How to Name Your Financial Planning or Wealth Management Firm

Naming your financial services business is one of the most important decisions you’ll make as an advisor—and one of the most overlooked.

Of course, not every advisor is free to name their business what they want. Some are also constrained by certain naming conventions decided by your firm (they have a brand to manage, too). You must do what you can, but for those who have a say in their firm name or are thinking they might need to name their business in the future, read on!

Naming your business is not just about coming up with a catchy name. It’s not about picking a name that sounds impressive on paper. And it’s definitely not about slapping your last name in front of “Wealth Management” and calling it a day.

Your firm name is a marketing decision.

It’s the first thing potential clients see. It’s what they’ll type into Google, share with their friends, repeat to their spouse, and—if you’ve done it right—recommend to others. It appears on every email, social media profile, podcast intro, and referral conversation.

In other words, your company name isn’t just a label. It’s the foundation of your brand identity. It needs to attract new clients, differentiate you from the thousands of other financial advisors out there, and endure as your business grows—whether you’re launching a startup firm, rebranding an existing practice, or transitioning to an RIA.

And yet, too many financial planners and wealth advisors treat naming like an afterthought.

At Bill Good Marketing, we’ve spent over 45 years helping advisors build systems to acquire clients, deepen relationships, and grow their businesses. We’ve seen firsthand how the right name supports—or sabotages—a marketing strategy. That’s why we approach naming differently.

This isn’t just a brainstorming exercise. It’s a marketing-first naming process designed to help you choose a business name that works for your target audience, makes referrals easier, builds trust with potential clients, and scales as you grow.

In this article, we’ll walk you through:

• The three roles your name needs to play
• The most common naming mistake advisors make
• Our 5-step marketing-first naming framework
• A name-building matrix to simplify brainstorming
• How to secure your domain name, brand name, and legal rights

If you’re naming a financial advisory firm, planning a rebrand, partnering with another advisor and therefore need a name change, or launching a new firm entirely, this guide will give you the tools to choose a name that’s more than catchy—it’s strategic, scalable, and designed for long-term success.

3 Critical Roles Your Firm’s Name Must Play

Before you start brainstorming name ideas or testing domain names, it’s crucial to understand what your firm name actually needs to do. A great name isn’t just about what you like—it’s about what works for your clients and your business strategy.

At Bill Good Marketing, we’ve worked with thousands of financial advisors, wealth advisors, and financial planners over the years. We’ve seen names that attract new clients effortlessly—and names that make it harder to grow, scale, or transition.

A strong company name needs to pass three tests:

1. It Must Attract Your Ideal Client

Your firm name is your first impression. It should resonate with the emotions, values, and goals of your target audience. Whether you serve retirees, entrepreneurs, multi-generational families, or executives, your name needs to feel relevant and trustworthy to the people you want to attract.

Ask yourself:

• “Does our name align with the kind of financial advice we deliver?”
• “Will this name appeal to the clients we want to work with?”
• “Does it sound credible for services like wealth management, financial planning, and retirement planning?”

A name that attracts the wrong audience—or no audience—costs you prospects, trust, and growth.

2. It Must Differentiate You From the Competition

Let’s face it: financial services firms love the same handful of words. How many “Summit Wealth Management,” “Pinnacle Financial Services,” and “Legacy Advisory Group” names are already out there?

Your firm name needs to stand out in a sea of sameness. It should reflect what makes YOU and your advisory firm unique—whether that’s a niche focus, a service model, or a client experience.

Tip: Just because a name sounds impressive doesn’t mean it’s memorable. A unique, authentic name is easier to recall (and refer) than a generic one.

3. It Must Endure Through Growth and Transition

Finally, your name needs to last. You may be a solo advisor now, but what happens when you add partners? Or transition to a new generation? Or decide to sell your practice?

A name tied too closely to one person—or one moment—can limit future options. We’ve seen firms struggle with rebrands, succession plans, or advisor recruitment simply because their name wasn’t built to scale.

A great name works whether you’re a small business startup, a growing RIA, or an established practice looking to transition to new leadership.

The Bottom Line

A name isn’t just a creative decision. It’s a marketing strategy. It needs to attract potential clients, differentiate your brand, and endure over time.

Before you start generating name ideas, you need to know exactly what you want your name to do for your business.

