Go Long, thank you for posting that article.

  I just want to kick Putz while he's down, in favor of self-made free marketers like Ferris, but I'll make a new point with regard to the demise of b/ds.   First, you have the Schwab RIA banner ad blazing across the top of the RR site. Usta only be independent b/ds that paid the rent here.   Second, Putz's idea for a salary and bonus arrangement for wirehouse rr's is pathetic. This is corporate socialism, and it castrates the wirehouse tradition. With all respect, experienced and good guys like Bond Guy who apparently support these notions - maybe I got that wrong about BG -  (BG, I think you're a comfortable liberal who will vote for Obama and doesn't mind paying his "fair share" of taxes) - these guys are near retirement and have a vested interest in the status quo.   How the public perceives all of this under an Obama administration, that is another question. Prepare now, comrades!   This whole trend toward cutting out the fat ('apparent managers) like Putz is accelerating faster than an old mother hen (Putz) can eat a cricket (which is like lightening, if you ever had chickens you know).   It is pretty clear that the payout at LPL is very competitive to an RIA setup for a lot of us. I don't think anyone own the moral high road with regards to having insurance licenses and wrap accounts (minus the 12b1 and revenue sharing, these are going away fast) versus being RIA. This ground is where the battle is being waged.