Maybe if you can’t get any firms to take you, then take a home office job that requires licenses.  Work till you are no longer under supervision, then get back into being a FA.  At least you would keep you licenses, stay in the industry, and maybe keep learning something.

What about going indy with those kind of numbers?

Yeah, or why not RIA?

I think RIA would be the easiest way to build up your income base again (assuming you did fee-based business).  I assume you have blown a lot of cash being unemployed, though.  I don’t think anyone could stop you, could they?  Do you think you could get some clients to come with you at this point?  How long has it been?

if you have sufficient production, you might want to go indy with Kovacks Securities out of Ft. Lauderdale.

1/4 of business was fee based as I was fairly new in the business (26mo at Regional) I have been sitting and now looking for 5 1/2 months. However, I do still keep in contact with my top clients which I can move. The lower tier clients I would talk to and over time move as well.
I don’t know anything about RIA unfortunately. I would imagine to transact business in the state of florida I would have to still be undersupervision right?
Also, what would happen if I moved to another state with my license? I know Merrill termed my registration in all the other states I was listed with.

If you go RIA, then you will ditch your licenses (except for maybe the 65?  I’m not sure about that).  If you go with an existing RIA, then they will probably have to add your DRP to their ADV Part I.  Not really sure how the RIA would take that though, but maybe your assets and production are enough.
I would at least investigate this option further.

[quote]1/4 of business was fee based as I was fairly new in the business (26mo at Regional) I have been sitting and now looking for 5 1/2 months. However, I do still keep in contact with my top clients which I can move. The lower tier clients I would talk to and over time move as well.
I don’t know anything about RIA unfortunately. I would imagine to transact business in the state of florida I would have to still be undersupervision right?
Also, what would happen if I moved to another state with my license? I know Merrill termed my registration in all the other states I was listed with.[/quote] 
So I assume you inherited msot of that business?  For only 2+ years in the business, 40mm AUM seems like a lot.  Since you aer not familiar with the RIA route, it’s sort of the “fee-only financial planner” route.  It’s more complicated than that, but essentially, you would be advising clients for a fee.  Think of it as having 100% fee-based business.  You do not “sell” product, you simply manage protfolios for clients at a 3rd party custodian.  My advice…talk to Fred Van dan Abel (spelling?) at Trade PMR.  Just Google it and look it up.  He handles new RIA’s for his firm, and could walk you through the process.  He is on this board somewhere, btu not sure if he has migrated over to the new board yet.

Not to split hairs, but  I consider Fee-Only and Fee-Based as two different things.  Fee-Only being a planning fee, and Fee-Based being a managing fee (% of AUM).  Is this a common thought, or am I crazy?  Now that I think about it, I don’t know where I got this from.

[quote]Not to split hairs, but  I consider Fee-Only and Fee-Based as two different things.  Fee-Only being a planning fee, and Fee-Based being a managing fee (% of AUM).  Is this a common thought, or am I crazy?  Now that I think about it, I don’t know where I got this from.[/quote] 
You can charge fees any which way you want, as long as you disclose it properly.  You can charge an hourly fee, flat rate, retainer, AUM%, or a mix and match depending on the client.  It is really quite flexible (and negotiable).

[quote]Not to split hairs, but  I consider Fee-Only and Fee-Based as two different things.  Fee-Only being a planning fee, and Fee-Based being a managing fee (% of AUM).  Is this a common thought, or am I crazy?  Now that I think about it, I don’t know where I got this from.[/quote] 
 

Agree with the hair splitting.  Fee-only and fee-based are two different things.

Yes, I agree.  What I meant was from an "income" perspective, being "fee-only" would be similar to the income he was receiving from his "fee-based" clients.  I get the difference though.

You can to to www.investmentadvisorsearch.com to get a list of all RIAs by state.

(link courtesy of B24 and hours of roogling)

[quote=B24][quote]1/4 of business was fee based as I was fairly new in the business (26mo at Regional) I have been sitting and now looking for 5 1/2 months. However, I do still keep in contact with my top clients which I can move. The lower tier clients I would talk to and over time move as well. I don't know anything about RIA unfortunately. I would imagine to transact business in the state of florida I would have to still be undersupervision right? Also, what would happen if I moved to another state with my license? I know Merrill termed my registration in all the other states I was listed with.[/quote]  So I assume you inherited msot of that business?  For only 2+ years in the business, 40mm AUM seems like a lot.  Since you aer not familiar with the RIA route, it's sort of the "fee-only financial planner" route.  It's more complicated than that, but essentially, you would be advising clients for a fee.  Think of it as having 100% fee-based business.  You do not "sell" product, you simply manage protfolios for clients at a 3rd party custodian.  My advice....talk to Fred Van dan Abel (spelling?) at Trade PMR.  Just Google it and look it up.  He handles new RIA's for his firm, and could walk you through the process.  He is on this board somewhere, btu not sure if he has migrated over to the new board yet.[/quote]

I was at a bank affiliated brokerage. Did no inherit any book, and actually got all the POS branches that the existing advisors wanted to dump. I just knew how to work the branches better since I worked for the bank as a manager prior to being an FA. This in addition to working with Private and Business Banking. The bank side helped get me started for sure, but was not my total book. After 26 months I had $48MM AUM in my book, and $62MM AUM total if considered what was in a split rep code with me and my junior. I know I could not touch the split assets, so I just count $48MM AUM. Did $1.13MM in revenue over those 26 months, and dropped out of their 3 year training program after 18 months, so that I could be put on a 5+yr LOS grid which would payout the highest %. I did really well there, and love this career. Just crazy that something so small is causing this much of a road block. I appreciate everyones advise.

What about going to a bank with an inhouse brokerage department?  Not ideal, but it might get you back on your feet.  Might be able to convince the bank president that you could move some assets.

[quote=B24]

What about going to a bank with an inhouse brokerage department?  Not ideal, but it might get you back on your feet.  Might be able to convince the bank president that you could move some assets.

[/quote]

Thought the same thing, but learned quickly that bank brokerages are very tight as Fifth Third, Wells Fargo, Chase can't take people under supervision agreements. Sent resume to BB&T as well and never heard back. Tried to go back to my regional (Morgan Keegan) and even went up to Atlanta to meet my former bosses manager which went well. In the end, the sales side of the firm could not make the compliance side agree to take me back even though my old manager was fine with the supervision. Compliance felt it was just better to go seperate ways and not try to take my clients and move then internally around again.

[quote=HNIC][quote=YankeeNole][quote]did you make them mad when you left?   was it personal to try to bury you?[/quote]  I resigned professionally and in person. Even teared up when I did it as I had a good repour with my manager. I think home office wanted to try and mess with my ability to transfer clients.[/quote] You spelled "rapport" wrong.[/quote]

Thanks for catching that. Changed * =)

Insurance in the meantime? 

No wonder MK didn't want to keep you - have you guys seen the news about their mounting legal woes?

I have seen all the suits going on at MK and got to hear about them all the time I was there. Luckily I never sold their proprietary funds, nor got involved with the auction rate securities a lot of advisors sold there. Got TD'd by Ameriprise today. Down to MS right now, then maybe UBS. My recruiter tried to set something up with Gunn Allen today, but after I looked them up, it seems like a disaster to head over there. I would rather open checking accounts in a bank or be someone sales assistant for 2 years until the supervision agreement expires and then start over.