Independent vs Restricted Advantages & Disadvantages

Newbie

Hi All,

This is my first time posting, just recently received my materials to begin working towards my R01 examination. I currently work in an entirely unrelated industry and have no experience, and I also tried a quick google search but to no avail. My apologies if this has been asked on the forum before, but I was just wondering why some firms would choose to the Restricted option as opposed to the Independent option with regards to providing financial advice? In my entirely unqualified, inexperienced and novice opinion, it seems potential clients would value Independent advice over Restricted, so there is another benefit to both the firm and client in choosing Restricted?

Looking forward to the journey ahead, and I promise I'll try to limit the number of irritating questions I ask!

Thanks.

redcard

I’m a complete novice as well, but I would say the benefits would mostly be for the firm, such as

Specialisation
Fewer products and less complex systems
Simpler processes
Lower cost base - trainings needs, admin support, IT

A company may have such a client base that these limitations are enough to provide a sustainable business.

The only benefit I could see for a customer would possibly be a clearer and more transparent fee schedule, but no idea if this would transpire in reality

Newbie

@redcard said:
I’m a complete novice as well, but I would say the benefits would mostly be for the firm, such as

Specialisation
Fewer products and less complex systems
Simpler processes
Lower cost base - trainings needs, admin support, IT

A company may have such a client base that these limitations are enough to provide a sustainable business.

The only benefit I could see for a customer would possibly be a clearer and more transparent fee schedule, but no idea if this would transpire in reality

Interesting - thanks for commenting, I can definitely see why the above would be of benefit!