Good Life Companies, a network of independent advisors based in Reading, Pa. which includes an RIA and a major affiliate of LPL Financial, has opened a second headquarters in Celebration, Fla., an Orlando suburb and community that was developed by The Walt Disney Company.

The new location will open by the end of this year and will house Good Life founder and CEO Conor Delaney, as well as other C-Suite, advisor recruiting and marketing executives. Sean Mest, senior director of operations, will lead the Reading office.

“As we've expanded our headcount, we feel like there's a great opportunity to bring new talent to the organization,” said Delaney. “Because we have great universities and schools, all within an hour and a half to two hours of here, it allows us to open up a whole new range of perspectives in terms of the different employees we're looking to hire over the two next years. .

Delaney also believes it will help with recruiting, as Orlando is a much easier place for counselors to access. The new office will be 20 minutes from the Orlando airport, compared to Reading, which was an hour and a half from the airport.

“We always felt like if we could get advisors to show them what that independence-driven business model looked like in Reading, Pennsylvania, we had a good chance of them taking that leap of faith and joining our model of independent business,” he said. “But the challenge was always, how do we get them to Reading?”

Delaney founded Good Life in 2012 as a solo financial planning practice. Since then, it has grown from a founder-led organization to one with an executive leadership team and 70 employees across its RIA and service organization, providing marketing, lead generation, outsourced investment management and virtual administration. The firm's AUM has grown 180% over the past five years.

The firm's core model has been to provide a soft landing for advisers coming off the wire, covering their real estate, infrastructure, technology, training and support, like 1099 independent contractors. But Good Life is also considering launching a W2 employee model.

In 2021, the firm launched a new RIA as a way to attract referrals outside of LPL. He initially held that RIA with Raymond James, with plans to have relationships with five to six other broker/dealers. But it closed in 2023.

Delaney said his firm is committed to working with LPL.