Road to Independence

I love being independent! When you’re employed at a large organization, you are at the mercy of the decision-makers as to which technology you can use, how your pay is structured, etc. For example, during my time at JP Morgan, the investment specialists were in desperate need of a tool to perform analysis on investment portfolios. Most of the tools the company had were in the hands of a centralized group of back-office support people. There was little available to the client-facing advisor. To help, the company subscribed to Morningstar Advisor Workstation Enterprise Edition. Problem solved right? Not so fast! New problem created!

(more…)

About two or three weeks ago, business began to increase substantially and it continued this week. That’s the good part. The challenge is to keep up with all of the additional activity required to process paperwork, track asset transfers, maintain contact with clients, and, oh yes, continue to market my services.

(more…)

A lot happened this week. I had 32 60-second radio ads running in advance of a seminar I held last Thursday. The radio station did a very professional job on the ad which included background music. During the week, as a result of the ad, I received a few calls from people I knew who heard my name during the spot.

(more…)

The demise of the Stanford Group has caused quite a whirlwind in the Baton Rouge area, where I practice, since ithad a significant presence here. As a result, there will be many clients searching for a new advisor. To this end, I have purchased 32 local radio advertising spots and am holding two seminars with the intention of helping clients through this situation. I will also discuss the current economy and financial markets.

The fraud involved here has indeed created a very sad situation for those who had invested their money in Stanford’s high-yielding CDs. It has also altered the lives of the Stanford employees. I suspect when it’s all said and done, clients will end up losing most, if not all, of their investments.

(more…)

The events of the past few weeks have been remarkable to say the least. First, when the Stanford Financial scandal broke, I contacted my editor at Forbes.com, where I write a monthly column, to see if he wanted me to write a story about it. Having worked for Stanford in the past (no, I didn’t sell the CD), I could write from a unique perspective.

(more…)