Looking for more freedom in how they structure their practice, a husband-and-wife team managing over $170 million left Morgan Stanley for Raymond James' independent arm.
"It didn’t feel like we could improve anything by switching wirehouses," says advisor Wayne Green.
Green and his wife Therese joined Raymond James in Houston earlier this year, according to the St. Petersburg, Florida-based firm, which has picked up a number of new hires this year.
The Greens were trained at Smith Barney and spent over a decade at the firm before its merger with Morgan Stanley. While at Smith Barney, they learned a consultative planning method-based advisory practice and felt this strategy was more emphasized at Raymond James, enticing them to dive into independence, Green says.
“We wanted to stay very active in strategizing with the clients on their financial planning needs as well as their portfolio growth needs, and try to have us involved not just have it be [assigned] out to us,” Green explains.
Regional brokerages and firms that assist breakaway advisors have been picking off top talent at the wirehouses.
The pair hadn’t been planning on making a move, but the exit from Morgan Stanley evolved from a desire for improvements in practice management, he says.
Going from one wirehouse to another wasn’t going to help them reach this goal, Green says.
“We didn’t think that we would go to another one of the big four firms,” Green says.
Raymond James and other regional firms have been going on a
