Tim Flanagan, President, The Pelora Group

Invest: spoke with Tim Flanagan, president of The Pelora Group, about how the firm is navigating market volatility, regulatory shifts, and the expanding role of technology in advisory services. “If you aren’t adopting technology and adjusting how you work, you can get left behind quickly,” Flanagan said.

What have been some of the biggest shifts for The Pelora Group this past year?

Over the last year, one of the biggest shifts has been formalizing a partnership internally. I’ve had someone working with me since she came out of college, and over time, she began operating more and more like a business partner. About three years ago, that started to take shape in a real way, and we formalized it last year. It was an important step for the business, and it’s been exciting to see her step fully into that role because she’s incredibly talented.

The other big shift is continued growth in our advisor platform. Our model is to support independent financial advisors and help them grow their practice by providing the infrastructure they need, so they can serve clients with excellence and help those clients be successful. We brought a strong group of advisors onto the platform last year, and we’ve continued to grow assets under management across the advisor population.

As a firm, we’ve focused on meaningful, steady growth over the last four or five years. However, like everyone else, we’re navigating a changing workforce, the introduction of AI, and broader societal shifts. Culture has been a major emphasis for us, and we were recognized again in 2025 as a best place to work by multiple organizations, which was a great note to end the year on.

How have market volatility and regulatory changes influenced the ways advisers are approaching risk, regulation, and financial planning?

It’s a heavily regulated industry, and the regulatory environment tends to follow political lines. A few years ago, it was heavy-handed and pretty tight. Over the last 12 months, it’s gotten a little looser. That doesn’t mean we aren’t still heavily regulated, because we are. It’s just been a little more reasonable to deal with.

From my perspective, the most important goal of regulation is protecting clients. Some of the regulatory requirements in the past became additional work that didn’t serve anyone and, frankly, made it more difficult for some clients to be served. When the environment is more realistic, advisors can serve a wider range of clients more effectively. That will change again, because it always does, but that’s been a clear trend. Regardless of regulatory shifts, our firm remains committed to strong client protections.

On the market side, the philosophy we teach is not to get caught up in the short term or the day-to-day. If someone asks, “What’s the market doing today?” I’m usually not even looking at it through that lens. We teach advisers to focus on the long game, and risk management is a major part of that. The market has performed well for several years, and the better it does, the more risk tends to enter the equation. We’re putting even more emphasis this year on risk mitigation strategies and reminding clients that the market goes up and the market goes down, and as you know, past performance does not guarantee future results.

The other reality is that a good adviser manages behavior. Information is everywhere now, and with AI, it’s even easier to get data and opinions instantly. But it’s different to have someone provide perspective, help a client make a decision, and then stay committed to that decision through different market cycles. Clients want wisdom, not just information, and that demand has been growing.

How does technology allow advisers to deliver more personalized or holistic guidance, and how are you approaching that at The Pelora Group?

We’re implementing as much as we can, but the priority is data security. There are amazing tools out there, and there are new technologies coming online constantly, but we won’t put a client’s sensitive information into something that isn’t secure. Anything we adopt has to clear a high bar for security protocols and a strong focus on data security, because the downside risk is simply too high.

Once you get past that gate, there’s a lot of upsides. Productivity tools can automate workflows and help an adviser maintain rhythm with a client over the year. Planning tools are also much stronger now. They can model “what-if” scenarios quickly and clearly, which is what clients want. They want to know, “If I make this decision, what does that mean five years from now? What does it mean for retirement? What does it mean for taxes?” Technology makes it much easier to illustrate those outcomes.

AI is another major development. One of the most useful applications is taking a client’s existing information, like a tax return or financial data, and feeding it into a secure system that can highlight opportunities. Tax planning is becoming a hotter topic because people don’t like paying taxes, and as the cost of everything rises, taxes become a bigger bite. Tools that identify planning opportunities quickly can be extremely helpful.

Overall, technology is additive. But it doesn’t replace the relationship. If an adviser is transactional and not creating value, that role may get replaced. If they’re truly engaged, building trust, and walking with a client through life decisions, I don’t see that being replaced in the near term.

What are the biggest challenges and opportunities you see playing out over the next couple of years?

One challenge is not adapting. If you aren’t adopting technology and adjusting how you work, you can get left behind quickly. Another challenge is assuming you can do things the same way you always did and that it will still work in the future. That’s not true. There are generational differences in how people approach money and what they prioritize, and if you don’t acknowledge that and adapt, you’ll struggle. If you do adapt, that becomes a real opportunity.

From a firm perspective, our model is also unique because the advisers we serve own their own businesses. They’re free agents. They choose to be with us. In some channels, advisers are effectively locked in, and the organization owns the clients. In our model, the adviser owns their clients and their business, and our role is to support them.

The biggest external pressure I’m watching is private equity. Private equity is coming after financial advisers because it’s a recurring revenue model, and they like that. But a great advisory practice is a multidecade, often multigenerational proposition, and that doesn’t always sync up with private equity timelines. That creates tension in the industry, and it can be tempting because there’s a lot of money flowing around. We’re working with advisers to think long-term about what they want their business, their client relationships, and their life to look like five or 10 years from now.

What is your long-term outlook for The Pelora Group and for the advisory profession overall?

I’m optimistic, but realistic. I believe that people want advice now more than I’ve seen in many years before, and that demand is a meaningful tailwind for the profession. It’s harder than it used to be to predict the future. You can identify trends, but the pace of technology and broader societal change makes it difficult to say with confidence what any trend will look like in five years.

My optimism is grounded in our ability to adapt. We’ve faced major disruptions before, including the financial crisis of 2008 and COVID. COVID wasn’t just a financial event; it was also a cultural and organizational test. Those experiences reinforced that you have to evolve, keep your culture strong, and stay focused on what matters.

I also believe this is one of the best times ever to get into the profession. I’ve been in this industry for 36 years, and for advisers who play the long game, build trust, communicate well, and do things the right way, the opportunity is incredible. Markets will go up and down, the economy will change, and politics will remain unpredictable, but people still want stability and guidance. Helping them navigate that, and helping them be okay through the ups and downs, remains essential.

Disclosure (required by our compliance team): This material is educational and is not advice or a recommendation for any specific investment product, strategy, or service. The views and opinions expressed are those of Timothy Flanagan of The Pelora Group only. Any examples used are generic, hypothetical and for illustration purposes only. Investing involves risks, and past performance is not indicative of future results.

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