Archive for February, 2012

Congratulations to the Barron’s Top 1,000

Thursday, February 23rd, 2012

What are the common denominators of success?

Catching up on our weekend reading, we noticed that Barron’s 2012 List of Top 1,000 Financial Advisors is out! What a special moment for these practices each year when the list comes out. We always search the list for our clients and take special pride in finding their names once and again among the top investment professionals in their field. Then State by state, we recognize the names of former colleagues, friends and neighbors.* Then other outstanding financial advisors come to mind, who might have earned a place and may win a spot next year.  The fact is, this is a very hard list to make.  Congratulations to these top 1,000 Financial Advisors who work hard to stay on top and have earned the chance to take a moment to stop and celebrate this Barron’s Top 1,000 recognition:

  • Brett Clifford
  • Howard Edwards
  • Ron Fishbein
  • Mike Freiman
  • Barry Garber
  • Cynthia Hewitt
  • Greg Hurlbrink
  • Tom Hill
  • Mike Hirthler
  • Brian Kroneberger
  • John Lynch
  • Marvin McIntyre
  • Lorna Meyer
  • Jonathan Murray
  • Rebecca Rothstein
  • Gerald Scheinker
  • Kent Strosnider
  • Robert Vingi
  • Jim Wohlgemuth

Over more than 20 years in financial services, it has been our privilege to know and work with many of these top advisors, in firms including Legg Mason, Alex. Brown, and through our own firm, LederMark Communications. We celebrate and recognize that getting to the top and staying on top in this competitive industry requires unrelenting focus. Many are active in their communities; several have written a book or hosted radio shows. They have stepped forward when their firms have enlisted their help in sharing their best practices with their peers. I recognize several as pioneers in converting to the fee-based business model. Above all, they have been extraordinarily driven to serve their clients well and succeed themselves. We recognize their work ethic, because that seems to be the common denominator.

*This recognition does not imply an endorsement of LederMark Communications by these financial advisors.
LederMark Communications is a financial services marketing firm that helps advisors, portfolio managers and firms grow their businesses with effective marketing strategy and communications.

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Not Your Father’s Advisor Conference: On location at the TDAI Conference

Monday, February 6th, 2012

“RIAs are leading the transformation in financial services,”  Tom Bradley, president, opened with these words at the TD Ameritrade Institutional (TDAI) Conference in Orlando last week. The next few days proved his point. We glimpsed the future and the future is bright. RIA asset growth of 45% over the last seven years compared with a 6% Advisor asset growth at wirehouse firms, Bradley said. Minutes earlier, the expectant mood of the conference was set to Bruno Mars’ popular song, Grenade: “I would die for you baby, take a grenade for you…but you won’t do the same,” accompanied by the eardrum splitting thump, thump, thump of bass.  Hey, Gen Y advisors: This is not your father’s Advisor Conference…

Live tweets from Orlando announced key discoveries from attendees and the next keynote, one of the trio of former Government officials: Secretary Gates, FDIC’s Sheila Blair, VP Richard Cheney. A TDAI-branded social media lab was humming throughout the conference to provide LinkedIn makeovers, create video postcards and guide advisors’ social media efforts. Advisor as Client rang through the theme of the conference, Shaping the Future Together. The vision for the conference linked Advisor, custodian, and key marketing, investment products and technology service providers in myriad ways. TDAI has long advocated a single fiduciary regulatory standard for financial advisors, and this theme permeated the conference as well.

Feedback from previous TDAI conferences led to more practice management content, more breakouts, fewer plenary sessions.  From what’s required to win plan sponsor business to client acquisition and retention, the breakouts were laser-focused on today’s practice management issues. If the TDAI Conference is any indication, RIAs are pointed toward continued asset growth and their custodian is working hard to provide the competitive arsenal to fulfill their needs.

If TDAI’s is the second largest RIA custodian conference, SchwabOne must be something to behold. For more, including our contemporaneous tweets, visit us on Twitter.

LederMark Communications is a financial services marketing firm that helps advisors, portfolio managers and firms grow their businesses with effective marketing strategy and communications.

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