Articles Written by Jon Henschen

Are Privately Owned Broker-Dealers a Dying Breed?

16:46 08 December in Articles Written by Jon Henschen by rafferty

December 2014 issue of Investment Advisor   Fewer privately owned broker-dealers leave those remaining in high demand With the recent sales of broker-dealers, have you noticed how many BDs in the top 50 are privately owned? This was the question posed to me by David Fischer, CMO of Independent Financial Group, a broker-dealer based in San Diego. Frankly, I hadn't thought about it. So I did some research. In 2008, there were 20 broker-dealers in the top 50 that were privately owned. Fast forward to 2014 and that number drops to 10, a 50% decrease. During our conversation, Fischer said that his group is loving the fact that his firm is part of a decreasing pool of privately owned broker-dealers because their recruiting has been on fire—they recently brought on a $1.5 million producer within...

Our Human Capital Disaster: Three big trends will exacerbate the advisor talent shortage

15:44 17 September in Articles Written by Jon Henschen by rafferty

September 2014 issue of Investment Advisor magazine and the September 17 issue of ThinkAdvisor's Daily Wire By Jon Henschen   It may not be news that the advisor community is facing a labor shortage just as demand for professional advice is peaking. What is news is the scale of that shortage, and three overlooked trends are already playing out with the potential to make that shortage a catastrophe. Men account for the overwhelming majority of existing advisors—around 80% or even more among some sectors of the advisor community. Moreover, a very large chunk of advisors—43%, according to Cerulli—are in or nearing their traditional retirement age. Finally, the percentage of advisors who are women has not appreciably increased since the industry began keeping track of that statistic. In our recruiting efforts we’ve been tracking three mega trends that...

How to Tell When Broker-Dealers ‘Jump the Shark’

16:36 16 May in Articles Written by Jon Henschen by rafferty

May 16, 2014 by Jon Henschen   In the early ‘90s I was brokering at Prudential Securities in Pasadena, and in my first few months prospecting for new clients, I brought on some blue-blood Pasadena residents who had net worth that I found somewhat intimidating. We had a branch manager with an open door policy to discuss whatever was on our minds, so I shared with him my feelings of intimidation with these new clients. His feedback cut to the chase, “Jon, the only difference between you and those clients is the number of zeros after their net worth.” Over the years I’ve found his input to hold true: human desires are universal in wanting to feel connected, valued and appreciated—regardless of the zeros. The Loyalty Factor Broker-dealers have an ongoing challenge in fulfilling advisors’ desires...