RayJay and Stifel
Anybody have experience at either Stifel or Raymond James employee channel? Whats it like, whats good and bad, what are the payouts like, culture, etc???
Whats a respectable level of production at these firms? Do the managers produce? Do they have good fee based platforms or are they more transactional.
I can only speak from my recent experience. I just moved to Stifel from Wachovia/AGE a month ago. Being a former AGE broker, I am VERY happy with Stifel. It is very similar to the way things were at AGE before the Wachovia trainwreck. Culture is great…good home office support, small company feel, freedom to do what you want. They are a little behind on certain technology but seem to be catching up quickly. The great thing is that if you have a suggestion on an improvement, they actually listen. Payout is 25% on first 8k and 50% for all production over that.
From what I have been told by my manager, Stifel is looking for the $250-$400k producers that the wirehouses seem to think are dogshit these days. My manager is a producing manager and the largest producer in the branch but seems to be very interested in my growth at the same time. Just starting to learn the fee-based platform and it looks decent with lots of flexibility on pricing. They do seem to be more transactional focused and the tools are excellent if you are a transactional guy. Like I said, they really don’t push transactional or fee-based…whatever you want to do is cool.
Hope that helps…
I have some friends in that production level at AGE/WACH thinking about moving if this WF doesny work out. Do you know what they are offering on transition packages?I can only speak from my recent experience. I just moved to Stifel from Wachovia/AGE a month ago. Being a former AGE broker, I am VERY happy with Stifel. It is very similar to the way things were at AGE before the Wachovia trainwreck. Culture is great…good home office support, small company feel, freedom to do what you want. They are a little behind on certain technology but seem to be catching up quickly. The great thing is that if you have a suggestion on an improvement, they actually listen. Payout is 25% on first 8k and 50% for all production over that.
From what I have been told by my manager, Stifel is looking for the $250-$400k producers that the wirehouses seem to think are dogshit these days. My manager is a producing manager and the largest producer in the branch but seems to be very interested in my growth at the same time. Just starting to learn the fee-based platform and it looks decent with lots of flexibility on pricing. They do seem to be more transactional focused and the tools are excellent if you are a transactional guy. Like I said, they really don’t push transactional or fee-based…whatever you want to do is cool.
Hope that helps…
Came from AGE to RJA, which is the traditional branch RJ setup. This and Stifel were the closest things we could find. Payouts similar to old AGE, product mix, autonomy (as long as you’re being productive), home office feel, etc. We’re VERY happy, especially since our old buddies that stayed at AGE are clustered outside our door everytime we walk out to our cars wanting to carry our books, clean the windshield, asking if we’ve heard anything about retention…
Bottom line, this was a good move. Nothing's perfect, but this is more like AGE than anything we could find. Fact: Deals have swung down; it's become a buyer's market for brokers wanting to make the transition. When we left (fall '07) the range with RJ was 60%-80% t12, with sweetness additionally in the form of comp. stock. Don't know the numbers now, but our regional has told us that it's quite a bit lower.I’ve been at Stifel for over 5 years. Came from another regional that was attempting to emulate a wirehouse (read lots of stupidity). Had had two other offers when I came including one with twice the upfront and twice the backend (ML) but I knew I couldn’t stand the culture. I wanted a place to finish my carreer (I’m over 50 now) and the people and culture mattered as much as the up front. I have not been disappointed and the reality has exceeded the expectations that were given me. No lies, no spin, no bullshit…ever.
