Uptick Partners launches a guarantee program for partner firms

Uptick Partners, a new support platform designed to help other advisors transition from captive broker/dealers to independent, has launched a guarantee program.

Advisors who partner with Uptick typically receive 95% payouts, and the firm charges a platform fee of 5 to 10 basis points. The platform fee covers the firm’s costs of doing business, including software, compliance, etc., while the 5% they keep is their profit. As per the guarantee, consultants working with Uptick will receive 100% payouts until they return to 100% of their income from their previous employer.

Longtime Edward Jones advisors Steve Barber, his son Jason Barber and Taylor Pankratz have left the storied brokerage after more than four decades to form Nacogdoches, Texas-based Holistic Planning. The three wanted to use their knowledge and experience of the ins and outs of leaving a non-protocol captive broker/dealer like Edward Jones to help others with similar transitions, so in July they launched the Uptick platformwith their first split, Jonathan Dvorak, founder of Dvorak Financial Planning in Cullman, Alabama. Dvorak took this step after 14 years of working with Edward Jones.

Uptick helped Dvorak earn 100% of his previous income in just four months.

The Uptick team recognized that one of the main concerns for an advisor considering switching is the loss of revenue for their business.

“We were sitting in this seat saying, ‘Hey, what’s stopping me from moving tomorrow?’ Well, I’m worried that my customers won’t follow me and it will be a huge failure,” Pankratz said. “I know the industry says 75% of your book will follow you, but that’s the average and I don’t want to be the outlier and go 10, 20 or 30 and go and make a huge mistake. “”

Pankratz came up with the idea of the guarantee as a way to make advisers more confident about the transition.

“Really, the goal is for us to help these advisors gain confidence that everything is going to be okay,” he said. “And if that means that this advisor costs us money to make that leap to independence, then we’re willing to do that.”

Uptick’s confidence comes from the fact that they themselves moved from an off-the-shelf firm. They know the work that needs to be done on the front end and they have perfected the process with Dvořák.

Pankratz said they help the counselor with preparations before they even leave. This involves developing a solid marketing plan. During non-protocol transitions, consultants cannot take client information with them.

The marketing plan starts with helping the advisor create a professional website with a lead and a video where the advisor explains why they made the move and why it can be beneficial to clients. Uptick will also help the consultant run social media campaigns using video ads to try and reach people.

Dvořák’s social media announcements weren’t just aimed at his customers; they went all over the state of Alabama announcing that he had left Edward Jones.

“We’re very confident that we can put together a solid marketing plan so that consultants get more inbound calls from previous clients who have called them, rather than trying to find those people’s phone numbers on whitepages.com and the like. those weekend phone calls,” Pankratz said.

Once a customer’s information is collected, Uptick’s technology stack and workflows ensure that those customers don’t fall through the cracks and have a good transition experience.

The technology stack is centered around a customized version of Advyzon and will use Nitrogen, Right Capital, MoneyGuidePro, Presults and Holistiplan.

Uptick also has several back office staff who can help open and service accounts.

The firm will also teach advisers how to talk to clients about the switch, such as telling them about a letter they may receive from their previous firm and anticipating certain questions about it. They want to be sure that consultants aren’t caught off guard by tactics their previous employer might use to poach their clients.

In fact, when Barber and Pankratz left Edward Jones, they had local counselors telling their clients about their deaths and other lies about them.

“It’s a dogfight, as we say,” Barber said.

Uptick currently has three or four other teams of advisors likely to transition in 2025, and they try to limit the number of transitions they do per year to keep that white-glove experience.

“We want to be on the ground because there’s something to be said for having people in the councilor’s office that have done this,” Pankratz said. “Not only transition experts are mercenaries. They come and do it for a couple of weeks or a week and leave. We are the ones who make sure that everything goes according to plan.”