Short answer is yes. Traditional branch employee (full benefits-generous 401k-Profit Sharing, ESOP, ESSP, HR, Back Office etc. with the traditional “indie” advantages). Long answer is the potential is actually much higher than that;

  For instance, as a Branch Director lets say I hire two $300k FCs for my branch  (500k minimum to be a Branch Director). I can provide them with a 55% payout from the first dollar - no grid. They have no other expenses beyond what they would have at ML, WB, SB etc. - No ticket charges.   Net result is a win-win for everyone - They work in a traditional branch environment. (I managed an AGE office for 10 years). We have a beautiful Class A office space - complete with granite countertops and get a payout they can't touch anywhere else. Our tech is light years ahead of anything I had at AGE when I left. I don't pay for remote access and have full capabilities -including live monitor and order entry on my laptop everywhere I go.   There are some transition dollars available to help with the first couple months. If they are truly looking at a 5 year game plan,  the dramatic payout differential  between the wirehouses and 55% we provide, results in additional income in their pocket roughly equal to some of the best upfront deals out there - without the onus of the forgivable loan stucture OR a long-term non-compete, non-soliticitation contract. Do the math. In addition they OWN their book.   As a Branch Director, my office expenses are fixed. The expenses of the FCs to my branch are variable. I figure for a 300k FC around $20-25k per year in costs- which still leaves the Branch (i.e. me) with a net profit of between $70-80k per year from the two. Even after sharing part of this with the FCs as an additional bonus, what is left is significantly higher than any bonus AGE ever paid me.   Having virtually no sub-prime exposure or other toxic assets on our books as well as scoring the double on JD Power at #1 for Advisor and Investor satisfaction hasn't hurt either. (Prior to the past couple weeks the stock hit a new 52 week High). Assets are coming here. We reached our entire 2009 Fiscal year goal of assets in our Bank Deposit program in the first week of our new fiscal year (Sept.)   This is not a solicitation - just hoping to clarify a bit.  Other great firms to be considered include Stifel and DA Davidson. Anyone who wants more info on any of this can PM me.    

I can echo the former AGE guys here speaking positively on RJ&A.  We (6 of us)  moved over from AGE to RJ&A about 10 months ago.  Transition has gone well, great support from RJ regional transition team, but still not fun. I can’t imagine guys doing this every few years!  Have ended up with about 75% of premove assets (which really does work out to about 90% of the clients that I seriously wanted/expected to move with me), and those clients are consistently saying, “Thanks for taking us out of the Wachovia thing…it’s one less thing to be worried about.”

  Could RJ get bought out?  I guess anything's possible, but not really likely anytime soon!  Who has the cash?     Upfront $ will not be what some of the others have been offering.  Expect 60%+-, plus more incentives depending on your specific deal negotiated. 

We started up a brand new office.  Worked out of moderately priced temporary office space (recently closed up real estate office) for about 6 mos. while St. Pete handled the build out of brand spankin’ new permanent location.  From my perspective, that whole process went almost flawlessly.  Can’t imagine it working out much better than it did.  Since we moved 6 at once (4 producers and 2 registered asst.), we had the inducement of the whole new office.  RJ&A already had a small 2 man office in town, as well as the normal smattering of RJFS guys around, but we were given the option of creating a new presence, and took advantage of that.

  Payout's going to be in the mid-upper 40's, going up as production goes up, pretty normal stuff there.  BTW, you can use that payout # in negotiating your deal, so another sweetener there.   Cool thing about RJ is you can start in the RJ&A model, get transitioned with all the back office/home office support, have some upfront love, get back on your growth path, run for 7 years of peace, joy and happiness, and then cross over to the semi-indie or full-indie platform, if that's your dream.