How true that is!

I do NOT work in a bank branch.

I private labeled my firm and I use Wachovia Finet as my b/d, I can fire them any time I want (as they can me) and switch to any other b/d that I can make a deal with (which, so far, means just about anybody). I could be an LPL office if I wanted to (I guess).

I did pause over the use of the word Branch, because I lacked the verbiage to make it clearer. I am in no way an employee of Wachovia. I hire them to perform certain back office and supervisory functions. I give them the right of refusal to hold the license of any registered employee that I may want to hire. They have to approve all my outgoing correspondence, in comming correspondence, advertising/marketing, etc etc... I have less "freedom" than I would have if I was my own B/D, but I don't know what a b/d that wants to avoid running afoul of the NASD/NYSE/SEC could let me do that this company doesn't (Wachovia DOES have some fairly restrictive nums on B shares though, so I guess that's one area...)

I run my own Branch of my own Firm, client accounts are able to be linked into the Wachovia banking system through the "CAP" account system which is available across their four platforms (Bank, bank broker, private client, indy) it's like the FMA at smith barney or the CMA at merrill except that it's integrated throughout the Wachovia systems.

As to the Teller issue, YUP! It CAN happen, but we're very careful to let the clients KNOW that WE are the firm and Wachovia is not. Meanwhile, we've taken more than our fair share of accounts from the local wirehouses because of terrible service too. AND when I was there I lost more clients due to bad service than any other single thing (now I lose clients because of ME, and that's one of the things about indy that sux, the buck stops here!)

Mr. A

still run by a bank

[quote=mranonymous2u]

I do NOT work in a bank branch. [/quote]

What sort of office space do you use, and what else is in the building?

[quote=mranonymous2u]I did pause over the use of the word Branch, because I lacked the verbiage to make it clearer. [/quote]

I'm still not sure it's completely clear, but ok.

[quote=mranonymous2u].... client accounts are able to be linked into the Wachovia banking system through the "CAP" account system which is available across their four platforms (Bank, bank broker, private client, indy) it's like the FMA at smith barney or the CMA at merrill except that it's integrated throughout the Wachovia systems. [/quote]

So when a client signs on to the Wachovia website, can they see their security holdings they have with you?

[quote=$$$$$]still run by a bank[/quote]

Do you figure your comment is accurate about every channel at Wachovia?

When I got here I was just about the only person in the entire bulding.  The building is an old four story office building of the late 1960's early 1970's style.

I leased the top floor corner space with a commanding view of the river valley and the mountains on either side. I got 2,400 square feet of office space on a floor of about 14,000 SF. (room to expand!)

Then someone new bought the building. I moved down to a 2400SF suite with my own elevator and a doctor's office the only other tenent on the floor (they are completely separate from me except that we share an emergency fire exit.

The new owner has done wonders with the building, but he rented out to a collection of county agency offices for the third and forth floors. Downstairs is a criminal atty (whenever I think I'm having a bad day, I look out the window, when I see people going in to see the Atty, I know THAT person is having a BAD DAY!) and an antiques emporium.

Point being that the building is filling up but not with the sort of folks that will bring me foot traffic or impress the clients that come by. (Clients at this point are impressed with the look of my particular suite of offices but...)  I'm thinking that I'll be looking elsewhere when the lease is up.

I built MY branch where I felt I got best value for my dollar, all things considered. That's part of the difference between working for yourself or working for someone else. For better AND for worse.

Can my clients see their accounts? Yes, on the Wachovia website they can access their accounts. It's generally yesterday's activity, but today's pricing (in other words, the client might not see the dividend check that went out today, until tomorrow).

$$$$$,

"Still run by a bank." Was sort of why I gave you the BOTD before. Run by a bank? What does the word "run" mean to you?

Aside from the Mutual fund routine (no more than $50,000 in B shares in a single fund family per household, which seems awfully low to me, but I don't do MF's so it's not a biggie) and the compliance dept alerting you to investments outside of the client's investment parameters, and flags on "excessive velocity" sorts of CYA's I don't feel the overly protective cloak of a bank telling me what I can and cannot do. Again, this is not so big of an issue to me in that I run a fairly plain vanilla business, so there could be people who have a different experience than I do. But I have gone to the meetings and spoken to lots of guys who tend to run the "Managed Money" paradigm, but then I run into the index options jocks too, and they don't complain, even when I open the door.

I don't know what to tell ya, I have a great back office that is constantly updating with the technology and the document service/paperwork reduction initiative. I can and do do supervision right from my desktop. I have a question they have general and specific help desks. I can call virtually anybody in the firm's headquarters and get responded to (not something I tend to like to do) if I have a problem, we can work it out.

