Different Models
Choosing a financial professional can feel overwhelming, like walking into a store with too many options. To make informed decisions, it's essential to understand the industry, compensation models, and potential conflicts of interest.
Financial professionals may work for insurance companies, banks, brokerages, wirehouses, or registered investment advisory (RIA) firms. They typically fall into three categories: commission-based brokers, fee-based advisors (RIAs), or dual-registered individuals who are both. Knowing which you're working with is crucial.
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At TSN, we’ve chosen to be a fee-only RIA. We don’t sell products or earn commissions, and we act as fiduciaries at all times—not only at the point of sale, but offering continuous investment oversight with minimal conflicts and maximum transparency.
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According to the 2025 report from The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), fee-only advisors make up just 12% of the industry, making TSN part of a rare group. Beyond legal requirements of an RIA, we’ve adopted additional standards as unique differentiators to further stand out in a crowded market place.
Unique Differentiators
- The Client Cap: Just as large classroom sizes would negatively impact the quality of education, having too many clients per advisor could negatively impact the quality of service you should expect from your advisor. We promise to cap our own interests at 75 clients per advisor to positively impact you!
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- Quarterly Meetings: The client cap makes proactive service logistically possible and the expectation, and as such, we will see you often! We offer all clients with over $500,000 of assets under management quarterly meetings to thoroughly review your plan and performance.
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- Completely Satisfied / Fee Refund: We put our money where our mouth is. We believe in our service model so much that if there’s ever a problem that we can’t fix to your complete satisfaction, we will refund your last quarterly fee no questions asked!
Different Incentives
Broker Dealers
Up-front Commissions: When a financial representative is compensated up-front via commissions, the financial reward to them is not based on earning and retaining a clients' business over the long term. The reward is all up front any time a product is sold or a transaction is made.​​​
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Fee Only: At TSN, we don't get a raise unless you have more money this year than you had last year. We succeed by creating lifelong and meaningful relationships with our clients.
The TSN Way
Enduring Relationships
Ultimately, trust is built through relationships and delivering on promises. No financial representative can promise a rate of return. But at TSN, we do promise effort, capacity and self-sacrifice, communication, and personal attention. We believe that when these things are done as promised, results often follow and relationships are forged. With documented annual retention rates near 100% and many families who have been clients for many years, we think that says volumes about the model we built, love, and are proud to show you. We think you’ll love it too!