jkl1v1n6:

He’s too busy fixing sh*t at his house. 

     

RobynG:

[quote=sickowire]my opinion is that this merger will be transparent to the client, no matter what the marketers tell you, they’ll brag about economies of scale and by being large we can bring all kinds of goodies to the clients.  this is in response to robyn- u should only be at a firm that provides what u need.  fixed income is a commodity pure and simple, some firms at different times will have better yields on various products, your broker/advisor has to be willing to look for them for you and quite honestly these firms do not compensate us much for buying cds/munis/corps. 

  I think I pretty much understand the compensation problem.  My impression is that brokers get paid best on things like new issue munis and new issue CDs.  Is my impression correct?  I generally don't bother full service brokers when I'm looking in the secondary market - because I know I won't get very good pricing - and they won't make peanuts.  What's the sense of making 2 people unhappy?   And I never did understand the real reason why SB stopped selling longer term callable CDs.  I thought for a lot of years that they were really good investments (although yields have recently fallen to levels I don't consider attractive).  Did the issuers stop paying reasonable fees to the firms that were selling them?   FWIW - I am not picking on SB.  Fidelity for years refused to offer longer term callable CDs to its customers - again giving the reason that they were too risky.  Just never understood why I could buy naked options - and not callable CDs.  Robyn[/quote] Most new issues have about 3/8 - 5/8 point in them if they are negotiated deals depending on the deal and the maturity, on competitive deals, especially smaller ones, there can be as much as 1pt or more.  If the deal is structured for retail, it probably has a decent commission in it.  Most firms allow their brokers to adjust the commission on secondary items within a reasonable range.  Just about every firm will show their bondesk etc offerings higher to the street then they will internally, so not all bondesk offerings will be the same at each firms, even though they share the platform.   As far as your question on callable cd's, I would guess they were afraid of the lawyers. A long term callable cd will get smoked if rates would rise in a significant way.  I think most firms price customers statements at market value, and many conservative investors would freak out if their safe cd was pricing at 90 cents on the dollar or lower. 

Bond Guy is right on the money with his assessment…no pun intended. I usually work on a fee basis (100bps for blended (equity and fixed income portfolios) 50 bps for just fixed. As such, all bonds are purchased at the bid price with complete transparency, basically off of the street offerings…can’t charge commssions/mark-ups when working on a fee basis.

   Losing the 50 bps annually may not make sense if you are buying 20 year  bonds, but I have found that if I put the effort in on "short ladders" and want to do tax swaps at year end, I can generally put the client in a better position and save them money.   It is just a matter of preference, effort, and client needs. Much easier to offer a solid bond fund with an upfront commssion than to research and structure a laddered portfolio at 50bps. And for many clients, the fund may be better suited. For more sizeable asset bases, the fee based structure might work. Don't know if all firms offer it.

[quote=etj4588]

Funny how no one even thinks about haggling a lawyers fee and pouring over those "billable hours"!! 

 [/quote]

My husband was a plaintiffs' personal injury lawyer.  Paid a percentage if he won - nothing if he lost.  It would be nice if hedge fund managers - brokers with accounts with "wrap fees" - etc. - worked like that!   I did plaintiffs' work on percentages - but also did work for outfits like insurance companies and corporations.  And if you think those guys didn't haggle about fees.  OMG.  What a PITA.  The worst were some insurance companies that chose lawyers based on how good a time a law firm would show them at some convention or another (and a "good time" usually involved women and booze).  I never had the stomach to compete for clients that way.  But that's nothing compared to today's allegations about how various investment firms wound up doing business with the New York state pension fund.   I think there's slime (and good guys) in both of our professions.  So let's call a truce.  As my husband likes to say - we're recovering lawyers .  Robyn

[quote=RobynG][quote=etj4588]

Funny how no one even thinks about haggling a lawyers fee and pouring over those "billable hours"!! 

 [/quote]

My husband was a plaintiffs' personal injury lawyer.  Paid a percentage if he won - nothing if he lost.  It would be nice if hedge fund managers - brokers with accounts with "wrap fees" - etc. - worked like that!   .  Robyn[/quote]   There are RIAs that work on a win percentage basis. My experience has been that they usually have a high risk strategy. Not for everybody.

[quote=RobynG]

My husband was a plaintiffs' personal injury lawyer.  Paid a percentage if he won - nothing if he lost.  So let's call a truce.  As my husband likes to say - we're recovering lawyers .  Robyn[/quote]

Truce called.  My point was to simply bring out the fact that our profession does not garner the respect from the public - or even those in the industry - as the legal profession.

