When looking for a new broker-dealer, it is best to seek help
Whether you are starting up and need to locate a brand new broker-dealer, or you are looking to switch firms and need a new one, or are a broker-dealer looking to switch your career to a bigger and better platform, there is no better way to get the best than to ask for help. There are firms who are dedicated to only this task: finding you the best broker-dealer out there for your needs and wants at a price you can agree is reasonable and still get all of the functions you deserve. Locating a brokerage firm you can rely on is the goal of everyone involved and you should not be satisfied until all of your requirements are met.
If you are looking to become an independent broker dealer after being in a wire house, bank, captive agency, or regional firm, you have a few things to consider before making the final move. Are there any contractual obligations that would prevent you from making a move to another corporation or to become completely independent? If needed, get a copy of your hiring agreement from your current Human Resources Department and read through it. Enlisting the help of a lawyer to assist you in going through these documents cannot do any harm and might make sure you don’t miss anything that could potentially put you in the way of your contractual restrictions.
Will your clients come with you if you are to start your own office as an independent financial advisor? Are they even yours to take? This is another thing you can learn from the documents you signed and made in to contracts and are housed within your Human Resources Department. If you are not allowed to take them, how long will it take you to get new ones? If you are allowed to take them, how many changes will they experience, and do they know what to expect from you at your new firm? Do they want to go with you and endure the changes you will make to processes within your firm? Have you asked them what they think yet? These are all things you need to learn before making a decision of whether to branch out on your own.
While owning your own business is the American dream, do you have what it takes and are willing to go the distance to make it work? The owners of the best independent broker dealers know that they will not have any income for the first three to sixth months their doors are open and are fiscally and mentally prepared for this before they start courting clients. They also know they have to have a certain factor that translates in to managing staff and issues that will arise from being a boss. Do you have what it takes?
If you answered in the affirmative to these questions and are ready to go out on your own, you want to hire a consulting firm whose only business is broker dealers and they have what it takes to help you take off.