Payout is great, 25% of the first 8k and 50% of the balance. Resets every month (you can't dig into a hole that you can't climb out of). Bonus and deferred for anyone at 250k plus. Technology started out good and has constantly improved. Research started out OK and is now outstanding. Our analysts are writing some of the best stuff I have ever layed eyes on. Fee based platforms are outstanding and you are given loads of pricing flexibility. The guy that runs consulting services is A+ and has never declined a request I have made for special consideration (of course as you can tell I am infinately reasonable) Insurance/annuity dept is also excellant and the available products more extensive than anyone could need. Never any haircuts on any product, everything goes to grid. Fixed income trading is also excellant. The Taxable guy (steve boff) is another A+. We also picked up an excellant options dept and strategest with the Ryan Beck aquisition. The deals offered now are the best I've seen during my time here, although if you're simply looking to get rich quick and be brain dead, go visit the swiss knuckleheads that can't understand why they can't make money on their US brokerage operations. If you want to be happy and work in a real business and run your book like a business, check us out. Oh, and I forgot, I got as much SF in deferred comp as I could at $8.73/share. When I vested it paid out at about $30 and you know what its worth now. So the end of the story, my deal ended up being worth way more than the ML deal.Quick. My basis on SF was 5.75
I have read that employees own a lot of the stock of Stifel. I like that. It wasn't the case at AG Edwards. Heck even Ben Edwards didn't own much. If he and the employees had more ownership maybe they could have stopped Bagby's sinister plot.
With RJA you can go indy to RJFS without moving your book or facing non-compete. Don’t know anything about STifel.
real deal old school stock brokrage firms looking pretty smart here
Absolutely. We old school AGE guys were told by Babgy and Danny that the “Universal Bank” model was the best thing out there. They look like jackasses right now…
With UBS sniffing around, that whole “competing on a Global scale” mantra is really starting to ring true…
On a separate note, I heard that Bagby will be on an upcoming episode of “Survivorman” on Discovery.
Good point. When you live and work in bumf@#k Kansas, who cares about global domination.
What kinda of transition package would a 1mm dollar producer with 200mm in assets be looking at…
You oughta find out who your regional guy is for SF or RJ, call him and chat. At that level, I'd say you're still pretty golden. The <400 guys are not getting quite as much attention in the RJ system as they were, but a thick, swinging stud w/200 aum would still make a splash in the RJ pond. I'm assuming the same would be true of SF.
Point of reference: At the peak of the deals, MS, C, MER were offering 150%-175% in our region. RJ was never more than 80%, really more in the 60%-70% range. If you're in the SE region, p.m. me and I'll give you the names of the regionals with RJ to talk with.PM me and I’ll hook you up with the closest mgr for SF. Where are you located?
I agree with beamer here…t12 of $1M and $200M aum would make you a big fish in the Stifel pond. Always better to be a big fish in a small pond…
what about 450k, 55 aum? Northeast, what kind of deal. UBS said forget it, too small.
I’ve often heard that Sterne, Agee & Leach has a similar culture and background to Stifel Nicolaus and that they also have a Wirehouse Employee Division. Perhaps worth exploring in greater detail. I believe their website is: www.sterneagee.com
[quote=FVDA_Trade-PMR]I’ve often heard that Sterne, Agee & Leach has a similar culture and background to Stifel Nicolaus and that they also have a Wirehouse Employee Division. Perhaps worth exploring in greater detail. I believe their website is: www.sterneagee.com
[/quote]WHO?????????????
You would definitely not get a “too small” comment at Stifel with t12 of $450…
[quote=nestegg] [quote=FVDA_Trade-PMR]I’ve often heard that Sterne, Agee & Leach has a similar culture and background to Stifel Nicolaus and that they also have a Wirehouse Employee Division. Perhaps worth exploring in greater detail. I believe their website is: www.sterneagee.com
[/quote]WHO?????????????
[/quote] We talked with Sterne Agee (based out of Birmingham) when we were looking at everything. They started out long time ago as a boutique bond shop, and have grown in the central SE region. Seemed like good guys, but no real presence in our immediate Gulf Coast region, zero name recognition, no real transition team. Not much in the form of transition $ if I remember correctly, as well. Nice bunch of guys, but RJ had the whole transition team thing down to a science.
[quote=2wheeledbeemer][quote=nestegg] [quote=FVDA_Trade-PMR]I’ve often heard that Sterne, Agee & Leach has a similar culture and background to Stifel Nicolaus and that they also have a Wirehouse Employee Division. Perhaps worth exploring in greater detail. I believe their website is: www.sterneagee.com
[/quote]WHO?????????????
