Roll Call- Who's Walking from MER
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I heard today is the deadline to sign. A friend of mine at ML said they were getting a LOT of pressure to sign the past week or two.
I wonder if the exodus will soon begin.....Wow! I am glad I am indy,this market is tough enough let alone being thrown out like trash by your BD
So the choice is to sign and maybe stick around to get something, or refuse to sign and call attention to the fact that you are definitely leaving? That’s the choice?!
And BOA releases a press release bragging that 90% of the ML FAs had signed?!?! Isn’t the bigger news that a full 10% are so pissed they are willing to spit in BOA’s face to voice their anger?? That doesn’t bode well for their likely attrition. I wonder what percentage of those who have signed are halfway out the door but simply keeping a low profile until they are safely out?
It ain’t over til the fat lady sings …
Just saw the last guy sign that we thought might be moving. Noone in my complex made the move. I think if the Dow was significantly higher, the migration to other firms would be going full force. However, if the Dow was significantly higher, the BAC deal would have never happened.
Does it really matter if they sign? Now that the protocol issue has been resolved then why not sign?<?: prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
--WM
WealthMngr:
The protocol is a loose agreement. If a firm wants to go after you they can go after you if they think you violated their interpretation of the protocol. It doesnt prevent them from dragging you through a costly arbitration to try and bleed you down financially, create a smoke screen of doubt in you clients mind about your integrity after you signed a retention agreement and then "RENEGED". If you signed the agreement with BofA you just signed your book away PERIOD. The longer you stay at BoA the less you will own your book and your career. You no longer have an asset that you can sell at retirement. You have no ownership. You are part of the bloated and infinitely layered bureacratic "GRINDHOUSE" that will turn you into corporate hamburger meat and just another drone in a relatively short period of time. Entreprenuerism and Meritocracy will be replaced with Obedience and Autocracylove the grindhouse analogy its right on except that its not hamburger that comes out at the end. they will take the high quality brokers and over time turn them into hotdogs in the end… and we all know whats inside hotdogs, right?
No one jumped in my office, yet. I still expect people to leave but slower and more methodically.
“Build it and they will come.” As BOA “builds” the Wal-Mart of banking, i’m sure there will be more defections, never mind the 60% that they don’t care about. To me, as a long termer @ MER, it’s the loss of dignity that ranks up at the top.
We’ll be the “Breed Apart” that has our pens attached to the desk with the little chain-y things. That’s dignity alright.
you guys are wrong about the protocol. It has never been succesfully challenged as long as an advisor follows the rules.
As for the MER retention agrement why not sign it? now that they added the protocol paragraph you can leave anytime. The MER guys coming to my office have signed it.
No one in my complex to left to our surprise. We thought we were going to have a few leave just from my office not to mention my complex. Everyone was very suspicious of anyone walking in to the managers office. But at the end of the day… No one walked. Very interesting.
I don’t think yesterday was the line in the sand. Most of the FAs in my office that didn’t receive a package are gone, but there was no deadline for them to sign, so they are taking the time to organise their departure. The second set of FAs that received some retention, but not a big package, are waiting to see what the new compensation plan looks like. Most of these people are also in negotiations, but whether they stay or go depends on the comp plan. Finally, the senior people signed because they had protocol. I think most of them (me included) are waiting to see how this goes (and how things go with our competitors) but what’s different now is that we all have lines of communication open with the competition.
Our director was running around friday telling everyone that 98% of the people had signed, yet another lie apparently. Management is clueless how much credibility they have lost.Aside from keeping things together, do you think that ML Managers are being incented to keep the herd together?
I haven't heard that they were, but there obviously was some sort of incentive as they were constantly calling my office on Friday. My office and one other within the complex were the only two where everyone had not signed by the end of the day Thursday. I think the higher-ups were putting the pressure on the complex managers. I think the incentive was upper management asking the complex managers to show their worth for once the merger goes through. My BOM could not care as he waited until the last minute to sign his. I still think people will slowly start moving out over the next few months. The diehard ML guys in my office now realize things will not be the same. If there is a negative change in the compensation package people will scatter quickly. The focus from BAC is they want the guys who have the highest production and F the rest, including the rising stars.Aside from keeping things together, do you think that ML Managers are being incented to keep the herd together?
Wait until you get your name tag (think I'm kidding?). Wait till someone from national come sto give you a BS rah rah meeting and your manager suddenly starts telling everyone to put the nametags on... In the future - we all wear paper hats.“Build it and they will come.” As BOA “builds” the Wal-Mart of banking, i’m sure there will be more defections, never mind the 60% that they don’t care about. To me, as a long termer @ MER, it’s the loss of dignity that ranks up at the top.
We’ll be the “Breed Apart” that has our pens attached to the desk with the little chain-y things. That’s dignity alright.
When I was at the bank, they pulled the where is your name-tag? caca on me routinely. I always responded that I was waiting for the embroidered name-tag on my shirt. I would laugh and they would look unmoved. Most did not wear it though, like me.
I think if the market weren’t so cruddy, there would have already been more defections. The comp will go down, the bank will place restrictions and non-revenue oriented goals on FA’s - but the market will get better and the rest of the FA’s will slowly leave. Unfortunately, for those who have waited, the deals are drying up for most and going down for the rest.
My partner and I moved Thursday and have not had one question from clients about the bad market. Most are with us for the relationship they have with us.
I was LOS 6 w/ 500+ in PC’s and this was my first move. I had always been told that clients are loyal to ML and not to the advisor. 90% of clients said they were with ML because of me, not because of the firm.
My advise is to ask your clients what they think of Bank of America…most hated the bank and this shocked me. I heard story’s of bad customer service, clients who had terrible times with the mortgage company and people who pulled the banking relationship because they do not like BAC. We do not have BAC offices locally and this shocked me.
Don’t be afraid to make the move.
There have been no defections from my complex yet.<?: prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
--WM
BAC has sort of the WalMart syndrome. Everyone hates them for forcing out the little guys and commoditizing everything down to their service, but everyone shops there (i.e. has a bank account or credit card there). Now everyone has a brokerage or 401K account there, too. One thing I am curious about - are they still going to differentiate between "bank" brokers and "Merrill" brokers? What happens to the "bank" customer that wants to buy a $25K annuity? I can't see them walking up to their local $2mm producing ML FA and asking for a 5% fixed annuity.My partner and I moved Thursday and have not had one question from clients about the bad market. Most are with us for the relationship they have with us.
I was LOS 6 w/ 500+ in PC’s and this was my first move. I had always been told that clients are loyal to ML and not to the advisor. 90% of clients said they were with ML because of me, not because of the firm.
My advise is to ask your clients what they think of Bank of America…most hated the bank and this shocked me. I heard story’s of bad customer service, clients who had terrible times with the mortgage company and people who pulled the banking relationship because they do not like BAC. We do not have BAC offices locally and this shocked me.
Don’t be afraid to make the move.
We had 2 leave on Thursday 11/14… think they clicked ‘accept’?? I understand they both went to UBS. These guys were LOS < 10, doing $600 ish and $730 or so. Both were probably the top of their POA classes when they came on. ML is loosing their future if loads of these type of guys leave.