#159 - Scaling a Fee-Only RIA Without Losing the Mission -Chelsea Ransom-Cooper

A lot of wealth management still assumes you've already "made it" before you deserve real advice. Chelsea Ransom-Cooper, CFP®, co-founder of Zenith Wealth Partners, is challenging that assumption by building a fee-only RIA designed to serve women and people of color with relatable, high-quality financial planning.

Chelsea walks us through the turning points that shaped Zenith: discovering fee-only planning through early networking, recognizing in 2020 that her client base didn't reflect the people who inspired her to enter the profession, and partnering with co-founder Jason Ray to build what they couldn't find in the market. She shares a concrete early-business tactic we loved — using a simple "30-name" validation list to prove demand and build confidence before making the leap, then turning those early conversations into her first wave of clients.

We also get specific on how to scale without losing the mission. Chelsea explains how Zenith thinks about capacity (targeting 60 to 80 clients per advisor), support staffing, and using EOS to put the right people in the right seats. We dig into their flexible fee structure, including why they hold a minimum fee for service, avoid asset minimums, and blend planning engagements, retainer-style work, and AUM as clients' balance sheets evolve.

Chelsea also shares how she manages a packed calendar through delegation, why that creates real growth opportunities for the next generation of advisors, and how her "zone of genius" in equity compensation helps her stand out. If you care about accessible financial advice, building a sustainable fee-only firm, and scaling with intention, this one is for you.

Subscribe, share with a fellow advisor or founder, and leave a review with your biggest takeaway.

Chelsea's Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chelsea-ransom-cooper-cfp-6b198346/

Zenith Wealth Partners Website: https://zenithwealth.partners/

Music in this episode was obtained from Bensound.

Transcript

Welcome And Guest Introduction

SPEAKER_01 0:04

How's it going everyone? Welcome back to the OnlyFe Only Podcast. And as always, thanks for being here. Today we are joined by Chelsea Ransom Cooper, co-founder of Zenith Wealth Partners in Jersey City. Chelsea and her co-founder Jason Ray built Zenith on a mission to bring high-quality financial advice to women and people of color, a segment of the market she felt was being completely overlooked. They've grown to a team of 11 with no asset minimums and a flexible fee structure designed to meet client needs. Wherever they are, they are doing a great job. And this was such a great conversation. She has so many things going on, which you will hear about in this episode. So, really excited for this podcast. Here is Chelsea Ransom Cooper on the OnlyFee Only Podcast.

SPEAKER_00 0:58

How's it going, everyone? Welcome to another episode of the Only Fee Only Podcast. I'm Peter Chiravolo. I'm here with my co-host Brock Buckles. And today we're so excited to have Chelsea Ransom Cooper on. She's co-founder over at Zenith Wealth Partners. Really excited to have her on and share her story about how she's built been building her firm. So, Chelsea, welcome to the show. Thank you both for having me. I'm super excited to be on. Yes, likewise. So, for those who may not know who you are, you want to give a quick background kind of where you're based

Discovering Fee Only Planning

SPEAKER_00 1:30

out of and when you started your practice?

SPEAKER_02 1:32

Yeah, absolutely. I'm happy to. So, as Peter mentioned, my name is Chelsea Ransom Cooper. I am based out of Jersey City, New Jersey. I am a Jersey girl through and through and very proud of it. Um, and I actually went to Syracuse University, and that's where I studied finance and really started to notice my passion for financial planning. Similar to a lot of other advisors who've joined this profession, I started to learn that there's different ways that you can work with clients. So you can work with clients by selling products or accepting commissions or selling life insurance. But what I really learned and enjoyed about financial planning was just the art of giving advice. So that's when I realized I wanted to try to find my way into this profession and wanted to see what the path could look like. The first step I did is I actually joined the local Financial Planning Association. Um, they have one here in New York. And I went there and I talked to everybody. So I talked to people at Bank of America, Merrill Lynch, um Chase, Morgan Stanley, all the big ones. But then I talked to somebody who actually had a boutique fee-only wealth management firm. And I was like, wait, what is this? Um, and then she started to explain more about how her practice worked and how she was helping people. And I it completely blew my mind because I didn't even know this was an option. Like you could even open your own wealth management company and do this.

