How to build an RIA tech stack after leaving broker-dealer

Welcome to “Show Me Your Stack,” a series from Financial Planning in which we interview those who deliver financial advice to learn what tools they rely on to make it happen. Rising client expectations are driving the need for more powerful tech tools, and we’re digging deep to find out why advisors prefer certain solutions.

If something feels off to Christopher Haigh, he’s not afraid to speak up and take action.

In 2012, Haigh joined Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management in Fairport, New York, first as a college intern and later as a wealth management advisor. After graduating the following year from SUNY Geneseo with a bachelor’s degree in business administration, he continued building his career. In 2016, Haigh opened Haigh Financial Group under Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management, growing a client base of 600 while serving as a financial advisor until 2020. By then, he said, he felt “something was deeply wrong with that business model.”

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Haigh decided it was time to say good-bye to the broker-dealer. He co-founded Iconoclastic Capital Management in Rochester, New York, an independent, fee-only RIA firm.

Starting over from scratch wasn’t easy, Haigh said, but the almost 5-year-old firm now serves 120 households and continues to grow.

Regular visitors to Reddit’s r/CFP subreddit may already be familiar with Haigh, thanks to his spicy and popular posts, in which he discusses everything from his firm’s financials to prospecting and organic growth strategies.

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When it comes to developing the tech stack for his firm, Haigh makes it clear that he isn’t shy about dropping what isn’t working and changing things up in search of something better.

“We switch a lot, as you can tell,” he said. “We test a lot of stuff. Working with a team can get frustrating for others, as they are constantly trying to learn new stuff. But we try to rein it in as much as we can.”

Scroll down the slideshow to see what Haigh feels are some of the most important pieces of Iconoclastic Capital’s tech stack: