Ten Years In: Reflections on Building a Flat-Fee Advisory Firm

This month marks ten years since I officially started SwitchPoint Financial Planning. That milestone has caused me to reflect—not just on the growth of the firm, but on the long, winding path that brought me here, the mistakes I made trying to implement what was then a novel fee model, and the lessons that continue to shape how we serve clients.

I’d like to share some of that journey, how it has shaped the firm, and where we are headed from here.

How It Started

Long before I ever thought about starting my own firm, I read a book in college that had a lasting impact on me: Why Smart People Do Stupid Things with Money by Bert Whitehead. While the title is a bit odd, the content was excellent – guiding the reader through the gamut of personal finance topics, including how to hire an advisor. It didn’t just solidify my interest in financial planning—it also planted an early skepticism of traditional assets-under-management (AUM) fees. The conflicts embedded in that model seemed obvious to me even as a young college student, and that bias stuck.

After college, I was fortunate to work at two excellent firms where I learned how to do real financial planning and, just as importantly, how to treat clients well. But as much as I valued those experiences, I had a strong sense of a different type of firm I wanted to build. For years I searched far and wide for a firm offering holistic financial planning and an evidence-based investment approach for a flat fee, to no avail.

Then in 2014, I came across a financial advisor in Colorado, named James Osborne, who had recently started a flat fee firm. While he was more focused on investments and less on retirement planning, he had the closest thing I had found to the model I envisioned, and it seemed to be working.

A year later, I found a podcast from a brand-new industry organization called the XY Planning Network. They promoted the idea that starting an RIA was achievable on a small budget and offered guidance on how to actually do it.

Since there weren’t any firms operating the way I wanted to, it seemed if I wanted to make my vision a reality, I’d have to start a firm of my own, and it was beginning to feel possible.

Early Struggles

In the fall of 2015, I began making plans to strike out on my own and in December I quit my job to start SwitchPoint Financial Planning.

Reality set in quickly.

One of my earliest challenges came from regulators. Utah securities regulators were deeply uncomfortable with a flat-fee model. They insisted I use an hourly rate or charge a percentage of assets, like everyone else. I pushed back—pointing out the obvious benefits of flat fees and the irony of forcing flat-fee firms to meticulously track hours while AUM firms had no such requirement. Those early regulatory conversations were draining and frustrating. Even industry experts didn’t seem to understand what I was trying to do.

It wasn’t until April of 2016 that I finally received approval from Utah regulators to begin accepting clients.

Finding those first few guinea pigs to trust me with their life savings proved to be another uphill battle. I was starting with exactly zero clients and almost no marketing experience.

I also had very little clarity around who I actually wanted to work with. Being just 31 years old at the time, I figured retirees would balk at the idea of working with me. The XY Planning Network also promoted the idea of working with a younger generation of investors. So, despite my experience with retirement planning, I decided to try to be all things to all people and offer service models for clients of all ages and circumstances.

What I did have was a passion for my flat fee model and approach, and I told anyone who would listen to me about it. Unfortunately, it turned out few understood or cared about my “superior” fee model. In fact, many of my peers thought I was crazy. “Flat fees will never work” they said.

After two full years in business, I had just 14 ongoing clients, many of whom paid very little for my services.

Finding Focus

In 2018, I added about a dozen more clients. Not a tremendous growth rate given the efforts I felt I was making, but I was starting to notice some patterns emerging.

To my surprise, some people approaching retirement were hiring me. And I realized that those clients were the ones I really felt could best benefit from my skills and my approach. So, in 2019, I nervously made the decision to go all-in on retirees and I also moved to a single flat fee.

Moving to a single fee was difficult. I felt an internal tug-of-war between simplicity and the desire to serve a broader range of clients. But ultimately, at this phase of the business, I felt the need to focus.

At first, growth slowed a bit. But then it started to pick up– and I ended the year with another ten clients. Except this time, they were all paying a more sustainable fee and I felt I was delivering tremendous value. A true win-win and, importantly, something I could actually build into a sustainable business.

While we still serve a wide variety of clients in terms of age and net worth, centering the firm around helping people retire allowed me to become truly adept at that stage of life. It sharpened our planning process and gave clarity to our marketing. Along the way, the flat fee proved attractive to other groups as well—medical professionals, tech employees, and other niches—but retirees became our foundation.