SPEAKER_00 2:53

Yeah, you're like, wait, we hope wirehouses.

SPEAKER_02 2:56

Yeah. I was like, wait, are you allowed to do that? I was like, does the SEC know you did this? But um, but I was really excited about it. And I knew it was something that I wanted to lean into more. But before I did that, I ended up going to another boutique wealth management firm. Um, they were based in San Francisco. They're working with clients between one to 10 million of investable assets, helping them, specifically retirees, build wealth, um, sustain and distribute it to the next generation. And as I was there, I started to look around. You know, I always say 2020 was the year of reset for the world. And I felt like it was really a reset for myself, too, where I started to look around and I didn't really have any clients who are women, and I didn't have any clients who identified as people of color. So, you know, I thought about my friends and my family, the people that really inspired me to lean into financial planning. And it didn't feel like I was aligning my knowledge, my expertise, and my passion with those individuals. Um, so around this similar time, I met uh my co-founder, Jason Ray, and he had the same feeling. He was working at a boutique wealth management and asset management firm as a portfolio manager, and he really wanted to democratize access to high quality investments. Um, so Jason, I always say is more courageous than me. So he ended up quitting his job and creating the firm. And he said, Chelsea, should we do this together? And I was like, ah, I was like, New York is expensive. I gotta wait a little bit. Um shortly after um, we decided to partner and connect together a little less than a year later, and decided to build our firm together, Zenith Wealth Partners, where we're really on a mission to provide high-quality, relatable financial advice to women and people of color. Um, and realizing that if individuals have more access to this, this can then in turn,

The Mission To Serve Overlooked Clients

SPEAKER_02 4:55

you know, what wealth looks like in this country. So that is really our mission.

SPEAKER_01 4:59

No, I love it. And and before we go any further, I think I have to acknowledge we've got two people from New Jersey on the call right now.

SPEAKER_00 5:05

Or on the on the call. Peter is too, yeah, yeah. I was born there and I actually have a cousin who lives in the heights, so they're on Webster Avenue.

SPEAKER_02 5:13

Oh, yeah, not far at all. I'm in um I'm in the journal square area, so not too far.

SPEAKER_01 5:18

That's hilarious.

SPEAKER_00 5:20

All we want later.

SPEAKER_01 5:21

Yeah. Which exit? Which exit?

SPEAKER_02 5:24

It's always that's always the question. You know, if you're in the teens, then that you're North Jersey. If you're in some of those lower numbers, you know, you're you're South Jersey. I don't acknowledge Central Jersey. I I know that's a whole thing, but Yeah, I love that.

SPEAKER_01 5:37

Totally. Well, uh Chelsea. Go ahead, Peter. Go ahead.

SPEAKER_00 5:41

No, I was just gonna say, so I mean it's 2020, right? The world's exploding, right? Things are different. Um, what's the business plan, right? Like what was the initial plan if there was one?

SPEAKER_02 5:53

So there was one. And I always say I am a YouTube university, podcast university. I learned so much on how to grow in this business just by learning from others' individual stories. And the first thing I heard about was the XY Planning Network and how they're a really great resource to help advisors as they're looking to grow and build their own practice. They have a lot of calculators and tools as to what to expect when you're creating your own business and just the costs for the first year. So that was actually the first calculator that I downloaded. And I did some back of the envelope math. Clearly, I'm a planner. And then I put in my rent and what I would need for groceries just to survive. And then um, I started to calculate how many clients would I need so I could cover my rent and I could eat for a year. And based on the price point, which was a much different price point than we are today. But that I saw that the number was 30. So as I started telling people, you know, about the partnership that we were planning to develop and how we were going to offer financial planning and investment advisory services, I knew in my head that once I had 30 people who said, yes, Chelsea,

A 30 Name Business Plan

SPEAKER_02 7:05

this sounds great. You know, if you were to do this at this price point, I would sign up. This sounds amazing. Um, so as I continue to have those conversations, I started in end of June, early July. And then I'd say by like first or second week of September, I had 30 names on there. Now, I did not leave immediately because I was also a little bit scared. So it took me like two weeks to get the courage. But then once I did leave, that those were the first names I called. And I was really fortunate that 10 out of those 30 actually signed up in the first 90 days. So that really helped build a lot of the confidence to know that I was on the right track, even though it felt a little chaotic in the early days. Um, I'm really grateful that I started that way.

