Prosperity Capital Advisors Also Recognized as One of the Largest Wealth Management Firms in Northeast Ohio by Crain’s Cleveland Business

CLEVELAND, OH – May 20, 2025 — C2P, a financial planning and advisor support organization committed to providing holistic, fiduciary-based advice, has been named one of InvestmentNews’ 2025 Best Places to Work for Financial Advisors. This national recognition honors companies across the financial services industry that go above and beyond in fostering a strong workplace culture and delivering meaningful career experiences.

The award reflects C2P’s deep commitment to its core purpose: to educate, train, grow, and support holistic financial advisors so that families can achieve true prosperity. This mission is the driving force behind every process, program, and partnership within the organization.

“Our team is honored to be included among the best in the industry,” said Jason L Smith, Founder and CEO of C2P.“ This recognition means we’ve succeeded in creating the environment we’ve worked hard to cultivate—one where collaboration, innovation, and service to others, are at the heart of everything we do.”

C2P supports financial advisors through a comprehensive ecosystem that includes hands-on training, process-driven planning tools, marketing resources, and business development coaching. A central pillar of this ecosystem is Prosperity Capital Advisors (PCA), C2P’s SEC-Registered Investment Adviser (RIA). PCA offers planning-first, fee-based solutions and turnkey asset management support to independent advisors across the country, helping them integrate holistic financial strategies into their practices.

Further reinforcing the organization’s leadership in the industry, PCA was recently recognized by Crain’s Cleveland Business as one of the Largest Wealth Management Firms in Northeast Ohio. This separate distinction highlights the reach and impact of the organization’s RIA platform and its role in helping advisors grow successful, client-centric practices.

The culture at C2P and PCA is shaped by a belief in doing business the right way—placing the client’s best interest first while creating scalable systems that allow advisors to grow sustainably and serve with confidence.

“Being named one of the best places to work is no small feat to us. It proves that investing in our people is key to creating a setting where financial professionals can thrive personally and professionally,” said Matt Seitz, Chief Marketing Officer.

About C2P

C2P is an RIA-grounded organization comprised of several platforms, each designed to simplify holistic financial planning for advisors and the clients they serve. Driven to provide products and solutions in the best interest of every client, C2P offers education, training, resources, and tools to meet a client’s unique financial situation, along with access to an array of investment and insurance vehicles to help advisors accomplish their goals. C2P is committed to upholding fiduciary best practices and raising industry standards by offering a higher quality of financial planning services to families worldwide. For more information, visit www.C2PEnterprises.com.

About Prosperity Capital Advisors

Prosperity Capital Advisors (PCA) is a planning-first, SEC-registered investment adviser (RIA) dedicated to simplifying complex challenges for investors nationwide. Their offerings are centered around the five pillars of holistic wealth management—financial planning, asset management, tax management, protection planning, and legacy planning. PCA is committed to strategically aligning each pillar into one comprehensive, well-coordinated plan. Backed by a team of skilled professionals, including CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professionals, as well as tax and insurance specialists, PCA offers personalized support and expertise through affiliated fiduciary advisors. For more information, visit www.Prosperitycapitaladvisors.com.

Methodology

Third-party rankings and recognition from rating services or publications are no guarantee of future investment success. Working with a highly rated advisor does not ensure that a client or prospective client will experience a higher level of performance or results. These ratings should not be construed as an endorsement of the advisor or by any client nor are they representative of any one client’s evaluation. Generally, ratings, rankings, and recognition are based on information prepared and submitted by the advisor. Unless otherwise noted, no fee was paid for consideration of any ranking or award.

To find and recognize the Best Places to Work, InvestmentNews invited organizations to participate by filling out an employer form, which asked companies to explain their various offerings and practices. Next, employees from nominated companies were asked to fill out an anonymous form evaluating their workplace on several metrics, including benefits, compensation, culture, employee development, and commitment to diversity and inclusion.

To be considered, each organization had to reach a minimum number of employee responses based on its overall size. Organizations that achieved an 80 percent or greater average satisfaction rating from employees were named Best Places to Work of 2025.

To be considered for Crain’s Cleveland’s annual list of the largest wealth management firms in Northeast Ohio, firms were compared using firms’ year-end assets under management (AUM) based on data provided in applications completed by the practices.

