I got the impression that they were only interested in the "brand name" firms.  I think they should do two report cards - one on the wirehouses/regional brokerages like they are now and another that is specific to the indy world.  That might actually be a useful piece of journalism.  If I hear year after year that LPL advisors say their B/D sucks at technology and service, I'm probably not going to consider them if I were looking to go indy. 

[quote=RR editor]In fact, I have just edited the letter that is at the top of our website to reflect this.

http://registeredrep.com/research/broker_report_card_2010/

Kristen French
Manging Editor / Features Editor
Registered Rep. magazine[/quote]

What is a “Manging Editor?”

Mange is a dog disease......

No wonder this place has gone to the dogs... OHHHH!!!! (badum CHING)

Thanks Kristen. That clarifies it.

It'd be cool to compare the satisfaction of the Indies with their broker/dealers versus the wirehouses.

You should get the moderator to put a spell check function on the forums. 

But have him fix the spambot issue first. 

Spiff, revenue is a little down right now. All issues will be addressed after the beginning of the year. Your suggestion will be placed in the "suggestion box" until then. Tks for the feedback.

I can't criticise - look at my topic:

Brokerager?

[quote=American Flag]

Brokerager?

[/quote]

I'm thinking Michael Douglas in Wall Street meets Michael Douglas in Falling Down.

What kinds of questions should we ask in our first annual Independent Broker/Dealer FA Report Card? And which firms should we survey? Obviously, we'll survey the big guys, LPL, Ameriprise, Raymond James and etc. Are there any smaller indie B/Ds we might include?

On the other hand, I don't know that we have room or resources to do the top 20 IBDs, all of whom have more than 1,000 reps. Perhaps we'll cut it off at the top 10 IBDs as measured by number of reps.

That said, is which firms are the up-and-coming, growing like crazy IBDs that we should take a look at? Your input would be helpful. thanks.  

you should compare IBDS that nickel and dime  vs those that just charge a flat fee..

For example lpl vs harbor( is $1250 flat fee(plus tickets) worth the 100% payout) vs LPL(paying a la carte and getting 80-90%)

I would like to see the major indies - LPL and Raymond James, compared against the wirehouses in the main survey. Isn't the real question independent versus wirehouses?

Well, it's too late for us to survey the IBDs for December. You raise an interesting point, but the questions would be so different as to make direct comparisons somewhat tricky. Of course, the overall satisfaction on payouts, technological support, investing options and the like would be the same.

David, this is true. It would be interesting if there were some way to compare indy versus wirehouse. Designing the survey would be difficult, maybe not possible.

We have a research team that might be able, over time, to figure out a way. In the meantime, we'd appreciate any thoughts, suggestions on questions to ask and etc. Feel free to contact me at the email and phone below. All is confidential, naturally.