Following a weeks-long survey process and months of anticipation after that, InvestmentNews is proud to reveal its list of 5-Star Broker-Dealers for 2024.
Whether it’s by revenue earned, account assets, average payout per producing rep, or fees, the metrics show how the top independent broker-dealers in the USA have established themselves as industry frontrunners.
As they say, Rome wasn’t built in a day. For today’s leading independent broker-dealers, the road to growth and sustained success was paved with intention, starting with their recruitment process.
“A lot of broker-dealers are fixated on numbers of advisors, but we go after a little bit more of the higher-quality folks, the more experienced, the higher producers,” said David Fischer, co-founder and CMO at Independent Financial Group. “We’ve done that by recruiting them one at a time.”
“We bring in people who are energetic, successful, and happy, who really want to treat others the way they want to be treated [themselves],” added Brian Kovack, co-founder and chairman at Kovack Securities. “We think of that as the golden rule.”
Beyond recruitment, the top independent broker-dealers realize the vital importance of providing technical support. With that in mind, IFG isn’t shy about reinvesting some of its earnings in the business, with plans to spend $3 million on upgrading its technology.
“It’s not about me and the other partner scraping a bunch of money off the table,” Fischer says. “It’s about putting it back, so we can keep building and make this a perpetually successful company where everybody is happy and growing.”
As the war for wallet share rages, research by Cerulli has found that the top five wealth management firms today control 57 percent of broker dealer AUM and 32 percent of broker-dealer advisors. It’s only natural to think that brokerages with backing from large firms or deep-pocketed investors have an edge, but Kovack offers a slightly different take.
“We’re privately owned, and providing a quality of experience to the advisors is more important than how big we are or the bottom line,” he said.
With a history that goes back nearly 30 years, Kovack Securities has established itself as a strong partner for entrepreneurial, independent-minded advisors. Learn more about the company in this exclusive profile article.
To find out more about InvestmentNews’ best independent broker-dealers in the US, click here.
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