Mindy Diamond Quoted – By Lisa Shidler, RIABiz – M&A activity still sickly slow by some reckonings, but harbingers of mating activity abound. Mindy Diamond, founder and chief executive of Diamond Consultants LLC, agrees that 2012 was sleepy but she believes that it is the yawn that refreshes.
By Mindy Diamond, InvestmentNews – ROB is a wirehouse adviser based in the Pacific North-west who has spent a professional lifetime with the same firm. He was 25 when he joined the wirehouse almost 30 years ago, and he earns a living that has far exceeded his wildest expectations. Over the years, he has largely been content. He has felt a sense of loyalty to his firm because he believes it has brought him a level of credibility and respect that he might not have gained elsewhere.
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.
Mindy Diamond Quoted – By Lisa Shidler, RIABiz – If you’re trying to build a giant RIA to $100 billion in assets, you won’t get there if you give up easily. Focus Financial founder and chief executive Rudy Adolf, for instance, spent seven years trying to convince Colleen Lindstrom, CEO of Merriman Inc., to sell her $1.5 billion firm to his company.
Mindy Diamond Quoted – By Joyce Hanson, Think Advisor – A team of Baltimore-based financial advisors with $200 million in assets under management and $2 million in annual production has jumped ship from Wells Fargo to join Raymond James’ independent broker-dealer channel, Raymond James announced.
By Mindy Diamond, WealthManagement.com – Marriage is a serious commitment between two people who enter into the union with all the best of intentions to stay together forever. Unfortunately, statistics show that almost half of marriages will end in divorce. In the same way, advisor partnerships are not immune to divorce.
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.
Mindy Diamond Quoted – By Patrick Graham, The Wall Street Journal – Dynasty Financial Partners, HighTower Advisors and Focus Financial Partners–three of the highest profile destinations for brokers who break away from the biggest retail wirehouses–are ready to mark 2012 as one of their best recruiting years in their short histories, reports Wealth Management at WSJ.com. So what’s behind this momentum? Three factors are in play, industry observers and recruiters say. First, technology advancements have allowed the firms to shrink the gap between themselves and the big brokerages. Also, the broker workforce today is less loyal given the many industry mergers and acquisitions during the past few years. Lastly, the firms have bolstered their credibility by simply poaching top talent. Putting all of this in perspective, top recruiting consultant Mindy Diamond notes that the firms have managed in very short order to develop a model to allow advisers to go independent–and thrive. “Since these firms’ inceptions, they’ve had a powerful impact on the industry,” she says.
Mindy Diamond Quoted – By Kevin Noblet, The Wall Street Journal – Recruiter Mindy Diamond believes that, when it comes to their careers, some women advisers are just too trusting and others fail to set their own expectations high enough, Financial Planning says. Speaking at a women advisers’ conference in Boston, Ms.Diamond also listed failing to have a clear succession plan as a mistake some make. Men, of course, commonly do that, too.
Barbara Herman Quoted – By Susan Konig, WealthManagement.com – An informal survey of branch office managers across advisory channels finds one consistency in their wishes for a new year: Fair compensation.
