Sadly, there are many weeks that I wonder what I should write in an effort to give something "new". Fortunately though, I don't have such a problem reporting over the past week. I apoligize in advance for the lengthy nature of this post.
This past Monday, I arrived at my office for another week of fun. The financial markets have been quite volatile in 2008, and I was expecting the same for the week. My partner Doug Wheelwright, had a call coming in from Raymond James' compliance department. A couple of weeks ago, he overstepped his bounds as a financial advisor in helping a client transfer his account to Raymond James. The client asked and signed the paperwork to make the change, but in an effort to make the transaction even easier, Doug made a mistake and went too far.
Well, Monday the call came and we both expected for him to pay some level of retribution and then move forward. Well that wasn't the case. Apparently, the regulators from the national agencies got involved and forced a most serious action--- immediate termination.
Doug came into my office right after the call in utter shock. I still can't believe it now, as I've had a week to ponder what happened. Raymond James indicated that they would try all they could and that they'd call Doug on Tuesday to see if anything could be worked out. Well, the call came Tuesday afternoon, and immididate termination was the only option.
Because Doug was the branch manager of our office, without a manger, the office and branch was also to be closed with Doug's termination. I was asked to contact other local Raymond James branches to see if I could affiliate myself with them. Raymond James later indicated that it could take 8-10 days before my new affliation with a new branch would take hold. In essence that would mean I too would be unemployed for 8-10 days, not being able to service the accounts of my clients during this volatile time. In addition, I couldn't answer all of the questions that would be coming in from Doug's clients!! It was definitely a crazy time.
Well this chaos into Wednesday as I frantically looked for another location for be affiliated. My current office would stay the same, my assistant Debbie is still here, but I had to find another branch manager to sign off on the trades that I make on a daily basis.
Wednesday afternoon, Raymond James called to tell me that they had an offer for me. They'd allow me to become the branch manager of my own branch!! Although I haven't passed a couple of supervisory tests and a couple of other little things, they'd cover me while I do this, so the transition would be much smoother for me. They would be able to get my new branch up and running within a day and I'd be off and rolling. That happened on Wed, and by Thursday afternoon, I was up and rolling again. What a huge relieve that was!!
Sadly though, my partner, friend and business mentor Doug is out of the business. This has been an extremely difficult time for all of us. Since he owned his book of business, he sold it to me and now I'll be the one servicing all of his old accounts. Doug sent out of letter on Friday indicating the change and I'll send out a letter to the same people tomorrow introducing myself. Obviously, the goal is to be able to retain as many of Doug's old clients as possible.
So moving forward, I've got a big test that I need to take within the next 30 days. Also, I need to go out and meet 200 new families that I'm not the financial professional for. Of course, many families have more than one financial professional and I need to get in front of them before they consolidate their accounts with someone else.
OK, enough of that for now. As far as our house is concerned, we close this Wednesday. I'm not so sure that we can move in that day, but we will absolutely close on that day. As we know more, we'll let you know.
Happy Father's Day to all of the Father's out there!! Abby is ready to make a post, so I'll sign off and let her sign on.
Love you all,
rp
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