"Eventually, there is a game that breaks out at one o'clock," he jokes. After the game, he and his crew fill out paperwork regarding penalties called, time-outs taken, replay scenarios and the like. Then it's off to the airport, and Parry usually gets home around midnight. For late-afternoon games, especially those on the West Coast, that means taking the red-eye home.
Parry is in the office 5 a.m. on Monday for a couple of hours to finish his NFL-related paperwork, goes home a mile away to help get his kids ready for school, and then he's back in the office doing client work. "Through the week, I try to find hours to make sure I'm ready for the next game," Parry says. That includes reviewing the teams he'll be officiating and getting his travel plans in order. "It's a very long fall, but it's a labor of love," he says of both jobs.
Refereeing entails a ton of paperwork, he says, "but at 1:02 on a Sunday afternoon, it's the best gig in the world." NFL officials and crews are graded on a merit system to qualify for postseason work, and Parry's crew worked one of this year's playoff games. Thus far, the highlight of his career was being a side judge for Super Bowl XLI in February 2007, when the Indianapolis Colts beat the Chicago Bears.
"I'm competing with 16 other referees every week to hopefully work after the season and late into the playoffs," says Parry, noting that the conference championship games, the Super Bowl and the Pro Bowl assignments are based on individual rankings. "As a referee, my goal is to referee a Super Bowl."
Musical Chairs Envelopes B-D World
The upheaval in the independent broker-dealer world caused by the recession and financial scandals had already claimed several small- and medium-sized independent broker-dealers before this past winter, when more IBDs fell by the wayside. Specifically, Ensemble Financial Services Inc. and QA3 Financial Group announced plans to shutter their businesses because they couldn't meet capital requirements due to legal battles and compliance issues. As a result, scores of financial advisors have been cut adrift and left to fend for themselves.
With Ensemble Financial Services' independent broker-dealer business on the way out, its 85 registered representatives are slated to move to Invest Financial Corp., a broker-dealer owned by Jackson National Life Insurance Co. Meanwhile, Pittsford, N.Y.-based Ensemble's registered investment advisory division, Tompkins Financial Advisors, will reportedly remain open.
With the news of QA3 Financial Group's demise, FSC Securities Corp., an affiliate of Sun American Financial Group, grabbed 35 of QA3's reps and advisors who collectively produce $7.5 million in annual fees and commissions.
"What's really important to independent financial advisors today is the financial strength of their broker-dealer, which equals staying power, and that means being in business another 50 years," says Mark J. Schlafly, president and CEO of FSC Securities Corp., based in Atlanta.
Another estimated 40 reps from QA3 went to Financial Network Investment Corp., now part of Cetera Financial Group. Both the parent and Financial Network are headquartered in El Segundo, Calif. Financial Network has over 2,000 reps split into 32 regions.
Dave Hubbard, president of one of the regional offices, Exemplar Financial Network in Crystal Lake, Ill., says a lot of its reps work with attorneys, accountants, and other advisors as a team. "The QA3 reps we brought on board liked that," he says.
Finra statistics point to the industry's consolidation trend: The agency had 5,029 member firms and 658,173 registered reps under its domain in 2006 versus 4,555 firms and 630,816 reps as of February 2011.
Finra Upped Enforcement Actions In '10
The number of Finra disciplinary actions rose more than 13% last year, even as the amount of fines decreased from the prior year, according to an annual study of Finra sanctions by the law firm Sutherland Asbill & Brennan LLP.