It is a name almost as hilarious as the 30% 12 month share appreciation.  Where did the name come from ? Here is a quote from Yahoo:

Whistling "Yankee Doodle" and waving the flag all the while, American Enterprise Investment Services handles clearing and trade execution services for Ameriprise Financial.

Now days, even hearing hymns sung at a presidential funeral is offensive to some. Like most things, what goes around in fashion will likely come around. Many of us may be comfortably retired, though, before it becomes "cool" again to mention America and enterprise in the same blush.

If they'd called it "AEI", then we could be like, "LPL", or "AIG". Wow, that would be so cool.

The older I get, the easier it is to laugh at the snitty arrogance of such comments.

To the guy who started the thread.. I worked for a off shoot of Ameriprise ..a guy who indie from them ..The Hantz Group..(he made the Wall Street Journal from his walkout ..took over $1 billion but I digress) .. Anyway I think that if the Ameriprise program is to be considered similar to the one that Hantz did ..then you are going to get a very "boot" camp training structure ..which btw is just called hard work and you could do that at any firm..but understand that there is something to be said for corporate cultrue even if it is cult like... Anyway ..if you are wanting to get your feet wet I would say you are going to get some of the bst comprehensive training to view your clients in a holistic form from that system.

Mind you I would agree with others posts on here that you don't have to always sell what they are insisting on.. VUL ect.. just be active and get accounts and assets and do the planning .. you will be ok I think . as for Ameriprise VA's  I have used them before and they have done well ..

As for working at a bank for a human experice ( I work at a bank now btw) .. 

I would tell you it is my experience that they suck at training you .. so you better come in knowing what you need to know to get your feet off the ground..which in my case was ok ...

[quote=whitewlfz]

Mind you I would agree with others posts on here that you don't have to always sell what they are insisting on.. VUL ect.. just be active and get accounts and assets and do the planning .. you will be ok I think . as for Ameriprise VA's  I have used them before and they have done well .. [/quote]

The problem is that your BOM, will be leaning on you push VA/Riversource/VUL. Anyone with a few pennies banging around can see that the way AMP promotes VAs/VUL is misleading and deceptive. Not that it doesn't work, but its not something you feel good about.

AMP, like EDJ has a system, and if you don't mind working in highly structured very sales driven enviroment, it might not be a bad place. However there are enough distasteful things (like hitting on friends/family) that most people leave with a bad taste.

[quote=whitewlfz]

To the guy who started the thread.. I worked for a off shoot of Ameriprise ..a guy who indie from them ..The Hantz Group..(he made the Wall Street Journal from his walkout ..took over $1 billion but I digress) .. Anyway I think that if the Ameriprise program is to be considered similar to the one that Hantz did ..then you are going to get a very "boot" camp training structure ..which btw is just called hard work and you could do that at any firm..but understand that there is something to be said for corporate cultrue even if it is cult like... Anyway ..if you are wanting to get your feet wet I would say you are going to get some of the bst comprehensive training to view your clients in a holistic form from that system.

Mind you I would agree with others posts on here that you don't have to always sell what they are insisting on.. VUL ect.. just be active and get accounts and assets and do the planning .. you will be ok I think . as for Ameriprise VA's  I have used them before and they have done well ..

As for working at a bank for a human experice ( I work at a bank now btw) .. 

I would tell you it is my experience that they suck at training you .. so you better come in knowing what you need to know to get your feet off the ground..which in my case was ok ...

I can't believe you would recommend Hantz after working there.  They take 250 trainees, throw them against the wall, and see who sticks.  They USE people.

That is not a valuable experience.

And they did not even teach you how to spell while you were there.

Anyone with a few pennies banging around can see that the way AMP promotes VAs/VUL is misleading and deceptive. Not that it doesn’t work, but its not something you feel good about.

AMP, like EDJ has a system, and if you don't mind working in highly structured very sales driven enviroment, it might not be a bad place. However there are enough distasteful things (like hitting on friends/family) that most people leave with a bad taste.