SPEAKER_01 7:48

Yeah, for sure. I mean, such a cool thing, like how much you guys have been able to grow and kind of the dynamic between you uh and the different co-founders and all of that. So, like, what year did you guys officially start? Because it seems like you guys have had like very literally explosive growth.

SPEAKER_02 8:04

Yeah. So Jason uh went out on his own in 2019 and then we partnered in September 2020.

SPEAKER_01 8:10

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 8:11

Um, so then really I would say we've been growing uh pretty consistently ever since. So we say, what, about six, seven years? Um, but we honor our uh 2019 date as our start date. Um, but it has been rapid growth. Right now, we're really fortunate to say we're a team of 11. Um, so we brought on another partner to help us with operations. We have uh four advisors, and then we also have three associate advisors and then a marketing associate. Uh so we're really building intentionally to make sure uh that we have enough people who are able to service clients, but also meeting the demand that we're seeing uh from the marketplace.

SPEAKER_01 8:51

Yeah, and and what was that like in terms of scaling? Because I know, like obviously Peter and I, we kind of started around the same time. Like, you got to get the people in the right seats. You want to have the people doing the things that they're good at. A lot of times it's like, oh no, this is overwhelming. We need to pay more attention over here. So, how have you guys been able to balance all of that stuff and make sure that, you know, the train's heading in the right direction and everybody's in the right seat?

SPEAKER_02 9:15

So that's we actually recently started with this EOS framework, uh, the entrepreneur operating system. And it's really helped us to orient and understand who are the right people. You know, in that program, they talk about right person, right seat, right? And sometimes you may have the right seat, but not the right person, or you have the right person in a wrong seat. So I would say right now that's been really helpful. But if I go back to, you know, four years ago, uh building the plane while flying it. We were building the plane truly while flying it. And we just looked at the demand and the need. So the first hire that we actually did was for an advisor because uh both Jason and I were just overflowing with the amount of clients. We were really fortunate that, you know, majority, I'd say 60% of our clients come from referrals and people who are just really happy with the work that we're doing. And then we're also receiving from

Scaling The Team With EOS

SPEAKER_02 10:10

social media, uh, website search engine, speaking events, which is roughly, I would say, about 25 to 30 percent there too. So because we had such significant volume coming in, it was just too much for the two of us. So we needed to have somebody else who was able to communicate effectively with clients and um potentially, you know, catch some of the leads that were coming in. And we realized that that was helpful. Um, but what's most helpful is really that associate advisor and that support. Um, because we started to look at, you know, what are the elements of the roles that we of the job that we like and what are the elements that we don't like. And I love talking to clients. So I realized we maybe don't need as many advisors, but having more support so that we can have more of those conversations and spend less time, you know, more on the day-to-day or some of the back office elements was actually the most helpful. So then that's when we started to really see the value and pivoting to more to the support. But it also aligned with our mission, right? Because we talk about supporting underrepresented advisors and helping them grow in the industry. Uh admittedly, there aren't that many advisors, you know, who look like me in this business.

unknown 11:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 11:22

So the simplest way to change that is to coach, mentor, and train the next generation. So that is something that's really important to us.

SPEAKER_01 11:31

Yeah.

unknown 11:31

Oh.

SPEAKER_01 11:32

Go ahead, Pete.

SPEAKER_00 11:33

No, so I was just gonna say, so after that, you know, continuing to build uh support staff, kind of, you know, what have you found works for you and what like how are you gonna continue to scale it? Like how many support staff do you need per advisor? And kind of how many relationships can that handle? What does that look like?

