I took my ankle bracelet off when I became an RIA, says CEO

investmentnews.com:

Brett Bernstein, chief executive officer and co-founder of XML Financial Group, attests one of the things that makes him unique in the advisory space is not just being an entrepreneur but also being CEO and an active advisor at his Bethesda, Maryland-based firm.

“I joke but I was at Merrill Lynch, and I was in jail. When I was at LPL, I was at a halfway house. And then I took my ankle bracelet off when I became an RIA. So as a leader of the firm, I can say number one, I’ve been on all three platforms,” he says.

While there’s plenty of others in the industry who share the same skill set as Bernstein, what he says he brings to the table is “the vast experience that someone can say, ‘You get what I’m going through’.”

Bernstein lays it flat out on the table. “I’m authentically me. I’m an honest person and I’m a straight shooter. Some people may not always like that, but I’m not going to sugarcoat things.”

Indeed, this is what has helped him succeed in managing almost $4 billion in client assets with the firm’s partner, Focus Financial Partners and undertaking significant M&A activity – the latest merger was with Samson Wealth Management Group, a Pennsylvania-based firm.

Bernstein admits having a partner like Focus has also helped not only find opportunities, whether it’s hiring an advisor or doing M&A activity, but it allows XML “to have that experience to grow.”

“The collaboration across the partnership is amazing because we share with each other and we collaborate on how we can help people,” Bernstein says. “The industry, like any industry that’s regulated is changing, and it’s changing faster than I’ve ever seen. But it wouldn’t matter where we worked. What I like is that I get to be creative.”

Creative to Bernstein is