Jun 5, 2026 · 9 min · 5 segments
I know some advisors struggle with the first year or two after launching an RIA. It can be discouraging. This is my pep talk to push through it. Sponsored by CalibrateIQ.
Michael ReynoldsHostNo entities detected.
And the reason I'm doing this is because I sometimes see advisors out there, and when I say out there, I mean in online forums and communities and all the groups I'm in, and they talk about, hey, I'm struggling, I just launched my REA, I'm maybe six months to a year in and I don't have the traction I expected and my bills aren't getting paid and I feel like I need to just close my RIA and get a regular job somewhere because I'm struggling and I'm not making it work and I'm running out of money.
There's different variations of that, but that's the gist of what I see from advisors that are struggling with this.
This advisor that I spoke with, again, approximately a year-ish into the practice, not getting as much traction as he expected, racking up debt, things like that, just struggling with the financial part of it.
Should I close my RIA and just move on to something else? I feel like it's time to close it up.
And We talked it through a little bit and I encourage this advisor to not rush to close the RIA and instead work on getting something to supplement this timeframe as a bridge before you really get traction.
So a lot of times I see advisors, they're so focused on business has to succeed.
And so when I was talking with this advisor, we talked through it a bit and I was like, you know what? It sounds to me like you love being a financial advisor.
Let's think in terms of how can you build a bridge until it takes off? How can you build a bridge to get you to the other side where you can start running again? And we talked through just some really simple scenarios where it means supplementing your income enough to pay the bills until you can get to the other side.
And this seems really obvious, like you're thinking, yeah, of course, just get something to pay the bills and make it until you get some traction and are supporting yourself with your RA.
It seems obvious, but when you're in the thick of the situation itself, and when you're in the thick of trying to build your RA and feeling like you're struggling and hitting a wall, it's sometimes hard to think bigger and think outside that frame of reference.
And so this is my pep talk to any advisor who is struggling to launch an RIA and is thinking, oh, should I just hang it up and close it and get something else? If you love what you're doing and you love being an RIA owner and this is what you want to do, then keep going, but supplement your income with something else.
And the reason I'm doing this is because I sometimes see advisors out there, and when I say out there, I mean in online forums and communities and all the groups I'm in, and they talk about, hey, I'm struggling, I just launched my REA, I'm maybe six months to a year in and I don't have the traction I expected and my bills aren't getting paid and I feel like I need to just close my RIA and get a regular job somewhere because I'm struggling and I'm not making it work and I'm running out of money.
There's different variations of that, but that's the gist of what I see from advisors that are struggling with this.
This advisor that I spoke with, again, approximately a year-ish into the practice, not getting as much traction as he expected, racking up debt, things like that, just struggling with the financial part of it.
Should I close my RIA and just move on to something else? I feel like it's time to close it up.
And We talked it through a little bit and I encourage this advisor to not rush to close the RIA and instead work on getting something to supplement this timeframe as a bridge before you really get traction.
So a lot of times I see advisors, they're so focused on business has to succeed.
And so when I was talking with this advisor, we talked through it a bit and I was like, you know what? It sounds to me like you love being a financial advisor.
Let's think in terms of how can you build a bridge until it takes off? How can you build a bridge to get you to the other side where you can start running again? And we talked through just some really simple scenarios where it means supplementing your income enough to pay the bills until you can get to the other side.
And this seems really obvious, like you're thinking, yeah, of course, just get something to pay the bills and make it until you get some traction and are supporting yourself with your RA.
It seems obvious, but when you're in the thick of the situation itself, and when you're in the thick of trying to build your RA and feeling like you're struggling and hitting a wall, it's sometimes hard to think bigger and think outside that frame of reference.
And so this is my pep talk to any advisor who is struggling to launch an RIA and is thinking, oh, should I just hang it up and close it and get something else? If you love what you're doing and you love being an RIA owner and this is what you want to do, then keep going, but supplement your income with something else.
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