Nearly all of the company's marketing matetial is geared toward active duty, so it can be difficult to attract clients who are not military.
The company provides a limited amount of exposure to active military community in the Tampa area, so the turnover is extremely high. The turnover also leads to existing clients being constantly reassigned to new advisors who may or may not make it past the first two years which is the critical failure period in the industy. Many clients complained that their old advisor left or that their new advisor never reached out. Lots of clients pulled their investments away from the company but because they still have insurance policies the clients stay in the database.
The company markets itself as a financial advisory firm and financial planners but the number one product they require reps to sale is insurance. Yes, insurance is important, but reps who do not generate enough revenue are let go. The reason for this is that the company requires all interest in insurance commissions to be signed over to the company so trails do not belong to the insurance rep. The company keeps the trails and uses them to help fund advisor comp. The company constantly pushes advisors to meet a minimum level of new business every year to keep your seat. In this regard the company seems to value new sales revenue over maintaining and servicing clients. I saw this in the office I was in, a successful advisor with years of experience and one of most prestigious professional designations in the industry was pressured into leaving because he wasn't generating enough revenue for the company.
In my 2 years with the firm atleast 12 advisors left or were not offered independent contractor positions.
Corporate management seemed good, but at the regional and local levels it seems to have shifted focus. Instead of building the advisor force it seemed to be more about building their career and promoting to the next level.
The company has a lot of baggage from products and services that were previously offered. I lot of clients love the firm, but there are plenty of people who were scarred by their advisor always wanting to talk about insurance and why they need more.
Plenty of people would shut down and walk away once they heard what the company offers or its previous name.
Having to tell people they do not fit within the company's client matrix so you can't offer them products is a bad part of the job.
Having to tell people you don't charge a planning fee you offer " free" planning and are compensated when they buy from you (some advisors are allowed to charge a fee, but newer ones aren't). This is huge because there is a movement towards fee only advisors - not saying one is right or wrong.
