Pin, I am not in the Indy world - I work for Jones. But I know of a few

veterans that work from vacation (or 2nd homes) for several months of

the year. Now, I am sure this is well planned out, and they have adequate

office managers (BOA’s as we call them). I also know that this is not

"typical" but can be done. Some of the former advisors that have moved

to the home office still maintain some books (probably for friends, family,

and larger clients).



To me, it does not seem much different than having a client that lives

across the country. And I would think this would be easier for an

Independant to do than a wirehouse/regional broker (most managers

would frown on it I assume). Probably depends on your production/asset

level.

[quote=PinBroker]

Maybe there  should be a "thinking of  going indy"  forum.

My question..

One  of my main reasons for going indy someday is not  so much about  the   money...but is infact the independent lifestyle.  There are 3 coworkers at the  AGE  office  where i  am currently employed who  come in at 8am  and leave at 5pm  and  have  been doing this for 25+ years.   Bully for them but that is totally not for me.    It is  my  understanding  that AGE and most all  wirehouses  will  not allow you to work  from anywhere but  the  "office"

My idea for being an indy is  in  about  10 years to  be able to  "take  off" for a  month  and work out of my families vacation home in Idaho...1200miles from  my city of residence.    Still  keep in touch with  clients, etc...but do  it away from the office to spend  more time with   the family.

Please tell me  if   I am crazy...or if anyone currently does something similiar to this  now.

Pinn

[/quote]

Would it piss you off if you could do that in one year? You can do whatever you please.

Owning your own business has plus and minuses.  I spend more time working on my business than I ever did at Jones,(except maybe for the first few months), so I’m in the office a little after 7am and home by 6 most days.  With today’s technology, I have no problem being out of the “office” for extended periods.  My assistant is in the office during advertised hours, and I can be reached at anytime. (Unless I’m at a water park with my 10 year old)  This, above all, is the reason I moved to the Indy platform, the freedom to do as I choose.  If your goal is to spend time in Idaho (pick potatoes??), just do it.  I have never taken more time off, as I have this year.  Leaving tomorrow for Williamsburg VA for a week.  Napa over Labor day weekend, and Mexico in October. I’ve been to Destin for a week this past Spring, Nashville Tn for a long weekend…and the income has more than doubled.  WORK HARD, PLAY HARD!!

[quote=PinBroker]

Maybe there  should be a "thinking of  going indy"  forum.

My question..

One  of my main reasons for going indy someday is not  so much about  the   money...but is infact the independent lifestyle.  There are 3 coworkers at the  AGE  office  where i  am currently employed who  come in at 8am  and leave at 5pm  and  have  been doing this for 25+ years.   Bully for them but that is totally not for me.    It is  my  understanding  that AGE and most all  wirehouses  will  not allow you to work  from anywhere but  the  "office"

My idea for being an indy is  in  about  10 years to  be able to  "take  off" for a  month  and work out of my families vacation home in Idaho...1200miles from  my city of residence.    Still  keep in touch with  clients, etc...but do  it away from the office to spend  more time with   the family.

Please tell me  if   I am crazy...or if anyone currently does something similiar to this  now.

Pinn

[/quote]

It seems to me this is easier for a successful wirehouse guy to do than an indy. At a wirehouse you don’t have responsibilities involving supervision, compliance, maintaining the office, etc.. You can service accounts from anywhere, and for those instances where a face to face is required you either have a registered SA or a partner. Contact with the rest of the team via phone, fax and online is effortless, so what’s the downside, if you’re established?<?:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

I’d be interested in hearing about this from the successful indy guys here.

Actually, you can do whatever you want at a wirehouse also.  As long as you produce.  The biggest producers in my office are on a 2 person team.  They each routinely take vacations for weeks at a time.  Oftentimes, their offices are empty for 2 weeks at a time.  And one of them owns a home in UT that he works out of (we're on the east coast).  BOM doesn't care because they do so much production; when they're gone, they have their SA's handle everything.  Their clients don't care because they've had the relationships forever.  And some of the other big producers in my office take yearly vacations that last for 3-4 weeks; go to Africa, whatever.  As long as they keep producing and their clients are fine with it, no one cares.

I think mike is right.  As an indy, you own your own business and are ultimately responsible for how it runs while you're gone.  It might be tougher to get out without a good support system.  I mean, how often do small business owners go on vacation (I was one, so I know it's not much). 

[quote=PinBroker]

Maybe there  should be a "thinking of  going indy"  forum.

My question..

