The Last Move: How Todd Dickinson Built the Practice He Always Wanted

When Todd Dickinson started looking for a new home for his practice, he set one rule for himself: this had to be the last time.

After more than two decades in the industry, first as a wholesaler, then as an advisor, Todd knew the business from nearly every angle. He also knew exactly what he wanted his next chapter to look like, and exactly what he was no longer willing to tolerate to get there.

A year into his move to Victory Financial, he is running the practice he envisioned all along.

Two Decades of Knowing How It Works

Todd spent 20 years as a wholesaler before building his own advisory practice, which gave him a rare vantage point. He saw many firms from the inside, and he knew which ones treated their people well and which ones tested how much they could take.

By the time he was running his own book, Todd had built it almost entirely around fee-based management, with almost no commission-based products. In practice, he was already operating like an independent fiduciary. He was doing it inside a large brokerage that charged him for services he never used and required him to stay current on products he never sold.

“I was basically running my business as an RIA,” Todd said. “It was just at a full brokerage firm, and I was paying for a lot of things I just don’t use.”

The Slow Ratchet

What finally pushed Todd to move was a pattern he had watched play out his entire career. At a publicly held firm, he explained, there is constant pressure to push the stock price up, and one of the easiest levers to pull is advisor compensation. One year, his entire group absorbed an overnight pay cut when the firm raised its fees and adjusted its payout grid, with no real recourse.

Todd understood the logic, which made it all the more frustrating. Firms know how painful it is to move an entire book of business, so they test the edges of what advisors will accept.

“They’ll ratchet it up right to the edge of that tension point,” Todd said, “just to the edge of where most people say, okay, it’s time to make a move. They’re always testing how much they can take and get away with.”

After two decades in the industry, Todd had watched firms run that same playbook for years. He decided he was done waiting to see how far it would go.

Curious what going independent involves? Our free 15 Steps to Independence guide breaks down the full process, from preparation to launch, with the templates and timelines advisors use to get there. Download the guide here.

Choosing the Last Platform

Todd did his due diligence the way you would expect from someone who knew the landscape well. He considered following a colleague who had broken away, and he weighed a few other firms he knew from his wholesaling years. He seriously considered one firm, but it was acquired while he was still deciding, which took it off the table.

He kept coming back to stability, and he wanted a platform he wouldn't have to second-guess because he didn't intend to move again.

He already knew Schwab from having traded on the platform years earlier, and he remembered being impressed. When he reached out directly, a recruiter connected him with Victory Financial, and the pieces fell into place quickly. Todd did not want to wait for a quarter to close. His book was straightforward and transferred fast, and he had most of it wrapped up before the next quarter began.

Running It the Way He Always Intended

The biggest change over Todd’s first year has been what independence let him stop worrying about.

At his previous firms, Todd felt compliance focused on protecting the firm rather than serving the client. He points to a situation he ran into repeatedly: a client who held a concentrated position in a stock they had owned for years and had no interest in selling. Todd would work to diversify where it made sense, but the client’s wishes mattered. Still, the compliance emails kept coming, instructing him to trim the position regardless of the client’s age, goals, or intent.

“Being able to run your business with a little trust that the advisor is a fiduciary doing what’s right by the client, instead of having to prove it all the time, has been great,” Todd said.

That shift, from being treated like a risk to being trusted as a fiduciary, is what Todd values most about independence. It let him get back to running the kind of practice he always wanted.

Small By Design

Todd is not chasing scale, and he is refreshingly direct about it. He runs a deliberately small book of around 40 households, and he no longer takes on clients below a certain asset level. That smaller book lets Todd deliver the kind of service he believes in. He tells his clients he is available 24/7, and he means it.

“With only 40 households, I tell [my clients] to call me anytime. If I’m busy, I may not answer, but you’re never bothering me.”

The result is a practice built on trust rather than activity. Todd hears from most clients only once or twice a year unless he reaches out first, which he reads as a sign they feel secure. When a call does come at an odd hour, he knows it matters. He keeps the relationships strong with regular travel, announcing when he will be passing through a client’s area and seeing who wants to connect in person. During stretches of market volatility, those visits pick up, and clients lean on the fact that someone they trust has it handled.

What Comes Next

A year in, Todd knows where he is headed. He wants to keep growing the business steadily, in the same fee-based, high-touch way he always has, and he's eyeing a path to becoming a Partner at Victory Financial.

For an advisor who spent his career watching how the industry really works, that says something. Todd made his last move with his eyes open, and a year in, he is building toward a stake in the platform itself.

At Victory Financial, we’re proud to support advisors who are building practices with intention, ownership, and a real commitment to the clients they serve. If you’re considering what independence could look like for your practice, book a discovery call with our team.