In the News

Wall Street Financial Group’s Joe Richard – It’s a Flexible, Selective Recruiting Environment

00:00 01 March in In the News by rafferty

by John Sullivan and featured in AdvisorOne March, 2011: Quality over quantity is more than just cliché at this boutique broker-dealer “The difference is we’re smaller,” says Joe Richard when asked what, specifically, Wall Street Financial Group does better than anyone else. Their size, he asserts, allows for a flexibility and selectiveness that’s difficult to find at a larger firm. And of course it’s about the culture; a family atmosphere where he knows each rep and knows them well. This means they don’t look to traditional recruiting sources, and that suits them just fine. Richard, a veteran of the wholesaling side of the business, has been with the firm for nine years. He sat down with Investment Advisor for a candid chat about life at a small, successful firm. A:  If we had this conversation...

B of A Forces ‘Garden Leave’ on Brokers After Defection

00:00 01 February in In the News by rafferty

by Hugh Son and featured in Bloomberg February, 2011: Bank of America Corp., which lost a financial adviser with $5.9 billion in client assets to a rival in December, told some workers to sign agreements forcing them to go on reduced-pay “garden leave” if they plan to resign. Employees of the bank’s U.S. Trust unit received the notice this week ahead of 2010 bonus payments and were told their continued employment hinged on agreeing to the new policy, said a person with knowledge of the correspondence. Advisers who previously could leave after two weeks notice now must remain for 60 days and are forbidden from soliciting clients for a total of eight months, according to a copy of the document. “They’re sending the message, ‘Make no mistake, you will incur our wrath, this is...

One Indie B-D’s New Twist on Compensation

00:00 01 January in In the News by rafferty

by Liz Skinner and featured in Investment News January, 2011: Beacon Financial Partners about a year ago realized that it was time for the growing advisory firm to move to a more sophisticated broker-dealer. After interviewing independent-broker-dealer giants LPL Financial and Commonwealth Financial Network, the firm chose Capital Analysts Inc., a much smaller firm. Part of the attraction was Capital Analysts' novel compensation model, which is based on fees rather than commissions. Instead of the traditional method of taking a small percentage of what advisers sell, Capital Analysts gives advisers a 100% payout and charges an annual access fee. That fee — which is $40,000 to $120,000 a year, based on revenue — covers the cost of custody, trading technology, compliance, licensing, errors-and-omissions insurance coverage, Morningstar Inc. research tools, original investment research, practice and succession...