Stirlingshire: Providing Fee Transparency for Advisors and Investors
Stirlingshire: Providing Fee Transparency for Advisors and Investors
If full-service Broker-Dealer clients need more clarity and control, and advisors want freedom from the big firms — something fundamental must change. That's why Steven Woods decided in August 2020 to tear up the whole model for the industry. And while he was at it, he set out to eliminate unauthorized trades and the arbitrations, settlements, and the rift in trust they often cause.
Woods, who spent 12 years on Wall Street, had seen how full-service brokerages worked, and he didn't like it. "Across the board, there's a tremendous amount of nefarious activity that goes unreported," Woods says, "and I want to provide a better, cleaner ecosystem." His company, Stirlingshire Investments, is revolutionizing how full-service brokers work and how retail investors engage with their advisors.
Stirlingshire innovated two fundamental improvements to the broker-investor relationship:
"Ultimately, the big brokerage firms don't provide much service for their fees," he notes. "Younger investors, in particular, demand transparency around what they're paying for."
More than clarity, Stirlingshire is empowering clients with more flexibility and capabilities. "Investors can opt to self-direct through the platform or tap into their on-demand advisor for insights," he explains.
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How Does a Bold Vision Become a Practical Reality? Apex Fintech Solutions
Woods' vision of liberating advisors – and their customers – from the big-name brokerages required a seamless back-office to provide clearing, custody, and other trade-related services. He chose Apex so that he could count on having a modern system powering his innovation. Integrating with Apex was mission-critical for Stirlingshire, and thanks to the APIs, it happened quickly. "The Apex integration was easy; it took next to no time at all," Woods says. "The problem was FINRA – it took them two full years to approve us."
A Keen Eye on Future Investors
In 2023, Stirlingshire opened for business, welcoming advisors and investors. Advisors can bring their clients to the platform and be assigned new clients who use Stirlingshire for self-directed trading, as the goal is to sell those clients professional advice on demand.
Who will these new investors be? “Younger people,” Woods says, “who are coming into money from advancing their careers and inheriting wealth from older generations. These clients are used to managing their lives online, and they don't want their elders' wood-paneled wealth management experience where they pay an asset management fee just to have a phone call every few months.”
These up-and-coming investors expect fee transparency. When they are shelling out money, they want to know what they’re getting in return. Although younger generations are driving these trends, investors of all ages are becoming more attuned to how the fees they pay are tied to performance. “And they want instant smartphone access, of course,” notes Woods.
Woods is excited about providing a better, more transparent fee solution in an industry that has been historically opaque, creating open-ended wealth-building opportunities for both brokers and their clients today – and for decades to come.