We're small, with lots of capacity. We work and there's enough work to go around, but there are enough people to go around too, so that you don't run into the rubber stamp mentality.

I think that Wachovia is committed to the vision that this is the future of the Brokerage industry. The bank is willing to spend the money to do this right, to build their platform in the path of progress. Wachovia is not at all interested in the >$100,000 producer. They want producers and branch owners that want to build their own franchise, and want to hire Wachovia to be their back office.

Mr. A

Did I do that wrong?

I meant the < $100,000 producer. Less than $100,000.

I had in my mind's eye the line in Investment News detailing the number of brokers above $100,000 and, being the contrarian that I am, looked at that number (3,000 out of 6,000) as being a disasterous number.

Sorry.

Mr. A

a commanding view of the river valley and the mountains on either side.

Nice.

 I think that Wachovia is committed to the vision that this is the future of the Brokerage industry. The bank is willing to spend the money to do this right, to build their platform in the path of progress.

Yep

They want producers and branch owners that want to build their own franchise, and want to hire Wachovia to be their back office.

This is smart. I looked at going downtown to a nice big name office to serve that affluent, and I even looked at going to a strip mall for Ed Jones.

I ended up like you, maybe the view is not so sweeping, but being the neighborhood franchisee and providing custom service to the mass affluent.

But looking the Jones model influenced me to stay local and solo, of course, I am a franchisee.

The other thing about Jones, they are good generalists and they have a very frequency of contacts with existing clients.

As the urbanization of America's countryside continues, there are a lot of smart things we can learn from all the models, and incorporate them into our own franchises or RIAs for that matter.

Thanks for the glimpse into your world.

another market director leaving.

[quote=$$$$$]another market director leaving.[/quote]

Why in the world would managers at BAC leave when they have such smart, positive guys like you working under them?  I just can’t understand it!!!

 Very funny Joe.

Joe,

You going to answer my question or are you just going to be a washday hausefrau tossing gossip over the backyard fence?

Mr. A

[quote=$$$$$]you guys are a$$holes. [/quote]

a 2 buck hole? who?

[quote=mranonymous2u]

Joe,

You going to answer my question or are you just going to be a washday hausefrau tossing gossip over the backyard fence?

Mr. A

[quote=mranonymous2u]

Joe,

You going to answer my question or are you just going to be a washday hausefrau tossing gossip over the backyard fence?

Mr. A

Which MD is leaving?

[quote=nope]Which MD is leaving?[/quote]

Michael Hunt

Joe,

Thank you.

None of those things have been issues for me in the slightest. and as far as he resources thing... I can say it's a good concern, but the reality is that Finet is its own "profit center" and the group has the same sort of clout (at least) as a guy in a wirehouse would who headed a team of 500 brokers and 125MM in production (that guy would have a lot of influence at any firm).

He's not going to win every fight, but he's not going to have to fight most of the time.

Also, now I'm not perfectly clear on the shake here but... Wachovia owns FCC (First Capital Clearing) which does clearing for Finet and (apparently) a significant tonnage of other firms Summit comes to mind as one. As such, FCC brings bigger scratch to the top line than just Finet, and Finet is a way for Wachovia to have a presence in this market.

As to the corporate feel. Yeah, I felt that too (and I'm about as non corporate as you get, power to the people and all that) but then, this IS a business, and it is nice that someone somewhere in the organization is willing to show up in a suit every day.

Mr. A

[quote=mranonymous2u]

Joe,

Thank you.

None of those things have been issues for me in the slightest. and as far as he resources thing... I can say it's a good concern, but the reality is that Finet is its own "profit center" and the group has the same sort of clout (at least) as a guy in a wirehouse would who headed a team of 500 brokers and 125MM in production (that guy would have a lot of influence at any firm).

He's not going to win every fight, but he's not going to have to fight most of the time.

Also, now I'm not perfectly clear on the shake here but... Wachovia owns FCC (First Capital Clearing) which does clearing for Finet and (apparently) a significant tonnage of other firms Summit comes to mind as one. As such, FCC brings bigger scratch to the top line than just Finet, and Finet is a way for Wachovia to have a presence in this market.

As to the corporate feel. Yeah, I felt that too (and I'm about as non corporate as you get, power to the people and all that) but then, this IS a business, and it is nice that someone somewhere in the organization is willing to show up in a suit every day.

Mr. A

[quote=joedabrkr]

[quote=mranonymous2u]

Joe,

You going to answer my question or are you just going to be a washday hausefrau tossing gossip over the backyard fence?

Mr. A