Comprehensive Practice Guide & Exclusive Toolkit for Financial Advisors Teaches How to Duplicate & Scale Business with Proven Process hit #1 New Release in Wealth Management on Amazon

Cleveland – April 22, 2025 –The Rainmaker Multiplier: How to Create a Self-Sustaining, Scalable Financial Planning Business, by Jason L Smith CEP®, BPC, a nationally recognized speaker, financial planner, author, coach, and entrepreneur, is now available for sale and was named the number one new release in the Wealth Management category on Amazon (as of April 17, 2025).

The Rainmaker Multiplier has already become an Amazon best seller in several categories—Financial Services Industry, Wealth Management, Strategy & Competition, and Business Planning & Forecasting (Books) as well as Financial Services and Business Development & Entrepreneurship (Kindle). The book was also recognized as a “Hot New Release” on its launch day for Corporate Finance, Wealth Management, Financial Services Industry (Books) and Financial Services (Kindle) among other categories.

“I am proud to have written a book that helps simplify business growth and succession planning for the financial advisors who work so hard for American families to achieve a financially secure retirement, because those advisors deserve to feel secure too,” said Smith.

Published by Greenleaf Book Group, The Rainmaker Multiplier tells the story of how Smith built his own financial advisory practice, JL Smith Holistic Wealth Management, from the ground up. The process outlined in the book is the same process that Smith used to turn a $10-per-hour intern into his firm’s top producer for the last five years, and afforded him freedom to focus exclusively on his role as a business owner. Using this template, Smith teaches advisors how they too can create a scalable, self-sustaining business built to outlast them.

“There will come a time when advisors need to step away from their firms, whether it’s for a well-deserved vacation or for retirement,” Smith said. “Too many advisors don’t have in place a succession plan or a clear advisor career path for facilitating growth at their business—or a holistic planning approach and marketing strategy to stay competitive and relevant in this industry, where evolution is constant.”

With his own career path and plan in place, Smith was able to step back from JL Smith to also grow C2P into a thriving company that helps educate, train, grow, and support holistic financial advisors so that families can achieve true prosperity. Smith also was able to focus on helping make Prosperity Capital Advisors, his planning-first RIA one of the 50 Fastest Growing RIAs in the country, as named by Financial Advisor Magazine in 2024.*

The Rainmaker Multiplier is the latest release from Smith outlining proven processes for better wealth management businesses. He previously authored The Bucket Plan: Protecting and Growing Your Assets for a Worry-Free Retirement in 2017 and updated the print edition and audiobook in 2023. The revised print edition and audiobook of “The Bucket Plan” offer strategies for strategically positioning assets to help mitigate the impact of unexpected financial risks and dangers in retirement. The first-edition print version was named to a U.S. News and World Report list of “The Best Retirement Planning Books for 2023” as well as one of “The 15 Best Books for Retirement Planning” by Entrepreneur.com.*  

Along with the book is a companion toolkit that purchasers get which provides access to.

Click here to order The Rainmaker Multiplier on Amazon.

About the Book

Memoir of an advisor, blueprint for success, The Rainmaker Multiplier is the story of how Jason L Smith built his holistic wealth management business from the ground up and how financial advisors with high-growth aspirations can do the same: create thriving, self-sustaining businesses and increase their net profitability.

The Rainmaker Multiplier Proven Process and Platform is built on four quadrants: holistic financial planning, marketing strategy, profitable business lines, and practice management. Using this platform, Smith reveals how you can achieve long-term freedom and success by creating a scalable, self-sustaining business built to outlast you. Packed with resources and tools to help you actively engage in the process and implement these strategies in your own practice, The Rainmaker Multiplier will turn great financial advisors into even greater business owners. To learn more, please visit https://c2penterprises.com/rmmbook/.

About the Author

Jason L Smith is a nationally recognized speaker, financial planner, best-selling author, coach, and entrepreneur. As a second-generation advisor, he founded his own advisory firm, JL Smith Holistic Wealth Management, in 1995 to provide clients with coordinated financial planning, tax management, asset management, protection planning, and legacy planning in one comprehensive plan. With the overarching goal of improving the lives of American families through holistic financial planning, Jason founded and serves as the CEO of Clarity 2 Prosperity and C2P, financial training, coaching, and IP development organizations that support financial advisors, as well as Prosperity Capital Advisors, a nationally recognized RIA. Jason’s Bucket Plan philosophy inspired a best-selling book and audiobook, and a process that financial advisors across the U.S. use with their clients. In 2015, Jason was recognized as one of InvestmentNews’ 40 Under 40, and has been named to Crain’s Notable Wealth Managers list. He has also been a speaker at Ed Slott Master Elite conferences, MDRT, the SHIFT conference, and other industry gatherings in addition to being cited in industry media discussing the importance of holistic financial services and advisor succession planning.

