Janney Montgomery Scott has a program for advisors who want to provide for their clients' future as they exit their practice.
The Setting Star Recruiting and Succession Plan program is designed as a way for advisors to retire over time, while providing for their clients’ future needs, says Jerry Lombard, president of Janney’s private client group.
Janney, a wealth management, financial services and investment banking firm based in Philadelphia, launched the program in the spring to provide a structured transition process for advisors and their clients.
Advisors who are nearing retirement become Janney employees and they bring their clients with them, Lombard explains. The advisors remain with Janney for a minimum of three years, during which time they partner with a Janney advisor who is going to stay in the business.
The clients work with the new advisor and their original advisor during this time.
Janney pays the advisor for his book of business as he exits the field. Each transition agreement is customized to the individual advisor, Janney says.
Setting Star Recruiting is seen as a long-term building block for Janney, which plans to add about 10 advisors a year through this program. Janney has offices in all the eastern seaboard states, Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia and manages about $68 billion in client assets.
Janney’s clients are mostly the mass affluent, clients with $500,000 to $5 million in investable assets, although it has no asset minimum for clients.
“There has to be a good cultural fit between the retiring advisor and Janney,” says Lombard. “Advisors worry about what will happen to their clients when they retire and we want them to know there is a good alternative program out there for them.”