Financial Advisors Grabbing the Reins Again

When markets are hopelessly correlated and macro stuff is all anyone cares about, there is a tendency to just focus on keeping the clients whole and not even attempt to generate alpha of any kind.

But when the big thaw happens and winners begin separating themselves from losers all over the market, that’s when the game feels winnable again.  That’s when people decide they want back in to play.  My piece at the Wall Street Journal today looks at this phenomenon…

The thing that all of us financial advisers have in common – no matter what size firm we work at or what letters we have after our names on the business card – is that most of us started out as brokers.

Back in the day, before charging 2% for buying and selling became a compliance nightmare, doing your clients’ stocks was what you did.  I’d say 90% of the FAs I know got their start as stockbrokers picking stocks and pitching them to clients.  It was the way the business worked prior to 2003 when brokers became financial advisers or financial planners or wealth managers or whatever we all branched out to become.

And we still have it in us.  Call it the Inner Broker.  And in markets like these, it resurfaces like a demonic possession.

Keep Reading:

The Inner Broker Resurfaces (WSJ)