Advisors’ desire for greater agency in serving clients and growing their businesses is driving growth toward regional firms like Raymond James & Associates. Tash Elwyn, President and CEO, discusses how choice is the foundation of the firm’s culture.
Louis Diamond Quoted – By Jeff Berman, ThinkAdvisor – The number of brokers and advisors at the four wirehouses — Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, UBS and Wells Fargo — has been declining for several years and is expected to continue dropping for the foreseeable future.
By Mindy Diamond, Forbes.com – The ever-expanding wealth management industry landscape represents a waterfall of possibilities for every advisor and their clients. And having a clear understanding of the environment you’re building your business in is critical—regardless of whether you have a desire to move or not.
By Barbara Herman – A firm’s name once meant everything to most advisors—both in terms of defining which firms they would consider joining and how they marketed themselves. Then the financial crisis hit and dramatically altered the perceptions of advisors as well as their clients—and the brand cachet of brokerage firms no longer carried the guarantee of credibility, strength and trust it once did.
By Mindy Diamond – “The bureaucracy and hyper-vigilant compliance culture are killing me—but I feel stuck. That is, there is no better option.” That was what “Sandy”, a Barron’s top advisor, told me just the other day. If I had a nickel for every advisor that has shared this same sentiment with me, I’d be writing this from Tahiti instead of New Jersey.
Louis Diamond Quoted – By Andrew Welsch, OnWallStreet – My first interview with Stifel’s CEO was canceled at the last minute. We were due to talk about his M&A deals and vision for the firm’s future, but an assistant called me in the morning to say he needed to reschedule.
Deborah Aronson Quoted – By Alessandra Malito, InvestmentNews – RBC Wealth Management, the Royal Bank of Canada’s investment advisory and brokerage division, has nabbed two Merrill Lynch financial advisers with $1.2 billion in assets under administration. Deborah Aronson, senior consultant at Diamond Consultants in Morristown, N.J., agreed that there is a growing discontent as the wirehouses increase in size, especially over the last few years.
By Mindy Diamond, WealthManagement.com – James and Nancy, a wirehouse team in a southeastern city, began looking around for new digs in 2008 but it took them a few years to make the leap. James and Nancy had been at a regional firm that was ultimately acquired by their wirehouse in the early part of the decade. Together, James and Nancy generate around $1 million in annual production. While they never would have chosen to move to a wirehouse on their own, given their aversion to additional layers of management and red tape, they tried to make it work at first.