But the fact is that there are many of us that take what we do very seriously.  We work hard, we put the clients before ourselves, we study and read incessantly, and no matter how good we are, uncontrollable events can dictate our success.

In no way would your profession ever have to compete with the equivalent of a baby placing stock trades on his blackberry!

Quagmire:

RobynG sounds like a nightmare client. She can’t stand it if someone makes a dime off her, Has no idea that the secondary market pays us better than syndicate, is paranoid enough to spread her money because of SIPC insurance, doesn’t understand that firms stopped selling callable cd’s because brokers were marketing them as 1 year cds, and knows just enough about bonds to be dangerous. I had a client just like her about 8 years ago and it was an absolute pleasure to fire him.

  You confuse paranoia with prudence.  And no - I didn't know that the reason I can't buy callable CDs from some full service firms (because they're not selling them these days) is because some brokers were misrepresenting them to clients.  I used to buy lots from full service brokers - and it's *my* fault that some compliance officer halted their sale due to broker misrepresentation - so I'm buying them on line???  BTW - are you sure you're right about this?  If so - that's a very bad statement about some people in your profession.  Robyn 

buyandhold:

Why are you concerned with SIPC insurance protection? If the firm fails, that doesn’t affect your bonds or other investments.

  Like I said - my main concern is liquidity.  If you review cases like the Stanford and Madoff cases - you'll see that accounts can be frozen for unspecified periods of time.  The last thing in the world I want is to be totally illiquid because I have all my eggs in one basket.  Robyn

[quote=etj4588] [quote=RobynG]

My husband was a plaintiffs' personal injury lawyer.  Paid a percentage if he won - nothing if he lost.  So let's call a truce.  As my husband likes to say - we're recovering lawyers .  Robyn[/quote]

Truce called.  My point was to simply bring out the fact that our profession does not garner the respect from the public - or even those in the industry - as the legal profession.

But the fact is that there are many of us that take what we do very seriously.  We work hard, we put the clients before ourselves, we study and read incessantly, and no matter how good we are, uncontrollable events can dictate our success.

In no way would your profession ever have to compete with the equivalent of a baby placing stock trades on his blackberry!


[/quote]   I always thought lawyers were in the most hated profession ("what do you call 500 lawyers at the bottom of the ocean - a good start - etc.").  But maybe we're talking about a tie.   BTW - there are FAs at places like E*Trade and Fidelity (some specializing in bonds) who work somewhat the same way that FAs at "full service" firms do.  And I do think there's a place for good full service FAs in today's world (I've seen a lot of people my father's age who were handling their own money lose a ton in the last year).   One problem with being a FA is that people expect you to know too much.  You can't be a stock specialist - a bond specialist - a REIT specialist - and understand everything about the latest "fad du jour" (whether it's gold - oil or copper) too. (Some clients also expect FAs to understand everything about tax and estate planning - they want to save money on accounting and legal fees.)   At least I know I couldn't do all of those things - even if I spent 20 hours a day trying to do it.  It would be like my trying to be your only lawyer for everything - and your asking me to handle your will - your divorce - your slip and fall case - and your IPO.  So you are somewhat beholden to the specialists in your firms - the analysts.  Some may be terrific - and some may be terrible.  I remember my SB FA being very upset that the SB dot.com analyst (forget his name) led him and his clients right over the cliff at the end of the dot.com boom.  Robyn  

Wachoviaed:

After 28 years in the biz, and therefore a hefty amount of cynicism, I have a feeling that we are being “played” Big, Big Time by one poster…

Funny, after reading the first post I was picturing putsy somehow "enjoying" himself playing the part of a woman online. Yes, it is a scary mental image...

I did a little research and can assure you that Robyn's who she says she is. I've enjoyed reading her posts and gaining some perspective from an extremely bright and well-educated investor.

I'd love to work with her. She'd be challenging, and I'd probably learn a good deal from her.

footsoldier:

Hey Robin-

Is there a forum for attorneys that I can access every five seconds because I am bored at being a financial advisor?

Please get a life and leave us alone…

  There are.  I don't frequent them - or have the names off the top of my head - but if you'd like me to find them for you - I will.  If I recall correctly - a lot of the lawyers even give general legal advice and try to point people in the right direction.   FWIW - I do have a life.  Played a nice round of golf this afternoon.  I just happen to be a fast typer.  And I'll note that the software on this chat board is among the best I've seen in recent years (speedy and easy to use).  Robyn

[quote=Borker Boy]

I did a little research and can assure you that Robyn's who she says she is. I've enjoyed reading her posts and gaining some perspective from an extremely bright and well-educated investor.

