LPL Advisor Encourages More Veterans to Join Financial Planning Industry

LPL Financial advisor Dryden Pence, chief investment officer, Pence Wealth Management, recognizes the need to recruit new financial advisors to the industry. Pence, who runs a practice with his wife, Laila Pence, in Newport Beach, Calif., noted that there are more Certified Financial Planning professionals over the age of 70 than there are under the age of 30, according to the CFP Board.

Pence has played a role supporting LPL Financial’s new Independent Advisor Institute, a program that matches new-to-the-industry advisors with existing advisors to support career development and advisor growth. LPL helps the new advisors earn their licenses, learn LPL’s systems and software, and learn and develop sales and financial skills. As a retired Army colonel, Dryden has been an advocate to recruit skilled and talented military veterans into the program.

He shared with Jeffrey Czajka, vice president, Corporate Strategy at LPL Financial and head of the Independent Advisor Institute, how the Independent Advisor Institute can provide a career path for veterans and why they are primed to become financial advisors.

Czajka: Dryden, you helped us create a relationship with the U.S. Army Reserve that brings awareness to military members about careers in financial advice. As a veteran, you understand the opportunity to align the role with the talent and skills developed in the military. Why do you believe this is an important relationship to develop? 

Pence: By designing the Independent Advisor Institute program, and by striking up this partnership, we can offer opportunities for veterans and reservists to build careers as financial advisors, while being in an environment that supports them if they choose to continue to serve their nation. What is also valuable is that we will have a source of talented individuals joining our ranks as financial advisors. When you hire veterans, you have access to people who are disciplined, well-trained, good listeners, and able to execute a plan. These skills are key to being a successful financial advisor.

Czajka: You have been a great proponent of our Independent Advisor Institute. Why has that program stood out to you, and what would you want others to know about it?

Pence:  LPL is providing foundational training for these individuals to help set them up for the future. It’s really a fabulous program. The program doesn’t just stop at year one. The support and career development is ongoing, with continuous mentoring from managing advisors and LPL will be continually enhancing the training so that participants move into the next phase of their career.

Czajka: With the Independent Advisor Institute, it’s really a partnership, with LPL and managing advisors jointly invested in the new advisors. For example, the advisor’s salary for the first year is subsidized and LPL is providing a significant amount of training. How does this give a managing advisor the ability to mitigate some of the risk that’s inherent when you hire and onboard new advisors?

Pence: It lets the managing advisor focus on teaching and training and passing on that institutional knowledge. In this business, you learn from experience. By LPL doing its part to take that operational risk out of the first year, it lets the managing advisor focus on how to develop the talent pool in ways that add value to his or her business. I think it benefits everyone involved, and we’re very excited and proud to be a part of it.

Czajka: That’s great and we’re proud to have your partnership. That’s what we call a win-win-win, when all three parties come together and find success. Any parting thoughts?

Pence: I love the opportunity this program presents to the military. We’re able to take people who’ve given so much to this nation and give them a career path that allows them to continue to serve in the capacities they want. And then it allows advisors to grow their businesses and to create a multigenerational firm or develop succession plans. In the end, it is about how we can best serve clients. 

LPL Financial Partners with Military to Provide Career Opportunities for Veterans

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The views and opinions expressed by the LPL Financial advisor may not be representative of the views of other financial advisors and are not indicative of future performance or success. Neither LPL Financial nor the LPL Financial advisor can be held responsible for any direct or incidental loss incurred by applying any of the information offered.

Pence Wealth Management and LPL Financial are separate entities.