At PEAK, independence is built into the dealer model, giving advisors clearer workflows, fewer distractions, and more time to focus on clients
This article was produced in partnership with PEAK
Many advisors are told they operate independently. Some genuinely believe they do. Yet as the industry consolidates and business models grow more complex, the gap between independence as a promise and independence as a lived reality has become harder to ignore.
President and CEO of PEAK, Robert Frances sees the issue less as a philosophical debate and more as a question of structure. In his view, independence only exists when the environment around an advisor is designed to support unbiased decision making, without embedded incentives or competing priorities that could influence outcomes.
“Independent dealers should create an environment where advisors can give advice without any pressure or distraction from other products or product lines,” he says. “The responsibility is to protect the advisor client relationship by removing anything that could get in the way.”
At many firms, product manufacturing sits somewhere in the background. So do internal targets, distribution economics, and indirect compensation structures. Even when no one applies overt pressure, their presence still matters. Frances draws a clear line. If a dealer manufactures products or benefits commercially from certain selections, independence is compromised.
“There has to be no pressure, no sales targets, no commercial incentives,” he says. “And there actually has to be no potential for those things to happen.”
Complexity erodes time long before it erodes trust
For most advisors, the biggest constraint is not ambition or demand. It is time. Administrative work and compliance requirements have expanded steadily, often layered onto fragmented systems that were never designed to work together.
Frances understands this pressure from experience. “Time is my greatest asset,” he says. “You can take my money, but don’t take my time.”
Regulation itself is rarely the core issue. Advisors generally accept that regulatory obligations are similar wherever they operate. What drains time is uncertainty and inefficiency. Is a requirement regulatory or firm specific. Is it necessary or procedural. Each unresolved question pulls attention away from clients.
PEAK’s focus has been on reducing that friction. Not by rewriting rules, but by changing how advisors interact with them. The firm’s approach to technology starts with practical problems rather than labels.
“We’re not deploying AI for the sake of AI,” Frances says. “We start with the issue we’re trying to solve and then decide what the right solution is.”
That philosophy shows up in tools that quietly remove work rather than advertise themselves. Meeting documentation that is captured automatically and formatted in a way compliance already accepts. Compliance support that delivers immediate answers instead of forcing advisors to wait or search. Structured workflows for routine changes that reduce errors before they occur.
“These tools don’t replace judgment,” Frances says. “They remove uncertainty.”
Adaptation will define the next phase of advice
Looking ahead, Frances expects the pace of change to continue, though not always in the ways advisors are conditioned to anticipate. Adaptation, in his view, will become a permanent feature of the profession rather than a transitional phase.
“Advisors can expect continuous adaptation,” he says. The challenge for firms, he adds, is creating an environment where advisors can adjust and learn as those changes unfold, rather than feeling constantly behind them.
Technology will remain part of that story, but it will not be the only driver. Frances points to product innovation as an equally important force. Advances in technology are reshaping how products are built and priced, creating options that may deliver similar outcomes at lower cost for clients. That shift will require advisors to rethink not only tools, but how they articulate value.
Regulation may also move in a different direction than many expect. Frances believes the industry could enter a period of reduced regulatory burden, changing how advisors allocate time and attention. “That creates more time for advisors,” he says, while still requiring a disciplined approach to compliance.
PEAK’s response has been to focus on foundations rather than forecasts. The firm has invested in digital and structural systems that allow advisors to adjust without disruption, releasing improvements continuously instead of waiting for large, disruptive changes. Advisor feedback plays a central role in shaping that process.
“It’s not for everyone,” Frances says, reflecting on independence more broadly. “But fit matters.”