One  of my main reasons for going indy someday is not  so much about  the   money...but is infact the independent lifestyle.  There are 3 coworkers at the  AGE  office  where i  am currently employed who  come in at 8am  and leave at 5pm  and  have  been doing this for 25+ years.   Bully for them but that is totally not for me.    It is  my  understanding  that AGE and most all  wirehouses  will  not allow you to work  from anywhere but  the  "office"

My idea for being an indy is  in  about  10 years to  be able to  "take  off" for a  month  and work out of my families vacation home in Idaho...1200miles from  my city of residence.    Still  keep in touch with  clients, etc...but do  it away from the office to spend  more time with   the family.

Please tell me  if   I am crazy...or if anyone currently does something similiar to this  now.

Pinn

I think mike is right.  As an indy, you own your own business and are ultimately responsible for how it runs while you're gone.  It might be tougher to get out without a good support system.  I mean, how often do small business owners go on vacation (I was one, so I know it's not much). 

I agree.  As an indy, especially in the beginning, you will not be able to take off just anytime you want unless you have a good office assistant and other brokers or an associate in your office that you can refer your "emergencies" to.     You will be too busy building your book or transfering in from your prior b/d to take a vacation.

Once you are successful, you can make your own schedule no matter where you are working. 

[quote=PinBroker]

Maybe there  should be a "thinking of  going indy"  forum.

My question..

One  of my main reasons for going indy someday is not  so much about  the   money...but is infact the independent lifestyle.  There are 3 coworkers at the  AGE  office  where i  am currently employed who  come in at 8am  and leave at 5pm  and  have  been doing this for 25+ years.   Bully for them but that is totally not for me.    It is  my  understanding  that AGE and most all  wirehouses  will  not allow you to work  from anywhere but  the  "office"

My idea for being an indy is  in  about  10 years to  be able to  "take  off" for a  month  and work out of my families vacation home in Idaho...1200miles from  my city of residence.    Still  keep in touch with  clients, etc...but do  it away from the office to spend  more time with   the family.

Please tell me  if   I am crazy...or if anyone currently does something similiar to this  now.

Pinn

[/quote]

Once you're up and running, all you need is a computer, internet, and a phone.  You could work from anywhere in the world and should have no problem keeping in contact with clients via phone or email.

You can still be a quasi independent.  There are firms out there that will lower your payout to 60-65%, pay all your over head expenses and still give you the freedom to work out of your home, a second home or where ever you please.  You just have to look around.   I have a few numbers you can call if your interested.

I’ve been in Orlando for the week on family vacation. My assistant keeps me posted via cellphone and email (love my pocket PC phone). I take Thursdays off in the summer and last I knew, LPL’s largest producer (about 6 million/year) takes the SUMMER off. Time out of the office is easy to do if you’ve planned ahead and set up your office properly.

Right now I am sitting in the same room in the same damned uncomfortable chair that I sat in in 1999(?) when I started working outside the office. At the time it was "The internet is going to put you brokers out of business!" But I decided that the internet was going to help me do my business.

Smith Barney had a "Remote Access" program that, while slow and problematic, gave me access to my office computer as if I were there. A few phone lines and an 800 number later and i had an office outside of the ofice. I would leave the home office in late June and re appear in late August. My client got better service from me at the summer house than they did at the office. Why? Because when the phone rang, it was for me, because someone wanted to talk to me and so they did. Yet each time there was a manager change, they would threaten me that "Maybe my production wasn't high enough for them to allow me to do my summer gig! (No matter how high my production was)"

Now I'm indy, the training I got from working away from the office proved invaluable in my move. I work with Wachovia (which you don't want to hear about because you want to leave)Finet. Truth is. as Mikebutler222 said, I don't have the same freedom that I used to in this regard. It wasn't until I hired guys on as associates that I'm able to be comfortable being away from the office. WF  has made it much much easier over the years too, I can do the Supervision that I need to do from here for the most part, but there are things that I need to do (like make sure who is paid what and when my banking gets done etc.

I'm fairly sure (as in positive) that the remote access package is available to WS brokers (it goes to show you just how far behind the curve AGE must have been that they didn't have the capabilities offered by SB 8 years ago).

Going Indy so that you have more vacation time is silly.Do yourself a favor, stay where you ae until you find out what the world is like working for a real firm. (No offense intended)

Pin,

You get paid to produce.   You can have just one client and work one day a year.  If it brings in enough revenue, you'll have no issues.