A Big Mistake Advisors Make: Naming It After Themselves

Let’s address the elephant in the room.

You might be thinking, “Isn’t this rich coming from Bill Good Marketing?” After all, our company name literally has Bill’s name on the door.

Guilty as charged.

But here’s the thing—we’re not a financial advisory firm or wealth management practice. We’re a marketing, practice management, and branding system, built by Bill, with Bill’s philosophy at its core. For us, the name made sense.

For you? Maybe not.

In fact, naming your financial advisory firm after yourself is one of the bigger mistakes advisors make when launching a new firm or rebranding. While it might feel natural (or even flattering), it can create real challenges down the road. Here’s why:

It ties the business too closely to you.

When your name is on the sign, clients expect you—and only you. Every phone call, every meeting, every question ends up back on your desk. Delegating becomes harder. Scaling becomes harder. Selling the practice? Even harder.

We’ve coached advisors who wanted to retire, only to realize their firm name made clients hesitant to work with the next generation of advisors.

It limits recruiting.

Think about it: if you’re a young advisor choosing between two firms, are you more likely to join “John Smith Wealth Management”… or “Lone Peak Private Wealth”? One feels like a team. The other feels like you’re playing second fiddle to the founder.

The name on the door sends a message—not just to clients, but to future team members.

It reduces your future flexibility.

A name tied to you personally can complicate succession planning, mergers, and even compliance processes with your broker-dealer or RIA. Buyers want a brand they can take over—not just a person’s reputation.

Does it ever make sense?

Sure. Some names—like Bill Good, Raymond James, Edward Jones—carry weight and recognition in their industry. And if you’ve already built a strong personal brand with your name, there’s no shame in keeping it.

But for most advisors building a small business, launching a new firm, or planning a rebrand, naming the business after yourself creates more headaches than help.

Our goal? To help you choose a firm name that doesn’t just honor where you’ve been—but paves the way for where you’re going.

The “Marketing-First” Naming Framework: 5 Steps to a Name That Works

By now, you know your firm name is more than a creative label—it’s the foundation of your marketing strategy, your brand identity, and your client experience.

At Bill Good Marketing, we’ve spent over four decades helping advisors grow their firms through systems that connect every piece of the business: referrals, prospecting, client service, communication, and more.

We don’t believe in picking names just because they “sound good.” We believe in names that work.

Names that fit your target audience.

Names that make it easy for potential clients to talk about you.

Names that support your growth—whether you’re adding new clients, hiring more advisors, or prepping for succession.

That’s why we created the Marketing-First Naming Framework.

Here’s how it works:

Step 1: Define Your Differentiator

Before start brainstorming name ideas, answer these questions:

• What makes your financial advisory firm unique?
• Who exactly are you serving—high-net-worth individuals? Entrepreneurs? Retirees? Families?
• What problems do you solve better than anyone else?

If you specialize in retirement planning for business owners, or holistic wealth management for medical professionals, your name should hint at that focus. Generic names won’t attract your ideal target audience.

Example: A firm serving physicians might choose a name evoking trust, precision, or healing.

Step 2: Identify Client Outcomes

Your clients don’t just buy financial advice—they buy peace of mind, freedom, confidence, and security.

Your firm name should evoke an emotion or outcome aligned with their goals.

Ask:

• How do you want clients to feel after working with you?
• What’s the transformation your firm delivers?

Example: “Legacy,” “Bridge,” or “Horizon” all evoke multi-generational planning or forward-looking financial strategies.

This step turns your name from descriptive to aspirational, speaking to the future your clients want.

Step 3: Map Your Name to Your Referral Conversations

This is where most business name ideas fall apart.

If your name is hard to say, hard to spell, or unclear, you’ve just made it harder for your best clients to refer you.

Test it:

• Can a client easily tell a friend, “You should call XYZ Wealth Management”?
• Does the name make sense out loud, not just in writing?
• Would someone hearing it for the first time immediately understand it’s a financial services firm?

If a client can’t pronounce it, or a friend confuses it for a tech company or gym, it’s time to go back to the drawing board.

Step 4: Check for Digital Compatibility

A name isn’t just for your sign—it needs to work everywhere:

• Is the domain name available?
• Can you get consistent social media handles?
• Does it fit in a podcast intro or video tagline?
• Will it rank well in search results alongside words like financial advisor or investment advice?

