Associate Financial Advisor (AFA) Compensation is one of the most confusing and frustrating topics for advisors. How do you pay your AFA in a way that motivates performance? How do you design a win-win compensation system? And once you design the system, how do you put it into practice?

This service helps advisors think strategically about AFA's role. We help advisors design motivating, profitable, and adaptable compensation systems that lead to long-term success.

Each AFA brings a unique set of skills, experiences, attitudes, and contributions to your practice. Some AFAs are hired as support staff, while others are basically advisors. For this reason, rarely are two AFA roles exactly the same. Rather than just looking at the "average" AFA compensation, we take a deep dive into your AFA's specific situation.

Value Added

Some AFAs bring a book of business to the practice, some service the advisor's clients, and some perform a mix of job functions. What are the direct and indirect financial impacts of your AFA's role?

Changes Over Time

AFAs are often hired with the expectation that they will "grow into" the advsior role. But how will that transition take place? What are realistic goals for the AFA's future? How do you measure his/her success?

Expenses

The AFA role comes with additional risks and expenses that make it unlike other positions in your practice. Who should be responsible for the expenses? How may your W2/1099 status impact those decisions?

Equity and Succession

Have you discussed what happens to the clients in the event of a termination, death, or disability? Is your AFA part of your succession strategy? Is the expectation that your AFA will one day buy your practice?

Compensation

How should your pay your AFA? Salary? Bonuses? Compensation Splits? How do you enact these plans so that they are compliant with the various rules and regulations? How do you adjust these items as time progresses?

This service includes the initial data gathering process, 2-4 working sessions for your case and the final deliverables. All meetings are held with the advsior. We do not meet with the AFAs directly. Our deliverables include a report that can be shared with the AFA.

This report shows the advisor whether or not their current arrangement is profitable to the practice. Our analysis considers all impacts that an AFA may have to your practice in addition to production. Many AFA arrangements take a while to become profitable. This report helps to show when the arrangement becomes "break even" to the advisor.

Specific Sections Included in this Report:

• Summary of AFA's Background and Credentials
• Estimated Economic Value of AFA's Activities
• Review of AFA's Expenses
• Analysis of AFA's Book of Business
• Analysis of Delegated Clients
• Growth Assumptions
• Five Year Goals for AFA
• Proposed Compensation Plan
• Five Year Projection of Compensation Plan
• Detailed Step-by-Step Instructions on How to Set Up Plan

We provide this second report as a deliverable that the advisor can show to the AFA that explains the proposed arrangement from the AFA's perspective. This report does not detail the practice profit/losses, but rather explains the rationale behind the various components of the AFA's plan and what their compensation would/could be if certain goals are met.

Specific Sections Included in this Report:

• Review of the AFA's Role and Expectations
• Anticipated Changes Over Time
• Proposal for Compensation Plan
• Scenario Modeling to Show Net Comp
• Year-by-Year Expected Changes
• Equity Modeling, if applicable

This is a fixed fee service available exclusively to Ameriprise Advisors. The price is $2,495.