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After collaborating for many years as a community, we collectively made the decision to expand and make more accessible our collaborative infrastructure, thus forming the FDL platform. Led by Greg Skidmore, CEO of Belpointe, this group, consisting of advisors, CPAs and tax professionals, legal professionals, real estate developers, technology companies, and more, worked to formalize the Financial Design Labs platform upon realizing several things:
Many in our community have found creative strategies for professional collaboration, generating growth without unnecessary hiring, maxing out one’s capacity, or relying on traditional advertising or lead generation.
Through our insights and experiences, we can help one another work through complex business challenges.
We each carry with us our unique perspectives, knowledge, and experiences. Rarely do professionals get the opportunity to share their expertise with like-minded peers in a safe environment. We continuously add to a collective intelligence far beyond what is possible at the individual level.
Our group, by its nature, is made up of financial professionals from a number of different industries. This allows us to approach challenges and opportunities from multiple perspectives, sparking the creation of new tools, services, and products for the community–and even the broader marketplace.
To further enhance our collaborative efforts, members have access to an array of additional services available through community members and collaborative partners aimed at helping them streamline and support their operations.
By integrating these services, we seek to ensure we all have the resources needed to thrive, evolve, and grow within an innovative and supportive community.
To inquire about these available support systems, contact Cassedy Bauman at cassedy@financialdesignlabs.org.
Operating one’s own RIA isn’t for everyone, as it can be costly, time consuming, and labor intensive if done in the traditional format. But if you’d like to pursue being completely independent, there are resources available within the community to help you launch your new firm and streamline operations, whether you are looking to establish a retail RIA or an “aggregator” firm.
In constant pursuit of scalability, exclusivity, and more effective (and less expensive) alternatives to traditional TAMPs and third party managers, we formed the Collaborative OCIO Program.
Under this program, an advisor (or advisor group) collaborates with an experienced, professional portfolio or fund manager within the community to form an investment committee for that advisor’s practice.
Looking to start an ETF, Mutual Fund, or other type of vehicle. Through the group and its members, you have the ability to launch various funds, and if needed, be provided with administrative support along the way. Further, you’ll likely find the structure to be much friendlier and cost effective to you as the advisor to the fund.
Do you have expertise, products, or services that could be of value to your peers and their businesses? Our craft community is also a collaborative marketplace of sorts. We maintain relationships (and often negotiated rates) with industry-specific business development partners. Whether you need assistance with content development, materials design, web development, etc., there’s a high likelihood that you can find what you need. All resources are peer vetted; they’ve been utilized by others in the group.
Through our group, we have access to financing resources specific to our industries. Whether you’re looking to acquire a practice, expand your existing one, build out infrastructure, etc., we maintain relationships with institutions that some of us have vetted and utilized ourselves.
Running an effective compliance program for an RIA can be equally as challenging as it is important in the success of your business, regardless of the size of your firm. Scale is critical for all practitioners, and it’s hard to come by when you have to play the role of CCO (and in some cases, an entire compliance department). Through resources in the community, you can access a multitude of support systems to help scale your business while remaining compliant.
In 2021, we made the decision to form Financial Design Labs to make our kind of collaboration more accessible to those in professional services. This move, in turn, also opens the door for further innovation spurred by new members bringing their own unique blend of experience, knowledge, and ideas.
While membership to Financial Design Labs is currently approval-based, we welcome others who share common mindsets and philosophies toward working with one another.