One of the primary blocking points for those at a broker-dealer who want to transition to an RIA is how to handle insurance once they make the switch. Investment portfolios can be shifted from commission-based products with 12b-1 fees to institutional shares with an advisory fee… but there are still virtually no “no-load” insurance products (and few fee-based annuity products) available to RIAs. However, the reality is, RIAs actually can sell – and get paid for – many types of insurance and annuity products, without a broker-dealer relationship!
In this week’s #OfficeHours with @MichaelKitces, my Tuesday 1PM EST broadcast via Periscope, we discuss how RIAs can leverage a relationship with a Brokerage General Agency (BGA) to get paid for implementing most insurance and annuity products, without a broker-dealer relationship!
The key is to understand the different types of investment and insurance licenses that exist. The Series 7 exam (to become a “General Securities Representative”) is actually only necessary to get paid a commission to sell “securities” – stocks and bonds, along with mutual funds, ETFs, and variable annuities and insurance. In turn, those with a Series 7 (or a Series 6) must have an affiliation to a broker-dealer, as technically it’s the broker-dealer that sells the product and collects a Gross Dealer Concession (GDC) commission, a portion of which is then remitted to the selling broker.
By contrast, in order to sell insurance products, it’s only necessary to have a life (and health) insurance license from the state, and to get appointed by the insurance company to sell their products. In some cases, there’s an overlap – given that products like variable annuities are both an annuity and a securities product. However, for those who just want to implement term life insurance, whole life insurance, or universal life insurance that is not variable, then the advisor simply needs a life insurance license… but not a Series 6 or 7, and thus the advisor does not need a broker-dealer, either!
Of course, this still raises the question of how an RIA gets appointed by a company to sell insurance in the first place, and manages product selection across a wide range of companies. If the goal is to sell fixed products, the solution is for an RIA to work with a Brokerage General Agency (BGA). Conceptually, a BGA is similar to a broker-dealer, except they only work in the realm of (fixed) insurance products. Fortunately, there are a lot of BGAs out there to choose from (some work nationally, many work regionally, and some simply operate locally), of which many will work with RIAs – for which the primary differentiators are the BGA’s service, breadth of products, and commission payouts (though notably because insurance commissions are standardized with the state insurance department, the products themselves will generally still be the same price to the client, regardless of the BGA).
But the bottom line is that if an RIA wants to sell fixed insurance products, then a broker-dealer relationship isn’t necessary, as the RIA can work through a BGA relationship instead. Though it’s important to remember that a BGA relationship must still be disclosed on Form ADV Part 2, and that CFP professionals at the RIA cannot call themselves “fee-only” if there are insurance commissions involved (even if paid to a separate-but-related entity)!
source https://www.kitces.com/blog/annuity-ltc-life-insurance-license-fee-only-ria-bga-hybrid-broker-dealer/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=annuity-ltc-life-insurance-license-fee-only-ria-bga-hybrid-broker-dealer
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