Company Details
Parallel Advisors ("Parallel") was founded in 2006 by CEO, C.J. Rendic. At Parallel, collaboration forms the bedrock of their success. They work closely with both advisors and clients, fostering partnerships that yield superior outcomes. Operating on a fee-only basis, Parallel adheres to a fiduciary culture and a planning-focused approach. Known for their deep client relationships, Parallel extends beyond traditional financial advising, often acting as a "life coach" to provide holistic, personalized guidance. Their dedication to client satisfaction is driven by the principle of enhancing their clients' and advisors' positions, making Parallel a leader in delivering comprehensive financial and life solutions.
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Acquisition Model
Max Cash: 100%
Max Equity: 25%
Parallel will include a retention period as part of their deal structure.
Mandatory Points of Alignment
To scale the business effectively, Parallel asks all partners to adopt their technology and systems.
Partners have full autonomy over their calendars.
Parallel uses a segregated P&L model to manage the organization's financial performance. With collaboration, Parallel will work with its partners to build an annual budget.
Parallel has a defined process of onboarding clients and a way of articulating the value proposition. However, advisors are given the latitude to adopt the Parallel approach or continue using their historical methods.
Parallel recognizes practice management as a significant strength and asks all partners to adopt it.
Parallel has an established investment management platform they encourage partners to adopt for the purpose of freeing up time to focus on client-facing activities. However, if the partner should want to retain portfolio management in whole or part, Parallel is flexible to accommodate the partner preference.
Advisor Value Proposition
Parallel is committed to supporting all new advisors to be set up for success from the start. The company has a dedicated advisor onboarding team comprised of cross-functional members, led by an M&A Integration Director. This team provides support to new advisors during their transition, helping the advisor and their clients be set up for a successful future with Parallel. Incoming advisors are assigned an Advisor Liaison, a peer advisor who provides an additional point of contact for learning and sharing best practices. In addition, Advisor Peer Forums provide a platform for advisors to share knowledge and best practices, and to learn from one another. Parallel also supports the growth of aspiring wealth advisors through its Wealth Strategy Associate Program, which allows them to learn from seasoned professionals. To help advisors have access to training and development opportunities, Parallel has a centralized People & Culture Team that establishes policies, processes, and programs to support knowledge sharing, formal and informal training, and internal mobility.
Parallel has an internal planning team of three individuals who support advisors with data entry and plan iteration for clients. While not required to use, advisors are encouraged to leverage this central resource to create capacity to devote elsewhere. Additionally, Parallel provides Money-Guide Pro (preferred tool) training to all incoming advisors.
Parallel takes a proactive approach to alleviating the burden of back-office functions from partners, enabling them to dedicate more attention to client-facing activities. This comprehensive support includes the management of accounting, payroll, HR, billing, and compliance tasks.
In addition to the core services of financial planning and portfolio management, Parallel expands partners’ capabilities to clients with the following: 1) Family office services, which include bill pay, bookkeeping, custom reporting, access to the financial planning team, tax team, alternatives team, trust administration team, and core data team. 2) Tax preparation. The Parallel tax team consists of seven individuals. In 2022, Parallel completed 335 tax returns on behalf of their clients. 3) Corporate trust services
Parallel is one of only ~80 RIA firms nationwide approved on the Fidelity WAS lead generation and referral platform, with an average annual business growth of $100M in AUM. Advisors have the opportunity to sign up and receive leads based on their target demographic and geography concentration. In addition to the WAS platform, Parallel’s client referral incentive program and high-touch service are powerful engines of inbound referrals from satisfied clients and centers of influence.
Parallel implements practice management through the leadership team. Team members of the leadership visit the local office at least four times each year to connect with partners and help improve operational efficiencies. For partners who recently joined the Parallel team, Stacee Blalock, the Director of M&A, helps partners get staff into the right seat and define roles and responsibilities. One of the key strengths of Parallel lies in its proactive approach to encouraging partner adoption of its highly effective practice management system.
AUM Growth
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