"This clown, Rightway, wastes so much time that it's a wonder he has not washed out already--but then it's been a gravy train since 1982 so nobody has."

The exception, of course, is you Put.

Put wrote-

"There are about 5,000 mutual funds–"



How many Put?  My god, grab the back of your head and pull your head out of your butt and read 1 copy Money Magazine.

[quote=rightway]Put wrote-

"There are about 5,000 mutual funds–"



How many Put?  My god, grab the back of your head and pull your head out of your butt and read 1 copy Money Magazine.

[/quote]



Damn you’re right.  There are not 5,000 there are 5,129 equity funds that you can choose from.



Your grasp of useless information is awe inspiring.



If you’d stop reading Money magazine and develop a relationship with
Merrill’s mutual fund department you’ll find that you have more time to
devote to what is expected of you.



Merrill has no need for a guy who knows precisely how many mutual funds
there are–nor is there a need in a branch for a guy who can add
alpha.  You have one job–to pick up the phone and contact people
who have money that they worry about.



Nothing less but nothing more–you are a one-trick pony.

[quote=rightway]Put wrote-

"There are about 5,000 mutual funds–"



How many Put?  My god, grab the back of your head and pull your head out of your butt and read 1 copy Money Magazine.

[/quote]



ROFLMFAO…well said rightway.  Oh and in his response Put
changes his tune to imply he was referring only to EQUITY funds, which
is not what he first stated…but he does what he must to cover up an
obvious mistake.



I see our friend PT has managed to alienate another regular contributor to the board…big shock.

JoeDaMan- is this guy a trip or what… I still think we should drop
him off in Bed Stuy with him wearing a white cape and hood… That
should do it…

My one-trick works.  Triple your liquid assets and I can refer you
to my intern.  My manager will appreciate the charitable donation.

[quote=Put Trader]

Your grasp of useless information is awe inspiring.



If you’d stop reading Money magazine and develop a relationship with
Merrill’s mutual fund department you’ll find that you have more time to
devote to what is expected of you.



Merrill has no need for a guy who knows precisely how many mutual funds
there are–nor is there a need in a branch for a guy who can add
alpha.  You have one job–to pick up the phone and contact people
who have money that they worry about.

[/quote]



There you go…NOW you sound just like a branch manager from a wirehouse…:  "Hey
look kid, don’t worry about whether it’s a good product or not, or
about whether or not it will make your clients money…just get on
the phone and sell the damn thing.  Let’s put some lipstick on
this pig, ok?"



A perfect example of the messed up attitude that has brought our
industry to the sad state it is in today…I appreciate your giving
the rookies on the board a chance to see what they’re in for if they
end up with a bad manager…

[quote=joedabrkr]

[quote=Put Trader]

Your grasp of useless information is awe inspiring.



If you’d stop reading Money magazine and develop a relationship with
Merrill’s mutual fund department you’ll find that you have more time to
devote to what is expected of you.



Merrill has no need for a guy who knows precisely how many mutual funds
there are–nor is there a need in a branch for a guy who can add
alpha.  You have one job–to pick up the phone and contact people
who have money that they worry about.

[/quote]



There you go…NOW you sound just like a branch manager from a wirehouse…:  "Hey
look kid, don’t worry about whether it’s a good product or not, or
about whether or not it will make your clients money…just get on
the phone and sell the damn thing.  Let’s put some lipstick on
this pig, ok?"



A perfect example of the messed up attitude that has brought our
industry to the sad state it is in today…I appreciate your giving
the rookies on the board a chance to see what they’re in for if they
end up with a bad manager…

[/quote]



What does a good manager do Joe?



Perhaps you can point to an example of where I said to put some lipstick on the pig and sell it?



Is it not possible to be a money raising machine and to put those funds into decent investments?

[quote=joedabrkr]


There you go…NOW you sound just like a branch manager from a wirehouse…:  "Hey
look kid, don’t worry about whether it’s a good product or not, or
about whether or not it will make your clients money…just get on
the phone and sell the damn thing.  Let’s put some lipstick on
this pig, ok?"



A perfect example of the messed up attitude that has brought our
industry to the sad state it is in today…I appreciate your giving
the rookies on the board a chance to see what they’re in for if they
end up with a bad manager…

[/quote]



Great Post.

For the rookies.



The two malcontents who are involved in a verbal circle jerk are toxic.



The reality is that you will find this job to be the most rewarding if
you focus on forming the relationships it takes to gather assets, turn
those assets over to others to manage, and go about gathering some more.



This is a sales job, not an analysts job.



Rightway waxes poetically about Alpha and Beta while Joedabrkr claims
that he runs discretionary money and is beating the S&P by 900
basis points.



They have no grasp of what the business is all about.



