Good Life Companies, a Reading, Pa.–based network of independent advisors that includes an RIA and large enterprise affiliated with LPL Financial, has opened a second headquarters in Celebration, Fla., a suburb of Orlando and a community that was developed by The Walt Disney Company.
The new location will be opened by the end of this year, and will house Good Life Founder and CEO Conor Delaney, as well as other C-Suite executives, advisor recruiting and marketing. Sean Mest, senior director of operations, will lead the Reading office.
“As we’ve expanded our headcount, we feel like there is a great opportunity to bring new talent into the organization,” Delaney said. “Because we have great universities and schools all within an hour and half to two hours of here, it allows us to open up a new range of perspectives in terms of the different employees that we’re looking to hire over the next couple of years.”
Delaney also believes it will help with recruiting, as Orlando is a much easier place for advisors to access. The new office will be 20 minutes away from the Orlando airport, compared to Reading, which was an hour and a half away from the airport.
“We always felt like if we could get advisors in to show them what that supported independence business model looked like in Reading, Pennsylvania, we had a good chance of them taking that leap of faith and joining our independent business model,” he said. “But the challenge was always, how do we get them to Reading?”
Delaney founded Good Life in 2012 as a single financial planning practice. It has since gone from a founder-led organization into one with an executive leadership team and 70 employees across its RIA and a service organization, providing marketing, lead generation, outsourced investment management, and virtual administration. The firm’s AUM has grown 180% over the last five years.
The firm’s core model has been to provide a soft landing for advisors coming out of the wirehouses, covering their real estate, infrastructure, technology, training and support, as 1099 independent contractors. But Good Life is also considering launching a W2 employee model.
In 2021, the firm launched a new RIA as a way to attract referrals outside of LPL. That RIA initially custodied with Raymond James, with plans to have relationships with five to six other broker/dealers. But it was shut down in 2023.
Delaney said his firm is committed to working with LPL.