Some Indies Starting to Add Group Benefits
by Bruce Kelly and featured in Investment News May, 2006: Group benefits have been a missing link in the independent channel, said Jonathan Henschen, president of Henschen & Associates, a recruiting firm in Marine on St. Croix, Minn. This is great news for advisers that medical coverage can now be offered on the broker-dealer level. New York - In a dramatic shift in the way independent-contractor broker-dealers treat their affiliated registered representatives, some leading firms are beginning to offer benefits such as health insurance. The firms making the moves, which include Securities America Inc. of Omaha, Neb., and the broker-dealers in the AIG Advisor Group Inc., could reap short-term recruiting advantages by offering benefits while other firms catch up, said one industry recruiter. About 45 million people do not have health insurance, according to published...