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.

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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.

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