Hours add up. A study by FA Insight that was commissioned by Pershing concluded that advisors who consolidated assets on a brokerage platform were seeing productivity benefits that translated into more hours spent with clients. Sure, the pros don't spend that much time on processing and trading mutual funds and annuities anyway, the report said. Their assistants do most of it. But even those few hours are a big deal and can affect the bottom line. Plus, the assistants could also be performing more productive tasks. Individual products also have their own productivity calculus; advisors open more mutual funds each year, but annuities take nearly twice as long to process — 70 minutes for a fund, versus two hours for an annuity. The report concluded that financial practices that traded funds and annuities on a brokerage platform paid less than half the cost of directly managing the work themselves.
Calling All Wall Street Wives
Hollywood wants a piece of your wife — or ex-wife. Devon Fleming, the wife of a Deutsche Bank exec, put out a casting call last month for a new reality show called “Wall Street Wives,” according to her website. Applicants must be married to, or divorced from, someone on Wall Street, meaning someone tied to an “investments-oriented” firm. If the show gets picked up by a network, Fleming would play a central character, according to published reports. — DB