This week, David Lau talks with Tom McCarthy, Chief Distribution Officer at DPL Financial Partners. Tom is a highly accomplished sales leader in financial services. He understands how the RIA industry evolves and helps firms leverage innovative investment strategies and emerging technologies to drive organic growth and deliver better client outcomes. At DPL, Tom helps accelerate the firm's continued expansion into advisory-centric insurance, structured solutions, and enterprise-level adoption across the RIA and wealth-management ecosystem.David and Tom discuss the evolution of the advice model, industry stigmas, and how commission-free annuities can be powerful income differentiators for RIAs. From his early fight to shift from a commission-based to a fee-only model, Tom shares his journey from fee-based startups to the explosion of the RIA channel. He also discusses how technology and strategic partnerships enable financial advisors to provide holistic financial well-being rather than just stock picking.