Articles Written by Jon Henschen

Broker/Dealers on Recruiting in a Virtual World

15:44 13 April in Articles Written by Jon Henschen by rafferty

April 10, 2020 By Jon Henschen, WealthManagement.com After the crisis abates, a lingering reluctance to travel, combined with better meeting technology, may forever alter the broker/dealer recruiting process.   As we continue to navigate our way through the COVID-19 pandemic, airline travel is increasingly being viewed as flying in an aluminum petri dish. Broker/dealers still wanting to recruit financial advisors are learning to adapt by evolving the home office visit—an almost mandatory step in the recruiting process, where face-to-face meetings and a fair amount of socializing help “humanize” the potential professional home for prospects—to a virtual experience. Our firm has always encouraged advisors to do home office visits as part of their due diligence. Meeting face to face and having a meal with those you will be partnering up with gives you a more intimate perspective...

10 Red Flags to Watch When Switching BDs

15:57 10 April in Articles Written by Jon Henschen by rafferty

April 9, 2020 By Jon Henschen, ThinkAdvisor Market conditions aside, there are many situations that make pursuing a broker-dealer change inappropriate. My next-door neighbor is a full-time artist. In our eroding economy, I’m concerned that his business flow will diminish, because an art purchase is a “want,” not a “need.” When economies go into decline, we see the shift from want to need, as the stock markets increasingly focus on companies with products that fill needs rather than wants. Examples include companies such as General Mills for food, Target for staples, and in the case of my wife (and others), Hershey for much-needed chocolate. When an advisor is recruited to a new broker-dealer, it can be a want or a need. For instance, our firm recently placed an advisor changing BDs based on need, parting...

Is Your Broker-Dealer a Doomsday Prepper?

16:03 12 March in Articles Written by Jon Henschen by rafferty

March 11, 2020 By Jon Henschen, ThinkAdvisor   Your BD's readiness, or lack thereof, to handle a bear market can affect you in many ways. Doomsday preppers live by the credo, “Hope for the best but plan for the worst.” For broker-dealers, doomsday equates to a long, deep, protracted recession where stock market prices drop 30-40% or more and do not recover for an extended period. During a recent discussion with an advisor who has 10 years of experience, it dawned on me that he had never experienced a market correction while in the business. The 2007-’09 market crash resulted in a surge in arbitration filings (dominated by complaints over market losses), as well as a big uptick in tax liens and bankruptcies due to upside-down mortgages that rained on the house-flipping frenzy, as well as...