Ep #108: Giving Up Partnership and Starting Your Own Firm With Ethan Pepper

Ethan Pepper is the Founder and CEO of Orchard City Wealth based out of Los Gatos, CA. He joins the show today to share how he got started as a financial planner—and eventually started his own firm. If you are considering giving up ownership in a firm to start your own, this is an episode for you!

Listen in as Ethan shares how family members influenced his career early on, why he pivoted from majoring in corporate finance to personal financial planning, and what it was like transitioning to an employee role at a fee-only RIA and a paraplanner role that set the foundation for him to become partner. We also discuss why he gave up partnership and left the firm for a larger organization, how he settled on starting his own RIA, and some of the biggest challenges that he had to overcome to get his firm going.

What You'll Learn In Today's Episode:

How Ethan got started in financial planning. (3:20)
How he went from paraplanner to partner. (9:30)
The toughest part of the path to partner. (11:40)
Why he pursued diverse certifications. (14:30)
The catalyst for Ethan to start his own firm. (18:55)
What the most challenging and rewarding parts of entrepreneurship have been. (20:45)
Ethan’s tips for new planners. (26:45)

Ideas Worth Sharing:

“I knew going through the classes that this was exactly what I wanted to do.” - Ethan Pepper Share on X “One of the reasons I was brought on was for the tax background that I had.” - Ethan Pepper Share on X “Tax has so much to do with the business that we are in. ” - Ethan Pepper Share on X

Resources In Today's Episode:

Download your free copy of the New Planner Career Roadmap!

In this roadmap, you'll be guided through the details of various stages of your financial planner career, including position descriptions, licensing, skill and experience level requirements, and compensation ranges.