outSOURCE: Building and Running the Professional Advisory Practice

Ensemble Joins Broker Protocol

Ensemble has just become a signatory on the Protocol for Broker Recruiting.

The Protocol is an agreement among investment firms permitting an advisor to move from one firm to another and bring certain, generally public, client information without violating many common rules designed to discourage brokers from leaving.

Created in 1994 between Smith Barney, Merrill Lynch and UBS, the Protocol has been adopted by hundreds of firms.

We are excited about being part of this group. It is another asset that enhances our ability to assist brokers in establishing their own firms quickly and profitably.

Ensemble Financial Named Top Brokerage Firm

Ensemble was once again named Top Brokerage Firm by the Rochester Business Journal, in its September 25, 2009 issue.

Last year, we squeaked past Merrill Lynch with 80 representatives to their 78.  This year, I was amazed to see the gap widen to 91 brokers for us compared with 65 for Merrill.  What astounded me was that Smith Barney and Morgan Stanley, who had 67 and 65 brokers respectively, only totaled 42 brokers in the combined firm.  Whether this is evidence of a continued migration toward independence or just a shuffling among brokerage firms I cannot tell, but the numbers just floored me!

Our numbers nationally continue to grow.  In August, we brought in more practices than we ever have in a single month.  Our value proposition is strong for independent advisors wherever they may be.  Even so, we have a particular affinity for our local advisors, and I am grateful to be attracting so many more new clients here at home.

You can see the release here.

Transition Guide Now Available

Thinking of leaving the employee world and starting your own advisory firm?  Our newest resource is for you.  Ensemble's Transition Planning Guide lays out the issues you need to address and includes checklists and timelines to help you through the planning of your move.  You can get one free by going here and selecting "Transition Workbook" from the "How would you like us to contact you?" menu.

Ensemble Financial Named Top 50 "Up and Coming Broker Dealer"

You know this blog is about offering and generating discussion about ideas to help you build your practice, but I can't help tooting our horn when there is good news.

Financial Planning magazine published its annual survey of independent broker dealers in the June edition.  Ensemble Financial ranked once more on its "Up and Comers" list.  Even more exciting, while we placed number 34 on the list based on total revenue, we ranked number 5 based on revenue growth!

Thanks to all the advisors who have chosen us to be their back office.  We are dedicated to helping advisors become more successful, and, if we do it right, to continue moving up this list.

Ensemble Financial Appears in Journal of Financial Planning Supplement

We are excited to be the sole broker dealer sponsor of the Journal of Financial Planning Supplement "The Independent Broker Dealer Report." 

You can find the supplement here (note - the file is 12MB.  It may take a bit to download.)  You can find us on page 13.

Ensemble Financial Announces Strategic Advisory Board

We are dedicated to supporting independent financial advisors and, by introducing efficiencies and processes, help them be more successful.  To help us identify better and different ways to do that, we have just convened a strategic advisory board to act as sort of a “think tank” of business management ideas for independent advisors.  The board is comprised of highly successful practitioners from the wirehouse brokerage world, proprietary companies, independent financial practices, and registered investment advisors.  The first meeting is always the ha rd one in a project like this because members do not know what they should be discussing, what the objective of the meeting is, or what they will get out of it.  But by the end of the meeting, we w ere getting into some good, rich topics.  For example, we got into a discussion of what independent financial advisors can do to reassure clients who are anxious because of Bernie Madoff and Allen Stanford.   While many advisors are either exploring how to deal with their image being tarnished by their national employer, or exploring how to start their own independent practice, independents are struggling to answer their clients’ question “Who’s watching my money?”  We are a long way off from having an answer to that, but it is a great issue to uncover.  We are very excited about developing a solution with the advisory board’s guidance.  And we are very excited to have such a high level of practitioner to help advise us on where we should be guiding our strategy to be of the highest value to them!

Ensemble Financial Services acquires the advisors of Preferred Financial Advisors

We have just completed the transition of the advisors of Preferred Financial over to our platform. 

It is getting harder and harder for small independent broker-dealer firms to make it on their own.  Technology costs, compliance burdens, declining revenues following the market plunge, and other pressures are severely compressing the financials of independent firms.  That's where Elliott Mibaum found himself a few months ago.  “Pooling our resources with scores of other independent advisors by utilizing Ensemble's back office puts those resources within our reach” he said of our new relationship.

We are excited to have Preferred Financial's advisors on board, and welcome them to the Ensemble family!

Is it consistency, or insanity?

Andy Gluck, President of Advisor Products and a columnist for Financial Advisor magazine, has been running a series of really valuable webinars (which you can find through his blog).  In one he did last week, he conducted a poll asking, essentially, “Do you still believe in buy-and-hold, Modern Portfolio Theory, and those investment philosophies we have been relying on lo these several decades?”  The answers, posted the other day, were interesting.  If they are reflective of the advisory community generally, they indicate an erosion of confidence that the standards we have lived by.  I have been hearing more about people in our industry coming to believe there is more to it, including Bob Arnott’s Fundamental Index and Bob Veres’ own personal search for alpha.  Einstein said insanity is doing the same thing over and over, expecting a different result. Are these the times that make it hard to practice consistency in applying our investment discipline (which will be proven in the end), or are there flaws in our accepted theories, with a fool’s consistency proving our craziness?   What are you contemplating as you evaluate your investment process, and how are you applying it in your practice?

Ensemble Receives Excellence Award as Niche Firm

Boomer Market Advisor Magazine announced its Broker Dealer Excellence Awards in the November issue, and Ensemble won in the “niche” category.  You know I frequently struggle with the “broker dealer versus outsourcing company” thing, but there are no awards for independent financial advisor outsourcing companies, so this is a good thing.  And editor John Sullivan does a nice job of articulating our value proposition.  Thanks, John!

 

And the winner is...

We’re a top 50 broker dealer!  Is that a good thing?

Investment News came out with its Spring Independent Broker Dealer Survey last week, and we made Top 50!  That makes me both laugh and grimace.