Whomit, AGE has had remote access for over 8 years. You can work from anywhere and enter trades from anywhere.  I have met several producers that work out of the office for months at a stretch.  It’s easily accomplished at AGE.  #'s are all that matters. PC and CC, no problem, under $ Crest and you manager might bust your chops.

It really works the best if you have a licensed associate working for you to place trades in your absence.  If not, they have to get ahold of you or have a home office employee contact the client.  Voice mail is not the answer, clients want a Warm & Fuzzy SA at the other end.

The

I get away for 4 weeks a year and my longest streach was 3 weeks in Hawaii.  I would get away for more but still have kids at home.

IndyEDJ

I just got back from a 3 week break just 4 months after going indy. I also did another 20 days in between those four months. How nice this lifstyle is to someone who has the stomach to go indy.

EZ…I just returned from a week in VA, and going to NAPA in a couple of weeks, Mexico in October for a week…been to Destin, Orlando, Nashville (2x) since going Indy in Feb.  This IS the LIFE.  Another great thing happened today…I had a friend stop me after church two weeks ago. He mentioned his CPA/broker was sending him to his brother in law because he wanted out of the investing business.  I told him I would love to have his acct and set an appt for this week.  Well, I decided to call the CPA and discuss his other clients.  He mentioned he would like to move all his 123 clients/9.2 mill to someone local,(brother in law is in Chicago).  He mentioned they were mostly in American Funds.  SOOOO…next week we’re going to sit down and discuss a partnership for referral and revenue sharing…what a f’in day it is!!! If this goes through…lets see…I’ll have been gone from Jones 7 months and will have close to 22mill back under management… SORRY TO BRAG TODAY…But I’m refreshed after vacation and had 7400 deposited into my business checking from LPL today!

[quote=bspears]EZ...I just returned from a week in VA, and going to NAPA in a couple of weeks, Mexico in October for a week...been to Destin, Orlando, Nashville (2x) since going Indy in Feb.  This IS the LIFE.  Another great thing happened today....I had a friend stop me after church two weeks ago. He mentioned his CPA/broker was sending him to his brother in law because he wanted out of the investing business.  I told him I would love to have his acct and set an appt for this week.  Well, I decided to call the CPA and discuss his other clients.  He mentioned he would like to move all his 123 clients/9.2 mill to someone local,(brother in law is in Chicago).  He mentioned they were mostly in American Funds.  SOOOO...next week we're going to sit down and discuss a partnership for referral and revenue sharing....what a f'in day it is!!! If this goes through...lets see...I'll have been gone from Jones 7 months and will have close to 22mill back under management.. SORRY TO BRAG TODAY...But I'm refreshed after vacation and had 7400 deposited into my business checking from LPL today![/quote]

Cool.

Are you sure that this CPA thing is a good thing?  If the money is primarily “A” shares, you are looking at $23,000 in trails assuming that the CPA wants nothing.   This is less than $200 of revenue per client.  Sure, you can then move the money, but is it in the clients’ best interest?

[quote=bspears]EZ...I just returned from a week in VA, and going to NAPA in a couple of weeks, Mexico in October for a week...been to Destin, Orlando, Nashville (2x) since going Indy in Feb.  This IS the LIFE.  Another great thing happened today....I had a friend stop me after church two weeks ago. He mentioned his CPA/broker was sending him to his brother in law because he wanted out of the investing business.  I told him I would love to have his acct and set an appt for this week.  Well, I decided to call the CPA and discuss his other clients.  He mentioned he would like to move all his 123 clients/9.2 mill to someone local,(brother in law is in Chicago).  He mentioned they were mostly in American Funds.  SOOOO...next week we're going to sit down and discuss a partnership for referral and revenue sharing....what a f'in day it is!!! If this goes through...lets see...I'll have been gone from Jones 7 months and will have close to 22mill back under management.. SORRY TO BRAG TODAY...But I'm refreshed after vacation and had 7400 deposited into my business checking from LPL today![/quote]

That's curious in light of the growth of broker/dealers specializing in working with accountants.

It is also curious that the guy is not interested in helping his brother in law.

Anonymous--Good question. I don't know. I will discuss options with him...but just for the referral side would be great..right?  Also, maybe he's not from the sales side and doesn't push for all the assets or even ask for referrals. 

DAtoo...His statements about wanting to transfer clients...he only has a 6,63 license. He doesn't want to get a 7.  He would also like to share in the revenue..so having someone local to work with would be better for him and his clients.  His brother in law is in Chicago..several states away.