The latest Secrets to Scale features Dan Jones, Vice President of Sales & Marketing at AIK2. AIK2, founded by WAGN and K2 Placements, was built by and for advisors to offer business insurance exclusively to wealth managers.
Click here to view Dan’s podcast episode or read some highlights from Alli and Dan’s conversation below.
“The key to accelerated growth is do what you do best and let others do what they’re best at.”
What’s AIK2’s niche?
AIK2 was built to offer property and casualty insurance specific to RIAs, while also simplifying the buying process. The company was started to fix the current model; buying insurance can be complex and time-consuming for RIAs – leaving them underinsured or uninsured. Before, RIAs would work with insurance brokers who lack understanding of the wealth management industry, and end up with generic policies and gaps in coverage.
AIK2’s solutions include proprietary and exclusive products that only they have the legal right to distribute in the RIA market.
AIK2 scours through ADVs ensuring they have a firm grasp on each RIA and their needs. Coupling this knowledge with their industry expertise, AIK2 has a strong understanding of the firms they are helping. They’re able to intelligently tell the underwriters about each RIA, including things like the portfolio counting engines the firm is using and how it’s trading. This deeper understanding enables AIK2 to drive down premiums, lower retentions, and get more comprehensive coverage specific to the risks of an RIA.
What should RIAs look for when it comes to their insurance coverage?
All RIAs should have holistic insurance coverage. Dan outlines the types of insurance RIAs should have and digs deeper into social engineering and business owner’s policies. Dan covered these policies on the podcast:
- ERISA coverage
- Cyber coverage
- Workers’ Comp
- EPL
How the right insurance coverage leads to business success
Dan talked through the success story of a multi-billion-dollar RIA with Alli. The business is rapidly growing, and as it continues to grow, it purchased separate E&O policies for each acquisition. “At AIK2, we were able to give them a blanket policy over the entire organization to help streamline and make the process easier to understand,” said Dan. “The single blanket policy covered the entire organization, including all of its subsidiaries, and we lowered their premium by about $25,000 a year and cut their retentions back by about 50% in some cases, 30% in others, while still giving them that best-in-class coverage.”
Dan’s #1 Tip to Achieve Scale
If there is one piece of advice that Dan could offer to RIAs, it’s this: outsource all non-essential, non-client-facing, and non-revenue-generating duties to a third party.
For example, “Outsource investment management to a firm like WealthShield and allow AdvisorAssist to handle compliance.”
To accelerate growth, find a partner in our space that can use their expertise to help you scale. LibertyFi has a network of trusted partners to help you.
To learn more about how AIK2 benefits RIAs by giving them more coverage at a reasonable rate, visit: https://aik2.com/.