Sheila Cuffari-Agasi
Vice President Partner Development
United Planners Financial Services of America, LLP

A Structure Built To Survive The Tests Of Time

Advisors are tired of being bought, sold and traded like a commodity. After all, the value of a Broker-Dealer is really in their producing advisors, so why don’t advisors have a significant voice when it comes to changes in ownership, especially in the independent channel? Independent Advisors are business owners. You would think they would have more “destiny control” over the ownership of their Broker-Dealer. They often make a decision to affiliate with one firm, and find themselves soon hamstrung and underserved by a completely different corporate partner.

United Planners created a very unique structure to prevent this from happening at its inception back in 1987. The founders structured the Partnership with the Limited Partners (Producing Advisors) having a majority ownership of the entity with voting rights on major issues. The firm is un-conflicted about putting the needs of the owner advisors first rather than subordinating their interests to public shareholders, private equity firms, or corporate parents. This ensures United Planners independent longevity and viability.

United Planners has high standards for the type of advisor invited to join the firm. It is because of these standards, including the unique structure, rich culture and way customer service is defined, United Planners has really set itself apart from other Independent Broker Dealers.

Now let’s talk profits. When the majority of the firm is owned by the Limited Partners, they receive an allocation of the majority of the profits every year. They also control, from an ownership standpoint the majority of the firm. No hostile takeovers here! Advisors can readily “lock elbows” and prevent a sale, even if the General Partner were to encourage it. This unique structure essentially offers that “destiny control” right back to the hands of the advisor and business owner.

Click here to view corporate profile.


Jim Nagengast
CEO and President
Securities America Advisors, Inc.


Top performing athletes make millions of dollars—and yet they still need a coach. Experienced, high performing advisors often don’t connect reaching their goals with hiring a coach to improve their skills. For most, the idea of paying for someone to push them forward, when they’re already working hard, seems uncomfortable. There’s the return on investment—will coaching actually pay off? And then there’s ego—what can coaching teach me that I don’t already know after all these years?

Advisors who decide to invest time and money into a coaching program have usually reached the conclusion: “I cannot do it alone—I need that push.” Their next question—who can help me achieve measurable results?

Many broker-dealers partner with external firms to provide coaching and consulting for their own advisors. Others take a more ad hoc approach, providing a variety of resources that advisors can research, interview and participate on their own.

Securities America takes an innovative approach to building our Next Level Coaching Program. We combined our proven practice management, wealth management and fee-based resources into a single nine-month program. Next Level uses workshops, group discussion, individual assignments and one-on-one coaching to help advisors increase efficiency and profitability in each area of their practice.

We’ve taken 12 groups of advisors through the Next Level program, and the results are clear. Advisors who complete the program:

•  Experience an average 26% increase in trailing 12 months’ revenue.

•  Gather, on average, 136% more assets in the 24 months after the program compared to the 24 months before the program.

•  Gather, on average, 79% more assets than a randomly selected control group of advisors during the same period.

Call Securities America today at 800-989-8441 to learn more about our substantial Practice Management resources, including Assistant Training & Professional Development; Associate Advisor Coaching; Study Groups; Hiring & Managing Staff support; and our Revenue Diagnostic Tool.

Click here to view corporate profile.

 


Matthew Bassuk
Senior Managing Director, Business Development
First Allied Securities, Inc.

Boosting Production Acquisitions To Foster Quick Growth

Financial advisors often seek new ways to grow their business, and buying a practice can be a fast and efficient method for expansion. However, advisors interested in acquisitions often never take the first step because they are unsure how to begin. Having a broker-dealer with acquisition experience can be a considerable advantage when purchasing a book of business.

It takes a smart strategy and hard work to execute a successful expansion of a business. Is it worth the time and effort? Outside of the potential for increased revenue, there’s opportunity to diversify clientele, broaden a niche, or even add staff and resources. And now is the time to begin planning for an acquisition as more baby boomer advisors will be retiring in the years to come.

From locating a seller to negotiating the deal terms to transitioning the business, an advisor should have their broker-dealer in their corner. First Allied Securities has a seasoned team and infrastructure built to support business acquisitions. Advisors may even be able to qualify for forgivable loans to help finance the purchase, if they meet certain criteria.

Experience is a major advantage when navigating a successful acquisition. The First Allied program has been in place for years and each purchase is a learning experience to make the next even stronger. One advisor, Ben Newhouse, purchased two businesses and doubled his production in just two short years. Different factors impacted the acquisitions but overall, the partnership and strong execution of a plan made it a success.

First Allied is an ideal resource for advisors interested in purchasing a practice to grow or add new resources. You can read about Ben Newhouse’s acquisition and learn more by visiting joinfirstallied.com.

Click here to view corporate profile.


