Apparently there was a brief meltdown this morning.  Thank goodness I came in late and missed the whole thing.  My assistant was telling me that she couldn’t get on.

[quote=Indyone]Apparently there was a brief meltdown this morning.  Thank goodness I came in late and missed the whole thing.  My assistant was telling me that she couldn’t get on.

Oh my goodness…I cant beleive this happened in the wonderful independent world where you control everything lol!

Nest & everyone else,
 Having come from AGE to LPL recently, I find in laughable that any tech interuptions at LPL garner ANY criticism from wire house guys (specifically AGE). LPL’s technology is on a different planet from AGE (WB)'s. My Client One workstation at AGE went offline at least weekly and home office support was mediocre at best. All you AGE guys, I know you’ll all prosper there or wherever you choose to work, but believe me when I say that LPL’s technology and home office support, as imperfect as I hear it’s been, is still light-years ahead of what you’re using.  Branchnet and Home Office support is honestly orders of magnitude better that AGE’s ever was.
 Good luck all.

[quote=YHWY]Nest & everyone else,
 Having come from AGE to LPL recently, I find in laughable that any tech interuptions at LPL garner ANY criticism from wire house guys (specifically AGE). LPL’s technology is on a different planet from AGE (WB)'s. My Client One workstation at AGE went offline at least weekly and home office support was mediocre at best. All you AGE guys, I know you’ll all prosper there or wherever you choose to work, but believe me when I say that LPL’s technology and home office support, as imperfect as I hear it’s been, is still light-years ahead of what you’re using.  Branchnet and Home Office support is honestly orders of magnitude better that AGE’s ever was.
 Good luck all.

[/quote]

Exactly-it’s just that I’ve come to rely on the stable platform to get things done…like I said maybe I’m a little spoiled.  And the reliability of home office for service has been so good I hate to see it deteriorate most likely due to efforts to grow too quickly.

I have to disagree here... I too came moved from AGE to LPL very recently and altough I would agree that the technology and attitude of the service center staff is head over hells better at LPL than at AGE, I would also say that LPL's technology has more recurring glitches than what I experienced at AGE and other firms. I never recall not being able to login to clientone or having systemwide outages.

[quote=indywanab]

I have to disagree here… I too came moved from AGE to LPL very recently and altough I would agree that the technology and attitude of the service center staff is head over hells better at LPL than at AGE, I would also say that LPL’s technology has more recurring glitches than what I experienced at AGE and other firms. I never recall not being able to login to clientone or having systemwide outages.

[quote=YHWY]Nest & everyone else,
 Having come from AGE to LPL recently, I find in laughable that any tech interuptions at LPL garner ANY criticism from wire house guys (specifically AGE). LPL’s technology is on a different planet from AGE (WB)'s. My Client One workstation at AGE went offline at least weekly and home office support was mediocre at best. All you AGE guys, I know you’ll all prosper there or wherever you choose to work, but believe me when I say that LPL’s technology and home office support, as imperfect as I hear it’s been, is still light-years ahead of what you’re using.  Branchnet and Home Office support is honestly orders of magnitude better that AGE’s ever was.
 Good luck all.

[/quote]
My only comment was based on all the comments from Indy guys telling everyone how great it is becasue you control everything…well looks as you dont…BTW…I cannot remember client one ever being down for me in the last 8 years! Not sure where your office was but I am thinking that was an office issue not a system issue

[quote=nestegg]

[quote=YHWY]Nest & everyone else,
 Having come from AGE to LPL recently, I find in laughable that any tech interuptions at LPL garner ANY criticism from wire house guys (specifically AGE). LPL’s technology is on a different planet from AGE (WB)'s. My Client One workstation at AGE went offline at least weekly and home office support was mediocre at best. All you AGE guys, I know you’ll all prosper there or wherever you choose to work, but believe me when I say that LPL’s technology and home office support, as imperfect as I hear it’s been, is still light-years ahead of what you’re using.  Branchnet and Home Office support is honestly orders of magnitude better that AGE’s ever was.
 Good luck all.

[/quote]
My only comment was based on all the comments from Indy guys telling everyone how great it is becasue you control everything…well looks as you dont…BTW…I cannot remember client one ever being down for me in the last 8 years! Not sure where your office was but I am thinking that was an office issue not a system issue
[/quote]

It’s not perfect, and no we don’t control everything, but I still think it’s better(at least for me).

For example-let’s say that the problems continue and I come to the conclusion that LPL is no longer the b/d for me.  I can change b/d’s and repaper my client’s accounts(with their permission of course) and never change my business address or DBA name or staff or any of that other baloney.

When you realize you’re tired of working for a bank, you will find it much more challenging to leave with your book intact.

Maybe…only time will tell…but I really dont have the time to want to deal with paying bills/ fixing broken copiers and being the janitor too…for MAYBE 1-2% after all is said and done…just not for me at this point, and may never be. Honestly I am lookign forward to making 35-50 bps on business I used to refer to teh bank…several million buck a year in loan production will not be a bad thing IMO…although I can always go Fi-net and still do that and not repaper either

1-2%?!!! Not unless you're getting a 65-70% payout...

