For advisers Harvey Spira and Stuart  Conley, the decision was an easy one after affiliating with a major  wirehouse for a number of years. They chose to become investment advisory representatives, and thus their New York City–based Hyperion Wealth Advisors was born in June 2013.

Together, Spira and Conley affiliated as IARs with National Holdings Corporation,  a holding company for several major  financial services firms. With more than 1,100 independent advisers, brokers, traders and sales associates, National Holdings includes two operating subsidiaries, National Securities Corp., which holds Hyperion’s broker/dealer Series 7, and also National Asset Management, a registered investment adviser that holds Hyperion’s Series 65.

“We are dual licensed through them and 98 percent of our business is fee-based only,” says Spira. “We charge a monthly fee to our clients. We do very little commission business, and where we would charge a commission, they are o