The Turning Point

In 2020, growth accelerated a bit as our new niche and marketing focus began gain traction.

Then 2021 became a turning point.

We began to receive inquiries across the country from people looking for a fairer approach. While my early attempts to convince people our way was better proved mostly fruitless, our online presence finally proved there were people looking for flat fees, and we were one of the only ones doing it. Once we started ranking nationally on Google, people who wanted what we had to offer started to find us.

In the end, a strategy of attraction, rather than promotion, proved to be much more effective, and fit my personality better as well.

We added 21 new clients that year and were recognized as the 35th fastest-growing RIA in the country (by AUM growth)..

I also hired Kyle in 2021. His impact can’t be overstated. He took many non–client-facing responsibilities off my plate, allowing me to focus on planning and relationships. Without his ability to handle a wide range of challenges, we simply could not have flourished the way we have.

Growing Pains and Hard Questions

The momentum continued at a similar pace in 2022 and 2023. With that growth came new challenges.

First, we had to reconsider our fees. I began to see some clear differences in client needs, with some increasingly complex cases that I felt merited a higher fee. This led me to move to a tiered fee model – allowing us to keep fees lower for simple cases, while also allowing us to work with more complex cases.

In addition, I recognized that, unlike AUM firms, whose revenues grow effortlessly every year due to market growth, our revenue only changed by adding new clients, or changing our fees. To stay competitive, we’ve had to make occasional fee increases, which can sometimes result in difficult conversations.

During this time we also attempted to hire additional advisors to support the firm, but we didn’t find the right fit. By 2024, I made the decision to pause growth, accepting only a handful of new clients.

This felt necessary to prioritize our existing clients. But the idea that we would turn people away after years of struggling to find new clients was really difficult.

I spent a lot of time deliberating. Should I keep growing? Or should I stay small? The truth is, I didn’t need to grow—and I had no desire to grow simply because that’s what firms are “supposed” to do.

But one thought continued to weigh heavily on me.

With a firm built solely around me, how could I ensure that my clients always received the level of service they had come to expect—for a reasonable, flat fee? I had observed too many good advisors approach retirement without a real succession plan. Some were forced to sell to the highest bidder—often a firm that didn’t share their philosophy.

I didn’t want that outcome for our clients. And even though I don’t expect to retire anytime soon, I felt compelled to build something that could outlast me while preserving our culture and values.

Renewed Intentional Growth

This required a shift in mindset. I could no longer simply look at the firm as a means to provide for me and my family personally. If I wanted the firm to survive beyond me, I needed to approach it as a true business.

Continuing growth meant that we needed more advisors. In early 2025, we began searching again – but this time slowly, carefully, and without a timeline. The only goal was to find the right person.

That search led us to Beau. Since day one, he has met and exceeded every expectation. He is a thoughtful planner and excellent communicator, and has fit seamlessly into the culture here while adding his own unique voice and experience.

We look forward to Beau continuing to take on more and more responsibility for advising and servicing our clients, and we plan to carefully add more high-quality advisors like him in coming years.

Treating SwitchPoint as a sustainable business also has meant continuing to right-size our fees. And despite the struggles over the years trying to get the flat fee “right”, I still believe the pros of flat fees far outweigh the cons.

I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve been in a meeting and recognized a situation where I would have faced a conflict if I was charging a % of AUM. Being able to focus only on what I think is best for my clients is priceless to me – and I believe it is to our clients as well.

Looking Ahead

SwitchPoint has grown beyond anything I imagined when I started in 2016.

What started out as a simple idea of a business model that would be fairer, more transparent and less conflicted, has turned into over 100 clients and $400M in assets under management.

As we look ahead, our priorities are clear. We won’t sacrifice client service or our values in pursuit of growth. We have no intention of raising outside capital or selling to a larger firm that might pressure us to change our standards.

We remain committed to a flat-fee model, despite its challenges. And we’re increasingly focused on building a team-based firm—one that isn’t dependent on me as the sole point of contact, and one that can truly stand the test of time.

Ten years in, I’m more convinced than ever that this path, while harder in some ways, has been worth every effort – both for us and our clients.