[/quote] Nice bunch of guys, but RJ had the whole transition team thing down to a science.[/quote]
In case there are any lurkers out there...I disagree with the above comment when it comes to my transition from EJ to RJ. We were very successful, but at the time (2.5 years ago or so) RJ transition was not the reason why. It essentially consisted of us mailing all of our paperwork into them and having it sit on someone's desk for 2 days while we called to find out why ACAT's weren't coming over. They just didn't have the same urgency we did in the field. If I had it to do over again I would have learned better how to process ACATs and new acounts myself (in the office I mean) and had the staff do it.
[quote=LuvIndy] [quote=2wheeledbeemer][quote=nestegg] [quote=FVDA_Trade-PMR]I’ve often heard that Sterne, Agee & Leach has a similar culture and background to Stifel Nicolaus and that they also have a Wirehouse Employee Division. Perhaps worth exploring in greater detail. I believe their website is: www.sterneagee.com
[/quote]WHO?????????????
[/quote] Nice bunch of guys, but RJ had the whole transition team thing down to a science.[/quote]
In case there are any lurkers out there...I disagree with the above comment when it comes to my transition from EJ to RJ. We were very successful, but at the time (2.5 years ago or so) RJ transition was not the reason why. It essentially consisted of us mailing all of our paperwork into them and having it sit on someone's desk for 2 days while we called to find out why ACAT's weren't coming over. They just didn't have the same urgency we did in the field. If I had it to do over again I would have learned better how to process ACATs and new acounts myself (in the office I mean) and had the staff do it.
[/quote] I've heard similar on the pure indy side of RJ. On the branch RJA side, we had a team of 3 people from St. Pete for the first critical 2 weeks. It was a SWAT team approach, and that left us all free to be dealing strictly with clients. They handled all the paperwork from the branch, and they were interfacing with their colleagues whom they knew and worked with already on the other end of the phones at corp in St. Pete. It was as close to perfect as we could imagine, never having gone through a transition before.
[quote=stampede]I’ve been at Stifel for over 5 years. Came from another regional that was attempting to emulate a wirehouse (read lots of stupidity). Had had two other offers when I came including one with twice the upfront and twice the backend (ML) but I knew I couldn’t stand the culture. I wanted a place to finish my carreer (I’m over 50 now) and the people and culture mattered as much as the up front. I have not been disappointed and the reality has exceeded the expectations that were given me. No lies, no spin, no bullshit…ever.
Payout is great, 25% of the first 8k and 50% of the balance. Resets every month (you can't dig into a hole that you can't climb out of). Bonus and deferred for anyone at 250k plus. Technology started out good and has constantly improved. Research started out OK and is now outstanding. Our analysts are writing some of the best stuff I have ever layed eyes on. Fee based platforms are outstanding and you are given loads of pricing flexibility. The guy that runs consulting services is A+ and has never declined a request I have made for special consideration (of course as you can tell I am infinately reasonable) Insurance/annuity dept is also excellant and the available products more extensive than anyone could need. Never any haircuts on any product, everything goes to grid. Fixed income trading is also excellant. The Taxable guy (steve boff) is another A+. We also picked up an excellant options dept and strategest with the Ryan Beck aquisition. The deals offered now are the best I've seen during my time here, although if you're simply looking to get rich quick and be brain dead, go visit the swiss knuckleheads that can't understand why they can't make money on their US brokerage operations. If you want to be happy and work in a real business and run your book like a business, check us out. Oh, and I forgot, I got as much SF in deferred comp as I could at $8.73/share. When I vested it paid out at about $30 and you know what its worth now. So the end of the story, my deal ended up being worth way more than the ML deal. [/quote] Damn! Its nice to hear about someone LIKING where they work! Congrats on a great situation!LuvIndy - yup.
Stampede - Looking forward to joining you soon.