About C2P

C2P is an RIA-grounded organization comprised of several platforms, each designed to simplify holistic financial planning for advisors and the clients they serve. Driven to provide products and solutions in the best interest of every client, C2P offers education, training, resources, and tools to meet a client’s unique financial situation, along with access to an array of investment and insurance vehicles to help advisors accomplish their goals. C2P is committed to upholding fiduciary best practices and raising industry standards by offering a higher quality of financial planning services to families worldwide. For more information, visit www.C2PEnterprises.com.

*Award and Accolade Disclosures

Third-party rankings and recognition from rating services or publications are no guarantee of future investment success. Working with a highly rated advisor does not ensure that a client or prospective client will experience a higher level of performance or results. These ratings should not be construed as an endorsement of the advisor or by any client nor are they representative of any one client’s evaluation. Generally, ratings, rankings, and recognition are based on information prepared and submitted by the advisor. Unless otherwise noted, no fee was paid for consideration of any ranking or award.

FA‘s RIA survey is a ranking based on assets under management at year end of independent RIA firms that file their own ADV with the SEC. FA‘s RIA ranking orders firms from largest to smallest, based on AUM reported to us by firms that voluntarily complete and submit FA‘s survey by our deadline. We do our best to verify AUM by reviewing ADV forms. To be eligible for the ranking, firms must be independent registered investment advisors and file their own ADV statement with the SEC and provide financial planning and related services to individual clients. Firms must have at least $1 billion in assets under management as of December 31, 2023, to be included in the print edition of Financial Advisor magazine’s 2024 RIA survey. Firms with under $1 billion will be included in FA‘s expanded 2024 online RIA survey.

Media Contact:

Sarah Tremallo

C2P@jconnelly.com

What Should Financial Advisors Know About Transitioning from a Broker-Dealer to an RIA?

Transitioning from a broker-dealer to an RIA means moving from earning a commission for buying and selling products to a fee-based professional advice model.

There are two ways to form a full-service RIA:

• Large firms can register under the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
• Small firms can register with their home state.

Traditionally, these financial advisor services would require a Series 6 or Series 7 license to transact in those securities and earn a commission. Instead, the advisor would get a Series 65 or Series 66 license or a professional designation like a Certified Financial Planner to become a representative of the full-service RIA.

What Factors Should Advisors Consider When leaving Their Broker-Dealer?

Higher consumer demand for advisors transitioning from a broker-dealer to an RIA has proven there are solutions for financial advisors.

Registered Investment Advisors offer more flexibility and allow customization of their services and client relationships, but broker-dealers provide firms with a structure and a network of products.

Almost every broker-dealer in the country has an RIA opportunity. Most broker-dealers are looking at attaining dual licensure to take advantage of that platform.

When transitioning from to an RIA from a broker-dealer, you must remember that if you leave your broker-dealer, you have a five-year window to find another broker-dealer without taking the Series 6 or Series 7 again.

Most brokers do not want to walk away from their licensure because they are difficult to obtain. If your license expires, you must complete the examinations again.

Another reason advisors choose to leave their broker-dealer and migrate to the Registered Investment Advisor model is because many don’t allow any tax management advice, even if it is in the client’s best interest.

Updating Your Business Practices to be an RIA

In the 1970s and 1980s, most clients worked with a stockbroker who would buy and sell stocks on their behalf. To do that, they needed to align with a broker-dealer to facilitate the transaction.

If you buy and sell an investment: stocks, bonds, variable annuities, mutual funds, or alternative assets, and you are going to earn a commission, you need to affiliate with a broker-dealer who can facilitate the transaction and pay out the commission.

As far as financial advisor compliance goes, broker-dealers follow the suitability standard, and RIAs follow the fiduciary standard. Regarding the advisor’s obligation to make recommendations in the client’s best interests, the suitability standard is less stringent than the fiduciary standard.

Alternatively, RIAs work within financial advisor compliance rules to develop fee structures that keep the advisor aligned with the client’s needs.

• Flat Fee Model
• Hourly Rate
• Percentage of AUM

You will also need to update your financial advisor marketing strategy, plan, materials, etc., to reflect the changes within your practice.

Click here for a free advisor guide: 11 Digital Marketing Tips for Financial Advisors

Is Their a Way to Transition to an RIA Without Leaving Behind Trailing Income?

