I am currently studying for my Series 65. My plan is/was to become an independent IA/IAR for a few reasons including the following. 1. My background is mostly in investment strategy design. 2. My skillset is not sitting down and talking to people about their kid’s age/college plans/etc. 3. Large firms, as I understand it, mostly want client service folks and they keep all the investment decision making centralized – this basically renders my unique abilities useless. My goal is to differentiate myself by producing more stable returns including smaller losses. I imagine I may end up as a guy other FAs outsource some capital to. 4. I do not want some other entity to own the fruits of my labor.

As I am studying for the exam, I am overwhelmed with the volume of regulation. I understand why it exists but keeping up as a solo operation sounds a bit daunting. I plan to use a major platform (ex. Schwab) to perform the custody, execution, and account doc creation, but all of the other things (operation manual, policies and procedures, cybersecurity, compliance, etc.) sound like a lot. Perhaps it sounds like more than it is? If not, are there places where I might join as an IAR that fit my goals? Alternatively, are there affordable outsourced solutions? Thanks