SPEAKER_02 11:50

Right now we're targeting between, I would say, 60 to 80 clients per advisor as a good sweet spot. Now, sometimes that can skew a little bit over. You know, right now my parents are also my client, but I kind of don't really count them. There's some of my, depending on the day, they're my easiest clients, or sometimes they're my most difficult. Um, so everyone has some of those, you know, that kind of skew a little bit further out, but for the most part, we would say 60 to 80 clients per advisor, and then one support person for every two advisors. Um, so that's really how we've oriented around that.

SPEAKER_01 12:27

Yeah. No, I I I I love it. I think you guys are really doing something special. And I I noticed on your about on the LinkedIn, um, you're talking about how you know women and people of cover color are often navigating this stuff alone. And so not only are you like serving that that group of people, but you're also having advisors that maybe may have experienced some of those things, helping people that are experiencing those things. So I think that's a really cool thing. Um, and I also noticed that you said, you know, it starts no matter where you are, right? So, like, in terms of, you know, who you guys will take on as clients, or are there like, are there minimums? Is it kind of like we'll meet you where you're at? Does it flip to AUM at certain point? Like, how did you guys decide about going that direction, I guess?

SPEAKER_02 13:12

Yeah. So when it comes to wealth management, and I'm I'm sure you both are familiar with this as well, but in this industry, traditionally, there are minimums to when you can get access to a wealth advisor or a financial planner, or especially a CFP. And that's usually a million-dollar minimum or $10,000 fee. So if you don't have a million dollars and if you're not comfortable paying $10,000, you may not be getting access to high quality advice. You could probably still

No Asset Minimum Flexible Fees

SPEAKER_02 13:40

find somebody, but the element, are they a certified financial planner? Are they thinking about things holistically? We're not sure. So that's where we really believe wealth doesn't start just when you reach a million dollars. People are continuously building wealth throughout their lives in many different levels and chapters. So it's important to have somebody sooner rather than later instead of waiting until you reach that threshold. So how we build that internally is actually we have a minimum uh fee to work with us, but we don't have an asset minimum. So we encourage all clients to start with a planning engagement, whether that's a consultation or a project-based engagement, or more of that traditional retainer model of working with a financial advisor. Um, so for individuals who are just getting started, or maybe a lot of their money is locked up in equity in their company, they're still able to work with us where they can cover the fee. Um, but if they have the assets, uh, which typically I would say anywhere between that 500 to 750,000, then we'll waive the planning fee and then they just pay the AUM fee at that point. Um, so we always say, you know, there's a minimum cost for our service, but we want to be flexible to make sure we're able to work with as many people as possible. So if you can cover it from AUM, that's great. If you can cover it from cash flow, that's great too.

SPEAKER_00 14:57

Yeah. I love it. You'll make it work one way or another. Um, how about outside of Zenith? I see you're a council member both at CNBC and at your alma mater, and then also a CFP board ambassador. So if you don't mind, let's touch on those three for a second. Kind of how did you get involved with your alma mater and like what are you doing there at Syracuse?

SPEAKER_02 15:16

Yeah, I'm too busy, but you know, it's all good busy, I promise. So it's all good busy. So when I was at Syracuse, I had an incredible experience. Um, I always say, you know, those are some of outside of the Carmelo Anthony year, uh, those are some of the most fun basketball years, in my opinion. We were in the Sweet 16 twice, Elite Eight, Final Four, like it, nothing better than you know, going to a school that's uh reaching the guy living your best life in college. Oh, it was amazing. Um, but I noticed that at Syracuse they only focused on corporate finance and they didn't have a focus on financial planning. Um, so you know, I always want say that I want to give back in different ways. And it's important for me to hopefully help, you know, the Chelsea that may be there right now, who's similarly interested in financial planning and doesn't even know how to get into it, how she can navigate and maneuver. So I've been partnering with the school to help with alumni engagement for young alumni, so offering financial planning programs for young alumni, but also now talking to the students. And um, right now, Syracuse is actually rolling out a university-wide financial literacy or financial planning course, a one-credit course. So starting to help the school identify how they can position that in frame that so all the students are feeling more confident about their finances. Um that's a little some of the work that I'm doing there.

SPEAKER_00 16:42

Yeah. Very cool. And then how about the work over at the CFP board?

