Howard Diamond Quoted – By Corrie Driebusch, The Wall Street Journal – Wall Street’s self-regulator has pulled back a plan to make brokers tell clients about big-money bonuses they get for changing firms, saying the proposal needs changes.
Howard Diamond Quoted – By Liz Skinner, InvestmentNews – Advisers need to practice the pitch they’ll use to persuade clients to switch to a different firm with them, because those conversations could get much more difficult.
By Howard Diamond, Financial Advisor IQ – As a longtime fan of classic rock, I am frequently reminded of The Clash’s 1982 hit “Should I Stay or Should I Go?” when I encounter advisors who have mixed feelings about relocating their practice or going independent. Often these folks have a sense that they are not at the right place and wonder if growth opportunities might be outside the confines of their current firm. In these situations, I find most advisors do not spend nearly enough time doing the strategic analysis that should go into a decision of this magnitude. And poor planning can potentially have disastrous effects both on the advisor’s bottom line and the end-client’s overall experience.
Howard Diamond Quoted – By Joan Warner, Financial Advisor IQ – FA-IQ asked Diamond Consultants managing director and COO Howard Diamond for his view of the broker recruiting landscape going into 2014.
Howard Diamond Quoted – By Lisa Shidler, RIABiz – A rash of recent lawsuits filed by wirehouses against breakaways are bad news for advisors — even though they ultimately achieve their objective of independence. Though many of these cases get settled within six weeks, they still cause massive headaches for advisors because they eat up their time, making it harder to recruit clients.
Howard Diamond Quoted, Financial Planning – With wirehouses offering juicy retention packages, don’t try to go dollar for dollar to compete with them, said headhunter Howard Diamond, managing director of Diamond Consultants. Instead offer things that play to your own strengths: the appeal of independence; work-life balance options such as letting a parent work at home two days a week; or equity in lieu of upfront cash. Another idea is to give some of your smaller clients to a new recruit, to show that you’re willing to part with some of your book of business. And make sure you know what makes your firm attractive: “You need to be able to tell your story better,” Diamond said. “Have your value proposition in spectacular shape.”
Howard Diamond Quoted, Bloomberg – Breaking into the brokerage business is getting tougher as declining fees make small accounts less profitable and government restrictions on unsolicited calls make phone sales taboo. That’s leaving big firms struggling to replace a retiring generation of advisers who helped accumulate trillions of dollars of assets and generated steady profits for years.
By Howard Diamond, WealthManagement.com – FINRA last week released Regulatory Notice 13-02 that proposes to require disclosure of financial incentives (recruiting “bonuses”) paid to financial advisors to change firms. In the Executive Summary to the Notice, FINRA indicates that the purpose of the rule change is “to address conflicts of interest relating to recruitment compensation practices.” As you know, currently financial advisors are not required to disclose the financial incentives they receive when switching from one brokerage to another.
Howard Diamond Quoted – By John Aidan Byrne, New York Post – Wall Street has had its fill with the Type-A risk takers who can cost a firm billions after they have made their millions and moved on. The hiring focus now is on the back-office compliance staff to rein in the risk takers. But the Street also can’t find enough rock-star talent to advise America’s wealthiest individuals.
