In Going Independent: A Practitioner’s Guide to Launching Your Advisory Firm, Poch addresses:
- How to select right business model
- When to use private equity to grow and when to self-fund
- Short- and long-term strategies your new business will need
- How to attract the right employees and avoid the ones who won’t fit
Poch gives more than a dozen tips on how to improve your practice today, whether you stay or move. He offers a 210-point check list on issues to consider before you do move, and how to structure your new company correctly and avoid hidden landmines—saving you hundreds of thousands of dollars in the process.
If there is only one book every Advisor in the industry should own, it is Going Independent. It tells them whether they should stay at their firm, if they should trade to another big firm, go independent to a platform provider, or choose the most difficult path —going fully independent.
Limited First Edition Available July 4, 2026
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"I have long respected Chris for both his professional acumen and the integrity with which he approaches his work. In an industry that often rewards scale and visibility, Chris has built his reputation the way the best advisors do—through thoughtful judgment, disciplined thinking, and an unwavering commitment to doing right by clients.
What Chris has done in these pages is provide something many advisors seek but rarely find: a practical guide from someone who has actually navigated the path himself. He walks through the realities of independence—the strategic decisions, operational considerations, and cultural choices that shape whether a firm ultimately succeeds.
For advisors considering independence, this guide offers both clarity and a roadmap."
Founder & CEO, LVW Advisors
Barron’s Hall of Fame Member
Forbes Top 10 Wealth Advisor
Lori Van Dusen
What the industry’s most trusted voices are saying
"Going Independent is the resource I wish had existed when I was standing at that crossroads. It is practical, clear-eyed, and honest about what building something of your own actually requires. Chris has taken the accumulated wisdom of the independence journey and put it into a form that future generations of advisors can actually use — and that is no small thing, because this kind of consolidated, unfiltered guidance simply does not exist anywhere else.
If you are an advisor who has started to wonder whether ownership is the right path for you, I want to be direct: you owe it to yourself to read this cover to cover. Not to skim. Not to pull a chapter here and there. To sit with it, because what Chris has built here is a complete picture — and the details matter.
If you are an advisor who has started to wonder whether ownership is the right path for you, I want to be direct: you owe it to yourself to read this cover to cover. Not to skim. Not to pull a chapter here and there. To sit with it, because what Chris has built here is a complete picture — and the details matter."
Founder & CEO, SpirePoint Private Client
Trent Leyda
Money & Meaning is a candid exploration of what comes after financial success. The blueprint Poch offers empowers the reader to achieve family harmony, financial independence and peace of mind.
Its about aligning your capital with your values, avoiding the traps that quietly fracture families and approaching legacy with the same discipline you’ve brought to building wealth. If you believe money should be a tool for peace, unity, and purpose, this is your next essential read.
Money & Meaning
What I’ve Learned Advising the Very Wealthy
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"Chris is an extraordinary wealth advisor and partner who internalizes clients' goals and aspirations. He applies the fundamentals of portfolio management but also identifies proprietary thinking opportunities grounded in decades of cross cycle experience at the highest levels as a student of markets and industries. Chris has a voracious appetite for learning and continually identifies opportunity and creates value for others. He relishes in the success of those he counsels."
Managing Partner – Freidheim Capital, LLC & Bestselling Author
Scott Freidheim
"As a private wealth advisor for 37 years, I can attest to the common sense and practical ideas in Chris Poch’s new book, Money and Meaning: What I’ve Learned from Advising the Very Wealthy – But why do you really need to read this book? To take conventional ideas and use them as springboards for a financial life that reflects you. To grow your understanding of issues you don’t often see discussed: the role of risk in any portfolio; the temptation to make portfolio choices from avoidance rather than long term thinking; the role of money as a tool for your family – And hey, advisors! Get a ringside seat on what the smartest clients expect and how they are evaluating YOU!"
Co-Founder and President – Xcelerate Growth Partners, LLC
Baron’s Hall of Fame, Former Managing Director – Morgan Stanley, Private Wealth Advisor
Mary Deatherage
Chris has spent a lifetime collecting wisdom on one of life's most confounding questions: what is 'enough' and how can we get it? I am grateful for the practical wisdom he shares with the world.
Founder and Managing Partner – Phronesis Fund
Host – Art of Quality Podcast
John Candeto
I’ve known Chris Poch for 40 years and trust his financial judgement and integrity so much I made him the executor of my estate. Looking back over the years I’m struck by how often he’s been correct about the direction of markets. I didn’t always listen to him but If I had I’m sure I’d have more money now.
Founder – Groom Ventures, LLC
John Groom
Chris Poch is the very definition of integrity, emotional intelligence and thoughtfulness. During the more than 20 years that I’ve known Chris as an advisor, client and friend, he has consistently displayed a remarkable ability to see people as they are and as they hope to be. He is someone I trust without reservation.
Founder and CEO – Blue Heron Research Partners
Award-winning Financial Journalist, Fortune Magazine
David Rynecki
Throughout his successful career, Chris has always had his family, friends and clients at the forefront of his thoughts and actions. Trust has to be earned, and Chris has earned my unwavering trust through all of his endeavors. His ability to listen is one of his most valuable traits. Chris is able to listen and then understands the needs of his clients in a remarkable way. As you will see, his writing aptitude brings to each a way of ‘seeing’ what is and what can be.
Retired Senior Vice President, Financial Advisor – Morgan Stanley
Namesake for the APIC Sandee Smith Excellence Award
Sandee Smith
About the Author
Christopher F. Poch is the founder, CEO and Chief Investment Officer of Promethium Advisors, a wealth management firm serving family offices and high-net-worth individuals. Chris is recognized as a global leader in advising ultrahigh-net worth families managing taxable portfolios and directing structuring strategies. He has held senior positions at Bessemer Trust, the Private Bank, and Citibank’s International Private Bank. Over his four-decade career, he has received numerous industry awards and has been widely quoted in Barron’s and The Wall Street Journal. Chris is an avid basketball fan and involved in philanthropic activities with organizations that include Villanova University, the Society of the Sacred Heart, and the Order of Malta.