If AMP leaders took this kind of honest feedback seriously, I reckon they could really take it to the next level. I hope the market helps drive AMP to listen to this kind of feedback.

[quote=planrcoach]

If AMP leaders took this kind of honest feedback seriously, I reckon they could really take it to the next level. I hope the market helps drive AMP to listen to this kind of feedback.

[/quote]

But they don't because the company isn't a learning organization.

I will *never* forget my experience going to an AMP recruiting session. The Regional VP was talking about the ESOP program/Profit Sharing, so I asked if the stock paid a dividend. He said it did not. Later when I got home, I checked for myself, and indeed AMP pays 0.11/qtr.

This is really unprofessional, you go around offering advice about investments, you are in the investment business, you participate in the ESOP program, and you don't know if your own company pays a dividend?

At that point it was clear to me that AMP management (at least at that branch)were a bunch of clowns. Later on after looking carefully at the products offered, it was clear that most of the MFs on most companies preferred lists were better than RVS, and an ETF/Fund wrap would blow them out of the water. Ditto for annuities etc.

Pay Option insurance is just as bad an idea as pay-option mortgages.

AMP occupies a definite place in the market, I guess in our industry she is most known by the training program and product manufacturing.

An then you have, "most CFPs affiliated", local branch ownership, access to major non-props and wrao, and so on.

The thing that interests me is the "mass affluent" market, where most but not all of an advisors book is accounts under 1 million, and branding, where prospects little call us, not us chasing them. The ability to make a very good living by working a few hours a day, with little staff, and owning the franchise, is the other side.

Too bad you did not get to experience that, and too bad we get a bad rap for our training and product manufacture, which is least attractive to many franchisees.

But I guess when you are getting started, someone has to pay the cost of training. Either bring in 15 m at mother ML, or give your 8m to someone else as you fail, or bring in much less somewhere else, but be required to sell things like life insurance, which at the end of the day are probably not bad for clients. Good thing there are choices.

[quote=planrcoach]

The thing that interests me is the “mass
affluent” market, where most but not all of an advisors book is
accounts under 1 million, and branding, where prospects little call us,
not us chasing them. The ability to make a very good living
by working a few hours a day, with little staff, and owning the
franchise, is the other side.[/quote]

I'm sure franchises are different than corporate, but corporate AMP is what most people are going to deal with. I have to say that the mass affluent is where most of the money is, provided you strucuture things such thats most accounts are low maintenance.

I do like the idea of billing people for plans and suchlike. Myself I bill hourly if at all possible. That tends to keep things focused and keeps the relationship professional.

You make some keen observations, and the key is being able to do it your way, which of course helps keep everyone motivated.

Last year, I stopped all planning fees and was still able to grow GDC by 6%, off a nice base, with no zero marketing (just a few referrals). Of course, 2006 was an easy market year.

As for the mass affluent, I like to think that the best way to keep it simple and low maintenance (for me) is C shares, wrap accounts, cash and such. Don't even do annuities as I do not care for the compliance implications and doing battle with media perceptions.

Also, I think things like 12b1 fees, wrap fees and so on, can make the idea of charging another fee - a separate planning fee - confusing.

But the biggest part of that, for me, is just not doing a bunch of projections and "formal planning", which I do respect when done right, is too inefficient for me to spend much time on.

I think you can be a great planner, and investment and insurance provider, by being more or less formal with regard to the planning deliverables.

For myself, I'd rather work with less analytical clients who are more focused on the behaviours today which will create a better tomorrow, and just dealing with what folks have, more than trying to change their personality or frankly, even their behaviour that much.

Did Ameriprise buy out AMEX financial?



I could not imagine anything as pathetic as Primamerica. One can see how derperate a company is by searching for jobs. If you see a ton of openings… I never see openings for Goldman on monster.

[quote=AirForce]Did Ameriprise buy out AMEX financial?



I could not imagine anything as pathetic as Primamerica. One can
see how derperate a company is by searching for jobs. If you see a ton
of openings… I never see openings for Goldman on monster. [/quote]



AMEX, spun out AEFA into Ameriprise.