Your current thoughts on LPL
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I have read the posts about service issues. What are your current thoughts on LPL? Do you own your book there? Do you use DFA funds?
Are you going to see Bonnie Raitt and Sheryl Crow in Chicago?Despite a snafu the other day in sending out medallion stamp notices (a mild privacy violation where our email addresses were not masked), I think service has gotten better in recent months. The new statements look nice and I was able to upload my company logo to be placed on all statements starting with August. The national is hard to beat…yes, I’ll see Cheryl Crow and Bobbie Raitt, but I’ll also get to hear from Neil Cavuto and Ted Koppel, get to eat some excellent food, and stay in a nery nice motel on the lakefront close to Navy Pier…almost all on someone else’s dime. Best of all, I will come back with a lot of good information that I can use for the betterment of my clients and my business and I’ll collect a fair amount of continuing education credit while I’m at it.
Probably the worst thing I see at LPL now is the crappy insured cash account rates offered, particularly to small and mid-sized clients. Thankfully there are plenty of alternative money market funds available. Overall, I'm pretty well satisfied with what LPL has to offer, although I'm always looking, just in case the day comes when I'm not.Excellent response. How big are teams pushed at LPL? What do the Senior Advisors do when they want to get out? do they basically auction their book off to the highest bidder at another LPL office?
I’m using plain vanilla, Cash Management Trust of America (American Funds). It’s fairly easy to link to LPL’s ICA and sweep as needed free of charge and it shows up on the same statement as an outside position. Why American Funds? The yield is OK (just a hair less than 2%), it pays me 8bps (not much, but better than the big zero paid on the ICA), and American Funds is among the last I’d expect to see breaking the buck.
At the same time, I'm always looking for better alternatives if anyone has a favorite. At one point, we discussed various alternatives in another thread here, but I don't recall any that were real table- pounders. As far as teams go, I don't see a lot of them at LPL, although there are several very successful teams listed among the top producers. LPL as expected, attracts a lot of lone wolves, who may later decide to add staff on their own terms. As far as exit strategies, I expect those are all over the spectrum. I do know that LPL has partnered with a firm that specializes in selling books of business, as I see local books advertised from time to time.indyone, What’s the name of this firm? I’m going to go indie in either November or March depending on when I get the CFP out of the way. I’d be very interested in purchasing a book to supplement what I’d be getting started with.
I think it’s FP Transitions, but I don’t have that information in front of me right now. Also, if you are prepping for independence, read Bob Fragasso’s book as it is an excellent primer. Last I knew, you could buy it through his website, www.fragassogroup.com. Good luck.
I think it would be best for me to join an office that is set up already. Share expenses and move on from there if ever.
If you are relatively new to the business and have less than $30 million in your book, then I agree...that's a very good way to enter the world of independence. If you are simply sharing expenses and space and not a W-2 employee of someone else's firm, that's about as good as going independent on your own. In some respects, it's better. At least you have someone else in the office to bounce ideas off of.I think it would be best for me to join an office that is set up already. Share expenses and move on from there if ever.
[quote=vbrainy]I have read the posts about service issues. What are your current thoughts on LPL? I am content
Do you own your book there? Yes Do you use DFA funds? Yes Are you going to see Bonnie Raitt and Sheryl Crow in Chicago? No, I talked to LPL and they told me sense I am a CFP I do not have to attend any of there conventions. Yea haw! [/quote]Are they instead going to send you to school to learn the basics of English grammar?
[quote=vbrainy]Are they instead going to send you to school to learn the basics of English grammar?[/quote]
No, pbrainy. They’re going to send you to punctuation school.
Go sell a VA to some granny!
Are you an idiot? That should be enough punctuation for you for one day.