How Winthrop & Co. Is Paid: Never by the Advisor

The short answer: Winthrop & Co. is paid by the firm an advisor joins, when a transition is completed. The advisor pays nothing: no retainer, no hourly fee, no success fee, and nothing at all if the right answer turns out to be staying where they are. Our fee comes from the destination firm and does not come out of the advisor's transition package.

Why we built the firm this way

An advisor weighing a move is already carrying the costs of leaving: deferred compensation that has not vested, a loan balance that may come due, and months of work rebuilding the practice somewhere new. Asking that advisor to pay a consultant on top of all of it adds a cost at exactly the moment the advisor is most exposed.

So we chose the model executive search has used for decades. The firm that gains an experienced advisor pays for the search that brought them. The advisor gets the work, the analysis and the representation, and never receives an invoice from us.

What the destination firm pays for

A firm that hires an experienced advisor gains a professional it did not have to develop. It pays our fee when the advisor has joined and the transition is complete. Until then, nobody pays us anything, which means every conversation that ends without a move, including every conversation that ends with the advisor staying, costs the advisor nothing.

How we keep the advice on the advisor's side

Being paid by the firm an advisor joins raises a fair question: whose side are we on? The advisor's, and the way we work is built to keep it that way.

• We represent the advisor. The engagement is about the practice: which firms fit how the advisor serves clients, what each offer is actually worth, and how to make the move without losing relationships.
• We compare the market. We are not tied to any one firm, and we look across employee, independent and RIA models, so the shortlist is built from the practice outward.
• Staying is a real answer. Some of the most useful work we do ends with the advisor staying where they are, better informed and in a stronger position. We are not paid for that outcome, and we recommend it anyway when it is right.
• The numbers are the advisor's. We explain every offer in plain terms, including the parts that are not in the headline, so the advisor decides on the whole picture.

You can read more about how we work and what the transition process involves.

Questions to ask anyone who offers to help you move

Whoever you talk to, four questions tell you most of what you need to know:

1. Who pays you, and when?
2. Do I owe anything if I decide to stay?
3. How many firms will you compare for my practice, and will you put that comparison in writing?
4. Will you tell me to stay if that is the better answer?

Our answers are short. The firm you join pays us, when the transition is complete. You owe nothing, whatever you decide. We compare the market for your practice, in writing. And yes, we will tell you to stay when staying is right.

If you would like to talk it through, confidentially and at no cost, request an introduction.