Poor reasons to switch B/Ds

For all of the good reasons to rethink a relationship with a broker/dealer, there are some bad reasons, too. Some of the more prevalent mentioned by people interviewed for this story include:

• Payout. If payout is the No. 1 reason a person is thinking of leaving one firm, his or her priorities might be in the wrong place.
• The firm won't give any money to stay. Jon Henschen, president of Henschen & Associates, says he has heard advisors say they left a firm because it wouldn't give them a large forgivable loan.
• Compliance for compliance's sake. Advisors looking for rubber-stamp compliance departments are headed for trouble.
• Outside business activities. It's another fine line for companies to walk, but broker/dealers try to have advisors' best interests at heart, and if they don't feel EIAs and viaticals and the like are good for business, they likely have good reasons.