The first class of the new AdminU, an educational program created by LPL Financial of Boston, has graduated after completing courses in office management, technology, client service skills and marketing.
AdminU was launched in January and provides three levels of training: specialists, associates and bachelors, each requiring 10 to 13 classes averaging 10 to 15 hours of course work.
"Financial advisors have more and more pressure on them to interact with clients and build their businesses," says Andy Kalbaugh, LPL Financial executive vice president of business consulting. "The more training the support staff has, the more pressure can be relieved for the advisors. Having staff trained for more duties frees up time for the advisors to develop their business."
LPL is one of the nation's largest independent broker-dealers and a wholly owned subsidiary of LPL Investment Holdings Inc. It includes financial advisor firms of all sizes and the firms deal with a wide range of types of clients. Each firm can benefit from having a well-trained staff, notes Kalbaugh.
Two staff members from Financial Advocates in Olympia, Wash., a financial advisor support organization, were among the first AdminU graduating class, having completed the associate's courses, and represent one of the larger firms taking advantage of the course. Financial Advocates works with 115 advisors in 73 offices with a total of $2.5 billion in assets under management.
So far AdminU graduates have earned specialists' and associates' rankings. Staff members from 300 LPL offices are enrolled and 26 students were in the first graduating class. There is no fee for the courses.
"The more productive we can make people within a firm, the more that business will grow," Kalbaugh says.
It is anticipated AdminU will evolve and the courses will be increased and adapted as advisors and staff provide feedback on what they want and need, he adds. The courses were developed initially because of the needs expressed by financial advisors and their staffs.
"We think this will be a selling point for our firm. My staff members who attended AdminU brought the idea to me. They are continuing and others have asked to go," says Gary Campbell, president of Financial Advocates. "We provide compliance and supervisory support for financial advisors who do not want to deal with the back-office work or who are transitioning to the field."
At Thiesen Dueker Financial Consulting Group in Fresno, Calif., staff members have been asked to complete all three levels of study for their career development.