Dynasty Rolls Out Referral Program for Partner Firms

Dynasty Financial Partners has launched a new referral program to help the network’s 300 independent advisors connect with high-net-worth investors. Dynasty Connect, as it’s called, has been in beta for the past three months with four Dynasty partner firms, but Shirl Penney, president and CEO of Dynasty, said the project has been in the works for a long time.

Dynasty’s advisory board has said in the past that once the firm gets to a certain level of scale, partner firms would like to use the Dynasty brand in what’s called “ingredient marketing”; Penney points to Intel or NutraSweet as examples.

“In much the same way, our advisors have come to us and said, ‘We want to leverage the connectivity with Dynasty to be powered by Dynasty to create broader awareness in terms of the size and scale, the institutional validation we get for being part of something that’s bigger than just our firm—being part of this growing community’ that is now one of the largest independent platforms and networks of advisors within the industry,” Penney said.

“When you look for one of those independent advisors, look for one that’s powered by Dynasty, because those are the ones that are going to have scale and infrastructure, cutting-edge technology, strong compliance support, access to capital, large multi-generational-type firms that can services your family on an ongoing basis,” he added.

Dynasty Connect will source these referrals through the firm’s network of strategic partners, including asset managers, investment banks that don’t have internal wealth management capabilities and national tax firms, among others, as well as via social media and direct marketing campaigns.

While some of the popular custodial referral programs charge 25 basis points on assets they refer in, according to Penney, Dynasty will initially charge 20 basis points for retail clients. Pricing will be tiered down from there, depending on how large the account is. Ultimately, the firm will charge below 10 basis points for ultra-high-net-worth clients.

Joe D’Agostino, director of investment platform and product strategy at Dynasty, is leading the new program and building out and staffing a dedicated desk to manage introductory calls with investors and help them select an appropriate Dynasty partner. That match might be based on geography or a certain skill set or specialty that an advisory firm has.

Matt Kilgroe, CEO of Cyndeo Wealth Partners in St. Petersburg, Fla., participated in the beta test and recently closed on a new client with close to $10 million in assets via the program, a Midwest-based family looking to move to Florida after retirement. Kilgroe, who launched Cyndeo in June 2020 after breaking away from UBS, said he never experienced such referrals at the wirehouses.

“When we launched out of UBS back in 2020, I can tell you that the prior eight years at UBS and the prior 10 years at Merrill Lynch, you didn’t see any referrals coming from those channels to an advisor or an advisory team,” he said. “If Dynasty can build this out, it’s just one more element that makes it an attractive community to be a part of.”