Rianka Dorsainvil, a financial advisor and the producer and host of the 2050 Trailblazers podcast, merged her financial planning practice with that of financial planner Lazetta Braxton to create the registered investment advisory firm 2050 Wealth Partners, the women announced Monday.
“Rianka and I have been very active in helping firms gain and retain talent. So, we are saying that not only are we going to give voice, we’re going to help model it,” said Braxton.
The two women aim to provide accessible financial resources to diverse communities by building a 100% virtual advisory firm. They want to ensure there are opportunities for all individuals, including those from communities traditionally overlooked by the financial services industry, to have access to the financial planning profession. There is a clear need: The CFP Board Center for Financial Planning’s 2018 report on the racial demographics of CFP designees shows that less than 3.5% of the industry are black or Latino.
A virtual practice—without a brick-and-mortar location—gives the co-CEOs leeway to hire talent wherever they can find it and serve clients all over the world. 2050 Wealth Partner’s target clients are individuals and families transitioning from employees to entrepreneurs, first-generation wealth builders, professionals, and the "sandwich generation," Gen Xers caring for both parents and children simultaneously.
“We did not want location to be a barrier for clients to meet with us,” said Braxton, who lives in New York. Co-founder Dorsainvil, one of WealthManagement.com's Ten to Watch in 2018, resides in the D.C. metro area.
They each dissolved their practices, Braxton’s Financial Fountains and Dorsainvil’s Your Greatest Contribution, to create the new firm. The fee-only firm has about 50 clients so far, and the planners didn't comment on their combined assets under management.
2050 Wealth Partners will serve clients under a retainer model, the duo said. It bills individual clients a minimum of $4,500 annually, which may be adjusted upward for couples or small-business owners. If a client has more than $400,000 in assets, then the firm will charge on assets under management in addition to its retainer fee.
Braxton and Dorsainvil said they partnered together out of a commonality—both planners serve similar communities and both are fiduciary advisors and fee-only. However, Braxton said she was impressed with how Dorsainvil had built her practice with technology and the virtual way in which she helped her clients.
“We want to fan each other’s flames, and we want to show other people” what an empowering collaboration between advisors looks like, said Dorsainvil.
