With the continuing challenges of bringing new advisors into the wealth management and advisory industry, firms are seeking new ways to engage.
Gateway Financial Partners, a Glastonbury, Connecticut-based hybrid registered investment advisor supporting 200 affiliated financial advisors across 24 states, has just launched a structured coaching and development program aimed at reversing the wealth management industry's persistently high failure rate among newer advisors.
The program, called Gateway Elevate for Next Gen Advisors leverages an exclusive partnership with Joe Lukacs, a veteran financial advisor coach and founder of the Magellan Network who brings 32 years of methodology and more than 70,000 coaching sessions to the initiative.
With Cerulli Associates research finding that approximately 72% of rookie advisors fail or leave the profession within their first few years in the industry, there is a precarious moment in the industry.
More than 109,000 financial advisors (37.5% of industry headcount and overseeing 41.5% of total assets under management) are expected to retire over the next decade, according to the same research.
Meanwhile, the estimated cost of a single failed next-generation advisor ranges from $646,000 to $1,000,000.
"The industry loses three out of four new advisors, not because they lack talent, but because the moments that make or break a young advisor happen when no one is there to coach them through it," said David Wood, Gateway's founder and chief visionary officer.
Gateway Elevate is built around continuous, on-demand access rather than the periodic workshops or annual conferences that have traditionally defined advisor training.
Participating advisors receive 24/7 access to an artificial intelligence coaching assistant trained specifically on Lukacs' methodology, along with daily early-morning strategy and mindset videos, weekly live office hours, and weekly accountability coaching from a dedicated integration coach.
The program also includes monthly live small-group mentoring sessions with Lukacs himself and a library of more than 100 hours of masterclass content.
Topics span referral development, centers of influence, client review frameworks, and broader practice management; areas that independent financial advisors at InvestmentNews consistently identify as critical growth levers for scaling a sustainable practice.
Lukacs positioned the model as a correction to the structural gaps that cause attrition. "The advisors who make it aren't the ones with the most talent. They're the ones with structure, accountability, and coaching in the moments that matter," he said.
The Elevate launch marks the latest in a series of strategic moves by Gateway Financial Partners to build a differentiated support infrastructure for its affiliated advisors.
In August 2024, the firm announced a fintech partnership with estate-planning platform wealth.com, giving advisors access to guided will and trust creation tools.
The inclusion of an AI coaching assistant trained on Lukacs' body of work signals how firms are beginning to productize expert knowledge at scale.
Rather than limiting access to Lukacs' frameworks to those who can afford individual coaching engagements, the Elevate model attempts to democratize that access across an entire affiliated network, delivering it at the low-friction moments, early mornings, late evenings, mid-client-meeting preparation, when newer advisors most need guidance but typically have nowhere to turn.
For an industry staring down a generational succession problem, the question is whether structured, technology-assisted programs like Gateway Elevate can meaningfully shift that 72% failure rate.
Gateway Financial Partners has not disclosed pricing for the program or the number of advisors who have enrolled since launch.
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