I have a firm that updated their management agreement since the digital workflow doesn't allow signed documents to be returned to advisor for signature. The agreements did not look complete. The attorney removed signature blocks altogether and added language for electronically authorizing the agreement.

As a new advisor you will need to keep books and records in order and there is a lot to keep up with. Leverage Redtail by creating a contact record for the firm's compliance notes. Make basic note templates to gather important data points the SEC will ask you. The SEC loves logs :) Log your marketing approvals, Log checks received and forwarded, log trade errors and terminations. Follow the guidance of your manual on what details you need to maintain. You can run a report of the notes and filter for the information you need. I recommend referencing the file location on the marketing - I'm not in support of keeping the actual file in Redtail unless it's for convenience with a final copy stored in your primary files.

Because manuals are very different I don't have templates. Look in the manual for how things are required to be documented and list those data points. Checks received & forwarded logs; marketing logs; trade errors; complaints; CRS Interim delivery.

We were able to use this for our ADV offer but we still get frustrated with the inconsistencies - I don't have an update either.

Cameron Norris at Golsan Scruggs is really awesome! He really can give advisors a fantastic education on what they need and why they would need it.

Personally, AUM as the sole factor in determining the ratio doesn't work. It depends on the clients that the adviser tends to focus on. I have worked for advisers that had 500+ million in AUM with ease and others with 100 million and constantly buried. Average age of clients, adviser's product choices, service level expectations play a bigger factor. Simple account opening vs. complex account opening, tech savvy clients vs. those that aren't, equity models vs private equity or insurance are a few examples that should be considered as part of the equation for success.