Richmond VA AGE - 3 gone now another guy left friday for Ferris Baker

is that Richmond branch big? I would think WS might be persona non grata in Richmond.

[quote=Rusty]Richmond VA AGE - 3 gone now another guy left friday for Ferris Baker[/quote]

I know this will raise someones hackles but, what kind of producers were they? Trainees, Pres. Council?

veteran guys. Would rather not comment on exact production, but not

pikers.

Well, as captain obvious would say, it’s apparant that management has lied about the number of defections.  It will be interesting to see the total number that left yesterday.

I told a wholesaler that morning that friday would be a big day for fcs leaving. Little did I know it would be in my own back yard.

Ferris Baker Watts seems to be nabbing some guys. Does anyone hear anything negative about them (other than m&a bait for a bigger fish)? I've been pitched all the positives (high payout, they leave you alone, esop, etc.).

"is that Richmond branch big? I would think WS might be persona non grata in Richmond"

Richmond complex should do about 36-38 million.

YHWY

"Because, Wachovia (including Securities) is, at their core, a bank. This will result in clients getting much lower interest rates on cash and many more account related fees. These things are part and parcel of banks and are expected of the bank by its shareholders. Also,
 Wachovia does have proprietary funds (Evergreen, which are dogsh*t) and there will, inevitably, be some degree of pressure to use these funds, otherwise they wouldn't have a proprietary line of products at all."

Evergreen has NEVER been pushed on WS advisors. No pressure at all.Can't speak to the bank branches. American funds are more popular and there are not any Evergreen in any of the MF fee programs.

Now i have a question. What kind of fees does AGE have

Hydeho,
 AGE has the following fees, $40/yr IRA fee (w/$50/yr max for multiple IRA’s per person). $120/yr. for our “all bells & whistles” cash account, including detailed tax reporting, unlimited check printing and writing, debit/Visa card, auto-bill-pay, free unlimited direct deposit, lower margin rates, etc. (We also offer a completely free cash account (that 95% of my clients use) that includes unlimited check writing (checks must be for $250)). Most importantly neither of these accounts discriminate on account size for interest rate. Everyone gets a current rate of about 4.8% on money market cash.
 These are all of AGE fees (other than outgoing transfer fees (which are lower than all of our competitors)) And a new $100 fee if a client requests certs issued and mailed. That’s it, Hydeho. Now, let’s hear all about how WB is less expensive for the client.

You will find not one WB FA that agrees with the tiered MM rates. Either they will change due to the merger or the lawsuit. or not.

many just use either the institutional MM or a good MF money mkt.

No fees on any account with household value of $250K plus FA gets a 10% discretionary pool to waive fees. Covers most A,B and even some C clients

Command acct $125(full service checking/asset managemwnt

IRA acct $50

Investment acct $60

Not lowest on street but not highest.

ACAT fee $95

Hydeho,
 Thanks for your candor. Honestly, I can’t imagine WB changing their tiered MM rates. This was cited since day one of the merger announcement as one of the the single largest cash-cows WB is capturing (along with the seldom mentioned 2 million sq ft of prime office space in St. Louis (debt free) and the @$2,000,000,000.00 AGE holds in debt-free cash.).This is what I mean about a bank mentality. Time will tell, though. As always, best of luck to all involved.

[quote=Quincy Teacher]

[quote]

I, personally, have reason to make the merger a reason to leave. I am in SW FL and most of my clients are retired blue-collar types. They have seen their beloved local banks be consumed by the nationals (Wachovia, for the most part). They have gutted the local "culture" of the banks (installed such large staffs that the clients no longer have consistent contacts there) and have nickel and dime'd them to death with fees. These client HATE Wachovia. They now see the same thing (in their perception) about to happen to their beloved regional brokerage. My client (en mass) have  have implored me not to stay with Wachovia post merger. Would you agree that that is a compelling reason to leave? 

[/quote]

You are not much of a salesman if you can't convince your clients that in the financial business it is good--even great--to be working with the second largest brokerage in the world.

There is a huge difference between having your checking account and perhaps a loan with a small "friendly" bank and having your brokerage account with a small "friendly" broker dealer.

I do not believe that your clients are begging you to change firms.  Clients do not see it as their role to suggest to their "financial adivsor" what business cards that "advisor" should carry.

I think you're a tiny producer who is using this turmoil as an excuse to make a change.

I don't find anything wrong with that, by the way.  It's just that in an environment like this it grates on me to hear anything less than an honest explanation for one's actions. 

Didn't see this mentioned earlier on any thread:

Morgan Stanley picked up 2 fairly senior AGE advisors 3 weeks ago (Sean Quinn and Harvey Siegel).

Putsy, do you see the irony in demanding honesty when you have in fact
had a different screen name every day for the last 2 weeks?
 As we’ve learned, Putsy has no real experience dealing with investor clients. In fact, he scorns those of us who do that for a living. It should come as no surprise that direct client feedback is something to be ignored at least or “corrected” at best, in his opinion. After all, he’s an order of magnitude smarter that all us FA’s, imagine how dumb he thinks our clients are.

I guess I don’t understand why there is such an uproar over the Money Market Rates issue…it is my understanding, if you have clients (at WS) that want to hold cash as an investment, you can simply go out and buy them a money market fund that pays a competitive rate.

The only downside to the client, is that incoming cash (from dividends and interest) will not automatically sweep into the clients money market fund…you, the broker, will have to drop a ticket.

This is a minor pain in the a$$ and I guess if you didn’t stay on top of it, it could cost your client a few dollars in money market dividends, but it’s not that big of a deal…

I think people who are saying that is THE REASON to leave AGE/Wachovia are using it as an excuse.

AGE had a net loss of 72 FC’s in July.

I think people who are saying that is THE REASON to leave AGE/Wachovia are using it as an excuse.

 Name one person here who cited the Money Market screw-job as THE REASON to leave.

the market market is just one of the differences, not a reason.  And it will be a pain to drop a ticket for every account over $250 in cash when you have over 500 accounts like most good sized reps. 

I don’t doubt that 72 number and suspect it picks up after this past holiday weekend. That being said, I am sticking. I think the stronger branches from a management standpoint will stick and the squirrelly ones will get picked apart.