Pros

The People and Environment It is a real gift to work with people I genuinely enjoy, feel challenged by, and have a great time with while doing really good work for our clients. A nice side benefit is knowing I'm in for a few really good laughs with my colleagues on any given day. Teams across the firm often provide training opportunities on Investments, Taxes, etc. People genuinely seem to care about their colleagues learning more. Overall, I just feel supported by the people here and enjoy a great work/life balance! The Location and Office Space I really try to not take our office location for granted, especially the view! IT IS INCREDIBLE! Being located on the 74th floor provides the best views available in Seattle. The View Deck that people pay for is one floor below us. The food options downtown, when I choose to eat out, are incredible. The company recently installed electric standing for anyone who wanted one. These desks have really made a big difference in the way I feel each day (vs. sitting all the time). The gym in the building was recently remodeled and is excellent, especially considering it is only $15/month. Fun Annual company retreats are a ton of fun and a great place to have some additional fun and connection with my colleagues. Locations over the last 6 years have been: Kauai, Laguna Beach, Sun Valley, San Diego, and Suncadia. Holiday parties are really nice and a lot of fun. In addition to this, we've had a summer kickball event each year for the firm and many different team-specific events too (think paddle boarding, ax throwing, karaoke, ping pong at Spin Seattle, F-1 go kart racing, etc.) The Benefits Comp: Freestone is the first company I've worked for where compensation is actually market driven and supported based on Schwab's RIA benchmarking study with 12,000+ RIAs submitting their comp data for all positions. Previous places I have been at were more like "this is what we think..." rather than actually base comp on the high side of real market data. Free Lunches 4 different lunch options are paid for and provided by Freestone each day (Mon - Fri) - Salads, Sandwiches, Pizza, Thai, Fried Chicken, etc. There are always both meat and veggie options each day. Annual 401K match I've worked for a handful of different companies over my career (3 in Financial Services) and the annual 401K match is definitely the best I've had or heard of from other RIAs around. Profit Sharing How many RIAs actually do this for all of their employees?! I know the previous places I've worked didn't and unfortunately many RIAs don't as well. All employees received an identical amount in their 401K when certain thresholds are hit! Freestone LP Investments The LPs portion of our business provides significant value to our clients by giving them access to investments they might not otherwise have access to. When our clients have done really well, we have done really well too with yet another bonus opportunity to add to our total comp amount in a given year (and these have been very generous!) Summer Fridays Last summer was our first summer of doing this. The office was closed early each Friday so we could spend more time outdoors and with our friends & family. I was really surprised how much this meant to me once we began doing it. The 3 extra hours each Friday helped kick off each summer weekend in a really nice way. Volunteer Days Volunteer opportunities are offered and encouraged and in turn results in a day of extra PTO. This was a really nice addition a few years back.

Cons

Definitely not a place for those who just want to coast and not put forth a meaningful effort in doing good work for our clients, or for those who really don't want to advance in their career. Benefits overall are incredibly generous (market leaders in many categories for sure), but the medical and dental options are just average based on what I've seen and heard from others at different RIAs and financial services organizations - most specifically for those with spouses and/or children. Would love to see more improvements where possible in this area.