I believe that large independent firms will be a dominant force in the financial planning marketplace. Others agree that the independent practitioner will continue to hold a unique appeal. They perceive the way I handle things as more desirable than the service they get from a wire house. Some challenge that scenario. Replacing independent, entrepreneurial advisors with corporate employees makes no sense.
Employees can t generate the same amount of business as a partner at a financial planning firm.
A larger firm provides some economies of scale and a diversity of expertise. The ranks of these individuals have swelled in recent years from a healthy economy and strong stock market, and is predicted to grow to 5.6 million households by 2005. Hurley s seemingly dire predictions about smaller financial planners come at a time when assets under management by financial planning companies and other financial services firms are at an all-time high. With more money under management than they ever envisioned just five years ago, financial advisors may see little need to change comfortable business strategies that have worked for so long. Yet they may have to.