No doubt you see lists of the best of this or that on the covers of nearly every magazine. What distinguishes our cover package, The Best: America's Top Brokers, is the breadth of the survey and the rigor used to figure out the rankings. R.J. Shook, who has been surveying 50 firms and thousands of brokers over the country for months, has written extensively on this subject before, most notably in his book, The Winner's Circle: How 30 Financial Advisors Became the Best in the Business (Cahners, 2002). And he did not merely rely on production and asset numbers. R.J. looked at compliance records and client-retention stats of all of the candidates. We believe that the best brokers in America are indeed just that: top producers but also advisors who take their fiduciary responsibility seriously. Please turn to page 30 for R.J.'s survey.
The purpose of the survey is to celebrate the best practitioners and, as R.J. says, to promote best practices. You would think that the brokerage houses would be enthusiastic about this and mostly they are. We thank them for their help. But UBS PaineWebber, alone among the wirehouses, wouldn't cooperate. So there are no PaineWebber brokers in this survey, although four qualified. Thanks to all who participated.
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As always, let us know what you think. Contact us with questions, problems, concerns, story ideas, whatever, at [email protected]. Or call me directly at (212) 462-3591. We've also recently improved and relaunched our Internet broker forums. You should find them helpful in conversing with your peers. You can get to them at http://forums.registeredrep.com.
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With the anniversary of the September 11th tragedy upon us, all Americans are remembering the terrible loss. Like many of you in the business, I lost friends in the World Trade Center. I would like to remember two here.
Ward Haynes, husband and father of three, worked at Cantor Fitzgerald. 12/26/65 - 9/11/2001
Jeremy “Caz” Carrington, a life-loving Englishman, also worked at Cantor. 11/3/1967 - 9/11/2001
We thank you for your support. Drop us a line with your comments at: 249 W. 17th St., New York, N.Y. 10011-5300. Or email us, [email protected]. Publisher Rich Santos can be found at [email protected].