Marshall T. Leeds
President & CEO
Summit Brokerage Services, Inc.

What Summit Provides Its Advisors

When people ask me what makes Summit different and stand apart from the crowd I always answer:

First, it is our culture. We created a broker-dealer that has a culture of treating our advisors as the client and giving them a boutique-sized firm experience.
We provide the best possible service to our advisors which is the core of what we do day in, day out, and one of the reasons why Summit’s advisor retention rate is among the highest in the industry.

As a result of this culture, we have been named the #1 Boutique Broker-Dealer in the Country—Two years in a row.

And, scored a 9.9 in overall advisor satisfaction in REP. magazine’s annual BD report card — Two years in a row.

Summit’s goal will always be to treat our advisors as the client, so they can better serve their clients. Since our inception, Summit’s philosophy has not changed; we want you to spend time with your clients, helping them achieve their goals, not spend time on the phone with our back office.

As a Cetera Financial Group company, our advisors have the opportunity to leverage the industry’s most advanced products, platforms and resources to help them grow their businesses. However, being with Summit means you still get to experience that boutique culture created over 30 years ago.
Our promise to provide an unmatched level of service is reflected in our commitment to always:

•  Make growing our advisors’ business a core part of our culture
•  Deliver a boutique experience
•  Give our advisors the highest level of access to Senior and Executive level management
•  Provide the best technology, products, practice management and training opportunities to allow you to maximize the value of your efforts.
•  Help create a succession plan to protect the value of the practice you’ve worked so hard to create.
•  Treat you and your associates as our partners.

Click here to view corporate profile.

 


Kyle Selberg
Senior Vice President, Business Development
Cambridge Investment Research, Inc.

The Value(s) In Choosing Cambridge

Choosing the right broker-dealer for you and your business can be one of the most difficult decisions you face as a financial professional.

At Cambridge, we believe in private ownership, true independence, and the Cambridge culture—we appeal to advisors who hold those similar values. We understand that these principles guide who we are and are at the forefront of our mutual success.

The Cambridge Culture
Our purpose is to make a difference in the lives of our advisors, their clients, and our associates. Culture counts—that is why our four core values reflect our purpose, define our culture, and direct our actions.

•  Integrity: honesty, fairness, and ethics are the foundation of our culture

•  Commitment: making a difference to our community through quality, excellence, and service

•  Flexibility: offering solutions based on being open-minded, resourceful, and committed to mutual win-win

•  Kindness: in all things, consideration and compassion with a human touch guide our decisions

The Cambridge Commitment
Remaining independent and privately owned has always been part of our plan. We believe preserving our commitment to you must start with the stability of management and ownership within Cambridge. We’ve spent over 20 years establishing a flexible business model, a committed senior leadership team, a legal structure, and a formal succession plan; all in order to stay focused on you and remain true to our core values. What does this mean for our advisors?

Stability through a leadership team that is committed to culture and values, financial strength through profitable growth, and service excellence.

The Cambridge Difference
You control the journey. We believe true independence gives you the freedom to run your business, your way. We offer the flexible support you need to achieve your goals, so you can help your clients achieve and exceed theirs.

We invite you to experience the Cambridge difference.

Click here to view corporate profile.


Bill Van Law
President, Private Client Group
Raymond James Investment Advisors Division

What Sets This Affiliation Model Apart In The Industry?

The RIA channel is experiencing significant, rapid growth because advisors are seeking more freedom and control. While many firms are seeing them through aggregators, we’re getting them directly. Advisors want to focus on their business and clients, and desire a certain level of autonomy. Advisors also want the economic flexibility to control costs and support, hire staff, recruit other advisors, etc. However, successful, experienced advisors also demand a broad and deep platform that offers the same or better support as wirehouse models.

What Sets Your Firm Apart From The Field?
We know that top advisors need the right tools to build a strong practice and the independence to make their own decisions. At Raymond James, we provide those freedoms. Just like with our other affiliation models, we believe the advisors know how best to serve their clients. The differentiator from other firms is that our culture puts the advisor as our client, and our clients will always come first—across all platforms. It is that culture that currently has us on track to have our best year yet in the RIA space. Raymond James allows advisors to select how they want to execute their business. When you add our capabilities with the opportunity for freedom and control of your business, you have a firm that’s willing to truly partner with its advisors.

Raymond James provides a full service platform to RIAs. By offering a broad range of services, the firm gives advisors the solutions necessary to build and sustain long-term client relationships, while growing their practices. We offer the tools, research and resources advisors need to serve their clients fully and freely. We’re here to complement their expertise and support their practice with resources such as highly regarded research, integrated technology and personalized attention and service.

Click here to view corporate profile.


Scott Curtis
President, Private Client Group
Raymond James Financial Services

What Are You Hearing From Prospective Advisors Considering A Move?

