The 2013 SMA Managers of the Year; 2013 BD Presidents’ Poll and Reference Guide: June Investment Advisor—Slideshow

May 29, 2013 at 01:58 PM
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For the 2013 SMA Managers of the Year, uncertainty is just part of doing business, and it hasn't stopped them from outperforming their peers. Investment Advisor teamed up with Envestnet | Prima once again to identify the best managers in four categories. This year, though, we also named a Best Overall Manager of the Year.

We also share observations from the final workshop in Commonwealth Financial's yearlong Power in Practice coaching program. The program shows, among other things, that the experiences of your peers are a valuable way to learn.

We also present the 2013 Broker-Dealer Presidents' Poll and Reference Guide. The presidents at major broker-dealers gave us their opinion on what the biggest short- and long-term challenges were for them and for their individual reps.

It's an increasingly bifurcated, asymmetrical market, marked by record highs on the Dow and S&P 500 and record low interest rates; an emerging energy boom and stubbornly high unemployment; domestic markets up one minute and emerging markets the next; and on and on it goes.

Yet somehow our 2013 SMA Managers of the Year continue to outperform. How it is done? Editor-in-Chief John Sullivan talks to the winners to find out.

Put everything in writing. Involve your staff more in the process. Identify your target market. Trust your instincts. Hire quickly. Trust your friends. Be yourself. You don't have to have a perfect plan.

The pithy prescriptions above for a successful advisory practice came from participants in a Dec. 3–4 workshop that wrapped up Power in Practice, Commonwealth Financial's yearlong coaching program for some of the independent broker-dealer's advisors.

Group Editor-in-Chief James J. Green was a guest at that workshop and observed that despite the considerable practice management talent from the Commonwealth experts, the genius of the program was provided by the participants.

Fee compression, regulation, succession planning, technology—the more things change, the more they stay the same for the 58 leaders of independent broker-dealers we questioned exclusively for our annual survey.

Compiled by Research Editor Liana Roberts and distilled by Editor-in-Chief John Sullivan, we present the biggest short- and long-term challenges for BDs and their reps, cited by the firm presidents themselves.

Raging bulls, skyrocketing energy production, baby boomer retirement—for such a seemingly volatile industry, in the past year, surprisingly little has changed. The same regulations—and specter of future regulations—continue to excite, fee compression pressure builds and grandiose predictions of boom and bust clog conventional wisdom. Through it all, independent broker-dealers continue to execute, mindful of the needs of the advisors and the clients they serve. So the "positions have changed, the names remain" may be perhaps the most succinct way to describe this year's guide, our annual temperature-taking of the independent broker-dealer industry.

Nearly 70 broker-dealers reported to Research Editor Liana Roberts by Dec. 31 to be included in the Reference Guide and will be eligible to be considered for the 2013 Broker-Dealer of the Year. Stay tuned to AdvisorOne for more information in the coming weeks about how to vote for the Broker-Dealer of the Year.

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