SPEAKER_02 16:46

Yeah, so CFP board, I am a CFP ambassador. So really the goal of CFP ambassador is to make sure the public is aware of what a certified financial planner professional does and how they help individuals and how they think about things holistically. Um, and just being an advocate for the organization. So they've been really amazing to provide some incredible opportunities for me, whether it's connecting with media or um potentially looking at like on-air opportunities. So, really just to be an advocate of what a certified financial planner is and what we do. Um, and it's been really rewarding to also be able to help when it comes to potentially talking to people who are looking to get into the profession.

SPEAKER_01 17:31

Yeah. Yeah. I have to ask this if it's okay with you, like, how do you do all of this? Because I know like a lot of people that we talk to, they're busy, they're business

Syracuse CFP Board And Public Education

SPEAKER_01 17:40

owners, but you have a lot of stuff going on, right? I would imagine that at some points, like it kind of gets stressful a little bit at least, or like you have to have ways of like decompressing. So, what are some of your like tips, tricks for like, okay, like I gotta like be able to chill out or like re-gather myself a little bit? Um, like how how do you keep yourself like level?

SPEAKER_02 18:03

You know, the most important word I've learned over the past two years is delegate.

SPEAKER_01 18:07

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 18:08

I've learned that I do not need to do everything. And I think I learned that relatively quickly. I've noticed in comparison to I think some other advisors, I think we're always trained to be incredible advisors, but we're not always trained to be really great managers. And I knew that if I could be a great manager, effectively I could have more of an impact. So whenever I see something come across, and it's difficult sometimes, but I really challenge myself to say, like, is this actually something that Chelsea needs to do? Or is this like an ego moment where it's like, oh, I need to do everything and I feel like I need to do it? Um, and typically when I challenge myself in that way, I notice I don't need to do it and I can give somebody else the opportunity. Um I was talking to another advisor as I was struggling with this early on, and um, he he said to me, He's like, think about the opportunities you're taking away from your team because they're not getting the opportunity to learn and try these things because you're holding them so close. Yeah. And I was like, that's such a good point, right? If especially knowing um my core values and our mission here at Zenith, like I don't want to take away opportunities from them. So being really intentional to bring them in, encouraging them to meet with clients, helping them. I think I started last year, I had over 120 clients, and I'm down to 55. So you're slowly going in the right direction, which then gives me more time for these other pieces.

SPEAKER_01 19:33

Yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_02 19:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:34

So as the firm grows, you know, where do you see or how do you see your position changing? Or, you know, how are you gonna delegate more to make sure that you're keeping the mission of Xenith going?

SPEAKER_02 19:44

I'm definitely going to have to delegate more, which I can't even imagine delegating more, but I know it's important. So the core thing that I think I'll have to focus on is making sure I'm still present where people still feel like I'm part of the firm, because I think there's also an element of, you know, people don't want to feel passed around or that they're missing out on opportunities. So I still make sure that I'm connected with all of our clients in some way, whether it's through our newsletter

Delegation Culture And Bigger Impact

SPEAKER_02 20:10

or through events that we have, which gives me a really great opportunity to get FaceTime, even if it's only for a few seconds. Sure. So that people still feel connected with our firm, even if I'm not their advisor anymore. Um, and then also encouraging our team to understand what it takes to get to the next level. Like I would love to see one of them, you know, lean and be able to lead the team in a way that I may not necessarily need to, where I can really focus on running the business, being in the business. I love revenue operations, I love marketing. Like those are things that I'm really passionate and excited about, but I do still love serving clients too. Um but I know I need to give more time to those first two to be able to reach the level of impact that we're hoping for. Yeah, one of the missions that we talk about at Zenith is, you know, we want to generate a billion dollars in wealth for our clients. And we do that by tracking their net worth. So seeing the appreciation in their accounts, the growth in their net worth based on our advice. And then especially for our nonprofit and foundation clients, seeing the impact that they're able to make in the community. But we need more than 11 people to do that, right? Like we're talking about probably at least 30. So I know for sure that there will be a time where I won't have touch points with every single client, but still making sure that people feel heard and know that they have access to me if and when they need, I think is gonna be crucial.