Many names get thrown out at this step—not because they’re bad, but because they’re unavailable online or too similar to competitors.

Example: “Summit Wealth” might sound great… until you realize there are 17 other Summit Wealths with existing domains and LinkedIn pages.

Step 5: Validate for the Future

Finally, before locking it in, ask:

• Will this name work if you add more wealth advisors or expand your team?
• Does it tie you to one geography or niche that may change?
• Does it support your exit or succession strategy if you sell the firm?

A name shouldn’t box you into a corner. It should grow with you, whether you stay a boutique RIA or scale into a multi-advisor financial group.

Bottom Line

This 5-step naming process doesn’t just give you a catchy name. It gives you a name that works inside your marketing system—supporting your referrals, outreach, brand, and growth.

And once you’ve worked through these steps? That’s where the fun begins.

In the next section, we’ll show you how to use our Name Building Matrix to generate dozens of business name ideas tailored to your firm’s focus, audience, and goals.

Financial Planning Name Idea Generator — A Simple Matrix for a Meaningful, Scalable Name

When it’s time to name—or rename—your financial advisory firm, you don’t need a generic list of buzzwords. You need a name that captures who you are, what you stand for, and the experience you deliver to clients.

At Bill Good Marketing, we’ve found the best names combine a meaningful image, location, or symbol with a professional firm structure like “Wealth Advisors” or “Advisory Group.”

Think names like:

• Aerial Wealth Advisors (evoking leadership, precision, and flight)
• Ironwood Advisory Group (symbolizing strength and longevity)
• Bridgewater Private Wealth (suggesting connection and trust)

But here’s the secret: the best names don’t come from a random list—they come from you.

We encourage advisors to create a name-building matrix of their own. (More on this below!)

Sit down with your team—or, if you’re just starting out, even with your spouse, partner, or a trusted friend—and start brainstorming words that represent:

• Your values
• The emotions you want clients to feel
• The outcomes you deliver
• Imagery or places meaningful to you or your community

Some of the most powerful words won’t come from a thesaurus. They’ll come from the way your clients describe their experience with you.

We’ve seen this firsthand.

A Real-World Example: Sincerity Wealth Solutions

David Scott had been a long-time client of ours at Bill Good Marketing. For years, he operated under “Scott Financial Services”. But when he brought on a new partner, he realized the firm had outgrown its original name.

It wasn’t just about him anymore.

Instead of picking a name that sounded impressive or trendy, David and his partner talked directly with their clients. They asked, “What makes us different? Why did you choose us?”

Again and again, clients used words like “honest,” “genuine,” “authentic,” and “caring.”

After brainstorming together, they landed on a name that reflected their shared values and the emotions their clients felt every time they walked into the office: Sincerity Wealth Solutions.

It wasn’t flashy. It wasn’t cliché. But it was meaningful—and it worked.

Their clients loved it. Their team felt proud of it. And new clients immediately understood what kind of experience to expect.

The Name Idea Matrix

Your firm name doesn’t have to sound like every other wealth management company. It should sound like you.

That’s why we recommend building your own name matrix, pulling words from categories like:

Add your own words. Talk with your team. Ask your clients. Find the images, places, and metaphors that align with your mission and the outcomes you deliver.

Then mix and match across the columns to create names that are simple, professional, and authentic to you.

We’ve seen advisors use this process to create names tied to their hometowns, cultural backgrounds, or personal stories. Others have chosen names that reflect the journey they guide their clients through—retirement, business transitions, multi-generational wealth transfer.

Why This Approach Works

This process helps you:

• Avoid generic, overused names
• Build a name rooted in your story and client experience
• Get buy-in from partners and team members
• Create a name that’s easier for clients to remember and refer

Naming your firm shouldn’t happen in isolation. Some of the best names come from the people who know you best—and the clients who already trust you.

Once you’ve created a shortlist, you’re ready for the next step: checking domain availability, securing social handles, and making it official.

How to Validate and Register Your New Firm Name

Once you’ve brainstormed your shortlist of names—whether using our matrix or your own—it’s time to put them to the test. Because no matter how great a name sounds in your head, if the domain is taken, the trademark is in use, or your broker-dealer won’t approve it, you’re back to square one.