[quote=nestegg]Maybe…only time will tell…but I really dont have the time to want to deal with paying bills/ fixing broken copiers and being the janitor too…for MAYBE 1-2% after all is said and done…just not for me at this point, and may never be. Honestly I am lookign forward to making 35-50 bps on business I used to refer to teh bank…several million buck a year in loan production will not be a bad thing IMO…although I can always go Fi-net and still do that and not repaper either
[/quote]

The difference is WAY more than 1-2%.  IF you’re that bad at math, however, you probably shouldn’t go indy because balancing the checkbook with that big balance left over by paying bills would be a big burden.

By the way, I’m moving into new office space in about a month, and believe it or not JANITORIAL IS INCLUDED!  I know that must sound like an amazing revelation to you given your comment.

Hypothetically you could go Phi-Net and not repaper, but then again you wouldn’t really be indy, and I’ll be interested to see how easily WachEdwards lets you do that considering they’ll be giving up profit margins and control.

I looked at Indy 2 years ago, after ticket charges, Monthly Computer expense, Reuters etc etc, phone, internet, Lease, Health Insurance, E&O ins etc…it just didnt work out to be worth the hassle for me…I looked at 6 months of production at AGE and what my real payout would be after all expenses I can honestly say it didnt work out to more than a couple of % points, and that before including my bonus, 401k and profit sharing…if I had included that indy would have come in 2nd by a long shot. I was looking at doing Indy right and having a staffed office w an Asst/receptionist, and a place that looked somewhat professional. I am sure I could get a hole in teh wall exec suite and no asst and come out on top…but why take one step forward and two steps back. My business is some fee based but also alot of transactional…Individual Mutual funds, Stock, Syndicate, options, bonds…and alot of it is smaller tickets where when you figure out your payout after ticket charges you make less than at a wire…I did all the math. I can see Indy working if you do a bunch of Annuities or are all fee based, but if you have a broad product mix and lots of transactions it doesnt really add up…I havent even added in teh cost to market…seminars, mailings etc, or all the other headaches…I would want at least to keep my % to be 65-75% before taxes after expenses to be worth it…but it doesnt work that way at least in my situation…when I am avg 42-45%+ before you factor in an asst, mailings office space I dotn pay for, health ins that costs 60 bucks a month etc etc…it doesnt add up…by the time you add in profit sharing, 401k and bonus that is well over 50% before tax without any hassles or headaches. For me to make the same and have the headaches isnt worth it. It may be to some…and depending on your biz mix and where you are in the country as far as office costs and employee costs go…some places like CA, Fla and NYC are very expensive for those things, vs Idaho or somewhere. Anyway…dont try to insult my math skills I did it and after looking at two of the larger firms and discussing it w/ colleagues that are indy it didnt work out for me…I wanted to keep more of what I make. Now if that changes…I may change but for now it works.

[quote=nestegg]
I looked at Indy 2 years ago, after ticket charges, Monthly Computer expense, Reuters etc etc, phone, internet, Lease, Health Insurance, E&O ins etc…it just didnt work out to be worth the hassle for me…I looked at 6 months of production at AGE and what my real payout would be after all expenses I can honestly say it didnt work out to more than a couple of % points, and that before including my bonus, 401k and profit sharing…if I had included that indy would have come in 2nd by a long shot. I was looking at doing Indy right and having a staffed office w an Asst/receptionist, and a place that looked somewhat professional. I am sure I could get a hole in teh wall exec suite and no asst and come out on top…but why take one step forward and two steps back. My business is some fee based but also alot of transactional…Individual Mutual funds, Stock, Syndicate, options, bonds…and alot of it is smaller tickets where when you figure out your payout after ticket charges you make less than at a wire…I did all the math. I can see Indy working if you do a bunch of Annuities or are all fee based, but if you have a broad product mix and lots of transactions it doesnt really add up…I havent even added in teh cost to market…seminars, mailings etc, or all the other headaches…I would want at least to keep my % to be 65-75% before taxes after expenses to be worth it…but it doesnt work that way at least in my situation…when I am avg 42-45%+ before you factor in an asst, mailings office space I dotn pay for, health ins that costs 60 bucks a month etc etc…it doesnt add up…by the time you add in profit sharing, 401k and bonus that is well over 50% before tax without any hassles or headaches. For me to make the same and have the headaches isnt worth it. It may be to some…and depending on your biz mix and where you are in the country as far as office costs and employee costs go…some places like CA, Fla and NYC are very expensive for those things, vs Idaho or somewhere. Anyway…dont try to insult my math skills I did it and after looking at two of the larger firms and discussing it w/ colleagues that are indy it didnt work out for me…I wanted to keep more of what I make. Now if that changes…I may change but for now it works.
[/quote]

If I can’t insult your math skills can I make fun of your bad grammar, punctuation, inability to use apostrophes (it is this little thing--  ’  ), or spell the worth “the” correctly?

The best part about the tech let down on Friday is I have decided I’m not working on Friday’s in 2008.  I drew a line in the sand.  It’s wonderful.  The whole weekend with the family.  What a wonderful independant life I live.

You don’t have to be Indy to do that either

LPL just has to get their act together–that’s all there is to it!

I’ve been at LPL under 2 months. There has been minor (in opinion, very minor) issues with the system. If they “get their act together”, and improve from here, it will be the most perfect system I can imagine, coupled with home office support that is absolutely a joy to work with. You AGE/WB guys only see your side of the fence. This side is a completely different ballgame, better in absolutely every respect. Keep grinding it out there for @40% of your money. After all, it’s not that bad.

hey nest,