SPEAKER_01 21:36

Yeah, and I mean the the culture too, right? Like that's everything. Like, because people see that the way that you've interacted with your clients and like that creates kind of the the company culture, the company vibe. And then they show their clients that same love and respect and um passion in their planning and all of that, and like it just keeps going. And I think that's really important from what I've seen in a lot of the successful firms. Is it's like they continue to scale, but they never lose, like, this is what our identity is, and this is who we are, and this is what our values are at a core level, right? And then they continue to multiply and serve more people, and they never quite lose that, right? Like, you obviously are going to have to take different roles as you kind of spearhead this thing. Um, but it it it's really cool that you guys are still managing to kind of keep that core feeling and those core values like top of mind. Yeah. So um, for a financial planner that's out there, that's maybe like where you were when you were originally like, wait, you can do that? Does the SEC know about this? I didn't even know start your own thing. What advice would you give to somebody that's maybe out there at like a Charles Schwab, like, you know, helping people get back into locked accounts, but they have like this aspiration or this desire to go start their own RIA one day?

SPEAKER_02 22:52

What I would say is do your market research. I always say, if we didn't have to do this, I wouldn't have done this. Like I would have been more than happy to join an RIA

Advice For New RIAs And Niches

SPEAKER_02 23:05

and, you know, be able to do the work that we're doing. But I couldn't find any. Like I truly could not find anything that was doing or any company or RIA that was doing the work that we're trying to do. So I think in that moment I realized, well, then we have to create it if we want to see the change that we want to see. But I think that's an important question for anyone who's potentially looking to join the fee-only uh wealth management space, is seeing, do you want to be an owner or do you really just want to be part of a team? And there's no right or wrong answer, but I think it's important to know what your zone of genius is and what you're excellent at. I meet incredible advisors every day who don't want to be business owners, or I meet individuals who are really passionate about being business owners, but maybe they don't want to, they'll want to transition out of being an advisor in the future, maybe more into management. So it's important to know what your North Star is and where you want to go. And then starting to have conversations with people who are in those spaces and asking them the good, the bad, and the ugly, right? Not just the, oh, I get my Fridays off and I get the summers and I can do what I want. Like those are great, but you know, compliance is also an incredible headache. Dealing with investment operations or uh dealing with some of the frustrations when you have to deal with bookkeeping and accounting is also very difficult as a business owner. So just understanding where you want to be and what your passions are, and then trying to connect with individuals that are doing that similar work so you can hear, you know, the truth about what that work looks like.

SPEAKER_00 24:35

I love it. Um any other golden nuggets you were thinking of, Chelsea, before coming on the podcast or something you want to just get out there as a broad message to other fee only planners?

SPEAKER_02 24:45

Yeah. Um, hmm. You know, I would say for any other planners who are looking to join the fee only space, I would also say do the research to understand, you know, what type of client and what your zone of genius is. So we talk about zones of genius often at Zenith, where we have our broad clients that we work with at the firm, but there's always that sweet, that, that thing that you're really, really good at. Um, and I would say here specifically for me, I love equity compensation. Like it, I could read about it, I could talk about it all day. We'll have to do that on a another podcast episode. But um I know that that keeps me awake and I know that excites me, and I know that that's something unique that I bring to the table. And making sure that clients are aware, especially if you are looking to hone in and grow your book of business. So leaning into your zone of genius, understanding who your clients are, what their pain points are, and just making sure that everything you're creating or producing is aligned with that.

SPEAKER_01 25:51

Yeah, great advice. And I can say firsthand, uh, you're a great follower on LinkedIn. You put out some really cool stuff. A lot of it's very clever, uh, some good gifts uh and some different things. So uh really appreciate you taking the time to come on the podcast, Chelsea. For those that want to follow along or connect with you further, uh, what are the best ways to do that?

SPEAKER_02 26:12

So you can find me on LinkedIn at Chelsea Ransom Cooper CFP. You can also learn more about the work we're doing at zenith at zenithwealth.partners. Um, and I'm also on Instagram at Chelsea.cfp.

Where To Follow And Closing

SPEAKER_00 26:26

Awesome. Awesome. Chelsea, thank you so much for your expertise today.

SPEAKER_02 26:31

Thank you.