What is a joke to me is how they’ll sneer that transaction oriented
brokers are dinosaurs–then talk about how they spend their day in an
endless search for alpha.



It is too laugh.

Perhaps you can point to an example of where I said to put some lipstick on the pig and sell it?

Is it not possible to be a money raising machine and to put those funds into decent investments?



PUT, you have been saying this all along when you state that we
shouldnt worry about concepts such as Alpha, Sharpe, SD,etc. So you are
saying that our job is to smile and dial, while having no knowledge
base to decipher whether what we are slinging holds some merit with the
particular voice on the other end…

" Just pick up the phone, dont worry about adding alpha, and sell
whatever with no thought behind the due diligence involved in
recommending appropriate investments for our clients…"

Congrats Put, you have managed to alienate not only the “kids” on this
post, but also the members who are seasoned, knowledgeable, and
succesfull in the industry… no need to add these are all qualities
that even IF YOU DO POSSESS, is grossly overshadowed by your arrogant
and pompous replies… A PATHETIC OLD MAN… Put the keyboard down,
turn off your computer, and go hug your wife, she misses you since
April 8 th when you joined this site ( unfortunately, a dark day in
history’s annals)

For the rookies.



If you’re going to work at a firm–say Merrill–you have to have faith in their due dilligence.



It is ridiculous to think that you have the time, or the skills, to
determine if a certain mutual fund has the appropriate amount of alpha
or if it’s regression from the standard deviation is acceptable or not.



That’s why you’re working for Merrill–they have lots of really smart people in New York to manage the money you gather.



You cannot be completely unaware of what is going on but the idea that you should spend your time analyzing reports is crazy.



If you ever get the urge to worry about adding alpha do yourself a
favor–send an email to the headquarters staff saying, “Need help
adding alpha to account number 8712-2812.  Please take a look at
portfolio and advise.”  Then get out of the office and go meet a
client or prospect for lunch.



If a client ever asks you about alpha look at them knowingly and tell
them that you want to discuss it with the firm’s experts and you’ll let
him know.  Then go back to the office and send an email to the
home office that says, "Need help adding alpha to account…"



Get it–the thing about being smart in this business is to know where to go for help.

[quote=Put Trader]For the rookies.



If you’re going to work at a firm–say Merrill–you have to have faith in their due dilligence.



It is ridiculous to think that you have the time, or the skills, to
determine if a certain mutual fund has the appropriate amount of alpha
or if it’s regression from the standard deviation is acceptable or not.



That’s why you’re working for Merrill–they have lots of really smart people in New York to manage the money you gather.



You cannot be completely unaware of what is going on but the idea that you should spend your time analyzing reports is crazy.



If you ever get the urge to worry about adding alpha do yourself a
favor–send an email to the headquarters staff saying, “Need help
adding alpha to account number 8712-2812.  Please take a look at
portfolio and advise.”  Then get out of the office and go meet a
client or prospect for lunch.



If a client ever asks you about alpha look at them knowingly and tell
them that you want to discuss it with the firm’s experts and you’ll let
him know.  Then go back to the office and send an email to the
home office that says, "Need help adding alpha to account…"



Get it–the thing about being smart in this business is to know where to go for help.

[/quote]



That is actually a good post.  I would add- pay attention and
learn from the email you get back and become close with the people that
sent it to you.   Once again I would say YOU do not need to
add alpha, just understand what it is, how to evaluate it with risk,
and where to go to get it.

Put,

Like I have been saying, sometimes you DO add value to this forum. The
above post provided good advice- learning how to leverage the experts
within your firm to improve your business. I read the damn thing 3
times searching for a ridiculous comment, but found none. Good work
buddy, keep THOSE types of posts coming…

[quote=Put Trader]For the rookies.



If you’re going to work at a firm–say Merrill–you have to have faith in their due dilligence.



It is ridiculous to think that you have the time, or the skills, to
determine if a certain mutual fund has the appropriate amount of alpha
or if it’s regression from the standard deviation is acceptable or not.



That’s why you’re working for Merrill–they have lots of really smart people in New York to manage the money you gather.



You cannot be completely unaware of what is going on but the idea that you should spend your time analyzing reports is crazy.



If you ever get the urge to worry about adding alpha do yourself a
favor–send an email to the headquarters staff saying, “Need help
adding alpha to account number 8712-2812.  Please take a look at
portfolio and advise.”  Then get out of the office and go meet a
client or prospect for lunch.



If a client ever asks you about alpha look at them knowingly and tell
them that you want to discuss it with the firm’s experts and you’ll let
him know.  Then go back to the office and send an email to the
home office that says, "Need help adding alpha to account…"



Get it–the thing about being smart in this business is to know where to go for help.

