In this section we present key findings and insights from our survey questions on practice management and operations, including services offered, the most time-consuming activities, professional designations, custody relationships and documentation trends.
If my recent experience in placing a wirehouse broker at a new firm is any indication, the ripples from the securities industry scandals are starting to be felt in places that the regulators haven't even begun to examine yet. The broker I'm...
Smith Barney is altering its compensation system for 2004, with the main goal being to simplify its payouts and make them more revenue-neutral. The new grid will eliminate certain existing bonuses for assets under management and the higher payout...
You'd never know it to hear him speak now, but Joe Saul-Sehy once suffered a severe stutter one that earned him the grade-school nickname Jackhammer. That was then; now Saul-Sehy's speaking voice is his meal ticket. Thanks to a combination of...
It's a testament to the increasing complexity of the advisory business: Many advisors people whose very living depends on their ability to track the ebbs and flows of money are having trouble understanding whether they're being paid correctly by...
Eric Williams, a retail broker at Morgan Stanley, was minding his own business when the phone rang one Friday afternoon 18 months ago. Williams says he wasn't looking to leave but leave he did taking only two days to make his decision to jump to...
It is at once the simplest and most complex question a rep can ask: How many clients are too many? Clearly, a rep cannot service an unlimited number of customers at least not effectively. Still, it's not as though an alarm sounds when the customer...
If you don't look too closely, you might think the securities industry is in a golden age. After all, the thing that matters most profits is up. Way up. The Securities Industry Association estimates that pre-tax profits for the broker/dealer...
When it comes to developing new business, Tom Croft has a foolproof weapon. Six years ago, Croft, a rep with Edward Jones in Santa Rosa, Calif., joined a referral network called Sonoma County Executives Association a group of some 70 business...
Borderline, feel like I'm going to lose my mind, Madonna sang in one of her earlier hits, and many brokers share her mental anguish perhaps none more acutely than those who deal with clients who live across that border. Maintaining a foreign...
Waddell & Reed reps, dispersed around small towns mostly in the Midwest, have long had a strong opening pitch for clients and prospects: I work for one of the oldest mutual fund companies in the country. Our performance has been strong over long...
