Don’t care because their move affects me exactly zero. I was making a comment on their bad timing, but you obviously lack decent reading comprehension.



There are bad times to make a move and this is one of those times. A little patience goes a long way.

I comprehend fine.  You are of the opinion this is a bad time to move.  I am of the opinion that most people always find a reason why today is always a bad time to move. 

Those who look for an excuse always find one.  Those who look for a way always find one too. 

Hey Ferris,

I am vaguely aware that there is something going on with the markets right now, and can even understand that this market makes it seem like a horrible time to contemplate a move.  I get that. 

There is also this reality in this same news: many clients are so fed up with the news of big financial firms being in trouble, bought out, bailed out, bankrupted, merged and otherwise turned upside down that many would actually WELCOME a change.  Of course many are shell shocked, but do you think they are happy with the deer-in-the-headlights status quo?  Especially those who in just over a year have been whip-sawed from AGE to Wachovia to Citibank to independent to maybe AGE again to Wells to forget about Citi to … whatever comes next.  I’ve actually gotten calls from clients thanking me for getting them out of Wachovia before all this happened.  Not complaining about these markets - thanking me!

Maybe we underestimate our clients.  Maybe WE’RE the ones too afraid to act.  Maybe - just maybe - this is an IDEAL opportunity to make that move.  

Crazier things have happened.

Maybe we underestimate our clients.  Maybe WE’RE the ones too afraid to act.  Maybe - just maybe - this is an IDEAL opportunity to make that move.  

moving should be the last resort.  I moved last year, that did not seem like a very good time…It never feels like a good time to move.

[quote=Ferris Bueller] [quote=Morphius] I’ve actually gotten calls from clients thanking me for getting them out of Wachovia before all this happened.  Not complaining about these markets - thanking me!Maybe we underestimate our clients.  Maybe WE’RE the ones too afraid to act.  Maybe - just maybe - this is an IDEAL opportunity to make that move.   Crazier things have happened.

[/quote]



Thanking you for what? I’m not aware of any Wachovia clients losing money because of the merger. Has the SPIC had to step in or even the FDIC? Oh sure, there has been a little uncertainty lately, but nothing an intelligent advisor can’t explain to clients. They expect me to lead rationally and with an INFORMED decision, not with blind fear.   My clients have repeatedly told me that they will go wherever I go, but I tell them that we need to wait and see the final outcome. Wells Fargo is now the largest bank in the US and one of the top brokerage firms. I’m glad I waited, I did the right thing for my clients.[/quote]
I’m glad to hear you believe you have done the right thing for your clients, and if your clients agree than that’s all that really matters.

I wasn’t intending to toss stones at Wachovia, Ferris.  I’ve told my clients this wasn’t about running away from problems at Wachovia, and that in fact I still felt Wachovia (Securities, anyway) was among the best of it’s competitors.  it was about moving to a business model that I believed better served them and me.  There was no blind fear involved, especially since the move took place before all this recent craziness started.

What they have thanked me for is having one less thing to stress out over during stressful times.   It’s not a matter of if it can be explained or not, but having one less thing to HAVE TO explain.  And it’s just further reinforcement for me of what we all really hope anyway - that our clients are doing business with US, not our firm … whichever that might be.

So if your judgement is that it’s best for your clients to stay with WS until you can see the final outcome, then I say great.  There are far worse places for clients or FAs to be for sure.  My point was simply that the market turmoil ALONE should not automatically prevent those who otherwise might like to move from doing so.

“We know this has been a time of great uncertainty for Wachovia team members and many of its customers as their company has gone through a very painful and challenging time,” Wells Fargo Chief Executive John Stumpf said late Thursday. “We want to assure them we’ll do everything we can to make the integration of our operations as smooth as possible. An important measure of success for this integration will be our ability to retain as many of the talented Wachovia team members as possible.”

“ An important measure of success for this integration will be our ability to retain as many of the talented Wachovia team members as possible.”

So you would say to half the advisors they are not talented. LOL.  Good thing you weren’t in charge of the last retention package… or this next one.

I would say that Wells is probably much more interested in keeping producers of 500k + rather than those doing 300k or less and that their limited resources will go towards doing just that.  Doesn’t mean those doing less than 300k are not talented, but will there be any tears being shed if they get upset at not getting a retention bonus and leave? Probably not. What Wells should do is tell the bigger producers that they’ll give them an additional bonus based on assets they can keep of anybody who leaves.

Talented  perhaps - Productive not so much from the wirehouse mentality viewpoint.

It stinks for us rookies. I went through all the bull shit, forget prospecting these lasst few weeks. My ttm in month 14 is 120k+ I wont get anything but even harder time prospecting. Yeah I know … wa ha ha ha. The entire thing sucks all the way around for us noobs.

I still think there will be something for “legacy AGE FC’s”. Bottom line is that Danny and the gang have had the book thrown at them by Chairman Council producers (and above) over the past 3 weeks.  They know we are all on the verge of leaving and if we get little, we will walk.  I think, like ML, they will “build a wall” around the top 2/3’s of BOTH WS and AGE. Bottom 1/3’s, sorry, there will not be much, if any, meat left on the bone.   I don’t expect to hear any details for 6 weeks at least.

what do you think they will do to all the west coast wachovia isg reps.  they have been on a massive recruiting campaign for the last 1-2years and took many reps from wells fargo and also other banks to fill the world savings bank branches that wachovia acquired.  do you think with the common footprint on the west coast with the wachovia and wells fargo locations now, that these guys will be out on the street-if they decide to consolidate branches?  i can only imagine the bad blood between guys that left wellsfargo to go to the world saving/wachovia branches that are now going to be back with wells. 

[quote=shredder]I still think there will be something for “legacy AGE FC’s”. Bottom line is that Danny and the gang have had the book thrown at them by Chairman Council producers (and above) over the past 3 weeks.  They know we are all on the verge of leaving and if we get little, we will walk.  I think, like ML, they will “build a wall” around the top 2/3’s of BOTH WS and AGE. Bottom 2/3’s, sorry, there will not be much, if any, meat left on the bone.   I don’t expect to hear any details for 6 weeks at least.[/quote]

Umm…so they have 4/3 d’s of a brokerage sales force then?

[quote=shredder]I still think there will be something for “legacy AGE FC’s”. Bottom line is that Danny and the gang have had the book thrown at them by Chairman Council producers (and above) over the past 3 weeks.  They know we are all on the verge of leaving and if we get little, we will walk.  I think, like ML, they will “build a wall” around the top 2/3’s of BOTH WS and AGE. Bottom 2/3’s, sorry, there will not be much, if any, meat left on the bone.   I don’t expect to hear any details for 6 weeks at least.[/quote]

Umm…so they have 4/3 d’s of a brokerage sales force then?

Wrong topic here but someone hear might have heard something, hearing if Govt takes ownership of MS this weekend there is going to be a complete overhaul of compensation.  Hearing commission grid will go down to a small fraction of what it is now, bottom line is major pay reduction from what I hear.   Salary + small grid%..

Everybody has an opinion, but I am hearing that a Wach Sec retention bonus is goign to be int he 30% range, with a 5 year cliff.  Not sure that is going to be enough to keep a lot of people around, guys are looking, but the market is tough.  CLients seem to be enthused with the Wells Fargo merger, not so much because of the name, but because there is now a definitive future (we hope).

I’m not surprised. I think the retention packages at Wach and  ML are going to be meager, based on the environment we are in.