch, didn’t miss a beat. He just said, “Let’s go.”?

A Vision for True Independence

This was back in 1999. The independent movement was in its infancy. The industry consisted mainly of wirehouses and brokerage houses, and we wanted to build a firm with the financial professional in mind.?

We saw that advisors wanted to work with people they know and trust, not necessarily a 7,000 rep firm where they exist as nothing more than a rep code. But they were also looking for the resources and services that allow them to do the work they want to with their clients.?

Like us, they were advisors - not technology experts, not compliance officers, not operations specialists. And at the time, there were really only a few options for financial professionals: join a massive conglomerate and tap into their resources but sacrifice your independence, or build your own firm, with all the operational and administrative responsibilities that go along with it.

We thought that there had to be a middle ground. A place for financial professionals to enjoy the freedom and spirit of independence while accessing all the tools, technology, and resources they need to grow their firms.

From that vision, Silver Oak was born in Jackson, Tennessee.

The Dot Bomb and Great Recession

We’ve grown organically since we opened our doors, but it wasn’t always easy. The dotcom bubble burst a year after we started the firm, and the financial crisis followed not long after that. I don’t have to tell you that many firms and financial professionals didn’t make it out of those dual crises. We were lucky to be small and nimble enough to navigate those minefields largely unscathed, but the experiences shaped our perspectives on our service offerings and risk management as a whole.

In 2010, we saw the opportunity to start working with Charles Schwab as an independent advisor. The hybrid model is a bit unconventional, but we believe it’s the best solution for advisors because it lets them find the best solutions for their clients. Maybe that’s on the FINRA side, maybe it’s on the advisory side, but the hybrid model itself gives them the freedom to truly put their clients’ interests first.

That’s the philosophy we’ve embraced from the first day we opened our doors. The client has to benefit, the advisor has to benefit, and the firm has to benefit – we believe in that order. At Silver Oak, we’ve always seen that when our clients and our advisors do well, so do we.??

How It’s Going

This year, we were recognized by InvestmentNews as one of the nation’s fastest-growing independent broker-dealers – alongside the likes of LPL, Ameriprise, Kestra, and Cetera. All these years later, I’m still punching above my weight class, this time surrounded by a team that believes in and works relentlessly toward the goal of doing the right thing for independent financial professionals.?

I always say there’s never been a better time to be part of this industry. In the coming years, $85 trillion is going to change hands, and 30% of current advisors are heading toward retirement.?

There’s a space and a need in this industry for exceptional advisors working for a world-class mid-sized firm, and we’ve built one.

To everyone who believed in Silver Oak from the day we opened our doors in September of 1999, we’re here now because of you. Thank you for your continued support and partnership, and long live the independent advisor!