On the effects of mergers
“Consolidation is helping a bit. I’m now down to 11 fund companies from 15.”
-advisor with TWC FINANCIAL
On competition from banks
“It’s had a positive impact. They have no level of service and low expertise.”
-a Berkshire planner
“Are they competition? I’m just glad that they are out there. They’re a very good place to get money.”
– a PFSL rep
On stability
“Fine — as long as we don’t get eaten up by the Cartiers and Assantes of the world.”
-aN ADVISOR with FundEX
On advertising
“There isn’t any out my way. I think it’s just like Coca Cola. Why do people drink Coke and not Pepsi? Because they see it on
television.”
-a W.H. Stuart advisor
Why would
you move firms?
“If IPC had to institute a lower payout. It has recently expanded a lot and if that doesn’t work out well, I’ll move. Also, I’d move in order to have additional associates in the office to spread around the cost of running the business in a commercial area. It’s very expensive.”
-an IPC FINANCIAL planner
On strategic focus
“I don’t know where the
company is going. It’s not been totally forthright. I would say optimism varies according to office size.”
planner with Money Concepts
On segmenting the client base
“You are just steering them back to the banks. It’s really kind of two-faced.”
-advisor with TWC FINANCIAL
On strategic focus
“My sense of Manulife Securities is this: on the whole, we offer a very strong product, but when it comes to meeting the needs of the high net-worth investor, we’re not even close. Manulife Financial and Manulife Insurance should both be running parallel.”
-a Manulife planner
Image with the public
“No one really knows who the heck we are”
-A fundex advisor