Any thoughts on Waddell & Reed as an ex Merrill FA
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The Waddell and Reed Recruiter calls daily and I have never responded. I have heard that they now allow “wrap” programs and clear through Pershing. Any insights as I look for a new home post Merrill. I was a fee-based rep but had under the 400K trailing 12 benchmark. I gave up a book to go into sales management…bad move.
Thanks!Just say no. Depending on geography lots of better choices. Do you have any book left at all?
Unfortunately, subject to two year non-compete. But thanks for the insights. I am going to need to start from square one…at least I have contacts and know the industry…had about 50MM in discretionary accounts.
If you already have experience and connections, why not poke around and see if you can find an indy OSJ with a good b/d who has some extra space and infrastructure. I bet you could cut yourself a good deal.
What state are you in? Reason I ask is that I operate primarily out of a Right to Work state (Virginia) which, like all other right to work states doesn't allow non-compete to stand in spite of your signature. Morgan Stanley even tried to grab me on this one and both the Federal District Court in Arlington & FINRA (then NASD) arbitration board struck down the non-compete. <?: prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
Going indie is the best route. Touch base if I can be of any assistance.
Lawyers at all the wirehouses are pretty busy and are going to stay busy for awhile, they won’t go after small fish in this enviroment.
Waddell gets a lot of flack on this site but they shouldn't. They have 80-90% of what Merrill has to sell but Merrill can't sell Waddell funds. Check out the Waddell & Reed Funds. Great Alpha's, great ratings by Morningstar and Lipper.
The payouts blow Merrill out of the water. Waddell is a good old firm. It's been around since 1937. Check out WDR's balance sheet and income statement. You would probably be happy at W&R.
[quote=iluvwr]
Waddell gets a lot of flack on this site but they shouldn’t. They have 80-90% of what Merrill has to sell but Merrill can’t sell Waddell funds. Check out the Waddell & Reed Funds. Great Alpha’s, great ratings by Morningstar and Lipper.
The payouts blow Merrill out of the water. Waddell is a good old firm. It's been around since 1937. Check out WDR's balance sheet and income statement. You would probably be happy at W&R.
[/quote]I'm not a Merrill fan, but comparing them to Wad is like comparing graduate school to kindergarten.
Yeah funds with names of the firms always tend to do well…
Alpha's, Morningstar and Lipper,.... guaranteed they lost money and will take 3 years to get it back.... I wish my b/d let me sell W&R funds... PS Reading Hank blast people makes me laugh at the end of everyday..Never took an upfront check in my life… If you do the research, it’s definitely not worth it…
Had a friend who took a deal from SB and got C stock.. $250K worth got so much every so often.. worth about $18K today..maybe... But thanks for grouping us all together as the upfront check guys.. considering a lot of us on this forum actually went indy, and skipped the check.... Of course this just verifys why you work where you do... dumb.Not grouping at all… but funny how so many of the people on these threads fall in that bucket or take offense for other peoples falicies… if you’d like to group yourself there, then by all means, but i wasn’t…
Where i work, which by the way is one of the few companies not putting the saving of their own asses first, is one of the few remaining advisory forces that hasn't sold themselves down the river due to their mgmt's incompetence.. And go verify that i can guarantee you i have more certifications than you, and have a much bigger practice... So why don't you go make some cold calls, and get working on your next jaded client. theres lots of people who still haven't been screwed by you're flavor of the week ideasActually it would be very smart of you to consider Waddell. You are right, we do offer wrap programs now and have for quite a while; and much more. We operate on 2 different platforms and not just the old school that people picture us to be. That is history. Most of the negative comments I have seen are based on things from so long ago. If you’re going to talk smack you should probably get the facts straight. We have a platform that offers an open-architecture. We can also offer either paid office space if you want to office in one of our locations or an office support system if you prefer to office independently. We also have transition bonuses, higher payouts than most and many many more value add benefits.
I don’t think going completely independent in this situation is the right call. Starting over from scratch with over head expenses, administrative tasks, etc… when will you have time to get in front of clients? You need the best of both worlds and that is the attraction to Waddell.
You should try a bank based program like Well, Wachovia, Citi, BofA… Honestly, I made the same dumb-a## move you did years ago and thought I wanted to go into management, gave up my book… yada yada yada… anyway, after realizing how long it would take and how not worth it it really was, I had to get back into production and wasn’t ready to be dialin’ for dallahs through the phone book like I built my biz the first time around.
It was certainly a little tougher to build a fee-based business in a bank location, but as long as you hold your ground, it’s the way to build back up.
Good luck!
"You should try a bank based program like Well, Wachovia, Citi, BofA… "
Well that would be jumping out of the frying pan into the fire![quote=iluvwr]
Waddell gets a lot of flack on this site but they shouldn't. They have 80-90% of what Merrill has to sell but Merrill can't sell Waddell funds. Check out the Waddell & Reed Funds. Great Alpha's, great ratings by Morningstar and Lipper.
The payouts blow Merrill out of the water. Waddell is a good old firm. It's been around since 1937. Check out WDR's balance sheet and income statement. You would probably be happy at W&R.
[/quote] Can't they sell the Ivy Funds? Aren't many of them the same? I use Ivy Asset Strategy extensively. We also cannot use W& R funds, but can use the IVY funds equivalents.[quote=B24][quote=iluvwr]
Waddell gets a lot of flack on this site but they shouldn't. They have 80-90% of what Merrill has to sell but Merrill can't sell Waddell funds. Check out the Waddell & Reed Funds. Great Alpha's, great ratings by Morningstar and Lipper.
The payouts blow Merrill out of the water. Waddell is a good old firm. It's been around since 1937. Check out WDR's balance sheet and income statement. You would probably be happy at W&R.
[/quote] Don't forget 2009 Barrons survey..............WR and Ivy funds are pretty much the same. Ivy has some sector funds that WR does not offer. Ivy had a good natural resources fund, i think it got wacked the last 2 years.