Suppose most of the business is on the Registered Investment Advisor platform. Why do some advisors choose to maintain their broker-dealer licenses instead of alternative solutions for financial advisors like streamlining offers through the SEC?

When you contemplate transitioning from a broker-dealer to an RIA, you probably don’t want to walk away from any prospective revenue that is embedded into your business model:

• Variable Annuities
• Alternative Investments
• Mutual Funds
• C Share Funds
• Variable Universal Life Insurance
• 1031 Real Estate Transactions

When considering different solutions for financial advisors, there is a legacy part of the business. Perhaps they built it up over decades with transactional registered products, like commissionable variable annuities, or alternative investments like non-traded Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) or oil and gas investments. They would lose the corresponding trail revenue if they did not maintain that relationship.

This could be hundreds of thousands of dollars they would abandon if they leave their broker-dealer. This handcuffs them to the broker-dealer because they still have to service those clients, even though the future of the business is advisory.

The good news is there is a simple way to migrate your business if you choose to move to an RIA.

Some Registered Investment Advisors have a broker-dealer partner that manages the asset transition program. This allows advisors to shift all their broker-dealer business over without losing out on income and starting from scratch.

At Prosperity Capital Advisors, we provide an asset transition program that allows advisors to move their business like 529s, mutual funds, or variable annuities over to the broker-dealer, who then puts a home office employee as the agent of record on that account. Prosperity Capital Advisors is then hired as the Registered Investment Advisor, and the advisor becomes the broker representative, so they don’t lose any trail revenue.

Please book a FREE call with one of our business development representatives to learn more about the different solutions for financial advisors.

Is a Transition to an RIA Model right for you?

When contemplating a transition from a broker-dealer to an RIA, there are several important factors to consider beyond the initial structural changes:

Recognizing Signs It’s Time for a Change

Alanah Phillips, MBA, an advisor advocate and matchmaker in the financial services industry, spoke on this topic of broker-dealers transitioning to RIA models in an episode of The Rainmaker Multiplier On-Demand podcast. She believes that being aware of certain indicators can help you decide if it’s time to explore other options.

These signs can include:

• Feeling undervalued or uncelebrated in your current firm
• Experiencing excessive control over your time and financial decisions
• Having limited opportunities for professional growth
• Facing pressure or fear tactics discouraging exploration of alternatives

Developing a Clear Vision

Before making any transitions, it’s crucial to define your ideal working scenario. Consider how you want to structure client relationships, envision your ideal day-to-day operations, and identify current pain points that could be addressed by a change. This vision will guide your decision-making process and help you evaluate potential RIA opportunities.

Evaluating Your Current Situation

A thorough assessment of your present circumstances is essential. This includes considering the timing of a potential move, examining existing team dynamics and professional relationships, addressing any financial obligations such as outstanding notes or practice purchase agreements, and identifying non-portable products in your book of business that may need attention.

Finding the Right Fit

When exploring RIA options, it’s important to find a solution that aligns with your risk tolerance and capacity, long-term professional goals, and desired level of autonomy and support. This may involve researching different RIA models and speaking with advisors who have made similar transitions.

Understanding the Transition Timeline

The process of transitioning from a broker-dealer to an RIA can vary significantly. While some situations may require a quick transition due to external factors, in many cases, a more measured approach allows for better preparation. Transition timelines can range from a few months to several years, depending on the complexity of your practice and the chosen RIA model.

Industry Trends to Consider

As you contemplate a move, be aware of ongoing shifts in the financial services landscape. Many independent broker-dealers are evolving to offer more RIA-like services, while insurance-owned broker-dealers may face unique challenges in keeping pace with technology and regulatory changes. Understanding these trends can help you make a more informed decision about your future business model.

Maintaining a Growth Mindset

As you consider your options, stay open to learning about different business models and regularly assess whether your current situation aligns with your professional goals. Remember that exploring options is part of fulfilling your fiduciary duty to clients, ensuring that you’re in the best position to serve their needs.

By carefully considering these factors, advisors can make more informed decisions about whether transitioning from a broker-dealer to an RIA aligns with their professional goals and client service model.

See what we can do for you at C2P to help further educate you on the differences of working with an RIA over a broker-dealer or RIA, or about our TAMP offerings. Book a call with our Advisor Growth Specialist today!

Financial Professional Use Only

The information provided in this presentation is not intended as investment advice or legal advice. The information provided is for informational and training purposes only. The information in this presentation was accurate as of the time of the material was created. Tax laws and rulings can frequently change. Please discuss the client’s current situation with an accountant or tax advisor.