[/quote]



Yes perhaps, but what passes for due diligence at the ‘majors’ often
really sucks, and is biased by politics, investment banking, profit
margins, and frankly, incompetence.  If these ‘experts’ were so
damn smart they’d be brokers, because they could make more money with
greater freedom…

[quote=Put Trader]For the rookies.



The two malcontents who are involved in a verbal circle jerk are toxic.



The reality is that you will find this job to be the most rewarding if
you focus on forming the relationships it takes to gather assets, turn
those assets over to others to manage, and go about gathering some more.



This is a sales job, not an analysts job.



Rightway waxes poetically about Alpha and Beta while Joedabrkr claims
that he runs discretionary money and is beating the S&P by 900
basis points.



They have no grasp of what the business is all about.



What is a joke to me is how they’ll sneer that transaction oriented
brokers are dinosaurs–then talk about how they spend their day in an
endless search for alpha.



It is too laugh.

[/quote]



Once again Put your ‘home office mentality’ is showing. 
See…you really think you have to be an ANALyst to invest people’s
money wisely?  No sir…you need to be intelligent, well read,
diligent, and most of all willing to think critically and question the
pablum that passes as conventional wisdom, including that produced by
home office ANALysts and economists.  That’s all.  You folks
in the ivory tower can’t figure that out, most likely because you’re
too busy creating policies and trying to decide whether tomorrow is the
day you’ll finally cut loose a little bit and wear a blue shirt with
your grey/blue wool suit instead of the standard white shirt…be a
renegade for a day.



Yes that’s right…I should just get on the phone, raise money, and
then place it with someone else to manage it…so I can generate the
same mediocre returns that everyone else is experiencing.



You don’t believe I’m generating those kinds of returns because you
can’t even concieve something like that would occur inside that little
box you’re living in.  True alpha?  Generated by some guy in
a BRANCH OFFICE?  No way…can’t happen unless you got at least
an 85 on your series 7(I did), and unless you get your CFA and kiss the
right tushies in management…impossible!



Well, I won’t deny it’s been a good stretch, and I put that record on
the line every day in this market.  And who knows if it will
continue.



I don’t really care if you believe me…my clients don’t have to
’believe’, because they get it on their performance reports every
single quarter.



But hey…I’m no better than a monkey with a cup of pencils…isn’t that something like what you said in another post? 



pfffft!



Oh…and by the way approximately 1/2 of my business is fees, not transactional.



Later.

[quote=Put Trader]

[/quote]



What does a good manager do Joe?



Keeps the lights on, the carpet
clean, the support staff functioning smoothly, and of course handles
compliance issues.  Maybe now and then if he has a truly
insightful and useful sales idea he shares it.  Otherwise,
however, he STAYS OUT OF MY WAY SO I CAN WORK!

Is it not possible to be a money raising machine and to put those funds into decent investments?

Yes it is.  And there are
successful advisors out there who follow that model.  Most of them
also don’t pay any attention to the ‘investment advice’ provided by
their managers and home office flunkys…



[/quote]

[quote=Put Trader] [quote=rightway]Stan-

I agree with you on the CFA. Level 1 wasn't too bad, level two absolutely leveled me- I could not believe how hard it was, and level 3, which is suppose to be the easiest one, is like a making myself throw up...I just can't bring myself to it.  I would go with the CFP no matter what (and that is also very difficult), then the CIMA if you are going to do any institutional and/or large charitable work.  A year ago I had one board member of a church ask a question about some MPT issues and I answered it and he smiled and said I was the only one of 3 teams that came in that knew what he was talking about (even though I think he was a wind bag showing off).  

I love how Put tells eveyone to focus on selling instead of "adding alpha", yet he cannot acknowledge the fact that reps need to have the ability to choose good managers and funds, not "add alpha".  A simple task he could not complete with my example.  I just think he missed the point because he is not in the business anymore.  He sounds like a broker who made a bunch of clients broke in the 70's with his poor recomendations...and is now bitter.

I agree with most of your posts Stan.
[/quote]

Note that we were told that a windbag asked a question that this soul was able to answer--but that the story does not end with, "...and as a result I opened a whale of an account."

The street is littered with types who know all the answers, but don't grasp that it's not their job to know the answers.  Your job is to gather assets--to open accounts.

[/quote]

What do you know, the old goat has  hit on something. But, as is his style, he got it only partly right. Your job IS to gather assets and it is NOT to be an analyst. People who never figure that out never succeed.<?:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

OTOH, your firm, is it's worthy of the term, won't be handing you a cookie cutter answer that you then turn and apply to every person you encounter (that's why the "'jes them there three funds" types get such deserved abuse). You need the skill and education required to apply the myriad of tools at your disposal to the specifics of the clients you work with. You have to be better at it than the others your clients and prospects encounter. You need to be a professional.

It ain't just smile and dial, and it ain't reinventing the investment wheel either.