In the News

Independent Broker Dealers

00:00 01 January in In the News by rafferty

by Bruce Kelly and featured in Investment News January, 2007: New York - After a banner year for recruiting advisers in 2005, many independent-contractor broker-dealers saw the growth in snagging new registered representatives stall last year. Recruiting was flat or down in 2006, compared with its momentum a year earlier, according to brokerage executives, recruiters and consultants, who nonetheless are optimistic about this year. But it may be an uphill battle. Across the brokerage industry, the movement of experienced financial advisers between firms dropped 14% to 15% last year, compared with the level in 2005, according to John G. Peluso Jr., chief executive of Wachovia Securities Financial Network LLC, which is the independent-contractor-representative business of Wachovia Securities LLC of Richmond, Va. That said, 19% of the registered reps who were recruited last year to join Wachovia...

Self-Leadership – Marketing by Example

00:00 01 January in In the News by rafferty

by John Melchinger and featured in Broker World Magazine January, 2007: As the new year dawns, I’ve been thinking about a situation that has become worse for many advisors in the past few years and, unfortunately, shows no sign of abating. Advisors are faced with so many urgent situations that the urgent messes with the important. As advisors wade through the quagmires of minutia and immediacy, more important issues are placed on the “back burner.” The logic observable in this reality is compelling. It reminds me of the observation coined when efficiency experts were running procedures and staff into death webs of efficiency ennui: “Efficiency is doing the right things the right way. Effectiveness is doing the right things the right way.” If you set clear priorities and concentrate on effectiveness, efficiency simply...

Pacific Select – No Linsco Merger

00:00 01 September in In the News by rafferty

by Bruce Kelly and featured in Investment News September, 2006: Pacific Select Group, LLC, in an internal email to its network of registered representatives and advisors last Monday, dismissed rumors of a merger with Linsco/Private Ledger Corp. which according to numerous industry insiders, had been courting broker/dealers aggressively. But any deal involving the two may yet happen, one industry recruiter said. ‘On a mission’ Pacific Select’s five-sentence denial in the internal e-mail of an immediate deal with Linsco of Boston and San Diego was a clear indication of the former’s desirability and the latter’s voraciousness, observers say. In the e-mail, Pacific Select conceded that it had been approached about a sale. “LPL is on a mission. It has an insatiable appetite for expansion,” said Larry Papike, president of Cross-Search, a Jamul, Calif., recruiting and placement firm...