How Transitioning to a Fee-Only Advisor Allowed Eric Harbak to Focus on His Clients and Future

How are a bearer bond, a black top hat, and interest connected? They all played a part in Eric Harbak’s decision to start a career in financial services. 

“I was four or five years old, and my grandfather walked me into a bank. He sat the bearer bond on the counter, and he’d clearly set it up with the banker because she paid me the interest,” said Eric Harbak, a financial advisor at LPL Financial. “As I walked back to the door, my grandfather was in his trench coat and black top hat and I said, ‘They gave me this money!’ He said, ‘That’s interest, and it’s mine.’ Then we walked to the car, and he took me out for an ice cream cone and told me what interest was.”

After having his interest in financial services piqued at an early age, Harbak made his first investment by 10 years old. While he’s convinced it was a fluke, the money he made from the stock paid for his first car. “I kept my little dividend reinvested and it just grew and grew. I was destined to do something with the markets,” he said.

Years later, with the knowledge he wanted to help people and teach them about the markets, he began his journey as a broker – first on a commission basis at a financial services firm, and now as a fee-only advisor on LPL Financial’s RIA. 

The Appeal of a Fee-Only Model

While working in a commission-based role, Harbak spent personal time learning about what it meant to be a fiduciary and run a fee-only business. As a former Marine, he always thought it seemed straightforward that he should do the right thing for his clients. 

“I wanted to go somewhere where what I was choosing for people was the best for them: there was no conflict of interest, the company has no say in whether it benefits them or the client, and I would be able to control my fees,” he said. “A young kid shouldn’t be paying $100 to buy an S&P 500 ETF when he’s got $1,000. Here, I can put him in OMP [LPL’s Optimum Market Portfolios advisory platform] and let’s start saving and building.”

For peers considering going fee-only, Harbak shares this advice: “Check all your boxes, do your due diligence, find the right people, and do it. There’s a reason why when you go to sleep at night, in the back of your head, you think there’s a better way and another place that would be better off for you and your clients, and it’s probably true. And the thing is, LPL has everything.”

The Right Fit from the Visit to the Transition

While visiting LPL’s office, Harbak experienced the scope of LPL and its offerings. Along with receiving thorough answers to his questions, he spoke with several home office employees. He shared, “I’m really big into research. During my meeting I was sitting with one of the gentlemen from SAM [LPL’s Strategic Asset Management advisory platform] and he got me a video chat with someone from London in global research for LPL. He was amazing. So there was a lot of stuff, even down to the printed materials you can show clients.” He also believes that LPL took the time to get to know him and what he wanted. 

During his transition to LPL, Harbak was elated by the support he received. “I still don’t understand how I got this much support when it’s just me. And even then, I didn’t use the support as much as I should have. A couple weeks in, I was staying up until midnight doing paperwork and my transition coordinator called me and said, ‘Why are you doing all that stuff? You have us to help you! We’ll open the accounts; we’ll help you with all of that.’” 

Two years in with LPL and he still appreciates the ongoing support he can turn to daily and for more complex needs on topics such as trusts, beneficiaries, and wills. “That’s so good to know as an independent guy. That was what terrified me the most about going independent – I need compliance, I need the custodian, and I need the trading to be perfect. And when I don’t know something, I need to be able to pick up the phone and find out because it’s just me. And it’s just been stellar,” he said.

Flexibility + Autonomy = Work/Life Balance

Since becoming fee-only on LPL’s RIA, Harbak has gained the flexibility and autonomy to focus on the families he serves and the future of his business.

“I’m not taking new clients unless it’s friends and family referrals coming from existing clients. It’s them and them only. When you tell them [clients] that, and you value them, and that’s what allows you to do what you do, that transitions to the flexibility and autonomy in work/life balance. I work less now than I’ve ever worked in my life,” he said. “Being able to focus on referrals, family trees, and every Friday my clients know I’m done at market close. That lets me do my ideal retirement model at 55 instead of 65. My clients love my flexibility and me being happy – they can tell.”

Putting a bow on it all, Harbak knows he made the right decision transitioning to LPL and becoming fee-only because all the clients who came over to LPL with him are still his clients.