[quote=Put Trader] [quote=joedabrkr]

And by the way your response is typical of one who is still drinking the wirehouse kool-aid.  Very defensive....put down the indy guys as being a step lower on the chain of evolution.

[/quote]

Odd that you'd choose to describe yourself as being a step lower in anybody's eyes.

I certainly never said that.  What I said was that it is my experience that most of the guys who break away do so for a variety of reasons, but the one most often cited is that you can make more money.

Yet study after study shows that that is not really true for the average guy.  The siren song of being independent quickly becomes the reality of having to pick up the tab for virtually everthing.

If you're sitting in an office at UBS you dont' give a damn about the cost of electricity, what it says in the phonebook, how much you have to send the IRS for Mary Sue's matching FICA, and on and on and on.

Oh sure you're giving UBS 60% or more of your gross but all the things UBS is giving you in return are worth a lot too.  Not to mention the fact that prospects immediately assign credibility to guys and gals hired by the wirehouses.

I have a good friend who is indepdendent.  His firm is named something generic like "Wealth Strategies" but when he introduces himself he'll say he's with Raymond James--which isn't even true, but he doesn't want to have to explain the complex relationship.

It's so much "cleaner" to just say, "Hi, I'm Phil Attio, I'm with Salomon Smith  Barney....."

[quote=joedabrkr]

Your cheese was moved along time ago Put.  A qualified producer doesn't need your type any more.  We're tired of busting our butts to pay for the bloated overhead that represents the massive salaries of overpaid CEO's and senior VP's who don't contribute anythin of consequence to our business.  We can hire Katherine Gibbs graduates to work under our supervision to handle the paperwork that your senior admin folks do.  We can buy our research rather inexpensively from any number of resources.

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You will get no argument from me regarding the presence of an abudance of SVPs in the huge wirehouses.  What you're being shortsighted about is the whine that some significant portion of your gross goes to compensate them.  A wirehouse earns its income from a lot of places--and way down on the totem pole is the firm's share of retail commissions.

[quote=joedabrkr]
If life at the wires was so good, why so much in the way of deferred comp handcuffs, shoving noncompete and client property language into all sort of agreements.....why?  If it's so good there, why do they devote so much effort in trying to keep you there if you want to go?  If it was so superior, how can folks go indy and take their clients with them.
[/quote]

Something we do know is that big hitters rarely leave.  It may be because of the golden handcuffs in some cases.

Tell me someting Joe--if you were such a big deal in your previous life at a wirehouse why did the golden handcuffs not keep you there too?


[/quote]

I wasn't a big hitter my friend..... but I wasn't starving by any stretch of the imagination.  I threw away those golden handcuffs and figured I'd easily make the money back over a few years merely by being more happy, more productive, and being able to control my costs rather than letting some moron in home office marketing waste millions on crappy advertising campaigns.

I also passed up the chance to collect a nice front check too, figuring that it really wasn't worth it to end up under contract and essentially indentured servitude for another few years.  Really, in that sense there isn't much difference in moving from one wire to another.  They all suck.

Why did I leave?  I was miserable.  Tired of the threatening and cajoling and politicking.  Sick of inept sales managers and product VP's trying to tell me what was good for my clients, when in fact they were merely trying to reach corporate incentive levels for certain products or platforms so as to fatten their bonuses.  Disgusted with the many built-in conflicts of interest.  Had enough of poor service execution by back office folks who didn't give a cr*p about anything because they were paid so poorly and had watched all their friends get laid off over the last 5 years.  Cut back branch level support to 2002 levels even though business was running at a 1999 rate. Enough.  Enough stupidity and waste.  If you don't see it in your branch or your firm, you're either lucky to be at an especially good one, or just blind.

I wanted to get back to what I love about this business and what I do best.....picking good stocks and mutual funds and putting together portfolios and helping clients understand how they work.  So far, it's just fine, thank you.  I've met many other 'failed mid-level producers' who are making big bank and are eerily happy compared to my old buddies at the wires.

Yes, my friend, keep believing the BIG LIE that most of the good talent is at the wires.  Meanwhile, I've got more new account and ACAT forms to fill out, so LATER!

[quote=joedabrkr]

I wasn't a big hitter my friend..... but I wasn't starving by any stretch of the imagination.  I threw away those golden handcuffs and figured I'd easily make the money back over a few years merely by being more happy, more productive, and being able to control my costs rather than letting some moron in home office marketing waste millions on crappy advertising campaigns.

[/quote]

Was you paycheck hit with charges for advertising and the other things you are angry about?

Why do you care about golden handcuffs if they did not restrain you?

Do you suppose you would have a different outlook if you had been a big hitter?

[quote=joedabrkr]

I also passed up the chance to collect a nice front check too, figuring that it really wasn't worth it to end up under contract and essentially indentured servitude for another few years.  Really, in that sense there isn't much difference in moving from one wire to another.  They all suck.

[/quote]

There are a lot of guys who have made a career out of changing wirehouses as soon as their contracts are up.

What did you have to do in your previous life that you don't have to do now?

[quote=joedabrkr]

Why did I leave?  I was miserable.  Tired of the threatening and cajoling and politicking.  Sick of inept sales managers and product VP's trying to tell me what was good for my clients, when in fact they were merely trying to reach corporate incentive levels for certain products or platforms so as to fatten their bonuses.  Disgusted with the many built-in conflicts of interest.  Had enough of poor service execution by back office folks who didn't give a cr*p about anything because they were paid so poorly and had watched all their friends get laid off over the last 5 years.  Cut back branch level support to 2002 levels even though business was running at a 1999 rate. Enough.  Enough stupidity and waste.  If you don't see it in your branch or your firm, you're either lucky to be at an especially good one, or just blind.

[/quote]

It is my experience that producers who are hitting numbers are petty much autonomous.  Hell, some of the teams in our firm are completely on their own--separate floor in the building.  The local management team is more than happy to leave them alone.

As for cutbacks in support staff.  By your own admission you were not a big hitter so how were you affected by the fact that somebody in the cage was let go, or that a margin clerk in NY was no longer there.   I suppose your sales assistant was assigned more duties but did that really have that big an impact on you?  A big enough impact that you can conclude that it actually makes sense to pay her alone?  I doubt it, I truly doubt it.

I'm curious about the comment regarding executions.  I simply refuse to believe that you can get a quicker execution where you are than where you came from--not time and time again.

[quote=joedabrkr]

I wanted to get back to what I love about this business and what I do best.....picking good stocks and mutual funds and putting together portfolios and helping clients understand how they work.  So far, it's just fine, thank you.  I've met many other 'failed mid-level producers' who are making big bank and are eerily happy compared to my old buddies at the wires.

[/quote]

What does "eerily happy" mean?  Sounds like somebody walking past a grave yard late at night.

[quote=joedabrkr]

Yes, my friend, keep believing the BIG LIE that most of the good talent is at the wires.  Meanwhile, I've got more new account and ACAT forms to fill out, so LATER!

Oh put you are a smart man in some ways, but in this case you just don’t get it…