A headhunter’s dinner with three unhappy advisers, Part 3

Of the three buddies (Wirehouse Adviser, Regional Firm Broker, Boutique Adviser) who are sitting with me this night for dinner, only one of the them is still at the same firm that they all started with together fifteen years ago:
Wirehouse Adviser: “Here you go. Here are the all the different business cards I’ve had in my fifteen years sitting in the same seat.” With a flourish, he pretended that he was shuffling and dealing a deck, finally laying out five different business cards in front of us as if we were looking at the community cards in a game of Texas Hold ‘Em.
Sarch: “You’re the only one of your buddies that has never moved before. Why not?”
Boutique Firm Advisor: “Because he cashed and spent his retention check!”
[Laughter]
Wirehouse Adviser: “Good question. Things have certainly changed a lot around me. I’m not particularly happy. But the timing never seemed right based on what I had going on with my family or with the markets. That said, I think I’m ready now. But I’m just a lot more cynical than these guys.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, I just don’t believe that what you buy into when you move on day one will be the same thing in the future. So if I’m convinced that things will continue to change, I might as well just go for the biggest check with a good manager who I hope will be there for at least the first few years I’m there.”
“That’s pretty cynical. If you go independent, then you don’t have to sweat all the changes the same way.”
“No, I’ve lost a ton of money in my company’s stock, so I want to cash in. Maybe after this contract expires, I’ll consider independence. The good part about all the changes I’ve been through is I don’t sweat them nearly as much as I used to, when a manager moving on seemed to be the end of the world. If they change a few mouse clicks on me in the system, I’ll deal with it like I always have. Not a problem. And I’m a loyal guy, but all the people that I have loyalty to have been forced out, or moved to a different part of the firm. Loyalty to people makes the world go round; loyalty to a brand name is just stupidity. So I’m gone. Let’s cut to the chase: Who will let me make my own pricing decisions for my clients without four layers of approval, while paying me the most money?”
“The deals are all pretty close right now amongst the other wirehouses. I’ll call you tomorrow to go into details of offices and managers and current policies to figure out where the best bet is for you right now.”
Boutique Firm Adviser: “Okay, enough about them. Let’s talk about me and what I want.”

Next Column: Part 4, the “alternative solution” market for advisers. Click here to read Part 1 of this series, and click here for Part 2.