Here’s how to take your top 2–3 name ideas and turn them into a real, legally sound, client-facing brand.

Check Domain Name Availability

Before you get attached to a name, make sure you can own the digital real estate. Your domain is your home base online—it’s how potential clients find you, refer you, and research your financial services.

Search for availability at:

• GoDaddy.com
• Namecheap.com
• Squarespace.com

Tip: Stick with “.com” if possible. It’s still the most trusted and professional domain suffix for financial firms.

Also check for availability across social media platforms. Consistency matters, especially if you’ll be marketing on LinkedIn, YouTube, or hosting a podcast.

Search for Existing Trademarks

Just because a name seems unused doesn’t mean it’s legally free.

Search the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) database: https://www.uspto.gov/trademarks

If a name is already registered or even pending in your category, it could be off-limits. And if you use a name that’s too close to another firm’s, you could face legal or compliance issues—especially if you’re affiliated with a larger RIA or broker-dealer.

When in doubt, consult with an attorney before locking in your name.

Confirm Broker-Dealer or RIA Approval

If you’re affiliated with a platform like Raymond James or LPL, your new firm name must be approved for compliance. Some firms have naming guidelines, especially around how “group,” “partners,” “wealth,” or “advisory” is used.

Even if you’re registered as your own RIA, it’s still wise to run the name past your compliance team or legal advisor before proceeding.

Register Your Business Name

Once cleared legally and digitally, you’ll need to register your firm name as a legal entity in your state. This step may vary slightly depending on your state’s process, but typically involves:

• Checking your state’s business registry for name availability
• Registering with your state’s Department of Commerce or Secretary of State
• Filing your LLC, S-Corp, or other entity type using the new firm name

This is also a good time to speak with your CPA about tax implications and structure.

Secure Your Brand Assets

Once everything is official, lock down all assets that carry your brand identity, including:

• Domain name (buy it—even if you’re not launching the website yet)
• Social media handles (especially LinkedIn)
• Email addresses and forwarding setup
• Logo design and brand style guide
• Email signature and digital presence updates

This is also when you’ll want to update any client-facing materials with your new name: brochures, client onboarding documents, website, email campaigns, and so on.

Final Thought

A good name helps build momentum. It inspires your team. It energizes your clients. And most importantly—it gives your firm room to grow. It’s not just about finding a catchy phrase. It’s about laying the foundation for a brand your clients trust and refer for years to come.

Your Firm Name Is Just the Beginning—Let’s Build What Comes Next

Choosing the right name for your financial advisory firm is more than a creative exercise. It’s the first—and arguably most important—decision you’ll make in building a firm that’s scalable, referable, and built to last.

A great name helps you attract your ideal client, differentiate your brand in a crowded market, and position your firm for future growth—whether you plan to add partners, expand services, or someday sell your business.

But here’s the truth: your name is only the beginning.

Once you’ve chosen your firm name, the real work begins.

That name needs to be carried into every part of your marketing system:

• How do you introduce yourself on the phone
• How clients refer you to friends
• How your emails, website, and social media show up online
• How prospects experience your brand from the first touch to the first appointment
• Without a system tying it all together, even the best name won’t reach its full potential.

That’s where we come in!

For over 45 years, Bill Good Marketing has helped financial advisors, not just with a logo or a slogan, but with a complete, proven marketing system designed to grow your firm through better practice management, more referrals, and stronger, scalable processes that let you spend more time in front of clients (and less time chasing paperwork).

We’ve helped advisors like David Scott go from operating under their own name to launching a new, powerful brand like Sincerity Wealth Solutions—and more importantly, backing that name with marketing strategies that helped them grow.

We’ve helped advisors rebrand their firms, integrate new partners, and set the stage for seamless succession planning.

And we can help you, too.

If you’re naming a new firm, rebranding an existing practice, or just want to make sure your brand and marketing are working together to attract the right clients—we’re here to guide you every step of the way.

Let’s not just choose a name.

Let’s build a system that brings your name to life, grows your business, deepens client loyalty, and sets you up for long-term success.

Contact us today to learn how the Bill Good Marketing System can help you turn your firm’s name into a brand that clients trust, refer, and stay with—year after year.