For financial advisors employed by their current firms and not already independent, the primary motivations are usually a desire for greater control and freedom—control to manage their business as they choose and the freedom to work with clients they prefer, regardless of size. Financial advisors want to affiliate with a firm they can be proud of and that provides them with the flexibility and resources to successfully manage their own business. Unlike Raymond James, other firms typically don’t consider or treat advisors as their clients. The advisors are seeking a higher level of care, partnership and freedom that they’re not experiencing from their current firm.

What Sets Your Firm Apart From Others?
We offer advisors the rewards and satisfaction of independent business ownership supported by the depth and breadth of resources of a full-service, self-clearing NYSE member firm, combined with the “financial advisors are our clients” culture of Raymond James. Our associates at all levels of the organization understand the primary focus is supporting the growth and success of our advisors assisting their clients with their financial objectives and needs.

How Does Raymond James Appeal To High-Quality Advisors?
The same way we appeal to all advisors—by treating them as our clients. With this mindset, advisors receive a noticeably different level of service versus what they’ve grown accustomed to receiving at other firms. Stated simply, when an advisor or one of their team members calls for service, a friendly, helpful voice will answer the phone. We’re responsive to inquiries and regularly and proactively engage advisors and their team members for feedback and input to enhance the firm’s capabilities and resources.

Click here to view corporate profile.

 


Daniel Wildermuth
President and CEO, Kalos Financial
Kalos Capital, Inc.


Kalos Financial, headquartered in Atlanta, GA, specializes in making independent financial advisors truly distinctive, helping them expand their businesses and grow their practices. Kalos pioneered the adaption of the Endowment Investment Strategy to the portfolios of individual investors.

Our focus and experience has enabled us to create a uniquely effective means to incorporate alternative investments in client portfolios. Our comprehensive product platform is much more extensive than the industry average and is supported by a rigorous and effective due diligence process that has strategically guided our advisors to avoid problem offerings that have plagued so many other broker/dealers.

Our advisors have access to client approved presentations and seminars on the endowment model strategy along with software that allows them to easily create and present an endowment model proposal to their clients and prospects. In addition, our CEO is the author of a McGraw-Hill published book entitled, “Wise Money” that explains how individual investors can adapt this strategy to their own personal portfolios. These tools and our training programs help our advisors differentiate themselves in a crowded marketplace.

Our advisors’ success in closing business and growing their practices are reflected in our past four year average broker/dealer revenue growth of over 50%. In fact, Investment News Magazine has named Kalos as one of the top 5 fastest growing broker/dealers (by rep count) for the past 4 years in a row. Remarkably, our regrettable attrition is zero advisors over the same time span. Our impeccable retention partly results from maintaining a consistent advisor to staff ratio of 3 to 1.     

In addition to our Endowment Investment Model support, Kalos provides a robust investment advisory platform that includes access to multiple money managers, 20 different customized Kalos strategies, additional wrap fee programs, and transaction based services. We also provide a Unified Managed Account offering and Black Diamond performance reporting at no cost. Contact us to learn how you could benefit from a partnership with Kalos.

Securities offered through Kalos Capital, Inc., Member FINRA/SIPC/MSRB. Investment advisory services offered through Kalos Management, Inc., an SEC Registered Investment Adviser. These members of the Kalos Family of Companies are separate affiliated firms that share common ownership and are represented by the Kalos Financial service mark. 11525 Park Woods Circle, Alpharetta, GA 30005, Phone (678) 356-1100, Toll free (866) 525-6726.

Click here to view corporate profile.


David Fischer
Managing Director
Independent Financial Group, LLC

The Incredible Rise Of Independent Financial Group

San Diego-based Broker-Dealer, Independent Financial Group (IFG), operates small while still competing with the big names by redefining the personalized approach to service. They’ve built a strong reputation based on relationships, one rep at a time.

The original vision for IFG developed organically out of a feeling of growing disillusionment with broker-dealers in general. Their goal was to be better and they’ve accomplished just that.

Earlier this year, IFG scored a 9.7 out of 10 in rep satisfaction1 according to their own advisors. They’re succeeding financially while making a positive impact on the individuals they work hard to support. IFG believes that kind of reward is the most profitable.

With the foundation established by its three founders: Scott Heising, David Fischer and Joe Miller IFG has caught up, surpassed in some instances, its competition in a very short amount of time by continuing to stay true to the fundamentals. They communicate openly, establish mutual trust with reps, act with integrity, provide a down-to-earth and personalized approach to back office support and make sure their reps’ needs always come first. It’s a simple formula and they stick to it.

1. Ranked by REP. Magazine’s 2015 Independent Broker-Dealer Survey.

Click here to view corporate profile.