Articles / Resources

Sale of Securities America: Advisors Should ‘Run,’ Recruiter Says

00:00 01 April in In the News by rafferty

by Janet Levaux and featured in Advisor One April, 2011: With Ameriprise Financial poised to sell Securities America after a series of legal disputes and costly settlements associated with two sales of private placements, recruiters say that advisors now affiliated with the independent broker-dealer should proactively consider their options. And, for at least one veteran recruiter, this means moving quickly to a “safer, more secure” broker-dealer environment. “I’d say run to the safest spot,” said Rick Peterson, a Houston-based recruiter, in a phone interview with AdvisorOne. “This could be to the largest IBD in the world, Linsco [LPL Financial], which has not had any of the issues” associated with private placement sales like Securities America. The point, he says, is to be able to tell your client that you are moving to a larger...

Making the Case for Midsized Broker-Dealers

00:00 01 April in Articles Written by Jon Henschen by rafferty

April, 2011 by Jonathan Henschen, CFS and featured in AdvisorOne: Over the course of the last year, fraudulent alternative investments have brought down not only small broker-dealers but also midsized firms such as QA3. With press coverage skewed in their favor, larger broker-dealers continue to chant the mantra of “scale gives advisors an advantage.” As a recruiting firm, we’ve found that midsized firms can be somewhat of a sweet spot in the industry—large enough to be financially viable, but not so large that they become a cookie cutter platform saddled with cumbersome bureaucracy. With the pendulum swinging so far in the direction of larger broker-dealers, I thought it only fair to give the medium-sized firms an opportunity to have the spotlight shine on their...

Six Broker-Dealer Red Flags

00:00 01 April in Articles Written by Jon Henschen by rafferty

April, 2011 by Jonathan Henschen, CFS and featured in Advisorbiz.com: Five years ago the due diligence conducted on reps looking to join a broker dealer was more lax than what you see today. Pre-hire screening by broker dealers is more rigorous--even when it's just for the privilege of a home office visit. When you decide you want to join a firm, the background checks are much more in-depth and detailed. As Bob Dylan would say, "The times they are a changing" Here are six red flags to consider when thinking about changing broker dealer: Frequent broker dealer change history - It's one thing to have your firm sold out from under you or closed down. However, for those reps who stay at firms for one...

What Will Life After Ameriprise Mean for Securities America Advisors?

00:00 01 April in In the News by rafferty

by Donna Mitchell and featured in Financial Planning April, 2011: April is not turning out the way that Securities America's advisors had envisioned. Its parent company, Ameriprise Financial, had just agreed to back a $150 million settlement between the broker-dealer and investors who had lost about $400 million from faulty, and in some cases, fraudulent, private placement investments. On Friday, a federal judge in Dallas is expected to rule on whether to accept the settlement. In March, executives for Securities America argued that the firm’s survival hinged on a $21 million settlement that Securities America had worked out with class-action plaintiffs. But last Monday, Ameriprise Financial announced in its first-quarter earnings release that it would find a buyer for Securities America. “We appreciate the many years Ameriprise has committed to our independent business model. Their...