Follow Me


When professionals change jobs they must make an accurate prediction on who will follow them.  This is an important consideration and my experience is the three main players are under and overestimating a key component in the decision.  This week I’ll share my real world experiences on changing jobs.  Please follow me.

Management
When I ran a large wealth management organization I received numerous calls from office managers offering a block move of advisor teams in their office.  While the offer sounded compelling 100% of the transactions did not materialize.  While the advisor teams liked their branch manager they liked themselves, their family and their clients more.  I experienced this reality when I approached many of my ex-advisors when I started Sanctuary expecting them to follow me.  The power of the purse trumped my likeability.


Advisor
The fear factor for advisors considering changing firms is stoked by their current firm’s misguided belief that clients love the firm more than they love the advisor.  This belief is erroneous.  Facts show that 75-90% of the clients follow the advisor to their new firm.  The lower number is skewed by clients who need the balance sheet of the firm.  We can’t repeat it enough that relationship trumps brand 100% of the time! 


Business Model
The independent wealth management model has had a great run gleaning 5X the new client assets versus the larger brand name firms.  The larger firms and their conflicted solutions don’t sit well with educated clients.  It does appear that this positioning has run its course.  I was shocked to see how easy it was to transition advisors from one Protocol firm to another.  When I received a call from the compliance officer asking if my firm was a member of The Protocol my affirmative answer was all they needed.  Too easy?  It sure seemed like it to me after always trying to race the old firm to the courthouse on a Friday afternoon.


The Gorman resignation from The Protocol looks like it has hurt the independent wealth management firms much more than the advisors.  The clients are still following their trusted advisors and the clients should thank Mr. Gorman for cutting down on their email traffic.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Inorganic

Image
Our industry has always looked down on Wall Street’s recruiting checks.  Last week there were numerous announcements that independent firms were offering advisors money to purchase their practice.  The term for these transactions is inorganic growth.  This week we will look at why these transactions are the new rage and examine if they are better than the old Wall Street checks. Wempy Popeye and financial advisors fall for the “I’ll gladly pay pay you tomorrow for a Hamburger today” pitch.  Unfortunately Popeye and and most financial advisors provide their hamburger but seldomly get paid what the firms and Wimpy promise .  Why?  The advisors need the cash and Popeye is gullible.  On Wall Street the deals adjusted when the advisors changed firms looking for a new deal every five to eight years.  The recent Luminous departure shows that the advisory contracts need to be adjusted.  The new contracts are written by experienced firms and lawyers to prevent serial departures. 
Read more

Stop Judging

Image
I have known that I have MS for over four years.  My doctors believe I have had MS for over twenty years.  Initially, When I received this diagnosis  I was very opinionated when I saw disable people. I assumed the worst. As a currently disabled person I can educate and warn you regarding things you shouldn’t say to me or disabled people..  This blog will educate on my disability. The places it manifests itself and how you can react and support me and other disabled people. The three items are: 1.) Needing a walker 2.) Government disability  3.) Falling MS causes me to loose my balance and fall.  The walker prevents this reality  I look at walkers as being as sign of old age,  I was incorrect and a good walker is an aid!  With a walker I fall less often.  I might look old, but I am OLD! Our government provides support to the millions of MS patients in the US.  Support is through Social Security and must be approved.  I am approved. The service can be cancelled if i get a full time job.
Read more

Summer Changes

Image
  Our summer is almost over,  What did we learn during all of our downtime?   I will summarize all of my observations and share my plans on what I will implement when I return to my office.  I discovered/ learned 6 items on my beech lounging, morning walks and social media tolling that I’ll share.  Hope they help.  My first and easiest change was my eye glasses.  Many of my friend asked it was trying to look like Elton.  I wasn’t…. The next three changes were business related. The changes will be voted on by my colleagues.  Steve Jobs of solving client problems the client didn’t know they had will be our guiding light.  I tried to change a few items. The obvious item what I changed was my eye  glasses.  The other areas were business related and I wanted wanted to be in control of my changes. The first change s our business’s model.  It has taken years to realize that I can’t beat thr market index.  Growing up on Wall Street this change was difficult.   Alpha is difficult to achieve an
Read more