Company Details
Edelman Financial Engines "Edelman" "EFE" was founded with a core mission: to give everyone the opportunity to advance their financial lives. The founders set the tone for this mission. Nobel Prize-winning economist Dr. William F. Sharpe provided individual investors with access to sophisticated investment modeling tools that were previously available only to institutional investors. Ric Edelman established his advisory firm with the belief that everyone should have a trusted financial advocate. Today, Edelman's advisors continue to carry this mission forward, serving each client with the same dedication and commitment.
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Acquisition Model
Max Cash: 80%
Max Equity: 20%
Edelman's standard terms are 20%-40% held in retention for 12 months.
Mandatory Points of Alignment
At Edelman, everyone will receive the benefits of centralized compliance, HR, technology, billing, marketing, accounting, and more.
Advisors will have control of their own calendars.
In order to take as many operational functions off your plate, Edelman will centralize your P&L.
EFE has a branded client experience, One Face One Voice, that partners are asked to utilize. This allows all clients of EFE to have the same experience working with an advisor and brings efficiency to advisors’ ability to service clients.
For firms seeking assistance with defining roles and responsibilities and managing processes and procedures, EFE can help optimize the functionality of an office.
After joining Edelman, legacy portfolios will be managed on an ongoing basis by the centralized team in Santa Clara, CA and any new assets from existing clients or new clients will be managed using Edelman models. Migration of legacy positions into the Edelman models will also be facilitated over time with care if there are constraints to immediate migration.
Advisor Value Proposition
The EFE Small Business Solutions team delivers support for 401(k), 403(b), cash balance pension plans and more to advisors with clients who own businesses or who are business executives. The Small Business Solutions offering some of EFE’s biggest value-adds for a partners and their clients. Edelman’s suite of comprehensive services are compelling for advisors who believe a better client experience can result from having a CPA work with the advisor to deliver better advice. Additionally, for advisors who have qualified retirement plan clients, EFE helps plan sponsors with investment menu selection, plan management, and employee education. This competence gives advisors a competitive advantage when working with corporate clients. EFE sponsors a formal training program for young advisors who want to become a financial planner. This program has supported the development of talent within EFE. Partners consider this program an asset and leverage it to have graduates placed in the local office to work full time. Additionally, EFE distributes content for retail investors and prospective clients to learn from the experts at EFE about topics such as retirement planning, budgeting, discretionary spending, investments, and much more.
Edelman Financial Engines employs six CPAs on the tax planning team, two insurance experts, two estate attorneys, and four advance planning support members. The centralized planning, investment, and tax advisory teams are very supportive of advisors and partners tend to see a large lift in the business when using these teams.
EFE will centralize all operations and back-office functions allowing advisors to can gain significant capacity in their day to service and onboard new clients.
Beyond financial planning and portfolio management, EFE offers client service specialties in retirement planning, tax planning, insurance guidance/risk management, estate planning, qualified/non-qualified plans, and small-business solutions (retirement plan consulting).
Edelman Financial Engines (EFE) has one of the country's most robust and successful client lead generation programs. With 10+ million employees in the qualified plan division, EFE generates over 100,000 qualified leads each year for advisors. EFE has a 40-person business development team based in Phoenix, Arizona who qualifies inbound leads for advisors. Once the development team has talked on the phone with the prospect, they send the meeting notes to the advisor so they are prepared for a successful initial conversation with the prospect. Additionally, EFE has a broadly distributed podcast and newsletter that clients and prospective clients can access, which also drives inbound leads to the business development team.
Edelman has a practice management model they encourage their partners to adopt, but they will work with the local team to ensure the model fits everyone. They can assist with maximizing utility and capacity within an office for both client-facing advisors and administrative personnel. Leveraging the Learning and Development Team, all advisors become licensed in insurance and risk management. This enables advisors to be equipped and educated to address almost any situation within a client's life.
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