I'd love to work with her. She'd be challenging, and I'd probably learn a good deal from her.[/quote]   I have never misrepresented myself on line - on any chat board.  Always go by the name Robyn (my real name) - or RobynG (because my name is Robyn Greene) if Robyn is taken.  Except on Chowhound - where both names were taken.  I am a member of the Florida Bar (you can look me up).  Most of my stuff on chat boards in recent years is on food and travel boards.  And I am a 61 year old woman.   The only time I ever got into trouble by not trying to hide my identity was maybe 8-9 years ago - when I posted a message on a yahoo finance chat board about a dot.com stock (happened to live near the CEO of the company and played tennis with his wife).  The issue was whether the company was a big deal (and had sumptuous headquarters) - or whether it was - as I wrote - housed in what used to be a dentist's office in a strip shopping center near my house.  I thought the representations about the company's physical situation were kind of bogus - and said so.  And 2 days later - the wife comes to my house and threatens me with this - that and the other thing - including lawsuits up the kazoo.  Needless to say - I told her to take a hike.  Shortly thereafter - the stock imploded - and - if I recall correctly - her husband was fired from that company.  And she never bothered me again.   On a lighter note - I have met and dined with many people I have met on line on food and travel chat boards - both in the US and other countries (including Germany, France and Japan).  And enjoyed almost all of those experiences.  I look at chat boards as a way to meet people - broaden one's horizons - and learn things - not to post anonymous BS.  Call me old fashioned if you want to.  At least when I tell people who I really am - I don't have to worry about child molesters .   I realize that some of you can't understand how someone works on the internet using one's real identity.  Because you don't remember the "good old days" when the internet was a small town - a place where everyone knew everyone else.  Heck - even Mark Cuban was on Compuserve in the early days - and Bill Gates and Warren Buffett still play bridge on the internet.  And my best financial buddy is a fixed income manager I met perhaps 20 years ago on Compuserve.  We still talk on the phone at least once a week.  He knows a lot more than I do - but I - as a retail client and person who thinks about this stuff a lot - sometimes have something to offer.  If only what I think the state of the Florida economy is - because - although he isn't in Florida - he has clients who have residence in Florida - and own Florida munis - and I - as a person in Florida - am in better touch with what is going on in Florida than he is.   BTW - I live in Ponte Vedra Beach FL and have membership at the TPC Sawgrass.  I am an avid if not especially competent golfer.  If you ever get to this neck of the woods - and care to play golf - give a holler - and I will be glad to fill you in on the best ways to approach playing golf in this area.  Most of you here are so young.  Stop being so cynical (although it has been prudent to be cautious in markets in recent years).  Robyn   P.S.  To the person who mentioned taking clients to baseball games (whose name isn't in my window now and I can't remember it  - I am not much of a baseball fan.  But we have a nice minor league team here with a spiffy new stadium.  I do go to a few games a year - "business lunch special" - about $12 for a box seat - a hot dog - and a beer.  Hard to beat that!  And - considering my golf handicap - no sense taking me to Pebble Beach .

Just FYI, a quick search on Anywho.com show an R Green who resides on Fairway Oaks Court in Ponte Vedra Beach. 

  Robyn - You'll have to excuse our manners around here.  We've been burned one too many times by folks who sound like you that aren't who they say they are.  Gets us all wound up and defensive.    It was me that mentioned baseball.  We have a minor league team in the area too and all of the STL area FAs do an event there every summer.  Costs me $8 a ticket.  Clients get seats, special ball cap (with our corporate name stiched onto the back), and $4 bucks per ticket to spend in at the stadium that night.  Very low key, but a lot of fun.    You and I sound like we play a similar game of golf.  Although you get to play a lot more than I do.  Winters in STL don't lend themselves to spending time on the course.   Good luck with getting whatever answer you were originally looking for.    

Spiff-

  Offer Robyn touchdown bonds and American Funds...Ooh don't forget to provide advisory as an option.   Robyn- Since you have no problem telling us where you live and who you are, please send Spiff a copy of all your statements and assets with account numbers and don't forget a picture of your drivers license, SSN and birthdate.   He'll take care of the rest...and by the way you would probably be his biggest client...until you fired him, filed a grievance for unsuitable investments, and taken EDJ to court (your playground until you found this forum).   Maybe there is a forum for brain surgeons.