Hello
I saw your post about Stifel. It seems that you like the company a lot. I do a lot of Fee based business with my current WH. Do you know if there is any incentive bonus to do this business over transaction trading? I get a couple of extra points on my grid for all fee revenue now. Thanks for the help. MayberryUnfortunately, there is no incentive to do fee based business. All production is based on the “hurdle”…25% payout on monthly production up to $8k and 50% payout on monthly production over $8k. That works out to
[quote=2wheeledbeemer][quote=LuvIndy] [quote=2wheeledbeemer][quote=nestegg] [quote=FVDA_Trade-PMR]I’ve often heard that Sterne, Agee & Leach has a similar culture and background to Stifel Nicolaus and that they also have a Wirehouse Employee Division. Perhaps worth exploring in greater detail. I believe their website is: www.sterneagee.com
[/quote]WHO?????????????
[/quote] Nice bunch of guys, but RJ had the whole transition team thing down to a science.[/quote]
In case there are any lurkers out there...I disagree with the above comment when it comes to my transition from EJ to RJ. We were very successful, but at the time (2.5 years ago or so) RJ transition was not the reason why. It essentially consisted of us mailing all of our paperwork into them and having it sit on someone's desk for 2 days while we called to find out why ACAT's weren't coming over. They just didn't have the same urgency we did in the field. If I had it to do over again I would have learned better how to process ACATs and new acounts myself (in the office I mean) and had the staff do it.
[/quote] I've heard similar on the pure indy side of RJ. On the branch RJA side, we had a team of 3 people from St. Pete for the first critical 2 weeks. It was a SWAT team approach, and that left us all free to be dealing strictly with clients. They handled all the paperwork from the branch, and they were interfacing with their colleagues whom they knew and worked with already on the other end of the phones at corp in St. Pete. It was as close to perfect as we could imagine, never having gone through a transition before.[/quote] we transitioned about 2 years ago as well to RJFS and had the same experience - pretty flawless - transition team was great and came in 2 weeks into the affiliation for an entire week to help us out. could not have been happier. 2Wheeled - either RJ learned alot in the 6 months b/t our transitions OR you got a weak transition team.
[quote=Valhalla][quote=2wheeledbeemer][quote=LuvIndy] [quote=2wheeledbeemer][quote=nestegg] [quote=FVDA_Trade-PMR]I’ve often heard that Sterne, Agee & Leach has a similar culture and background to Stifel Nicolaus and that they also have a Wirehouse Employee Division. Perhaps worth exploring in greater detail. I believe their website is: www.sterneagee.com
[/quote]WHO?????????????
[/quote] Nice bunch of guys, but RJ had the whole transition team thing down to a science.[/quote]
In case there are any lurkers out there...I disagree with the above comment when it comes to my transition from EJ to RJ. We were very successful, but at the time (2.5 years ago or so) RJ transition was not the reason why. It essentially consisted of us mailing all of our paperwork into them and having it sit on someone's desk for 2 days while we called to find out why ACAT's weren't coming over. They just didn't have the same urgency we did in the field. If I had it to do over again I would have learned better how to process ACATs and new acounts myself (in the office I mean) and had the staff do it.
[/quote] I've heard similar on the pure indy side of RJ. On the branch RJA side, we had a team of 3 people from St. Pete for the first critical 2 weeks. It was a SWAT team approach, and that left us all free to be dealing strictly with clients. They handled all the paperwork from the branch, and they were interfacing with their colleagues whom they knew and worked with already on the other end of the phones at corp in St. Pete. It was as close to perfect as we could imagine, never having gone through a transition before.[/quote] we transitioned about 2 years ago as well to RJFS and had the same experience - pretty flawless - transition team was great and came in 2 weeks into the affiliation for an entire week to help us out. could not have been happier. 2Wheeled - either RJ learned alot in the 6 months b/t our transitions OR you got a weak transition team. [/quote] OUR transition to RJA was almost flawless, as well. I was responding to LuvIndy's comments about their's not going so well. Glad you're happy with everything, too.
It was tougher because I tend to be very anal as well. If you were scattered and just glad to have the help I think it would have been satisfactory. Still not an A, but maybe a C+ or B.
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