In the News

2011 Broker-Dealer Presidents’ Poll

by John Sullivan and featured in Investment Advisor & AdvisorOne
June, 2011:

Investment Advisor surveyed over 70 presidents and heads of broker-dealers big and small. We asked about the regulatory environment, compliance, recruiting, and the long- and short-term challenges they face. Not content with the answers as they were, we asked broker-dealer recruiting expert Jon Henschen, president of Henschen & Associates, an advisor placement firm, for his “color commentary” on what the responses mean for the larger industry as a whole, and what advisors should be looking for from the broker-dealers with which they choose to partner. True to form, Henschen, a well-known writer and speaker known for his sometimes brutal honesty,

Indie Winners: America’s Top Independent Brokerages

by Diana Britton and featured in Registered Rep
June, 2011:

Whatever happened to the indie exodus? The storied legions of breakaway brokers that were said to be fleeing Wall Street’s giant bureaucratic brokerages and heading to the promised land of independent firms where they could control their own destinies, select whatever products they wanted for their clients, and leave behind all of those knotty conflicts of interest? Yes, it is a phenomenon that has been widely debated in the financial services industry as well as in these pages.

The Merrills and Morgan Stanleys of the world say it was never an exodus, the migration is over, and it was only those advisors who couldn’t make it in the cutthroat wirehouse world who crossed over to the independent side of the business anyway — the ones who never got close to half a million in annual gross dealer concessions.

Sale of Securities America, Morgan Keegan Hindered by Weak M&A Environment

June, 2011
by Janet Levaux and featured in AdvisorOne:

While rumors persist about possible suitors for Securities America, Morgan Keegan and other broker-dealers on the market, experts say the pool of buyers has shrunk dramatically over the past few years. For advisors, the longer the sales process take, the more likely it is that advisors will leave, they add.

“There are fewer buyers out there right now,” said Jon Henschen (left), head of Henschen & Associates, a recruiting firm for independent advisors in Marine on St. Croix, Minn., in an interview with AdvisorOne. “There are just not many insurance firms looking for brokers, for instance,