No Talk of Cetera Spinoff, CEO Roth Says

Cetera shared news of the Business Plan Program with advisors in June. “Advisors were excited and see it as the best way to grow,” the Cetera executive said.

Those who didn’t receive a grant can rewrite their business plans, and we will continue to see how to best support them,” said Roth.

The winning plans, he adds, are likely to be highlighted by the individual broker-dealers. “It’s up to the CEOs of the participating businesses, but we’re confident some of this information will be showcased at our annual educational meetings. There’s always a lot to learn from other financial advisors.”

Winning Group

“At the annual conference, First Allied put out a challenge,” said Timothy Connor of McKinley Financial, the winning firm,  in an interview. “What would it take to double revenue, not just go up — but make a big move? We submitted our thinking.”

McKinley Financial, which is based in Redwood Shores, California, put together a plan “essentially involving the community in the heart of Silicon Valley,” Connor explained.

“There are a million smart people around us,” the advisor said. “We are trying to reach out to high-tech firms, university groups and foundations in the community and are partnering with them to bring education to our market area — education about how to retire wisely and [how to afford to] send kids to college.”

The partnership of three advisors wants to “take advantage of the grant to do a first-class job,” Connor said. “We now have the hard work of making this happen … of getting the public we serve to view us as a financial advisory firm interested in helping them better understand issues around meeting their retirement goals, securing their retirement and hopefully sending their kids to college.”

Over years, he says, McKinley Financial — like many others — has pushed to make business improvements and grow by, say, 5% by doing more of the same or cutting costs, he says.

But doubling their business means “You have to have new, exciting ways of doing things,” Connor explained. “We thought, ‘Even if we didn’t win, it’s a great catalyst to redo the business.’ We’re delighted we won.”

— Check out Realty Capital Says Cetera Spinoff ‘On the Table’ on ThinkAdvisor.