Initially, you’ll share your contact information and some firm data, such as employee count, AUM, and software programs you use. Then I like to have a personal conversation with each member before they join, confirming expectations and ensuring a good fit. Want to join right now? Click the "JOIN NOW" button in the menu.

In our first seven years with over 160 active members, the average HIFON firm has 18 employees, with a range from 1 - 120, and manages an average of $839 million in AUM, with a range between $9 million and $15 billion.

No. I decided to include only RIA operations roles as members. This has kept our discussions and value-add strong with a clear understanding of everyone’s shared situation. As an additional value add, we have involved vendors through private webinars given to HIFON members only

Our monthly conference calls are moderated by volunteer facilitators. Each member firm is placed into a sub-group for these calls, composed of firms with different sizes, shapes and geographic locations. Every six months, the groups are switched around to mix up the discussions and allow for more interaction among the members. These Ops calls focus on industry best practices through discussions based on the ideas, problems and issues of its members, thus agenda topics are always generated by members of each group.

It’s not a problem from a membership standpoint, and usually the moderator will have notes to share if you’d like them. Currently we do not offer recorded calls, but this is something we may consider in the future.

HIFON is all about collaboration, so every member is expected to participate. On the conference calls, everyone is called upon to share their experiences on each given topic, enhancing the value to every other member. You also may be asked to volunteer as a moderator for a period of time. On the discussion board, the goal is to provide value to each other by answering each other’s questions, or guiding each other to resources that will help solve our issues or challenges.

One membership is for your whole firm. The value you will receive through membership will increase if you include your ops team, your CSAs, your compliance specialists, your planning team, and your advisors as you see fit. Fully utilized, there is opportunity for every member of your firm to find benefits from this membership.

Currently we have discounts to three conferences: Insider’s Forum ($100), T3 ($75), and the Junxure Advisor Conference ($50).

Recent calls have included the following topics:

• Staffing the Operations Team
• Employee Structures
• DOL rule preparation
• Trading Procedures
• Client Acceptance Process

Recent questions asked on the discussion board have included:

• A way to auto-attach email signatures and disclaimers?
• Anyone use Collegiate Funding Solutions?
• What do you use for a secure email service?
• Suggestions for a digital marketing company?
• Anyone familiar with or utilize a client journey map?
• What do you use for electronic document storage?

Recent documents shared have included:

• Vendor Confidentiality Agreements
• Deceased Client Checklists
• Job descriptions
• Incapacity of Clients
• Maternity leave policies